Impact of Direct Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Without Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty on Procedural and Clinical Outcomes: Insights From the FRANCE TAVI Registry.

Objectives: This study sought to describe the current practices and compare outcomes according to the use of balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) or not during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Background: Since its development, aortic valve pre-dilatation has been an essential step of TAVR procedures. However, the feasibility of TAVR without systematic BAV has been described.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is diagnosed at a later stage in alcoholic patients: Results of a prospective, nationwide study.

Background: Recent data suggest that alcohol-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is diagnosed at a later stage. The aim of this study was to compare HCC characteristics and outcomes in an alcohol-related group (group A) and a non-alcohol-related group (group NA).

Methods: A total of 1207 patients with newly diagnosed HCC were prospectively included between May 2008 and October 2009.

Temporal Trends in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in France: FRANCE 2 to FRANCE TAVI.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is standard therapy for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high surgical risk. However, national data regarding procedural characteristics and clinical outcomes over time are limited.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess nationwide performance trends and clinical outcomes of TAVR during a 6-year period.

Gastrointestinal haemorrhage due to lymphangiectasia caused by protein-losing enteropathy in the Fontan circulation.

We report the case of a 14-year-old boy with severe protein-losing enteropathy after Fontan surgery that led to lymphangiectasia, which caused gastrointestinal haemorrhage and required invasive treatment to stop the bleeding. Through this case and a review of the literature on protein-losing enteropathy after Fontan surgery, we highlight a rare and serious presentation of the disease and the difficulties of diagnosis and management.

Prognostic role of circulating exosomal miRNAs in multiple myeloma.

Exosomes, secreted by several cell types, including cancer cells, can be isolated from the peripheral blood and have been shown to be powerful markers of disease progression in cancer. In this study, we examined the prognostic significance of circulating exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) in multiple myeloma (MM). A cohort of 156 patients with newly diagnosed MM, uniformly treated and followed, was studied.

How can nanoparticles contribute to antituberculosis therapy?

Therapeutic approaches using nanoparticles are being successfully used in foods and in several fields of medicine, including infectious diseases. Regarding tuberculosis (TB) treatment, nanoparticles can be a useful strategy for two distinct applications: (i) for their intrinsic antimycobacterial activity; (ii) as vehicles for known antitubercular drugs to allow reduction of dose- and drug-associated side-effects and administration via user-friendly administration routes such as pulmonary or oral ones. Promising results were obtained in vitro and in animal Mycobacterium tuberculosis models and need now to be translated into clinical drug candidates.

Role of robotic surgery in the management of deep infiltrating endometriosis.

Standard laparoscopy (SL) is the gold standard for endometriosis surgery including deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). DIE laparoscopic surgery can require complex surgical procedures performed by multidisciplinary surgical team. Robotic assisted laparoscopy (RAL) could offer technical advantages such as 3D vision, tremor filtration and better surgical ergonomy.

Multi-agent Architecture for the Multi-Skill Tasks Modeling at the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Patient journey in the Pediatric Emergency Department is a highly complex process. Current approaches for modeling are insufficient because they either focus only on the single ancillary units, or therefore do not consider the entire treatment process of the patients, or they do not account for the dynamics of the patient journey modeling. Therefore, we propose an agent based approach in which patients and emergency department human resources are represented as autonomous agents who are able to react flexible to changes and disturbances through pro-activeness and reactiveness.

Pelvic endometriosis in women under 25: a specific management?

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of women under 25 years with pelvic endometriosis and assess their potential for recurrence and fertility after surgery.

Methods: In a comparative retrospective study, 108 patients aged less than 25 years who underwent surgery for pelvic endometriosis were included: 49 in the DIE group (deep infiltrating endometriosis) and 59 in the SE group (superficial endometriosis). The main outcome measures were complications, recurrence and fertility.

Non-esterified fatty acids are deleterious for human pancreatic islet function at physiological glucose concentration.

Aims/hypothesis: Whether excess glucose (glucotoxicity) and excess non-esterified fatty acids (lipotoxicity) act synergistically or separately to alter beta-cell function on Type 2 diabetes remains controversial. We examined the influence of non-esterified fatty acids, with or without concomitant increased glucose concentrations, on human islet function and on the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism.

Methods: Human islets isolated from non-diabetic and non-obese donors were cultured with 5.

Human pancreatic ductal cells: large-scale isolation and expansion.

The in vitro differentiation of pancreatic stem cells has recently been shown to represent a new source of beta cells for cell therapy in diabetes. Human ductal cell differentiation, in vitro, has been documented in three-dimensional (3D) culture and recently substantiated. Although encouraging, the optimization of the ductal cell source, expansion and differentiation ex vivo are mandatory for clinical relevance.

Ductal cyst formation in collagen-embedded adult human islet preparations. A means to the reproduction of nesidioblastosis in vitro.

Neogenesis of endocrine islets from ductal epithelium termed nesidioblastosis has been described in vivo after various experimental conditions (90% pancreatectomy or pancreas wrapping in the rodent) and in clinical pathologies. In the adult regenerating pancreas, a proliferation and organization of ductal epithelium into tubular structures precedes its differentiation into endocrine cells. Reproduction of nesidioblastosis in vitro may provide a novel approach to human islet propagation in vitro.