French mothers' milk deficient in DHA contains phospholipid species of potential interest for infant development.

Objectives: An insufficient human milk docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) level was reported worldwide, which leads to the question of the sufficiency of the DHA supply for infant development in the French Mediterranean area. Also, among milk lipids, phospholipids may be of high potential interest for infant brain development, being a specific vector of DHA and providing plasmalogens. We aimed to estimate the consumption of such milk compounds by preterm and term infants.

Impaired DNA repair as assessed by the "comet" assay in patients with thyroid tumors after a history of radiation therapy: a preliminary study.

Purpose: Patients with a history of head and neck irradiation in childhood are at risk to develop thyroid tumors. The aim of this study was to determine if an impairement of DNA strand breaks repair could account for this observation.

Methods And Materials: Circulating unstimulated lymphocytes of a group of 13 patients who developed thyroid tumors after radiotherapy were submitted to the alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis assay (SCGE or "comet" assay) after in vitro exposure to 2 and 5 Gy of gamma-rays.

Deregulated apoptosis is a hallmark of the Fanconi anemia syndrome.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetic human disorder associated with bone marrow failure and predisposition to cancer. FA cells show poor growth capacity and spontaneous chromosomal anomalies as well as cellular and chromosomal hypersensitivity to DNA cross-linking agents such as mitomycin C (MMC). Because it is likely that disruption of the apoptotic control would lead to such a phenotype, we investigated the implication of apoptosis in the FA syndrome.

Deregulated apoptosis in ataxia telangiectasia: association with clinical stigmata and radiosensitivity.

Ataxia telangiectasia (AT) is a recessive genetic disease featuring neurodegeneration, immunodeficiency, chromosomal instability, radiation hypersensitivity, and increased predisposition to cancer. Reduced or delayed induction of the tumor suppressor protein p53 after gamma -irradiation was reported. These characteristics may be compatible with an inability to correctly regulate apoptosis.