Age and growth of the endangered fan mussel Pinna nobilis in the western Mediterranean Sea

The present work, which is the first comparative study of the growth of the fan mussel Pinna nobilis in the western Mediterranean, encompasses 12 populations of this species living in different environments in France and Spain. Two hundred nine shells were processed and used to obtain growth records from the posterior adductor muscle scar. Size-at-age data were fitted to the Von Bertalanffy growth model. Considerable variability in growth parameters and age was detected among the populations. The results show that the only two fan mussel populations remaining in Spain, which live in an estuary and a coastal lagoon, occupy habitats that are optimal for fast growth, but individuals show low longevity, complicating the long-term conservation of the species. Multivariate analyses groups the populations into three groups (SO, EO and LG), and a general model is proposed for each group; the model can be used as an approximation to calculate the ages of individuals living in similar environments.

[Congenital portosistemic shunt. Importance of early treatment]

AIM

Congenital portosistemic shunt (CPSS) is an uncommon condition that can cause serious complications such as encephalopathy and liver tumors at risk of malignant degeneration. Occlusion of the shunt by surgery or interventional radiology can prevent and even improve such complications. In some cases, liver transplantation is the only curative option. We describe our experience with this condition.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Between 1992 and 2013, eight children (four male and four female) were diagnosed with CPSS (four extrahepatic and four intrahepatic) in our center, of which seven were diagnosed after 2007. The mean age at diagnosis was 5.5 years (1 month-15 years). Five patients had associated comorbidities.

RESULTS

Five patients had developed hyperammonemia and intellectual impairment, one of those manifested with an onset of coma. Four patients have developed at diagnosis liver tumors, including focal nodular hyperplasia/regenerative nodules (n=3) and adenomas (n=3). One patient with multiple tumors required a hepatectomy owing to compressive symptoms. Two patients, developed malignant degeneration, a child under five years treated with liver transplantation and another in adulthood treated with hepatectomy. In one patient, diagnosed in the neonatal period, the shunt occlusion occurred spontaneously. Direct portography with the occlusion test was performed in five patients, the shunt was occluded with interventional radiology in three cases, surgery in one and liver transplantation in the remaining.

CONCLUSIONS

The treatment of the SPSC must be early to prevent and even to reverse its complications, avoiding liver transplantation. Currently, interventional radiology is essential in the strategy to follow and treatment of these patients.

[Uveal melanoma: clinical characteristics, treatment and survival in a series of 500 patients]

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the clinical features, treatment and survival of uveal melanoma patients diagnosed in a referral Intraocular Tumours Unit over a twenty-year period.

METHODOLOGY

A prospective study was performed including five hundred patients, diagnosed between January 1992 and December 2011. Clinical tumour characteristics and treatment were collected in a database in Microsoft@ Access@. The numeric variables were expressed as means of frequency and standard deviation, and the quantitative variables using frequency tables.

RESULTS

The mean age of the sample was 62.19 years, with 51.2% females, and 64.2% presented with symptoms. The tumours were small in 31.12% of cases, and large in 23.09%, according to COMS criteria. Hazel green was the iris colour in 42.2% of the cases. The initial treatment was episcleral brachytherapy in 42.4% of the total. The overall mortality rate was 17% and 31.3%, and melanoma-related mortality rate was 11.6% and 14.8%, at 5 and 10 years, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

In the serie studied melanomas were more frequent in women, and a higher proportion of darker irides were observed than in other previous studies. Most of the tumours were diagnosed when they became symptomatic and in the early or medium stages, allowing conservative therapies to be used, with brachytherapy being the predominant treatment. The melanoma-related mortality appeared to be lower than previously data published. However, further studies are required on the factors influencing survival.

3D automatic quantification applied to optically sectioned images to improve microscopy analysis

New fluorescence microscopy techniques, such as confocal or digital deconvolution microscopy, allow to easily obtain three-dimensional (3D) information from specimens. However, there are few 3D quantification tools that allow extracting information of these volumes. Therefore, the amount of information acquired by these techniques is difficult to manipulate and analyze manually. The present study describes a model-based method, which for the first time shows 3D visualization and quantification of fluorescent apoptotic body signals, from optical serial sections of porcine hepatocyte spheroids correlating them to their morphological structures. The method consists on an algorithm that counts apoptotic bodies in a spheroid structure and extracts information from them, such as their centroids in cartesian and radial coordinates, relative to the spheroid centre, and their integrated intensity. 3D visualization of the extracted information, allowed us to quantify the distribution of apoptotic bodies in three different zones of the spheroid.

[Predictors of behavioural disorders and consultation-liaison psychiatry in patients with HIV disorders]

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to identify the features of patients admitted into an Infectious Disease Unit in a Hospital due to pathology related to HIV and/or addiction that originate the demand for consultation liaison psychiatry.

METHOD

During the first six months of 1997, 232 admissions into the Infectious Disease Unit at Ramón y Cajal Hospital (191 patients) were systematically evaluated by the nursery staff. A specific questionnaire was designed for this interview. After having performed univariants analysis, a logistic regression was used to identify the most relevant variables in the claim for consultation liaison.

RESULTS

The claim for consultation liaison was associated to: consume in the unit OR (yes/no)= 7.9, confusional syndrome OR (yes/no)= 5.6, social worker consultation liaison OR (yes/no)= 2.1. use of benzodiazepines OR (yes/no)= 2.4. No medical treatment respect to bad accomplishment OR= 3.6. Only taking into account the known features after the first examination: use of benzodiazepines OR (yes/no)= 2.1, use of cocaine OR (yes/no)= 1.8, recognized income (yes/no)= 2.2, no medical treatment due to bad accomplishment OR= 2.1.

CONCLUSIONS

In our environment the demand for consultation liaison psychiatry is related to behavioural problems due to the use of substances and marginality. The variables which predict the demand and may be identified at the time of admission are: the use of benzodiazepines, cocaine, the lack of a recognized income and the absence of medical treatment for the HIV infection. Recognizing these features will allow us to identify patients who are going to have behavioural problems and demand psychiatric assistance.

Psychogenic paranoid psychosis: an empirical study

The present study was aimed at assessing the psychopathological manifestations, stress factors, evolution and social adaptation of 29 patients diagnosed with psychogenic paranoid psychosis. This syndrome is seen as an entity in itself, and is closely related to trigger factors; stability in the symptomatology of each relapse; favourable response to treatment; tendency to relapse, and recovery of the previous level of functioning.

[Update on the morbidity of psychiatric disorders in patients with AIDS: results of a clinical follow-up]

A follow-up study after one or two years of treatment was carried out on 107 AIDS patients who were seen by the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Ramon y Cajal Hospital. The sample was reduced to 52 patients (49%) mainly due to the lack of check-ups in 43% and to the death of 8% of the cases. 36% of patients suffered from Delirium or Dementia and these had the greater mortality rate. Grade IV patients and those with a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorders came to the check-ups most frequently.

[Correlation between the concentration of lead in a gastropod mollusc (Monodonta turbinata, Born) and the temperature of sea water]

The study of marine organism contamination by heavy metals was carried out during an annual cycle in a Mediterranean lagoon (Lagoon of Brusc, Var, France). Lead concentrations measured in several specimens of the gastropod mollusc Monodonta turbinata, Born, from a littoral station, vary with the sea water temperature, and a very significant correlation between both parameters is obvious.