Using a retrospective cohort analysis of inmates released from Dallas County Jail between January 2011 and November 2013, this study characterizes people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who are lost to care after release from jail. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis to estimate the risk of becoming lost to post-release HIV care and a Cox proportional hazards regression model to identify associated factors. The majority of individuals (78.2%) were men and 65.5% were black. Of the incarcerations that ended with release to the community, approximately 43% failed to link to community HIV care. Non-Hispanic Whites were more likely than Hispanics or Blacks to drop out of care after release. Individuals with histories of substance use or severe mental illness were more likely to become lost, while those under HIV care prior to incarceration and/or who had adhered to antiretroviral therapy (ART) were more likely to resume care upon release. Targeted efforts such as rapid linkage to care and re-entry residence programs could encourage formerly incarcerated individuals to re-engage in care.Macrophages are characterized by phenotypical and functional heterogeneity. In different microenvironments, macrophages can polarize into two types classically activated macrophages (M1) or alternatively activated macrophages (M2). M1 macrophages are a well-known bacteriostatic macrophage, and conversely, M2 macrophages may play an important role in tumor growth and tissue remodeling. M1 macrophages have been reported to have high intracellular iron stores, while M2 macrophages contain lower intracellular iron. It has been well-described that disturbances of iron homeostasis are associated with altered immune function. Thus, it is important to investigate if chronic iron overload is capable of polarizing macrophages. Human monocytic leukemia THP-1 cells were maintained in culture medium that contained 100 μM ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4) (I-THP-1) and differentiated into THP-1-derived macrophages (I-TDMs) by induction with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). We characterized that I-TDMs not only enhanced the surface expression of CD163 and CD206 but also increased arginase and decreased iNOS protein expression. I-TDMs enhanced pSTAT6 expression and decreased pSTAT1 and NF-κB expressions. Furthermore, the gene expression profile of I-TDMs was comparable with M2 macrophages by performing human oligonucleotide DNA microarray analysis. Finally, functional assays demonstrated I-TDMs secreted higher levels of IL-10 but not M1 cytokines. Benserazide Decarboxylase inhibitor Additionally, the conditional medium of I-TDMs had enhanced migration and increased invasion of A375 melanoma cells which was similar to the characteristics of tumor-associated macrophages. Taken together, we demonstrated that THP-1-derived macrophages polarized to a phenotype of M2-like characteristics when subjected to chronic iron overload.Although a combination of calcineurin inhibitor and methotrexate (MTX) is used for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis in umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT), optimal dose of MTX for CBT remains to be determined.We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of standard-dose MTX (St-MTX, 15 mg/m2 on day 1 and 10 mg/m2 on days 3 and 6) and mini-dose MTX (Mini-MTX, 5 mg/m2 on days 1, 3 and 6) for GVHD prophylaxis in patients who underwent single unit CBT against hematological malignancies.Thirty-two and 26 patients received St-MTX and Mini-MTX, respectively. Cumulative incidence of neutrophil engraftment was significantly higher in the Mini-MTX group than in the St-MTX group (88.5% vs 65.6%, P = 0.00448). Cumulative incidences of grade II to IV and grade III to IV of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) were 34.4% and 6.2% in the St-MTX group, and 34.6% and 7.7% in the Mini-MTX group with no statistical significance. One-year non-relapse mortality (NRM) was significantly lower in the Mini-MTX group compared to the St-MTX group (31.2% vs 3.8%, P = 0.00938), whereas relapse rate was not different between the groups. Multivariate analysis also indicated that Mini-MTX significantly improved engraftment (HR, 0.5359; 95% CI, 0.3082 to 0.9318; P = 0.0270) and reduced NRM (HR, 0.117; 95% CI, 0.0151 to 0.9067; P = 0.040).Our study suggests that GVHD prophylaxis using Mini-MTX in CBT is feasible and associated with improvement of engraftment and reduction in NRM.Fusion partners of KMT2A affect disease phenotype and influence the current World Health Organization classification of hematologic neoplasms. The t(11;16)(q23;p13)/KMT2A-CREBBP is considered presumptive evidence of a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and a MDS-related cytogenetic abnormality in the classification of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Here, we report 18 cases of hematologic neoplasms with t(11;16). There were 8 males and 10 females with a median age of 51.9 years at time of detection of t(11;16). Of 17 patients with enough clinical information and pathological materials for review, 16 had a history of cytotoxic therapies for various malignancies including 12/15 patients who received topoisomerase II inhibitors, and 15 were classified as having therapy-related neoplasms. The median interval from the diagnosis of primary malignancy to the detection of t(11;16) was 23.2 months. Dysplasia, usually mild, was observed in 7/17 patients. Blasts demonstrated monocytic differentiation in 8/8 patients who developed AML at the time or following detection of t(11;16). t(11;16) was observed as the sole chromosomal abnormality in 10/18 patients. KMT2A rearrangement was confirmed in 11/11 patients. The median survival from the detection of t(11;16) was 15.4 months. In summary, t(11;16)(q23;p13) is rare and overwhelmingly associated with prior exposure of cytotoxic therapy. Instead of being considered presumptive evidence of myelodysplasia, we suggest that the detection of t(11;16) should automatically prompt a search for a history of malignancy and cytotoxic therapy so that proper risk stratification and clinical management are made accordingly. The dismal outcome of patients with t(11;16) is in keeping with that of therapy-related neoplasms.