Parathyroidectomy Improves Bone Density in Women With Primary Hyperparathyroidism and Preoperative Osteopenia.

Context: Osteoporosis and/or bone fractures are indications of parathyroidectomy in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), especially in women. However, the benefit of surgery in patients with osteopenia remains unclear.

Objective: To evaluate bone mineral density (BMD) and bone remodeling biomarkers changes 1 year after parathyroidectomy in women with PHPT.

Insulin Growth Factor-1 Status in Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A French Institutional Pilot Study.

Background: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease of the follicles in the apocrine glands and is associated with a deficiency in the innate immunity of the skin. It is characterized by the occurrence of nodules, abscesses, fistulas, scars.

Objective: Although a relationship has already been demonstrated between HS and innate immunity, IGF-1 status in patients with HS is still unknown.

Crosstalk between omega-6 oxylipins and the enteric nervous system: Implications for gut disorders?

The enteric nervous system (ENS) continues to dazzle scientists with its ability to integrate signals, from the outside as well as from the host, to accurately regulate digestive functions. Composed of neurons and enteric glial cells, the ENS interplays with numerous neighboring cells through the reception and/or the production of several types of mediators. In particular, ENS can produce and release n-6 oxylipins.

Psychological stress induces an increase in cholinergic enteric neuromuscular pathways mediated by glucocorticoid receptors.

Introduction: Repeated acute stress (RASt) is known to be associated with gastrointestinal dysfunctions. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects have not yet been fully understood. While glucocorticoids are clearly identified as stress hormones, their involvement in RASt-induced gut dysfunctions remains unclear, as does the function of glucocorticoid receptors (GR).

A novel fully-automated method to measure steroids in serum by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Background: Steroids play a key role in numerous physiological processes. Steroid determination is a useful tool to explore various endocrine diseases. Because of its specificity, mass spectrometry is considered to be a reference method for the determination of steroids in serum compared to radioimmunoassay.

Impact of empowering leadership on emotional exhaustion: A controlled interventional study in a large French university hospital complex.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of a systemic intervention on the evolution of empowering leadership and emotional exhaustion in a university hospital sub-centre compared to a control sub-centre, both being part of a large French university hospital complex.

Background: Empowering leadership is a promising strategy for developing hospital team engagement and performance. However, the bureaucratic functioning of large hospitals, characterized by a managerial culture of control and a stratified organization, can be a barrier to empowering leadership.

Feasibility of Combining Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Active Fully Embodied Virtual Reality for Visual Height Intolerance: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Study.

Background: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) are individually increasingly used in psychiatric research.

Objective/hypothesis: Our study aimed to investigate the feasibility of combining tDCS and wireless 360° full immersive active and embodied VRET to reduce height-induced anxiety.

Methods: We carried out a pilot randomized, double-blind, controlled study associating VRET (two 20 min sessions with a 48 h interval, during which, participants had to cross a plank at rising heights in a building in construction) with online tDCS (targeting the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) in 28 participants.

Digestive symptoms in daily life of chronic adrenal insufficiency patients are similar to irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are frequent in acute adrenal insufficiency. Although digestive symptoms can significantly reduce quality of life, they are rarely described in patients with treated chronic adrenal insufficiency (CAI). We aimed to characterize digestive symptoms in CAI patients.

Analytical validation of eight methods of thyroglobulin measurement in fine-needle aspiration washouts.

Background: Thyroglobulin (Tg) assay in washout fluids of fine needles, after cervical lymph nodes aspiration, is used for detecting metastases from differentiated thyroid carcinomas. Assay methods are the same as for Tg in serum. However, with non-serum samples, methods require extensive validation to notably check for the absence of matrix effect.

A high-throughput mass spectrometry-based assay for large-scale profiling of circulating human apolipoproteins.

Apolipoproteins govern lipoprotein metabolism and are promising biomarkers of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Unlike immunoassays, MS enables the quantification and phenotyping of multiple apolipoproteins. Hence, here, we aimed to develop a LC-MS/MS assay that can simultaneously quantitate 18 human apolipoproteins [A-I, A-II, A-IV, A-V, B48, B100, C-I, C-II, C-III, C-IV, D, E, F, H, J, L1, M, and (a)] and determined apoE, apoL1, and apo(a) phenotypes in human plasma and serum samples.

Cortisol total/CRP ratio for the prediction of hospital-acquired pneumonia and initiation of corticosteroid therapy in traumatic brain-injured patients.

Background: To propose a combination of blood biomarkers for the prediction of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and for the selection of traumatic brain-injured (TBI) patients eligible for corticosteroid therapy for the prevention of HAP.

Methods: This was a sub-study of the CORTI-TC trial, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial evaluating the risk of HAP at day 28 in 336 TBI patients treated or not with corticosteroid therapy. Patients were between 15 and 65 years with severe traumatic brain injury (Glasgow coma scale score ≤ 8 and trauma-associated lesion on brain CT scan) and were enrolled within 24 h of trauma.

Impact at two years of an intervention on empowerment among medical care teams: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial in a large French university hospital.

Background: Empowerment of hospital workers is known as a key factor of organizational performance and occupational health. Nevertheless, empowering workers remains a real challenge. As in many traditional organizations, hospitals follow a bureaucratic model defined by a managerial culture of control and a stratified organization, which at once weaken professionals' mastery of their work and hinder their commitment and performance.

Prevalence of hypobetalipoproteinemia and related psychiatric characteristics in a psychiatric population: results from the retrospective HYPOPSY Study.

Background: Hypobetalipoproteinemia (HBL) is defined by plasma concentrations of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) lower than the fifth percentile for age and sex. Several psychiatric symptoms have been reported in association with HBL. The objective was to assess the prevalence of primary HBL in patients hospitalized in a psychiatric population and to better characterize the related psychiatric disorders.

LC-MSMS assays of urinary cortisol, a comparison between four in-house assays.

Background: Twenty-four hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) determination can be used for screening and follow-up of Cushing syndrome (CS). As immunoassay methods lack specificity for UFC measurement, the use of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer (LC-MSMS) is recommended. The aim of our study was to compare UFC results using four LC-MSMS methods performed in four independent laboratories in order to evaluate interlaboratory agreement.

Diagnostic performance of serum blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio for distinguishing prerenal from intrinsic acute kidney injury in the emergency department.

Background: The blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BCR) has been used since the early 1940s to help clinicians differentiate between prerenal acute kidney injury (PR AKI) and intrinsic AKI (I AKI). This ratio is simple to use and often put forward as a reliable diagnostic tool even though little scientific evidence supports this. The aim of this study was to determine whether BCR is a reliable tool for distinguishing PR AKI from I AKI.

A case of hypercalcemia Indications for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D prescription.

Circulating vitamin D is found in various forms: 25-hydroxyvitamin D or calcidiol, majority circulating form, is a "pro-hormon" which will be converted to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D or calcitriol, hormone corresponding to vitamin D active form. While determination of 25-hydroxyvitamin D serum levels reflects vitamin D status of patients, determination of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D serum level is only indicated in rare cases of suspected hypersensitivity vitamin D in children or of sarcoidosis in adults. There are too many confusion between these two vitamin forms, resulting in inappropriate prescription of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.