Sarcoidosis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome treated with interleukin-2.

Concomitant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and sarcoidosis is rare. Sarcoidlike reactions could belong to the "highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)-induced immune restitution syndrome." We report a case of sarcoidosis beginning after 2 months of interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy in a patient with HIV who had undetectable plasmatic viral load under HAART and we discuss possible mechanisms.

Visual sensitivity to temporal modulations of temporal noise.

The present endeavor is meant (a) to provide a direct comparison between first- and second-order temporal modulation and, by so doing, (b) to eliminate all spatial clues that might have contaminated previous assessments of the second-order temporal modulation transfer function (TMTF). The second aim was achieved by means of the temporal modulation of a purely temporal white noise, a stimulus used frequently in psychoacoustics but not used as yet in visual stimulation. Luminance and contrast temporal modulation thresholds were measured with a 2AFC staircase procedure.

The pediatric team and the consulting child psychiatrist and the hospitalized depressed infant.

The link between pediatricians and child mental health professionals is a complex, but fascinating issue. Based on our clinical experience, this paper will discuss the issue of depression in very young children hospitalized for serious illness in a general pediatric ward, and its theoretical implications. We begin with a clinical vignette, followed by a review of several clinical phenomena including anticipated bereavement (either by the parents or the medical team, or both), some high-tech medical conditions specific to neonatology and joint parents-infant hospitalization as well as relating the above to psychoanalytical concepts.

Sodium hyaluronate therapy in osteoarthritis: arguments for a potential beneficial structural effect.

Objectives: Currently, available therapies for managing osteoarthritis (OA) provide symptomatic relief. Theoretical evidence suggests that exogenous hyaluronan (HA) administered as an intra-articular injection may slow disease progression. The purpose of this review is to discuss cellular and immunologic effects of HA that could affect OA progression and to present data from a clinical trial that evaluated HA structural effects.

Failure to handle more than one internal representation in visual detection tasks.

Perceptual studies make a clear distinction between sensitivity and decision criterion. The former is taken to characterize the processing efficiency of the underlying sensory system and it increases with stimulus strength. The latter is regarded as the manifestation of a subjective operation whereby individuals decide on (as opposed to react reflexively to) the occurrence of an event based on factors such as expectation and payoff, in addition to its strength.

Kinesthetic and visual image in modeling closed motor skills: the example of the tennis serve.

It was assumed that kinesthetic modeling has more beneficial effects on learning the tennis serve than visual modeling because the spatial anchor points used to reach targets within the vicinity of the body are mainly defined with respect to the body. Also, we predicted that the efficiency of modeling is also affected by the way the representations are activated mentally. Thirty two participants were assigned to kinesthetic or visual modeling with or without mental practice.

Protection of the young child's brain: personal observations and thoughts in postwar stress syndrome and in natural catastrophes. The Nils Rosén von Rosenstein Lecture at Uppsala University, 6 May 1999.

This paper calls attention to the plight of children exposed to various traumas associated with wars and other natural disasters around the world. Little systematic attention has been paid to the mental health needs of child survivors of armed conflict. Our observations since 1968 and experiences around the world suggest that there are significant differences in the degree to which children have been prepared in anticipation of exposure to violence and in interventions applied after their exposure.

Urinary continence following radical prostatectomy assessed by a self-administered questionnaire.

Objectives: A total aim of this study was to assess the incidence of urinary incontinence in patients following radical prostatectomy and determine the factors that may influence this incidence.

Methods: A total of 135 men underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy at our center between 1987 and 1997. 120 patients were sent a questionnaire regarding preoperative and postoperative voiding habits.

Osteoporosis, body composition, and bone turnover in ankylosing spondylitis.

Objective: To study the prevalence of osteoporosis (OP) and osteopenia in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to investigate the relationship between symptomatic and structural severity, the indices of bone turnover, and body composition.

Methods: Eighty patients with AS were enrolled prospectively: 52 men (65%) and 28 women, mean age 36.7 years +/- 11.

Accuracy and precision of 62 bone densitometers using a European Spine Phantom.

Dual-energy absorptiometry (DXA) is widely used for bone mineral density measurements. Different types of devices are available. Differences between devices from either the same manufacturer or different manufacturers can lead to difficulties in clinical practice when patients are followed on different machines.

Concordance between abdominal scintigraphy using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime-labelled leucocytes and ileocolonoscopy in patients with spondyloarthropathies and without clinical evidence of inflammatory bowel disease.

Objective: To study the concordance between abdominal scintigraphy using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO)-labelled leucocytes (ASTLL) and ileocolonoscopy in patients with spondyloarthropathies (SpA) and without clinical evidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Patients And Methods: Fifteen patients with SpA (European Spondylarthropathy Study Group 1991 criteria) without clinical evidence of IBD were studied prospectively with ASTLL and ileocolonoscopy.

Results: This cohort consisted of seven men and eight women aged 31.

Silver/silver chloride electrodes for measurement of potential difference in human bronchi.

Background: An easy and reliable method to measure potential difference (PD) in the lower airways would be of interest in the field of cystic fibrosis. We have developed silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes to measure PD in the lower airways.

Methods: To validate this technique the nasal PD measured with Ag/AgCl electrodes and with conventional perfused electrodes was compared in 16 patients.

Circulating leptin level and growth hormone response to stimulation tests in obese and normal children.

Objective: Growth hormone secretion is decreased in obese subjects, and their GH response to stimulation tests is blunted. The mechanisms relating excess adipose mass and GH secretion are unknown. We hypothesized that leptin might be a signal linking adipose mass to GH secretion.

Relationships between nasal potential difference and respiratory function in adults with cystic fibrosis.

This study investigated the relations between nasal transepithelial electric potential difference (PD) and the phenotype and genotype of cystic fibrosis (CF) adult patients. Basal nasal PD was measured in 95 adult CF patients who were classified into three groups of nasal PD (expressed as absolute values) according to the 10th and the 90th percentiles (28.3 and 49.

Acute hemodynamic interaction of aspirin and ticlopidine with enalapril: results of a double-blind, randomized comparative trial.

Background: Coprescription of aspirin and ACE inhibitors is frequent in heart failure caused by coronary artery disease. Negative interaction between aspirin and enalapril has been reported, presumably through inhibition by aspirin of ACE inhibitor-induced prostaglandin synthesis. Ticlopidine is a potent antiplatelet agent without interaction with prostaglandin synthesis.

Blood gas measurement during exercise: a comparative study between arterialized earlobe sampling and direct arterial puncture in adults.

Sampling arterialized earlobe blood is thought to be easier and less painful than direct arterial puncture, and to allow measurement of blood gas values during exercise without the need to insert an arterial cannula. However, arterialized earlobe oxygen tension (PO2) often underestimates arterial PO2 at rest, and is not fully validated during exercise. We have therefore conducted a prospective study to compare values of PO2 and carbon dioxide tension (PCO2) and the discomfort experienced by adult subjects undergoing the two methods of blood sampling during exercise.

Spatio-temporal vernier acuity.

The study of space-time vernier (STV) provides information on the spatio-temporal structure of the visual system in the same way that the classical spatio-spatial vernier (SSV) provides information on its spatial structure. The transposition of a SSV task into a STV one yields the following experimental format: an object (in the present case a Gaussian Blob) drifts with a constant velocity, V, disappears at x0, t0 and reappears after a variable duration delta t at a position x1 +/- delta x with x1 the correct position (given a constant V) and delta x the minimum (positive and negative) spatial offset discriminable from x0, i.e.

Changes in plasma and amniotic fluid endothelin levels during pregnancy: facts or artefacts?

Objective: To describe the evolution of immunoreactive endothelins (irETs) in maternal peripheral plasma and in amniotic fluid at different stages of pregnancy using two different radioimmunoassays.

Study Design: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from ten non-pregnant and eighty-four pregnant patients at different stages of pregnancy, but not in labor. Amniotic fluid samples were obtained in ten patients during the second trimester of pregnancy and in twenty-two patients at term.

2D motion aliasing yielding 3D ambiguity. A study with variants of a Necker cube.

The 2D projection of a rotating Necker cube yields an ambiguous 3D interpretation based on both 2D shape and kinetic depth information. The present study shows that the alternation rate of the two 3D interpretations is constant with the rotation speed up to some critical value (around 25 turns/min for a cube whose sides subtend 2.5 deg) and increases monotonically thereafter.

Twenty-year experience with jejunal conduits.

Objectives: To assess the results of jejunal conduit urinary diversion, with particular attention to electrolyte imbalance and long-term renal function.

Methods: From 1976 to 1994, 50 patients underwent urinary diversion using a short jejunal loop (10 to 12 cm) placed transperitoneally. Of these patients, 18 received pelvic irradiation before diversion.

One-week and six-month angiographic controls of stent implantation after occlusive and nonocclusive dissection during primary balloon angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction.

We prospectively assessed in 124 consecutive patients by means of 1-week and 6-month follow-up angiograms the rate of reocclusion and restenosis of coronary stenting with Palmaz-Schatz stents after occlusive and nonocclusive dissection during primary balloon angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Patients were further evaluated clinically at 1 year. Stenting was performed on large (>3.

Immediate coronary angiography in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Background: The incidence of acute coronary-artery occlusion among patients with sudden cardiac arrest outside of the hospital is unknown, and the role of reperfusion therapy has not been determined. We therefore performed immediate coronary angiography and angioplasty when indicated in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Methods: Between September 1994 and August 1996, coronary angiography was performed in 84 consecutive patients between the ages of 30 and 75 years who had no obvious noncardiac cause of cardiac arrest.

High susceptibility to collagen-induced arthritis in mice lacking IFN-gamma receptors.

Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), an animal model for rheumatoid arthritis, is induced in DBA/1 (H-2q) mice following immunization with type II collagen (CII) in CFA. Since we have previously shown that IFN-gamma exerts a biphasic effect during the evolution of CIA in DBA/1 mice, we analyzed the development of this disease in mice with a disruption of the IFN-gamma receptor gene (IFN-gammaR(0/0)). Mutant mice were interbred with the DBA/1 strain to yield IFN-gammaR(0/0) mice expressing the H-2q haplotype.

Pharmacological and therapeutic basis for combined administration of beta blockers and calcium channel blockers in the treatment of stable chronic angina.

Pharmacodynamics of beta-adrenergic blockers and dihydropyridines are potentially synergic in the treatment of angina pectoris. The anti-ischaemic effect of beta blockers is mainly the consequence of reductions in heart rate and inotropism, while DHPs promote afterload reduction and coronary vasodilation. Furthermore, beta blockers antagonise the possible dihydropyridines-induced reflex sympathetic activation.