Visual performance of eyes with congenital pathologies is conditioned by an early diagnosis. Families having problems in accessing health services risk to delay or miss both an early diagnosis and an ...early treatment and amblyopia (lazy eye) prevention.
In our hospital, all full-term, healthy newborns are thoroughly examined by an ophthalmologist in the maternal ward, 1 to 3 days after birth.
Among the first 5000 newborns examined, a high incidence of congenital pathologies compared to international literature was reported, with differences between Caucasians and non-Caucasians.
Performing an early in-hospital thorough eye examination in all newborns as a screening would be an effective way to miss none and to start an early and effective pathway of disease treatment.
A liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed and fully validated, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance, for the simultaneous determination of ...phenylmercapturic acid, benzylmercapturic acid and
o-methylbenzyl mercapturic acid in human urine as biomarkers of exposure to benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX). After solid phase extraction and LC separation, samples were analyzed by a triple–quadrupole mass spectrometer operated in negative ion mode, using isotope-labeled analogs as internal standards (ISs). The method meets all the validation criteria required. The limits of detection of the three analytes, ranging from 0.30 to 0.40
μg
l
−1, and the high throughput make the method suitable for the routine biological monitoring of co-exposure to BTX both in the occupational and environmental settings. The validated method was applied to assess exposure to BTX in a group of 354 urban traffic wardens.
This report highlights the importance for neonatologists/pediatricians of considering Marcus Gunn jaw‐winking syndrome among differential diagnoses of ptosis. A detailed clinical assessment is ...crucial to promptly recognize and appropriately manage it.
This report highlights the importance for neonatologists/pediatricians of considering Marcus Gunn jaw‐winking syndrome among differential diagnoses of ptosis. A detailed clinical assessment is crucial to promptly recognize and appropriately manage it.
A case report of confusing meningoencephalocele Perrotta, Marika; Gasparroni, Giorgia; Chiavaroli, Valentina ...
Clinical case reports,
January 2021, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The clinical approach plays a pivotal role in neonates with evidence of a skull mass, together with the need of monitoring unclear cases. Indeed, apparently transient alterations of the skull may be ...neural tube defects, which need prompt treatment.
The clinical approach plays a pivotal role in neonates with evidence of a skull mass, together with the need of monitoring unclear cases. Indeed, apparently transient alterations of the skull may be neural tube defects, which need prompt treatment.
Objectives
This study analyzes the validity of new, more sensitive and specific urinary biomarkers of internal dose, namely, urinary benzene for benzene and urinary toluene and
S
-benzylmercapturic ...acid (SBMA) for toluene, to assess their efficacy when compared to traditional biomarkers for biological monitoring of occupational exposure to low concentrations of these two toxic substances.
Methods
Assessment was made of 41 workers occupationally exposed to benzene and toluene, 18 fuel tanker drivers and 23 filling-station attendants, as well as 31 subjects with no occupational exposure to these toxic substances (controls). Exposure to airborne benzene and toluene was measured using passive Radiello
®
personal samplers worn throughout the work shift. In urine samples collected from all subjects at the end of the workday, both the traditional and the new internal dose biomarkers of benzene and toluene were assessed, as well as creatinine so as to apply suitable adjustments.
Results
Occupational exposure to benzene and toluene resulted significantly higher in the fuel tanker drivers than the filling-station attendants, and higher in the latter than in controls. Significantly higher concentrations of
t,t
-muconic acid (
t,t
-MA),
S
-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), urinary benzene, SBMA and urinary toluene were found in the drivers than the filling-station attendants or the controls. Instead, urinary phenol and hippuric acid were not different in the three groups. In the entire sample, airborne benzene and toluene values were significantly correlated, as were the respective urinary biomarkers, showing coefficients ranging from 0.36 to 0.98. Subdividing the subjects by smoking habit, higher coefficients were evident in non-smokers than in smokers; at multiple regression analysis
t,t
-MA, SPMA and urinary benzene and toluene were dependent on the number of cigarettes smoked daily and on airborne benzene and toluene, respectively. Instead, SBMA was dependent only on airborne toluene.
Conclusions
Our research confirmed the validity of
t,t
-MA and SPMA for use in the biological monitoring of exposure to low concentrations of benzene. Urinary benzene showed comparable validity to SPMA; both parameters are affected by smoking cigarettes in the hours before urine collection, so it is best to ask subjects to refrain from smoking for 2 h before urine collection. Urinary toluene was found to be a more specific biomarker than SBMA.
A sensitive and specific HPLC–ESI-MS/MS method for the direct determination of glucosamine in human plasma has been developed and validated. Plasma samples were analyzed after a simple, one-step ...protein precipitation clean-up with trichloroacetic acid using a polymer-based amino high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column and a water/acetonitrile mobile phase elution gradient, with
d-1-
13Cglucosamine as the internal standard. Detection was performed by mass spectrometry, using an electrospray source and employing multiple reaction monitoring to separately monitor glucosamine and the internal standard. The limit of quantification of the method was 10
ng/ml of glucosamine and the calibration curve showed a good linearity up to 1000
ng/ml. The precision (R.S.D.) and the accuracy (bias) of the method at the limit of quantification were 13.8 and 4.0%, respectively, and the mean recovery of glucosamine at three concentration levels was 101.6
±
5.7%. The method was applied for the determination of glucosamine concentrations in human plasma samples collected from untreated healthy volunteers and, in a separate bioavailability study, to evaluate plasma glucosamine pharmacokinetics profiles after oral administration of crystalline glucosamine sulfate.
Some industrial hygiene studies have assessed occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs; other epidemiological investigations have detected various toxicological effects in exposure groups ...labeled with the job title. In no research has the same population been studied both environmentally and epidemiologically. The protocol of the epidemiological study presented here uses an integrated environmental and biological monitoring approach. The aim is to assess in hospital nurses preparing and/or administering therapy to cancer patients the current level of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs, DNA and chromosome damage as cancer predictive effects, and the association between the two.
About 80 healthy non-smoking female nurses, who job it is to prepare or handle antineoplastic drugs, and a reference group of about 80 healthy non-smoking female nurses not occupationally exposed to chemicals will be examined simultaneously in a cross-sectional study. All the workers will be recruited from five hospitals in northern and central Italy after their informed consent has been obtained.Evaluation of surface contamination and dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs will be assessed by determining cyclophosphamide on selected surfaces (wipes) and on the exposed nurses' clothes (pads). The concentration of unmetabolized cyclophosphamide as a biomarker of internal dose will be measured in end-shift urine samples from exposed nurses. Biomarkers of effect and susceptibility will be assessed in exposed and unexposed nurses: urinary concentration of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine; DNA damage detected using the single-cell microgel electrophoresis (comet) assay in peripheral white blood cells; micronuclei and chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Genetic polymorphisms for enzymes involved in metabolic detoxification (i.e. glutathione S-transferases) will also be analysed.Using standardized questionnaires, occupational exposure will be determined in exposed nurses only, whereas potential confounders (medicine consumption, lifestyle habits, diet and other non-occupational exposures) will be assessed in both groups of hospital workers.Statistical analysis will be performed to ascertain the association between occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs and biomarkers of DNA and chromosome damage, after taking into account the effects of individual genetic susceptibility, and the presence of confounding exposures.
The findings of the study will be useful in updating prevention procedures for handling antineoplastic drugs.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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