Marine Monitoring Program: Annual Report for inshore pesticide monitoring 2018–19

[Extract] This component of the Marine Monitoring Program provides an understanding of nearshore pesticide profiles and the exposure risk to marine organisms, as a part of water quality condition on the Great Barrier Reef. Data are collected from eleven fixed monitoring sites located in four Natural Resource Management regions — the Wet Tropics (five sites: Low Isles, High Island, Normanby Island, Dunk Island and Lucinda), Burdekin (one site: Barratta Creek), Mackay-Whitsundays (four sites: Repulse Bay, Flat Top Island, Sandy Creek and Sarina Inlet) and Fitzroy (one site: North Keppel Island). The suite of pesticides monitored includes photosystem II (PSII) inhibiting herbicides (such as diuron, atrazine (and its metabolites), ametryn, hexazinone, tebuthiuron), which all affect photosynthesis, and are commonly detected due to their high usage in adjacent catchments, and their high solubility. Other pesticides monitored include those that have non-photosynthetic effects (such as imidacloprid and metolachlor) and knockdown herbicides (such as 2,4-D)

Lung recurrence of papillary thyroid cancer diagnosed with antithyroglobulin antibodies after 10 years from initial treatment.

Introduction: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy. More than 98% of patients achieve an excellent response with no evidence of clinical, biochemical, or structural disease after initial treatment. In these patients structural recurrence is rare, more frequently diagnosed in the first 5 years from initial treatment and almost invariably localized in neck lymph nodes. Patient: We report the case of a woman affected by PTC who presented with rapidly rising anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) level after 10 years from clinical, morphological and biochemical remission. Diagnosis and Treatment: In 2003, a 56 year old patient was treated with total thyroidectomy and radioiodine remnant ablation (RRA) for a PTC (2 cm) with minimal extrathyroidal extension (T3N1aM0 according to the 6th AJCC TNM staging system) associated with diffuse lymphocytic thyroiditis. In 2004 the patient was free of disease defined as undetectable Tg after recombinant human TSH administration in the absence of TgAb and structural disease. Since February 2012 the appearance and progressive increase of TgAb titer was observed and in 2014 a18FDG-PET scan documented three hypermetabolic lesions suggestive of lung micrometastases. The lung lesions were cytologically confirmed as PTC metastases. Both the primary tissue and the lung metastasis were positive for BRAF V600E mutation. The patient was treated with 131-radioiodine that showed radioiodine avid lung lesions that lose the ability to take up iodine at the following treatment. The patient is still alive and the lung lesions are growing slowly. Conclusions: Structural recurrence in patients that demonstrated an excellent response after initial treatment for PTC is extremely rare, and distant metastases exceptional but possible. This case is peculiar because recurrence was early identified after 10 years from initial treatment for the presence of detectable TgAb in a patient that had an histological diagnosis of lymphocytic thyroiditis but with an atypical clinical presentation (normal thyroid at neck ultrasound and undetectable TgAb and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies). For this reason TgAb should be tested with Tg in patients with a history of lymphocytic thyroiditis, either histological or humoral, also when TgAb is in the normal range and not suggestive of autoimmune thyroiditis

ECHOTIP: A structured protocol for ultrasound-based tip navigation and tip location during placement of central venous access devices in adult patients

Central venous access devices are routinely used in clinical practice for administration of fluids and medications, for drawing blood samples and for hemodynamic monitoring. The adoption of ultrasound guided venipuncture has significantly reduced procedure-related complications, as documented by the recommendations of most recent guidelines. Ultrasound has also an important role also in other aspects of central venous catheterization, such as in the pre-procedural evaluation of the venous patrimony and in the detection of early and late non-infective complications. Recently, bedside ultrasound has been regarded as a promising tool also for ensuring an accurate and intraprocedural method of tip navigation and tip location. The aim of this paper is to review all the evidence about the accuracy of ultrasound methods for tip navigation and tip location in adult patients, and to suggest a structured standardized protocol for clinical practice

Polymorphisms of Intron 1 and the Promoter Region at the PRNP Gene in BSE-Free Caracu Cattle.

201

Genotipagem de polimorfismos no gene prnp bovino na raça Simental.

As Encefalopatias Espongiformes Transmissíveis (EETs) são doenças que se assemelham pelas características crônicas e neurodegenerativas, a exemplo: Kuru, scrapie e Doença de Creutzfeldt-Jakob e Encefalopatia Espongiforme Bovina (EEB). A EEB, conhecida como ?doença da vaca louca?, provoca degeneração lenta do sistema nervoso central do animal, com período longo de incubação, entre quatro a cinco anos, sendo que os primeiros sinais clínicos surgem entre dois a oito anos após a infecção. Seu agente causador é a proteína denominada príon infecciosa (PrPSc), podendo ser adquiria via iatrogênica, pela alimentação ou ser sintetizada naturalmente pelo organismo. A forma normal da proteína, não-causadora da doença, denomina-se príon celular (PrPC). A príon é sintetizada pelo gene prnp e acredita-se que a inserção e/ou deleção (indel) de sequências de bases influenciam em sua formação, sendo um determinante na resistência e/ou suscetibilidade à EEB. Objetivou-se, neste estudo, genotipar os polimorfismos de 12 e 23 pares de base indel em regiões específicas do gene prnp em bovinos da raça Simental, para futura seleção de animais resistentes à EEB. Para isto, foi realizada a extração de DNA genômico de sêmen de 25 bovinos com baixo ou nenhum grau de parentesco. As regiões alvo do gene prnp foram amplificadas por meio da PCR, utilizando-se primers específicos, e submetidas à eletroforese em gel de agarose a 3 % para realização da genotipagem. Na análise do gel, os animais apresentaram os genótipos ins/del (um alelo com inserção e o outro com deleção de pares de bases, sendo heterozigoto), del/del (deleção nos dois alelos, sendo homozigotos), ins/ins (inserção nos dois alelos, sendo também homozigotos). A frequência do haplótipo característico de resistência foi 28 %. O diplótipo de resistência teve uma frequência de 4 %. Os resultados apontam que, geneticamente, esta raça possui baixa resistência à EEB

Genotipagem de polimorfismos no gene prnp bovino na raça Simental.

As Encefalopatias Espongiformes Transmissíveis (EETs) são doenças que se assemelham pelas características crônicas e neurodegenerativas, a exemplo: Kuru, scrapie e Doença de Creutzfeldt-Jakob e Encefalopatia Espongiforme Bovina (EEB). A EEB, conhecida como ?doença da vaca louca?, provoca degeneração lenta do sistema nervoso central do animal, com período longo de incubação, entre quatro a cinco anos, sendo que os primeiros sinais clínicos surgem entre dois a oito anos após a infecção. Seu agente causador é a proteína denominada príon infecciosa (PrPSc), podendo ser adquiria via iatrogênica, pela alimentação ou ser sintetizada naturalmente pelo organismo. A forma normal da proteína, não-causadora da doença, denomina-se príon celular (PrPC). A príon é sintetizada pelo gene prnp e acredita-se que a inserção e/ou deleção (indel) de sequências de bases influenciam em sua formação, sendo um determinante na resistência e/ou suscetibilidade à EEB. Objetivou-se, neste estudo, genotipar os polimorfismos de 12 e 23 pares de base indel em regiões específicas do gene prnp em bovinos da raça Simental, para futura seleção de animais resistentes à EEB. Para isto, foi realizada a extração de DNA genômico de sêmen de 25 bovinos com baixo ou nenhum grau de parentesco. As regiões alvo do gene prnp foram amplificadas por meio da PCR, utilizando-se primers específicos, e submetidas à eletroforese em gel de agarose a 3 % para realização da genotipagem. Na análise do gel, os animais apresentaram os genótipos ins/del (um alelo com inserção e o outro com deleção de pares de bases, sendo heterozigoto), del/del (deleção nos dois alelos, sendo homozigotos), ins/ins (inserção nos dois alelos, sendo também homozigotos). A frequência do haplótipo característico de resistência foi 28 %. O diplótipo de resistência teve uma frequência de 4 %. Os resultados apontam que, geneticamente, esta raça possui baixa resistência à EEB

Prototype scintillator cell for an In-based solar neutrino detector

We describe the work carried out at MPIK to design, model, build and characterize a prototype cell filled with a novel indium-loaded scintillator of interest for real-time low energy solar neutrino spectroscopy. First, light propagation in optical modules was studied with experiments and Monte Carlo simulations. Subsequently a 5 cm x 5 cm x 100 cm prototype detector was set up and the optical performances of several samples were measured. We first tested a benchmark PXE-based scintillator, which performed an attenuation length of ~ 4.2 m and a photo-electron yield of ~ 730 pe/MeV. Then we measured three In-loaded samples. At an In-loading of 44 g/l, an energy resolution of ~ 11.6 % and a spatial resolution of ~ 7 cm were attained for 477 keV recoil electrons. The long-range attenuation length in the cell was ~1.3 m and the estimated photo-electron yield ~ 200 pe/MeV. Light attenuation and relative light output of all tested samples could be reproduced reasonably well by MC. All optical properties of this system have remained stable over a period of > 1 y.Comment: 57 pages, 19 figures, 10 tables elsevier template for manuscript submission submitted to NIMA 10 February 200