Very low oral doses of vitamin B-12 increase serum concentrations in elderly subjects with food-bound vitamin B-12 malabsorption.

The BOSSANOVA study, a randomized double-blind trial, was designed to test the ability of very low oral doses of vitamin B-12 to increase the serum vitamin B-12 concentration in elderly subjects with food-bound vitamin B-12 malabsorption, and to determine whether there was a dose response. We also aimed to quantitatively assess the most efficient dose to be added to flour in addition to folic acid (flour cofortification with vitamin B-12 and folic acid). Sixty-seven patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 groups receiving various daily oral doses of vitamin B-12 (i.

[A unique case of destructive polyarthritis associated with multicentric Castleman's disease].

This is an original report of a 75-year-old woman suffering from multicentric Castleman's disease associated with a destructive polyarthritis, which do not correspond to any known rhumatologic disease. Cattleman's disease (angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia) is a lymphoproliferative disorder of unknown etiology. Two forms are described: a localized and a multicentric.

[A case of artero-ureteral fistula. Review of the literature].

We report a case of a 78-year old male patient with a history of hematuria. Diagnosis of a shunt between a left common iliac artery aneurysm and the ipsilateral ureter was arrived at on the basis of arteriographic findings. Surgery consisted in ligating the left ureter proximal and distal to its communication with the aneurysm (left kidney silent on intravenous urogram), in closing the arterial orifices proximal and distal to the aneurysm, and in constructing an extraanatomical interfemoral bypass.

[Efficacy and tolerability of cycletanine in aged patients with hypertension].

Moderate arterial hypertension of the elderly has to be treated but the efficacy has to be progressive. Cicletanine has a pharmacokinetic profile well fitted to the therapy of this age group. The mechanism of action is characterized by synthesis of prostacyclin.

[Arterial hypertension and unilateral small kidney].

Within a 10 years period, 612 patients underwent an autopsy, in a geriatric hospital. Seventeen p. 100 were discovered to have a high blood pressure.

[Ulcerative and mutilating acropathy (author's transl)].

The authors report the case of a 50-year-old patient with bilateral plantar chronic trophic ulcers. He was a chronic alcoholic and presented serious nutritional deficiencies. The etiological problems raised by sensitive neuropathies are reconsidered.

[Senile cardiac amyloidosis: study of possible relationship between amyloid and atheromatous processes in 923 cases (author's transl)].

Amyloid diseases include a widely dispersed group of conditions. A part from secondary, primary, and familial amyloid diseases, and those due to endocrine tumours of the APUD system, there is a tendency to isolate a group of senile amyloid diseases affecting mainly the heart. A study in a series of 923 elderly subjects demonstrated a negative correlation between amyloid disease and atheromatosis.

[Comparative study of light and electron microscopic aspects of myocardial lesions induced in the rat by oils with several amounts of gamma-linolenic acid (author's transl)].

Four different oils : onager oil, mixture of onager oil (20 p. cent) and middle class triglyceride, sunflower oil and soybean oil were given to the rat during three different periods of time : 1) during 3 months after weaning ; 2) during 6 months after weaning ; 3) from the 9th to 15th months. Three types of myocardial lesions were found : interstitial inflammatory reaction, foci of cellular necrosis and fibrosis.

Degree of granulation of atrial cardiocytes: its decrease after aorto-caval fistula in the rat.

The experimental creation of an aorto-caval fistula in the rat leads to a decrease of the degree of granulation of atrial cardiocytes. This decrease is significant for granules distal to the nucleus and not for paranuclear granules. This partial degranulation reinforces the hypothesis according to which atrial cardiocytes participate in some sensitivity to local changes in blood pressure and flow.

[Arterial intimal proliferation in the rat : nature and origin of the proliferating cells].

This study had two objectives: 1) Identification of the type of cell involved in intimal proliferation (endothelial cells, smooth muscle fibres or fibroblasts). 2) Determination of the origin. For this purpose a model was used which consisted of implantation in the rat of femoral arterial segments in the interstitial tissue.

Myocardial lesions induced by rapeseed oil-rich diet in the rat: ultrastructural aspects.

Rats were fed a diet containing 15 g% of rapeseed oil rich in erucic acid (55%). At different stages of the experiment, the hearts were examined in the electron microscope and planimetric studies were performed, with special attention to lipid accumulation and mitochondrial mass. The already known data concerning the early appearance and reversibility of the intracellular lipidosis, the delay (2 to 3 months) in the occurrence of the cellular lesions, and the lack of correlation between the degree of lipidosis and degenerative changes were confirmed.