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Allergology International : Official... Apr 2022Drug-induced scleroderma-like lesion is a condition in which administration of a drug induces skin sclerotic lesions similar to systemic sclerosis or morphea. The... (Review)
Review
Drug-induced scleroderma-like lesion is a condition in which administration of a drug induces skin sclerotic lesions similar to systemic sclerosis or morphea. The clinical manifestations of drug-induced scleroderma-like lesion can be divided into two types: scleroderma-like lesions and morphea-like plaques. A wide variety of drugs can cause drug-induced scleroderma-like lesion. Bleomycin, -tryptophan, vinyl chloride, and phytonadione (vitamin K) have been reported, but in recent years, cases due to chemotherapeutic agents, such as taxane-based agents, gemcitabine, and tegafur-uracil, and immune checkpoint inhibitors have increased. Drug-induced scleroderma-like lesion differs from systemic sclerosis in that it does not include Raynaud's phenomenon, nail-fold capillary abnormality, organ involvement, such as reflux esophagitis, interstitial pneumonia, renal crisis, or anti-nuclear Abs. On the other hand, there are reports of cases in which Raynaud's phenomenon, positive conversion of anti-nuclear Abs, and development of skin sclerosis from the fingers developed after initiation of the drug. Whether the skin sclerosis improves after discontinuation of the drug depends on the patient. In patients with severe skin sclerosis, functional impairment, such as flexion contracture of the fingers, may occur, and systemic therapy, such as steroids, may be necessary. When treating patients with skin sclerosis, it is important to keep in mind the possibility that the sclerotic lesion may be induced by a drug.
Topics: Capillaries; Humans; Raynaud Disease; Scleroderma, Localized; Scleroderma, Systemic; Vascular Malformations
PubMed: 34465533
DOI: 10.1016/j.alit.2021.08.005 -
Journal of Functional Biomaterials Jun 2023Medical gloves, along with masks and gowns, serve as the initial line of defense against potentially infectious microorganisms and hazardous substances in the health... (Review)
Review
Medical gloves, along with masks and gowns, serve as the initial line of defense against potentially infectious microorganisms and hazardous substances in the health sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical gloves played a significant role, as they were widely utilized throughout society in daily activities as a preventive measure. These products demonstrated their value as important personal protection equipment (PPE) and reaffirmed their relevance as infection prevention tools. This review describes the evolution of medical gloves since the discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear in 1839, which fostered the development of this industry. Regarding the current market, a comparison of the main properties, benefits, and drawbacks of the most widespread types of sanitary gloves is presented. The most common gloves are produced from natural rubber (NR), polyisoprene (IR), acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), polychloroprene (CR), polyethylene (PE), and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Furthermore, the environmental impacts of the conventional natural rubber glove manufacturing process and mitigation strategies, such as bioremediation and rubber recycling, are addressed. In order to create new medical gloves with improved properties, several biopolymers (e.g., poly(vinyl alcohol) and starch) and additives such as biodegradable fillers (e.g., cellulose and chitin), reinforcing fillers (e.g., silica and cellulose nanocrystals), and antimicrobial agents (e.g., biguanides and quaternary ammonium salts) have been evaluated. This paper covers these performance-enhancing materials and describes different innovative prototypes of gloves and coatings designed with them.
PubMed: 37504844
DOI: 10.3390/jfb14070349 -
Materials Today. Bio Dec 2022Bacterial infections can compromise the physical and biological functionalities of humans and pose a huge economical and psychological burden on infected patients.... (Review)
Review
Bacterial infections can compromise the physical and biological functionalities of humans and pose a huge economical and psychological burden on infected patients. Nitric oxide (NO) is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent, whose mechanism of action is not affected by bacterial resistance. S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), an endogenous donor and carrier of NO, has gained increasing attention because of its potent antibacterial activity and efficient biocompatibility. Significant breakthroughs have been made in the application of GSNO in biomaterials. This review is based on the existing evidence that comprehensively summarizes the progress of antimicrobial GSNO applications focusing on their anti-infective performance, underlying antibacterial mechanisms, and application in anti-infective biomaterials. We provide an accurate overview of the roles and applications of GSNO in antibacterial biomaterials and shed new light on the avenues for future studies.
PubMed: 36105674
DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100419 -
Revista Da Associacao Medica Brasileira... 2019To review articles that evaluated the prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon of occupational origin. (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To review articles that evaluated the prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon of occupational origin.
METHODS
The search for articles was carried out in the Medline (via PubMed), Embase, Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and Latin America and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (Lilacs) databases.
RESULTS
64 articles were obtained from the electronic search; 18 articles met the eligibility criteria. All studies discussed the exposure to vibrations in the upper limbs. In 6 of them, the thermal issue was directly or indirectly addressed. No studies have addressed exposure to vinyl chloride.
CONCLUSIO
In general, a higher prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon was found among vibratory tool operators compared to non-exposed workers, with an increase in the number of cases the higher the level of vibration and the time of exposure. Cold is a triggering and aggravating factor of the Raynaud phenomenon and seems to play an important role in the emergence of vascular manifestations of the hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Topics: Cold Temperature; Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome; Humans; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Prevalence; Raynaud Disease; Risk Factors; Vinyl Chloride
PubMed: 31721965
DOI: 10.1590/1806-9282.65.10.1314 -
World Journal of Gastroenterology Sep 2019Portal hypertension, liver fibrosis, and angiosarcoma of the liver (ASL) have been reported among workers exposed to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) since the 1970s. In... (Review)
Review
Portal hypertension, liver fibrosis, and angiosarcoma of the liver (ASL) have been reported among workers exposed to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) since the 1970s. In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer established the association of VCM with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), though only on the basis of the few cases available. Thereafter, recent reports from the United States cohort and a European sub-cohort of vinyl chloride workers provided compelling evidence of a strong association between cumulative VCM exposure and HCC risk. Further areas of research include the risk of liver cancer at lower levels of exposure and different patterns of risk of ASL and HCC with the time since exposure. The evidence of interaction between VCM exposure and other known liver carcinogens such as alcohol and chronic viral infection provides clues for the health surveillance of exposed workers. Notably, also the risk of VCM-associated chronic liver disease is modulated by alcohol consumption, viral infection, and genetic polymorphism. A counter-intuitive finding from cohort studies of exposed workers is the lower mortality from liver cirrhosis with respect to the general population; this can be attributed to the healthy worker effect and to the selection of liver cancer as the cause of death in the presence of concomitant chronic liver disease. Studies designed to overcome these intricacies confirmed an association between cumulative VCM exposure and the risk of liver cirrhosis.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Carcinogens; Cause of Death; Chronic Disease; Europe; Hemangiosarcoma; Humans; Hypertension, Portal; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Risk Factors; Survival Analysis; United States; Vinyl Chloride; Virus Diseases
PubMed: 31543680
DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i33.4885 -
Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) Aug 2023Ammonium group containing polymers possess inherent antimicrobial properties, effectively eliminating or preventing infections caused by harmful microorganisms. Here,...
Ammonium group containing polymers possess inherent antimicrobial properties, effectively eliminating or preventing infections caused by harmful microorganisms. Here, homopolymers based on monomers containing ammonium groups were synthesized via Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization (RAFT) and evaluated as potential antibacterial agents. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against Gram-positive ( and ) and Gram-negative bacteria ( and ). Three polymers, poly(diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride), poly([2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride), and poly(vinyl benzyl trimethylammonium chloride), were examined to explore the effect of molecular weight (10 kDa, 20 kDa, and 40 kDa) on their antimicrobial activity and toxicity to mammalian cells. The mechanisms of action of the polymers were investigated with dye-based assays, while Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed collapsed and fused bacterial morphologies due to the interactions between the polymers and components of the bacterial cell envelope, with some polymers proving to be bactericidal and others bacteriostatic, while being non-hemolytic. Among all the homopolymers, the most active, non-Gram-specific polymer was poly([2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride), with a molecular weight of 40 kDa, with minimum inhibitory concentrations between 16 and 64 µg/mL, showing a bactericidal mode of action mediated by disruption of the cytoplasmic membrane. This homopolymer could be useful in biomedical applications such as surface dressings and in areas such as eye infections.
PubMed: 37627740
DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12081320 -
Environmental Toxicology Feb 2022Vinyl chloride (VC) is an organochlorine mainly used to manufacture its polymer polyvinyl chloride, which is extensively used in the manufacturing of consumer products....
Vinyl chloride (VC) is an organochlorine mainly used to manufacture its polymer polyvinyl chloride, which is extensively used in the manufacturing of consumer products. Recent studies suggest that chronic low dose VC exposure affects glucose homeostasis in high fat diet-fed mice. Our data suggest that even in the absence of high fat diet, exposure to VC (0.8 ppm, 6 h/day, 5 day/week, for 12 weeks) induces glucose intolerance (1.0 g/kg, i.p.) in male C57BL/6 mice. This was accompanied with the depletion of hepatic glutathione and a modest increase in lung interstitial macrophages. VC exposure did not affect the levels of circulating immune cells, endothelial progenitor cells, platelet-immune cell aggregates, and cytokines and chemokines. The acute challenge of VC-exposed mice with LPS did not affect lung immune cell composition or plasma IL-6. To examine the effect of VC exposure on vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, LDL receptor-KO mice on C57BL/6 background maintained on western diet were exposed to VC for 12 weeks (0.8 ppm, 6 h/day, 5 day/week). Unlike the WT C57BL/6 mice, VC exposure did not affect glucose tolerance in the LDL receptor-KO mice. Plasma cytokines, lesion area in the aortic valve, and markers of lesional inflammation in VC-exposed LDL receptor-KO mice were comparable with the air-exposed controls. Collectively, despite impaired glucose tolerance and modest pulmonary inflammation, chronic low dose VC exposure does not affect surrogate markers of cardiovascular injury, LPS-induced acute inflammation in C57BL/6 mice, and chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis in the LDL receptor-KO mice.
Topics: Animals; Cardiovascular Diseases; Diet, High-Fat; Liver; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Vinyl Chloride
PubMed: 34717031
DOI: 10.1002/tox.23394