Meta-analysis: hyperhomocysteinaemia in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Background: The magnitude of association between homocysteine metabolism and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) remains unknown, whereas the association between hyperhomocysteinaemia and thrombosis remains controversial in IBD.

Aim: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine these issues.

Methods: The literature search was conducted using MEDLINE database and international conference abstracts from January 1966 to April 2011 and included all studies that evaluated plasma homocysteine level in IBD.

The use of azathioprine in Crohn's disease during pregnancy and in the post-operative setting: a worldwide survey of experts.

Background: Although thiopurines are considered safe in humans, they are still pregnancy FDA category D drugs. Prevention of post-operative recurrence is a challenge in clinical practice in Crohn's disease. The European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation consensus states that thiopurines should be considered in high-risk patients.

Posturography and risk of recurrent falls in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Background: A poor postural stability in older people is associated with an increased risk of falling. The posturographic tool has widely been used to assess balance control; however, its value in predicting falls remains unclear.

Objective: The purpose of this prospective study was to determine the predictive value of posturography in the estimation of the risk of recurrent falls, including a comparison with standard clinical balance tests, in healthy non-institutionalized persons aged over 65.

Developmental biology of urodele amphibians in microgravity conditions.

Among the urodele amphibians, only Cynops pyrrhogaster and Pleurodeles waltl, two species of the Salamandridae family, were used in space experiments. The advantages for using urodeles reside (i) in reproduction: a few months after natural breeding, females can lay eggs in absence of males after a hormonal treatment, because spermatozoa were preserved in the cloacal pelvic glands of matted females, (ii) in the rate of development which is slower in Cynops and Pleurodeles than in the anuran Xenopus, (iii) in their physiological properties: they can live in a closed water container or in a moisturized environment, and they can fast during several days. Moreover, urodeles have an important phylogenetic interest.

Effects of aging and antihypertensive treatment on aortic internal diameter in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The effect of antihypertensive treatment on the development of large-artery remodeling in young animals has been widely studied, but reversal of established changes in older hypertensive animals has been largely ignored, although the latter represents a better paradigm for the human condition. We studied the effect of treatment with captopril plus hydrochlorothiazide, from 3 months onward, on geometry and wall stress of the thoracic aorta of adult (9 months, maturation) and old (15 months, senescence) spontaneously hypertensive rats; normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats were used as controls. At 3 months of age, blood pressure, medial cross-sectional area, and internal diameter were higher in spontaneously hypertensive rats than in Wistar-Kyoto rats.