Toxicity of Pesticide Tank Mixtures from Rice Crops Against Telenomus podisi Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae).

The use of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides commonly occurs in mixtures in tanks in order to control phytosanitary problems in crops. However, there is no information regarding the effects of these mixtures on non-target organisms associated to the rice agroecosystem. The aim of this study was to know the toxicity of pesticide tank mixtures from rice crops against Telenomus podisi Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae). Based on the methods adapted from the International Organisation for Biological and Integrated Control of Noxious Animals and Plants (IOBC), adults of T. podisi were exposed to residues of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, individually or in mixture commonly used by growers, in laboratory and on rice plants in a greenhouse. The mixture between fungicides tebuconazole, triclyclazole, and azoxystrobin and the mixture between herbicides cyhalofop-butyl, imazethapyr, imazapyr/imazapic, and penoxsulam are harmless to T. podisi and can be used in irrigated rice crops without harming the natural biological control. The insecticides cypermethin, thiamethoxam, and bifenthrin/carbosulfan increase the toxicity of the mixtures in tank with herbicides and fungicides, being more toxic to T. podisi and less preferred for use in phytosanitary treatments in the rice crop protection.

[Air and biomonitoring of occupational exposure to anesthetic gases in the health care workers of a large hospital in Milan]. / Il monitoraggio ambientale e biologico dell'esposizione professionale a gas anestetici presso le sale operatorie di un grande ospedale milanese.

In this study exposure to anesthetic gases in health care workers of a hospital of Milan was investigated. The evaluation focused on the period 2007-2010 and was performed by environmental monitoring (20 operating rooms and 54 samples) and biological monitoring (180 workers and 242 urine samples). Mean airborne exposure was 3:15 and 0.34 ppm for nitrogen protoxide (N2O) and sevorane; in end-of-exposure urine samples the concentration of N2O and hexafluoroisopropanol, metabolite of sevorane, were 4.85 mg/L and 0.21 mg/L, with 80 and 21% of values below the quantification limit. Sevorane monitoring exceeded or equaled the environmental limit value of 0.5 ppm and the biological exposure index in 17 and 11% of measures. There were no observed exceedances of the limit for N2O. The anesthetist and scrub nurse were tasks with greater exposure. There was a significant correlation between airborne halogenated gases and urinary hexafluoroisopropanol. The results of this study indicates that further efforts are needed to improve the hygienic conditions in the investigated hospital.

[The assessment of risk for xylene exposure in a laboratory of anatomy: comparison between computational models and environmental and biological monitoring]. / La valutazione del rischio per esposizione a xilene in un laboratorio di anatomia patologica: confronto tra algoritmi matematici e monitoraggio ambientale e biologico.

Exposure to xylene in a pathology laboratory was evaluated using two algorithms: Stoffenmanager and Archi.me.de. The results were compared with those obtained by applying the environmental and biological monitoring of the exposure. The use of models required a period of self-learning and, for Stoffenmanager, knowledge of the English language. Information on the toxicity and safety of xylene, available from the medial and safety data sheets, and the conditions and amount of use, obtained through a survey and interviews with operators, have been imputed. Stoffenmanager estimated low the inhalation exposure and medium the dermal exposure, with a value of personal exposure during the work shift of 1.4 mg/m3. A.r.chi.me.d.e. estimated negligible the risk to health. These ratings are consistent with those obtained using the experimental approach. This result, combined with the simplicity and low cost, makes the algorithms very interesting tools for the assessment of chemical risk in the workplace.

[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in situs inversus: the disadvantage of being right-handed.]. / Colecistectomía laparoscópica en situs inversus: la desventaja de ser diestro.

OBJECTIVE: To expose our institutional experience on biliary tract surgery in patients with situs inversus. BACKGROUND: Situs inversus is a rare condition of genetic origin, which leads mandatory the modification of surgical technique in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS: Report of two cases of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in patients with situs in versus. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy would seem to be the first-line surgical procedure for the treatment of patients with symptomatic gall bladder stones and situs inversus; albeit it imposes special technical demands, it provides the same outcomes of the patients with normal anatomy.

Imaging of primary sclerosing cholangitis: preliminary results by two new non-invasive techniques.

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance cholangiography is a new technique which has already gained a role in primary sclerosing cholangitis. Computerised tomographic cholangiography is another non-invasive technique which has been used in assessing abnormal biliary tree, but has never been applied to evaluating primary sclerosing cholangitis. AIMS: To evaluate the ability of both magnetic resonance cholangiography and computerised tomographic cholangiography to detect bile duct changes in primary sclerosing cholangitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Magnetic resonance cholangiography and computerised tomographic cholangiography were performed in 16 primary sclerosing cholangitis patients. The computerised tomographic cholangiography data set was transferred to a processing workstation to obtain tridimensional reconstructions. Magnetic resonance cholangiography and computerised tomographic cholangiography images were analysed blind by two radiologists to assess: primary sclerosing cholangitis involvement, quality of imaging and the radiologist's certainty in determining the presence and location of the disease. RESULTS: Mean imaging quality was significantly better with computerised tomographic cholangiography compared with magnetic resonance cholangiography. Primary sclerosing cholangitis was identified in 15 cases with computerised tomographic cholangiography and 10 with magnetic resonance cholangiography (P < 0.05). Sensitivity in diagnosing primary sclerosing cholangitis was 94% with computerised tomographic cholangiography versus 63% with magnetic resonance cholangiography. Intrahepatic location was found in 14 cases, definitely present in 10 cases with computerised tomographic cholangiography and five with magnetic resonance cholangiography. Extrahepatic location was found in 13 cases, definitely present in 11 cases with computerised tomographic cholangiography and four with magnetic resonance cholangiography (P < 0.05). Computerised tomographic cholangiography also offered dynamic information about biliary excretion. CONCLUSIONS: Computerised tomographic cholangiography enables more accurate detection and location of primary sclerosing cholangitis than magnetic resonance cholangiography. Since computerised tomographic cholangiography offers additional information about biliary excretion, it may be proposed as an integrative technique in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.

[Laparoscopically created stomas]. / Estomas por laparoscopia.

PURPOSE: The aim of this paper is to present the results obtained in five cases with a stoma created by the laparoscopic approach. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Analysis of five patients who required a stoma as treatment for their diseases or as a complementary management of another medical problem from March 1999 to May 1999. There were three women and two men. Mean age was 43 years (range 20-59 years). Two women had a rectovaginal fistula secondary to radiation proctitis, another woman presented an infected sacral wound, one man suffered a sphincteric lesion that required sphincteroplasty, and the other man had Fournier's gangrene. Surgical technique included the use of two ports, one at the umbilicus for the camera and the other at the site previously chosen for the stoma. RESULTS: Mean surgical time was 30 min (range 20-40 min), transoperative bleeding was meaningless; all stomas began to function during the first 24 h after the procedure. One patient began oral intake on the first day, three patients on the second day, and one patient was intubated in the intensive care unit and for this reason was unable to eat. All stomas achieved the objective sought and there were no complications related to the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Stoma creation by the laparoscopic approach may offer advantages over the open-surgery technique.

Differentiation of closely related but biologically distinct cherry isolates of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus by polymerase chain reaction.

Prunus necrotic ringspot ilarvirus (PNRSV) exists as a number of biologically distinct variants which differ in host specificity, serology, and pathology. Previous nucleotide sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of cloned reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) products of several biologically distinct sweet cherry isolates revealed correlations between symptom type and the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the 3a (putative movement protein) and 3b (coat protein) open reading frames. Based upon this analysis, RT-PCR assays have been developed that can identify isolates displaying different symptoms and serotypes. The incorporation of primers in a multiplex PCR protocol permits rapid detection and discrimination among the strains. The results of PCR amplification using type-specific primers that amplify a portion of the coat protein gene demonstrate that the primer-selection procedure developed for PNRSV constitutes a reliable method of viral strain discrimination in cherry for disease control and will also be useful for examining biological diversity within the PNRSV virus group.

Soluble plasma thrombomodulin levels in patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorder.

The plasma levels of soluble thrombomodulin (TM) were measured in 44 patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorder, 15 with polycythemia vera (PV), 29 with essential thrombocythemia (ET), and a group of 62 matched healthy controls. The younger patients had significantly lower TM levels (mean: 15.6 +/- 4.8 ng/mL) than the older patients (mean: 28.6 +/- 8.2 ng/mL, p < .001). Moreover, a significant negative correlation between platelet counts and plasma TM levels in healthy persons was noted (r = 0.317, p < .05). The only significant difference we found in plasma TM levels between patients and controls or among patients was between the young patients with ET (mean: 29.0 +/- 19.2 ng/mL) and young healthy controls (mean: 15.6 +/- 4.8 ng/mL). It is possible that younger ET patients with more active platelets are more susceptible to earlier vascular damage. The lack of any significant difference compared with the older patient population supports this hypothesis.