One-pot synthesis of block copolymers in supercritical carbon dioxide: a simple versatile route to nanostructured microparticles.

We present a one-pot synthesis for well-defined nanostructured polymeric microparticles formed from block copolymers that could easily be adapted to commercial scale. We have utilized reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to prepare block copolymers in a dispersion polymerization in supercritical carbon dioxide, an efficient process which uses no additional solvents and hence is environmentally acceptable. We demonstrate that a wide range of monomer types, including methacrylates, acrylamides, and styrenics, can be utilized leading to block copolymer materials that are amphiphilic (e.

Intrapleural treatment with recombinant gamma-interferon in early stage malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Background: This report presents the results of a prospective multi-institutional study of intrapleural treatment with gamma-interferon in patients with Butchart's Stages I and II epithelial or mixed malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Methods: Interferon was administered at a dose of 40 million units twice a week for 8 weeks intrapleurally via a catheter or an implantable port. Thoracoscopic or surgical biopsy was performed if computed tomography scan 2 weeks after the end of treatment demonstrated a reduction in tumor size.

Activity of intrapleural recombinant gamma-interferon in malignant mesothelioma.

Twenty-two consecutive patients with malignant diffuse pleural mesothelioma were treated with recombinant gamma-interferon by the intrapleural route. Diagnosis was made by thoracoscopic examination and all cases were confirmed by the French Mesothelioma Panel of Pathologist. Patients were staged based on thoracoscopic examination and computed tomography (CT) scan: 12 patients were classified as Stage I and 10 were Stage II.

Severe respiratory syncytial virus pneumonia in an adult renal transplant recipient: successful treatment with ribavirin.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pneumonia may be a severe disease especially in immunocompromised patients. It is quite rare in adults. We report a case of severe RSV pneumonia in a 38-year-old male renal transplant recipient with successful outcome after ribavirin aerosol therapy.

[Critical study of methods for the diagnosis of allergic asthma].

A search for an allergic cause in asthma is fundamental to the diagnosis. Typically it is based on: A clinical history. Specific cutaneous and inhaled provocation tests which can produce a possible reaction (early and delayed) which are of great pathophysiological and therapeutic interest.

[Protected distal aspiration in the identification of pathogenic microorganisms in pneumologic intensive care].

To identify the micro-organisms responsible for bronchopulmonary infections in intensive care patients is an absolute prerequisite to successful treatment. Numerous techniques of specimen collection have been used to facilitate this bacteriological diagnosis. In this study, which involved 27 intensive care patients selected according to various criteria of infection, endotracheal aspiration (a commonly used but not very specific technique) was compared with protected distal brushing under fibroscopy and with protected distal aspiration.

[Tissue immunopathology methods for the diagnosis of bronchopulmonary diseases].

The authors draw attention to the diagnostic value of tissue immunopathology methods in numerous bronchopulmonary diseases. Having emphasized the strict technical requirements and difficulties of these methods--all obstacles that are necessary for an accurate evaluation of the lesion--they use concrete examples to demonstrate the usefulness of extra-thoracic, skin or muscle biopsies to diagnose some systemic diseases, such as lupus erythematosus or Churg and Strauss syndrome. They also refer to bronchial biopsies which provide information on the aetiology and pathogeny of adult asthma, and to the prognostic and therapeutic value of collagen studies in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

[Intravascular bronchioloalveolar tumor or I.V.B.A.T. Apropos of a case and review of the literature].

Intravascular bronchioloalveolar tumor is a rare tumour of the lung. Having observed a case detected during systematic examination in a 44-year old woman, the authors compare the radiological, clinical, histological and evolutive signs of the disease with those reported in the 40 cases published since the first description by Dail and Liebow, in 1975.

[Hypercalcemic sarcoidosis and primary hyperparathyroidism disclosed by renal insufficiency].

Primary hyperparathyroidism and sarcoidosis were found in one patient with hypercalcemia and renal failure. Cervicotomy disclosed a parathyroid adenoma and renal biopsy demonstrated interstitial nephropathy. Association of sarcoidosis with hyperparathyroidism, if not fortuitous, has not yet been clearly established.

[Prognostic value, at the onset of an asthma attack, of respiratory, hemodynamic, and acid-base equilibrium parameters].

Sudden death is still a common complication of acute asthma. The authors analysed statistically the prognostic value of the respiratory rate (RR), the heart rate (HR), blood gases, systolic blood pressure (BP syst), and diastolic pressure (BP diast) and the amplitude of the P wave in lead II on the ECG, recorded at the beginning of the asthma attack. This retrospective study concerns two groups of patients distinguished on the basis of the severity of the attack (group I: simple retrospective study concerns two groups of patients distinguished on the basis of the severity of the attack (group I: simple attack; group II; status asthmaticus).

[Surgical treatment of calcanear fractures (103 cases). Reconstruction-arthrodesis, or reconstruction (author's transl)].

In a twelve-year period, 103 calcanear fractures (thalamus) were operated on, either by the Stulz procedure (calcanear Reconstruction-subtalar Arthrodesis [83 cases]), or by Reconstruction (20 cases). During the first seven years, the Stulz procedure had been performed systematically. During the following five years, indications were shaded between 28 reconstruction-arthrodesis and 20 reconstructions.

[Surgery of retrospinal disinsertion of the posterior cruciate ligament of the knee (author's transl)].

Thus in all cases of an isolated tear of the posterior cruciate ligament, with an interglenoid fragment, whe fixation by a screw or clip was carried out, we obtained good results by simple surgical treatment. In spite of the small size of this series, the results were in perfect harmony with those of other authors, which justifies surgery. In three other cases of a tear of the posterior cruciate ligament, orthopedic treatment was adopted for various reasons; comparison of the results was definitely in favour of surgery owing to the duration of plaster immobilisation and physiotherapy in the first group and the functional sequelae with chronic invaliding laxity in the cases treated conservatively.

[Results of primary reconstructive arthrodesis of the calcaneus (study of a homogenous series of 55 fractures of the medical surface of the calceneus)].

55 cases of calcanear fractures (thalamus) have been treated with the Stulz procedure (early subtalar arthrodesis and calcanear reconstruction), associated with a repair of the great apophyse. All the cases are comparable and the results are considered as good or excellent in 93,8 p. 100 of them.

[Treatment of fractures of the humerus by intramedullary fixation].

The Hackethal's technique of intramedullaring wiring for humeral fracture represents the immobilisation procedure particularly convenient for this bone. This procedure can be realised without special instrumentation with Kirschner's wires and image intensifior. To allow the approach of the fracture, the patient's position is choosed upon the topography of the lesion.