Bioaccumulation of Copper and Zinc and the Effects on Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in the Liver of Acipenser stellatus (Pallas, 1771).

Although water pollution by metals in the Danube River is considered high, little is known about its impact on sturgeons. In this regard, the aim of this study was to investigate the bioaccumulation of copper and zinc as well as their effects on antioxidant enzymes activities in the liver of Acipenser stellatus. The fish were exposed for 7 and 14 days, to two concentrations of copper and zinc (10% and 25% of LC50 96 h), previously determined as 0.54 mg/L Cu2+ and, 34.22 mg/L Zn2+ respectively. The enzymatic responses of A. stellatus varied greatly depending on metal type, concentration and time. Significant bioaccumulation of the two metals was recorded. Even though the water hardness used in the experiment is known to offer a clear protection against metal contamination, stellate sturgeon remains a sensitive species in the face of metal toxicity.

Multiple Assays on Non-Target Organisms to Determine the Risk of Acute Environmental Toxicity in Tebuconazole-Based Fungicides Widely Used in the Black Sea Coastal Area.

The widespread use of Tebuconazole-based fungicides in phytosanitary treatments on a wide range of crops, on the one hand, and the lack of official reports on the amount of fungicide residues in nearby water basins, on the other hand, may lead to uncontrolled and hazardous contamination of water sources used by the resident population, and to serious effects on the environment and public health. Our study explores the acute toxicological risk of this fungicide on various organisms, from bacteria and yeast to fish, using a battery of tests (standardized Toxkit microbiotests and acute semi-static tests). By investigating the interaction between Tebuconazole and bacteria and yeast organisms, we observed that Gram-negative bacteria displayed a strong tolerance for Tebuconazole, while Gram-positive bacteria and yeasts proved to be very sensitive. The fish experiment was conducted on Chelon auratus juveniles exposed to five concentrations of the fungicide Tebustar EW (Tebuconazole, 250 g/L as active substance). After 96 h of exposure, the LC50 for C. auratus was 1.13 mg/L. In the case of the Toxkit microbiotests' application, the following results were recorded: Spirodela polyrhiza EC50 = 2.204 mg/L (after 72 h exposure), Thamnocephalus platyurus EC50 = 0.115 mg/L (after 24 h), and Daphnia magna EC50 = 2.37 mg/L (after 24-48 h). With the exception of bacteria and yeast, the same response pattern was observed for all non-target species tested; the response range expressed by concentrations causing growth inhibition or mortality was small, ranging between very close values that are quite low, thereby demonstrating the high toxicity of Tebuconazole-based fungicides to the environment.

Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment of Actellic 50 EC Insecticide on Non-Target Organisms in Parallel with the Application of Standardized Tests.

This paper contributes to the ecotoxicological risk assessment of the Actellic 50 EC insecticide (with 50% pirimiphos-methyl as the active substance) tested on non-target organisms. The insecticide concentrations tested were the same for all organisms (0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 mg L-1 of Actellic 50 EC), with an exposure of 3-5-21 days for plants and 4-5-14 days for animals. The non-target organisms tested were both plants (wheat and two ferns) and animals (the Prussian carp and marsh frog tadpoles). The tested insecticide significantly inhibited the growth of roots in wheat, a result that was also confirmed by a microbiotest application (62% root growth inhibition in sorghum and 100% germination inhibition in white mustard and garden cress). In ferns, even for the lowest concentration, the percentage of germinated spores was inhibited by 40% for Asplenium scolopendrium. The recorded toxicological effects of Actellic 50 EC upon the Prussian carp included a decrease in the respiratory rate and oxygen consumption, an increase in the number of erythrocytes and leukocytes, and an increase in blood glucose levels. The highest concentration (0.1 mg L-1 of Actellic 50 EC) caused a 50% decrease in the survival rate of marsh frog tadpoles after 5 days of exposure, negatively affecting body volume and length. Given the high degree of toxicity of the insecticide Actellic 50 EC, we recommend continuing investigations on non-target species, including both plants and animals, as the sub-chronic effects are quite little known in the scientific literature.

Primary, secondary or less frequent causes of immune thrombocytopenia: A case report.

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is characterized by isolated low platelet count and it is a diagnosis of exclusion, contrasting to secondary ITP. Therefore, a positive diagnosis is difficult and requires extensive investigation. Some of the underlying conditions that are associated with ITP are lymphoproliferative disorders and infections, especially viral ones. In the present study, the case of a patient diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, who received chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is presented. After a complete remission of four years, the patient presented with sudden intense hemorrhagic syndrome and severely decreased platelet count. The most frequent causes of secondary ITP were excluded, including lymphoma relapse, and intravenous corticosteroids were started. However, shortly after hospital admission, the patient developed neuro-psychiatric anomalies, fever and pancytopenia, and West-Nile encephalitis was diagnosed. Although the initial development was favorable, he started to complain of progressive severe muscle weakness and eventually succumbed to infectious complications in the setting of prolonged hospitalization, corticotherapy, and immobilization.

Ethnicity-related DMD Genotype Landscapes in European and Non-European Countries.

OBJECTIVE: Genetic diagnosis and mutation identification are now compulsory for Duchenne (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophies (BMD), which are due to dystrophin (DMD) gene mutations, either for disease prevention or personalized therapies. To evaluate the ethnic-related genetic assortments of DMD mutations, which may impact on DMD genetic diagnosis pipelines, we studied 328 patients with DMD and BMD from non-European countries. METHODS: We performed a full DMD mutation detection in 328 patients from 10 Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Russia) and 2 non-European countries (Cyprus and Algeria). We used both conventional methods (multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification [MLPA] followed by gene-specific sequencing) and whole-exome sequencing (WES) as a pivotal study ran in 28 patients where DMD mutations were already identified by standard techniques. WES output was also interrogated for DMD gene modifiers. RESULTS: We identified DMD gene mutations in 222 male patients. We identified a remarkable allele heterogeneity among different populations with a mutation landscape often country specific. We also showed that WES is effective for picking up all DMD deletions and small mutations and its adoption could allow a detection rate close to 90% of all occurring mutations. Gene modifiers haplotypes were identified with some ethnic-specific configurations. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide unreported mutation landscapes in different countries, suggesting that ethnicity may orient genetic diagnosis flowchart, which can be adjusted depending on the mutation type frequency, with impact in drug eligibility.

A Challenging Case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease Associated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Review of the Literature.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease (KFD) or histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis is a rare disease that is frequently underdiagnosed due to clinical features that are similar to those of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or infectious reactive lymphadenopathy. An excisional biopsy is required. We report a young Caucasian female diagnosed with KFD with skin lesions, complicating with SLE. The clinical course, laboratory, and CT findings are described, as are histopathologic features, for a better recognition of this rare disorder in clinical practice.

POEMS syndrome complicated with multiple ischemic vascular events: case report and review of literature.

POEMS syndrome (acronym consisting of: polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes) is an uncommon disorder associated with an underlying plasma cell dyscrasia. There is no single specific test for POEMS, and due to its rarity and heterogeneity, patients are often mis- or underdiagnosed. Castleman disease (CD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder, closely related to POEMS syndrome; ~11%-30% of POEMS patients are associated with concomitant CD. In contrast to frequently published reports on vascular events in POEMS syndrome affecting coronary arteries or lower limbs, cases of cerebrovascular events are rarely mentioned in literature. We hereby report a patient with POEMS syndrome accompanied by CD who presented recurrent strokes and splenic infarction.

Peripheral T and NK cell non-hodgkin lymphoma a challenge for diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Peripheral T and natural killer (NK) cell lymphomas represent a heterogeneous group of diseases with varied clinical features, prognosis and response to treatment.Content and comments: Flow cytometric immunophenotyping facilitated the diagnosis and classification for T/NK-cell neoplasms, and is very useful in the identification of therapeutic target markers. Clinical, immunophenotypic, histopathological, immunohistochemical, molecular and genetic methods must be correlated because none of them is strong enough alone for diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The low incidence of NK/T-cell lymphoma poses real difficulties for a complete and correct assessment. The unspecified lymphomas represent a heterogeneous group, which requires additional studies to elucidate their biological and genetic bases, to separate them. The group of NK/T-cell lymphomas remains a challenge for researchers.

Difficulty in classifying a B cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorder CD5+.

We present the case of a 53 years old woman diagnosed with splenic marginal zone lymphomas with plasmacytic differentiation (after a lymph node biopsy), who, complained of mild asthenia, weight loss (about 10 kg in 9 months), spatial disorientation during the last period. The clinical examination revealed slight pallor, normal cardiovascular and respiratory examination; painful cervical, about 5cm in diameter and also non-painful inguinal lymphadenopathies, increased consistency, freely movable, about 2 cm in diameter. The patient presented enlarged liver (lower limit at 3 cm below the ribs) and spleen (inferior pole at the ombilicus). The laboratory tests showed leucocytosis with lymphocytosis-a clonal population of lymphocytes- CD19+, CD20low+, CD22+, CD5low+, CD24+, CD200low+, CD79B+, CD43-, FMC7+/-, CD10+/-, CD34-, BCL2+, TdT-, CD34-, CD10-, CD3-. We suggested the diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma, blastoid variant and performed a bone marrow biopsy . The bone marrow biopsy excluded the diagnosis of mantel cell lymphoma, based on the absence of cycline D1. The histopathological appearance and the immunohistochemical tests (CD20+, CD79a+, CD5low+, TdT-, CD34-cycline D1-) suggested a blastoid variant of small lymphocytic lymphoma.

Chronic myeloid leukemia--from the National to the European Registry--limited experience of a single center.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a hematopoietic stem cell disorder in which the diagnosis is confirmed by detection of a genetic marker: Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome in almost 90% of cases. Some of Ph1 negative patients, nevertheless, test positive for the abnormal gene, or the abnormal protein associated with this chromosome, when more sensitive studies, such as PCR or FISH are used and nowadays the diagnosis of CML is based, not only on cytogenetic, but also on molecular analysis. The better understanding of the CML biology provided by the latest researches requires a deeper knowledge about the epidemiologic data in each geographic area, so the compiling of a National and/or European Registry for CML patients, that represents one of the aims of this study, became a stringent matter in our days; it can offer valuable data concerning the real incidence of this disease in Romania and can provide the basics for establishing long-term budgetary strategies.