La maladie de Sinding-Larsen et Johansson

The Sinding-Larsen and Johansson disease is a non-negligible cause of gonalgia among children of 10 to 14, often misinterpreted as « growing pain . The disease is a benign pathology of the lower pole of the patella which occurs preferentially in physically active children. Our study, carried out in conjunction with the medical department INSEP, is based on a literature review as well as an analysis of 14 cases over two years. The present work eventually led to the differentiation of four etiopathological categories accounting for all the radiochemical evolutions observed. At the origin of these four categories, two factors coexist: the local fragility (the presence of cartilage at the lower pole of the patella) and the trigerring factor, which is most often sports practice. This explains why among children practicing sports, even intensively, only few suffer from this disease.It is essential to know the different radiological aspects of the normal patella in children, in order not to misinterpret one of these aspects with the Sinding-Larsen and Johansson disease.Always benign, the Sinding-Larsen and Johansson disease can very seriously disturb the « careerof children, engaged in high-level sports activity, the average time of evolution being seven months.     

Pharmacokinetics of ceftazidime injected peritoneally in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

Peritonitis is the most frequent complication in patients under continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Intraperitoneal administration of ceftazidime in a dose of 125 mg per liter dialysate achieved serum concentrations higher than the minimal inhibitory concentrations of most organisms in spite of low peritoneal clearance. Serum concentration was stable up to the 120th hour. Dialysate osmolarity had no influence on serum concentration, peritoneal absorption or clearance of ceftazidime. Peritoneal inflammation did not cause changes in ceftazidime pharmacokinetics. Ceftazidime used alone as the first choice treatment was successful in 85%, of cases.     

Effect of ponsinomycin on cyclosporin pharmacokinetics

Summary The influence of treatment with ponsinomycin, a new macrolide antibiotic, on the pharmacokinetics of cyclosporin A has been studied in 10 renal transplant patients. The pharmacokinetics of cyclosporin A was investigated at steady state, before and during treatment with ponsinomycin.On average, the blood levels of cyclosporin A were doubled by the macrolide, possibly due to a decrease in elimination or/and to an increase in absorption.Ponsinomycin should be use very carefully in patients treated with cyclosporin A.     

Onset and development of cyclosporin A effects on lymphocytes of cardiac patients before heart transplantation

The effects of cyclosporin A (CSA) in low dosage (4 mg/kg/24 h i.v.) were studied in 17 patients awaiting heart transplantation. The lymphocyte subsets were typed, enumerated, and their proliferation measured before CSA perfusion, after infusion (over 24 h), and then again after two further 24 h intervals (T0 h, T24 h, T48 h, and T72 h). No significant change was found in T or B enumerations although lymphocyte function was markedly modified. For all 17 patients, there was a significant decrease in lymphocyte proliferation that was, however, re-established after 72 h for 14 of the patients, but not for the remaining 3. Inhibition of the proliferative response was found to occur rapidly, to be potent although rapidly reversible in most cases, while yet subject to wide interindividual variability. These four features suggest that (a) CSA in fixed doses may later the balance between helper and suppressor cells in varying degrees according to the patient, and that (b) CSA given immediately or shortly after heart transplantation could be beneficial.     

Glucokinase and cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (GTP) in the human liver. Regulation of gene expression in cultured hepatocytes.

Glucokinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase are key enzymes of glucose metabolism in the rat liver. The former is considered to be instrumental in regulating glucose hepatic release/uptake according to the glycaemia level, and cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase is a major flux-generating enzyme for gluconeogenesis. The level of expression of both enzymes and the regulation of their mRNAs in the human liver cell were investigated. Surgical biopsies of liver from patients undergoing partial hepatectomies and parenchymal hepatocytes derived from the biopsies were used to assay glucokinase, hexokinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activities. Hepatocytes were placed in culture and the actions of insulin, glucagon and cAMP on glucokinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase mRNAs were studied. The main results are: (a) glucokinase accounts for 95% of the glucose phosphorylation activity of human hepatocytes, although this fact is masked in assays of total liver tissue; (b) glucokinase activity is set at a lower level in human hepatocytes than in rat hepatocytes, and vice-versa for the gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase; and (c) as previously shown in rat liver, glucokinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase mRNAs are regulated in a reciprocal fashion in human hepatocytes, insulin inducing the first enzyme and repressing the latter, whereas glucagon has opposite effects. These data have interesting implications with respect to metabolic regulation and intracellular hormone signaling in the human liver.     

Image-directed percutaneous biopsies with a biopsy gun

Core tissue for histologic study is believed by many pathologists to be more diagnostic than material from needle aspiration. Recently, a biopsy "gun" has been introduced, which simplifies core biopsies. With this device, 182 biopsies of multiple anatomic sites were performed with ultrasonic, computed tomographic, and fluoroscopic guidance and 18-gauge needles. High-quality histopathologic specimens were obtained in 177 of the biopsies, and diagnostic target tissue was obtained in 167. Only three significant complications occurred: one bleeding complication that required transfusion and two cases of pneumothorax that necessitated placement of chest tubes. The biopsy gun eliminated the disjointed movements of conventional "skinny" needle biopsies, and none of the samples demonstrated significant "crush" artifact or obscuring blood, problems that are commonly associated with manual biopsy techniques. Patient discomfort was decreased with this system compared with that of manual biopsies, and the total procedure time was reduced. Because of these distinct advantages, the authors now use the biopsy gun exclusively for all percutaneous biopsies and recommend that other institutions consider the use of this biopsy method.     

Fine antigenic specificities of antibodies in sera from patients with D-penicillamine-induced myasthenia gravis.

A small fraction of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases on D-penicillamine treatment may develop antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and symptoms of myasthenia gravis (MG). The mechanism leading to this phenomenon is not known. We have studied the fine antigenic specificities of the anti-AChR antibodies in 19 D-penicillamine-induced MG (pen-MG) patients and compared them with those of antibodies from 204 idiopathic MG patients (the data for 122 obtained from earlier experiments). Antigenic specificities of the circulating antibodies were determined by the capacity of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), against certain determinants on the AChR, to inhibit binding of the serum antibodies to the AChR. Monoclonal antibodies against alpha, beta and gamma subunits were used. The anti-AChR antibody patterns of pen-MG patients were very similar to those of idiopathic MG patients. Antibodies to the main immunogenic region, which is located on the extracellular surface of the alpha-subunit, were the predominant group. The variations of antibody specificities in serial sera collected from individual patients at different times were usually small, as were those of idiopathic MG. These results strongly suggest that the antibody repertoire in the sera of idiopathic and pen-MG patients is very similar.