Early diagnosis and monitoring of mucormycosis by detection of circulating DNA in serum: retrospective analysis of 44 cases collected through the French Surveillance Network of Invasive Fungal Infections (RESSIF).

The main objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of a set of three Mucorales quantitative PCR assays in a retrospective multicentre study. Mucormycosis cases were recorded thanks to the French prospective surveillance programme (RESSIF network). The day of sampling of the first histological or mycological positive specimen was defined as day 0 (D0).

PML risk stratification using anti-JCV antibody index and L-selectin.

Background: Natalizumab treatment is associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) development. Treatment duration, prior immunosuppressant use, and JCV serostatus are currently used for risk stratification, but PML incidence stays high. Anti-JCV antibody index and L-selectin (CD62L) have been proposed as additional risk stratification parameters.

Plasma exchanges for the treatment of severe systemic necrotizing vasculitides in clinical daily practice: Data from the French Vasculitis Study Group.

The use of plasma exchanges (PLEX) in systemic necrotizing vasculitides (SNV) still need to be codified. To describe indications, efficacy and safety of PLEX for the treatment of SNV, we conducted a multicenter retrospective study on patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) or non-viral polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) treated with PLEX. One hundred and fifty-two patients were included: GPA (n = 87), MPA (n = 56), EGPA (n = 4) and PAN (n = 5).

Physical Activity and Amyloid-β Brain Levels in Elderly Adults with Intact Cognition and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Objectives: To examine the associations between amyloid-β brain deposition and physical activity (PA) in elderly adults without dementia and to investigate whether the association has a dose-response relationship.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: French community-dwelling people.

Naturally Occurring Resistance-Associated Variants of Hepatitis C Virus Protease Inhibitors in Poor Responders to Pegylated Interferon-Ribavirin.

The pretherapeutic presence of protease inhibitor (PI) resistance-associated variants (RAVs) has not been shown to be predictive of triple-therapy outcomes in treatment-naive patients. However, they may influence the outcome in patients with less effective pegylated interferon (pegIFN)-ribavirin (RBV) backbones. Using hepatitis C virus (HCV) population sequence analysis, we retrospectively investigated the prevalence of baseline nonstructural 3 (NS3) RAVs in a multicenter cohort of poor IFN-RBV responders (i.

WEB Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms: Feasibility, Complications, and 1-Month Safety Results with the WEB DL and WEB SL/SLS in the French Observatory.

Background And Purpose: Safety analyses in the French Observatory have shown that treatment of intracranial aneurysms by using flow disruption with the Woven EndoBridge Device (WEB) is safe, with low morbidity and no mortality. The objective of this study was to analyze treatment feasibility, complications, and safety results in patients treated with the Woven EndoBridge Device Dual-Layer (WEB DL) and Woven EndoBridge Device Single-Layer/Single-Layer Sphere (WEB SL/SLS) in the French Observatory.

Materials And Methods: Patients with bifurcation aneurysms were included in this prospective, multicenter good clinical practices study.

Videothoracoscopy versus thoracotomy for the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax: a propensity score analysis.

Background: Few randomized controlled trials have been published on outcomes after treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. The objective of this study was to assess recurrence, pulmonary complications, prolonged air leak, and hospital duration of stay in patients undergoing videothoracoscopic surgery (VATS) or thoracotomy for spontaneous pneumothorax.

Methods: From January 2005 to December 2012, 7,396 patients underwent operations for spontaneous pneumothorax and were entered into the French national database.

Prospective, randomized, multicenter, phase III study of fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan versus epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine in advanced gastric adenocarcinoma: a French intergroup (Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive, Fédération Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre le Cancer, and Groupe Coopérateur Multidisciplinaire en Oncologie) study.

Purpose: To compare epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine (ECX) with fluorouracil, leucovorin, and irinotecan (FOLFIRI) as first-line treatments in patients with advanced gastric or esophagogastric junction (EGJ) adenocarcinoma.

Patients And Methods: This open, randomized, phase III study was carried out in 71 centers. Patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric or EGJ cancer were randomly assigned to receive either ECX as first-line treatment (ECX arm) or FOLFIRI (FOLFIRI arm).

Bispecificity for myelin and neuronal self-antigens is a common feature of CD4 T cells in C57BL/6 mice.

The recognition of multiple ligands by a single TCR is an intrinsic feature of T cell biology, with important consequences for physiological and pathological processes. Polyspecific T cells targeting distinct self-antigens have been identified in healthy individuals as well as in the context of autoimmunity. We have previously shown that the 2D2 TCR recognizes the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein epitope (MOG)35-55 as well as an epitope within the axonal protein neurofilament medium (NF-M15-35) in H-2(b) mice.

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation vs intravenous pulse cyclophosphamide in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: High-dose immunosuppressive therapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have shown efficacy in systemic sclerosis in phase 1 and small phase 2 trials.

Objective: To compare efficacy and safety of HSCT vs 12 successive monthly intravenous pulses of cyclophosphamide.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scleroderma (ASTIS) trial, a phase 3, multicenter, randomized (1:1), open-label, parallel-group, clinical trial conducted in 10 countries at 29 centers with access to a European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation-registered transplant facility.

Phase 3 trials of solanezumab for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease is characterized by amyloid-beta plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, gliosis, and neuronal loss. Solanezumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, preferentially binds soluble forms of amyloid and in preclinical studies promoted its clearance from the brain.

Methods: In two phase 3, double-blind trials (EXPEDITION 1 and EXPEDITION 2), we randomly assigned 1012 and 1040 patients, respectively, with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease to receive placebo or solanezumab (administered intravenously at a dose of 400 mg) every 4 weeks for 18 months.

Results with a minimum of 10 years follow-up of the Coonrad/Morrey total elbow arthroplasty.

Introduction: Few series have evaluated the long-term results of total elbow arthroplasty (TEA).

Materials And Methods: Fifteen patients with a Coonrad/Morrey total elbow implant were reviewed with a minimum follow-up of 10 years. There were nine women and six men with a mean age of 55 years at surgery.

Morphology of the normal and arthritic glenoid.

The normal glenoid has a pear-shape aspect and is slightly retroverted. It has a variable orientation in the sagittal plane. The cartilage surface area corresponds to 28 % of the area of the humeral head with a radius of curvature greater than the humeral head.

High frequency of GATA2 mutations in patients with mild chronic neutropenia evolving to MonoMac syndrome, myelodysplasia, and acute myeloid leukemia.

Unlabelled: Congenital neutropenia is a group of genetic disorders that involve chronic neutropenia and susceptibility to infections. These neutropenias may be isolated or associated with immunologic defects or extra-hematopoietic manifestations. Complications may occur as infectious diseases, but also less frequently as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Pyoderma gangrenosum with necrotizing sclerokeratitis after cataract surgery.

A 78-year-old man who had had uneventful extracapsular cataract extraction in the left eye 3 months earlier developed pyoderma gangrenosum (PG)-associated peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK) after suture removal. The patient had a 13-year history of PG associated with monoclonal immunoglobulin-A gammopathy. He presented with extensive, painful PUK at the incision site, with a descemetocele and a high risk for perforation.

Evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 populations after resumption of therapy following treatment interruption and shift in resistance genotype.

Conventional genotyping of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 often reveals a shift from a drug-resistant genotype to a wild-type genotype after treatment interruption. A real-time polymerase chain reaction-based technique was used to detect minority resistant populations in 13 patients who showed genotype reversion after interruption of treatment for 3 months. Sixty-two percent of patients in whom the V82A and L90M protease mutations were no longer detectable by conventional genotyping still harbored minority resistant variants, in proportions ranging from 0.

[Transmission and prevention of viral hepatitis].

The ways of transmission of hepatotropic viruses are now fairly known. Populations at risk for these infections are precisely identified and preventive measures are efficient. Safe hygiene for oro-fecal as well as for sexual or blood transmission is accurately determined.

[Study of susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae to beta-lactams by using HTM gelose (Haemophilus test medium)].

HTM agar was used for in vitro study of bêta-lactam antibiotics activity on H. influenzae. Tested strains belong to the three ampicillin phenotypes: sensitive, betalactamase production and ampicillin resistance without production of betalactamase.

Peripheral intramonocytic leishmanias in an AIDS patient.

Intramonocytic leishmanias were unexpectedly observed in blood smears of a Spanish AIDS patient. In immunodepressed patients from exposed countries, careful microscopic examination of blood smears should be requested by the clinician in cases of prolonged fever, and biologists must be informed that leishmanias may be fortuitously observed in the peripheral blood.

[Initial antibacterial prophylaxis after bone marrow allograft. Pilot study with systemic vancomycin].

In 22 consecutive patients treated by allogenic bone marrow transplantation, the authors report their experience in complete gastrointestinal decontamination and prophylactic systemic vancomycin. Neither septicemia from the low digestive tract nor with Gram positive is noticed. A child developed septicemia with Capnocytophaga ochracea, resistant to vancomycin.

[The role of cryo-application in certain types of exudative retinal detachment].

The authors describe a patient with exudative retinal detachment who presented characteristics of uveal effusion syndrome and of idiopathic central serous choroidopathy. The causes and current approaches to treatment are discussed.

Intraaortic balloon counterpulsation and coronary angioplasty in high risk coronary heart patients.

Fifteen patients with severely damaged coronary circulation required temporary intraaortic balloon counterpulsation for pharmacologically uncontrollable chest pain and poor haemodynamic state (hypotension or shock) in connection with the transluminal coronary angioplasty procedure. Twenty-five angioplasties were attempted (1.75 artery stem/patient) with a primary success rate of 96%.