Ocular Trauma in Children: An Epidemiological Study.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the epidemiology of eye injuries in children and the influential factors involved.

Methods: Eighty cases of confirmed ocular trauma were included in this cross-sectional study. Data were obtained via a checklist containing demographic information, site of the insult, the interval between the injury and physician visit, trauma mechanism, and medical history, including previous history of ocular trauma.

Clearance of serum HBsAg and anti-HBs seroconversion following antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B.

In this study, we have analyzed the evolution of serum HBsAg levels in 16 patients with chronic hepatitis B who showed an HBsAg seroconversion following antiviral therapy. The data showed that the clearance of serum HBsAg is slower than that of serum HBV DNA, which may reflect a slow kinetics of clearance of infected hepatocytes. Interestingly, HBsAg was detectable for a longer time using the Architect assay than with the Bio-Rad assay.

Adefovir dipivoxil is effective for the treatment of cirrhotic patients with lamivudine failure.

Background/aims: Data on the efficacy of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) in elderly and cirrhotic patients with lamivudine-resistant (LAM-R) chronic hepatitis B are scarce. This retrospective cohort study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ADV in this specific patient population.

Methods: Sixty-eight cirrhotic LAM-R patients, of whom 19 (27.

Intrafamilial prevalence of hepatitis B virus in Western Brazilian Amazon region: epidemiologic and biomolecular study.

Background: Hepatitis B is endemic in the Amazon region.

Methods: Serological markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) were determined in 266 household members for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive women (G1) and 395 household members for HBsAg-negative women (G2), randomly selected in Acre State Women's Medical Care Program, in order to evaluate the prevalence of HBV in this population. Before blood sample collection an epidemiological questionnaire was applied.

A prospective study of the evolution of lamivudine resistance mutations in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with lamivudine.

Lamivudine resistance has been described in subjects with chronic hepatitis B infections, associated with mutations in the viral polymerase gene. The objective of this study was to estimate the emergence rate of lamivudine-resistant viral strains and their consequences over a 2-year period. We evaluated 283 lamivudine-naïve subjects with chronic hepatitis B.

Longitudinal assessment of histology surrogate markers (FibroTest-ActiTest) during lamivudine therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Objectives: The noninvasive serum markers, FibroTest-ActiTest (FT-AT), are an alternative to liver biopsy in patients with chronic hepatitis C and B. The aim was to use these markers in a prospective study of patients treated with lamivudine in order to assess the impact of treatment, as well as the factors associated with fibrosis progression.

Methods: Two hundred and ninety-eight patients were included in a prospective longitudinal study in 50 hospitals across France.

Sustained HBs seroconversion during lamivudine and adefovir dipivoxil combination therapy for lamivudine failure.

We describe the case of a patient with chronic hepatitis B who became resistant to lamivudine and was treated successfully with adefovir dipivoxil in addition to lamivudine. Lamivudine resistance was associated with the selection of a L180M+M204V polymerase mutant. After the addition of adefovir dipivoxil, serum HBV DNA levels dropped by more than 4log(10), which was followed by HBsAg clearance after 22 months of combination therapy.

Selection of a hepatitis B virus strain resistant to adefovir in a liver transplantation patient.

Background/aims: In contrast to lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) therapy is associated with delayed and infrequent selection of drug resistant hepatitis B virus (HBV).

Methods: A 52 year-old man was treated with lamivudine for an HBV recurrence on his liver graft. A viral breakthrough was observed and the patient received ADV.

Long term histological improvement and clearance of intrahepatic hepatitis C virus RNA following sustained response to interferon-ribavirin combination therapy in liver transplanted patients with hepatitis C virus recurrence.

Background And Aims: A proportion of liver transplanted patients with recurrent chronic hepatitis have a sustained virological response to combination therapy with interferon plus ribavirin. However, the long term benefit of antiviral therapy with regard to hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA clearance remains unknown in patients with HCV recurrence. This study examined the long term biochemical, virological, and histological outcome in transplanted patients with recurrent chronic hepatitis who had a sustained virological response to antiviral therapy.

[Study of the antiviral mechanism of action of ribavirin in the bovine viral diarrhea virus model].

Aim: Due to the absence of a cell culture model for HCV, this study evaluated the hypothesis of lethal mutagenic activity of the guanosin analogue ribavirin in HCV, using the BVDV model.

Methods: First the capacity of ribavirin to inhibit BVDV replication in cell culture was studied. We then amplified by RT-PCR the 5'NTR and NS5B regions of BVDV in the supernatants of BVDV-infected cell cultures treated with increasing concentrations of ribavirin.

A rapid and easy PCR-RFLP method for genotyping Serratia marcescens strains isolated in different hospital outbreaks and patient environments in the Lyon area, France.

A new genotyping method for Serratia marcescens is described. This method uses the flagellin gene as target for polymerase chain reaction amplification and Alu I restriction fragment length polymorphism. The strains tested belonged to 13 different hospital clusters of S.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is over-expressed in benign prostatic hyperplasia whereas FGFR2-IIIc and FGFR3 are not.

Objective: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the major public health problems among men: 50% of men over 55 are concerned with this disease. Prostate growth is under the control of androgens which act by means of several growth factors such as fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor beta. Basic FGF (bFGF) has been shown to stimulate prostatic stromal growth.

Thiram-induced cytotoxicity is accompanied by a rapid and drastic oxidation of reduced glutathione with consecutive lipid peroxidation and cell death.

The toxic effect of thiram, a widely used dithiocarbamate fungicide, was investigated in cultured human skin fibroblasts. Cell survival assays demonstrated that thiram induced a dose-dependent decrease in the viable cell recovery. Thiram exposure resulted in a rapid depletion of intracellular reduced glutathione (GSH) content with a concomitant increase in oxidized glutathione (GSSG) concentration.

An evaluation of thiram toxicity on cultured human skin fibroblasts.

Thiram is widely used in agriculture as a fungicide and, to a lesser extent, as a vulcanizing agent in the rubber industry. In spite of the extensive use of thiram, knowledge on its toxicity and health risk remains limited, and few investigations have been performed to assess specific damage at the cellular and subcellular level. We report here the cytotoxic effects of thiram on cultured human skin fibroblasts.

Quantitation of reduced and total glutathione at the femtomole level by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection: application to red blood cells and cultured fibroblasts.

A new rapid and highly sensitive HPLC method with ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) pre-column derivatization has been developed for determination of reduced glutathione (GSH) and total glutathione (GSHt) in human red blood cells and cultured fibroblasts. OPA derivatives are separated on a reversed-phase HPLC column with an acetonitrile-sodium acetate gradient system and detected fluorimetrically. An internal standard (glutathione ethyl ester) is added to facilitate quantitation.

The up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor in mutated Ha-ras HaCaT cell lines is reduced by a farnesyl transferase inhibitor.

The induction of tumor angiogenesis is mediated in particular by an increased production of VEGF. As ras oncogene is implicated in tumorigenesis, the inhibition of farnesyl transferase activity has recently been developed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether expression of mutated Ha-ras oncogene is associated with an altered expression of VEGF in an in vitro model of human skin carcinogenesis and to appreciate the effect of a new farnesyl transferase inhibitor on this VEGF expression.

Variability of Ha-ras (codon 12) proto-oncogene mutations in diverse thyroid cancers.

Structural alterations to proto-oncogene sequences may be involved in the pathogenesis of human thyroid neoplasms. We studied 128 thyroid tumours (35 benign and 93 malignant) for ras gene point mutations in three different codons (12, 13 and 61) using a restriction fragment length polymorphism technique and direct sequencing of double-stranded DNA on polymerase chain-reaction-amplified tumour DNA. We found a high frequency of ras mutation for the Ha-ras codon 12 in follicular adenomas (7 of 35), particularly in atypical adenomas (5 of 17), in follicular carcinomas (6 of 19), with a high percentage for Hurthle cell carcinomas (6 of 11), and in papillary carcinomas (4 of 66).

Ha-ras oncogene (codon 12) mutation in thyroid carcinogenesis: analysis of 60 benign and malignant thyroid tumors.

Protooncogene Ha-ras codon 12 mutations are frequently observed in thyroid cancers. However, their role in the initiation and development of this pathology remains to be clarified. Here we present a preliminary study using 60 samples corresponding to different types of cancer.

[HBV-DNA assay by hybridization in solution. Value of low levels measured with the Abbott-Genostics device].

Quantitation of HBV-DNA is the most precise test for measuring viral replication. A commercial liquid phase hybridation test (Abbott) is now commonly used for diagnosis and monitoring of chronic hepatitis B. Interpretation of weak positive results obtained with this test are often difficult.

Hepatitis C: description of a highly sensitive method for clinical detection of viral RNA.

To improve the sensitivity of hepatitis C virus RNA (HCV RNA) detection in serum by 'nested' polymerase chain reaction (PCR), primers belonging to 5' non-coding (5'NC) regions were used to compare the classical phenol/chloroform technique by using the proteinase K and silica gel technique with guanidinium thiocyanate. The silica gel techniques was found to be more efficient and sensitive for the extraction and purification of viral RNA from serum samples. The silica gel technique also avoids contact with hazardous volatile chemicals like phenol and chloroform and provides a better protection for viral RNA.

Preparation of an anti-acid sphingomyelinase monoclonal antibody for the quantitative determination and polypeptide analysis of lysosomal sphingomyelinase in fibroblasts from normal and Niemann-Pick type A patients.

An anti-acid sphingomyelinase monoclonal antibody has been prepared using an in vitro booster technique. The antigen, acid sphingomyelinase, was purified from human placentas by sequential chromatographic steps in the presence of the non-ionic detergent Nonidet P40. This monoclonal antibody (MAB 236) precipitates specifically the enzyme activity by immunoadsorption techniques and presents the same specificity to normal and mutated sphingomyelinase in Niemann-Pick type A patients.

Study of a monoclonal antibody specific to epithelial cells of mammalian thymuses.

Hybridomas between spleen cells from BALB/c mice and Sp2/O-Ag14 mycloma cell line are performed by PEG fusion. An in vitro booster is realized with human thymic reticulo-epithelial cell cultures as antigen. A monoclonal antibody (3H9) directed against the thymic epithelium and stratified epithelia of mammals has been obtained and characterized.

Production of monoclonal antibodies to dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate after immunization of mouse with dehydroepiandrosterone-bovine serum albumin conjugate.

Monoclonal antibodies with a much higher specificity for DHA-S than for DHA were obtained from a BALB/c mouse immunized with a non-sulphated DHA-7CMO-BSA antigen. An improved fusion technique using PEG containing 10% DMSO instead of PEG alone increased the number of positive hybridomas. One of the five monoclonal antibodies obtained, showed a high affinity for DHA-S (Ka = 10(10) M-1) and very low cross-reactions with androsterone (0.