Rivers and landscape ecology of a plant virus, Rice yellow mottle virus along the Niger Valley.

To investigate the spread of (RYMV) along the Niger River, regular sampling of virus isolates was conducted along 500 km of the Niger Valley in the Republic of Niger and was complemented by additional sampling in neighbouring countries in West Africa and Central Africa. The spread of RYMV into and within the Republic of Niger was inferred as a continuous process using a Bayesian statistical framework applied previously to reconstruct its dispersal history in West Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar. The spatial resolution along this section of the Niger River was the highest implemented for RYMV and possibly for any plant virus.

A literature review of emotional intelligence and nursing education.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of knowledge about emotional intelligence (EI) in nursing education BACKGROUND: Human relationships and emotions are an integral part of nursing care and contribute to care quality. This part of the profession must be addressed in nursing education to prepare students and deal with their emotions and the patients's. Research on emotional intelligence (EI) in nursing has been particularly developed recently.

Genomic Correlations Between the Gaits of Young Horses Measured by Accelerometry and Functional Longevity in Jumping Competition.

Functional longevity is essential for the well-being of horses and the satisfaction of riders. Conventional selection using longevity breeding values calculated from competition results is not efficient because it takes too long to obtain reliable information. Therefore, the objective was to identify early criteria for selection.

[Psychological characteristics of stress in nursing student].

Background: Student nurses have perceived stress higher than students taking other training courses. The objective of this work was to investigate psychological characteristics of nursing students in an attempt to understand why they are more subject to stress than others.

Methods: We carried out a self-administered questionnaire survey to compare students taking various training courses (i.

Meeting the Mental Health Needs of the Homebound: A Psychiatric Consult Service Within a Home-Based Primary Care Program.

The growing population of homebound adults increasingly receives home-based primary care (HBPC) services. These patients are predominantly frail older adults who are homebound because of multiple medical comorbidities, yet they often also have psychiatric diagnoses requiring mental health care. Unfortunately, in-home psychiatric services are rarely available to homebound patients.

Reproductive impacts of tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT) in the hermaphroditic freshwater gastropod Lymnaea stagnalis.

Tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT) are emblematic endocrine disruptors, which have been mostly studied in gonochoric prosobranchs. Although both compounds can simultaneously occur in the environment, they have mainly been tested separately for their effects on snail reproduction. Because large discrepancies in experimental conditions occurred in these tests, the present study aimed to compare the relative toxicity of TBT and TPT under similar laboratory conditions in the range of 0 ng Sn/L to 600 ng Sn/L.

Management of Cushing's syndrome due to ectopic adrenocorticotropin secretion with 1,ortho-1, para'-dichloro-diphenyl-dichloro-ethane: findings in 23 patients from a single center.

Context: Effective treatment for the ectopic ACTH secretion syndrome (EAS) remains a therapeutic challenge. Immediate curative surgery of the responsible nonpituitary tumor is often not possible.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate 1,ortho-1, para'-dichloro-diphenyl-dichloro-ethane (O,p'DDD) therapy in EAS.

Midnight salivary cortisol determination for assessing the outcome of transsphenoidal surgery in Cushing's disease.

Context: Midnight salivary cortisol (MSC) is now recognized as a reliable index for Cushing's syndrome diagnosis but has to be validated for the follow-up of treated patients.

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate MSC for assessing the outcome of transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) in patients with Cushing's disease (CD).

Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in a single center.

Sex steroids in androgen-secreting adrenocortical tumors: clinical and hormonal features in comparison with non-tumoral causes of androgen excess.

Objective: Adrenocortical tumors (ACT) account for no more than 0.2% of the causes of androgen excess (AE). Conversely, these rare tumors have a very poor prognosis.

Corticotroph tumor progression after adrenalectomy in Cushing's Disease: A reappraisal of Nelson's Syndrome.

Context: Adrenalectomy is a radical treatment for hypercortisolism in Cushing's disease. However, it may lead to Nelson's syndrome, originally defined by the association of a pituitary macroadenoma and high plasma ACTH concentrations, a much feared complication.

Objective: The objective of the study was to reconsider Nelson's syndrome by investigating corticotroph tumor progression based on pituitary magnetic resonance imaging scan and search for predictive factors.

Reversal of glucocorticoids-dependent proopiomelanocortin gene inhibition by leukemia inhibitory factor.

We previously have described molecular mechanisms converging at the Nur response element-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) composite site responsible for synergistic activation of the proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene promoter by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and CRH. In this study, we asked how glucocorticoids (GC), the physiological negative regulators of POMC gene expression, modulate this synergism. In the corticotroph cell line AtT-20, the response of the wild-type promoter to LIF+CRH was barely inhibited by GC, whereas a distal promoter subregion (-414/-293) encompassing the Nur response element-STAT site and devoid of the negative GC-responsive element located in the proximal domain, displayed a cooperative response to LIF+dexamethasone (DEX) and LIF+CRH+DEX treatments.

Prognostic value of relative adrenal insufficiency after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of relative adrenal insufficiency in patients successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest, and its prognostic role in post-resuscitation disease.

Design And Setting: A prospective observational single-center study in a medical intensive care unit.

Patients: 64 patients hospitalised in the intensive care unit after successful resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Midnight salivary cortisol for the initial diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome of various causes.

We assessed the value of midnight salivary cortisol for the initial diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome. Sixty-three patients with various causes of Cushing's syndrome (37 with Cushing's disease, 17 with adrenal Cushing's syndrome, and nine with ectopic ACTH syndrome) and 54 control subjects with simple obesity were studied. All patients with Cushing's syndrome excreted more than 90 microg urinary free cortisol (UFC)/d (248 nmol/d), and all controls excreted less than 90 microg/d UFC.

Anxiety disorders. Helping patients regain stability and calm.

Anxiety disorders affect more than 19 million American adults and are prevalent in the geriatric population. Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and other anxiety types can affect quality of life, precipitate social withdrawal, interfere with self-care, and exacerbate health problems. Anxiety disorders also may be associated with physical or mental disorders such as heart disease and depression.

A new generation IRMA for ACTH with improved specificity: validation in various physiological and pathological conditions.

Objective: Measurement of plasma ACTH is a key step for the exploration of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal disorders. To further improve ACTH recognition a new generation of ACTH IRMA was developed using antibodies directed towards succinylated ACTH (sACTH IRMA).

Design: The usefulness of this assay was compared with that of another commercially available ACTH IRMA assay using intact ACTH (ELSA-ACTH) in various pathophysiological situations: patients with low ACTH plasma levels, high ACTH plasma levels with normal or tumoural pituitaries, or ectopic ACTH syndrome, and pregnant women with high proopiomelanocortin (POMC) plasma levels.

The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS): longitudinal validation of an instrument that measures time spent caregiving for individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

Family members incur substantial financial costs during the course of caring for an individual with Alzheimer's disease. Much of this cost is associated with time spent in caregiving tasks, including supervision and communication with the patient, and assisting with activities of daily living. We have previously reported on the cross sectional reliability and validity of a scale that measures time spent caregiving, the Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS).

Overnight dexamethasone suppression test: comparison of plasma and salivary cortisol measurement for the screening of Cushing's syndrome.

The overnight 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test is a very good screening test for subjects suspected of having Cushing's syndrome. To simplify the procedure, we evaluated the 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test with measurement of salivary cortisol. We performed this test with plasma and salivary cortisol measurements in 27 patients with Cushing's syndrome and 64 normal controls.

[Study of antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity and thyroid growth blocking antibodies in congenital hypothyroidism].

Antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and thyroid growth immunoglobulin blocking (TGI block) which have been found in autoimmune thyroiditis in adults, as well as TSH receptors binding inhibitory antibodies (TBI ab) and antimicrosomal (Mc ab) and antithyroglobulin (Tg ab) antibodies were search in 42 mothers-infants pairs called at hospital after a positive screening for congenital hypothyroidism. The etiologic diagnoses were: 12 athyreosis, 12 ectopies, 7 anatomically normal glands and 11 transients. Tg ab and Mc ab were measured by commercial hemagglutination tests, TBI ab were determined using a radio ligand assay.

[Does rectal examination modify the blood level of specific prostatic antigen? A study of 40 cases].

Prostatic specific antigen has become an essential laboratory parameter in prostatic cancer; it may rise transiently after various manipulations of prostatic tissue. We decided to investigate a possible modification in PSA after rectal examination. The PSA level, studied before and after rectal examination in 40 patients, confirmed the almost constant rise in PSA after thorough rectal examination.

[Prostate-specific antigen. A new marker of prostatic pathology].

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate acid phosphatase (PAP) were assayed using a radioimmunologic method in 306 patients from November 1986 through April 1987. Study patients included 10 women, 10 men under forty years of age, 25 patients with malignancies involving structures other than the prostate, and 280 patients with diseases of the prostate ie. benign hypertrophy of the prostate (BHP) (n = 170), or histologically-proved carcinoma of the prostate (CaP) (n = 110).

Cyproterone acetate lead-in prevents initial rise of serum testosterone induced by luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogs in the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the prostate.

Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogs are an effective treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the prostate. However, they induce an initial rise in serum testosterone responsible for 10-30% of diseases flares. The efficacy of the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate (CPA) was tested in 15 patients with metastatic carcinoma of the prostate.

[Gynecomastia: effect of prolonged treatment with dihydrotestosterone by the percutaneous route].

Gynaecomastia is a frequent disorder, sometimes painful or psychologically disturbing. Percutaneous dihydrotestosterone (DHT) was used to treat 30 patients with idiopathic gynaecomastia (IG) and 17 patients in whom the condition was associated with hypogonadism. All patients complaining of pain were relieved.

[A study of pancreatic insulinomas by electron microscopy. 9 cases (author's transl)].

Nine hypoglycaemia-inducing pancreatic tumours were studied by electron microscopy. In 8 of these tumours, it was possible to identify, within the cell cytoplasm, secretory granules with a "paracrystalline" content, identical in appearance to the granules of the B cell of the normal human pancreas. Thus electron microscopy would appear to be a reliable and sensitive method for the morphological identification of these endocrine tumours of the pancreas.

[Coupled use of chromatography and acrylamide-agarose gel electrophoresis in the study of polymeric forms of paraproteins].

A study of the physical properties of paraprotein required until now, the use of fairly complicated techniques, such as analytical ultracentrifugation. The use of chromatography on acrylamide agar pearls and electrophoresis on indubiose plates, coupled with the classical techniques of electrophoresis and immunoelectrophoresis, permitted a more simple approach to these problems. The study of IgA paraproteins in several polymerised forms, is an example of the possibilities of this new method of investigation.