Maintenance treatment of pemphigus with rituximab in real life: A single-center study of 50 patients.

Background: Following the RITUX 3 therapeutic trial, the French national diagnosis and care protocol (NDCP) for the treatment of pemphigus was updated in 2018. The updated protocol recommends initial treatment with rituximab (RTX) followed by maintenance therapy at 12 and 18 months, and potentially at 6 months where there are risk factors for early relapse. We evaluated these recommendations regarding the management of our own patients.

Patch tests in nonimmediate cutaneous adverse drug reactions: The importance of late readings on day 4.

Background: Patch tests (PTs) with two readings have been used for decades to identify the culprit drug in nonimmediate cutaneous adverse drug reactions (NICADRs), followed more recently by late reading of intradermal tests (IDTs). Some teams tend to perform PTs with only one reading before IDTs or even directly perform IDTs.

Objectives: To evaluate the relevance of a late PT reading on day 4 (D4) in NICADRs.

Impact of systemic to topical steroids switch on the outcome of drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS): A monocenter retrospective study of 20 cases.

Background: There is no consensus on the treatment of drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS). At our center, systemic steroids (SS) are used for severe cases while topical steroids (TS) are used for mild and moderate forms.

Objectives: To investigate the short-term outcome for patients with DRESS receiving SS as first-line therapy before being transferred to our department and then switched to TS after admission.

Towards a better understanding of adult idiopathic epidermal necrolysis: a retrospective study of 19 cases.

Background: Most cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis are drug-induced. A small subset of cases remain with unknown aetiology (idiopathic epidermal necrolysis [IEN]).

Objective: We sought to better describe adult IEN and understand the aetiology.

Cross-reactivity in beta-lactams after a non-immediate cutaneous adverse reaction: experience of a reference centre for toxic bullous diseases and severe cutaneous adverse reactions.

Background: Cross-reactivity among beta-lactam antibiotics (BL) is essentially reported in immediate hypersensitivity.

Objectives: To evaluate cross-reactivity beyond BLs in patients with non-immediate cutaneous adverse drug reaction (non-immediate CADR) managed in a dermatology reference centre of toxic bullous and severe CADRs.

Patients/materials/methods: We conducted a retrospective single-centre study in consecutive patients consulting between 2010 and 2018 with an active BL-suspected non-immediate CADR and explored by cutaneous tests [patch tests (PT) and intradermal tests (P-IDR)] for at least three penicillin's subclasses and amino- and non-amino-cephalosporins (at least one aminocephalosporin).

Meningococcal purpura fulminans and severe myocarditis with clinical meningitis but no meningeal inflammation: a case report.

Background: During fulminant meningococcal septicaemia, meningococci are often observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) although the patients have frequently no meningeal symptoms. Meningococcal meningitis, by contrast, usually features clinical meningeal signs and biochemical markers of inflammation with elevated white blood cell count (pleiocytosis) in the CSF. Cases of typical symptomatic meningitis without these biochemical features are uncommon in adults.

Solution processed organic light-emitting diodes using a triazatruxene crosslinkable hole transporting material.

A cross-linkable triazatruxene that leads to insoluble films upon thermal annealing at temperatures compatible with flexible substrates is presented. The films were used as the hole transporting and electron blocking layer in partially solution processed phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes, reaching power conversion efficiencies of 24 lm W, an almost 50% improvement compared to the same OLEDs without the cross-linkable hole transporting layer.

Association Between Severe Acute Contact Dermatitis Due to Nigella sativa Oil and Epidermal Apoptosis.

Importance: Nigella sativa oil (NSO) is widely used for cosmetic and culinary purposes. Cases of severe acute contact dermatitis due to NSO are poorly described, with no histologic description.

Objectives: To describe the clinical and histologic features of severe acute contact dermatitis due to NSO and investigate the components responsible for such eruptions.

Cyclosporine for Epidermal Necrolysis: Absence of Beneficial Effect in a Retrospective Cohort of 174 Patients-Exposed/Unexposed and Propensity Score-Matched Analyses.

Cyclosporine has shown promising results for mortality in patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis. However, available studies included only a small number of patients and did not include a validated and homogenous control group. We present the results from a retrospective monocentric study including 174 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis during 2005-2016.

Variations in the recognition of echovirus type 11 strains by a group-specific anti-VP1 monoclonal antibody.

Background: Mab 5-D8/1 is a monoclonal antibody (Mab) that was shown to be directed towards a conserved epitope of the capsid protein VP1 among the genus enterovirus. The use of this Mab for the routine detection of enteroviruses in clinical specimens led to the observation that several strains of echovirus type 11 (EV-11) could not be detected on spontaneously detached cells from 26-h cultures using a two-step immunofluorescence (IF) assay. Conversely, these strains were detected positive with the same Mab when tested on adherent or trypsinizated cells.

Arbitrarily-primed PCR confirms the differentiation of strains of Ureaplasma urealyticum into two biovars.

Fourteen serotypes are currently recognized in the Ureaplasma urealyticum species. These serotypes have been divided into two genomic clusters or biovars by a large number of typing methods. The parvo-biovar includes strains of serotypes 1, 3, 6 and 14 and the T960-biovar, strains belonging to the ten other serotypes.

Characterization of nosocomial strains of Enterobacter aerogenes by arbitrarily primed-PCR analysis and ribotyping.

Objective: To study the spread of strains of Enterobacter aerogenes in our hospital in 1992 and 1993 by using two genotypic markers, and to evaluate these methods for the epidemiological investigation of this species.

Design: Ribotyping (using two endonucleases) and arbitrarily primed (AP)-PCR (using two different 10-mer primers) were applied to the epidemiological typing of clinical strains of E aerogenes isolated from hospitalized patients.

Setting And Patients: The intensive care unit (ICU; 5 patients, 13 isolates), nephrology units (3 patients, 5 isolates), and surgery units (2 patients, 2 isolates) of the university hospital of Saint-Etienne (France).

Differentiation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains by ribotyping: high discriminatory power by using a single restriction endonuclease.

The genotypic diversity of 40 presumably epidemiologically unrelated strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa belonging to nine different O-serotypes was analysed according to ribosomal DNA fingerprints. Ribotyping was performed with a digoxigenin-labelled DNA probe and four restriction endonucleases. Characteristic banding patterns of three to 12 bands were obtained with the different endonucleases.

Arbitrarily primed PCR, ribotyping, and plasmid pattern analysis applied to investigation of a nosocomial outbreak due to Enterobacter cloacae in a neonatal intensive care unit.

In December 1992, Enterobacter cloacae was isolated from the oropharynx and respiratory tract of six ventilated neonates hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) of our hospital. To establish the spread of the outbreak, 41 strains of E. cloacae were analyzed for genotypic markers by three methods: plasmid profile analysis, ribotyping with EcoRI or PvuII endonuclease, and arbitrarily primed (AP) PCR.

Ventilator temperature sensors: an unusual source of Pseudomonas cepacia in nosocomial infection.

A prospective study was undertaken to determine the source of Pseudomonas cepacia colonization and infection that had affected ventilated patients in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for three years. Thirty-eight patients undergoing mechanical ventilation were enrolled during a six-week period. Samples were taken from patients, ventilator circuits and the environment for culture.

Characterization of unrelated strains of Staphylococcus schleiferi by using ribosomal DNA fingerprinting, DNA restriction patterns, and plasmid profiles.

The molecular characteristics of 31 unrelated strains of Staphylococcus schleiferi isolated from 13 hospitals between 1973 and 1991 were determined by ribosomal DNA fingerprinting by using a digoxigenin-labeled DNA probe, genomic DNA restriction patterns, and plasmid profiles. Only six strains harbored one or two plasmids. DNA restriction analysis, which was carried out with five endonucleases (EcoRI, HindIII, PstI, PvuII, and ClaI), did not allow us to discriminate between isolates.

Prognostic value of serum immunoglobulin A antibodies to pol gene products during HIV-1 infection.

Serum specimens from 66 HIV-1-infected subjects were tested by ELISA for the presence of IgA antibodies to HIV-1: 44 samples were found positive and 37 were confirmed by immunoblot. In these subjects, the presence of anti-HIV IgA antibodies was studied in relation to the total count of circulating CD4+ lymphocytes and to the level of serum IgA. A significative correlation (P < 0.