[Fever as a prognostic factor for heat stroke].

Objectives: Classic heatstroke that is, due to very hot weather, rare in Europe. Its clinical characteristics and course in temperate zones are not well known. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of initial fever on prognosis in heatstroke.

Short- and long-term outcomes of heatstroke following the 2003 heat wave in Lyon, France.

Background: During August 2003, Europe sustained a severe heat wave that resulted in 14 800 heat-related deaths in France. Most of these excess deaths occurred in urban areas, where maximal temperatures broke all records. Heatstroke is the most severe form of heat-related illness.

[Antidigoxin Fab fragments and digoxin monitoring: a challenge for the biologist].

Following administration of anti-digoxin Fab fragments, monitoring unbound digoxin concentrations may help ensure appropriate dosing, and prevent recrudescent toxicity. Ultrafiltration by using Centrifree system and measurement of digoxin in the ultrafiltrate is considered as reference technique. However, ultrafiltration method is cumbersome, costly, and some immunoassays are affected by matrix differences.

[Acute erythermalgia: look for mushrooms!].

Introduction: To describe the first European observation of erythromelalgia due to mushroom poisoning.

Exegesis: Seven cases observed and followed over 4 years are reported. All ill patients had eaten the same mushroom species, gathered in the same French alpine valley.

Erythromelalgia and mushroom poisoning.

Objective: To report the first European observations of erythromelalgia due to mushroom poisoning.

Methods: Clinical features of erythromelalgia were observed in 7 cases seen over 3 years. All patients had eaten the same mushrooms species, gathered in the same French alpine valley.

[Forum on bacterial resistance].

Recently, in daily newspapers and on television, attention of the audience has been focused on the overuse of antibiotics and on the role it plays in the emergence and dissemination of resistance mechanisms in the human environment. The role of food from animal origin in relation to the use of antibiotic resistance, infectious diseases, medical practice and ENT infections have accepted to answer a series of questions concerning risks versus usefulness of antibiotic usage. From the answers, we may note convergent views and discrepancies: (i) there was agreement concerning the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics in rhinopharyngitis and few other common viral infections; (ii) the risk of misuse of antibiotics in patients with poor compliance and further risk of erroneous self prescription of the remaining tablets has been cited; (iii) in the problem of resistance resulting from growth promoting antibiotics in animals, it has been experimentally shown that from 2 bacteria of the same species introduced in the animal gut, one susceptible, the other resistant, the latter will be eliminated by means of the "barrier effect"; similarly in case of transfer of resistance from an exogenous bacteria to a "resident" organism of the gut, the latter will be eliminated by the homologous susceptible ones; only an antibiotic therapy may confer importance to the resistant bacteria.

Isolation and characterization of a plasmid from Lactobacillus fermentum conferring erythromycin resistance.

Lactobacillus fermentum is a lactic acid bacterial species commonly found in the digestive tracts of pigs and rodents and also present in man. We characterized a 5.7-kb plasmid, pLEM3, conferring erythromycin resistance, which was isolated from a porcine strain of L.

Study of gene transfer in vitro and in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice from Lactococcus lactis strains to various strains belonging to human intestinal flora.

The use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in dairy products requires evaluation of the DNA transfer capacity from such organisms among the human intestinal microflora. Thus, both in vitro and in vivo [in the digestive tract (DT) of mice] transfer from Lactococcus lactis donor strains of the conjugative plasmid pIL205 (CmR) and the non-conjugative plasmid pIL253 (EmR) to: (1) recipient strains isolated from human faecal flora Bacteroides sp., Bifidobacterium sp.

Gene transfer from engineered Lactococcus lactis strains to Enterococcus faecalis in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice.

The introduction of genetically modified organisms into food products requires an evaluation of the behaviour and the dissemination of foreign genes of such organisms among the human intestinal microflora. The conjugal transfer, both in vitro and in vivo (in mice digestive tract) of DNA from Lactococcus lactis donor strains to an Enterococcus faecalis strain isolated from human faecal flora was studied. We followed the transfer of (1) the self-transmissible plasmid pIL205; (2) two non-self-transmissible but mobilizable plasmids, pIL252 and pIL253; (3) one plasmid, pMS1.

Influence of the bacterial flora on collagen-induced arthritis in susceptible and resistant strains of rats.

Collagen-induced arthritis is an experimental model for rheumatoid arthritis which can be elicited in susceptible strains of rats by intradermal injection of native type II collagen. In order to investigate whether bacterial flora may alter the pathogenic response to type II collagen, we have immunized germ-free (GF) male rats from either highly resistant Fisher (F344) or highly susceptible Dark Agouti (DA) strains. The disease was markedly enhanced in GF DA as compared to conventional (CV) DA rats.

[Development, equilibrium and role of microbial flora in the newborn].

Development of the digestive tract intestinal flora is the result of a specific selection process to which the multiple maternal or environmental bacteria that penetrate into the neonatal gut are subjected. In breast-fed infants, Escherichia coli and streptococci are the first bacteria to appear in the gut. They are usually, but not always, followed by a population of Bifidobacterium which quickly becomes predominant.

Colonization of the digestive tract of germ-free mice by genetically engineered strains of Lactococcus lactis: study of recombinant DNA stability.

The ability of genetically engineered Lactococcus lactis strains to become established in the digestive tract (DT) of germ-free mice was examined together with the stability of their genetic markers. Seven L. lactis strains were genetically modified by insertion of genetic markers on different replicons: chloramphenicol resistance gene cat was carried by self-transmissible plasmid pIL205, a derivative of plasmid pIP501; erythromycin resistance gene erm, originating from pAM beta 1, was inserted into non-transmissible plasmids pIL252 and pIL253 of low and high copy number respectively; erm gene from plasmid pMS1.

Modulation of gut wall paf-acether and precursors by intestinal microflora.

Comparison between holoxenic and axenic mice led to the conclusion that the presence of an intestinal microflora produced a decrease in wall paf in conventional mouse caecum, whereas an increase in wall lyso-paf and alkyl-acyl-glycerophosphocholine (A-A-GPC) content was noticed. By contrast, the presence of flora had no significant incidence on wall paf, lyso-paf and A-A-GPC content of conventional mouse jejunum. Thus, the modulation of gut wall phospholipid composition by intestinal microflora is evidenced for the first time.

[Neuropsychic effects of cimetidine and ranitidine. Apropos of 1 case].

The incidence of neuropsychiatric complications is very low in patients receiving conventional doses of cimetidine or ranitidine. In this case report, the same patient presented with psychiatric symptoms successively following treatment with both histamine H2-receptor antagonists, suggesting the involvement of histamine-mediated CNS modulation.

Antagonism exerted by an association of a Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron strain and a Fusobacterium necrogenes strain against Clostridium perfringens in gnotobiotic mice and in fecal suspensions incubated in vitro.

Antagonism between an association of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Fusobacterium necrogenes strains and two strains of Clostridium perfringens was evidenced both in vivo in gnotobiotic mice and ex vivo in fecal suspensions incubated for 22 h at 37 degrees C. Several features of this antagonism were similar in and ex vivo. (i) An obligate and continuous synergy between B.

Translocation of strictly anaerobic bacteria from the intestinal tract to the mesenteric lymph nodes in gnotobiotic rodents.

Viable cells of some strictly anaerobic strains belonging to Bacteroides, Clostridium and Fusobacterium genera were present in mesenteric lymph nodes of gnotobiotic rodents harbouring these strains. Various parameters were found to affect the incidence of translocation, including the caecal population level, the length of association with the host and the nature of the strains and host.