ABSTRACT
Ficopomatus enigmaticus is a serpulid polychaete, reef-forming, dioecious gamete spawner throughout different seasons and in different salinity conditions. Due to these characteristics, its candidacy as a model organism to monitor both marine and brackish matrices was assessed. Marine sediments collected in a polluted area near the port of Ancona (Italy) were used as case study. Besides the chemical characterization of sediments, the larval development of F. enigmaticus was adopted as an assay for ecotoxicological assessment of sediments in addition to a regulatory bioassay battery with different organisms and endpoints. The quality of sediments was classified according to the Italian Ministerial Decree for sediment management (Ministerial Decree 173, 2016) by using the SEDI-QUAL-SOFT® (ver. 109.0) software developed by the Italian Environmental Protection Agency (ISPRA). The F. enigmaticus larval development assay showed a quite similar sensitivity to C. gigas larval development assays, indicating its potential use in a regulatory battery of bioassays.
Subject(s)
Environmental Monitoring/methods , Geologic Sediments/chemistry , Larva/drug effects , Polychaeta/drug effects , Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity , Animals , Biological Assay , Ecotoxicology , Italy , Larva/growth & development , Polychaeta/growth & development , Salinity , Toxicity Tests , Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysisSubject(s)
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis/complications , Lymphangioleiomyomatosis/diagnosis , Pneumothorax/diagnosis , Pneumothorax/etiology , Adult , Chest Pain/etiology , Diagnosis, Differential , Dyspnea/etiology , Female , Humans , Lung/pathology , Lung/physiopathology , Pneumothorax/physiopathology , Pneumothorax/surgery , Radiography, Thoracic , Respiratory Function Tests , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
In vitro priming of T cell with horse antilymphocyte globulin (HALG) results in cytokine release, and this has been associated with its clinical efficacy in patients with severe aplastic anaemia (SAA). Rabbit antithymocyte globulin (RATG) has been studied less extensively. In this study we compare the in vitro priming effect of HALG and RATG on purified normal marrow T cells: end-points of the study were 1) levels of TNF-alpha (TNF-alpha), IFN-gamma (IFN-gamma) GM-CSF in T cell supernatants, and 2) effect of T cell supernatants on colony formation with or without exogenous GM-CSF TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and GM-CSF levels were comparable for HALG, RATG and phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). T cell supernatants showed comparable enhancement of colony formation in the presence of recombinant human GM-CSF (rhGM-CSF) and supported colony forming unit granulomacrophage (CFU-GM) growth in the absence of growth factor. This study shows that horse and rabbit derived ALG/ATG and PHA have a comparable in vitro priming effect on T cells: both agents should probably be tested for their clinical efficacy in SAA patients.