ORAL MANIFESTATIONS OF VIRAL INFECTIONS IN IMMUNOCOMPROMISED CANCER PATIENTS

Immunodeficiencies induced by chemotherapy make cancer patients vulnerable to to reactivation of latent viruses and to primary viral infections caused by exposure to environmental factors, such as air, water, microbial flora and debris. Patients with hematological cancers are more prone than patients with solid tumors to develop viral infections that affect the oral cavity due to high-dose chemotherapy regimens and prolonged immunosuppression. Viruses of the Herpetoviridae family (herpes simplex, varicella, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr) and human papillomavirus cause mouth pain with difficulties in eating and oral ulcerations that can spread, leading to life-threatening systemic infection. Therapeutic approaches for the more severe and atypical oral manifestations seen in cancer immunosuppressed patients include inhibitors of virus replication, antivirals, surgical excision and analgesics, but the painful oral lesions are associated with longer healing times. The differential diagnosis of a oral ulcers in cancer patients is broad, but it should include various viral infections

Multiyear Typology of Long-Range Transported Aerosols over Europe

In this study, AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) and EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) data from 17 collocated lidar and sun photometer stations were used to characterize the optical properties of aerosol and their types for the 2008–2018 period in various regions of Europe. The analysis was done on six cluster domains defined using circulation types around each station and their common circulation features. As concluded from the lidar photometer measurements, the typical aerosol particles observed during 2008–2018 over Europe were medium-sized, medium absorbing particles with low spectral dependence. The highest mean values for the lidar ratio at 532 nm were recorded over Northeastern Europe and were associated with Smoke particles, while the lowest mean values for the Angstrom exponent were identified over the Southwest cluster and were associated with Dust and Marine particles. Smoke (37%) and Continental (25%) aerosol types were the predominant aerosol types in Europe, followed by Continental Polluted (17%), Dust (10%), and Marine/Cloud (10%) types. The seasonal variability was insignificant at the continental scale, showing a small increase in the percentage of Smoke during spring and a small increase of Dust during autumn. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) slightly decreased with time, while the Angstrom exponent oscillated between “hot and smoky” years (2011–2015) on the one hand and “dusty” years (2008–2010) and “wet” years (2017–2018) on the other hand. The high variability from year to year showed that aerosol transport in the troposphere became more and more important in the overall balance of the columnar aerosol load