Convalescent Plasma Therapy in Immunocompromised Patients Infected With the BA.1 or BA.2 Omicron SARS-CoV-2.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has led to a complete reconfiguration of the therapeutic landscape, with all monoclonal antibodies having lost any neutralization activity. We report here a case series of 75 immunocompromised patients infected by the Omicron variant who benefited from COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP). At Day 28, the overall survival was 76% (95% CI 67-86) with no significant difference in the clinical outcome between patients with hematological malignancies, solid organ transplantation or autoimmune diseases.

Cutaneous diphtheria: three case-reports to discuss determinants of re-emergence in resource-rich settings.

Diphtheria is a re-emerging disease in resource-rich settings. We here report three cases of cutaneous diphtheria diagnosed and managed in our infectious disease department and discuss the determinants of its re-emergence. Migration, travel and vaccine scepticism are key factors not only for diphtheria re-emergence, but for the future of most preventable diseases.

Prospective study comparing the conventional and same-day strategies to diagnose pulmonary tuberculosis.

Objective: The WHO recommends same-day sputum smear microscopy for the diagnosis of smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) in countries with high TB burden for earlier diagnosis and treatment, a cornerstone to prevent air-borne transmission. We aimed to compare the conventional strategy (sputum collection on three consecutive days) and the same-day strategy (hour h, h+1, h+2) in France, a country with low TB burden.

Patients And Methods: Over a six-month period, all adult individuals presenting with presumptive smear-positive TB were eligible for the study, registered in https://clinicaltrials.

Classification of coronal imbalance in adult scoliosis and spine deformity: a treatment-oriented guideline.

Introduction: In adult spinal deformity (ASD), sagittal imbalance and sagittal malalignment have been extensively described in the literature during the past decade, whereas coronal imbalance and coronal malalignment (CM) have been given little attention. CM can cause severe impairment in adult scoliosis and ASD patients, as compensatory mechanisms are limited. The aim of this paper is to develop a comprehensive classification of coronal spinopelvic malalignment and to suggest a treatment algorithm for this condition.

Contribution of Dynamic Surgical Guidance to the Accurate Placement of Pedicle Screws in Deformity Surgery: A Retrospective Case Series.

Objective: We assessed the contribution of a dynamic surgical guidance (DSG) probe in the accurate placement of thoracic and lumbar pedicle screws (PSs) in patients with spinal deformity.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 98 patients (104 procedures) with various spinal deformities, who had received posterior instrumentation with PSs inserted using either DSG or the conventional free-hand (FH) technique. A total of 882 PSs were inserted using DSG (DSG group) and 603 using the FH technique (FH group).

[Influenzae and pneumococcal vaccination rate in an internal medicine ward].

Introduction: Vaccination against influenza virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae is a global health priority and authorities, on the basis of recent publications, have recently updated French recommendations. The aim of this study was to describe the influenzae and pneumococcal vaccination's rate in an internal medicine ward.

Material And Methods: All patients consecutively hospitalized during a 10 week-period in an internal medicine ward were included.

Acceptability and feasibility of HIV testing in general medicine by ELISA or rapid test from finger-stick whole blood.

Objectives: Guidelines recommend routine universal HIV testing in adults to reduce the pool of infected patients unaware of their status, without specific recommendations concerning the method. We compared acceptability and feasibility of HIV testing by ELISA tests or rapid tests from finger-stick whole blood.

Methods: Prospective randomized multi-center study comparing acceptability and feasibility of routine universal HIV testing by ELISA tests, with a charge, subsequently reimbursed by Social Security for affiliated patients, or rapid tests from finger-stick whole blood, without any charge from the patients or the general practitioner for the study.

Effect of body weight and composition on efavirenz, atazanavir or darunavir concentration.

Background: To compare the steady state plasma concentrations (Css) of three antiretroviral drugs in both normal and overweight patients, and to determine the relationship between Css and fat mass (FM) or lean body mass.

Methods: Patients treated for more than 6 months once daily with one of the antiretroviral drugs: efavirenz (EFV) 600mg, atazanavir boosted with ritonavir (ATV-r) 300mg/100mg, or darunavir boosted with ritonavir (DRV-r) 800mg/100mg, combined with two nucleoside analogues, were enrolled prospectively. One at steady state, plasma samples for the assessment of drug concentration were taken and body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance.

Candiduria in kidney transplant recipients: Is antifungal therapy useful?

A French single-centre retrospective study between 2010 and 2014 was undertaken to assess candiduria's incidence in kidney transplant recipients (KTR), and the use and impact of antifungal treatment on outcome. Candiduria was defined as a urine culture with ≥10  cfu/mL of Candida species. Candiduria clearance, severe complications and death rates were estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods and the effect of treatment by Cox models.

Anterior lumbar sagittal alignment after anterior or lateral interbody fusion.

Purpose: Anterior or lateral interbody fusion is a treatment option for lumbar disc disease. A segmental change occurs after such surgery. This study was designed to evaluate the changes in the lumbar regional alignment after a single or two-level standalone anterior or lateral interbody fusion (ALIF or LLIF).

Hepatitis B Virus-Hepatitis D Virus mother-to-child co-transmission: A retrospective study in a developed country.

Background & Aims: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) DNA during chronic infection can reach levels at which mother-to-child (MTC) transmission frequently occurs despite passive-active immunization of newborns. Hepatitis D Virus (HDV) RNA can reach high levels, we assessed HBV/HDV MTC co-transmission.

Methods: Monocentric retrospective study (registered in ClinicalTrials.

Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy with a Remote Controlled Robot.

Purpose: Robotics in surgery is a recent innovation. This technology offers a number of attractive features in laparoscopy. It overcomes the difficulties with fixed port sites by restoring all 6 degrees of freedom at the instrument tips, provides new possibilities for miniaturization of surgical tasks and allows remote controlled surgery.

Prospective interventional study of tenofovir in pregnancy to prevent vertical transmission of hepatitis B in highly viremic women.

Background: The risk of vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) increases as maternal HBV DNA increase, despite serovaccination to newborns.

Methods: From 1 July 2012 to 1 January 2016, all pregnant women in Lariboisiere Hospital, Paris, France, with HBV DNA of 5 log10 IU/ml and above were administered tenofovir from week 28 of pregnancy until delivery. HBV DNA was measured at months 1, 2 of tenofovir and at delivery.

Prospective Cohort Study of the Relative Abundance of Extended-Spectrum-Beta-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli in the Gut of Patients Admitted to Hospitals.

A total of 458 patients were prospectively included at hospital admission and screened for extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase-producing (ESBL) Escherichia coli carriage in 2007 and in 2010 to 2012. A 4-fold increase in ESBL carriage (3% to 12%), a 5-fold increase in numbers of community patients among ESBL carriers, and a higher number of multiple ESBL strains was found in the 2010 to 2012 period. ESBL E.

Reduction and fusion in high-grade L5-S1 spondylolisthesis by a single posterior approach. Results in 50 patients.

Introduction: Treatment strategies in high-grade L5-S1 spondylolisthesis are controversial. Reduction of slippage, correction of lumbosacral kyphosis and the necessity of a complementary anterior approach are debated in the literature. The present study reports clinical and radiological outcome for reduction and instrumented fusion on a single posterior approach.

Evolution of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: results of a multicenter study at 20 years' follow-up.

Introduction: To date there is no consensus on therapeutic indications in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with curvature between 30° and 60° at the end of growth.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess outcome in patients with moderate AIS.

Material And Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted.

Report from the 2014 Scoliosis Research Society Travelling Fellowship.

The Scoliosis Research Society traveling fellowship was conceptualized in 1970, repeated in 1972, and, after a pause, restarted in 1993. International traveling fellows visiting North America first commenced in 2000 and have since alternated annually with the North American fellows. Although a senior fellow had always traveled with them, in 2012 the first senior international fellow traveled with the group.

Surgery of lumbar and thoracolumbar scolioses in adults over 50. Morbidity and survival in a multicenter retrospective cohort of 180 patients with a mean follow-up of 4.5 years.

Introduction: The increasing life expectancy of the population and the improvement in surgical and medical management of elderly patients mean that the indication for surgical treatment of adult lumbar and thoracolumbar scolioses has been extended. However the benefit/risk ratio of these procedures is still under debate.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed 180 patients, mean age 63years old with a minimum follow-up of 1year in a retrospective, continuous, multicenter study.

Complications and risk factors of primary adult scoliosis surgery: a multicenter study of 306 patients.

Study Design: A multicentric retrospective study on primary adult scoliosis patients operated on between 2002 and 2007. A 3-step statistical analysis was performed to describe the incidence of complications, the risk factors, and the reoperation risk with survival curves for the entire cohort.

Objective: To describe complication rate and risk factors as well as survival curves associated with adult primary scoliosis surgery in patients aged 50 years or older.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons influenced neither the frequency nor the spectrum of FGFR3 mutations in bladder urothelial carcinoma.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is associated with an increased risk of urothelial carcinoma (UC). FGFR3 is found mutated in about 70% of Ta tumors, which represent the major group at diagnosis. The influence of PAH on FGFR3 mutations and whether it is related to the emergence or shaping of these mutations is not yet known.

Spino-pelvic alignment after surgical correction for developmental spondylolisthesis.

This study is a retrospective multi-centre analysis of changes in spino-pelvic sagittal alignment after surgical correction of L5-S1 developmental spondylolisthesis. The purpose of this study was to determine how sagittal spino-pelvic alignment is affected by surgery, with the hypothesis that surgical correction at the lumbo-sacral level is associated with an improvement in the shape of the spine and in the orientation of the pelvis. Whether L5-S1 high grade spondylolisthesis should or should not be reduced remains a controversial subject.