Efficacy of tocilizumab in Takayasu arteritis: Multicenter retrospective study of 46 patients.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy of tocilizumab in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study in 46 TA patients treated with tocilizumab. We analyzed factors associated with response to tocilizumab (assessed using NIH score).

Persistence of schistosomal transmission linked to the Cavu river in southern Corsica since 2013.

Seven cases of urogenital schistosomiasis occurred in Corsica in 2015 and 2016. The episodes were related to exposure to the same river and involved the same parasite strain as an outbreak with 106 cases in summer 2013. The connection calls for further investigations on the presence of an animal reservoir and the survival of infested snails during winter.

Early loss of bone mineral density is correlated with a gain of fat mass in patients starting a protease inhibitor containing regimen: the prospective Lipotrip study.

Background: HIV-infected patients starting antiretroviral treatment (ART) experience deep and early disorders in fat and bone metabolism, leading to concomitant changes in fat mass and bone mineral density.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study in treatment-naive HIV-infected patients randomized to receive two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in combination with either a protease inhibitor (PI) or a non-nucleosidic reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), to evaluate early changes in body composition, bone mineral density and metabolic markers as differentially induced by antiretroviral therapies. We measured changes in markers of carbohydrate, of fat and bone metabolism, and, using dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), body composition and bone mineral density (BMD).