Genetic population structure of strains isolated from salmon and trout sectors in France.

Smoked salmon and smoked trout are ready-to-eat and potentially contaminated with the pathogenic bacterium making them high risk for the consumer. This raises questions about the presence of hypervirulent or persistent strains in the salmon and trout industries. Knowledge of the genetic diversity of circulating strains in these sectors is essential to evaluate the risk associated with this pathogen and improve food safety.

Treatment with disinfectants may induce an increase in viable but non culturable populations of Listeria monocytogenes in biofilms formed in smoked salmon processing environments.

The objectives of this study were 1) to evaluate the impact of two industrial disinfectants on the viability of Listeria monocytogenes populations in biofilm and 2) to investigate the viability state of L. monocytogenes cells present on contact surfaces in the smoked salmon processing environment. In the first step, we cultured mono species and mixed species biofilms containing L.

Unboosted atazanavir-based therapy maintains control of HIV type-1 replication as effectively as a ritonavir-boosted regimen.

Background: Triple combination therapy based on a ritonavir (RTV)-boosted protease inhibitor plus two nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) has improved outcomes in HIV type-1 (HIV-1)-infected patients. For patients unable to tolerate these regimens, alternative therapeutic approaches are needed.

Methods: We report a comparative, open-label study in treatment-naive patients who underwent initial induction treatment with a triple combination including RTV-boosted atazanavir (ATV; 300/100 mg once daily).

Impact of -2 degrees C superchilling before refrigerated storage (4 and 8 degrees C) on the microbiological and sensory qualities of cold-smoked salmon.

Detection and enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes and total spoilage bacteria in 40 batches of cold-smoked salmon (one batch = 42 products from the same day of manufacture) straight from the factory were carried out. If L. monocytogenes was detected in at least one of the nine samples analyzed on receipt at the laboratory, 9 products of the same batch were stored for 10 days at 4 degrees C, which was followed by 18 days at 8 degrees C (control), 12 products were superchilled for 14 days at -2 degrees C, and 12 other products were superchilled for 28 days at -2 degrees C and then stored under the same conditions as the control was stored.

Evaluation of the international reference methods NF EN ISO 11290-1 and 11290-2 and an in-house method for the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from retail seafood products in france.

Retail seafood products were analyzed on their use-by date using the international reference methods NF EN ISO 11290-1 and 11290-2 (collectively method R) or an in-house method (method B) for the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes. The sensitivity of the methods was about 78%. Method R detected more positive samples of smoked salmon and herb-flavored slices of smoked salmon than did method B, whereas the reverse was true for samples of carpaccio-like salmon, herb-flavored slices of raw salmon, and smoked trout.

Modification of a virulence-associated phenotype after growth of Listeria monocytogenes on food.

Aim: To assess the effect of different foods, which have been implicated or not in cases of listeriosis, on the in vitro virulence-associated phenotype level of different Listeria monocytogenes strains.

Methods And Results: The virulence-associated phenotype level of L. monocytogenes was studied with the in vitro cell test based on a plaque-forming assay with a human adenocarcinoma cell line (HT-29) monolayer.

Simultaneous analysis of several antiretroviral nucleosides in rat-plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV using acetic acid/hydroxylamine buffer Test of this new volatile medium-pH for HPLC-ESI-MS/MS.

Zalcitabine (ddC), lamivudine (3TC), didanosine (ddI), stavudine (d4T), carbovir (CBV), zidovudine (AZT), tenofovir (PMPA) and its administrated form (tenofovir diisoproxyl fumarate, TDF), are nucleosides currently approved in HIV therapy. To facilitate pharmacokinetics studies, a specific reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for their analysis in rat plasma. The method involved a quantitative recovery of these drugs from rat plasma by solid-phase extraction on Oasis HLB Waters cartridges followed by optimised HPLC separation on an Atlantis dC18 column with acetic acid-hydroxylamine buffer (ionic strength 5mM, pH 7)-acetonitrile elution gradient.

Didanosine in HIV-1-infected patients experiencing failure of antiretroviral therapy: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Background: The antiviral efficacy of didanosine in patients experiencing virological failure is not well known.

Methods: A total of 168 patients (139 men and 29 women) receiving stable antiretroviral therapy with plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA levels of 1000-100,000 copies/mL were randomly assigned to have didanosine (n=111) or placebo (n=57) added to their currently failing regimen for 4 weeks. The primary efficacy end point was the change in HIV-1 RNA level from baseline to week 4.

Monitoring of didanosine and stavudine intracellular trisphosphorylated anabolite concentrations in HIV-infected patients.

Objective: To determine the concentrations of intracellular active anabolites of stavudine (d4T) and didanosine (DDI) and their interpatient variability in HIV-infected patients and to explore relationships between plasma and intracellular forms.

Methods: This pilot study included 28 antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected patients who received d4T (40/30 mg twice daily), ddI (400/250 mg daily) and efavirenz (600 mg daily). After 6 months of therapy, 7 ml of blood was collected between 0.

Infectious diseases as a trigger in thrombotic microangiopathies in intensive care unit (ICU) patients?

Objective: Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) has been associated with a large number of underlying diseases. We conducted a descriptive, retrospective study including all TMA adult patients admitted to our ICU, with a particular interest in infectious episodes as a trigger of TMA.

Patients: All adult patients (30) with a diagnosis of TMA admitted to the medical ICU at Saint-Louis Hospital (Paris, France) between 1992 and 1998 were retrospectively included.

Systemic candidiasis in intensive care units: a multicenter, matched-cohort study.

Objective: To determine the impact of systemic candidiasis on the mortality and length of hospital stay of intensive care unit (ICU) patients and the associated workload.

Design: Multicenter, retrospective, matched-cohort study.

Setting: Data were retrieved from a computerized database that prospectively collected clinical data submitted by 32 ICUs in the Paris, France area.

Improved survival in cancer patients requiring mechanical ventilatory support: impact of noninvasive mechanical ventilatory support.

Objective: When a cancer patient becomes critically ill, mechanical ventilation (MV) is often considered futile. However, recent studies have found that outcomes of critically ill cancer patients have been improving over the years and that classic predictors of high mortality have lost their relevance.

Design: We retrospectively determined outcomes and predictors of 30-day mortality in 237 mechanically-ventilated cancer patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Predictors of short-term mortality in critically ill patients with solid malignancies.

Unlabelled: Admission of cancer patients with serious medical complications to the ICU remains controversial primarily because of the high short-term mortality rates in these patients. However, the cancer patient population is heterogeneous regarding age, underlying conditions, and curability of their disease, suggesting that large variations may occur in the effectiveness of intensive care within this subgroup of critically ill patients.

Objectives: To identify factors predicting 30-day mortality in patients with solid tumors admitted to a medical ICU.

Resistant herpes simplex virus type 1 infection: an emerging concern after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Fourteen cases of severe acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, 7 of which showed resistance to foscarnet, were diagnosed among 196 allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients within a 29-month period. Recipients of unrelated stem cell transplants were at higher risk. All patients received foscarnet; 8 subsequently received cidofovir.

Half the families of intensive care unit patients experience inadequate communication with physicians.

Objective: Effective communication of simple, clear information to families of intensive care unit (ICU) patients is a vital component of quality care. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with poor comprehension by family members of the status of ICU patients.

Design: Prospective study.

Changing use of intensive care for hematological patients: the example of multiple myeloma.

Objective: Intensivists generally view patients with hematological malignancies as poor candidates for intensive care. Nevertheless, hematologists have recently developed more aggressive treatment protocols capable of achieving prolonged complete remissions in many of these patients. This change mandates a reappraisal of indications for ICU admission in each type of hematological disease.

Corticosteroids as adjunctive therapy for severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in non-human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients: retrospective study of 31 patients.

The aim of this retrospective study was to assess whether corticosteroid adjunctive therapy (CAT) could prevent death in immunocompromised patients with severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) who do not have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, similarly to what has been demonstrated for HIV-infected patients. The charts of all non-HIV-infected patients who were admitted to two medical intensive care units between 1988 and 1996 because of severe PCP, defined by an arterial oxygen pressure (determined while the patient was breathing room air) of <70 mm Hg, and who were treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole were analyzed retrospectively. Thirty-one patients met the study criteria, of whom 23 received CAT (within 72 hours of antibiotic therapy) and eight did not receive CAT.

Association of TNF2, a TNF-alpha promoter polymorphism, with septic shock susceptibility and mortality: a multicenter study.

Context: Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is believed to be a cytokine central to pathogenesis of septic shock. TNF2, a polymorphism within the TNF-alpha gene promoter, has been associated with enhanced TNF-alpha production and negative outcome in some severe infections.

Objectives: To investigate the frequency of the TNF2 allele in patients with septic shock and to determine whether the allele is associated with the occurrence and outcome of septic shock.

Estimation of direct cost and resource allocation in intensive care: correlation with Omega system.

Objective: An instrument able to estimate the direct costs of stays in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) simply would be very useful for resource allocation inside a hospital, through a global budget system. The aim of this study was to propose such a tool.

Design: Since 1991, a region-wide common data base has collected standard data of intensive care such as the Omega Score, Simplified Acute Physiologic Score, length of stay, length of ventilation, main diagnosis and procedures.

Customized probability models for early severe sepsis in adult intensive care patients. Intensive Care Unit Scoring Group.

Objective: To develop customized versions of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) and the 24-hour Mortality Probability Model II (MPM II) to estimate the probability of mortality for intensive care unit patients with early severe sepsis.

Design And Setting: Logistic regression models developed for patients with severe sepsis in a database of adult medical and surgical intensive care units in 12 countries.

Patients: Of 11,458 patients in the intensive care unit for at least 24 hours, 1130 had severe sepsis based on criteria of the American College of Chest Physicians and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (systemic inflammatory response syndrome in response to infection, plus hypotension, hypoperfusion, or multiple organ dysfunction).

Different ratios of the piperacillin-tazobactam combination for treatment of experimental meningitis due to Klebsiella pneumoniae producing the TEM-3 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase.

We evaluated the pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacies of piperacillin and tazobactam, a beta-lactamase inhibitor, given either alone or in different combinations (80:10, 200:10, and 80:25 mg/kg/h), in experimental meningitis due to a strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing the TEM-3 extended-spectrum beta-lactamase. Treatment was administered intravenously as a 7-h constant infusion preceded by a bolus of 20% of the total dose. The mean (+/- standard deviation) rates of penetration into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of infected animals were 6.