Application in general practice of treatment guidelines for patients with dyslipidaemia: the RESPECT study.

Background: Screening for and management of dyslipidaemia are crucial in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The impact on general practitioners (GP) of the 2005 French guidelines for hypercholesterolaemia has not been evaluated.

Aims: To compare GP's estimation of cardiovascular risk with that from a theoretical calculation; to analyse the consequences of cardiovascular-risk estimation on the threshold of therapeutic intervention and the target low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration; and to analyse patients' awareness of their hypercholesterolaemia.

Differential regulation of Cu, Zn- and Mn-superoxide dismutases by retinoic acid in normal and psoriatic human fibroblasts.

Superoxide dismutases' (SODs) expression is altered in several diseases including Alzheimer, atherosclerosis, cancer and psoriasis. Previously, we reported a marked increase in Mn-SOD and Cu,Zn-SOD functional activity in human dermal psoriatic fibroblasts. As retinoic acid (RA) has been used in the treatment of psoriasis and a mechanism for its beneficial effects is not understood, we investigated the effects of RA on SOD mRNA and protein expression levels in human normal and psoriatic fibroblasts.

Biochemical markers of neonatal sepsis: value of procalcitonin in the emergency setting.

Background: We evaluated procalcitonin (PCT) assay in the emergency diagnosis of neonatal bacterial infection, especially in preterm infants, relative to C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen.

Methods: One hundred and twenty neonates (32 preterm), of whom 21 were infected, were tested.

Results: Concentrations of PCT, CRP and fibrinogen in uninfected infants were not affected by gestational age at birth.