Metabonomics and Intensive Care

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency medicine 2016. Other selected articles can be found online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2016. Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901

GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF KANINJOT VARIETY FROM CLONAL SELECTION

Abstract: The "Kaninjot" cultivar, autochthonous and widespread is remarkable for high percentage and good quality of the oil. It has dual use. It has periodical production, but the variability that this genotype possesses has been exploited through clonal selection to find individuals with high production constant, oil percentage and bigger average fruit weight. The selection underwent two phases: In the first phase: over a population of 2583 trees, in a five year period, where each year the trees that were qualified had inflorescence and fructified, while the others were considered out of use. In the second phase for 17 clone candidates derived from selection of the first phase production evaluation was done for kg/trees/ year, (i) oil percentage % fresh matter done through Soxhlet, (iii) average fruit weight (g), (iv) production periodicity estimated through Pearce and Dobersek-Urbank. Each clone displayed differently its genetic potentials, with differences for production constant. Constant production had 6 individuals (0.00 -0.30). The variability for fruit weight was from 0.26 g up to 1.24 g more than the standard (12 individual). For the oil percentage 6 individuals with 0.1 up to 2.1% more than the average of the population were selected. In the final evaluation there resulted to be: (i) 12 clones with superior PC. (ii) 6 clones possess superior for constant production and oil percentage (PC+OP). (iii) 6 clones possess the three selection features; constant production, oil percentage and fruit weight (PC+Fw+Op). The selected individuals have differences as far as the pomological and technological characteristics are concerned

Efficacy of prenatal ultrasonography in diagnosing urogenital developmental anomalies in newborns.

BACKGROUND: Showing a prevalence rate of 0.5-0.8%, urogenital malformations discovered in newborns is regarded relatively common. The aim of this study is to examine the efficacy of ultrasound diagnostics in detecting developmental disorders in the urogenital system. METHODS: We have processed the prenatal sonographic and postnatal clinical details of 175 urogenital abnormalities in 140 newborns delivered with urogenital malformation according to EUROCAT recommendations over a 5-year period between 2006 and 2010. The patients were divided into three groups; Group 1: prenatal sonography and postnatal examinations yielded fully identical results. Group 2: postnatally detected urogenital changes were partially discovered in prenatal investigations. Group 3: prenatal sonography failed to detect the urogenital malformation identified in postnatal examinations. Urogenital changes representing part of certain multiple disorders associated with chromosomal aberration were investigated separately. RESULTS: Prenatal sonographic diagnosis and postnatal results completely coincided in 45%, i.e. 63/140 of cases in newborns delivered with urogenital developmental disorders. In 34/140 cases (24%), discovery was partial, while in 43/140 patients (31%), no urogenital malformation was detected prenatally. No associated malformations were observed in 108 cases, in 57 of which (53%), the results of prenatal ultrasonography and postnatal examinations showed complete coincidence. Prenatally, urogenital changes were found in 11 patients (10%), whereas no urogenital disorders were diagnosed in 40 cases (37%) by investigations prior to birth. Urogenital disorders were found to represent part of multiple malformations in a total of 28 cases as follows: prenatal diagnosis of urogenital malformation and the findings of postnatal examinations completely coincided in three patients (11%), partial coincidence was found in 22 newborns (79%) and in another three patients (11%), the disorder was not detected prenatally. In four newborns, chromosomal aberration was associated with the urogenital disorder; 45,X karyotype was detected in two patients, trisomy 9 and trisomy 18 were found in one case each. CONCLUSION: In approximately half of the cases, postnatally diagnosed abnormalities coincided with the prenatally discovered fetal urogenital developmental disorders. The results have confirmed that ultrasonography plays an important role in diagnosing urogenital malformations but it fails to detect all of the urogenital developmental abnormalities

Chemical variability and acaricidal activity of Rosmarinus officinalis L. essential oils

Rosemary leaves are characterized by two main periods of essential oils production and contain high levels of oils (2.11 to 3.13%). Their oils, extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS, are dominated by oxygenated and hydrocarbons monoterpens and contain high amounts of 1,8-cineole. The chemical composition didn’t vary drastically during the phenologic stages, but a noticeable variability is however found within the ten studied populations. PCA and regression analysis revealed that among factors regulating the biosynthesis of oils during the different growth stages of the plant, the mean monthly temperature and monthly precipitation would be determinant. In hives bioassays, the use of absorbent paper pad impregnated by pure rosemary oil for six days showed certain effectiveness against Varroa mites. So, an application rate of 5ml of rosemary oil caused the highest mites mortalities, but the concentration of 3ml that producing an equivalent toxicity to flumetrin, is recommended. To overcome the phenomenon of resistance to chemicals widely used in apiaries infested by Varroa destructor, the use of pure rosemary oils as biopesticide for controlling acarian pests would be an appreciated tool

Disinfection of Drinking Water and Trihalomethanes: A Review

Trihalomethanes (THMs) as the main disinfection by-products (DBPs) during the last four decades have concerned the public and scientific opinion for the possible carcinogenic effect on human health. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the disinfection of drinking water, types of DBPs and the formation of THMs. The formation of THMs during the chlorination process represents a serious health problem, as they significantly increase the possibility of the risk of several types of cancers. In this article we are discuss the health risk imposed by THMs, considered toxic and possible carcinogenic as well as mutagenic to the human body. Thus, their elimination and regular monitoring is imperative. In this article we present the removal technologies for the THMs and their precursors. This article also provides the basic information related to the analytical methods for the determination of the THMs

Modulation of innate immune responses at birth by prenatal malaria exposure and association with malaria risk during the first year of life.

BACKGROUND: Factors driving inter-individual differences in immune responses upon different types of prenatal malaria exposure (PME) and subsequent risk of malaria in infancy remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined the impact of four types of PME (i.e., maternal peripheral infection and placental acute, chronic, and past infections) on both spontaneous and toll-like receptors (TLRs)-mediated cytokine production in cord blood and how these innate immune responses modulate the risk of malaria during the first year of life. METHODS: We conducted a birth cohort study of 313 mother-child pairs nested within the COSMIC clinical trial (NCT01941264), which was assessing malaria preventive interventions during pregnancy in Burkina Faso. Malaria infections during pregnancy and infants' clinical malaria episodes detected during the first year of life were recorded. Supernatant concentrations of 30 cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors induced by stimulation of cord blood with agonists of TLRs 3, 7/8, and 9 were measured by quantitative suspension array technology. Crude concentrations and ratios of TLR-mediated cytokine responses relative to background control were analyzed. RESULTS: Spontaneous production of innate immune biomarkers was significantly reduced in cord blood of infants exposed to malaria, with variation among PME groups, as compared to those from the non-exposed control group. However, following TLR7/8 stimulation, which showed higher induction of cytokines/chemokines/growth factors than TLRs 3 and 9, cord blood cells of infants with evidence of past placental malaria were hyper-responsive in comparison to those of infants not-exposed. In addition, certain biomarkers, which levels were significantly modified depending on the PME category, were independent predictors of either malaria risk (GM-CSF TLR7/8 crude) or protection (IL-12 TLR7/8 ratio and IP-10 TLR3 crude, IL-1RA TLR7/8 ratio) during the first year of life. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that past placental malaria has a profound effect on fetal immune system and that the differential alterations of innate immune responses by PME categories might drive heterogeneity between individuals to clinical malaria susceptibility during the first year of life

Eosinophilic Pneumonia in a Patient with Bronchial Myiasis : Case report and literature review

Pulmonary myiasis is an unusual form of myiasis in humans and has been recently identified as a cause of eosinophilic pneumonia. We report the case of a 13-year-old Omani boy who presented to the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, in October 2014 with respiratory distress. Bronchial aspirates revealed features of eosinophilic pneumonia. Possible larvae identified in the cytology report, a high immunoglobulin E level and the patient history all indicated bronchial myiasis. The patient was treated with steroids and ventilation and has since been diseasefree with no long-term side-effects. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case of bronchial myiasis in Oman