Intravascular Hemolysis, Methemogolbinemia and Acute Renal Failure in a Young Female.

Copper sulfate occurs as large blue crystals in nature, commonly known as "blue vitriol" or "blue stone." It is a potentially lethal poison with significant mortality. Copper sulfate is a powerful oxidizing agent and causes corrosive injury to the mucous membrane. The clinical course involves intravascular hemolysis resulting in anemia, jaundice, and renal failure. Laboratory diagnosis of the condition is not an issue; the difficulty is suspecting it, promptly initiating chelation therapy, and other supportive symptomatic treatment. We present a case of copper sulfate poisoning in a young female with suicidal intent resulting in severe acute toxicity, which was successfully managed by copper chelator (d-Penicillamine) and other supportive measures.

Staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome because of skin infection - a case report.

Staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) is a toxin-mediated disease. It is a severe fatal disease inducing immune-mediated inflammatory reaction and occurs because of exotoxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Common signs and symptoms at the time of presentation lead to misdiagnosis and delay in initiation of treatment. Prognosis depends primarily on early diagnosis and prompt treatment. This is a case of a young adult male presented with fever, rash, and hypotension and diagnosed with STSS.

An Interesting Case of Basal Cell Carcinoma with Raynaud's Phenomenon Following Chronic Arsenic Exposure.

Arsenic is commonly known to be associated with squamous cell carcinoma. Among the lesser known associations is basal cell carcinoma and even rarer is its effect on blood vessels causing peripheral vascular disease. Here we present a case of a 55 yr old man with ulceroproliferative lesions on scalp and forehead along with several hyperpigmented patches on trunk and extremities. He had symptoms suggestive of Raynaud's phenomenon that eventually led to digital gangrene. FNAC was done which was suggestive of basal cell carcinoma. On further enquiry, he was found to reside in an arsenic endemic zone and was investigated for blood arsenic level which was elevated. Punch biopsy from different lesions from body confirmed nodular basal cell carcinoma. Presently the patient has stopped drinking water from the local tubewell. On follow-up he shows improvement of Raynaud's phenomenon and skin lesions.

Hydrocarbon uptake by roots of Vicia faba (Fabaceae).

Vicia faba was grown in crude oil polluted soil and its roots were extracted for the detection and estimation of hydrocarbons. Saturated and unsaturated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons (AHs) ranging from C(22) to C(36) were identified in AHs fraction. However, PAHs were not present in the same extract. This could be due to the fact that PAHs being toxic compounds are not accumulated in the plant root extracts of V. faba grown in crude oil polluted soil. Three phytoalexins were identified and estimated by mass spectrometric analysis in the root extracts of V. faba. These three compounds are 2-t-butyl-4-(dimethyl benzyl) phenol, 2, 4-bis (dimethyl benzyl) phenol and 2,4-bis (dimethyl benzyl)-6-butyl phenol. These phenolics in V. faba are being reported for the first time. These compounds are presumably elicited as a direct stress on crude oil hydrocarbons on the roots of this plant.

Plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate in patients with different types of cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To measure plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol and urate to determine whether there is any relationship with different types of cancer before treatment. METHOD: Plasma concentrations of those two antioxidants were measured in cancer patients and sex- and age-matched controls. Plasma total cholesterol concentration was measured to derive an alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio. RESULTS: Alpha-tocopherol and urate concentrations as well as alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratios were significantly lower in the cancer patients as whole, in gastrointestinal cancer and in breast cancer compared to the controls. There was no significant relationship between alpha-tocopherol and urate levels in either the plasma of patients (r=0.048; P=0.653) or controls (r=0.073; P=0.406). Alpha-tocopherol was more positively correlated with cholesterol in the plasma of controls (r=0.539; P < 0.0001) in comparison with the patients (r=0.456; P < 0.0001). There was no significant correlation between urate and cholesterol levels in both patient and control plasma samples. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that although alpha-tocopherol and urate provide important antioxidant defence in cancer, the association between their levels is weak.

Plasma micronutrient antioxidant in cancer patients.

The distribution of breast, colon, gastric, thyroid, oral, rectal, pancreatic and renal cancers were determined in 71 Kuwaitis, 45 other Arabs, and 26 Indians. Plasma levels of micronutrient antioxidants, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, lycopene, and beta-carotene were measured in the groups and in 90 matched controls for comparison. Cholesterol was measured to determine its association with the micronutrient antioxidants. Pancreatic cancer occurred exclusively in Kuwaitis, while breast and colon cancers were disproportionately higher in Kuwaitis than in the other groups. Micronutrient antioxidant levels were similar in the groups, except for higher lycopene levels in Kuwaitis. In most instances, the micronutrient antioxidants, except beta-carotene, decreased significantly in levels in patients than in controls. Low levels of retinol, lycopene, and beta-carotene were strongly associated with pancreatic cancer. Compared to controls, significantly increased levels of beta-carotene occurred in breast, colon, thyroid, and renal cancers; increased lycopene occurred in oral cancer, and increased alpha-tocopherol occurred in pancreatic cancer. Alpha-tocopherol strongly correlated with cholesterol. Generally, changes in alpha-tocopherol/ cholesterol ratios mimicked those of alpha-tocopherol levels. Micronutrient antioxidant levels were significantly lower in male patients than female patients. Age showed a negative but statistically insignificant relationship with micronutrient antioxidants. Lycopene strongly correlated with alpha-carotene and alpha-tocopherol with retinol. Among the patients, all micronutrient antioxidants except retinol decreased significantly in levels in smokers than nonsmokers, suggesting susceptibility to cigarette smoke oxidative stress. We conclude that micronutrient antioxidant depletions and altered associations may imply tumor utilization or antioxidant burden in oxidative stress or both. Furthermore, the incidence of pancreatic, colon and breast cancers among Kuwaitis warrants further study.

Serum antioxidant and cholesterol levels in patients with different types of cancer.

Serum antioxidant (urate, alpha-tocopherol) activity and cholesterol concentration in 142 patients of Indian and Arab (Kuwaitis and other Arabs) origin with different types of cancer (breast, colon, stomach, thyroid, oral, rectal, pancreatic, and renal) were compared to 100 age- and sex-matched control subjects. Values were expressed as medians (interquartile range). Urate concentration was significantly decreased in male patients compared to male controls (P < 0.0001) and in female patients and female breast cancer cases compared to female controls; P < 0.0001 and P = 0.001, respectively. Alpha-tocopherol concentration decreased significantly in total cancer, stomach, colon, rectal, and breast cancer cases than the controls; P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001, P = 0.012, and P = 0.022, respectively. Cholesterol concentration decreased significantly in stomach, oral, colon, and total cancer cases compared to the controls; P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001, P = 0.002, and P = 0.012, respectively. Among controls, females had significantly (P < 0.0001) lower concentrations of alpha-tocopherol than males. Among patients, cholesterol, urate, and alpha-tocopherol concentrations decreased significantly in smokers than in nonsmokers; P < 0.0001, P = 0.004, and P = 0.047, respectively. Generally, changes in alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol ratios mimicked changes in alpha-tocopherol concentration. Concentrations of all parameters decreased significantly in male patients compared to male controls. Age was positively associated with all three analytes with respect to the controls. Alpha-tocopherol correlated with cholesterol in cancer patients (r = 0.367; P < 0.0001) and with urate in the controls (r = 0.342; P < 0.0001). The data suggest cancer-related diminished synthesis of cholesterol and, generally, a greater antioxidant burden for alpha-tocopherol than urate in cancer-generated oxidative stress. The increased incidence of pancreatic cancer in Kuwaitis warrants further study.

Vicia faba as a bioindicator of oil pollution.

In 1990, the Gulf War caused an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. More than 700 oil wells were set on fire, emitting thousands of tons of oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, soot and oil mist at high temperatures. The blazing oil wells and lakes were the major cause of environmental pollution, damaging flora and fauna throughout Kuwait and the surrounding region. We set up this study in order to investigate whether Vicia faba could be used as a bioindicator of oil pollution. Growth parameters of Vicia faba, such as levels of photosynthetic pigments, proteins, free amino acids, phenols, sugars, biomass, moisture and fatty acids, were studied. Levels of total reducible sugars, phenols, proteins, free amino acids and proline were found to be higher in plants grown in hydrocarbon-polluted soil, compared to those grown in control soil. However, biomass, moisture, pheophytin, the 435/415 nm ratio for chlorophylls and the chlorophyll a/carotenoid ratio, were higher in the plants grown in control soil than those grown in polluted soil. Our results indicate that Vicia faba can be used as a bioindicator of pollution and a ratio of the fatty acid C(20:1)/C(18:1) is an important index of environmental oil pollution.

Oestrogen receptors in macrophages.

The presence of receptors for oestradiol-17 beta and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (5 alpha-DHT) in the human monocytic leukaemia cell line J111 and rat peritoneal macrophages was investigated using whole-cell assays. For both cell types, high-affinity binding species for oestrogen were detected, whereas no indication of specific binding was observed for 5 alpha-DHT. Analysis of the data according to Scatchard showed curved lines, indicating the presence of two different oestrogen-binding species. The dissociation constant (Kd) values for the receptors of the rat peritoneal macrophages were calculated to be 1.4 x 10(-10) M and 3.3 x 10(-9) M, while for the J111 cells, the Kd values were 8.7 x 10(-11) M and 2.5 x 10(-9) M. Sucrose-gradient ultracentrifugation identified one oestrogen-binding species of 7.1S. The receptors had a relatively high affinity for diethylstilboestrol (DES) but did not bind to a monoclonal antibody specific for the classical oestrogen receptor, suggesting that oestrogen receptors in macrophages could be of a different type.