Azacitidine maintenance therapy for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm allograft: A case report

BACKGROUND Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm(BPDCN)is a rare,highly invasive malignant neoplasm.There is no universally accepted standard of care because of its rarity and the dearth of prospective research.It is still challenging for some patients to achieve persistent clinical remission or cure,despite the success of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation(allo-HSCT),indicating that there is still a significant recurrence rate.We report a case of prevention of BPDCN allograft recurrence by azacitidine maintenance therapy and review the relevant literature.CASE SUMMARY We report a 41-year-old man with BPDCN who was admitted to hospital due to skin sclerosis for>5 mo’duration.BPDCN was diagnosed by combined clinical assessment and laboratory examinations.Following diagnosis,the patients underwent induction consolidation chemotherapy to achieve the first complete remission,followed by bridging allo-HSCT.Post-transplantation,azacitidine(75 mg/m2 for 7 d)was administered as maintenance therapy,with repeat administration every 4–6 wk and appropriate extension of the chemotherapy cycle.After 10 cycles,the patient has been disease free for 26 mo after transplantation.Regular assessments of bone marrow morphology,minimal residual disease,full donor chimerism,Epstein–Barr virus,and cytomegalovirus all yielded normal results with no abnormalities detected.CONCLUSION Azacitidine may be a safe and effective maintenance treatment for BPDCN following transplantation because there were no overt adverse events during the course of treatment.

Status of reproductive health knowledge for junior high school students in Guangzhou city

Objective To understand the status of reproductive health knowledge for junior high school students in Guangzhou city and provide the base data for reproductive health education. Methods A total of l 210 students including 657 boys and 553 girls aged 12 ~15 years were surveyed with anonymous self-administrated questionnaire. The students were from a middle school in suburb of Guangzhou city. The questionnaire contained basic concepts of reproduction, love, sex, contraceptives, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases （STDs）. Analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and Chi square tests for differences between boys and girls. Results The students mostly had experienced menarche （94%） or first spermatorrhea （83.6%）. About 58. 4% of students just knew little about process of puberty, fertilization, and contraception. Far more boys than girls considered that the effect of abortion on physical injury was harmless （30.4% and 9.6%, P〈O.O01）. More than 60% of respon- dents knew the route of transmission of STDs well but were poor understanding of adverse impact of STDs. The majority of the students did not consider sexual relation- ship acceptable at their age, a viewpoint that was more strongly held by girls （61.6%） than boys （45.1%） （P〈0.001）. Just 35.5% of boys would refuse when the lovers required to have a sex activity, far less than girls （76.1%） （P〈0.001）. The rate of sex intercourses among students was 5%, and a slightly higher proportion （46%） had never used contraception among those who had sexual activity. The demands of students on reproductive health were mainly on how to deal with the relationship with lovers （56. 0%）, knowledge on sexual health and menses （41.7%）, sex moral knowledge （48.3%）, contraception （45.0%）, and preventive measures of STDs/acquired immune deficiency syndrome （AIDS） （47. 0%）. Conclusion The reproductive health knowledge for the students was at very low level There were some differences on the knowledge mastered by boys and girls while the sexual opinion of boys was more open than girls. It was urgent to carry out education among junior high school students to promote their reproductive health.