Report of erucism caused by Automeris egeus Cramer (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) and a brief update on caterpillar envenomation in Brazil

We report a case of erucism provoked by the Automeris egeus Cramer caterpillar and update the distribution of caterpillar poisoning in Brazil, showing the regions with the highest incidence rates. We also correlated the incidence rate with anthropic impact rates in all Brazilian municipalities, taking as a reference the Human Footprint Index. The victim presented erucism, burning pain, itching, and local hyperthermia. The highest incidence rates were in southern Brazil. We suggest including A. egeus in the Brazilian list of animals with medical importance, and that Brazilian Ministry of Health indicates the genus of the animals involved in envenomation events on its platform.

Temperature control during nanoparticle-sensitized hyperthermia

Hyperthermia is one of the mild cancer treatment approaches, which can be realized via a non-invasive way. It has been established that nanoparticles are effective for local hyperthermia enhancement when stimulated by an external stimulus. We show that silicon-based nanoparticles can be used as sensitizers for radiofrequency-induced hyperthermia and propose a thermographic method to control the temperature during the treatment.

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of Local Hyperthermia on Soft Tissue

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a method for simulating a local hyperthermia (HT) effect on the soft tissue liver by exposing it to an external heat higher than normal core body temperature. Local HT treatments are most commonly used to treat cancer tissue smaller than 3 cm in size by using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) technique. The radiofrequency probe provides an intense external heat source within the target zone with temperatures exceeding 50 °C, but its maximum temperature should not approach 100 °C. In this paper, the main idea is to study the effect of tumor diameter size on the exposure time, thermal exposure intensity and applied voltage. There are five (5) different tumor diameter tissue sizes that would be treated: 1 cm, 1.5 cm, and 2 cm of tumor tissue diameter treated with a monopolar of plain electrode, and 2 cm, 2.5 cm, and 3 cm of tumor diameter tissue treated with 4-prong retractable antennas of an electrode. The findings showed that the exposure time is influenced by the tumor diameter tissue and the voltage applied, with the bigger tumor diameter tissue necessitating the longest time exposure with a high voltage. The temperature range of 50-100 °C has been given by all of the voltage supplied. Both electrodes provide thermal damage between 6-20 minutes, which is 6 – 18.5 minutes for a plain electrode with a voltage supply of 20-35 V applied to 1cm, 1.5cm and 2 cm of tumor diameter tissue, and 10.5 – 12.5 minutes for a 4-prongs electrode with a voltage supply of 22-45 V applied to 2 cm, 2.5 cm and 3 cm of tumor tissue.

LOCAL HYPERTHERMIA IN THE TREATMNET OF LOCALLY ADVANCED CERVICAL CANCER: CURRENT VIEW ON THE PROBLEM

The purpose of the study was to review available data on the combined use of local hyperthermia and chemotherapy/radiotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer, as well as to analyze longterm treatment outcomes.Material and methods. A systemic literature review was conducted using medline, cochrane library, and elibrary databases in the interval time between 2003 and 2020.Results. The review describes the mechanisms of biological efficiency of local hyperthermia and evaluates the effect of hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy on cancer cells. Analysis of the thermobiological effects of local hyperthermia indicates that it is a potent sensitizer of cell killing by ionizing radiation and chemotherapy. The increase in tumor radiosensitivity is caused by the inhibition of the repair processes of damaged dna strands. Hyperthermia enhances perfusion and oxygenation of hypoxic tumor cells with a consecutive increase in tumor radiosensitivity. During chemotherapy, local hyperthermia ensures the maximum targeted delivery of cytotoxic agents to the tumor, thus increasing the effectiveness of treatment. Moreover, local hyperthermia has a direct cytotoxic effect on tumor cells. Randomized trials on the use of hyperthermia in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer have shown positive immediate and long-term treatment outcomes.Conclusion. Local hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy is a promising treatment modality for locally advanced cervical cancer, because it can significantly improve treatment outcomes and reduce the frequency of early and late adverse effects. However, despite the available world experience, there are no unified methodological approaches to local hyperthermia, and therefore further research is required.

Postoperative wound assessment in cattle: How reliable is the back hand palpation?

Background As part of clinical wound assessment in bovine surgery, discrepancies in skin temperature are evaluated by placing the back of the hand on the area to be examined. Generally, an increased skin temperature at the wound site for a prolonged period is considered as an indicator of impaired wound healing. The aim of this study was to verify the reliability of palpation under bovine practice conditions using laparotomy as an example. Fourteen cows (German Holstein) with a left displacement of the abomasum (LDA) without other severe concurrent diseases were examined preoperatively and once daily for ten days after surgery. The skin temperature of the wound site in the right flank was assessed by palpation, followed by thermographic evaluation using an infrared camera after a 45-min acclimatisation period, under standardised conditions in a closed examination room daily for 10 days. Results All the incisions healed without clinical detectable perturbances. The ambient temperature range during the study period was 7.8 − 24.1 °C. Two groups were retrospectively defined according to the ambient temperature: high ambient temperature (HT group; median: 20.2 °C 25/75 quartile: 18.5 °C / 21.7 °C; n = 6) and low ambient temperature (LT group; 10.8 °C; 9.4 °C / 12.8 °C; n = 8). The temperature differences (Δϑ) between the mean skin temperature of the wound site and a defined reference area cranial to the wound were assessed. A significant negative correlation was found between the ambient temperature (ϑAmb) and Δϑ (r=-0.51; P < 0.001). The Δϑ was postoperatively higher in the cows in the LT group (median of the individual animals 0.8–2.5 °C) than in the HT group (0.1–0.5 °C; P < 0.05). In contrast to the thermographic findings, manual palpation rarely detected local hyperthermia (> 1 °C) at the wound site (sensitivity 0.20; specificity 0.96). Conclusions The infrared thermography provides a more reliable assessment of temperature changes at the wound site in comparison to manual palpation. The ambient temperature markedly affects the extent of local hyperthermia at the wound site.

The use of radiation therapy in combination treatment of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities with involvement of long tubular bones

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare malignant tumors of mesenchymal origin. They account for about 1% of all malignant neoplasms. Haematogenous spread is the most common route of me-tastasis for STS and bone metastases occur in 9.4% of cases. When creating treatment plan for STS, it is necessary to consider a multimodal approach. Combination treatment can include pre-operative or postoperative radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), and local hyperthermia (LHT). Surgery for STS should be radical. This paper presents 9 STS clinical cases and treatment outcomes in patients with secondary bone disease. Four patients underwent chemotherapy and surgery. Two patients received chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and surgery. Three patients received thermo-chemo-radiotherapy (TCHRT) followed by surgery. Accelerated fractionation radiotherapy was given using a single tumor dose of 3 Gy, twice a day with interval of 4 hours between ses-sions, 3 times a week to a total tumor dose (TTD) of 30 Gy (isoeffective TTD – 42 Gy, TDF – 69 Gy). Local hyperthermia for soft tissue tumor treatment was performed over 6 sessions: 2 ses-sions were combined with CHT courses before and after RT, and 4 sessions were combined with RT. The follow up period for 6 patients varied from 12 to 1.5 months, for 3 patients it varied from 6 to 8 months, for 1 patient it lasted 3 months and for 1 patient – 2 years. According to the RECIST criteria, more than half of the patients had tumor stabilization and 22% of patients had a partial response. Grade III-IV the rapeutic pathomorphosis was observed in 70% of patients after pre-operative combination treatment. The use of CT, CRT or TCHRT in combination treatment of STS with secondary bone disease enabled us to achieve a pronounced therapeutic pathomorphosis of tumors and to perform organ preservation surgery with endoprosthetic replacement.