Granulomatous Hepatitis Secondary to Histoplasmosis in an Immunocompetent Patient

Histoplasma capsulatum is the most common endemic mycosis in the United States and usually occurs in certain geographic areas, such as the Mississippi or Ohio River valleys. Histoplasmosis usually causes a mild disease in the immunocompetent but can progress to disseminated disease in patients with impaired immunity. Granulomatous hepatitis as a manifestation of disseminated histoplasmosis in immunocompetent patients is extremely rare. We report the case of a 62-year-old immunocompetent gentleman with a history of histoplasmosis who presented with abdominal pain, elevated liver enzymes, who was diagnosed with granulomatous hepatitis secondary to histoplasmosis

Ultra-small fatty acid-stabilized magnetite nanocolloids synthesized by in situ hydrolytic precipitation

© 2015 Kheireddine El-Boubbou et al. Simple, fast, large-scale, and cost-effective preparation of uniform controlled magnetic nanoparticles remains a major hurdle on the way towards magnetically targeted applications at realistic technical conditions. Herein, we present a unique one-pot approach that relies on simple basic hydrolytic in situ coprecipitation of inexpensive metal salts (Fe<sup>2+</sup> and Fe<sup>3+</sup>) compartmentalized by stabilizing fatty acids and aided by the presence of alkylamines. The synthesis was performed at relatively low temperatures (80°C) without the use of high-boiling point solvents and elevated temperatures. This method allowed for the production of ultra-small, colloidal, and hydrophobically stabilized magnetite metal oxide nanoparticles readily dispersed in organic solvents. The results reveal that the obtained magnetite nanoparticles exhibit narrow size distributions, good monodispersities, high saturation magnetizations, and excellent colloidal stabilities. When the [fatty acid]: [Fe] ratio was varied, control over nanoparticle diameters within the range of 2-10 nm was achieved. The amount of fatty acid and alkylamine used during the reaction proved critical in governing morphology, dispersity, uniformity, and colloidal stability. Upon exchange with water-soluble polymers, the ultra-small sized particles become biologically relevant, with great promise for theranostic applications as imaging and magnetically targeted delivery vehicles

Small Bowel Metastasis as a Presentation of Testicular Seminoma

Testicular germ cell tumors account for 95% of testicular cancers in men with approximately 71,000 patients being diagnosed with testicular cancer every year. The overall survival of testicular germ cell tumors is approximately 95%. However, the prognosis becomes less favorable when distant metastasis is present. Gastrointestinal (GI) tract metastasis occurs in less than 5% of patients with non-seminomatous tumors, and in less than 1% in patients with pure seminomas. GI metastasis usually involves the colon, esophagus, and stomach with the most common symptoms of GI metastasis being diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and obstruction. We discuss the case of a 42-year-old male patient with GI manifestations as the first presentation of testicular seminoma with metastasis to the small bowel. Computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a small bowel mass, and the diagnosis was confirmed with histopathologic examination of endoscopic biopsy samples. The patient subsequently underwent chemotherapy treatment with close surveillance. Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion in the differential diagnosis of abdominal pain in young male patients, especially when associated with symptoms like unexplained weight loss, constitutional symptoms, and testicular pain or swelling. Metastasis to the GI tract from the testis should be promptly diagnosed and managed, as the overall survival rates can significantly decrease with the delay of diagnosis

Ciprofloxacin removal from non-clinical environment: A critical review of current methods and future trend prospects

Antibiotics in the environment represent a significant threat to global public health. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is one of the second generation groups of synthetic fluoroquinolones and the most widely used antibiotics worldwide. The current work aimed to review and analyze the current methods used for eliminating CIP and identify the ap�proaches for more advanced technologies that could provide more removal efficiency for CIP removal from the non-clinical environment. The VOSviewer software tool was used to build and visualize bibliometric networks by creating a map based on bibliographic data for keywords and most countries published on the CIP removal from the Scopus database. The present review analyses the sustainable methods for removing CIP from the non-clinical environment and highlights the most efficient techniques used to remove CIP. The adsorption process of CIP is highly efficient, with a removal percentage of 95%. The microbial electrolysis ultraviolet cell (MEUC) procedure removed 100% of CIP. The degradation of CIP by UV/H2O2/O3 and its sub-processes increased the degradation of CIP from 41.2% to 98.5%. The photocatalytic degradation exhibit 92.81% removal of CIP from wastewater samples. The three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene has excellent adsorption properties to eliminate CIP by 93% in water purification. Each method has advantages and disadvantages based on price, time and presence of toxic by-products. This review is expected to serve as a base for recent research and assist researchers in developing alternative CIP treatment approaches with more efficient removal methods

Photocatalytic degradation of disperse azo dyes in textile wastewater using green zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized in plant extract: A critical review

Textile wastewater comprises a complex mixture of chemical substances and dyes such as disperse dyes which have a high potential as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic. Textile wastewater effluent contributes 20% of the water pollution with a high contribution to environmental contamination, where about 50,000 tons/year of dyes are dumped into the environment. The advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), which includes photo�catalytic degradation (PD) using nanophotocatalysts, is a rising technology causing in completing the mineral�ization of the dyes, compared to traditional treatment techniques such as the absorption method, which transfers the pollutants to other stages. Photolysis is capable of partially degrading 50 to 80% of micro-pollutants like dyes using nanophotocatalysts. The literature indicates that about 70 to 80% of studies use photocatalysis using ZnO/ TiO2 as a photocatalyst in wastewater treatment. However, the photocatalysts used have limited potential for removing dyes from textile wastewater. Thus, it is urgent to improve the ZnO NPs synthesis to maximize the PD efficiency to degrading textile wastewater dyes. The present review focuses on exploring the efficiency and mechanism of the photodegradation of textile wastewater dyes using zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) syn�thesized in the plant extract. The highest photolysis efficiency was found at low dye concentrations and pH to improve the initial operating parameters. Photolysis increases with increasing photocatalysis in the surface area and with an optimum amount of photocatalyst. Furthermore, appropriate photoirradiation is also necessary to conduct the photocatalytic process at room temperature

Nutrients elimination from meat processing wastewater using Scenedesmus sp.; optimizations; artificial neural network and kinetics models

The potential of an algae-based system as an environmentally friendly and low-cost wa�ter treatment method to eliminate contaminants from water bodies has been considered. The purpose of this research was to see how effective Scenedesmus sp is in eliminating nutrients from meat processing wastewater (MPWW) throughout the phycoremediation process. Response surface methodology (RSM) and an artificial neural network (ANN) model were applied to improve the inactivation process as a function of cell concentra�tions (3–7 log10 CFU/mL) and time (1–13 days). At 103 to 107 cell/mL of Scenedesmus sp., phycoremediation was carried out at atmospheric temperature (28 ± 2 ◦C, ±2500lux for 12:12 h of light/dark and pH 8). The findings documented 73.76% as the highest removal efficacy of total nitrogen (TN) and 77.85% of total phosphorus (TP), 75.40% of ammonia nitrogen (NH4-H), 77.88% of orthophosphate (PO3− 4 ), and 64.97% of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The ANN revealed that both factors contribute significantly to the nutrient removal process. The batch kinetic coefficients of NH4-H removal were Km = 40.10 mg/L and k = 1.43 mg mg −1Chl a d −1 . Meanwhile, for PO3− 4 , 1.07 mg mg −1Chl a d−1 , as well as 42.80 mg/L, were obtained. The NH4-N yield coefficient of NH4-N was Yn = 0.0192 mg Chl a mg −1 while PO3− 4 was equal to Yp = 0.0409 mg Chl a mg −1 . These findings indicated successful use of Scenedesmus sp. for efficient pollutant removal from meat processing wastewater plants

S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium Harboring SPI-1 and SPI-2 Are the Predominant Serotypes Associated With Human Salmonellosis in Saudi Arabia

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) strains are Gram negative bacterial pathogens that are associated with foodborne illness worldwide. During the process of infection, Salmonella uses two molecular injectisomes known as Type 3 Secretion Systems (T3SS) to secrete virulence factors that are encoded by Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 (SPI-1) and SPI-2 into host cells. These secretion systems play a major role in virulence, as shown in various animal models, but little is known about their role in human infections. In Saudi Arabia, NTS strains frequently cause human infections but data regarding these pathogenic strains is fairly limited. The aim of this study was to characterize Salmonella human clinical isolates in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by determining their serotype, testing for the presence of SPI-1 and SPI-2 genes and to determine the antibiotic resistance profiles of these strains. Using the rapid Check and Trace Salmonella™ (CTS) system our results demonstrate that S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium were the predominant serovars, followed by S. Livingstone, S. Kentucky and S. Poona among a list of 36 serovars reported for the first time in the country. In addition, SPI-1 genes were detected in 99% of the isolates, while the sifA gene (SPI-2) was not detected in 13.5% of the isolates. These results suggest that both the SPI-1 and SPI-2 virulence determinants are important for human infection. Moreover, we report the presence of a Multi-Drug (MDR) carbapenem resistant S. Kentucky isolate harboring the blaOXA−48 gene not reported previously in Saudi Arabia

Sex differences in cardiovascular complications and mortality in hospital patients with covid-19: registry based observational study

Objective To assess whether the risk of cardiovascular complications of covid-19 differ between the sexes and to determine whether any sex differences in risk are reduced in individuals with pre-existing cardiovascular disease. Design Registry based observational study. Setting 74 hospitals across 13 countries (eight European) participating in CAPACITY-COVID (Cardiac complicAtions in Patients With SARS Corona vIrus 2 regisTrY), from March 2020 to May 2021 Participants All adults (aged ≥18 years), predominantly European, admitted to hospital with highly suspected covid-19 disease or covid-19 disease confirmed by positive laboratory test results (n=11 167 patients). Main outcome measures Any cardiovascular complication during admission to hospital. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and individual cardiovascular complications with ≥20 events for each sex. Logistic regression was used to examine sex differences in the risk of cardiovascular outcomes, overall and grouped by pre-existing cardiovascular disease. Results Of 11 167 adults (median age 68 years, 40% female participants) included, 3423 (36% of whom were female participants) had pre-existing cardiovascular disease. In both sexes, the most common cardiovascular complications were supraventricular tachycardias (4% of female participants, 6% of male participants), pulmonary embolism (3% and 5%), and heart failure (decompensated or de novo) (2% in both sexes). After adjusting for age, ethnic group, pre-existing cardiovascular disease, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease, female individuals were less likely than male individuals to have a cardiovascular complication (odds ratio 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 0.80) or die (0.65, 0.59 to 0.72). Differences between the sexes were not modified by pre-existing cardiovascular disease; for the primary outcome, the female-to-male ratio of the odds ratio in those without, compared with those with, pre-existing cardiovascular disease was 0.84 (0.67 to 1.07). Conclusions In patients admitted to hospital for covid-19, female participants were less likely than male participants to have a cardiovascular complication. The differences between the sexes could not be attributed to the lower prevalence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease in female individuals. The reasons for this advantage in female individuals requires further research