Advances in Health and Disease. Volume 14

Advances in Health and Disease. Volume 14 opens with a chapter on Zika Virus, a ribonucleic acid virus of the Flaviviridae family, genus Flavivirus, Spondweni group, Zika species, isolated for the first time in 1947 from a primate in the Zika Forest in Uganda, a natural reserve near Entebbe. Next, the authors discuss multiple myeloma, which is characterized by the expansion of monoclonal plasma cells in the bone marrow. In about 95% of cases, the aberrant plasma cells produce a monoclonal immunoglobulin called monoclonal component that can be considered a marker of the disease. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is explored in the context of sudden sensorineural hearing loss, where it has been used as a treatment since 1979. This exposes a patient to 100% oxygen at a pressure level higher than 1 atmosphere absolute in a specially designed sealed chamber. This facilitates a delivery of increased partial pressure of oxygen to the tissues. The authors discuss off-label uses of ruxolitinib, particularly in the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera, as drugs can sometimes have uses beyond the official approved indication. Following this, summaries of the current scientific knowledge and understanding of the clinical findings and health consequences of benzene exposure among children are presented. Children at various developmental stages have unique physical risk factors when exposed to toxic chemicals such as benzene due to their levels of mobility, oxygen consumption, hormonal production, and overall growth. Lastly, a hybrid quantitative structure–activity relationship model was developed for the prediction of aqueous toxicity. The data concerning 92 substituted benzenes was separated into two disjoined subsets, respectively 74 elements for calculating and testing of the model, and 18 elements for its external validation.