[Initial evaluation of febrile neutropenic patients: risk quantification].

Infection in immunocompromised hosts represents a serious clinical situation due the high morbidity and mortality it produces and is one of the most frequent complications in patients with cancer. In patients treated with chemotherapy the risk of infection mainly depends on the duration and intensity of neutropenia. It is essential to evaluate which pathogens are involved so that the most appropriate treatment can be selected a priori, as well as to determine the patient's general clinical status so that more or less aggressive treatment can be provided from the beginning, bearing in mind that "low risk" patients can be managed in the home.

Aging of oocyte, ovary, and human reproduction.

We review age-related changes in the ovary and their effect on female fertility, with particular emphasis on follicle formation, follicle dynamics, and oocyte quality. The evidence indicates that the developmental processes leading to follicle formation set the rules determining follicle quiescence and growth. This regulatory system is maintained until menopause and is directly affected in at least some models of premature ovarian failure (POF), most strikingly in the Foxl2 mouse knockout, a model of human POF with monogenic etiology (blepharophimosis/ptosis/epicanthus inversus syndrome).

Foxl2 disruption causes mouse ovarian failure by pervasive blockage of follicle development.

FOXL2 mutations cause gonadal dysgenesis or premature ovarian failure (POF) in women, as well as eyelid/forehead dysmorphology in both sexes (the 'blepharophimosis-ptosis-epicanthus inversus syndrome', BPES). Here we report that mice lacking Foxl2 recapitulate relevant features of human BPES: males and females are small and show distinctive craniofacial morphology with upper eyelids absent. Furthermore, in mice as in humans, sterility is confined to females.