A rare association: Obesity hypoventilation syndrome with myasthenia gravis and systemic lupus erythematosus, case report

Background

Shrinking lung syndrome (SLS) is an uncommon complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that has also been seen in other autoimmune diseases and is linked with a high risk of acute or chronic respiratory failure. Alveolar hypoventilation in the presence of obesity-hypoventilation syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and myasthenia gravis (MG) is uncommon and poses a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.

Case report

We reported a 33-year-old female patient from Saudi Arabia who suffered from obesity, bronchial asthma, newly diagnosed essential hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, with recurrent acute alveolar hypoventilation, secondary to obesity hypoventilation syndrome and mixed autoimmune disease (systemic lupus erythematosus and myasthenia gravis), based on the correct constellation of clinical findings and laboratory evidence.

Conclusion

The interesting aspect of this case report: is the presentation of the overlap of obesity hypoventilation syndrome and shrinking lung syndrome due to systemic lupus erythematosus with generalized and respiratory muscle dysfunction due to myasthenia gravis with good outcomes after therapy.

Inhibiting Corrosion of Mg Alloy AZ31B-H24 Sheet Metal with Lithium Carbonate

The objective of this work was to determine the effectiveness of dissolved Li2CO3 as a corrosion inhibitor for AZ31B-H24 sheet metal when immersed in NaCl (aq) at ambient temperature. Corrosion rates were determined by gravimetric mass loss and volumetric H2 evolution measurements and the observed inhibition was investigated further using potentiodynamic polarization, scanning vibrating electrode technique, and x-ray photoelectron surface analytical measurements. It is shown that dissolved Li2CO3 significantly inhibits corrosion as it reduces the corrosion rate by a factor of 10. The manner in which inhibition is achieved is rationalized by the role played by the surface film produced during corrosion in inhibiting both the anode (anodic dissolution) and cathode (H2 evolution) kinetics. Inhibition involves the suppression of the filament-like corrosion mode, albeit on the macroscale, and associated cathodic activation. By process of elimination, it is proposed that the Li+ cations play a key role in inhibiting the anodic dissolution and associated cathodic activation that is required to drive the filament-like corrosion.

Touch-free in situ investigation of ancient Egyptian pigments

Some of the pigments painted on the Funerary Stele of Amenemhat (ca. 2000 B.C.) exhibited at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo and on the walls of the Tomb of Userhat (ca. 1420 B.C.), a rock-cut tomb in Thebes, Egypt, were investigated in situ using both a convenient home-made hand-held type of X-ray diffractometer and a commercial X-ray fluorescence spectrometer in a complementary way under touch-free conditions. CaCO3.3MgCO3 (huntite) was found in the white-painted parts of these two ancient monuments. An arsenic (As)-bearing phase was detected in the yellow-painted parts of the latter monument. The occurrence of huntite in Egypt has not been reported previously.