The effects of exposure to crude oil or PAHs on fish swim bladder development and function.

The failure of the swim bladder to inflate during fish development is a common and sensitive response to exposure to petrochemicals. Here, we review potential mechanisms by which petrochemicals or their toxic components (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; PAHs) may affect swim bladder inflation, particularly during early life stages. Surface films formed by oil can cause a physical barrier to primary inflation by air gulping, and are likely important during oil spills. The act of swimming to the surface for primary inflation can be arduous for some species, and may prevent inflation if this behavior is limited by toxic effects on vision or musculature. Some studies have noted altered gene expression in the swim bladder in response to PAHs, and Cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) can be induced in swim bladder or rete mirabile tissue, suggesting that PAHs can have direct effects on swim bladder development. Swim bladder inflation failure can also occur secondarily to the failure of other systems; cardiovascular impairment is the best elucidated of these mechanisms, but other mechanisms might include non-inflation as a sequela of disruption to thyroid signaling or cholesterol metabolism. Failed swim bladder inflation has the potential to lead to chronic sublethal effects that are as yet unstudied.

Petroleum Intoxication: Literature Review and Case Report on Poisoning by Gasoline.

A literature review of cases of acute poisoning by petroleum and its distillates was conducted, while a new fatal case of suicide by gasoline intake is reported. Specifically, a number of studies were reviewed in order to update and summarize the relevant literature on the incidence, sociodemographic variables, method of poisoning, diagnostic - toxicological procedures, variables associated with survival and fatality on acute petroleum/gasoline intoxication. Results show that acute poisoning by petroleum and its distillates is relatively rare. Male prevalence was observed among patients, while most incidents were classified as suicide attempts. Oral ingestion was the most frequent method of intake, while a case of intravenous injection was also reported. The survival rates were low, as among all literature cases, two thirds of them managed to reach the hospital alive, and only the one fourth of them had a medically successful outcome.

[ARDS after Incidental Aspiration of Petroleum in an Adult]. / ARDS nach akzidentieller Aspiration von Petroleum bei einem Erwachsenen.

Petroleum aspiration as a reason for lipid pneumonia is a rare complication. Mostly children are affected and mortality rates are low. In most case series, virtually every subject survived.We describe here the case of a patient who developed ARDS and pneumatoceles with a fatal outcome. Due to the undulant nature of the disease, multipe thoracic CT were performed, enabling us to describe the precise radiologic course of the disease.

Contents of various elements in the organs of seabirds killed by an oil spill around Tsushima Island, Japan.

Twenty nine oil-soaked birds were collected from around the Coast of Tsushima Island. The contents of eight elements in the livers and kidneys of the birds were investigated. Statistically higher concentrations of vanadium and thallium in the liver and of titanium in the kidney were found in the birds that were found dead compared with those that died after rescued. A significant correlation (r=0.695, P<0.01) was observed only for the molybdenum content between the kidneys and livers from the birds found dead. Although the controls of the eight elements of birds investigated in the present study remain unexplained, some of lower concentration in rescued birds can be blamed on a decrease in food intake of birds. The relation between oil contamination and concentration of elements need to be further explored.

Down cancer alley: the lived experience of health and environmental suffering in Louisiana's chemical corridor.

With the massive Gulf oil spill of 2010, there has been intensified concern about the impacts of industrial contamination on physical environments, human health, and social well-being. Based on ethnographic research in a primarily African American town in an area of Southern Louisiana colloquially known as the Chemical Corridor because of the large number of local chemical manufacturing plants, this article engages arguments made by Auyero and Swistun concerning the uncertainties and confusions that emerge when official or empowered pronouncements about the health impacts of living near waste-generating factories conflict with the everyday experience of perceived health-related contamination in an impoverished community. The article seeks to address gaps in our understanding of how communities conceive of environmental health risk, what their sources of information and level of knowledge about this issue are, and how they handle potential conflict between access to needed employment and the local presence of industrial polluters.

Fatal necrotizing fasciitis following two suicide attempts with petroleum oil injection.

PURPOSES: Necrotizing fasciitis is an aggressively progressing complication of the skin and soft tissue infections. It has dramatic course and often leads to patient's death. METHODS: In our research, we present the casuistic case concerning double suicide attempt with petroleum oil injection, complicated by the necrotizing fasciitis, patient was with deliberately withheld mental disorders. RESULTS: During the first suicide attempt, the oil substance was injected into the left cubital fossa and left toes areas, what lead to amputation of the upper left limb above the cubitial fossa and the left toes. Afterward, patient gradually recovered and survived. Two years later, another suicide attempt took place with the same substance: a 27-year-old man injected the petroleum oil into the right supraclavicular area. That affected a necrosis penetrating into the mediastinum and the patient died. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, such case of the necrotizing fasciitis has not been previously reported. The mechanism of derivatives of oil influence on tissues is not investigated yet; therefore, treatment method is uncertain and sometimes ineffective.

Chest wall necrosis and empyema resulting from attempting suicide by injection of petroleum into the pleural cavity.

Hydrocarbon poisoning such as that of benzene and petroleum usually occurs accidentally by inhalation or ingestion of these cytotoxic chemical compounds. Intravenous or subcutaneous injection of petroleum compounds with intent of suicide or abuse is an extraordinary event that can result in local damage or systemic toxicity such as tissue necrosis, abscess formation, respiratory system failure and partial damage to the kidneys, the brain and the nervous system. In this article, we describe a 31-year-old man who was admitted in the surgery ward of Besat Hospital. He had widespread necrosis and infection of the chest wall soft tissue and also had empyema after a suicidal attempt by injection of 40 ml of petroleum into the left hemithorax. The patient underwent repeated surgical debridement of the chest wall necrotic tissues. With segmentectomy and flap reconstruction of the chest wall wound, he recovered completely and was discharged. Our report supports early and aggressive surgical debridement of necrotic tissue, thoracotomy tube insertion and special care of respiratory system toxicity after chest wall injection of petroleum. Regarding the basis of clinical findings and paraclinical investigations that measure lung parenchymal necrosis with empyema and fistula formation, thoracotomy and decortication with or without lung tissue resection and also chest wall reconstruction are the standard treatment of these patients.

Microalgae response to petroleum spill: an experimental model analysing physiological and genetic response of Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyceae) to oil samples from the tanker Prestige.

In November 2002, the oil tanker Prestige sank off the northwestern coast of Spain, spilling more than 50,000 tons of petroleum with disastrous ecological and economical consequences. In order to analyse the harmful consequences of the oil spill on marine microalgae, short- and long-term effects of oil samples from the Prestige spill were studied using laboratory cultures of Dunaliella tertiolecta (strain Dt1Lwt). Significant inhibition of photosynthesis (assessed by F(v)/F(m), ETR(max) and alpha estimations) was observed after only 1h of oil exposure with clear concentration dependency. Three days later, photosynthetic activity remained inhibited although cell survival was only slightly effected. In cultures exposed to the lowest oil concentration, mitotic rates and percentage of motile cells were 17-33% and 12-42% of the controls, respectively. After 1 month, neither dividing nor motile cells were observed at the highest oil concentrations. However, after further incubation, occasionally the growth of rare cells resistant to oil was found. A fluctuation analysis was carried out to distinguish between resistant cells arising from rare spontaneous mutations and resistant cells arising from physiological or other mechanisms of adaptation. The existence of rapid evolution as result of preselective mutations from petroleum sensitivity to petroleum resistance was observed. Resistant cells arose by rare spontaneous mutations prior to the addition of oil, with a mutation rate of 2.76x10(-5) oil-resistant mutants per cell division. Apparently, rare spontaneous preselective mutations are able to assure the survival of microalgae in oil-polluted environments.

The epidemiology of childhood poisonings in Cyprus.

Information on childhood poisonings in Cyprus is limited. Our objective was to examine the epidemiology of poisonings among children in Cyprus. All children up to 15 years of age admitted for poisoning to the Archbishop Makarios Hospital in Nicosia, Cyprus between 2005 and 2008 were included in our study. All hospital poisoning records were reviewed. A total of 257 children were admitted for poisoning. The mean age of children was 3.1 years, of which 83.7% were below the age of 5 years old, while 53% were boys. The poisoning hospitalizations accounted for about 3% of all admissions to the pediatric department during the study period (4 years). The annual cumulative incidence of childhood poisoning hospitalizations was 116 per 100,000 children. Medications accounted for 46.1% of all poisonings, the most frequent cause being paracetamol (9.8%), cardiovascular medications (5.3%), antitussive medications (4.5%), and other painkillers (4.1%). Another 37.6% of hospitalizations involved household products such as household cleaning products (11.8%), petroleum products (11.0%), and rodenticides (5.7%). Among children who ingested petroleum distillates, 55.6% developed clinical symptomatology. The vast majority of cases were accidental (93.8%). Suicidal cases involved children 8-14 years old, mainly girls, and the most frequent poisoning ingested was paracetamol (46.7%). Poisoning hospitalizations represent an important cause of morbidity among children in Cyprus. Preventive strategies should include the education of caregivers on the handling of medications and household products as well as legislation requiring child-resistant packaging for all medications and household products including petroleum distillates.

[Acute accidental poisoning in children: aspects of their epidemiology, aetiology, and outcome at the Charles de Gaulle Paediatric Hospital in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)]. / Les intoxications aiguës accidentelles de l'enfant: aspects épidémiologiques, étiologiques et évolutifs au CHU pédiatrique Charles-de-Gaulle de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).

Accidents are a daily concern in the paediatric ward because of their frequency, diversity and severity. Acute accidental poisoning (AAP) accounts for an important portion of these. To help improvement management of AAP, we conducted a retrospective study covering a period of 2 years from January 2005 to December 2006 at Charles de Gaulle Paediatric University Hospital in Ouagadougou. Of 9390 admissions during the study period, 123 children, or 1.3%, were admitted for poisoning. A cumulative average of 11 were admitted monthly, with a peak of 16 patients in April 2005 and 2006, together. AAP was most common among children aged 1 to 4 years. Their mean age was 3 years and ranged from 6 days to 12 years. Boys outnumbered girls, with a sex ratio of 1.2. Mothers of more than half (61%) of the children poisoned worked in the home. Household products accounted for 44.7% of AAPs, followed by drug (22.7%) and food (22%) poisoning. Kerosene and other petroleum products topped the list of household products, with 54.5%. Tranquilizers (46.4%) and dairy products (37%) dominated the drug and food poisoning categories. Immediate outcome was fatal in 3% of cases, and three quarters of these deaths occurred during drug poisoning of children aged 1 to 4 years. The mean hospital stay was 2 days, and ranged from 0 to 9 days. Health officials, the media, and community outreach must all help to increase awareness about the dangers of poisoning and of preventive measures.

[Poisoning in general practitioner's practice]. / Les intoxications en médecine générale.

Every year the Belgian Poison Center deals with more than 50.000 calls. When a medical evaluation is needed, the patients are often advised to contact their general practitioner. This article gives the general practitioner some clues to face common or severe poisoning situations like benzodiazepines, antidepressants, analgesics (paracetamol, ibuprofen, methadone...), nose drops, bleaches, petroleum distillates, mushrooms or carbon monoxide exposure.

Toxicological findings in two planned complex suicide cases: ingestion of petroleum distillates and subsequent hanging.

This paper describes two fatal cases of planned complex suicide by two male individuals, 86 and 51 years old, involving ingestion of petroleum distillates and hanging. Remarkable internal findings during autopsy of both cases included the intense odor of petroleum distillates that alerted authorities to the suspicion of ingestion. The initial toxicological screening and quantitation of these compounds were performed by gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection, and confirmation was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in total ion chromatogram mode after liquid-liquid extraction of biological samples following a previously published analytical method. In Case 1, diesel fuel No. 2 concentrations were < 5 mg/L heart blood and 18,160 mg/L gastric content (total amount 6356 mg); therapeutic concentrations of citalopram were also found in blood. In Case 2, xylene (mixture of isomers) concentrations were 0.3 mg/L in heart blood and 0.1 mg/L in gastric content (total amount 0.006 mg); ethanol (1.12 g/L) and therapeutic concentrations of nordiazepam, oxcarbazepine, ibuprofen, and metamizol were also found in blood. The medical examiners in both cases reported the cause of death as hanging, and based upon examination of the scenes and the anatomopathological and toxicological data, the manners of death were determined to be planned complex suicide. We would like to alert toxicologists of the importance of testing for petroleum distillates when there is a suspicion of ingestion of these products due to the odor observed at the scene of death and/or during autopsy. The results of these toxicological investigations can help to determine the manner of death and the medicolegal interpretation.