Physico-chemical and biological monitoring as integrated tools in evaluating tropospheric ozone in urban and semi-rural areas.

The relationship between tropospheric ozone and growth of radish plants during Summer 1991 in an urban and in a semi-rural site located in Central Italy are analyzed. Largest ozone concentrations and largest radish growth reductions are found in the semi-rural site. The importance of integrating the information on physico-chemical processes with biological monitoring to estimate the impact of photochemical oxidants on natural and cultivated vegetation in the Mediterranean area is discussed. Results from photochemical episodes are also reported in terms of physico-chemical evaluation of atmospheric pollutants.

Identification of serum proteins, thyroglobulin and antithyroid antibodies in the fluid of thyroid cysts.

Fluid from fourteen thyroid cysts has been submitted to electrophoretic and immunochemical procedures in order to describe the biochemical structure of the fluid. Two patterns have been identified: a pattern showing a composition similar to that of normal serum ("serum-like"); thyroglobulin concentration is low, IgG are sometimes above normal and hTg-Abs are frequently detectable. A second pattern shows instead, a picture in which serum protein fractions are largely denatured and not identifiable ("denatured"); thyroglobulin concentration has been found markedly increased. It is suggested that in "serum like" the formation of the cysts occurs in the interstitium, whereas in the "denatured" type cyst the hemorrhagic necrosis appears to be the consequence of a massive damage of the follicular tissue.