Liver Cirrhosis From Chronic Hypervitaminosis A Resulting in Liver Transplantation: A Case Report.

Herein we report a case of liver dysfunction caused by consumption of vitamin A supplements leading to liver transplantation. The patient was a 48-year-old male with a medical history of congenital ichthyosiform erythroderma in treatment with vitamin A until 12 years of age, at which point he discontinued the supplements because he had developed ascites. Liver cirrhosis was diagnosed as secondary to hypervitaminosis A on the basis of histologic examination of liver biopsy and the absence of other potential causes of chronic liver disease. Despite interruption of administration of vitamin A, the patient continued to deteriorate over the years, with development of portal hypertension signs. His medical conditions were aggravated with the development of hepatic insufficiency manifested by refractory ascites, renal insufficiency, and severe encephalopathy and he underwent orthotopic liver transplantation, followed by disappearance of all signs of portal hypertension. This case highlights the need to take a careful history of consumption of vitamin A when evaluating a patient with liver failure.

Sulfonamides photoassisted oxidation treatments catalyzed by ilmenite.

This work assesses the feasibility of several advanced oxidation processes (CWPO Catalytic Wet Peroxide Oxidation), Photocatalysis and their combination (CWPO-Photoassisted process) for sulfonamide antibiotic degradation. Raw ilmenite was used as catalyst in both processes, because of the presence of iron and titanium in its structure. Despite both treatments allowed reaching a total starting antibiotic depletion working at pH0 = 3 and T0 = 30 °C within 30 min reaction time, significant differences were observed in terms of mineralization. Thus, whereas photocatalytic process just reduced 35% of initial TOC after 120 min, a 85% of mineralization was reached in the presence of H2O2 (CWPO-Photoassisted process) which was related to the oxidation pathway. Only a 35% of mineralization was reached in case of CWPO. In this sense, the degradation route under CWPO-Photoassisted process displayed a mechanism based on the hydroxylation that led to lower molecular weight intermediates. On the contrary, under photocatalysis conditions, the appearance of higher molecular weight intermediates due to organic radical recombination indicates the prevailing of a condensation mechanism.

[Splenic rupture in acute pancreatitis]. / Rotura esplénica en una pancreatitis aguda.

The case of a 42-years-old male with acute pancreatitis of ethanol origin and formation of pseudocysts in the tail of the pancreas is presented. The patient suddenly presented a picture of hypovolemic shock caused by rupture of the spleen. Emergency splenectomy with resection of necrotic tissue was performed and thrombosis of the splenic vein was observed. The patient evolved satisfactorily following surgery.