Sickle Cell Trait Presenting as Unilateral Proliferative Retinopathy and Macular Thinning in a Pregnant Woman

Background. To report a case of a pregnant woman with sickle cell trait (SCT) who presented with unilateral proliferative sickle cell retinopathy. Case Presentation. A 26-year-old otherwise healthy pregnant woman presented with the complaint of visual loss in her left eye. The funduscopic examination showed vitreous hemorrhage, sea fan neovascularization, and pale optic disc. Optical coherence tomography revealed macular inner retinal layer thinning and foveal splaying (saucerization of the foveal pit). The investigations, including hemoglobin electrophoresis, verified the diagnosis of sickle cell trait. Blood pressure, fasting blood glucose tests, and tuberculin skin tests were normal. We treated the patient by peripheral retinal photocoagulation over the area of nonperfusion. Conclusion. Even though the sickle cell trait is generally considered as a milder form of sickle cell disease without severe retinal manifestations, pregnancy should be considered as a trigger that can induce proliferative changes and foveal splaying in this group of patients.

Morphometric and genetic identification of a newly record pygmy seahorse Hippocampus denise in the Kepulauan Seribu reefs, Indonesia

The study was conducted to describe the seahorse species based on morphological and molecular characters. The pygmy seahorse in Panggang Island in Kepualuan Seribu was discovered in October 2011. The species was allegedly identified as Hippocampus denise (Family: Syngnathidae) described by Lourie and Randall which published in 2003. The high similarity is based on small morphometric, orange-like color and its association with sea fan Annella sp. Their habitat is fairly shallow at a depth between 13-24 meters compared with their sister species observed in Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and Sulawesi. The phylogenetic analysis constructed with several sequence data of Hippocampus spp. from Genbank shows that sample collected from Panggang Island is in the same clade with Hippocampus denise with 100% bootstrap value. BLAST analysis result also showed a high maximum similar identity (>99%) with the species Hippocampus denise. The seahorse specimen described in this study has a common typology of habitat with Hippocampus denise. This study shows that genetic analysis to determine the Hippocampus denise can be carried out to support species recognition, especially for cryptic species such as Hippocampus spp. There are variations in morphometric and habitat depth levels, indicating local adaptation of pygmy seahorses to the Kepulauan Seribu reefs.

Chemical Evaluation, Antioxidant, Antiproliferative, Anti-Inflammatory and Antibacterial Activities of Organic Extract and Semi-Purified Fractions of the Adriatic Sea Fan, Eunicella cavolini

Due to sedentary lifestyle and harsh environmental conditions, gorgonian coral extracts are recognized as a rich source of novel compounds with various biological activities, of interest to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The presented study aimed to perform chemical screening of organic extracts and semi-purified fractions obtained from the common Adriatic gorgonian, sea fan, Eunicella cavolini (Koch, 1887) and explore its abilities to exert different biological effects in vitro. Qualitative chemical evaluation revealed the presence of several classes of secondary metabolites extended with mass spectrometry analysis and tentative dereplication by using Global Natural Product Social Molecular Networking online platform (GNPS). Furthermore, fractions F4 and F3 showed the highest phenolic (3.28 ± 0.04 mg GAE/g sample) and carotene (23.11 ± 2.48 mg β-CA/g sample) content, respectively. The fraction F3 inhibited 50% of DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) and ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazolin-6-yl) sulfonic acid) radicals at the concentrations of 767.09 ± 11.57 and 157.16 ± 10.83 µg/mL, respectively. The highest anti-inflammatory potential was exhibited by F2 (IC50 = 198.70 ± 28.77 µg/mL) regarding the inhibition of albumin denaturation and F1 (IC50 = 254.49 ± 49.17 µg/mL) in terms of soybean lipoxygenase inhibition. In addition, the most pronounced antiproliferative effects were observed for all samples (IC50 ranging from 0.82 ± 0.14–231.18 ± 46.13 µg/mL) against several carcinoma cell lines, but also towards non-transformed human fibroblasts pointing to a generally cytotoxic effect. In addition, the antibacterial activity was tested by broth microdilution assay against three human pathogenic bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. The latter was the most affected by fractions F2 and F3. Finally, further purification, isolation and characterization of pure compounds from the most active fractions are under investigation.

Detrital signals of coastal erosion and fluvial sediment supply during glacio-eustatic sea-level rise, Southern California, USA

Coastal erosion, including sea-cliff retreat, represents both an important component of some sediment budgets and a significant threat to coastal communities in the face of rising sea level. Despite the importance of predicting future rates of coastal erosion, few prehistoric constraints exist on the relative importance of sediment supplied by coastal erosion versus rivers with respect to past sea-level change. We used detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology as a provenance tracer of river and deep-sea fan deposits from the Southern California Borderland (United States) to estimate relative sediment contributions from rivers and coastal erosion from late Pleistocene to present. Mixture modeling of submarine canyon and fan samples indicates that detrital zircon was dominantly (55%–86%) supplied from coastal erosion during latest Pleistocene (ca. 13 ka) sea-level rise, with lesser contributions from rivers, on the basis of unique U-Pb age modes relative to local Peninsular Ranges bedrock sources. However, sediment that was deposited when sea level was stable at its highest and lowest points since the Last Glacial Maximum was dominantly supplied by rivers, suggesting decreased coastal erosion during periods of sea-level stability. We find that relative sediment supply from coastal erosion is strongly dependent on climate state, corroborating predictions of enhanced coastal erosion during future sea-level rise.