Hemochromatosis Mimicked Gaucher Disease: Role of Hyperferritinemia in Evaluation of a Clinical Case.

Gaucher disease is a disorder of lysosomes caused by a functional defect of the glucocerebrosidase enzyme. The disease is mainly due to mutations in the GBA1 gene, which determines the gradual storage of glucosylceramide substrate in the patient's macrophages. In this paper, we describe the case of a 38-year-old man who clinically presented with hyperferritinemia, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, anemia and mild splenomegaly; a diagnosis of hemochromatosis was made 10 years earlier. Re-evaluation of the clinical case led to a suspicion of Gaucher disease, which was confirmed by enzymatic analysis, which was found to be below the normal range, and genetic evaluation, which identified compound heterozygosity N370S/RecNciI. We know that patients suffering from Gaucher disease can also have high ferritin levels. Even if the mechanism underlying the changes in iron metabolism is not yet elucidated, the chronic mild inflammatory state present in these patients probably causes the storage of ferritin in macrophages, resulting in hyperferritinemia. Therefore, in the presence of few typical signs and symptoms of the disease should raise an alarm bell in the clinicians, inducing clinical suspicion of Gaucher disease. Misdiagnosis and diagnostic delay in metabolic diseases could cause irreversible organ damage and delay the start of specific therapy for these patients.

Epoetin alpha improves the response to antiviral treatment in HCV-related chronic hepatitis.

BACKGROUND: The conventional antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) often leads to anemia. In this case, it is necessary to reduce ribavirin dose or stop treatment, thus reducing the rate of sustained virological response. AIM: We investigated whether epoetin alpha administration improves treatment adherence and leads to higher percentage of response at the end of therapy and sustained virological response. METHODS: Two hundred and fourteen individuals with genotype 1b HCV-related chronic hepatitis underwent treatment with pegylated (peg)-interferon alpha-2A 180 µg once weekly and ribavirin 1,000-1,200 mg/day; 174 were responders. Forty individuals completed treatment with no hemoglobin reduction; 134 developed anemia during therapy. Anemic responders were distributed randomly into two groups: group 1 continued therapy with epoetin alpha addiction; group 2 continued antiviral therapy with ribavirin reduction only. RESULTS: Patients in group 1 achieved better control of hemoglobin levels (13.8 ± 1.2 g/dl at the end of therapy) than those in group 2 (11.5 ± 0.8 g/dl). Sustained virological response was 59.7% in group 1 compared with 34.4% in group 2 (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with 1b HCV-related chronic hepatitis who develop anemia during antiviral treatment, administration of epoetin alpha increases hemoglobin levels and the end-of-treatment rate and sustains virological response by improving treatment adherence.

Oxygen Redox Reaction in Ionic Liquid and Ionic Liquid-like Based Electrolytes: A Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Study.

Improving the stability of the cathode interface is one of the critical issues for the development of high-performance Li/O2 batteries. The most critical feature to address is the development of electrolytes that mitigate side reactions that bring about cathode passivation. It is well-known that the superoxide anion (O2•-) plays a critical role. Here, we propose scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) as an analytical tool to screen the electrolyte of Li/O2 batteries. We demonstrate that by using SECM it is possible to evaluate the stability of O2•- and of the cathode to the passivation process occurring during the oxygen redox reaction. Specifically, we report a study carried out at a glassy carbon electrode in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PYR14TFSI) and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and in tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether with LiTFSI, the latter ranging from the salt-in-solvent to solvent-in-salt regions.