[Internet and video games among students of Reunion Island in 2010: uses, misuses, perceptions and associated factors].

Background: Describe the uses of Internet and video games and quantify associated problematic uses.

Methods: Information on student practices concerning the use of the Internet and video games was collected with a self-administered questionnaire. Problematic uses were identified with specific tools (Young criteria and Tejeiro criteria) and with self-evaluative questions.

Inhaled therapies, azithromycin and Mycobacterium abscessus in cystic fibrosis patients.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are at particularly high risk of developing lung disease caused by Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABSC). Over the last 10 years, changes in CF treatment, with increasing use of inhaled therapies and low-dose azithromycin, have been accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of MABSC infections in CF patients. There is therefore some concern about the role of new CF treatments in the emergence of MABSC infections.

Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium abscessus complex target distinct cystic fibrosis patient subpopulations.

Background: Clinical observations suggest that Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABSC) may affect cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with different characteristics and risk factors, but this has never been demonstrated within a single prospective cohort.

Methods: We studied 50 MABSC-positive and 23 MAC-positive patients from a French prevalence study of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in CF. Risk factors specifically associated with MABSC and MAC were analyzed by nested case-control studies, with two NTM-negative controls matched by age, sex and center for each case.

Variability of intestinal colonization with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and antibiotic use in intensive care units.

Objectives: Healthcare-associated infections due to third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) have become a major public health threat, especially in intensive care units (ICUs). We assessed and compared β-lactam use, the prevalence of colonization with CRE at admission and the incidence of CRE acquisition across ICUs.

Patients And Methods: A cohort study was conducted in 10 ICUs of the Paris (France) metropolitan area between November 2005 and February 2006.

Congenital heart defects in La Réunion Island: a 6-year survey within a EUROCAT-affiliated congenital anomalies registry.

Objectives: This study compares the prevalence and perinatal mortality of congenital heart defects on La Réunion with European (EUROCAT) standards.

Methods And Results: Data were extracted from a EUROCAT-affiliated congenital malformations registry, covering 88,025 births during the period 2002-2007, on the whole island territory. A total of 512 congenital heart defects were registered, including 424 live births, 18 foetal deaths from 16 weeks of gestation, and 70 terminations of pregnancy.

Diagnostic criteria of urinary tract infection in male patients with spinal cord injury.

Background: The current diagnostic criteria of urinary tract infection (UTI) in male patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) are not clear.

Methods: The authors studied 381 episodes of "symptomatic" UTI (209 participants) and 277 episodes of "asymptomatic" UTI (205 participants) in male SCI patients using intermittent catheterization. UTI was defined as a bacterial count ≥10(2) colony-forming units (cfu)/mL (American Paraplegia Society criterion).

Is exposure to mercury a driving force for the carriage of antibiotic resistance genes?

The mercury resistance gene merA has often been found together with antibiotic resistance genes in human commensal Escherichia coli. To study this further, we analysed mercury resistance in collections of strains from various populations with different levels of mercury exposure and various levels of antibiotic resistance. The first population lived in France and had no known mercury exposure.

Significant reduction of antibiotic use in the community after a nationwide campaign in France, 2002-2007.

Background: Overuse of antibiotics is the main force driving the emergence and dissemination of bacterial resistance in the community. France consumes more antibiotics and has the highest rate of beta-lactam resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae than any other European country. In 2001, the government initiated "Keep Antibiotics Working"; the program's main component was a campaign entitled "Les antibiotiques c'est pas automatique" ("Antibiotics are not automatic") launched in 2002.

Major role for amphotericin B-flucytosine combination in severe cryptococcosis.

Background: The Infectious Diseases Society of America published in 2000 practical guidelines for the management of cryptococcosis. However, treatment strategies have not been fully validated in the various clinical settings due to exclusion criteria during therapeutic trials. We assessed here the optimal therapeutic strategies for severe cryptococcosis using the observational prospective CryptoA/D study after analyzing routine clinical care of cryptococcosis in university or tertiary care hospitals.

Characteristics of human intestinal Escherichia coli with changing environments.

To investigate if the characteristics of human intestinal Escherichia coli are changing with the environment of the host, we studied intestinal E. coli from subjects having recently migrated from a temperate to a tropical area. We determined the phylogenetic group, the prevalence of the antibiotic resistance, the presence of integrons and the strain diversity in faecal isolates from 25 subjects originally from metropolitan France and expatriated to French Guyana.

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasmataceae members in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Alsace, a focus of Lyme borreliosis endemicity in France.

Due to the high Lyme borreliosis incidence in Alsace, in northeastern France, we investigated in 2003-2004 three cantons in this region in order to determine the density of Ixodes ricinus ticks infected by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasmataceae. The peak density of nymphs infected by B. burgdorferi sensu lato at Munster and Guebwiller, where the disease incidence was high, was among the highest reported in Europe (105 and 114 per 100 m(2), respectively).