Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia during Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of the Literature

The management of pregnant women with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a challenging situation where limited evidence-based information is available. We performed a systematic literature review to analyze the outcomes reported for both mother and fetus when APL is diagnosed during pregnancy. PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases were systematically searched to identify studies reporting cases of APL during pregnancy. Sixty-six articles met the eligibility criteria (53 single case reports). Ninety-two patients were eligible for induction therapy, with most them being treated with all-trans retinoic acid alone (32%) or combined with chemotherapy (43%), while the remaining patients received chemotherapy alone. Three patients were treated with arsenic-based regimens after delivery. Overall complete remission rate was 89%, with no statistically significant differences according to the type of induction and gestational age. During the first trimester, women were more likely to experience spontaneous and induced abortion compared to those during the second trimester (88% vs. 30%) (p < 0.0001), while only one patient diagnosed during the third trimester terminated in stillbirth. Twelve of 16 infants with neonatal complications had respiratory distress syndrome. Except two early deaths (Potter’s syndrome and pulmonary hemorrhage), all neonates evolved favorably. This study confirms that gestational age does not affect the results in the mother, but is closely related to fetal viability. Our results may be useful for the process of decision making that requires the involvement of the patient, hematologist, obstetrician and neonatologist.

Capacity for recovery of rocky subtidal assemblages following pollution abatement in a scenario of global change

The successful protection and management of marine ecosystems depend on understanding the capability of biota for recovering after stressor mitigation actions are taken. Here we present long-term changes (1984-2012) in degraded subtidal assemblages following the implementation of the sewerage scheme for the metropolitan area of Bilbao (1 million inhabitants). Qualitative and quantitative species composition of disturbed vegetation shifted over time, making it more similar to that of the reference assemblages considered. Species density in the disturbed habitats increased, which is also a positive sign of recovery. However, eleven years after the clean-up was completed, canopy-forming macrophytes showed no signs of recovery. We argue that the ecological resilience of the ecosystem may have been eroded after a long-standing pollution perturbation and that underlying climate change could be influencing the recovery trajectory of the degraded assemblages. The implications of these conclusions for the implementation of European marine environmental legislation are discussed.

Measuring restoration in intertidal macrophyte assemblages following sewage treatment upgrade

Understanding the effectiveness of pollution mitigation actions in terms of biological recovery is essential if the environmental protection goals of management policies are to be achieved. Few studies, however, have evaluated the restoration of seaweed assemblages following pollution abatement. This study aimed to investigate the response of macroalgal vegetation to the upgrade of a wastewater treatment plant using a "Beyond BACI" experimental design. Temporal differences in vegetation structure between the outfall and two control locations over a 10-year period were assessed. Improvement in sewage treatment was found to lead to increases in diversity, cover of morphologically complex algae and spatial heterogeneity. The multivariate composition of assemblages at the outfall location became more similar to that at the controls; however, their complete recovery may depend on factors other than pollution removal. Our findings also suggest that the extent of restoration and the time required to detect it are largely predetermined by the response variables we choose to assess recovery.

Ecological monitoring of intertidal phytobenthic communities of the Basque Coast (N. Spain) following the Prestige oil spill

Following the Prestige oil spill, six-monthly samplings (spring and autumn) of intertidal macroalgal assemblages were carried out from 2004 to 2006 in twelve locations along the Basque coast. Macroalgal species appeared to be little modified, but species richness, diversity, and algal cover were significantly lower in the first year of the study, so it cannot be ruled out that the arrival of oil on the Basque coast might have had a damaging effect on intertidal communities. On the other hand, no significant differences were detected between locations slightly and moderately affected by oil in any of the structural parameters considered. By contrast, significant differences were detected between locations within each oiling level that indicate that other natural environmental factors play a greater role in the differences between locations than the oiling level. Likewise, significant differences were detected between areas within each location which were not consistent with time, indicating that communities are highly heterogeneous in species richness, diversity and algal cover at the scale of tens of meters. The dominant Corallina elongata and most of the accompanying species did not show significant year-on-year differences in terms of cover. Also, there were no differences between the two oiling levels. Analyses revealed a high spatial variability at the scale of kilometers (locations) and tens of meters (areas) for most of the taxa. The results obtained provide detailed quantitative data on intertidal phytobenthic assemblages of the Basque coast at different spatial and temporal scales that were hitherto unavailable for the region.

Partition behavior of anilines in bulk-phase and high-performance liquid chromatographic systems: influence on correlation with biological constants

The partition behavior of a mixed series of ring-substituted anilines in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic systems is substantially different from that observed in a classical bulk-phase partition system with n-heptane as the aprotic reference solvent. On the basis of the equivalence of each ring substituent in the p-straight-chain methylene groups (v value) as a function of the fraction of organic solvent (acetonitrile or methanol) in the mobile phase, the biased partition behavior for imperfect homologues and heterologues is verified relative to that of perfect homologues. This behavior was tentatively attributed, mainly, to differences in the hydrogen bonding capacity of the compounds, which is associated with the electronic character of the working solvent. These differences cannot be normalized through the use of extrapolated initial partition coefficient (K'o) values because of carryover effects of the solvent. When the chromatographic partition constants (K') and K'o are used, correlations with previously determined intestinal absorption rate constants are definitely worse than the correlations with the reference n-heptane partition coefficients. Possible implications of these observations on lipophilicity-biological activity correlations are briefly discussed.