Diagnosis and management of congenital hypopituitarism in children.

Hypopituitarism (or pituitary deficiency) is a rare disease with an estimated prevalence of between 1/16,000 and 1/26,000 individuals, defined by insufficient production of one or several anterior pituitary hormones (growth hormone [GH], thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH], adrenocorticotropic hormone [ACTH], luteinizing hormone [LH], follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH], prolactin), in association or not with diabetes insipidus (antidiuretic hormone [ADH] deficiency). While in adults hypopituitarism is mostly an acquired disease (tumors, irradiation), in children it is most often a congenital condition, due to abnormal pituitary development. Clinical symptoms vary considerably from isolated to combined deficiencies and between syndromic and non-syndromic forms.

Male genital lichen planus: A retrospective study of 89 cases.

Background: Unlike other types of lichen planus (LP), there are no series concerning male genital LP.

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and response to treatment of male genital LP.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective study of male patients with genital LP consulting a dermatologist specialized in anogenital diseases between January 2010 and 2019.

[Penile malakoplakia associated with lichen sclerosus].

Introduction: Malakoplakia is a granulomatosis of infectious origin in reaction to a chronic bacterial infection (most commonly urinary Escherichiacoli) related to an acquired phagocytosis impairment.

Patients And Methods: We report a case of penile malakoplakia in a 69-year-old man with lichen sclerosis and stenosis of the urinary meatus leading to recurrent urinary tract infections. The clinical aspect was suggestive of squamous cell carcinoma of the glans developing on lichen sclerosus, but histological examination revealed penile malakoplakia.

Higher-Faster-Farther: Maximum Performance Tests in the Assessment of Neurogenic Speech Impairment.

Background: Maximum performance tests are widely used in dysarthria assessment. From a theoretical perspective, the motor demands of such tasks differ from those of speaking. Therefore, their validity as measures of dysarthric impairment needs to be established empirically.

Is a therapeutic anticoagulation window needed for delivery when using prophylactic low molecular weight heparin during pregnancy? A retrospective monocentric study.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of therapeutic window for delivery for patients under prophylactic anticoagulation by low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) by comparing those who had a planned delivery versus those who delivered spontaneously.

Study Design: This retrospective monocentric study included pregnant patients with prophylactic anticoagulation (one injection per day of enoxaparin 4000UI), who delivered after 24 weeks of gestation. We collected data on pregnancy characteristics and on the delivery.

[Community-acquired acute maxillary sinusitis or rhinosinusitis in adults in France: current management].

Sinus infections, often viral, are a common reason for physician visits. The multiplicity of clinical presentations makes its diagnosis difficult. The problem is to recognize bacterial infection without additional testing, except in cases of treatment failures, complications or relapse.

Effects of aging on the cardiac remodeling induced by chronic high-altitude hypoxia in rat.

Effects of chronic high-altitude hypoxia on the remodeling of right ventricle were examined in three age groups of rats: 2, 6, and 18 mo. The extent of right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy (RVH) showed an age-associated diminution. RV cell size and pericellular fibrosis showed a significant increase in the 2- and 6-mo-old exposed rats but not in the 18-mo-old exposed rats compared with control.

Membrane cholesterol modulates dihydropyridine receptor function in mice fetal skeletal muscle cells.

Caveolae and transverse (T-) tubules are membrane structures enriched in cholesterol and glycosphingolipids. They play an important role in receptor signalling and myogenesis. The T-system is also highly enriched in dihydropyridine receptors (DHPRs), which control excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling.

Reversibility of electrophysiological changes induced by chronic high-altitude hypoxia in adult rat heart.

Recent studies indicate that regression of left ventricular hypertrophy normalizes membrane ionic current abnormalities. This work was designed to determine whether regression of right ventricular hypertrophy induced by permanent high-altitude exposure (4,500 m, 20 days) in adult rats also normalizes changes of ventricular myocyte electrophysiology. According to the current data, prolonged action potential, decreased transient outward current density, and increased inward sodium/calcium exchange current density normalized 20 days after the end of altitude exposure, whereas right ventricular hypertrophy evidenced by both the right ventricular weight-to-heart weight ratio and the right ventricular free wall thickness measurement normalized 40 days after the end of altitude exposure.

Voltage-gated sodium channel (SkM1) content in dystrophin-deficient muscle.

The membrane cytoskeleton is increasingly considered as both an anchor and a functional modulator for ion channels. The cytoskeletal disruptions that occur in the absence of dystrophin led us to investigate the voltage-gated sodium channel (SkM1) content in the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle of the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse. Levels of SkM1 mRNA were determined by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Visualization of the subsarcolemmal cytoskeleton network of mouse skeletal muscle cells by en face views and application to immunoelectron localization of dystrophin.

The ultrastructural organization of the highly interconnected filamentous network underneath the sarcolemma as well as the role played by the muscle protein dystrophin within this cytoskeleton remain yet unclear. More accurate information has been obtained by using a method which provides three-dimensional en face views of large membrane areas applied to mouse cultured myotubes and isolated adult skeletal muscle fibres. Two levels have been distinguished in the cytoskeleton underlying the sarcolemma: the submembranous level, partly integrated into the membrane, and the cortical level, invading the proximal cytoplasmic space.

Transverse-axial tubular system in guinea pig ventricular cardiomyocyte: 3D reconstruction, quantification and its possible role in K+ accumulation-depletion phenomenon in single cells.

K+ accumulation-depletion (AD) phenomena were found in single guinea pig ventricular myocytes using the patch-clamp method in whole cell configuration. We suggest that the cardiomyocyte transverse-axial tubular system (TATS) lumen is the restricted extracellular space where the K+ AD could take place. A three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the TATS in a cardiomyocyte segment from serial ultrafine sections was made by three-dimensional isosurface rendering and quantitative data were obtained from the image processing.

Inward barium current and excitation-contraction coupling in frog twitch muscle fibres.

The role of barium ions in excitation-contraction coupling was studied in single isolated frog semitendinosus fibres. Simultaneous recordings of membrane currents and contraction under voltage-clamp conditions in a sucrose-vaseline gap device show that barium ions have a reversible inhibiting effect on contraction. This inhibiting action was correlated to the entry of barium ions via the DHP-sensitive tubular calcium channel.

X-ray microanalysis of calcium containing organelles in resin embedded tissue.

The localization of calcium in cell organelles at the electron microscope level is often achieved through cytochemical techniques, and verified by X-ray microanalysis. Various methods have been used to cytochemically detect calcium or calcium-binding sites: calcium loading, calcium substitution by strontium, barium, or even lead, and calcium precipitation by oxalate, phosphate, fluoride, or pyroantimonate. Their results may have heuristic value, particularly in preliminary studies of poorly known cell types.

Increase in the calcium content of cardiac tissue after postfixation with osmium tetroxide.

The concentration of osmium has been measured by destructive chemical analysis in glutaraldehyde fixed heart tissue postfixed with osmium tetroxide and embedded in epoxy resin. After such treatment, the mean atomic number of the specimen (Z) is close to 10, which permits a quantitative analysis of calcium (Ca) by the continuum method, using Z2/A as a correcting factor (A: atomic weight). Wavelength-dispersive X-ray microanalysis has been used to determine the Ca concentration of frog cardiac tissue fixed in glutaraldehyde and embedded in resin.

The muscle of a monogonont rotifer, Trichocerca rattus. II. The central retractor muscles.

This work concerns the ultrastructural characteristics of the two cells of the paired, bicellular, central retractor muscles (CRM) of the rotifer Trichocerca rattus. By transverse ultrathin serial sections, precise measurements where made on the following cytological characteristics: the length, diameter and average number by unit surface area for the myofilaments; the percentage of cell volume for the myoplasm and mitochondria; and the average number of peripheral elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (dyads) by unit surface area. These characteristics agree with a phasic fibre type for the CRM.

Quantitative X-ray microanalysis of calcium with the Camebax-TEM system in frozen, freeze-substituted and resin-embedded tissue sections. Application to molluscan glio-interstitial granules.

The relevance of the continuum method for a quantitative X-ray microanalysis of epon embedded tissue sections in the particular conditions offered by the Camebax-TEM system was tested and an improved model of specimen holder is proposed. The absolute calcium concentration [Ca] of membrane-bound intracellular glio-interstitial granules was determined by X-ray microanalysis in transmission electron microscopy of Mytilus retractor muscle. The Ca peak and background values were measured by the wavelength-dispersive spectrometer of the Camebax; the mass thickness of the section was recorded simultaneously with an added energy-dispersive detector.

Correlations between ultrastructural features and contraction rates in rotiferan muscle. I. Preliminary observations on longitudinal retractor muscles in Trichocerca rattus.

The Rotifer Trichocerca rattus has striated longitudinal retractor muscles. These muscles can be divided into two categories: 1. The central and ventral retractor muscles which, after fixation, are found in a supercontracted state: they probably contract very quickly.

Distribution of the glio-interstitial system in molluscs. II. Electron microscopy of tonic and phasic muscles in the digestive tract of Aplysia and other opisthobranchs.

The muscular walls of the buccal mass and the oesophagus of Aplysia rosea and Glossodoris tricolor were studied by electron microscopy. The cytological features of the muscle cells, neuro-muscular junctions and a neuro-glial junction are described. This junction between an axon and a teloglial process, in the oesophagus of Aplysia, possesses all the cytological differentiations of a typical molluscan synapse.