Comparison of the Cobalt Content in Needles Stainless Steel.

Cobalt (Co) alloys are used extensively in a wide range of medical devices due to their biocompatibility, durability, and properties. In 2017 the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) proposed to classify Co metal as a category 1B carcinogen (i.e. presumed to have carcinogenic potential for humans), as a reproductive hazard category 1B (i.e. presumed human reproductive toxicant) and as a category 2 mutagen. Even more, the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR) requires that medical devices contain > 0,1 w/w of substances that are category 1 A and 1B (CMR). As far as the European Medical Device Regulation, it is not specified if the Co content and concentration had to be determined/measured on the entire product or only on the product components. The object of this work is the comparison of Co profile in three different suppliers of stainless-steel needles as is and after being processed (i.e. sterilized) and then provide the proper interpretation and application of MDR requirements. The study and the extractable profile demonstrate the low cobalt content on needles and on a total syringe, thus suggesting to consider the Co content only on the syringe component.

The allergenic protein Tha p 2 of processionary moths of the genus Thaumetopoea (Thaumetopoeinae, Notodontidae, Lepidoptera): Characterization and evolution.

The allergenic Tha p 2 protein has been extracted recently from the urticating setae of the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa. In the present paper, we test for the occurrence of this protein in other Thaumetopoeinae, with a particular focus on members of the genus Thaumetopoea, as well as unrelated moth species, to better understand the physicochemical properties of the protein, the nature of encoding genes and their evolutionary history. Tha p 2 is encoded by the intronless gene Tha p 2 that is restricted to the processionary moths (Thaumetopoeinae, Notodontidae, Lepidoptera). Most of the species present two isoforms of Tha p 2 that can be interpreted as the result of heterozygosity in the single gene. The only exception is represented by Thaumetopoea wilkinsoni, in which 20 different isoforms occur in a single specimen, leading to the conclusion that, at least in this species, multiple copies of Tha p 2 exist. Serine, glycine, cysteine and leucine are abundant in Tha p 2, a protein well conserved among processionary moths. The predicted secondary structures of Tha p 2 indicate the presence of 3 α-helices and six ß-barrels. Finally, the evolution of the gene and the protein was characterized by a combination of positive and negative selection, with the latter being more evident.