Herman score in prenatal screening for Down syndrome: Can a junior assess a senior?

Purpose: To compare Herman scores self-assessed prospectively during ultrasound first-trimester screening by a single senior radiologist with 15 years of experience, to those obtained retrospectively by an unexperienced junior radiologist.

Materials And Methods: Over a 18-month period, a single senior radiologist measured the nuchal translucency thickness along with calculation of Herman scores. An independent junior radiologist subsequently reviewed and scored the images.

Prenatal diagnosis of bowel malposition using T2-weighted fetal MRI sequences.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate the capability of T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in revealing fetal bowel malposition.

Materials And Methods: All fetal MRI examinations (excluding central nervous system MRI examinations) performed in our department from January 2005 to January 2014 were retrospectively studied by 2 independent observers for situs, stomach and jejunum location on T2-weighted images. Patients data were also reviewed for results of ultrasound examinations, MRI indication, and gestational age.

Cosecretion of glycosylated prolactin and non-glycosylated prolactin from childhood to the end of puberty.

Background: Glycosylated prolactin (G-PRL) is considered as the major post-translational modification of prolactin (PRL) showing reduced lactotropic and mitogenic activities compared to non-glycosylated prolactin (NG-PRL).

Aim: To evaluate the evolution of G-PRL in normoprolactinemic children and adolescents and to analyze possible variations in glycosylated/total prolactin (T-PRL) ratios.

Methods: T-PRL, G-PRL and NG-PRL were evaluated in 111 healthy female and male children and adolescents (4.

[Management of fetal mediastinal shift: a practical approach].

The purpose of this article is to review the technique of fetal chest ultrasound screening evaluation, the diagnostic work-up in the presence of fetal mediastinal shift and which ultrasound imaging features to look for. The first step in evaluating the fetal thorax is to confirm situs. Then, a median sagittal line is drawn from a four-chamber view to assist in spatial orientation followed by echotexture analysis of the structures of the thorax in the presence of mediastinal shift.

Magnetic resonance imaging in the prenatal diagnosis of congenital diarrhea.

Objective: Congenital diarrhea is very rare, and postnatal diagnosis is often made once the condition has caused potentially lethal fluid loss and electrolyte disorders. Prenatal detection is important to improve the immediate neonatal prognosis. We aimed to describe the prenatal ultrasound and magnetic resonance (MRI) imaging findings in fetuses with congenital diarrhea.

Fetal gastrointestinal MRI: all that glitters in T1 is not necessarily colon.

Background: It has been described that both the colon and distal ileum present with a physiological hypersignal on T1-weighted sequences during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy because of their protein-rich meconium content, it was unclear whether the normal characteristics that have been described on fetal MRI can be applied to gastrointestinal (GI) obstructions.

Objective: To analyse the localisation value of T1 hypersignal within dilated bowel loops in fetuses with gastrointestinal tract obstruction.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective 4-year multicentre study analysing cases of fetal GI obstruction in which MRI demonstrated T1 hypersignal content in the dilated loops.

Severe neonatal non-dystrophic myotonia secondary to a novel mutation of the voltage-gated sodium channel (SCN4A) gene.

We report on a patient with a severe, rare neonatal form of non-dystrophic myotonia. The patient presented with facial dysmorphism, muscle hypertrophy, severe constipation, psychomotor delay, and frequent cold-induced episodes of myotonia and muscle weakness leading to severe hypoxia and loss of consciousness. Muscle biopsy was non-specific and electromyography revealed intense generalized myotonia.

A new osteochondrodysplasia with severe osteopenia, preaxial polydactyly, clefting and dysmorphic features resembling filamin-related disorders.

Background: We report a 19-week gestation female foetus with a new syndrome characterised by increased nuchal translucency and severe micromelia with campomelia evident from the early second trimester.

Methods And Results: Cytogenetic studies performed on amniocytes revealed a normal female karyotype. Autopsy after termination of pregnancy showed facial dysmorphism, cleft palate, bowed, shortened limbs, hypoplasia of the preaxial elements in all four limbs with accompanying accessory ossification centres in the feet, and severe calvarial underossification.

A new case of megalencephaly and perisylvian polymicrogyria with post-axial polydactyly and hydrocephalus: MPPH syndrome.

We report a new case of megalencephaly and polymicrogyria with post-axial polydactyly and hydrocephalus (MPPH syndrome) in an 18-month-old girl. She was the first child of healthy non-consanguineous parents and measurements at birth were +3 standard deviations (S.D.

Intra-assay total uncertainty of results in immunoassay techniques.

Uncertainty is a parameter associated with the result of a measurement; this parameter characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the sample. Data processing methods do not take into account the influence of the imprecision and deviation of the experimental points of the calibration system and their impact on the final result of a sample analysis. The aim of this work is: (a) to propose, for each run, a simple method to calculate the uncertainty due to the calibration system (Uc); and (b) to present a method to determine the "intra-assay total uncertainty" (Ut) and evaluate its impact on the final result for an analyte.

Heterogeneity of circulating prolactin in the bitch.

Different molecular forms of circulating prolactin (PRL) are known to occur in several species. As no such information was available in dogs, we assessed the molecular profile of circulating PRL in bitches. Pooled sera from covertly (CTRL) and overtly pseudopregnant (PSPT) diestrous bitches with high or low (> 10 or < 10 ng x mL(-1), respectively) serum PRL (measured by ELISA) were analyzed by Sephadex G-100 and Concanavalin A-Sepharose column chromatography.

Recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone administration increases testosterone production in men, possibly by a Sertoli cell-secreted nonsteroid factor.

We previously showed that recombinant human FSH (R-FSH) in males increased the testosterone (T) concentration in spermatic venous blood (SB). To investigate the effect of R-FSH on spermatic steroid levels and the action of steroid- and LH-free SB on isolated Leydig cells, nine normospermic males were studied during spermatic cord surgery. Peripheral blood and SB samples were collected before and 30 min after iv administration of 150 U R-FSH to measure LH, FSH, T, estradiol, 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin, and in SB, androstenedione (delta4) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were also measured.

Altered luteinizing hormone pulsatility in infertile patients with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia.

In a previous study, we demonstrated that oligoasthenozoospermic (OAZ) patients had two types of testosterone response to human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) administration: group 1 (OAZ-1) had an altered, monophasic (no first peak) response, and group 2 (OAZ-2) had a normal biphasic response. The objective of the present work was to study the luteinizing hormone (LH) pulsatility in OAZ-1 compared with both OAZ-2 and men of proven fertility (PF), in order partly to determine the possible aetiology of the blunted acute testosterone response to HCG in these patients. LH pulsatility was measured in 10 PF, 10 OAZ-1 and 10 OAZ-2 patients, in blood samples taken every 5 min for 6 h in PF, and for 4 h in OAZ patients.

HLA typing with monoclonal antibodies: evaluation of 356 HLA monoclonal antibodies including 181 studied during the 10th International Histocompatibility Workshop.

During the 10th International Histocompatibility Workshop (10th WS), 181 HLA MoAbs were studied using lymphocytotoxicity micro-technique (LCT) and/or enzyme immuno-assay (EIA), and their capacity to serve as typing reagents was evaluated. 129 MoAbs were tested by both techniques. Results obtained with 92 class I and 86 class II polymorphic MoAbs (10th WS) were compared to published data concerning 180 class I and 176 class II polymorphic MoAbs, listed in an HLA-MoAbs Register maintained in our laboratory.

Definition of a new supertypic HLA class II determinant (LAR) associated with HLA-DR2 and -DR7.

A serum from a patient (LAR), immunized by pregnancies and blood transfusions, reacted with cells carrying HLA-DR2 and/or -DR7 specificities (titer 1:200-1:1000). Absorption-elution experiments showed that the allo-serum recognized a determinant shared by DR2 and DR7 cells. The high correlation coefficients (0.

[Study of the HLA-DQ system by the complement fixation test on lymphocytes stimulated by phytohemagglutinin. Existence of HLA-DQX allele(s)].

The complement fixation microtechnique against PHA blasts has been used to study HLA-DQw1, 2, 3 specificities with sera from multiple transfused patients and/or from multiparous women. Several sera (6 or 7) have been used to define each DQ specificity. The sera have been chosen because of their reactivity with cells from HLA-DR 1, 2 or w6 donors (for DQw1), DR3 or 7 donors (for DQw2,) DR4 or 5 donors (for DQw3).

[Various problems related to the use of multi-attachment appliances].

The authors review the lesions which may be seen during orthopedic treatment involving multi-attachment dentures which they use for their clinical cases. They emphasise that these iatrogenic lesions can be avoided by the use of moderate forces appropriately applied and the functional conception of orthopedic treatment.

Evidence for a new HLA class II determinant present on cells from HLA-DR1 and/or -DR4 individuals.

Evidence for a new HLA class II specificity is presented. It is recognized by LE serum, which reacts with most DR1 and/or DR4 individuals (r = 0.86).

Serological cross-reactivity between products of separate I regions.

A B10.S(7R) anti-B10.S(9R) serum (anti-IJEkCd) contained, as expected, antibodies specific for the I-E-subregion-encoded determinant Ia.