Capnocytophaga in the dental plaque of immunocompromised children with cancer

OBJECTIVES: (i) To compare the prevalence and levels of Capnocytophaga, a known systemic pathogen in immunocompromised patients, in the dental plaque of healthy children and children with cancer, and (ii) to determine the susceptibility of strains isolated from cancer patients to a range of antibiotics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-one children with cancer undergoing a first course of immunosuppressive chemotherapy and 30 healthy control children were included in the study. Samples were collected on days 0, 7, 14, and 21 of the cure (and equivalent dates in controls). Susceptibility to antibiotics was tested using an agar dilution method and galleries with predefined concentrations of selected antibiotics. RESULTS: There was a significant drop in the total anaerobic cultivable flora on day 14 and in the prevalence of Capnocytophaga on days 14 and 21 in the children with cancer. The proportion of Capnocytophaga in the anaerobic flora, however, was high in certain cancer patients. Beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations, imipenem, clindamycin, and tetracycline were the most effective against Capnocytophaga. CONCLUSION: This study showed that Capnocytophaga decreased in prevalence and proportion in the dental plaque of cancer patients during chemotherapy but became predominant in some cases. It is recommended that imipenem or beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations be used to treat Capnocytophaga bacteraemia.     

Preliminary inter-port study of the quality of environments using physiological responses of invertebrates exposed to chronic trace element and organic contamination in Corsica (Mediterranean Sea)

Ecotoxicology - Port areas are socio-ecosystems impacted by chronic mixture pollution. Some marine species benefit from living there and may be studied to define the ecological state of such...     

Prognostic factors for residual occult disease in shave margins during partial mastectomy

Breast Cancer Research and Treatment - Shave margins have been shown to decrease positive final margins in partial mastectomy. We investigated prognostic factors associated with residual disease in...     

The reasons why stroke patients expend so much energy to walk slowly

BackgroundThe energy consumed per covered distance (C) is increased in hemiparetic stroke adults during walking.ObjectiveTo ascertain if increased C in stroke patients is a result of increased mechanical work, of decreased efficiency of work production by muscles or of slow walking speed.MethodsC and mechanical work were computed in 20 patients walking on a force measuring treadmill at speeds ranging from 1 km h^?1 to their own maximum speed (WS_MAX). Works done by healthy and pathological limbs were computed separately.ResultsFor hemiparetic patients, C was around 1.7 times greater than normal. When these patients had a slower WS_MAX, they had greater C and mechanical work (r = ?0.44 and ?0.57, respectively). The increased C was related to the external work performed to lift the center of body mass when the healthy limb was supporting the body weight (r = 0.77).ConclusionsThe increase of C in stroke patients is more pronounced when WS_MAX is slow. Moreover, this increase is related to increased mechanical work done by muscles and is not related to slow walking speed or decreased efficiency. As in healthy subjects, C and external work presented optimum speeds, indicating a preserved pendular mechanism of walking.     

Dysmyelopoiesis and T lymphoma. 2 cases

The role played by T lymphocytes in myelopoiesis has been established in in vitro studies. Dysregulation of the lymphoid system results in quantitative and, more rarely, qualitative abnormalities of myelopoiesis. The authors report the clinical data of two cases of peripheral T cell lymphoma associated with an AREB type of dysmyelopoiesis. The fact that both conditions were diagnosed simultaneously and progressed in parallel is an indirect argument in favour of the regulation of myelopoiesis by the T lymphocytes.