[Amniotic fluid embolism: report of the successful outcome of a case with inaugural cardiac arrest and early DIVC complicated by hemoperitoneum of iatrogen origin and bleeding of an hepatic adenoma].

Amniotic fluid embolism is a relatively rare clinical entity and with difficult medical recognition. However, it is the second leading cause of maternal mortality. We report here the case of a 32-year-old patient who underwent elective caesarean section complicated by an amniotic fluid embolism with cardiac arrest.

A European survey of nosocomial infection control and hospital-acquired pneumonia prevention practices.

Objectives: We aimed to examine organizational, structural and routine infection control measures provided by European ICUs and staff practices in ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention in relation with current recommendations.

Methods: European ICU staffs were invited to complete a web-based 20 closed-item questionnaire.

Results: 675 nurses and 886 physicians from 13 countries answered the questionnaire.

High flow nasal oxygen in acute respiratory failure.

Use of high flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNC) is increasingly popular in adult ICUs for patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. This is the result of the successful long-term use of HFNC in the neonatal field and recent clinical data in adults indicating beneficial effects of HFNC over conventional facemask oxygen therapy. HFNC rapidly alleviates symptoms of respiratory distress and improves oxygenation by several mechanisms, including deadspace washout, reduction in oxygen dilution and in inspiratory nasopharyngeal resistance, a moderate positive airway pressure effect that may generate alveolar recruitment and an overall greater tolerance and comfort with the interface and the heated and humidified inspired gases.

Humidified high flow nasal oxygen during respiratory failure in the emergency department: feasibility and efficacy.

Objective: Heated and humidified high flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy (HFNC) represents a new alternative to conventional oxygen therapy that has not been evaluated in the emergency department (ED). We aimed to study its feasibility and efficacy in patients exhibiting acute respiratory failure presenting to the ED.

Methods: Prospective, observational study in a university hospital's ED.

Reproducible expansion and characterization of mouse neural stem/progenitor cells in adherent cultures derived from the adult subventricular zone.

Endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) residing in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult mouse forebrain have been shown to enhance their neurogenic potential in response to CNS injury. Mechanisms involved in regulating adult neurogenesis under naïve or stressed conditions can be studied using a monolayer cell-culture system of the nestin-expressing NSPC lineage to analyze proliferation, survival, and differentiation. Here, a protocol for the expansion of NSPCs for studies aimed at understanding the functional role of NSPCs in maintaining adult neurogenic processes is described.

New therapies for pneumonia.

Purpose Of Review: Acute respiratory tract infections are a key public health problem, and represent a major cause of death worldwide. The dramatic shortage of new antibiotics combined with the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria constitutes a worrisome threat for the global population and a critical challenge for healthcare institutions. Over recent years, a better understanding of bacterial growth, metabolism, and virulence has offered several potential targets for nonantibiotic antimicrobial therapies.

[Congenital mesoblastic nephroma: diagnosis and treatment of one case].

The congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) described by Bolande et al. in 1967 is a renal tumor often discovered in neonatal period and early childhood. It's usually considered as a benign tumor with good prognostic for which nephrectomy is the reference treatment.

Impact of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy on intensive care unit patients with acute respiratory failure: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNC) on patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) in comparison with conventional oxygen therapy.

Materials And Methods: This was a prospective observational study. Patients with persistent ARF despite oxygen with conventional facemask without indication for immediate intubation were treated with HFNC oxygen.

Beneficial effects of humidified high flow nasal oxygen in critical care patients: a prospective pilot study.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficiency, safety and outcome of high flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNC) in ICU patients with acute respiratory failure.

Methods: Pilot prospective monocentric study. Thirty-eight patients were included.

Ventilator-induced lung injury: historical perspectives and clinical implications.

Mechanical ventilation can produce lung physiological and morphological alterations termed ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Early experimental studies demonstrated that the main determinant of VILI is lung end-inspiratory volume. The clinical relevance of these experimental findings received resounding confirmation with the results of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) Network study, which showed a 22% reduction in mortality in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome through a simple reduction in tidal volume.

Ultrafast and whole-body cooling with total liquid ventilation induces favorable neurological and cardiac outcomes after cardiac arrest in rabbits.

Background: In animal models of cardiac arrest, the benefit afforded by hypothermia is closely linked to the rapidity of the decrease in body temperature after resuscitation. Because total liquid ventilation (TLV) with temperature-controlled perfluorocarbons induces a very rapid and generalized cooling, we aimed to determine whether this could limit the post-cardiac arrest syndrome in a rabbit model. We especially focused on neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, liver and kidney dysfunctions.

Novel therapies for Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia.

P. aeruginosa is the bacteria most commonly responsible for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Numerous factors are encoded in its genome, and they explain its high virulence.

Influence of tracheal suctioning systems on health care workers' gloves and equipment contamination: a comparison of closed and open systems.

The impact of tracheal suctioning with an open or a closed system on equipment and health care workers contamination with multidrug-resistant pathogens was compared. Only the closed system reduced hand and equipment contamination during tracheal suctioning. This equipment could be systematically used to reduce risk of cross contamination in the intensive care unit.

[Cystinuria in children: A report of 4 cases].

Cystinuria is an inherited autosomal-recessive disorder of renal reabsorption of the dibasic amino acids. It is the cause of about 6% of all kidney stones observed in children. Cystine is relatively insoluble at the physiological pH of urine.

Systems biology and the origins of life? part II. Are biochemical networks possible ancestors of living systems? networks of catalysed chemical reactions: non-equilibrium, self-organization and evolution.

The present article discusses the possibility that catalysed chemical networks can evolve. Even simple enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions can display this property. The example studied is that of a two-substrate proteinoid, or enzyme, reaction displaying random binding of its substrates A and B.

Systems biology and the origins of life? Part I. Are biochemical networks possible ancestors of living systems? Reproduction, identity and sensitivity to signals of biochemical networks.

The set of these two theoretical papers offers an alternative to the hypothesis of a primordial RNA-world. The basic idea of these papers is to consider that the first prebiotic systems could have been networks of catalysed reactions encapsulated by a membrane. In order to test this hypothesis it was attempted to list the main obligatory features of living systems and see whether encapsulated biochemical networks could possibly display these features.

Neural progenitors proliferation is inhibited by EphB3 in the developing subventricular zone.

The subventricular zone (SVZ) of the mammalian forebrain is a major source of multipotent stem cells during development, and contributes to neurogenesis throughout the lifespan of the organism. Several studies described molecules regulating adult neurogenesis, however, few of them have examined neurogenesis in the early postnatal period. Adult neurogenesis is regulated in part by ephrinB3 and its receptors, so we examined the role of EphB3 on neural stem/progenitor cell (NSPC) proliferation in early postnatal development in the SVZ.

Quality of life in adults with bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex.

Purpose: We evaluated quality of life in adults with bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex to improve patient and parent counseling.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated quality of life in a multicenter study using the SF-36® Medical Outcome Study questionnaire and a local questionnaire. A total of 47 patients born in 1957 to 1990 were followed due to bladder exstrophy-epispadias complex at the 4 participating hospitals.

EphB3 limits the expansion of neural progenitor cells in the subventricular zone by regulating p53 during homeostasis and following traumatic brain injury.

Ephrins and Eph receptor(s) have recently been implicated in regulating neurogenesis in the adult subventricular zone (SVZ) and rostral migratory stream. Here, we examined the role of ephrinB3-EphB3 signaling in mediating the SVZ response to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Analysis of EphB3 expression showed colocalization with glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive neural stem progenitor cells (NSPCs) and doublecortin-positive neuroblasts, whereas ephrinB3 was expressed outside the neurogenic region.

Beneficial effects of loxapine on agitation and breathing patterns during weaning from mechanical ventilation.

Introduction: Interruption of sedation during weaning from mechanical ventilation often leads to patient agitation because of withdrawal syndrome. We tested the short-term efficacy and tolerance of loxapine in this situation.

Methods: Nineteen mechanically ventilated patients with marked agitation after sedation withdrawal were included.

Small dead space heat and moisture exchangers do not impede gas exchange during noninvasive ventilation: a comparison with a heated humidifier.

Objective: Adverse respiratory and gasometrical effects have been described in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) undergoing noninvasive ventilation (NIV) with standard heat and moisture exchangers (HME). We decided to evaluate respiratory parameters and arterial blood gases (ABG) of patients during NIV with small dead space HME compared with heated humidifier (HH).

Design: Prospective randomized crossover study.

Study of prone positioning to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia in hypoxaemic patients.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether prone positioning (PP) affects ventilator associated-pneumonia (VAP) and mortality in patients with acute lung injury/adult respiratory distress syndrome. 2,409 prospectively included patients were admitted over 9 yrs (2000-2008) to 12 French intensive care units (ICUs) (OUTCOMEREA). The patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) and had arterial oxygen tension/inspiratory oxygen fraction ratios <300 during the first 48 h.