Conductometric simultaneous determination of acetic acid, monochloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid using orthogonal signal correction-partial least squares.

A simultaneous conductometric titration method for determination of mixtures of acetic acid, monochloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid based on the multivariate calibration partial least squares is proposed. It is possible to obtain an adjustable model to relate squared concentration values of the mixtures used in the calibration range by conductance. The effect of orthogonal signal correction (OSC) as a preprocessing technique used to remove the information unrelated to the target variables is studied. The calibration model was build using conductometric titrations data of 16 mixtures of three acids. The concentration matrix was designed by a orthogonal design. The root mean squares error of prediction (RMSEP) for acetic acid, monochloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid with and without OSC were 0.08, 0.30 and 0.08, and 0.15, 0.40 and 0.18, respectively. The results obtained by OSC-PLS are better than the PLS and this indicate the successful application of the OSC filter as a good preprocessing method in multivariate calibration methods. The proposed procedure allows the simultaneous determination of these acids, in the synthetic mixtures.

Subclassification of localized Leishmania lymphadenitis in fine needle aspiration smears.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the cytologic findings of localized Leishmania lymphadenitis and discuss the differential diagnosis. STUDY DESIGN: The study group consisted of 133 cases. All of them were diagnosed by fine needle aspiration (FNA) study. The ages ranged between 3 and 80 years, 102 were male and 31 female. Seventy lymph nodes were excised. RESULTS: The FNA smears revealed a polymorphic population of cells composed of lymphocytes, histiocytes, giant cells, abnormal plasma cells and tingible body macrophages. Leishman-Donovan (LD) bodies were identified in all cases, but their number differed from case to case. Granulomas, dendritic cells, mast cells and lymphoglandular bodies were identified in a substantial number of cases. Depending upon the presence of characteristic cytologic findings, the cases were divided into five major groups: acute inflammation with giant cells, histiocytic granulomas, epithelioid cell granulomas, plasma cell type and mixed histioplasmacytic type. CONCLUSION: Leishmaniasis is an uncommon cause of cervical lymphadenitis but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained lymphadenopathy in endemic countries. Demonstration of LD bodies is necessary for the diagnosis of this self-limited condition, for which no treatment is required.

The characterization of Leishmania from patients with lymphadenopathy in Shiraz, Iran.

Leishmania were cultured from enlarged lymph nodes of 6 of 18 patients with localized lymphadenitis and no other sign or symptom of leishmaniasis in Shiraz, Iran. The organisms failed to produce visible lesions when injected intradermally or intraperitoneally into Swiss outbred white or Balb/c mice. Golden hamsters similarly injected appeared well 16 weeks later, but histological examination of their spleens and livers revealed a few amastigotes in sections of the liver of one. Lectin agglutination profiles of promastigotes cultured from 2 of the patients were identical with those obtained with the World Health Organization reference strain of L. tropica (MHOM/SU/74/K27). Isoenzyme characterization of one of the isolates showed it to be L. tropica zymodeme LON18.

Diagnosis of metastatic adamantinoma of the tibia by pulmonary brushing cytology.

A case of adamantinoma of the tibia metastatic to the lung is reported in which the metastatic lesion was initially diagnosed by pulmonary brushing cytology. The cytologic features, including clusters of small cells with either prominent nucleoli or spindle-shaped hyperchromatic nuclei, appear to be distinctive enough to differentiate this lesion from other metastatic malignant tumors of the lung.