New avenues for the pharmacological management of type 2 diabetes: an update.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most troubling chronic disease regarding the huge number of new cases diagnosed annually worldwide. Currently available oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) attempt to correct the underlying pathophysiological dysfunctions leading to T2DM: insulin resistance for the insulin sensitizers (metformin and thiazolidinediones), and impaired insulin secretion for the insulin secretagogues (sulfonylureas, glinides and more recently incretin mimetics). Incretin-based therapies include GLP-1 receptor agonists that provide pharmacologic levels of GLP-1 receptor stimulation beyond those that would occur from the action of the native hormone alone, and dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors that preserve endogenous GLP-1 by decreasing its degradation by the DPP-4 enzyme.

Long-term outcomes after totally robotic sacrocolpopexy for treatment of pelvic organ prolapse.

Purpose: This study evaluated the feasibility, safety, effectiveness, and long-term results of pelvic organ prolapse surgery using the Da Vinci robotic system.

Methods: During a 7-year period, 52 consecutive patients with pelvic organ prolapse underwent robotic-assisted abdominal sacrocolpopexy. Clinical data were retrospectively collected and analyzed.

Cardiac surgery in cirrhotic patients: results and evaluation of risk factors.

Objectives: Liver cirrhosis increases mortality and morbidity following cardiac surgery. This study evaluated the results of cardiac surgery in cirrhotic patients and the relevance of EuroSCORE, Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score in terms of prediction of surgical mortality and survival.

Methods: The study involved 34 patients with hepatic cirrhosis who underwent cardiac surgery between January 1996 and January 2010.

Development of the first disability index for inflammatory bowel disease based on the international classification of functioning, disability and health.

Objective: The impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on disability remains poorly understood. The World Health Organization's integrative model of human functioning and disability in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) makes disability assessment possible. The ICF is a hierarchical coding system with four levels of details that includes over 1400 categories.

Impact of azathioprine and tumour necrosis factor antagonists on the need for surgery in newly diagnosed Crohn's disease.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess whether azathioprine and antitumour necrosis factor (TNF) treatment decrease the long-term need for surgery in patients with Crohn's disease.

Methods: This was an observational study of a referral centre cohort. The cumulative incidence of the first Crohn's disease-related major abdominal surgery was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and independent predictors of surgery were identified using Cox proportional hazards regression with propensity scores adjustment.

Left main coronary disease treated by direct surgical angioplasty: long-term results.

Background: Left main coronary artery (LMCA) disease is currently treated by coronary artery bypass grafting or, more recently, by percutaneous coronary intervention. Occasionally, direct surgical patch angioplasty of the LMCA can be proposed as an alternative treatment. The aim of this study was to analyze, on a long-term basis, the safety and efficacy of this technique.

[Quantification of right ventricular function by 2D speckle imaging and three dimensional echography. Comparison with MRI].

Purpose: The echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular (RV) function requires many different parameters. We studied and compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) two markers of RV function derived from new imaging tools: 2D speckle imaging (2DSI) and three dimensional echography.

Methods And Results: Thirty-two patients (19 with RV ejection fraction [RVEF]< or =45%) underwent both complete echocardiography--including standard parameters of RV function (fractional area change [FAC], Tei index, systolic velocity of tricuspid annulus by DTI), 3D full-volume acquisition on RV--and MRI for the evaluation of RV volumes and RVEF.

Nine-year routine clinical experience of aortic valve replacement with ATS mechanical valves.

Background And Aim Of The Study: The study aim was to update the authors' experience with aortic valve replacement (AVR) using the ATS mechanical prosthesis in terms of early and long-term outcome in routine practice.

Methods: This retrospective analysis was extracted from clinical data available between April 1996 and February 2005, of AVR with the ATS Medical prosthesis in 510 consecutive patients (345 men, 165 women; mean age 62 +/- 12 years), of whom 296 underwent isolated AVR (iAVR). Concomitant surgical procedures included coronary artery bypass grafting (AVR+CABG, n = 47), mitral valve procedure (AVR+MVP, n = 59), ascending aortic replacement (AVR+AAR, n = 74) and other procedures (AVR+Miscellaneous, n = 34).

Adalimumab induction therapy for ulcerative colitis with intolerance or lost response to infliximab: an open-label study.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of adalimumab induction therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis who previously responded to infliximab and then lost response or became intolerant.

Methods: Ten patients with ulcerative colitis were enrolled in a 4-wk open-label trial. The patients received a loading dose of 160 mg adalimumab at wk 0 followed by 80 mg at wk 2.

Robotic-assisted pelvic organ prolapse surgery.

Background: This study describes technical aspect and short-term results of pelvic organ prolapse surgery using the da Vinci robotic system.

Methods: During a 1-year period, 18 consecutive patients with pelvic organ prolapse were operated on using the da-Vinci system. Clinical data were prospectively collected and analyzed.

Laparoscopic approach for solitary insulinoma: a multicentre study.

Background: Surgical resection of insulinomas is the preferred treatment in order to avoid symptoms of hypoglycaemia. During the past years, advances in laparoscopic techniques have allowed surgeons to approach the pancreas and treat these lesions laparoscopically. We analysed the feasibility, safety, and outcome of patients undergoing laparoscopic resection of insulinomas in a large, retrospective, multicentre study.

Genomic DNA extraction from small amounts of serum to be used for alpha1-antitrypsin genotype analysis.

If laboratory diagnosis of alpha1-antitrypsin (alpha1-AT) deficiency is usually based on its phenotype identification by isoelectric focusing, alpha1-antiprotease inhibitor (Pi)S and PiZ genotypes can also be determined by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based methods. Recently, several methods have been described for preparing genomic DNA from serum. The aim of the current study was to determine the Pi allele from serum extracted DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to compare these results with those obtained with whole blood extracted DNA.

Diagnosis of female bladder outlet obstruction and relevance of the parameter area under the curve of detrusor pressure during voiding: preliminary results.

Purpose: The diagnosis of bladder outlet obstruction in women by pressure flow study may be difficult because there are several definitions of bladder outlet obstruction, several parameters and no standard cutoffs. We evaluated the ability of pressure flow studies to separate women into unobstructed, equivocal and obstructed groups.

Materials And Methods: In a prospective study 85 women with lower urinary tract symptoms underwent clinical evaluation, including physical examination, voiding cystourethrography, endoscopy, flow rate and post-void residual volume measurement.

Treatment of acute myocardial infarction by primary coronary angioplasty or intravenous thrombolysis in the "real world": one-year results from a nationwide French survey.

Background: Recent randomized trials comparing primary coronary angioplasty and intravenous thrombolysis at the acute stage of myocardial infarction have shown a limited but definite advantage for primary angioplasty. The aim of this study was to document 1-year outcome in patients receiving either thrombolysis or primary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction in the "real world."

Methods And Results: We used a nationwide prospective registry of all patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction in French intensive care units in November 1995.

Ten year follow up of patients with single vessel coronary artery disease that was suitable for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

The 10 year outcome of patients with single vessel coronary artery disease who underwent coronary angiography more than 10 years before and who would have been potential candidates for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty had it been available then is reported. Long term follow up data were obtained in 96 (91 men, five women; mean age 48 years) of 105 consecutive patients with single vessel coronary artery disease (greater than 70% stenosis), judged suitable for coronary angioplasty. Fifty patients had coronary bypass surgery within six months of catheterisation (surgical group) and 46 were treated medically (medical group).