Erythropoietic protoporphyria without skin symptoms-you do not always see what they feel

Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an inherited disorder of the porphyrin metabolism that often remains undiagnosed in children. We report on a 4-year-old girl who had been suffering for 1 year from recurrent painful crises affecting her hands, feet, and nose following sun exposure. Objective skin lesions were absent until the age of 6. Porphyrin analysis revealed elevated free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) levels confirming the diagnosis of EPP. This illustrates that skin lesions might be completely absent in children affected with EPP, a fact that has only been reported once previously. Because EPP can manifest with few and unspecific cutaneous symptoms or no skin lesions at all, like in this patient, the diagnosis of EPP might be delayed or missed. EPP should be excluded in all photosensitive children, especially when discomfort is disproportionate to the extent of the cutaneous lesions. The clinic, pathophysiology, diagnosis, complications, and therapy of EPP are discussed

radionuclides behavior in fruit plants

This paper summarizes research carried out on fruits by the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) in Piacenza, Italy. Among the fruit crops studied, strawberry, blackberry, grapevine, apple, pear, and olive, research on strawberry and blackberry was funded by the Food Standard Agency (UK). Fruit plants were grown in pots, kept under tunnels or in open field, and contaminated with 134Cs and 85Sr via leaves or via soil. Interception in strawberry plants ranges 39–17 % for 134Cs, from anthesis (April) to predormancy (November). Leaf-to-fruit translocation occurs to a greater extent for 134Cs than for 85Sr. The distribution of contamination in fruit crops is an element-specific process: 134Cs is preferentially allocated to fruits and 85Sr to leaves. However, the activity in leaves is also species-specific: fruit species show different leaf-to-fruit translocation. Results on apple, pear, and grape crops indicate that the highest transfer from leaf to fruit occurs in apple crops. Olive plants also show 134Cs translocation from leaves to trunks. Grapevines grown on mineral soil show a root uptake higher for 85Sr than for 134Cs, while strawberries grown on a peat substrate show a root uptake higher for 134Cs than for 85Sr. Rinsing directly contaminated fruits removes 85Sr (36 %) to a greater degree than 134Cs (24 %). Transfer to olive oil is low. A 57 % of 134Cs is transferred from grapes to white wine

The Tumor Microenvironment: The Making of a Paradigm

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the su

Myocardial tagging by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance: evolution of techniques--pulse sequences, analysis algorithms, and applications

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) tagging has been established as an essential technique for measuring regional myocardial function. It allows quantification of local intramyocardial motion measures, e.g. strain and strain rate. The invention of CMR tagging came in the late eighties, where the technique allowed for the first time for visualizing transmural myocardial movement without having to implant physical markers. This new idea opened the door for a series of developments and improvements that continue up to the present time. Different tagging techniques are currently available that are more extensive, improved, and sophisticated than they were twenty years ago. Each of these techniques has different versions for improved resolution, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), scan time, anatomical coverage, three-dimensional capability, and image quality. The tagging techniques covered in this article can be broadly divided into two main categories: 1) Basic techniques, which include magnetization saturation, spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM), delay alternating with nutations for tailored excitation (DANTE), and complementary SPAMM (CSPAMM); and 2) Advanced techniques, which include harmonic phase (HARP), displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE), and strain encoding (SENC). Although most of these techniques were developed by separate groups and evolved from different backgrounds, they are in fact closely related to each other, and they can be interpreted from more than one perspective. Some of these techniques even followed parallel paths of developments, as illustrated in the article. As each technique has its own advantages, some efforts have been made to combine different techniques together for improved image quality or composite information acquisition. In this review, different developments in pulse sequences and related image processing techniques are described along with the necessities that led to their invention, which makes this article easy to read and the covered techniques easy to follow. Major studies that applied CMR tagging for studying myocardial mechanics are also summarized. Finally, the current article includes a plethora of ideas and techniques with over 300 references that motivate the reader to think about the future of CMR tagging