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We describe a 49-year-old woman in whom ocular cystinosis was diagnosed on the basis of a routine eye examination 12 years previously. Conjunctival biopsy was reported to support the diagnosis. The patient described photophobia for the past S years and reported a 2-fold increase in her serum IgG level for the past 12 years. On ophthalmic examination, corneal crystals were evident in the epithelium and superficial stromal layers, rather than throughout the cornea! epithelium and the entire stroma as in ocular cystinosis. The patient's serum protein level was elevated at 8.7 g/dL; protein electrophoresis showed an elevated &gama;-globulin peak, and the IgG Level was twice that of normal at 2820 mg/dL. Bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. This case illustrates that multiple myeloma can mimic cornea! findings of cystinosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) in wastewater samples taken from four different treatment stages of a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant (i.e., incoming raw sewage, primary sedimentation effluent, membrane bioreactor (MBR) influent, and MBR effluent) were quantified by real-time PCR assays to further estimate removal efficiency of the HAdVs. Based on hexon gene sequence comparisons, HAdV species A, C, and F were consistently found in the wastewater samples. In general, all three identified HAdV species were detected in most of the wastewater samples using the real-time PCR assays. Overall HAdV concentrations were rather stable over the entire 8-month study period (January–August, 2008) (approximately 106–107 viral particles/L of wastewater for the raw sewage and primary effluent; 108–109 viral particles/L for the MBR influent; and, 103–104 viral particles/L for the MBR effluent). No significant seasonal differences were noticed for the HAdV abundances. Removal efficiencies of the viral particles in the full-scale MBR process were assessed and showed an average HAdV removal of 5.0±0.6logs over the study period. The removal efficiencies for F species (average log removal of 6.5±1.3logs) were typically higher (p-value <0.05) than those of the other two species (average of 4.1±0.9 and 4.6±0.5logs for species A and C, respectively). These results demonstrate that the full-scale MBR system efficiently removed most HAdV from the wastewater leaving about 103 viral particles/L in the MBR effluent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]