High-resolution inventory of NO emissions from agricultural soils over the Ile-de-France region.

Arable soils are a significant source of nitric oxide (NO), a precursor of tropospheric ozone, and thereby contribute to ozone pollution. However, their actual impact on ozone formation is strongly related to their spatial and temporal emission patterns, which warrant high-resolution estimates. Here, we combined an agro-ecosystem model and geo-referenced databases to map these sources over the 12,000 km2 administrative region surrounding Paris, France, with a kilometric level resolution. The six most frequent arable crop species were simulated, with emission rates ranging from 1.4 kg N-NO ha(-1) yr(-1) to 11.1 kg N-NO ha(-1) yr(-1). The overall emission factor for fertilizer-derived NO emissions was 1.7%, while background emissions contributed half of the total NO efflux. Emissions were strongly seasonal, being highest in spring due to fertilizer inputs. They were mostly sensitive to soil type, crops' growing season and fertilizer N rates.

MODIS and OMI satellite observations supporting air quality monitoring.

Within the framework of air quality monitoring, measurements by Earth-observing satellite sensors are combined here with regional meteorological and chemical transport models. Two satellite-derived products developed within the QUITSAT project, regarding significant pollutants including PM(2.5) and NO(2), are presented. Estimates of PM(2.5) concentrations at ground level were obtained using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (Terra-Aqua/NASA) aerosol optical properties. The semi-empirical approach adopted takes into account PM(2.5) sampling and meteorological descriptions of the area studied, as simulated by MM5, to infer aerosol optical properties to PM projection coefficients. Daily maps of satellite-based PM(2.5) concentrations over northern Italy are derived. Monthly average values were compared with in situ PM(2.5) samplings showing good agreement. Ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) (Aura/NASA) NO(2) tropospheric contents are merged using the GAMES chemical model simulations. The method employs a weighted rescaling of the model column in the troposphere according to the OMI observations. The weightings take into account measurement errors and model column variances within the satellite ground pixel. The obtained ground-level concentrations of NO(2) show good agreement with the environmental agencies' in situ.

[Noma in a patient with acute leukemia allergic to penicillin]. / Noma in paziente con leucemia acuta allergica alla penicillina.

Noma has virtually disappeared from Europe, but is still found in certain parts of Africa, South America and Asia. In our case the etiologic agent was Pseudomonas aeruginosa sensitive to antibiotic therapy that we used (pefloxacin and netilmicin). Another characteristic aspect of our case is the rapid infaust evolution. In this report will be discuss the pathogenesis and the reason of the failure of the antibiotic therapy especially in immunodeficiency patients.

[Efficacy of erythropoietin in anemia of patients with immuno-lymphoproliferative disease]. / Efficacia dell'eritropoietina nell'anemia dei pazienti con malattie immuno-linfoproliferative.

Anemia is a common complication of lymphoproliferative syndromes. The exact pathogenic mechanism of this anemia is unclear. Many patients require progressive and persistent blood transfusions. We treated 10 patients (8 with multiple myeloma, 1 with non Hodgkin Lymphoma, 1 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia) by administering low doses of recombinant human erythropoietin (60 U/kg 3 times a week s.c.). All patients presented anemia with hemoglobin levels less than 10 gr/dl; renal function was not impaired (serum creatinine levels less than 1.2 mg/dl or creatinine clearance greater than 60 ml/min). A response was defined as an increase of hemoglobin level of at least 2 gr/dl or stop of red-cell transfusion within the first 3 months of treatment. Nine patients (90%) responded to treatment with a significant increase in the hemoglobin concentration. Two patients presented a cerebral stroke not correlated with erythropoietin administration.

Primary gastrointestinal lymphoma: a clinicopathological study of 58 cases.

BACKGROUND: Primary non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the gastrointestinal tract (GI) is the most frequent extranodal lymphoma accounting for approximately 40% of all extranodal primary NHL. The role of surgery and other treatment modalities in the management of these patients is still controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of 68 patients with primary GI-NHL. Ten patients had incomplete records and were excluded from further evaluation. The records of 58 patients were considered, and all were available for analysis and follow-up. RESULTS: The most frequent site of involvement was the stomach (47 patients), followed by ileum (7 patients), large bowel (3 patients) and duodenum (1 patient). Malignant lymphomas of follicular center cell origin represented the most prevalent histologic types, accounting for 58% (34 of 58) of all cases. Stage, evaluated according to the criteria of Musshoff, was Ie in 15 cases, IIe in 16, IIIe in 7, and IV in the remaining 20 cases. The median survival for the entire group of 58 patients was 54 months, with 46% of patients surviving at 5 years. The median survival was 71 months for patients in stage I-II, 60 for patients in stage III, and 25 for patients in stage IV (p = 0.016). Moreover, we found significantly improved survival in patients undergoing surgical tumor resection (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Even if at the present time the optimal management of primary GI-NHL is difficult to assess, our data suggest that it is prudent to advise resection followed by adjuvant CT in most patients, whereas CT alone should be considered only when surgery cannot be performed.

A cytomorphological and immunohistochemical study of bone marrow in the diagnosis of essential mixed type II cryoglobulinemia.

BACKGROUND: Type II essential cryoglobulinemia may be associated with a lymphoproliferative disorder of beta lineage that shows a low degree of malignancy. METHODS AND RESULTS: The authors report a case recorded of 35 patients (30 females and 5 males) affected by mixed cryoglobulinemia type II (MC II) that has been typed by immunofixation, a procedure that allows the identification of minute amounts of monoclonal components. In 20 patients with the "essential" form, the bone marrow histology revealed the presence of nodular aggregates of lymphocytes that were consistent with the diagnosis of immunocytoma in 14 cases and of early stage plasmocytoma in 1 case. The immunohistochemical analysis carried out in 5 of these cases allowed the identification of B lymphocytes in the nodules, thus confirming the diagnosis of low malignancy lymphoma. In our series the percentage of proliferative disorders of B lymphocyte lineage was 66%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the cytohistological analysis of bone marrow is highly recommended in the study of essential mixed cryoglobulinemia and that histological analysis supplemented with immunohistochemistry is preferred to the simple cytological analysis of bone aspirate.

[The onset of double metachronous neoplasms 29 years after the diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease]. / Insorgenza di doppia neoplasia metacrona 29 anni dopo la diagnosi di malattia di Hodgkin.

The occurrence of two new cancers (a diffuse centrocytic lymphoma and a basal cell cancer) in a patient successfully treated for Hodgkin's disease 29 years before is reported. The centrocytic lymphoma mainly involved the skin, the basal cell carcinoma developed on the dorsum of the right hand. The patient had received high-dose Roentgen-radiation therapy on the mediastinum and lymph nodes for his Hodgkin's disease. The possible relationship between performed therapy and occurrence of new malignancies is discussed.

[Scintigraphy with indium-111-oxine in the diagnosis of occult inflammation foci. Personal contribution]. / La scintigrafia con indio-111-ossina nella diagnosi di focolai infiammatori occulti. Contributo personale.

In three patients with fever of unknown etiology, an Indium-111-Oxine WBC (White blood cell) scan was performed, in order to detect occult sites of inflammation. An intra-abdominal abscess was located in two cases, while in the third the negative result of the scan directed the diagnosis to other systemic pathologies.

Plasma fibronectin in hemoblastosis.

Fibronectin (FN) is a glycoprotein whose plasma concentrations are reduced in many pathological conditions. In patients with hemoblastosis plasma FN was correlated with some clinical and biological parameters (stage of the disease, hepatosplenomegaly, infections and DIC), in order to assess its value as a tumor marker. The results suggest a poor relationship between FN levels and the course of the disease. However, the behaviour of the protein in relation with treatment was dynamic.

Platelet alpha-granule release in chronic myeloproliferative disorders with thrombocytosis.

Platelet alpha-granule release in 22 patients affected by chronic myeloproliferative disorders with thrombocytosis and seven subjects with thrombocytosis secondary to splenectomy were studied. We found elevated beta-thromboglobulin (BTG) and platelet factor 4 (PF4) plasma levels in all patients. Intraplatelet content of BTG and PF4 was decreased in patients with idiopathic thrombocythaemia (IT) and idiopathic myelofibrosis (IMF). The BTG and PF4 results were also expressed as the ratio plasma BTG and PF4: whole blood platelet count. In patients with IT, BTG: whole blood platelet count ratio was low, conversely, the same ratio was high in patients with IMF. In conclusion, our results suggest the presence of an abnormal, BTG-deficient clone in IT and a peripheral platelet activation in IMF.

Platelet alpha granule release in diabetes mellitus.

We studied beta-thromboglobulin (BTG) and platelet factor 4 (PF4) plasma levels in 90 diabetic subjects; we found high plasma values of these proteins only in patients with complications. To provide further indications regarding the role of platelet activation in the pathogenesis of diabetic microangiopathy, we also tested mobilizable platelet content of BTG and PF4; we found these similar to those of normal subjects.