Duration of colonization by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus after hospital discharge and risk factors for prolonged carriage.

To investigate persistent carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), we conducted a prospective 10-month study of MRSA carriage in previous carriers who were readmitted to our hospital. Four screening specimens, 2 from the skin and 2 from the nares, were obtained within 3 days after admission, in addition to diagnostic specimens requested by physicians. Of the 78 patients included in our study, 31 (40%) were persistent carriers of MRSA, with an estimated median time of 8.

Effect of gas density variations on respiratory input impedance in humans.

The forced oscillation technique is a widely-used non-invasive method of characterizing the dynamic behaviour of the respiratory system. We used the forced oscillation technique to investigate respiratory mechanics in healthy subjects during simulated dives in dry hyperbaric chambers. We observed frequency dependence of input impedance, which was mainly density-dependent.

Electromyographic study of respiratory muscles during human diving at 46 ATA.

Electromyographic (EMG) recordings of the 6th to 7th intercostal space (thoracic EMG) and abdominal muscles, ventilatory pattern, and the work of breathing were studied in 4 human subjects exposed for 12 days to 46 ATA of helium-oxygen (density = 8.7 g.liter-1) then of nitrogen-helium-oxygen gas mixture (ternary mixture) (density = 11.

[Growth of the fetal kidney. Echographic study].

An echographic study of the fetal normal kidney in 274 fetuses (548 kidneys measured) from 15 to 40 weeks of pregnancy is proposed by the authors. This work includes morphologic and biometric study with the growth curves of 4 parameters. It is shown that both kidneys are morphologically similar and their growth is continuous and there is a constant ratio between the different parameters.

[Variations of the sum of the arterial partial pressure of inert gases during changes in the composition of inhaled gas without a variation of the ambient pressure, in a hyperbaric atmosphere].

In hyperbaric environments, when inhaled inert gas composition is abruptly modified, the sum of the arterial inert gases partial pressures is different to the sum of these same gases in the inhaled mixture. While switching from a helium-oxygen to a nitrogen-oxygen mixture of same P1O2 and total pressure, the sum of the arterial inert gas partial pressure was transiently less than the one in the inspired gases: there was an arterial under-saturation: PaHe + PaN2 = 0.68 (P1He + P1N2).