Ovarian tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with sickle cell disease: safety, ovarian function follow-up, and results of ovarian tissue transplantation.

Purpose: To describe the experience of performing ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), among girls/women with severe sickle cell disease (SCD)(SS or S/β-thalassemia) who are, besides the usual surgical risk, at risk of SCD-related complications during the fertility preservation procedure for improving their counseling and management.

Methods: This retrospective study included 75 patients (girls/women) with SCD who have had OTC before myeloablative conditioning regimen (MAC) for HSCT. Characteristics of patients and data on OTC, ovarian status follow-up, and results of ovarian tissue transplantation (OTT) were collected in medical records.

A 10-year experience in testicular tissue cryopreservation for boys under 18 years of age: What can be learned from 350 cases?

Background: A growing number of centers worldwide are preserving testicular tissue (TT) of young boys at risk of fertility loss to preserve their fertility. Data in this regard are scarce and experience sharing is essential to the optimization of the process.

Objectives: This report of our 10-year activity of pediatric fertility preservation (FP) has the objective to (1) improve knowledge regarding the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and potential usefulness of the procedure; (2) analyze the impact of chemotherapy on spermatogonia in the cryopreserved TT.

AKT activity orchestrates marginal zone B cell development in mice and humans.

The signals controlling marginal zone (MZ) and follicular (FO) B cell development remain incompletely understood. Here, we show that AKT orchestrates MZ B cell formation in mice and humans. Genetic models that increase AKT signaling in B cells or abolish its impact on FoxO transcription factors highlight the AKT-FoxO axis as an on-off switch for MZ B cell formation in mice.

Association of Organizational Pathways With the Delay of Emergency Surgery.

Importance: Delayed admission of patients with surgical emergencies to the operating room occurs frequently and is associated with poor outcomes. In France, where 3 distinct organizational pathways in hospitals exist (a dedicated emergency operating room and team [DET], a dedicated operating room in a central operating theater [DOR], and no dedicated structure or team [NOR]), neither the incidence nor the influence of delayed urgent surgery is known, and no guidelines are available to date.

Objective: To examine the overall frequency of delayed admission of patients with surgical emergencies to the operating room across the 3 organizational pathways in hospitals in France.

The Impact of Patients With Cardiac Amyloidosis in HFpEF Trials.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is an increasingly diagnosed condition whose failure to respond to new drugs effective in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction is of great concern. HFpEF is an incompletely understood and markedly heterogeneous syndrome, but cardiac amyloidosis is increasingly recognized as one of its various causes. The specific hemodynamic and pathophysiological features of cardiac amyloidosis result in poor tolerance of heart failure medications and in worse outcomes compared with other causes.

Appropriate thresholds for accurate screening for β-thalassemias in the newborn period: results from a French center for newborn screening.

Objectives: Newborn screening (NBS) for β-thalassemia is based on measuring the expression of the hemoglobin A (HbA) fraction. An absence or very low level of HbA at birth may indicate β-thalassemia. The difficulty is that the HbA fraction at birth is correlated with gestational age (GA) and highly variable between individuals.

Patient Specific Computer Modelling for Automated Sizing of Fenestrated Stent Grafts.

Objective: The aim was to validate a computational patient specific model of Zenith® fenestrated device deployment in abdominal aortic aneurysms to predict fenestration positions.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of the accuracy of numerical simulation for fenestrated stent graft sizing. Finite element computational simulation was performed in 51 consecutive patients that underwent successful endovascular repair with Zenith® fenestrated stent grafts in two vascular surgery units with a high volume of aortic procedures.

Extensive multilineage analysis in patients with mixed chimerism after allogeneic transplantation for sickle cell disease: insight into hematopoiesis and engraftment thresholds for gene therapy.

Although studies of mixed chimerism following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) may provide insights into the engraftment needed to correct the disease and into immunological reconstitution, an extensive multilineage analysis is lacking. We analyzed chimerism simultaneously in peripheral erythroid and granulomonocytic precursors/progenitors, highly purified B and T lymphocytes, monocytes, granulocytes and red blood cells (RBC). Thirty-four patients with mixed chimerism and ≥12 months of follow-up were included.

Akt-activated endothelium promotes ovarian cancer proliferation through notch activation.

Background: One main challenge in ovarian cancer rests on the presence of a relapse and an important metastatic disease, despite extensive surgical debulking and chemotherapy. The difficulty in containing metastatic cancer is partly due to the heterotypic interaction of tumor and its microenvironment. In this context, evidence suggests that endothelial cells (EC) play an important role in ovarian tumor growth and chemoresistance.

Surgical peritoneal stress creates a pro-metastatic niche promoting resistance to apoptosis via IL-8.

Background: The mainstay of treatment of advanced ovarian cancer (AOC) involves chemotherapy, and debulking surgery. However, despite optimal surgical procedure and adjuvant chemotherapy, 60% of patients with AOC will relapse within 5 years. Most recurrences occur in the peritoneal cavity, suggesting the existence of occult sanctuaries where ovarian cancer cells (OCC) are protected.

Determinants of daily pain trajectories and relationship with pain acceptability in hip and knee osteoarthritis. A national prospective cohort study on 886 patients.

Objectives: To study daily pain trajectories (DPT) in patients with knee (KOA) and hip osteoarthritis (HOA) over a one-month period and identify relationships with patients characteristics and acceptability.

Methods: This prospective, multicenter cohort study was conducted in France by 602 GPs, on outpatients, with painful KOA or HOA. Patients were asked to fill-in a 28-days daily pain diary.

CCL2/CCL5 secreted by the stroma induce IL-6/PYK2 dependent chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.

Background: Minimal residual disease is the main issue of advanced ovarian cancer treatment. According to the literature and previous results, we hypothesized that Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSC) could support this minimal residual disease by protecting ovarian cancer cells (OCC) from chemotherapy. In vitro study confirmed that MSC could induce OCC chemoresistance without contact using transwell setting.

Massive Accumulation of Myofibroblasts in the Critical Isthmus Is Associated With Ventricular Tachycardia Inducibility in Post-Infarct Swine Heart.

Objectives: In this study the authors determined the extent of cellular infiltration and dispersion, and regional vascularization in electrophysiologically (EP) defined zones in post-myocardial infarction (MI) swine ventricle.

Background: The critical isthmus (CI) in post-MI re-entrant ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a target for catheter ablation. In vitro evidence suggests that myofibroblasts (MFB) within the scar border zone (BZ) may increase the susceptibility to slow conduction and VT, but whether this occurs in vivo remains unproven.

Sickle cell disease: an international survey of results of HLA-identical sibling hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Despite advances in supportive therapy to prevent complications of sickle cell disease (SCD), access to care is not universal. Hematopoietic cell transplantation is, to date, the only curative therapy for SCD, but its application is limited by availability of a suitable HLA-matched donor and lack of awareness of the benefits of transplant. Included in this study are 1000 recipients of HLA-identical sibling transplants performed between 1986 and 2013 and reported to the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Eurocord, and the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research.

Central sleep apnea in children: experience at a single center.

Objective: Central sleep apnea (CSA) syndromes are rare in children and data in children over one year of age are scarce. The aim of the study was to describe the sleep characteristics, underlying disorders, management, and outcome of children with CSA.

Patients/methods: A retrospective chart review of all children >1 year of age, diagnosed with CSA on a laboratory sleep study during a 20-month period, was performed.

Sleep study as a diagnostic tool for unexplained respiratory failure in infants hospitalized in the PICU.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the diagnostic and therapeutic value of a polygraphy (PG) in infants hospitalized for unexplained respiratory failure or life-threatening events in the PICU.

Material And Methods: The PG of 13 infants (4 girls), mean age 6.8±7.