Various cutaneous lesions including granulomatous reactions may occur at sites of resolved herpes zoster infection. A 46-year-old man with Hodgkin's disease developed localized granuloma annulare lesions on herpes zoster scars 3 months after allogeneic peripheral stem cell transplantation. This is the first case of granuloma annulare localized on herpes zoster scars that developed following peripheral stem cell transplantation.

Environmental concerns have been raised because of a garbage disposal facility (GDF) constructed near Çavuşlu Stream in Giresun, Turkey. This article proposes a fully validated ICP-MS technique to investigate the impacts of the GDF on the water quality of the stream and provide a human health risk estimation. Water sampling was carried out at four different stations and in tap water since the stream is the primary source of drinking water for the inhabitants of the town. Quantification of selected toxic metals (As, Pb, Cd, Hg, Sb, Al, and Ni) in conjunction with the essential and other elements (Se, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Zn, and Co) was performed by the use of the previously validated ICP-MS method. Once water quality index (WQI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) were computed, the health risk assessment was studied according to the US EPA's method. Although the stations (2, 3, 4, and tap water) showed excellent water quality, station-1, which is the closest one to the facility, was classified as poor water quality. Lifetime cancer risk (LCR) was only significant both for adults and children in station-1. In addition, low risk regarding non-carcinogenic health hazards was found for children. The results indicate that the facility decreases the water quality of this stream and is possibly responsible for LCR. In conclusion, the ecological environment and human health should be protected by further monitoring the effect of the GDF on the ecological system.

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Objective: Placenta is a temporary organ that connects the developing fetus and the mother. However, it cannot protect the embryo against chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) exposure. Quantification of Cr and Ni in biological and ecological subjects is challenging. Thus, the first goal of this study was to provide a validated Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS) method to determine Cr and Ni in mother-newborn specimens. The second goal was to assess the reference Ni and Cr contents in cord blood, maternal blood, and placenta samples in a population from Ankara. Material and Methods: Biological samples were collected from 100 healthy mother-newborn pairs. Metal levels were quantified by GFAAS. Method validation of this toxicological analysis was performed by the use of certified reference materials, and assessed through accuracy, precision, specificity, range, quantitation, and detection limits. Results: Mean Cr levels of maternal blood, placentas, and cord blood were 0.337±0.222 μg/L, 0.221±0.160 μg/kg, 0.121±0.096 μg/L, respectively while mean Ni concentrations were 0.128±0.093 μg/L, 0.124±0.067 μg/kg, 0.099±0.067 μg/L, respectively. The method showed linearity with excellent correlation coefficients (r 2 ) for Cr (0.9994) and Ni (0.9999). Satisfactory recovery and coefficient of variation for Cr and Ni were 102.85% and 102.35%; 1.75% and 2.91%, respectively. Relative error did not exceed 3%, demonstrating the accuracy of the method. Control charts were drawn to assess inter-day stability. The predicted reference ranges for Cr and Ni concentrations in maternal blood, placenta and cord blood were: Cr 0.033-0.75 μg/L; 0.032-0.526 μg/kg; 0.031-0.309 μg/L and for Ni were 0.011-0.308 μg/L; 0.024-0.251 μg/kg; 0.066-0.209 μg/L, respectively. Conclusion: The reported reference values of biological specimens in this paper will provide complementary aid to health professionals in terms of assessment of environmental and occupational exposure.