Elevated TCDD in chicken eggs and farm-raised catfish fed a diet with ball clay from a Southern United States mine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) terminated the use of ball clay from a mine in Mississippi as an additive in animal feed after discovering nanogram per gram concentrations of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). The FDA collected chicken eggs and farm-raised catfish in affected areas and throughout the remaining continental United States to assess levels of 2,3,7,8-TCDD. A new method using quadrupole ion storage tandem-in-time mass spectrometry (QISTMS) measured the 2,3,7,8-TCDD levels in 42 catfish fillet composites, 3 Tilapia fillet composites, 46 chicken egg samples, and 6 chicken feeds. Six catfish composites and 20 egg samples had 2,3,7,8-TCDD concentrations significantly above 1.0 pg/g wet weight of fillet or whole egg. Farm-raised catfish not exposed to feed containing ball clay had a mean 2,3,7,8-TCDD concentration of 0.12 pg/g. The TCDD isomer pattern in ball clay differed from the TCDD isomer pattern in a fly ash sample and from the "chick edema factor" TCDD pattern in a sample of reference toxic fat used as a feed ingredient in the 1950s.     

Treatment of infected left ventricular assist device using antibiotic-impregnated beads

There is no well-established therapy for treating infections of heart-assist or artificial heart devices, a serious problem with life-threatening consequences. We used a promising new approach in which antibiotic-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate beads were placed around an implanted left ventricular assist device to control an external blood pump infection in a bridge-to-transplant patient. In this case report, we describe the potential of antimicrobial-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate beads for in situ control of infections involving external surfaces of cardiovascular devices.