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Rabih Hage, Albert Jean-Charles, Jérôme Guyomarch, Olivier Rahimian, Angélique Donnio, Harold MerleDepartment of Ophthalmology, University Hospital of Fort-de-France, Martinique, French West IndiesAbstract: Posterior scleritis is a rare underdiagnosed condition that can potentially cause blindness. Its varied presentations lead to delayed or incorrect treatment. We present here the cases of two patients with nodular posterior scleritis mimicking a choroidal metastasis. Two female patients presented with a sudden unilateral visual loss associated with ocular pain. Fundus examination revealed temporomacular choroidal masses with exudative detachments that, due to angiographic presentation, were suggestive of choroidal metastasis. Systemic examinations were unremarkable. In the two cases, a local or general anti-inflammatory treatment led to the complete recovery of the lesions, which were, thus, considered nodular posterior scleritis. The diagnosis of nodular posterior scleritis has to be evoked in all patients presenting with a choroidal mass in fundus examination. It represents the principal curable differential diagnosis of malignant choroidal tumor.Keywords: choroidal tumor, choroidal mass, visual loss, ocular pain, blindness, posterior scleritis

Harold Merle1, Jérôme Guyomarch1, Jean-Christophe Joyaux1, Maryvonne Dueymes2, Angélique Donnio1, Nicole Desbois2 1Department of Ophthalmology, 2Laboratory of Microbiology, University Hospital of Fort-de-France, Martinique, French West Indies Abstract: The authors describe a case of keratomycosis that appeared after the exeresis of a pterygium. A 48-year-old patient had been referred with a red right eye associated with an abscess of the cornea along the ablation zone of the pterygium. The surgery had been performed a month beforehand. The abscess was 6 mm high and 4 mm wide. The authors instigated a treatment that included amphotericin B (0.25%) after noticing a clinical aspect evoking a fungal keratitis and finding several septate filaments on direct examination. On day 10, a Fusarium dimerum was isolated on Sabouraud agar. After 15 days of treatment, the result was favorable and the size of the ulceration as well as the size of the abscess had progressively decreased. The antifungal treatment was definitively stopped at 14 weeks. Infectious-related complications of the pterygium surgery are rare and are essentially caused by bacterial agents. Secondary infections by fungus are rare. There have been two previous cases reported: one that appeared 15 years after radiotherapy and another that appeared at 3 weeks post surgery, consecutive to the use of mitomycin C. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of a keratomycosis due to F. dimerum reported that complicated the exeresis of a pterygium without the use of an adjuvant antihealing treatment. Pterygium surgery is a common procedure; nevertheless, ophthalmologists need to be aware of the existence of potential infectious complications. Keywords: keratitis, corneal abscess, Fusarium

Turbot Psetta maxima were exposed 5 days to the dissolved fraction of fuel oil number 2, then decontaminated over 30 days in clean sea water. Biliary metabolites and ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity were evaluated during and after the contamination. These results were compared with chromosomal damage measured by flow cytometry (FCM). Erythrocyte nuclear abnormality, micronuclei and immaturity were also evaluated over the exposure period. Biliary metabolites and EROD analyses showed a clear and early response: biliary metabolites were detected from the first day of contamination to the 14th day of depuration, EROD activity increased during the contamination period reached a maximum 3 days after the beginning of the decontamination and decreased to the control value after 1 month of depuration. FCM showed a bimodal response: a first increase of coefficient of variation of blood cell DNA content was observed during the contamination and a second one started after 14 days of depuration and was maintained for at least 2 weeks. Erythrocyte morphology analysis showed a strong increase in nuclear abnormality during the contamination period. These results confirm previous work and show that in the context of marine accidental pollution by heavy fuel oil, the measurements of chromosomal damage by FCM allow the detection of a genotoxic response in fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) were exposed to crude oil during a field experiment to evaluate two bioremediation strategies (nutrient addition and nutrient addition with tilling). The mussels were placed in 4 mesocosms: Control, Oil, Oil + Nutrients, and Oil + Nutrients + Tilled. Tilling appeared to be clearly detrimental to mussel growth. Additionally, this field experiment demonstrated that at temperatures below 5°C, growth was reduced to rates undetectable by the laser diffraction method. The data on mussel shell length show that this technique does offer very sensitive and useful comparative measurements of physiological function. Measurement of shell growth has the advantage over other techniques in that it is non-invasive and non-destructive and thus may be used continuously without disturbing critical physiological and biochemical functions; however, bivalve physiology is strongly linked to environmental conditions, so it is important to include such measures (i.e. seawater temperature and turbidity) in the design of the biomonitoring program. Elevated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels reflected bioaccumulation in mussels from all the oiled mesocosms. This correlated with reduction in growth rate. Maximum reduction in growth was observed in mussels from the tilled mesocosm which contained the lowest phenanthrene and dibenzothiophene concentrations. The tilling caused an increase in suspended solids which inhibited filter feeding activity, and resulted in suppressed growth and slower intake of PAH-laden sediment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]