Simultaneous determination of five beta-lactam antibiotics (cefepim, ceftazidim, cefuroxim, meropenem and piperacillin) in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.

Monitoring of plasma antibiotic drugs is useful for better clinical management in infected patients, particularly in intensive care units. A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with ultraviolet (UV) detection has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of five beta-lactam antibiotics in human plasma: cefepim, ceftazidim, cefuroxim, meropenem and piperacillin. The plasma sample, after spiked with ceforanid as an internal standard (IS), was submitted to a solid-phase extraction (SPE) prior to HPLC analysis.

Squatting amplifies pulse pressure increase with disease duration in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Objective: To evaluate pulse pressure changes according to duration of type 1 diabetes and to assess the influence of posture.

Research Design And Methods: We performed continuous measurement of blood pressure with a Finapres device during a 3 x 1 min posture test (standing, squatting, standing) in 159 type 1 diabetic patients divided into four groups according to diabetes duration (30 years, groups 1-4, respectively) and compared the results with those of age-matched nondiabetic subjects.

Results: Pulse pressure progressively increased according to type 1 diabetes duration (P < 0.

Raloxifene-induced myeloma cell apoptosis: a study of nuclear factor-kappaB inhibition and gene expression signature.

Because multiple myeloma remains associated with a poor prognosis, novel drugs targeting specific signaling pathways are needed. The efficacy of selective estrogen receptor modulators for the treatment of multiple myeloma is not well documented. In the present report, we studied the antitumor activity of raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, on multiple myeloma cell lines.

Clinical and angiographic analysis with a cobalt alloy coronary stent (driver) in stable and unstable angina pectoris.

The Clinical and Angiographic analysis with a Cobalt Alloy Coronary Stent (Driver) (CLASS) study was a prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter study designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a cobalt-chromium alloy-based stent in patients with stable or unstable angina pectoris. A total of 203 lesions were treated in 202 enrolled patients. The percentage of major adverse cardiac event-free patients was 87.

Spontaneous recovery in phacolytic glaucoma.

We report a case of phacolytic glaucoma in which spontaneous absorption of the hypermature lens allowed a patient who refused surgery to recover a normal pressure and satisfactory visual acuity.

Interleukin-6 receptor shedding is enhanced by interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha and is partially mediated by tumor necrosis factor alpha-converting enzyme in osteoblast-like cells.

Objective: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) activation of gp130 represents an alternative pathway for osteoclast development in inflammatory conditions. The goal of the present study was to investigate changes in sIL-6R levels in response to the inflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and to determine the role of TNFalpha-converting enzyme (TACE) in this process.

Methods: Levels of sIL-6R in the culture media of MG63 and SAOS-2 osteoblast-like cell lines after exposure to various agents were determined by immunoassay.

[Retinal vascular occlusions: diagnosis and management].

Purpose: The diagnosis of retinal venous and arterial occlusions is usually easily evoked on visual symptoms and ophthalmoscopic features. However, their management (etiologic explorations and treatment) has not been formally established and remains controversial.

Current Knowledge And Key Points: Some retinal vascular occlusions may result of loco-regional ocular causes.

Familial colloid cyst of the third ventricle: neuroendocrinological follow-up and review of the literature.

Colloid cysts of the third ventricle are rare, benign cysts of endodermal origin. Between 1989 and 1999, eight patients with this lesion (five females, three males), with a mean age of 40.5 years (range 20-54), were identified out of 1354 operated for tumours of the central nervous system.

Use of the enteroscope for colo-ileoscopy: low yield in unexplained lower gastrointestinal bleeding.

Background And Study Aims: The small intestine is a potential origin of bleeding in patients with unexplained gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage or iron-deficiency anemia. Most reports on the investigation of these patients describe the use of upper tract enteroscopy. The diagnostic yield of combined upper and lower enteroscopy has not been widely assessed and remains to be clarified.

Prevalence of hepatitis G virus in a haemodialysis unit.

Background: Recently, a novel blood-borne virus has been identified and named hepatitis G virus. Transfusion is the main route of transmission. It is known that patients on maintenance dialysis are more susceptible to infections with parenterally-transmitted viruses than the general population.

Amino acid neurotransmission and initiation of puberty: evidence from nonketotic hyperglycinemia in a female infant and gonadotropin-releasing hormone secretion by rat hypothalamic explants.

The pulse frequency of hypothalamic GnRH secretion increases at the onset of puberty. In rodents and primates, this process involves facilitatory and inhibitory effects mediated through hypothalamic N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, respectively. Precocious puberty was observed in an 11-month-old girl with nonketotic hyperglycinemia.

Diagnostic value of exercise electrocardiography and angina after coronary artery stenting. Benestent Study Group.

To determine whether metallic stent implantation within a coronary artery modifies the accuracy of angina or exercise test results in predicting stenosis, we studied 172 patients assigned to stent implantation and 153 patients assigned to balloon angioplasty enrolled in the Benestent trial comparing de novo stenting with conventional balloon angioplasty. Sensitivity and specificity curves were constructed for the prediction of percentage diameter stenosis and minimal lumen diameter. Receiver-operator curves were constructed for comparison of diagnostic accuracy.

Neurophysins in central diabetes insipidus.

When they were discovered by Acher and co-workers, neurophysins were thought to act as carriers for the active nonapeptides vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) and were then recognized as the inactive fragment of a precursor with a higher molecular weight (propressophysin). The role of neurophysins in the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system is now being reconsidered in the light of crystallographic and molecular biology research and the recent definition of the different deletions or substitutions that cause central diabetes insipidus in rats (Brattleboro) or human beings. Apparently, any disruption of the structure and/or conformation of neurophysins (by genic substitution or deletion) may cause a decline in the binding and the activity of the endopeptidase responsible for the cleavage of the AVP.

[Spiral tomodensitometry applied to interventional radiology].

Spiral CT can be applied to many interventional procedures. Rapid scanning time reduces the duration of percutaneous CT guided biopsy and examination time of polytrauma patients. 3D reconstructions are applied to the planning and follow-up of vascular interventional procedures such as embolization of aneurysms or arteriovenous fistulae, stent grafting of aortic aneurysms or dissection, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of the renal arteries, supra-aortic or iliac arteries.

Postgastroplasty recovery of ideal body weight normalizes glucose and insulin metabolism in obese women.

To study the metabolic effects of normalizing body weight, a frequently sampled iv glucose tolerance test (0.3 g/kg) was performed before [body mass index (BMI), 37.7 +/- 0.

Pretranslational regulation of extracellular matrix macromolecules and collagenase expression in fibroblasts by mechanical forces.

In vivo, the extracellular matrix modulates the phenotype of the connective tissue cells both through its biochemical composition and the transfer of mechanical information. In this study, the mechanical effect was investigated in collagen gels populated by skin fibroblasts maintained under tension (bound lattices (BL)) compared with free retracting lattices (FL) and monolayer on plastic. The overall proteins and collagen synthesis of human skin fibroblasts, investigated by isotopic labeling, were decreased respectively by a factor of about 20 and 40 in FL compared with monolayers and increased by a factor of 4 and 6 in BL versus FL.

Comparative study of tilidine-naloxone and pentazocine in knee and hip osteoarthritis.

Fifty patients, twenty-five suffering from severe knee osteoarthritis and twenty-five from acute hip osteoarthritis, received pentazocine or a new preparation of tilidine-naloxone for a period of 2 weeks, in a double-blind study. The two drugs were found to have the same efficacy and tolerance in both diseases with a minor but not statistically significant superiority for tilidine-naloxone. Similar quantities of drugs were taken over the study period, while patients were allowed to take as many as 8 capsules per day to relieve pain.

Abnormal gene expression in skin fibroblasts from a Hutchinson-Gilford patient.

We had the opportunity to investigate a new case of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, a rare disease commonly regarded as a model in the study of aging. Two strains of fibroblasts (strains 1 and 2) were derived from two pieces of a skin biopsy. These two populations multiplied as normal cells at low population doubling level but senesced rapidly and stopped proliferating after 14 or 15 population doubling levels.