Pelvic pain after uterine artery embolization: a prospective randomized study of polyvinyl alcohol particles mixed with ketoprofen versus bland polyvinyl alcohol particles.

Purpose: To evaluate whether pelvic pain following uterine artery embolization (UAE) can be decreased by using ketoprofen mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA).

Materials And Methods: A randomized prospective study was performed in 80 patients (age range, 25-52 years; mean age, 41 years) undergoing UAE with PVA between March and August 2006. Forty patients received PVA particles mixed with ketoprofen, and 40 received bland PVA particles.

Klüver Bucy syndrome, unusual consequence of excessively rapid correction of severe hyponatremia.

Introduction: Features of Klüver-Bucy syndrome (KBS) include hypersexuality, hyperorality, placidity, visual agnosia, amnesia, hypermetamorphosis, and emotional and nutritional behavior changes. It is a clinical presentation of bitemporal disorders with limbic system abnormalities. The most common cause of KBS is herpes encephalitis.

The unexpected discovery of a focus of hepatitis C virus genotype 5 in a Syrian province.

Genotype 5 (G5) was initially discovered and is still mainly diagnosed in South Africa. No cases of G5 have ever been reported from the Middle East countries. The aim of the study was to determine the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype distribution in Syria and the prevalence of G5 in this country.

Prospective multicenter clinical trial of Uretex Sup for surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence.

Aim: To evaluate in a prospective multicenter study the efficacy and safety of the suburethral support Uretex (Sofradim, Trevoux, France) delivered by a suprapubic approach in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence.

Methods: Between March 2002 and March 2003, 57 patients were treated for stress urinary incontinence with Uretex. Preoperative evaluation included urodynamic examination and questionnaires (symptoms and quality of life, Contilife).

A new option for volumetric restoration: poly-L-lactic acid.

Objectives: The market for products and techniques that correct the visible signs of facial ageing is now huge. There is a diversity of devices and treatments now vying for a share of this growing marketplace, including polymer implants and injectable preparations that are based on an array of substances. The vast majority of these devices can only provide temporary correction of superficial lines and wrinkles, with volumetric augmentation being beyond their capabilities.

Management of pelvic stones larger than 20 mm: laparoscopic transperitoneal pyelolithotomy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy?

Unlabelled: Large pelvic stones are frequently managed with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) but laparoscopic transperitoneal pyelolithotomy (LTP) can be an alternative. We compared PCNL and LTP for the treatment of pelvic stones >20 mm in diameter.

Patients And Methods: Between November 1999 and November 2004, 16 consecutive patients, mean age 42, with a single pelvic stone >20 x 10 mm (group I), underwent LTP as first-line treatment or after shockwave lithotripsy failure.

New diagnostic techniques.

Objectives: To review current diagnostic strategies. To review alternative diagnostic techniques.

Results: The pathogen(s) responsible for onychomycosis must be identified to optimize treatment.

High prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency without gene mutation suggests a novel genetic mechanism predisposing to ketosis-prone diabetes.

Context: Ketosis-prone diabetes (KPD) is mostly observed in males of West African descent and is characterized by phasic or permanent insulin dependence without apparent autoimmune process.

Objective: KPD subjects display a propensity to hyperglycemia-induced acute insulin deficiency, suggesting that they exhibit a propensity to oxidative stress in beta-cells. The enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is a defense mechanism against oxidative stress, and G6PD deficiency, an X-linked genetic disorder with male predominance, is frequent in West Africans.

Development and evaluation of a Western blot kit for diagnosis of schistosomiasis.

We evaluated the performance of Western blot (WB) analysis using commercially available antigen strips and compared the results with those of indirect hemagglutination (IHA) and indirect immunofluorescence (IFAT) for the serodiagnosis of human schistosomiasis. The antigen preparation was a crude extract of Schistosoma mansoni. The WB profile characteristics of schistosomiasis were characterized by comparing the results for 58 serum samples from patients with parasitologically proven S.

The cost-effectiveness of prophylaxis with valaciclovir in the management of cytomegalovirus after renal transplantation.

Prophylaxis-based antiviral treatment and intensive monitoring followed by pre-emptive antiviral treatment are both commonly used management strategies to reduce risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following renal transplantation. This study employed a decision-model approach using published efficacy data and information from a recent survey of French clinical practice to consider the relative costs and outcomes associated with CMV prevention strategies for high-risk patient groups. The cost per case of treating tissue invasive and symptomatic CMV disease was estimated at euro 15,431 and euro 10,852, respectively.

Encrusted cystitis and pyelitis in children: an unusual condition with potentially severe consequences.

Objectives: To report our experience with the management of encrusted cystitis and pyelitis (EC and EP) in the pediatric population. EC and EP are well-known entities in adults but are rarely identified in children. They consist of mucosal encrustations and are due to specific microorganisms.

Autologous stem cell transplantation in the treatment of systemic sclerosis: report from the EBMT/EULAR Registry.

Objective: To analyse the durability of the responses after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for severe systemic sclerosis (SSc) and determine whether the high transplant related mortality (TRM) improved with experience. This EBMT/EULAR report describes the longer outcome of patients originally described in addition to newly recruited cases.

Methods: Only patients with SSc, treated by HSCT in European phase I-II studies from 1996 up to 2002, with more than 6 months of follow up were included.

Predicting the costs of allogeneic sibling stem-cell transplantation: results from a prospective, multicenter, French study.

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation is a widely used, cost-intensive procedure. Our purpose was to estimate costs and determine cost predictors.

Methods: We used data from a prospective French study comparing four doses of immunoglobulins.

Comparison of progesterone concentration determination by 12 non-isotopic immunoassays and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in 99 human serum samples.

A single serum progesterone determination may be highly predictive for early pregnancy and in vitro fertilisation and embryo-transfer outcomes. We therefore compared 12 direct non-isotopic progesterone immunoassays with gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). For each assay, data from the analysis of 99 individual sera were compared with data obtained by GC/MS, using regression and bias plot analyses and the ratio method.

The conservative management of corynebacterium group D2 encrusted pyelitis.

Objective: To evaluate the conservative management of encrusted pyelitis (EP), an infectious disease caused by urea-splitting micro-organisms (Corynebacterium group D2 being the most common), and characterized by stone encrustation of the collecting system.

Patients And Methods: Four patients (aged 17-62 years) with EP caused by Corynebacterium group D2 were treated conservatively with intravenous vancomycin and percutaneous acidification of the renal collecting system. Percutaneous nephrostomy tubes were placed to allow irrigation with Thomas' acid solution, the outflow being ensured by ureteric catheters.

An experimental model of bulbar urethral stricture in rabbits using endoscopic radiofrequency coagulation.

Objectives: To develop an experimental model of endoscopic urethral stricture mimicking the human clinical situation.

Methods: Twenty-four New Zealand male rabbits were included. Eighteen animals (study group) underwent videourethroscopy with a pediatric resectoscope, and a 3 to 5-mm-long circumferential electrocoagulation of the bulbar urethra was performed, without postoperative urinary diversion.

Phase II trial of a combination of vinorelbine, cyclophosphamide and 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerance of a combination (CT) chemotherapy of Vinorelbine (VNB), Cyclophosphamide (CPA) and 5-Fluorouracil (FU) for the treatment of advanced breast cancer.

Patients And Treatment: Forty five women with measurable or evaluable metastatic, locoregionally advanced or relapsing breast cancer have entered the study. Thirty eight patients were not exposed to treatment other than adjuvant CT while 5 were heavily pretreated.

Treatment of salivary stones by extracorporeal lithotripsy.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of extracorporeal lithotripsy (ECL) in the treatment of salivary stones.

Patients And Methods: In a prospective study, an additional 15 patients suffering from sialolithiasis were treated by applying extracorporeally generated shock waves. No patients needed general anaesthesia, sedatives, or analgesics.

Multicentric Castleman's disease in HIV infection: a clinical and pathological study of 20 patients.

Objectives: To describe, in a retrospective study, the clinical and pathological spectrum of multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD) in HIV infection.

Patients: The diagnosis of MCD was established by lymph node biopsy in 20 HIV-infected patients. All patients had been HIV-infected by sexual contact.

Postoperative radiation therapy in 26 patients with invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract: no impact on survival?

Purpose: To evaluate the role of adjuvant radiation therapy in invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract, we retrospectively reviewed a series of 26 patients who underwent radical surgery plus postoperative prophylactic irradiation for such a tumor.

Materials And Methods: Between February 1980 and October 1993, 18 men and 8 women (mean age 65 +/- 9 years, standard deviation) were treated for an invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract. Tumor location was the renal pelvis in 15 patients (58%).

Granzyme B and perforin lytic proteins are expressed in CD34+ peripheral blood progenitor cells mobilized by chemotherapy and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor.

Granzyme B and perforin are cytoplasmic granule-associated proteins used by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells to kill their targets. However, granzyme B gene expression has also been detected in a non-cytotoxic hematopoietic murine multipotent stem cell line, FDCP-Mix. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether granzyme B and perforin could be expressed in human hematopoietic CD34+ cells and if present, discover what their physiologic relevance could be.