Toxicological impacts of roadway deicers on aquatic resources and human health: A review.

During winter, snow and ice on roads in regions with cold weather can increase traffic crashes and casualties, resulting in travel delays and financial burdens to society. Anti-icing or deicing the roads can serve a cost-effective method to significantly reduce such risks. Although traditionally the main priorities of winter road maintenance (WRM) have been level of service, cost-effectiveness, and corrosion reduction, it is increasingly clear that understanding the environmental impacts of deicers is vital. One of the most important problems in this regard is environmental contamination caused by cumulative use of deicers, which has many detrimental effects on the aquatic systems. Among the deicers, the chloride-based ones raise the most toxicological concerns because they are highly soluble, can migrate quickly in the environment and have cumulative effects over time. In this review, we summarize and organize existing data, including the latest findings about the adverse effects of deicers on surface water and groundwater, aquatic species, and human health, and identify future research priorities. In addition, the data provided can be used to develop a framework for quantifying some of the variables that stakeholders and agencies use when preparing guidelines and standards for WRM programs. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Pollution from the increasing use of roadway deicers may have detrimental effects on the environment. Of particular concern are the acute and cumulative risks that chloride salts pose to aquatic species. Chloride salts are water-soluble, very difficult to remove, highly mobile, and non-degradable. Deicers cause water stratification, change the chemicophysical properties of water, and affect aquatic species and human health. Current guidelines may not be appropriate for environmental protection and need to be revised.

Humanized Culture Medium for Clinical-Grade Generation of Erythroid Cells from Umbilical Cord Blood CD34+ Cells.

Purpose: Transfusion of red blood cells (RBCs) is a supportive and common treatment in surgical care, trauma, and anemia. However, in vivo production of RBC seems to be a suitable alternative for blood transfusions due to the limitation of blood resources, the possibility of disease transmission, immune reactions, and the presence of rare blood groups. Cell cultures require serum-free or culture media supplemented with highly expensive animal serum, which can transmit xenoviruses. Platelet lysate (PL) can be considered as a suitable alternative containing a high level of growth factors and a low production cost. Methods: Three-step culture media supplemented with PL or fetal bovine serum (FBS) were used for proliferation and differentiation of CD34+ umbilical cord blood stem cells to erythrocytes in co-culture with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). The cells were cultivated for 15 days and cell proliferation and expansion were assessed using cell counts at different days. Erythroid differentiation genes, CD71 and glycophorin A expression levels were evaluated. Results: Maximum hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) proliferation was observed on day 15 in PL-containing medium (99±17×103-fold). Gene expression and surface markers showed higher differentiation of cells in PL-containing medium. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that PL can enhance erythroid proliferation and differentiation of CD34+ HSCs. PL can also be used as a proper alternative for FBS in the culture medium and HSCs differentiation.

Epidemiology, Associated Factors and Treatment Methods of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Based on Previous Data from 2013 to 2018 in Ilam, Western Iran.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology, clinical presentation and types of treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the province of Ilam (Western Iran) in 5 years (from May 2013 to January 2018). This cross-sectional study involved patients diagnosed with CL who were referred to Mehran City Health center. METHODS: All patients were diagnosed by clinical and parasitological (Giemsa staining of lesion to observe the parasite) methods. Moreover, a structured questionnaire on demographic data including age, sex, occupation, number and site of the lesions, treatment regimen was administered to each case. RESULTS: In total, 2001 positive CL cases were observed in this study. The highest prevalence of CL was reported in the autumn season and mainly among male subjects residing in urban communities. The prevalence of CL varied with the age group: higher in the age group of 1-10 years than other groups. Besides, hands and faces were the most affected regions of the body. Most of the cases (47.35%) were managed by topical treatment (glucantime) and cryotherapy followed by systemic treatment (pentavalent antimony) 26.85%. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of disease varied with age, increasing the prevalence rate in children due to their habitats, the highest prevalence in autumn due to climatic conditions. These findings help to better discuss the prevention and treatment of infections.

Size-Dependent Neurotoxicity of Aluminum Oxide Particles: a Comparison Between Nano- and Micrometer Size on the Basis of Mitochondrial Oxidative Damage.

Aluminum nanoparticles (AlNPs) are among the most abundantly produced nanosized particles in the market. There is limited information about the potential harmful effects of aluminum oxide due to its particle size on human health. Considering the toxic effects of Al on brain as its target tissue, in this study, the toxicity of nanoparticles, microparticles, and ionic forms of Al on rat brain and isolated mitochondria was evaluated. Sixty male Wistar rats were divided into ten groups (six rats each), in which group I was the control, and the other groups were administered different doses of Al nanoparticles, Al microparticles (AlMP), and Al ionic forms (2, 4, and 8 mg/kg, i.p.) for 28 days. After 24 h, the animals were killed, brain tissue was separated, the mitochondrial fraction was isolated, and oxidative stress markers were measured. Also, mitochondrial function was assayed by MTT test. The results showed that all forms of Al particles induced ROS formation, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, glutathione depletion, mitochondrial dysfunction, and gait abnormalities in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, Al particles decreased mitochondrial membrane potential. These data indicated that oxidative stress might contribute to the toxicity effects of Al. Comparison of oxidative stress markers between all forms of Al revealed that the toxic effect of AlNP on brain tissue was substantially more than that caused by AlMP and bulk form. This study showed more neurotoxicity of AlNPs compared to other forms on brain oxidative damage that probably is due to more penetration into the brain.

Anesthetic Considerations in Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery: A Review Article.

CONTEXT: This article discusses the anesthetic considerations in patients undergoing bariatric surgery in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases of surgery. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: This review includes studies involving obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Searches have been conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Review using the terms obese, obesity, bariatric, anesthesia, perioperative, preoperative, perioperative, postoperative, and their combinations. RESULTS: Obesity is a major worldwide health problem associated with many comorbidities. Bariatric surgery has been proposed as the best alternative treatment for extreme obese patients when all other therapeutic options have failed. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthetists must completely assess the patients before the surgery to identify anesthesia- related potential risk factors and prepare for management during the surgery.