Lack of association of the dopamine transporter gene in a French ADHD sample.

Discrepancies in the role of the 40 bp VNTR polymorphism of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could be due to various sources of genetic or phenotypical heterogeneity. We therefore analyzed a sample of 146 ADHD children and their parents, with a transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) design, assessing age, inattention, and hyperactivity dimensions and total score of the ADHD Rating Scale, the number of errors and the total score at Stroop Color-Word test, and the total score at the Trail Making Test. The TDT for 10-repeat (10-R) allele shows a perfect lack of transmission bias (Mc Nemar chi(2) = 0) and PBAT analyses showed no role of this polymorphism for any of the studied endophenotypes.

Early onset pneumonia: risk factors and consequences in head trauma patients.

Background: Early onset pneumonia occurs frequently in head trauma patients, but the potential consequences and the risk factors of this event have been poorly studied.

Methods: This prospective observational study was undertaken in the surgical intensive care unit of a university teaching hospital in Clichy, France. Head trauma patients requiring tracheal intubation for neurologic reasons and ventilation for at least 2 days were studied to assess the risk factors and the consequences of early onset pneumonia.

Coronary microvascular adaptation to myocardial metabolic demand can be restored by inhibition of iron-catalyzed formation of oxygen free radicals in type 2 diabetic patients.

Dilation of coronary vessels is impaired in diabetic patients when myocardial metabolic demand is increased. Deferoxamine (DFX) restores a normal dilation of epicardial coronary arteries. To assess the effects of DFX on metabolic coronary microvascular dilation in type 2 diabetic patients, coronary blood flow was measured using intracoronary Doppler and quantitative angiography in 17 type 2 diabetic patients with normal coronary arteries and without any other coronary risk factors.

Guidelines for perioperative cardiac evaluation from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force are effective for stratifying cardiac risk before aortic surgery.

Purpose: We assessed whether the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) task force guidelines for perioperative cardiac evaluation could reliably stratify cardiac risk before aortic surgery.

Methods: We retrospectively applied the guidelines to a closed database, set up prospectively. The setting was a referral center in an institutional practice with hospitalized patients.

The effect of propofol on angiotensin II-induced Ca(2+) mobilization in aortic smooth muscle cells from normotensive and hypertensive rats.

Unlabelled: We studied the effect of propofol (5.6-560 micromol/L; 1-100 microg/mL) on the mechanisms involved in Ca(2+) mobilization elicited by angiotensin II (AngII) in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats. We studied the variations in intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) concentrations in cultured aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) isolated from 6-wk-old WKY and SHR rats loaded with the Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent dye, Fura-2, using fluorescent imaging microscopy.

Radiological features in congenital erythropoietic porphyria (Gunther's disease). Report of 3 cases.

Gunther's disease or congenital erythropoietic porphyria is a rare and severe disorder comprising cutaneous and haemolytic symptoms. Photocutaneous lesions are responsible for scleroderma-like calcifications and deformities of the extremities visible on X-rays. Hemolytic manifestations lead to diffuse major osteopenia.