[Down syndrome maternal serum screening: results' comments recommended by accredited biologists].

Down syndrome maternal serum screening is largely used in France. The aim of this article is to specify and to explain the different comments applied on the reports in order to optimize the management of the patient. These comments represent the consensus of the study group of the biologist accredited for Down syndrome maternal serum screening.

HPLC/ESI-MS(n) method for non-amino bisphosphonates: application to the detection of tiludronate in equine plasma.

Tiludronate is a non-nitrogen-containing biphosphonate drug approved in equine veterinary medicine for the treatment of navicular disease and bone sparvin in horse. Its hydrophilic properties and its strong affinity for the bone have made the control of its use quite difficult. After an initial step of method development in plasma and urine, due to a strong matrix effect and erratic detection in urine, the final method development was conducted in plasma.

Carotid surgery in private practice: what kind of change in the last 15 years?

Background: This retrospective study analyzes and compares the results of patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CE) for atherosclerotic stenosis obtained by 2 surgeons during two 5-year periods. Group 1 (G1) represents the first period (January 1994-December 1998) and group 2 (G2) represents the second period (January 2006-December 2010). Our objective was to answer the 2 following questions: (1) Has the population changed between these 2 periods with regard to age, risk factors, and symptoms? (2) Have the techniques we used in G2--local anesthesia and eversion technique--improved the results?

Methods: G1 included 682 CE procedures on 610 patients and G2 included 629 procedures on 592 patients.

Tiludronate treatment improves structural changes and symptoms of osteoarthritis in the canine anterior cruciate ligament model.

Introduction: The aim of this prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind study was to evaluate the effects of tiludronate (TLN), a bisphosphonate, on structural, biochemical and molecular changes and function in an experimental dog model of osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Baseline values were established the week preceding surgical transection of the right cranial/anterior cruciate ligament, with eight dogs serving as OA placebo controls and eight others receiving four TLN injections (2 mg/kg subcutaneously) at two-week intervals starting the day of surgery for eight weeks. At baseline, Week 4 and Week 8, the functional outcome was evaluated using kinetic gait analysis, telemetered locomotor actimetry and video-automated behaviour capture.

Treatment with tiludronic acid helps reduce the development of experimental osteoarthritis lesions in dogs with anterior cruciate ligament transection followed by reconstructive surgery: a 1-year study with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: to investigate over a 1-year period in dogs that underwent extracapsular stabilization surgery (ECS) following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection: whether reconstructive surgery could prevent osteoarthritis (OA) progression and whether treatment with the bisphosphonate tiludronic acid (TA) could improve the chronic evolution of OA structural changes.

Methods: ACL transection was performed on dogs on Day 0 and ECS on Day 28. Dogs were randomly divided into 2 groups: 15 received placebo and 16 were treated with TA (2 mg/kg subcutaneous injection) on Days 14, 28, 56, and 84.

Tiludronate infusion in the treatment of bone spavin: a double blind placebo-controlled trial.

Reasons For Performing Study: Tiludronate regulates bone remodelling through a decrease of the resorptive process and should therefore ameliorate the remodelling processes active in osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints ('bone spavin') and alleviate pain associated with abnormal bone lysis.

Objective: To confirm the efficacy of tiludronate, administered as a single infusion at a dose of 1 mg/kg bwt, in the treatment of bone spavin in the horse.

Methods: A double blind placebo controlled trial on 108 clinical cases of bone spavin was undertaken.

Comparative pharmacokinetics of two intravenous administration regimens of tiludronate in healthy adult horses and effects on the bone resorption marker CTX-1.

Bioavailability and pharmacological effects of tiludronate were compared when administered as an intravenous (i.v.) bolus at a dosage of 0.

Pharmacological effects of tiludronate in horses after long-term immobilization.

Introduction: Tiludronate, a bisphosphonate, has recently been introduced in veterinary medicine to treat orthopedic conditions in the horse. This study was designed to evaluate its effects on biochemical biomarkers of bone metabolism and on bone density and structure in an experimental model of disuse osteoporosis induced by cast application in horses.

Methods: Two groups of eight horses were immobilized during 8 weeks.

Efficacy of tiludronate in the treatment of horses with signs of pain associated with osteoarthritic lesions of the thoracolumbar vertebral column.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of tiludronate for the treatment of horses with signs of pain associated with lesions of the thoracolumbar vertebral column.

Animals: 29 horses with clinical manifestations of pain associated with lesions of the thoracolumbar vertebral column and abnormal radiographic findings indicative of osteoarthritis of the articular processes-synovial intervertebral joints.

Procedures: Horses were initially examined in accordance with a standardized protocol, which included radiographic, ultrasonographic, and scintigraphic examinations.

Prospective evaluation of the Hybrid Capture 2 and AMPLICOR human papillomavirus (HPV) tests for detection of 13 high-risk HPV genotypes in atypical squamous cells of uncertain significance.

The use of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing as an adjunct to cervical cytology in population-based screening programs is currently based on DNA hybridization and PCR assays. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the diagnostic performance of the Hybrid Capture 2 test (HC2; Digene Corporation) in comparison with that of the recently developed PCR-based AMPLICOR HPV test (Roche Molecular Systems) for the detection of 13 hrHPV types. A reverse line blot hybridization assay (Innogenetics) was used as an internal reference standard in discordant cases.

Tiludronate as a new therapeutic agent in the treatment of navicular disease: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Reasons For Performing Study: Bisphosphonates, such as tiludronate, are used to normalise bone metabolism via inhibition of bone resorption. Areas of increased bone resorption and formation are typical lesions in a diseased navicular bone.

Objectives: To determine if bone remodelling changes occurring in navicular disease may be corrected with therapies regulating bone metabolism.

A prospective assessment of the inter-laboratory variability of biochemical markers of fibrosis (FibroTest) and activity (ActiTest) in patients with chronic liver disease.

BACKGROUND: Biochemical markers for liver fibrosis (FibroTest) and necroinflammatory features (ActiTest) are an alternative to liver biopsy in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Our aim was to assess the inter-laboratory variability of these tests, and their 6 components (gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, alanine aminotransferase, alpha2-macroglobulin, haptoglobin, apolipoprotein A1, and total bilirubin) and to identify factors associated with this variability. RESULTS: Serum of 24 patients with chronic hepatitis C or severe alcoholic liver disease were prospectively recorded and analyzed in one reference center and in 8 additional laboratories.

Risk of amniocentesis in women screened positive for Down syndrome with second trimester maternal serum markers.

In routine obstetrical practice, prior to offering invasive prenatal diagnosis, it is crucial to weigh the risks attendant on amniocentesis against the individual's risk of aneuploidy. We took advantage of a policy of follow-up of patients undergoing Down syndrome maternal serum screening to compare the rates of fetal loss before 24 weeks and of early premature delivery at 24-28 weeks between women who underwent amniocentesis and women who did not. A total of 54 902 patients entered the study, of whom 4039 (7.

[Diagnosis of phenylketonuria in a 35-year-old mother in relation to prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine growth retardation with microcephaly].

Background: Some French pregnant women with phenylketonuria (PKU), born before 1978, have not been tested with the Guthrie method during the neonatal period. They have a risk of spontaneous abortion and their infants are often mentally retarded with microcephaly and/or congenital heart anomaly.

Case Report: A woman with a moderate mental retardation became pregnant at the age of 31 years.

[Primary amenorrhea revealing congenital hydrocephalus].

Unlabelled: Among the various endocrine manifestations of chronic hydrocephaly, amenorrhea is not exceptional, whereas late puberty and obesity are the most frequent. The hypothalamic gonadotropic function usually returns to normal within the few months following the ventricular shunt.

Case Report: A 16 year-old girl, with a von Recklinghausen's disease, developed amenorrhea 2 years after the onset of puberty.

[Acute anemia induced by rupture of a luteal cyst, aggravated by the ingestion of antivitamin K].

A case of hemoperitoneum secondary to the rupture of an ovarian cyst is reported in a 14 1/2 year-old girl. The severity of the bleeding was explained by anticoagulant therapy given during the previous 3 weeks for laceration of ankle ligaments which necessitated surgery. In this age group, the differential diagnosis with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy had to be considered.

Incontinentia pigmenti: Xp breakpoint is not the same in a case of r(X) and in X/autosome translocations.

X-specific DNA probes were used to characterize the r(X) of a 45,X/46,X,r(X) female patient with Incontinentia pigmenti. It was found to be of maternal origin. Breakpoints were shown to be in or distal to p11.

[Long-term results (6 to 17 years) of 372 mitral valve replacements using the Björk-Shiley prosthesis].

From November 1970 to December 1981, an isolated mitral valve replacement was performed in 372 patients (166 males - 206 females), ranging in age from 2 months to 76 years (mean age 49 years). Eighty-nine patients (24%) had previously undergone one or two cardiac operations. Only one of the 24 hospital deaths (6.