Assessment of fetal head engagement with transperineal ultrasound: Searching for the cutoff level.

Purpose: Engagement of the fetal head is a determinant element when deciding on operative vaginal delivery. In routine practice, engagement is a clinical diagnosis based on transvaginal digital examination. Transperineal ultrasound might provide complementary information useful for measuring the fetal head-perineum distance (HPD).

[Maternal diaphragmatic hernia during pregnancy: report of two cases].

We report two cases of maternal diaphragmatic hernia during pregnancy. Diaphragmatic hernia is an unusual and severe disease. Maternal and fetal prognosis are threatened.

[Recurrent edema of the face and neck in a chronically hemodialyzed patient].

We report the case of a patient undergoing long-term hemodialysis admitted to hospital for diagnosis of recurrent face and neck edema influenced by dialysis sessions with paroxysmal dyspnea. We considered the possible role of allergy to ethylene oxide and to formaldehyde without diagnostic confirmation. Dialyzer complement activation was suspected but changing the dialyzer did not improve the symptoms.

CC chemokines and interleukin-5 in bronchial lavage fluid from patients with status asthmaticus. Potential implication in eosinophil recruitment.

In status asthmaticus (SA), severe bronchial inflammation is associated with acute respiratory failure. Neutrophils are the prominent cells found in bronchi from SA patients, but eosinophils are also recruited within the first 48 h after the beginning of mechanical ventilation (MV). Interleukin (IL)-5 and CC chemokines have been directly implicated in the pathophysiology of allergic asthma.