Patient-reported Outcomes in a French Nationwide Survey of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients.

Background: Patient reported-outcomes [PROs] are a major therapeutic goal in inflammatory bowel disease [IBD].

Methods: Between January and June 2014, patients affiliated with the French national IBD association filled out six self-questionnaires: quality of life 9QoL, according to the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire [SIBDQ] and the Short-Form-36 Questionnaire [SF-36] v2); fatigue (the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue [FACIT-F]); work productivity (the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment [WPAI] questionnaire); disability [the I nflammatory Bowel Disease Disability Index]; and anxiety/depression (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale [HADS]). Associated factors were identified by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Cumulative Length of Bowel Resection in a Population-Based Cohort of Patients With Crohn's Disease.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the cumulative extent of bowel resection among patients with Crohn's disease.

Methods: Using the resources of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, we identified a cohort of 310 incident cases of Crohn's disease from Olmsted County, Minnesota who were diagnosed between 1970 and 2004. Operative and pathology reports were reviewed for bowel resection length.

Development of an algorithm incorporating pharmacokinetics of adalimumab in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Objectives: Several decision algorithms based on the measurement of infliximab (IFX) trough levels and antibodies to IFX have been proposed. Whether such algorithms can be extrapolated to the pharmacokinetics of adalimumab (ADA) has yet to be determined.

Methods: A prospective study included all consecutive patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) having a disease flare while being on ADA 40 mg every 2 weeks were included.

The prevalence of inflammatory sacroiliitis assessed on magnetic resonance imaging of inflammatory bowel disease: a retrospective study performed on 186 patients.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) colonography or enterography is increasingly used to assess disease activity and complications in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, no study has evaluated the role of this imaging technique to assess sacroiliitis.

Aim: The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of inflammatory sacroiliitis on MRI performed for IBD investigation.

Flexed-knee gait in children with cerebral palsy: a 10-year follow-up study.

Background: While several studies have evaluated the short-term effectiveness of conservative and surgical treatment of flexed-knee gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP), few have explored the long-term outcomes using gait analysis. The purpose of this study was to examine, through gait analysis, the 10-year outcomes of flexed-knee gait in children with CP.

Methods: Ninety-seven children with spastic CP who walked with a flexed-knee gait underwent two gait evaluations [age 6.

Association between pharmacokinetics of adalimumab and mucosal healing in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Background & Aims: Little is known about the association between pharmacokinetic features of adalimumab and mucosal healing in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 40 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) who received adalimumab maintenance therapy and underwent endoscopic evaluation of disease activity and pharmacokinetic analysis (measurements of trough levels and antibodies against adalimumab). Patients in clinical remission were identified based on CD activity index scores less than 150 or Mayo scores less than 3 (for those with UC).

Submucosal plexitis as a predictor of postoperative surgical recurrence in Crohn's disease.

Background: The presence of submucosal or myenteric plexitis was associated with clinical and endoscopic Crohn's disease (CD) recurrence after ileocolonic resection. We assessed the value of both submucosal and myenteric plexitis for predicting postoperative surgical recurrence in CD.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study using the database of the Department of Pathology of Nancy University Hospital.

Bacterial sensor triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 regulates the mucosal inflammatory response.

Background And Aims: Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM)-2 is a surface receptor detected on macrophages, dendritic cells, and microglia that binds repeated anionic motifs on yeast and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Little is known about TREM-2 expression and function in the intestine or its role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We investigated the expression of TREM-2 in the intestinal lamina propria and its role in the development of colonic inflammation.

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.

Stress response and humoral immune system alterations related to chronic hypergravity in mice.

Spaceflights are known to induce stress and immune dysregulation. Centrifugation, as hindlimb unloading, is a good ground based-model to simulate altered gravity which occurs during space missions. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of a long-term exposure to different levels of hypergravity on the stress response and the humoral immunity in a mouse model.

Increased risk for nonmelanoma skin cancers in patients who receive thiopurines for inflammatory bowel disease.

Background & Aims: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who have been exposed to thiopurines might have an increased risk of skin cancer. We assessed this risk among patients in France.

Methods: We performed a prospective observational cohort study of 19,486 patients with IBD, enrolled from May 2004 to June 2005, who were followed up until December 31, 2007.

Drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with postural control abnormalities.

Epilepsy is responsible for falls that are not systematically associated with seizures and that therefore suggest postural impairment. There are very few studies of postural control in patients with epilepsy and none of them focus on temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), although part of the vestibular cortex is located in the temporal cortex. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of postural control in a homogeneous population of patients with complex partial TLE.

Review article: remission rates achievable by current therapies for inflammatory bowel disease.

Background: New medical therapies have improved outlook in inflammatory bowel disease but published impact on surgical rates has been modest suggesting that many patients are still not attaining remission.

Aim: To review remission rates with current medical treatments for inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE (source PUBMED, 1966 to January, 2011).

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.

Transitional prosthodontic treatment on implant: A new orthodontic proposal.

This article describes a new alternative for first-line transitional prostheses in a case of extensive anterior restoration. The patient, a 51-year-old woman, presented with a loose fixed partial denture. Poor bone density prevented immediate loading and, because of her work, she would not accept to wear a removable partial denture.

Exercise and dehydration: A possible role of inner ear in balance control disorder.

To study the effect of exercise and dehydration on the postural sensory-motor strategies, 10 sportsmen performed a 45 min-exercise on a cycle ergometer at intensity just below the ventilatory threshold without fluid intake. They performed, before, immediately and 20 min after exercise, a sensory organization test to evaluate balance control in six different sensory situations, that combine three visual conditions (eyes open, eyes closed and sway-referenced visual surround motion) with two platform conditions (stable platform, sway-referenced platform motion). Blood samples were collected before and after exercise.

On the role of knee joint in balance control and postural strategies: effects of total knee replacement in elderly subjects with knee osteoarthritis.

This study aimed to evaluate the role of the knee joint in the neurosensory organization of balance control and the generation of postural sensorimotor strategies. Ten patients, aged over 60 years and having undergone unilateral total knee replacement (TKR) for osteoarthritis, and 20 controls were submitted to static and dynamic posturographic tests and to a sensory organization test (SOT) aiming at evaluating postural control in quiet stance and during movement. The patients were submitted to these evaluations after the disappearance of pain (TKR(1)) and at the end of a 6-week rehabilitation program (TKR(2)).

Molecular characterization of Pleurodeles waltl activation-induced cytidine deaminase.

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is involved in immunoglobulin affinity maturation, gene conversion and class switch recombination. This protein is therefore a major actor in the creation of the antibody repertoire. We have isolated, for the first time, the AID mRNA from a urodele amphibian, Pleurodeles waltl.

Comparison of the effects of semicarbazide and beta-aminopropionitrile on the arterial extracellular matrix in the Brown Norway rat.

To investigate a putative role for semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) in arterial extracellular matrix (ECM) organization, we compared arteries of growing Brown Norway (BN) rats after chronic administration of semicarbazide (SCZ) and beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), two inhibitors with different properties and relative specificities for SSAO and lysyl oxidase (LOX). The BN model is particularly well adapted to evaluating effects of toxic compounds on the arterial elastic network. We measured aortic LOX and SSAO activities and quantified several ECM parameters.

Arterial switch operation with a single coronary artery: the autograft concept.

A single coronary artery, especially if associated with anterior looping, remains a risk factor when performing an arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries. In such a situation, to avoid the risk of overstretching, we used a modification of the aortic autograft concept to transfer the single coronary artery, resulting in a tension-free relocation.