Scientific misconduct in environmental science and toxicology.

Scientific misconduct easily occurs in environmental science and toxicology; we encountered four such cases. Only one case was discovered by editors; three were reported by other authors. All guilty authors were eventually banned from future publication in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Cases in the Bulletin indicate that scientific misconduct may occur undetected across phyla, genera, and species; that distance from the publishing source makes detection more difficult; that editors and reviewers are not organized to take action against scientific misconduct; that plagiarized authors are likely to report plagiarism; and that there is only a small risk of censure from any source for authors engaging in scientific misconduct.

[Adverse reactions to antitubercular treatment with rifampin (Considerations on 14 cases]. / Reactii adverse ale tratamentului antituberculos cu rifampicina (Consideratii pe marginea a 14 cazuri).

An analysis of a group of 120 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis undergoing rifampicin treatment attempted to perform a study of adverse reactions induced by this drug used in modern therapeutic regimens of short duration (6 to 9 months). This was prompted by the increasing number of papers in the specialized literature concerned with such adverse reactions that occur in 10--50 percent of all cases treated with rifampicin. Adverse reactions to rifampicin (influenza-like syndrome, digestive syndrome, hepatic syndrome) were relatively rare in the group presented here (11,8 percent), when compared with the data in the literature. Although no severe adverse reactions occured, suppression of rifampicin therapy was necessary in most of the cases, and this modified the efficiency of the treatment. This low incidence has however a statistical significance indicating that larger groups should be investigated.

[Bronchiectasis in advanced old-age. Etiopathogenetic and diagnostic considerations and medico-social implications]. / Bronsiectazia la vîrstele înaintate. Consideratii etiopatogenice, diagnostice si implicatii medico-sociale.

A study was carried out on the etiopathogeny and socio-medical implications in 18 cases of bronchiectasis, without a typical clinical symptomatology before admission. All the patients were over the age of 60 years. The bronchographic examination was performed in all the cases. In 8 of the cases bronchiectasis was interpreted as a post-tuberculosis syndrome and in the other 10 cases bronchiectasis was attributed to pulmonary sclerosis of different origin (acute unsuppurated pneumopathy). The gradual changes in pulmonary mechanics, the organic and functional deficiences developing with age lowered the resistance of the body to viral and bacterial infection, contributing to the onset of bronchiectasis in the older group. The suppurative episodes were curred by treatment in all the cases.