Streptococcus australis meningitis.

We report a case of meningitis due to Streptococcus australis, a species of oral streptococcus. Accurate identification was performed by various molecular techniques.

[Median inferior cervicomandibular cleft: a case report, etiologic and therapeutic aspects].

Introduction: The orofacial clefts include 30 variant according to Tessier classification: the number 30 contain mandibular arc damage isolated or associated with damage of surrounding soft tissue.

Case Report: Our patient was a newborn with median mandibular cleft associated with ankyloglossia, bifid tongue and a top cervical fistula. We have not found polymalformative syndrome.

Low immunogenicity of seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine among patients receiving docetaxel for a solid tumour: results of a prospective pilot study.

Background: Patients receiving cytotoxic therapy for solid tumours are at risk of severe influenza. However, few data are available regarding the immunogenical efficacy of influenza vaccine in these patients.

Methods: In this prospective study, 25 patients with breast (n=13) or prostate (n=12) cancer received a trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine along with docetaxel (Taxotere) administration.

Capnography in spontaneously breathing preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Background: In adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, there is a gradient between end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO(2)) and arterial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO(2)), and the slope of the ascending phase of the capnogram is decreased due to obstruction. Corresponding data are lacking in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

Objectives: To compare PCO(2) -EtCO(2) gradient and capnogram shape in two groups of spontaneously breathing preterm subjects: infants with BPD and infants without respiratory disease (controls).

A fermented formula in pre-term infants: clinical tolerance, gut microbiota, down-regulation of faecal calprotectin and up-regulation of faecal secretory IgA.

Intestinal bacterial colonisation in pre-term infants is delayed compared with full-term infants, leading to an increased risk of gastrointestinal disease. Modulation of colonisation through dietary supplementation with probiotics or prebiotics could decrease such a risk. The present study evaluated clinical tolerance, the effects on gut microbiota, and inflammatory and immunological mucosal responses to an infant formula adapted for pre-term infants that included in its manufacturing process a fermentation step with two probiotic strains, Bifidobacterium breve C50 and Streptococcus thermophilus 065, inactivated by heat at the end of the process.

Growth hormone treatment before the age of 4 years prevents short stature in young girls with Turner syndrome.

Objective: Adult height deficit seen in Turner syndrome (TS) originates, in part, from growth retardation in utero and throughout the first 3 years of life. Earlier diagnosis enables earlier therapeutic intervention, such as with recombinant human GH (r-hGH), which may help to prevent growth retardation. In this open-label, multicentre phase III study, we investigated efficacy and safety in r-hGH treatment in young girls with TS.

Patients with systemic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases are at risk of vaccine-preventable illnesses.

Objective: To evaluate vaccine coverage and humoral immunity to tetanus, diphtheria and poliomyelitis in adults followed for systemic inflammatory and/or autoimmune diseases (SIADs).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and August 2006 in a monocentric cohort of adults with SIAD. A standardized questionnaire was administered to collect medical, therapeutic and vaccine coverage data.

[Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a severely obese adolescent. An arguable liver biopsy].

The growing epidemic of juvenile obesity has prompted pediatricians to investigate obesity-related conditions in obese teenagers. We report a clinical case of severe hepatic fibrosis in an adolescent with severe and recent obesity. Because of elevated serum aminotransferase levels, abnormal hepatic ultrasonography and insulin resistance (impaired glucose tolerance), we suspected nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

[Hospital pharmaceutical practice in prison].

Since 1994, hospital pharmaceutical teams have been in charge of pharmaceutical tasks in "unités de consultation et de soins ambulatoires" (UCSA), which are hospital consulting care units in French prisons. In 2008, pharmaceutical team in Parisian prisons received 6500 prescriptions and prepared 85,000 nominative bags containing drugs. Prisoners were 1.

Clinical and molecular genetics of Carney complex.

Carney complex (CNC) is a rare multiple familial neoplasia syndrome that is characterized by multiple types of skin tumors and pigmented lesions, endocrine neoplasms, myxomas and schwannomas and is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Clinical and pathologic diagnostic criteria are well established. Over 100 pathogenic variants in the regulatory subunit type 1A (RI-A) of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PRKAR1A) have been detected in approximately 60% of CNC patients, most leading to R1A haploinsufficiency.

[Mercury poisoning].

Mercury is a widespread heavy metal with potential severe impacts on human health. Exposure conditions to mercury and profile of toxicity among humans depend on the chemical forms of the mercury: elemental or metallic mercury, inorganic or organic mercury compounds. This article aims to reviewing and synthesizing the main knowledge of the mercury toxicity and its organic compounds that clinicians should know.

[Gestational diabetes mellitus].

Gestational diabetes mellitus is characterised by glucose intolerance of variable severity that begins or is first diagnosed during pregnancy and usually resolves not long after delivery. Unknown type 2 diabetes mellitus must be diagnosed in women with risk factors, ideally before pregnancy, otherwise at first prenatal visit. Universal screening of gestational diabetes mellitus is performed between 24 and 28 weeks of gestation with a 75 g 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test.

Factors associated with cesarean delivery in nulliparous women with type 1 diabetes.

Objective: To identify factors associated with cesarean delivery in nulliparous women with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: We performed a nested case-control study within a cohort of nulliparous women with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Independent factors and odds ratios were identified by logistic regression.

ABC transporters in human lymphocytes: expression, activity and role, modulating factors and consequences for antiretroviral therapies.

Importance Of The Field: ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are a superfamily of efflux pumps that transport numerous compounds across cell membranes. These transporters are located in various human tissues including peripheral blood cells, in particular lymphocytes, and present a high variability of expression and activity. This variability may affect the intracellular concentrations and efficacy of drugs acting within lymphocytes, such as antiretroviral drugs.

Sperm FISH analysis in two healthy infertile brothers with t(15;18) unbalanced translocation: Implications for genetic counselling and reproductive management.

Numerous studies have shown that balanced reciprocal or Robertsonian translocations and inversions are associated with reduced or absent sperm production. In contrast, a similar association has been rarely reported for unbalanced translocations. An unbalanced translocation, 45,XY,-15,der(18)t(15;18)(q11.

Rapid identification of HEXA mutations in Tay-Sachs patients.

Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) is a recessively inherited neurodegenerative disorder due to mutations in the HEXA gene resulting in a beta-hexosaminidase A (Hex A) deficiency. The purpose of this study was to characterize the molecular abnormalities in patients with infantile or later-onset forms of the disease. The complete sequencing of the 14 exons and flanking regions of the HEXA gene was performed with a unique technical condition in 10 unrelated TSD patients.

[Apnea of prematurity: what's new?].

Prematurity apnea remains a major clinical problem that requires treatment choices which are sometimes difficult. Prematurity apnea occurs in most infants of gestational age at birth less than 33 weeks. It is a developmental disorder which usually reflects a "physiological" immaturity of respiratory control.

Study of fetal tracheal fluid velocities using Doppler ultrasound.

Objective: To characterize tracheal fluid flow during fetal breathing movements by Doppler ultrasound.

Study Design: To use pulsed Doppler to measure flow velocity during inspiration and expiration in a cross-sectional study of 15 normal fetuses and determine the correlation, if any, between flow velocity and gestational age.

Results: Cyclic respiratory profiles - both regular and irregular - were observed.

Influence of development, HIV infection, and antiretroviral therapies on the gene expression profiles of ABC transporters in human lymphocytes.

The efficacy of drugs acting on lymphocytes like anticancer, immunosuppressive, and antiretroviral drugs depends on their intracellular concentrations, which could be modulated by membrane efflux pumps belonging to the ABC transporter superfamily. The gene expression profiles of 6 main ABC transporters (MDR1, MRP1, MRP3, MRP4, MRP5, and BCRP) were established in lymphocytes from birth to adulthood using blood samples from 57 children and 15 adults (34 and 5 HIV-infected, respectively). Gene expression levels were quantified by quantitative RT-PCR.

[Abnormal ocular findings in the nursery and in the first few weeks of life: a mandatory, yet difficult and neglected screening].

Recommendations issued by the French Health Ministry include ocular screening in the first days of life and at 2 and 4 months. The aim is to detect ocular abnormalities requiring early treatment, in order to improve the prognosis. Paediatricians working in the nursery should therefore be trained in order to perform ocular screening, which requires using an ophthalmoscope.

Detection of carbon dioxide thresholds using low-flow sidestream capnography in ventilated preterm infants.

Background: Monitoring CO2 levels in preterm infants receiving mechanical ventilation is designed to avoid the harmful consequences of hypocapnia or hypercapnia. Capnography is of questionable accuracy for monitoring PCO2 in preterm infants.

Objectives: To determine the accuracy of sidestream capnography in ventilated preterm infants by comparing end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO2) values to mixed venous carbon dioxide pressure (PvCO2) and to transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure (TcPCO2).