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Malignant neoplasias of the pancreas include various histological types with imaging characteristics and behaviour which allows them to be distinguished from one another in a good percentage of situations. However, differentiation is not always possible without resorting to anatomo-pathological techniques, differential diagnosis with benign lesions being a great challenge to imaging, with particular reference to the inflammatory masses. Adenocarcinoma makes up about 95% of pancreatic neoplasias and is one of the great causes of death by cancer in developed countries. The imaging techniques applied in the diagnosis and staging of the principal tumours of the pancreas are very diversified, including innocuous means such as ultrasound, invasive methods using angiographic techniques or the recourse to endoscopic means to endocavity assessment. The use of each of these techniques depends essentially on the type of tumor to be studied, the correct and complete knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of each one, becomes fundamental in what concerns the rational application of means in the imaging of the pancreas.

The recovery of critical and precious metals from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is an environmental and economic imperative. Biosorption has been considered a key technology for the selective extraction of gold from hydrometallurgical liquors obtained in the chemical leaching of e-waste. In this work, the potential of tannin resins prepared from Pinus pinaster bark to sequester and recover gold(III) from hydrochloric acid and aqua regia solutions was assessed. Equilibrium isotherms were experimentally determined and maximum adsorption capacities of 343 ± 38 and 270 ± 19 mg g−1 were found for Au uptake from HCl and HCl/HNO3 (3:1 v/v) solutions containing 1.0 mol L−1 H+. Higher levels of acidity (and chloride ligands) significantly impaired the adsorption of gold from both kinds of leaching solutions, especially in the aqua regia system, in which the adsorbent underperformed. Pseudo-first and pseudo-second order models successfully described the kinetic data. The adsorbent presented high selectivity towards gold. Actually, in simulated aqua regia WEEE liquors, Au(III) was extensively adsorbed, compared to Cu(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Pd(II), and Zn(II). In three adsorption–desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity of the regenerated adsorbent moderately decreased (19%), although the gold elution in acidic thiourea solution had been quite limited. Future research is needed to examine more closely the elution of gold from the exhausted adsorbents. The results obtained in this work show good perspectives as regards the application of pine bark tannin resins for the selective extraction of Au from electronic waste leach liquors.

Objective: To determine the usefulness of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of parathormone (PTH) gene mRNA in needle aspirates to confirm the parathyroid nature of suspicious cervical lesions in patients with hyperparathyroidism., Study Design: Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed on 12 patients with suspected parathyroid adenomas. The aspirates were subjected to cytologic and chromogranin A examination. Messenger RNA was isolated from left-over cells within the needle, and RT-PCR was used to amplify mRNA encoding PTH., Results: The 12 aspirates were positive by PTH RT-PCR, and molecular diagnosis was confirmed by histologic examination. The lower sensitivity of cytologic and immunocytochemical methods was demonstrated, respectively, by 67% and 50% of positive results. Sensitivity assays demonstrated that with our system, PTH RT-PCR products are obtained from as few as 10 pg of parathyroid mRNA., Conclusion: The present study showed that RT-PCR-based analysis of PTH gene transcripts in aspirates, obtained by US-guided FNAC of cervical lesions suspicious for parathyroid adenoma, is a feasible, sensitive and specific method for preoperative diagnosis of parathyroid adenomas.

Intracapsular carcinomas ex pleomorphic adenoma are exceedingly rare salivary glands tumours, known to have a benign clinical behaviour with metastatic unrecognised potential. We report a case of a 57-year-old female patient presenting with a typical example of intracapsular carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma of the parotid gland and evidence of ipsilateral cervical lymph node metastases two years before. The behaviour of this unique case illustrates the disputed malignancy of carcinomas arising within encapsulated pleomorphic adenomas.

Malignant neoplasias of the pancreas include various histological types with imaging characteristics and behaviour which allows them to be distinguished from one another in a good percentage of situations. However, differentiation is not always possible without resorting to anatomo-pathological techniques, differential diagnosis with benign lesions being a great challenge to imaging, with particular reference to the inflammatory masses. Adenocarcinoma makes up about 95% of pancreatic neoplasias and is one of the great causes of death by cancer in developed countries. The imaging techniques applied in the diagnosis and staging of the principal tumours of the pancreas are very diversified, including innocuous means such as ultrasound, invasive methods using angiographic techniques or the recourse to endoscopic means to endocavity assessment. The use of each of these techniques depends essentially on the type of tumor to be studied, the correct and complete knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of each one, becomes fundamental in what concerns the rational application of means in the imaging of the pancreas.

The case of a parathyroid carcinoma in a 61-year-old woman is described. The patient was referred to our hospital, with the diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma, after a prior thyroidectomy performed at another hospital. On admission, serum calcium was 3.92 mmol/l (n.r. 2.2-2.5), PTH level was 320 ng/l (n.r. 10-65), urinary cAMP was 508.9 mmol/mmol creatinine (n.r. 330- 630) and serum calcitonin was 2.1 ng/l (n.r.<10). The patient was then submitted to a complete neck exploration and multiple nodules were removed. Histopathological diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma was made by local recurrence and retrospectively upon closer examination of the original specimen. After surgery, normocalcemia was achieved and maintained for about four months. Serum PTH decreased to 28.8 ng/l after surgery but increased quickly to 75.6 ng/l ten days later. Three months later, there was both biochemical and clinical evidence of disease. In the following eight months, calcium levels ranged from 2.99 mmol/l to 4-24 mmol/l and PTH from 135 ng/l to 1431 ng/l. However no distant metastases were found. To Control hypercalcemia, the patient was treated with bisphosphonates but normocalcemia was never achieved. A slight and transient reduction in serum calcium as response to an acute administration of octreotide, made us not to consider this eventual modality of therapy. Sonographically guided percutaneous injection of ethanol was performed but the treatment was not found to be effective. Finally, the use of chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil, cyclophosphamide and dacarbazine was also unsuccessful. The patient died two years after the initial diagnosis.