Efficacy and Safety of Bevacizumab Combined With First-Line Chemotherapy in Elderly (≥75 Years) Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: A Real-World Study.

Background: Although elderly patients are the first concerned by colorectal cancer (CRC), they are underrepresented in clinical trials. The real-world CASSIOPEE study was thus conducted in elderly patients treated for metastatic CRC (mCRC).

Methods: This French prospective, multicenter, noninterventional study aimed to estimate 1-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and describe treatments, patient autonomy (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living; Balducci scale), and safety over 24 months, in patients older than 75 with mCRC, starting first-line bevacizumab plus chemotherapy (NCT01555762).

[Neutral and impregnated dressings and products].

Dressings without active ingredients are adapted to each stage of healing, depending on their degree of moisture, their absorption capacity and their non-traumatic character. Impregnated and mechanical dressings are also available. They are indicated for preventing or treating a symptom or a complication, or for "boosting" healing, in the form of a sequential treatment.

[Malignant wounds in palliative care].

In the alsence of effective cancer treatment, malignant wounds evolve. The decisions taken by the multi-disciplinary team with regard to their care vary depending on whether the patient is in the initial, advanced or terminal phase of palliative care. Modern dressings can be used to control bleeding, odours and drainage.

Treatment of systemic necrotizing vasculitides in patients aged sixty-five years or older: results of a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial of corticosteroid and cyclophosphamide-based induction therapy.

Objective: To investigate a new therapeutic strategy, with rapid corticosteroid dose tapering and limited cyclophosphamide (CYC) exposure, for older patients with systemic necrotizing vasculitides (SNVs; polyarteritis nodosa [PAN], granulomatosis with polyangiitis [Wegnener's] [GPA], microscopic polyangiitis [MPA], or eosinophilic GPA [Churg-Strauss] [EGPA]).

Methods: A multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial comprising patients ≥65 years old and newly diagnosed as having SNV was conducted. The experimental treatment consisted of corticosteroids for ∼9 months and a maximum of six 500-mg fixed-dose intravenous (IV) CYC pulses, every 2-3 weeks, then maintenance azathioprine or methotrexate.

[Evaluation and treatment of wound odour].

Some wounds are foul-smelling; this may be temporary or continuous. Since the ability to perceive odour varies from one individual to another, it is complicated to evaluate and use this symptom for diagnostic purposes. Various conventional and alternative treatments can be offered but there is no single, universal solution.

Bacterial floras and biofilms of malignant wounds associated with breast cancers.

The risk of infections and the appearance of symptoms (e.g., odors) represent the main troubles resulting from malignant wounds.

Relationship between orthostatic hypotension and cognitive impairment in the elderly.

Background And Purpose: To determine the relationship between orthostatic hypotension (OH) and cognitive function in elderly subjects with memory complaints.

Methods: We studied the association between cognitive function and OH in 495 consecutive elderly outpatients attending a memory centre. Blood pressure (BP) was measured in a sitting and standing position.

Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome: clinical and biologic disease patterns in 24 patients.

Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS), also called drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), is a severe reaction usually characterized by fever, rash, and multiorgan failure, occurring 1-8 weeks after drug introduction. It is an immune-mediated reaction involving macrophage and T-lymphocyte activation and cytokine release, although no consensus has been reached as to its etiology. The skin, hematopoietic system, and liver are frequently involved.

A cohort study of enfuvirtide immunological and virological efficacy in clinical practice.

The aim of the study was to evaluate, under routine circumstances, the immunological and virological efficacy of antiretroviral regimens containing enfuvirtide in multi-class experienced HIV-1 infected patients. This retrospective monocentric study analyzed the clinical, immunological, and virological data of 18 HIV-1 infected patients who started enfuvirtide and completed at least 3 months of therapy. Following 3 months of enfuvirtide therapy, 11 (61%) patients had HIV-1 RNA below 400 copies/ml, among whom 8 (44%) patients below 50 copies/ml.

Feasibility of azithromycin prophylaxis during a pertussis outbreak among healthcare workers in a university hospital in Paris.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of azithromycin prophylaxis with respect to tolerability and compliance during a pertussis outbreak among healthcare workers in a university hospital ward. Compliance with the prophylaxis regimen was 89%; compliance was 75% from intent-to-treat perspective. The rate of adverse events was 33%.

Treatment of central pontine myelinolysis with thyrotropin-releasing hormone.

Introduction: Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM), demyelination of the brain stem, is a brain injury apparently due to osmotic forces. There is no consensus for its treatment.

Case: We describe here a case of CPM that occurred in a young patient after correction of hyponatremia, its treatment by intravenous thyrotropin-releasing hormone, and its outcome.

Mechanisms involved in the low-level regeneration of CD4+ cells in HIV-1-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy who have prolonged undetectable plasma viral loads.

Background: Persistent low CD4(+) cell counts are observed in 5%-27% of patients treated for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection despite their having prolonged undetectable plasma viral loads.

Methods: To understand the possible mechanisms of this discordant immunological situation, a prospective transsectional case-control study was designed. HIV-1-infected subjects who had a plasma viral load <200 copies/mL for >1 year were considered to be case patients if their CD4(+) cell count was <250/mm(3); control patients had CD4(+) cell counts >500/mm(3) and were matched by sex, age, and nadir CD4(+) cell count to case patients.

Hemochromatosis and femoral head aseptic osteonecrosis: a nonfortuitous association?

Chondrocalcinosis, chronic pseudo-osteoarthritis arthropathy, and osteoporosis are classic osteoarticular complications of hemochromatosis (HC). Within HC, femoral head aseptic osteonecrosis (FHAO) is not notified in textbooks. We describe 3 cases of FHAO occurring in this setting in 3 patients homozygous for the C282Y mutation on HFE gene who had no other risk factors for FHAO.

Acute colchicine intoxication during clarithromycin administration.

Objective: To report a case of colchicine intoxication occurring with institution of clarithromycin.

Case Summary: A 76-year-old man with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) had received colchicine 1.5 mg daily for 6 years.

Pseudouveitis: a clue to the diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma in immunocompetent patients.

Primary oculocerebral non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the immunocompetent patient is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but early diagnosis and follow-up may improve prognosis. The eye, anatomically and embryologically part of the central nervous system (CNS), can be the primary site of the lymphomatous process. In patients with symptoms of atypical uveitis, vitrectomy can be of great help for early diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Tenofovir-related Fanconi syndrome with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: the role of lopinavir-ritonavir-didanosine.

Tenofovir-related tubular damage, like all other recently reported cases, occurred in patients receiving the protease inhibitor (PI) ritonavir, often with lopinavir. Increased plasma concentrations of didanosine were also observed after the addition of tenofovir. It was suspected that tenofovir with PIs interacted with renal organic anion transporters, leading to nephrotoxic tubular concentrations of tenofovir and systemic accumulation of didanosine.