HPV typing by in situ hybridization on cervical cytologic smears with ASCUS.

Objective: To assess the prognostic significance of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) using an in situ hybridization (ISH) method for destined cervical cytologic smears and a cocktail of biotinylated DNA probes for human papillomavirus (HPV) 6, 11, 16, 18, 31 and 33.

Study Design: Two HPV DNA probe mixtures were applied to the same smear for the simultaneous detection of high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31 and 33 and low-risk HPV 6 and 11. ISH was carried out on 192 smears.

Diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia: an evaluation of direct examination and presence of intracellular organisms.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) requires early diagnosis and adequate antibiotic therapy. The aim of this prospective postmortem study was to assess the accuracy of direct examination and quantification of intracellular organisms (ICO) for the diagnosis of VAP.

Methods: Total and differential cell counts were performed on fluids recovered using nonbronchoscopic sampling techniques (blind bronchial sampling [BBS], mini-bronchoalveolar lavage [mini-BAL]) and from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) performed during fiberscopy.

Astrocyte-regulated synaptogenesis: an in vitro ultrastructural study.

Striatal neurons from E15 rat embryos were dissociated, plated at low cell density on polyornithine or on astrocyte monolayers derived from the striatum (homotopic) or mesencephalon (heterotopic), and cultured in a chemically defined medium. Dendrites developing in homotopic co-cultures could reach a state of maturation allowing the establishment of synapses with axons from mesencephalic explants. This culture system thus partially reproduces the in vivo conditions in which striatal neurons developing in an homotopic glial environment can serve as synaptic targets for afferent mesencephalic axons.

Astrocyte-regulated GABA-ergic striatal neurons development: an in vitro ultrastructural study.

Striatal neurons from E15 rat embryos were dissociated, plated at low cell density on polyornithine or on astrocyte monolayers derived from the striatum (homotopic) or mesencephalon (heterotopic), and cultured in a chemically defined medium. After 2 to 10 days neurons could be divided in 3 classes according to their cell body diameter: small, medium or large. The percentage of small neurons which was very high 60% for GABAergic neurons on polyornithine after 2 days in vitro was reduced to 35% on mesencephalic astrocytes and to less than 20% on striatal astrocytes.

[Four years of screening cervical smears of cervical lesions].

Twelve thousand two hundred and eighty nine Pap smears were collected from public hospitals and from private practices during a four year period (January 1987 to December 1990). 4.2% of Pap smears exhibited condylomatous or dysplastic lesions.