Ecological Implications of Heavy Metals in Vertebrates and Invertebrates in Los Angeles County, California

Salt marshes in industrial areas prove to be an especially good tool for studying the biology of heavy metals because they act as sinks for both nutrients and toxins in their surroundings. In Los Angeles, the largest source of salt marsh benefits is Ballona Wetlands. The heavy metal content of insects and western fence lizards in Ballona Wetlands were analyzed to better understand metal spreading and effects. Insects were collected with nets on November 4, 2014 at three sites in the Ballona Wetlands, Los Angeles California. Two moth morphospecies, one membracid morphospecies, and Sceloporus occidentalis were tested for the concentrations of 32 heavy metals using Inductively-Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The ventral side of moth morphospecies and the ventral patches of lizards were analyzed using Digital Imaging Analysis. In insects, we hypothesized that would be significant differences in heavy metal concentration among sites, morphospecies, and guilds. We also expected a correlation between heavy metals and wing hue intensity. In Sceloporus occidentalis, we predicted blue hue intensity of colored patches would be associated with tissue concentrations of heavy metals. Significant differences in insects were found between heavy metal concentrations among sites, morphospecies, and guilds. The hue of all moths was correlated with metals in some instances. After Bonferroni adjustment, 15 metals in lizards correlated negatively with the blue hue intensity of the ventral head. The results suggest that the metals may reach the wetlands by way of runoff from Ballona Creek, and affect the interspecies and intraspecies dynamics of vertebrates and invertebrates

Vegetative plaque on the left superior eyelid

Abstract Herein we present case report of a 73‐year‐old female who developed a rapidly growing, ulcerated lesion on her left superior eyelid. Despite treatment for suspected infection, symptoms only marginally improved. Physical examination revealed a diffusely ulcerated multinodular tumour with overlying haemorrhagic and serosanguineous exudate. A shave biopsy led to a diagnosis of primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (pcALCL), a rare CD30+ lymphoproliferative disorder. The patient had no extracutaneous involvement on PET‐CT and her prognosis is good given the indolent nature of pcALCL. Differential diagnoses included merkel cell carcinoma, periocular sebaceous carcinoma, lymphomatoid papulosis, and extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma. Prognosis for pcALCL is generally good. Treatment recommendation for pcALCL is surgical excision with negative margins for localised disease, while intravenous brentuximab vedotin is suggested for widespread, relapsed, and refractory disease

Leukemia in hospitalized patients with inflammatory bowel disease: An analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database.

10576 Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and use of immunosuppressive therapy in IBD is linked with increased risk of leukemia. We studied the NIS database from 2003-2017 to analyze trends in any type of leukemia in IBD hospitalizations over time and examined the role of age, sex, and race. Methods: We analyzed NIS data of all adult hospitalizations for ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD) with any type of leukemia as a primary or secondary diagnosis using validated ICD 9/10 codes. Age, sex, and racial demographics were collected. Trend analysis of leukemia was performed with Cochran-Armitage and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests. Results: Overall Trends: From 2003-2017, a total of 11,385 of 2,235,413 (0.51%) CD hospitalizations and 8,105 of 1,324,746 (0.61%) UC hospitalizations contained diagnosis of leukemia. An increase in leukemia was seen in both CD and UC group from 0.24% to 0.79% (pTrend &lt; 0.0001) and 0.28% to 0.81% (pTrend &lt; 0.0001) respectively. Sex: In both UC and CD patients, leukemia diagnoses were predominantly male in 2003 but approximated a near 1:1 ratio by 2017 (Table). In CD, the proportion of female (FEM) leukemia diagnoses grew from 31.33% to 45.05% from 2003 to 2017 (pTrend = 0.1898). In UC, the proportion of female leukemia diagnoses grew from 27.49% to 45.79% from 2003 to 2017 (pTrend = 0.0030). Age: Leukemia was more common with increasing age, with no significant changes in proportion of cases between age groups over time (pTrend &gt;.05). Ethnicity: White patients composed 87.80% and 84.24% of leukemia diagnoses in CD and UC, respectively. In CD, an increasing proportion of leukemia diagnoses occurred in black (BK) patients, and a decreasing proportion occurred in white patients (pTrends &lt;.0001; Table 1) during the study time. No trends in race were observed in the UC group (pTrend = 0.4229). Conclusions: Our study showed an increased prevalence of leukemia in CD and UC hospitalizations from 2003-2017 which may be related to increasing use of immunosuppressants such as anti-TNF medications. In both CD and UC, leukemia was male-predominant, but increasingly female by 2017. Rate of leukemia diagnosis increased with age. In the CD group but not the UC group, leukemia was increasingly prevalent in black patients.[Table: see text] </jats:p