Monitoring alkylphenols in water using the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS): determining sampling rates via the extraction of PES membranes and Oasis beads

Polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS) have previously been used to monitor alkylphenol (AP) contamination in water and produced water. However, only the sorbent receiving phase of the POCIS (Oasis beads) is traditionally analyzed, thus limiting the use of POCIS for monitoring a range of APs with varying hydrophobicity. Here a “pharmaceutical” POCIS was calibrated in the laboratory using a static renewal setup for APs (from 2-ethylphenol to 4-n-nonylphenol) with varying hydrophobicity (log Kow between 2.47 and 5.76). The POCIS sampler was calibrated over its 28 day integrative regime and sampling rates (Rs) were determined. Uptake was shown to be a function of AP hydrophobicity where compounds with log Kow < 4 were preferentially accumulated in Oasis beads, and compounds with log Kow > 5 were preferentially accumulated in the PES membranes. A lag phase (over a 24 h period) before uptake in to the PES membranes occurred was evident. This work demonstrates that the analysis of both POCIS phases is vital in order to correctly determine environmentally relevant concentrations owing to the fact that for APs with log Kow ≤ 4 uptake, to the PES membranes and the Oasis beads, involves different processes compared to APs with log Kow ≥ 4. The extraction of both the POCIS matrices is thus recommended in order to assess the concentration of hydrophobic APs (log Kow ≥ 4), as well as hydrophilic APs, most effectively. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Treatment responses to antiangiogenetic therapy and chemotherapy in nonsecreting paraganglioma (PGL4) of urinary bladder with SDHB mutation: a case report

Paraganglioma (PGL) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor. Currently, the malignancy is defined as the presence of metastatic spread at presentation or during follow-up. Several gene mutations are listed in the pathogenesis of PGL, among which succinate dehydrogenase (SDHX), particularly the SDHB isoform, is the main gene involved in malignancy. A 55-year-old male without evidence of catecholamine secretion had surgery for PGL of the urinary bladder. After 1 year, he showed a relapse of disease and demonstrated malignant PGL without evidence of catecholamine secretion with a germline heterozygous mutation of succinate dehydrogenase B (SDHB). After failure of a second surgery for relapse, he started medical treatment with sunitinib daily but discontinued due to serious side effects. Cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and dacarbazine (CVD) chemotherapeutic regimen stopped the disease progression for 7 months. Conclusion: Malignant PGL is a very rare tumor, and SDHB mutations must be always considered in molecular diagnosis because they represent a critical event in the progression of the oncological disease. Currently, there are few therapeutic protocols, and it is often difficult, as this case demonstrates, to decide on a treatment option according to a reasoned set of choices. Abbreviations: CVD = cyclophosphamide, vincristine and dacarbazine, HIF-1a = hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha, PGL = paraganglioma, SDH = succinate dehydrogenase, VEGF = vasoendothelial growth factor

Bioelectrochemical chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons reduction in synthetic and real contaminated groundwaters

The widespread contamination of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) as Perchloroethylene (PCE) and Trichloroethylene (TCE) over the past recent years and their uncorrected disposal and storing brought these substances to become one of the most common contaminants of subsoils and groundwater in the world. In recent years, more sustainable remediation and cost-effective technologies involving groundwater’s indigenous microorganism such as the dehalorespiring microorganisms. Dehalorespiring microorganisms can reduce PCE and TCE via reductive dechlorination (RD) while aerobic dechlorinating microorganisms oxidized low chlorinated compound such as cis-dichloroethylene (cDCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) into non harmful products. The integration of reductive dechlorination and aerobic dechlorination results in an efficient approach for the complete mineralization of high chlorinated compounds, which usually led to a build-up of VC. Bioelectrochemical systems, which exploit the capability of microorganisms to interact with a polarized electrode, provide an effective strategy to promote reductive and oxidative environments by the regulation of the applied potentials. Indeed, the complete mineralization of high chlorinated CAHs, can be obtained by a sequential reductive/oxidative bioelectrochemical process which allows for the optimization of the reductive and oxidative dechlorinating conditions. In this study the performances of the reductive reactor, devoted to the reductive dechlorination has been presented with three different contaminated feeding solutions. The three different feeding solutions included an optimized mineral medium, a synthetic groundwater (constituted by tap water added with nitrate and sulphate) and a real contaminated groundwater. Moreover, different operating conditions like hydraulic retention time (HRT) and applied cathodic potential have been investigated to assess the performance of the reductive dechlorination and on side reactions. The analysis of the coulombic efficiencies for the reductive dechlorination in the reductive reactor showed an important effect of the feeding solution composition and operating conditions (applied potential and HRT), namely strongly decreasing under when using real contaminated groundwater. Despite the progressive decrease of the coulombic efficiency obtained using more complex matrixes, the CAHs removal rates along with the energetic consumption of the process showed an advantageous perspective in the adoption of the bioelectrochemical process for the stimulation of the reductive dechlorination reaction

Overweight and obese patients with nickel allergy have a worse metabolic profile compared to weight matched non-allergic individuals

A lack of balance between energy intake and expenditure due to overeating or reduced physical activity does not seem to explain entirely the obesity epidemic we are facing, and further factors are therefore being evaluated. Nickel (Ni) is a ubiquitous heavy metal implied in several health conditions. Regarding this, the European Food Safety Authority has recently released an alert on the possible deleterious effects of dietary Ni on human health given the current levels of Ni dietary intake in some countries. Pre-clinical studies have also suggested its role as an endocrine disruptor and have linked its exposure to energy metabolism and glucose homeostasis dysregulation. Ni allergy is common in the general population, but preliminary data suggest it being even more widespread among overweight patients. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study has been to evaluate the presence of Ni allergy and its association with the metabolic and endocrine profile in overweight and obese individuals. METHODS: We have evaluated 1128 consecutive overweight and obese outpatients. 784 were suspected of being allergic to Ni and 666 were assessed for it. Presence of Ni allergy and correlation with body mass index (BMI), body composition, metabolic parameters and hormonal levels were evaluated. RESULTS: We report that Ni allergy is more frequent in presence of weight excess and is associated with worse metabolic parameters and impaired Growth Hormone secretion. CONCLUSIONS: We confirm that Ni allergy is more common in obese patients, and we report for the first time its association with worse metabolic parameters and impaired function of the GH-IGF1 axis in human subjects

A 20-year study of persistence of lower urinary tract symptoms and urinary incontinence in young women treated in childhood

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether urinary incontinence (UI) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) persist over years, patients treated for UI and LUTS in childhood were re-evaluated in adulthood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-seven women (cases) treated in childhood for daytime UI/LUTS (group A) and nocturnal enuresis (group B) self-completed (average age: 24.89 ± 3.5 years) the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire for Female with LUTS (ICIQ-FLUTS). ICIQ-FLUTS was self-administered to 111 healthy women (average age: 23 ± 5.1 years) from a nursing school as a control group. Data obtained from ICIQ-FLUTS and quality of life (QoL) score (0-10) were compared (Fisher's exact test) between patients and controls, and between group A (n = 28) and group B (n = 19). RESULTS: Prevalence of LUTS was higher in patients than in controls. The difference between patients and controls was statistically significant (p = 0.0001) for UI (34% vs. 7%) and feeling of incomplete bladder emptying (49% vs. 28%). QoL score was >5 in 59% of patients and 1% of controls (p = 0.0001). No significant differences were found between groups A and B. CONCLUSIONS: UI and LUTS are confirmed in young women who suffered for the same condition in childhood. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess if these symptoms persist or are newly onset

Benefits from using combined dynamical-statistical downscaling approaches - Lessons from a case study in the Mediterranean region

Abstract. Various downscaling techniques have been developed to bridge the scale gap between global climate models (GCMs) and finer scales required to assess hydrological impacts of climate change. Such techniques may be grouped into two downscaling approaches: the deterministic dynamical downscaling (DD) and the statistical downscaling (SD). Although SD has been traditionally seen as an alternative to DD, recent works on statistical downscaling have aimed to combine the benefits of these two approaches. The overall objective of this study is to assess whether a DD processing performed before the SD permits to obtain more suitable climate scenarios for basin scale hydrological applications starting from GCM simulations. The case study presented here focuses on the Apulia region (South East of Italy, surface area about 20 000 km2), characterised by a typical Mediterranean climate; the monthly cumulated precipitation and monthly mean of daily minimum and maximum temperature distribution were examined for the period 1953–2000. The fifth-generation ECHAM model from the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology was adopted as GCM. The DD was carried out with the Protheus system (ENEA), while the SD was performed through a monthly quantile-quantile correction. The SD resulted efficient in reducing the mean bias in the spatial distribution at both annual and seasonal scales, but it was not able to correct the miss-modelled non-stationary components of the GCM dynamics. The DD provided a partial correction by enhancing the spatial heterogeneity of trends and the long-term time evolution predicted by the GCM. The best results were obtained through the combination of both DD and SD approaches

Hypoxia promotes the inflammatory response and stemness features in visceral fat stem cells from obese subjects

Low-grade chronic inflammation is a salient feature of obesity and many associated disorders. This condition frequently occurs in central obesity and is connected to alterations of the visceral adipose tissue (AT) microenvironment. Understanding how obesity is related to inflammation may allow the development of therapeutics aimed at improving metabolic parameters in obese patients. To achieve this aim, we compared the features of 2 subpopulations of adipose-derived stem cells (ASC) isolated from both subcutaneous and visceral AT of obese patients with the features of 2 subpopulations of ASC from the same isolation sites of non-obese individuals. In particular, the behavior of ASC of obese vs non-obese subjects during hypoxia, which occurs in obese AT and is an inducer of the inflammatory response, was evaluated. Obesity deeply influenced ASC from visceral AT (obV-ASC); these cells appeared to exhibit clearly distinguishable morphology and ultrastructure as well as reduced proliferation, clonogenicity and expression of stemness, differentiation and inflammation-related genes. These cells also exhibited a deregulated response to hypoxia, which induced strong tissue-specific NF-kB activation and an NF-kB-mediated increase in inflammatory and fibrogenic responses. Moreover, obV-ASC, which showed a less stem-like phenotype, recovered stemness features after hypoxia. Our findings demonstrated the peculiar behavior of obV-ASC, their influence on the obese visceral AT microenvironment and the therapeutic potential of NF-kB inhibitors. These novel findings suggest that the deregulated hyper-responsiveness to hypoxic stimulus of ASC from visceral AT of obese subjects may contribute via paracrine mechanisms to low-grade chronic inflammation, which has been implicated in obesity-related morbidity

Evaluation of Hepcidin Level in COVID-19 Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents a clinical spectrum that ranges from a mild condition to critical illness. Patients with critical illness present respiratory failure, septic shock and/or multi-organ failure induced by the so called “cytokine storm”. Inflammatory cytokines affect iron metabolism, mainly inducing the synthesis of hepcidin, a hormone peptide not routinely measured. High levels of hepcidin have been associated with the severity of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to analyze, retrospectively, the levels of hepcidin in a group of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Policlinico Tor Vergata of Rome, Italy. Thirty-eight patients from November 2020 to May 2021 were enrolled in the study. Based on the clinical outcome, the patients were assigned to two groups: survivors and non-survivors. Moreover, a series of routine laboratory parameters were monitored during the stay of the patients in the ICU and their levels correlated to the outcome. Statistical differences in the level of hepcidin, D-dimer, IL-6, LDH, NLR, neutrophils level, CRP, TNF-α and transferrin were observed between the groups. In particular, hepcidin values showed significantly different median concentrations (88 ng/mL vs. 146 ng/mL) between survivors and non-survivors. In addition, ROC curves analysis revealed sensitivity and specificity values of 74% and 76%, respectively, at a cut-off of 127 (ng/mL), indicating hepcidin as a good biomarker in predicting the severity and mortality of COVID-19 in ICU patients

Immunodetection of nmt55/p54(nrb) isoforms in human breast cancer

BACKGROUND: We previously identified and characterized a novel 55 kDa nuclear protein, termed nmt55/p54(nrb), whose expression was decreased in a subset of human breast tumors. The objective of this study was to determine if this reduced expression in human breast tumors was attributed to the regulation of mRNA transcription or the presence of altered forms of this protein. RESULTS: Northern blot analysis and ribonuclease protection assay indicated that nmt55/p54(nrb) mRNA is expressed at varying levels in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor negative (ER-) human breast tumors suggesting that reduced expression of nmt55/p54(nrb) protein in ER- tumors was not due to transcriptional regulation. To determine if multiple protein isoforms are expressed in breast cancer, we utilized Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses, which revealed the expression of an nmt55/p54(nrb) protein isoform in a subset of ER+ tumors. This subset of ER+ human breast tumors expressed an altered form of nmt55/p54(nrb) that was undetectable with an amino-terminal specific antibody suggesting that this isoform contains alterations or modifications within the amino terminal domain. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that nmt55/p54(nrb) protein is post-transcriptionally regulated in human breast tumors leading to reduced expression in ER- tumors and the expression of an amino terminal altered isoform in a subset of ER+ tumors. The potential involvement of nmt55/p54(nrb) in RNA binding and pre-mRNA splicing may be important for normal cell growth and function; thus, loss or alteration of protein structure may contribute to tumor growth and progression