Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a clonal histiocytic disorder. The variable clinical manifestations from isolated bone lesion to multisystem disease can cause difficulties and delay in diagnosis. We report a 2 years and 8 months-old girl who presented with a 2 weeks history of persistent fever and weight loss associated with progressive abdominal distension. Physical examination revealed pallor, bilateral proptosis, seaborrheic dermatitis over the scalp and hepatosplenomegaly. Skull X-ray demonstrated multiple lytic lesions at the base and the skull vault. Bone marrow morphology showed numerous abnormal Langerhans cells (LCs) and foamy macrophages. The trephine immunohistochemistry (IHC) stains for CD1a, S-100 and CD68 were inconclusive. The diagnosis of multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (MS-LCH) in this patient was based on the clinical presentation, radiological and morphological analysis. She subsequently received chemotherapy and currently she is on maintenance therapy with a good clinical response. LCH is a rare disease and although the IHC was inconclusive, the correlation of clinical, radiological and morphological data are essential for the diagnosis.
The aim of this study is to compare antioxidant level and activities (i.e. primary and secondary) in pulps and peels of two species of dragon fruits, Hylocereus undatus (white dragon fruit) and Hylocereus polyrhizus (red dragon fruit). Total phenolic content (TPC) assay demonstrated that peels of both Hylocereus species contained higher phenolic content than the pulps. The phenolic content in peels of H. undatus was higher than H. polyrhizus, but the phenolic content in pulps of H. undatus was much lower than H. polyrhizus. 2, 2, diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay showed that radical scavenging activities of peels for both species were higher than the pulps. For ferrous ion chelating (FIC) assay, peels and pulps of both Hylocereus species showed moderate metal ion chelating effect as compared to EDTA. Overall, the results suggested that the TPC showed good relationship with the primary antioxidant activities for general comparison between the peels and the pulps.
The aim of this study is to determine the total phenolic content and primary antioxidant activity of methanolic and ethanolic extracts of four aromatic plants’ leaves namely knotweed (Polygonum minus), curry (Murraya koenigii), kaffir lime (Citrus hysrix) and fragrant screwpine (Pandanus odurus). Total phenolic content (TPC) assay using Folin-Ciocalteu method was used to assess the presence and level of phenolic compounds in each sample. The present study showed that both methanolic and ethanolic extracts of P. minus had the highest TPC and followed by M. koenigii, C. hystrix and P. odorus. Primary antioxidant activity in terms of free radical scavenging activities of both methanolic and ethanolic extracts was then measured by 2, 2, diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity assay. The lowest EC50 values based on the DPPH. radical scavenging activity were shown by P. minus extracts as compared to the other samples. For both ethanolic and methanolic extracts, the correlations between TPC and EC50 based on the DPPH. radical scavenging activity assay were negative and weak. Relatively, the present results suggest that of the four aromaticplants, P. minus and M. koenigii have shown potential as sources of natural antioxidants.