Publications by authors named "Valentine Ferre"
Background: Historically, women have been shown to underestimate their abilities, while men often assess themselves more accurately or overestimate. This study aims to determine self-assessment accuracy during online Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) according to gender.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted among fourth-year medical students at Paris Cité University during faculty training OSCEs, utilizing Zoom® software for remote participation.
Article Synopsis
- * A study involving 30 Togolese female sex workers analyzed 156 HPV genome sequences from cervical and anal swabs, revealing identical infections but varying genetic diversity across HPV types and sites.
- * Low-risk HPVs showed more mutations induced by APOBEC3 in the E4 and E6 genes compared to high-risk HPVs, which had fewer mutations, suggesting different cancer risk potentials among HPV types.
Introduction: Cabotegravir, an integrase strand transfer inhibitor, and rilpivirine, an NNRTI, constitute the first long-acting (LA), injectable, two-drug ART regimen approved for the maintenance of virological suppression in persons living with HIV-1 (PLHIV). The aim of this study was to assess clinical effectiveness and tolerability of LA cabotegravir/rilpivirine in a real-world setting.
Patients And Methods: We conducted a retrospective, single centre study, including all PLHIV receiving LA cabotegravir/rilpivirine as standard-of-care in our tertiary centre even if initiated in clinical trials.
This retrospective study evaluated Bictegravir/FTC/TAF in 24 PWHIV, 5 naive and 19 pretreated. After a median follow-up of 37.5 months, all PWHIV-2 had a plasma viral load < 40 copies/mL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Togo, few data are available on viral hepatitis in street adolescents, a vulnerable population due to their lifestyle. The aim of this study was to describe the lifestyle of street adolescents (sexual practices and drug use), to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses, and to describe their HBV immunization profile in Togo.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Lomé (Togo) in July 2021.
Introduction: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a cause of pregnancy morbidity. We aim to determine the frequency of criteria and non-criteria anti-phospholipid (aPL) autoantibodies in patients admitted for unexplained fetal death (UFD), pre-eclampsia (PE) and/or fetal growth restriction (FGR).
Methods: All consecutive patients with UFD, PE and/or FGR followed in the department of Obstetrics, Bichat Hospital, University of Paris, Paris, between January 2019 and December 2021 were screened.
Background: Advances in high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies and reductions in sequencing costs have revolutionised the study of genomics and molecular biology by making whole-genome sequencing (WGS) accessible to many laboratories. However, the analysis of WGS data requires significant computational effort, which is the major drawback in implementing WGS as a routine laboratory technique.
Objective: Automated pipelines have been developed to overcome this issue, but they do not exist for all organisms.
Article Synopsis
- Immunocompromised individuals tend to experience longer SARS-CoV-2 infections, increasing the chances for new mutations, especially in the spike protein, which is important for vaccines.
- A study in Paris analyzed samples from 444 immunocompromised patients and 234 healthcare workers, finding greater genetic diversity of the virus in the immunocompromised group.
- The research indicated that mutations in the viruses from immunocompromised patients contributed to the evolution of new variants, suggesting potential concerns for immune response and severity of future infections.
Article Synopsis
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) significantly impacts respiratory health in older adults and those with risk factors, leading to increased interest in detecting and managing the virus effectively.!* -
- The review aims to provide healthcare professionals with updated insights into RSV's prevalence, recent clinical trials on vaccines, and information about current and developing treatments.!* -
- As the understanding of RSV in adults improves, new preventive and therapeutic approaches are emerging to better address this public health concern.!*
In May 2022, several countries reported mpox cases from patients without history of traveling to endemic areas. France was one of the most affected European countries by this outbreak. In this study, the clinical characteristics of mpox cases in France were described, and the genetic diversity of the virus was studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWomen with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), especially when exposed to immunosuppressive drugs, are at higher risk of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical cancer. A recent study has shown that cervical cancer screening (CCS) coverage is worryingly low in this population..
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough France was one of the most affected European countries by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the dynamics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) movement within France, but also involving France in Europe and in the world, remain only partially characterized in this timeframe. Here, we analyzed GISAID deposited sequences from January 1 to December 31, 2020 ( = 638,706 sequences at the time of writing). To tackle the challenging number of sequences without the bias of analyzing a single subsample of sequences, we produced 100 subsamples of sequences and related phylogenetic trees from the whole dataset for different geographic scales (worldwide, European countries, and French administrative regions) and time periods (from January 1 to July 25, 2020, and from July 26 to December 31, 2020).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is almost no data on the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 among street adolescents. We conducted a study to document the immunization status of street adolescents in Togo against different variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2021 in Lomé, the city with the highest number of COVID 19 cases in Togo (60%).
Article Synopsis
- - This study aimed to confirm co-infections of HIV-1 and HIV-2 in West African patients using specialized tests and molecular methods.
- - Conducted from April 2016 to October 2017 in major clinics in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, the survey involved 91 patients who underwent various serological and molecular tests for HIV confirmation.
- - Results showed that out of the 91 participants, 75.4% had both HIV-1 and HIV-2, highlighting the need for improved molecular diagnostics to better identify these co-infections in the region.
Highly active antiretroviral (ARV) therapy has been used for many years, but the use in low- and middle-income countries of antiretroviral drugs with low genetic barrier to resistance, combined with limited availability of viral load testing, has led to higher rates of acquired drug resistance, sustaining the rate of transmitted drug resistance. Here, we describe the evolution of ARV drugs with the ongoing development of injectable long-acting forms and the requirements regarding all new ARV drugs (i.e.
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- The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was first detected in France in mid-November 2021, with a surge in cases starting in early December and peaking in mid-January 2022, but it had a lower fatality rate than earlier waves.
- A study investigated the incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 among the general population and 1,263 heart transplant recipients from June 2021 to February 2022, focusing on the differences between Omicron and Delta variant infections.
- Contrary to expectations, the study found that the severity of Omicron variant infections in heart transplant recipients did not align with its generally lower severity in immunocompetent individuals.
Aim: Monkeypox virus (MPXV) has been spreading in many European countries, the USA and Canada since May 2022. General symptoms, skin and anoperineal lesions have been reported. Anal pain is often reported, but anal canal lesions have yet to be described in these patients.
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- The study evaluated the effectiveness of nasopharyngeal swabs compared to bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for detecting non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory viruses in pneumonia patients during a retrospective analysis from 2012 to 2018 at a French hospital.
- In a cohort of 276 patients, primary findings showed that nasopharyngeal swabs detected viruses in 34.4% of cases, while BAL detected them in 29.0%, revealing an overall agreement of 83.7% between the two methods.
- The research concluded that while both testing methods are reliable, BAL may still be beneficial when nasopharyngeal swabs return negative results, especially for certain viruses like rhinovirus
No data about antiretroviral (ARV) treatment coverage and virological response are available among key populations (female sex workers [FSW] and Men having Sex with Men [MSM]) in Togo. This study aimed to both describe Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) immunovirological status and evaluate the pertinence of an original algorithm combining pharmacology (PK) and viral load (VL) to identify subjects at risk of ARV drug resistance. A cross-sectional multicentric study was conducted in 2017 in Togo.
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- - The WHO reported a significant monkeypox outbreak starting in May 2022, with nearly 68,900 cases globally by October, raising questions about how the virus spreads, particularly through air.
- - Researchers collected air samples in an infectious disease clinic where suspected monkeypox patients were examined, using a device to check for MPXV DNA in the air.
- - The study found MPXV DNA in six out of seven air samples collected, indicating the virus can be airborne in clinical settings, emphasizing the need for protective measures for patients and healthcare workers.
Objective: To evaluate the specific response of SLE patients to BNT162b2 vaccination and its impact on autoimmunity defined as in vivo production of interferon-alpha (IFNα) by plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and autoreactive immune responses.
Methods: Our prospective study included SLE patients and healthy volunteers (HV) who received 2 doses of BNT162b2 vaccine 4 weeks apart. Subjects under immunosuppressive drugs or with evidence of prior COVID-19 were excluded.