Ovulatory status and menstrual cycle duration assessed by self-collection of urine on pH strips in a population-based sample of French women not using hormonal contraception.

Background: Assessing menstrual cycle function in the general population using a non-invasive method is challenging, both in non-industrialized and industrialized countries.

Subjects And Methods: The Observatory of Fecundity in France (Obseff) recruited on a nationwide basis a random sample of 943 women aged 18-44 years with unprotected intercourse. A sub-study was set up to assess the characteristics of a menstrual cycle by using a non-invasive method adapted to the general population.

[Adult intramedullary gliomas].

Objectives: Intramedullary gliomas are rare tumors accounting for less than 4% of all primary central nervous system tumors. The aims of this retrospective multicenter study were to assess their natural outcome as well as management.

Methods And Materials: We studied 332 patients from 1984 to 2011.

Portal hypertension in children: High-risk varices, primary prophylaxis and consequences of bleeding.

Background & Aims: Primary prophylaxis of bleeding is debated for children with portal hypertension because of the limited number of studies on its safety and efficacy, the lack of a known endoscopic pattern carrying a high-risk of bleeding for all causes, and the assumption that the mortality of a first bleed is low. We report our experience with these issues.

Methods: From 1989 to 2014, we managed 1300 children with portal hypertension.

The porta hepatis microcyst: an additional sonographic sign for the diagnosis of biliary atresia.

Objectives: To describe and evaluate an additional sonographic sign in the diagnosis of biliary atresia (BA), the microcyst of the porta hepatis, in comparison with previously described signs.

Methods: Ultrasound performed in 321 infants (mean age 55 days) with cholestasis were retrospectively analyzed. BA was surgically confirmed in 193 patients and excluded in 128.

Genotype-phenotype correlation and course of transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathies in France.

Objective: To compare the natural history of familial transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathies (FAP) due to the Val30Met, Ser77Tyr, and Ile107Val mutations in France with the classical Portuguese Val30Met FAP.

Methods: We compared 84 French patients with a control group of 110 Portuguese patients carrying the Val30Met mutation also living in France, all referred to and followed at the French National FAP Reference Center from 1988 to 2010. Clinical examination, functional and walking disability scores, nerve conduction studies, and muscle biopsies are reported.

Feasibility and Diagnostic Accuracy of Supersonic Shear-Wave Elastography for the Assessment of Liver Stiffness and Liver Fibrosis in Children: A Pilot Study of 96 Patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using supersonic shear-wave elastography (SSWE) in children and normal values of liver stiffness with the use of control patients of different ages (from neonates to teenagers) and the diagnostic accuracy of supersonic shear wave elastography for assessing liver fibrosis by using the histologic scoring system as the reference method in patients with liver disease, with a special concern for early stages of fibrosis.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this prospective study. Informed consent was obtained from parents and children older than 7 years.

Progression to high-risk gastroesophageal varices in children with biliary atresia with low-risk signs at first endoscopy.

Objectives: Biliary atresia carries a risk of bleeding because of portal hypertension. Our goal was to define the factors associated with the emergence of endoscopic signs carrying a high risk of bleeding in children who did not display these signs at the first upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Methods: From 1989 to 2013, a total of 225 children with low-risk signs at the first endoscopic examination underwent ≥2 upper gastrointestinal endoscopic examinations.

Dating the abusive head trauma episode and perpetrator statements: key points for imaging.

Shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants. The presence of a diffuse subdural hematoma without evidence of accident is a key diagnostic clue. The hematoma is typically attributed to rupture of the cerebral bridging veins due to violent shaking, with or without impact.

Growth development of French children born after in vitro maturation.

Background: Several lines of evidence indicate that immature oocyte retrieval and subsequent in vitro maturation (IVM) without ovarian stimulation may be a reliable option in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). However, few outcome data are available for children born following this technique.

Objective: We assessed height and weight development of French children conceived after IVM.

Statistical analysis of multi-b factor diffusion weighted images can help distinguish between vasogenic and tumor-infiltrated edema.

Purpose: The diffusion model can be transformed into a multicompartment model by means of multi-b factor diffusion-weighted sequences. We adapted a method of statistical analysis of these images and evaluated its performance to distinguish tumor-infiltrated edema from vasogenic edema.

Materials And Methods: Forty-nine patients with infiltrating tumors (38 patients: low to high-grade gliomas) or vasogenic edema (11 patients: metastases, abscess, extra-axial lesions) were studied by multi-b factor diffusion-weighted imaging.

SPRi-based strategy to identify specific biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune hepatitis.

Background: Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A2/B1 is a target for antinuclear autoantibodies in systemic Lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).

Aim: To monitor molecular interactions between peptides spanning the entire sequence of hnRNP A2/B1 and sera from patients and healthy controls.

Methods: Sera from 8 patients from each pathology and controls were passed across a surface plasmon resonance Imagery (SPRi) surface containing 39 overlapping peptides of 17 mers covering the human hnRNP B1.

Cumulative incidence rate of medical consultation for fecundity problems--analysis of a prevalent cohort using competing risks.

Study Question: What is the incidence of medical consultation for fecundity problems in the French population, taking into account pregnancy occurrence and resumption of contraceptive use?.

Summary Answer: Considering the occurrence of a pregnancy and resumption of use of contraception as competing risks, the cumulative incidence rate of medical consultation for fecundity problems was 9.0% [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.

Effect on disability and safety of Tafamidis in late onset of Met30 transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy.

Background And Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of Tafamidis, which slows the progression of early stages of Met30 transthyretin (TTR) familial amyloidosis polyneuropathy (FAP) in more advanced cases.

Methods: The study was a prospective, non-randomized controlled trial carried out at the French national reference centre for FAP with follow-up at 1 year. Thirty-seven consecutive Met30-TTR-FAP patients were enrolled between December 2009 and July 2011, with NIS-LL (Neuropathy Impairment Score-lower limbs) > 10 and Karnofsky score > 60.

Experience with endoscopic management of high-risk gastroesophageal varices, with and without bleeding, in children with biliary atresia.

Background & Aims: Biliary atresia, the most common cause of childhood cirrhosis, increases the risks for portal hypertension and gastrointestinal bleeding. We report the results from a single-center study of primary and secondary prophylaxis of bleeding in children with portal hypertension and high-risk varices.

Methods: We collected data from 66 children with major endoscopic signs of portal hypertension, including grade 3 esophageal varices or grade 2 varices with red wale markings and/or gastric varices, treated consecutively from February 2001 through May 2011.

Short-term evolution of spinal cord damage in multiple sclerosis: a diffusion tensor MRI study.

Introduction: The potential of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to detect spinal cord abnormalities in patients with multiple sclerosis has already been demonstrated. The objective of this study was to apply DTI techniques to multiple sclerosis patients with a recently diagnosed spinal cord lesion, in order to demonstrate a correlation between variations of DTI parameters and clinical outcome, and to try to identify DTI parameters predictive of outcome.

Methods: A prospective single-centre study of patients with spinal cord relapse treated by intravenous steroid therapy was made.

Serum IL-6 and IL-21 are associated with markers of B cell activation and structural progression in early rheumatoid arthritis: results from the ESPOIR cohort.

Objective: To identify a specific pattern of serum cytokines that correlates with the diagnosis, activity and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with early RA as well as with the level of serum markers of B cell activation.

Methods: Serum interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL1-Ra), IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, IL-21, monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), tumour necrosis factor α and interferon γ levels were measured in the (ESPOIR) Etude et Suivi des POlyarthrites Indifférenciées Récentes early arthritis cohort, which included patients with at least two swollen joints for >6 weeks and <6 months, and no previous corticosteroids or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Serum cytokine levels were compared between patients who met the 1987 American College of Rheumatology criteria for RA (n=578) or had undifferentiated arthritis (UA, n=132) at the 1-year follow-up visit.

Estimation of the frequency of involuntary infertility on a nation-wide basis.

Background: Assessing couple fecundity on a nation-wide basis without excluding couples who eventually remain infertile is challenging. Our aim was to describe couple fecundity (in terms of frequency of involuntary infertility) among the general population living in France.

Methods: We used a current-duration design.

Impact of early chest radiography and empirical antibiotherapy on delay in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Objective: The treatment of community-acquired pneumonia relies on empirical antibacterial treatment, guided by chest X-ray. We evaluated the impact of this practice on delay in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective monocentric study on 64 documented cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Seminal leukocytes are Good Samaritans for spermatozoa.

Objective: To assess the effect of leukocytospermia on assisted reproductive technology outcomes.

Design: Retrospective analysis.

Setting: University laboratory.

Short and long-term effect of IVIg in demyelinating neuropathy associated with MGUS, experience of a monocentric study.

Background: The optimal treatment for demyelinating neuropathy associated with MGUS and anti-MAG neuropathy is not known.

Methods: We retrospectively studied the efficacy of IVIg in 14 patients with DN-MGUS (seven IgM and seven IgG/A) and seven with anti-MAG neuropathies, treated in our reference center between 2002 and 2007. Patients were clinically evaluated before the first infusion, after the first infusion, and after the last IVIg treatment.

Seminal leukocytes and clinical outcomes with donor sperm insemination.

Objective: To report the level of leukocytospermia in fertile donors' semen. Surprisingly, seminal leukocytes protect fertilization properties of sperm and are associated with normal or improved assisted reproductive technology outcomes in infertility patients. This raises the question of whether leukocytospermia exists in fertile men as well.