Fecal microbiota transplantation to maintain remission in Crohn's disease: a pilot randomized controlled study.

Background: The role of the gut microbiota in Crohn's disease (CD) is established and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an attractive therapeutic strategy. No randomized controlled clinical trial results are available. We performed a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled pilot trial of FMT in adults with colonic or ileo-colonic CD.

[Evaluation of the performance of Spectrum III].

For 8 months we have studied the performance of the laser flow cytometry system Spectrum III (Ortho Diagnostic Systems). We have investigated problems caused by the setting and the calibration, assessment of the rhythm, the repetitiveness and the contamination, and compared the results obtained with the Spectrum III with those obtained using a fluorescence microscope. As an example of an immunopathological application, we have assessed the results obtained in the analysis of peripheral blood from 20 patients with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and 300 suspect AIDS patients.