Hormones and the bone marrow: panhypopituitarism and pancytopenia in a man with a pituitary adenoma

A low dose of benzo(a)pyrene during prepuberty in male rats generated immediate oxidative stress in the testes and compromised steroidogenic enzymes/proteins

The prepubertal period is crucial for sexual development and any alterations can interfere with the reproductive system in adulthood. The aim of this study was to evaluate how Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) can affect the testes during the prepubertal period. Juvenile male Wistar rats were divided into a control (corn oil + DMSO) and a BaP-group (0.1 μg/kg/day), exposed to BaP for 31 days (gavage), and all parameters were evaluated on postnatal day (PND) 54. Leukocyte counts were decreased. Histological analyses of the testes revealed that height and seminiferous tubules diameters (STDs) were reduced, tubular dynamics were altered, and Leydig cell atrophy was evident in the BaP-group. The testosterone concentration was decreased while FSH levels increased within the BaP-exposed group. Steroidogenic enzymes in the testes were decreased, but steroidogenic acute regulatory protein was not altered. The expression of gstp1 and ckit enzymes was decreased. Reduced glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were increased, whereas malondialdehyde (MDA) was decreased in the testes. In conclusion, BaP or its metabolites causes low systemic toxicity; however, it adversely influences testicular function by disrupting the hormonal axis, unbalancing testicular antioxidative, and blocking the action of the steroidogenic mechanisms.

Cyclical haematological changes in a case of hypopituitarism

A 40-year-old woman presented to our emergency department in an altered state following a generalised tonic-clonic seizure. On regaining consciousness, she gave a history of bleeding tendencies and menorrhagia, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and appetite loss for a long time. She had received multiple blood transfusions in the last 10 years. Investigations revealed severe hyponatraemia, transaminitis and pancytopenia, which showed cyclical fluctuations in the hospital. Hyponatraemia was attributed to a central cause owing to secondary hypothyroidism and hypocortisolism on evaluation. A diagnosis of cyclical thrombocytopenia was made by logging the trends of blood cell lines and applying the Lomb-Scargle test. Liver biopsy showed features of transfusion hemosiderosis explaining transaminitis. All of the haematological abnormalities and clinical symptoms resolved on thyroxine and corticosteroid replacement, suggesting causal association hypopituitarism with cyclical thrombocytopenia.

Myxedema Coma Complicated by Pancytopenia

Hypothyroidism is common, with an extreme manifestation of myxedema coma if untreated. Hematologic consequences of myxedema coma include mild leukopenia and anemia, rarely pancytopenia. We present a patient with typical symptoms of myxedema coma, but found to be pancytopenic, with sustained response to levothyroxine and blood transfusion for anemia.

Broad clinical spectrum and diverse outcomes of prolactinoma with pediatric onset: medication-resistant and recurrent cases

Prolactinoma is a benign tumor of the pituitary gland that rarely occurs in children and adolescents; thus, the clinical spectrum and long-term prognosis in these patients remain unknown. This study was performed to investigate the long-term outcomes of medical treatment and the prognostic factors for remission and relapse in children and adolescents with prolactinoma. Three male subjects and four female subjects between the ages of 7- and 17-years-old were included in this study. The mean initial serum prolactin level was 443 ± 251.8 ng/mL (range, 152-946 ng/mL). During the follow-up period (range, 0.6-20 years), a dopamine agonist was administered, and surgery or radiotherapy was performed in cases of resistance to medical treatment or relapse. Unlike female subjects with macroadenoma who often exhibit a good clinical course, two male subjects with early onset macroadenoma presented with visual disturbances. These subjects showed resistance to medical therapy and relapsed, eventually requiring surgical removal and radiotherapy; one of the subjects manifested a metastatic thrombus in the internal jugular vein. In conclusion, pediatric prolactinoma exhibits a broad clinical spectrum, a relatively high incidence of macroadenoma, resistance to medical therapy, and frequent tumor relapses. In addition, a poor prognosis appears to be correlated with male sex, age at disease onset, and histopathological characteristics.

Herbal approach in the treatment of pancytopenia

Pancytopenia is a health condition in which there is a reduction in the amount of leucocytes, erythrocytes and thrombocytes. If more than one of the blood cells is low then the condition is called as bicytopenia. The pancytopenic condition is observed in treatment of diseased conditions like thalassemia and hepatitis C. Iatrogenically pancytopenia is caused by some antibiotics and anti-HCV drugs. Medical conditions like aplastic anaemia, lymphoma, copper deficiency, and so forth can also cause pancytopenia. Pancytopenia can in turn decrease the immunity of the person and thereby can be fatal. Current therapies for pancytopenia include bone marrow stimulant drugs, blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant. The current therapies are very excruciating and have long-term side-effects. Therefore, treating these condition using herbal drugs is very important. Herbs like wheatgrass, papaya leaves and garlic are effective in treating single lineage cytopenias. The present review is focused on the potential effects of natural herbs for the treatment of pancytopenia.

Bloodstream Infections

Bacteremia and sepsis are conditions associated with high mortality and are of great impact to health care operations. Among the top causes of mortality in the United States, these conditions cause over 600 fatalities each day. Empiric, broad-spectrum treatment is a common but often a costly approach that may fail to effectively target the correct microbe, may inadvertently harm patients via antimicrobial toxicity or downstream antimicrobial resistance. To meet the diagnostic challenges of bacteremia and sepsis, laboratories must understand the complexity of diagnosing and treating septic patients, in order to focus on creating algorithms that can help direct a more targeted approach to antimicrobial therapy and synergize with existing clinical practices defined in new Surviving Sepsis Guidelines. Significant advances have been made in improving blood culture media; as yet no molecular or antigen-based method has proven superior for the detection of bacteremia in terms of limit of detection. Several methods for rapid molecular identification of pathogens from blood cultures bottles are available and many more are on the diagnostic horizon. Ultimately, early intervention by molecular detection of bacteria and fungi directly from whole blood could provide the most patient benefit and contribute to tailored antibiotic coverage of the patient early on in the course of the disease. Although blood cultures remain as the best means of diagnosing bacteremia and candidemia, complementary testing with antigen tests, microbiologic investigations from other body sites, and histopathology can often aid in the diagnosis of disseminated disease, and application of emerging nucleic acid test methods and other new technology may greatly impact our ability to bacteremic and septic patients, particularly those who are immunocompromised.