Use of antibiotics in the conjunction with extracorporeal lithotripsy

The first 400 patients treated on an inpatient basis at our center underwent bacteriological follow-up after extracorporeal lithotripsy (ECL) for ureteric or renal stones. 278 patients did not have any urinary tract infection on the urine culture before ECL. They did not receive any antibiotic prophylaxis and 4.8% of the patients developed infectious problems, with significant bacteriuria in only 1.5% of the cases. 89 patients had urinary tract infection on the preoperative cultures. 21.3% developed either fever or significant bacteriuria and this virtually always occurred in patients who were treated for less than 4 days before ECL, with septicemia in 4.5% of the cases. 33 patients with sterile urine received flush antibiotic prophylaxis and none of them developed postoperative infection. Two of these patients had infection at the time of the flush: one of them, who, by error, did not receive antibiotic treatment prior to ECL, developed bacteremia after the procedure. The rational use of antibiotics in conjunction with ECL should ensure effective prevention of urinary tract infections without requiring the excessive use of antibiotics.     

Reproducibility of blood tests of liver fibrosis in clinical practice

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the inter-laboratory reproducibility of blood test for liver fibrosis: FibroMeter, Fibrotest, APRI and their composites variables. DESIGN AND METHODS: Four studies, including 147 patients, were performed: study #1 included 2 metachronous blood samples and 2 laboratories; studies #2, #3 and #4 included synchronous samples with assays delayed at day 1 in 12 laboratories, at day 0 in 10 laboratories and at day 0 or 1 in 2 laboratories, respectively. Agreement was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (r(ic)). RESULTS: In studies #1, #2 and #4, r(ic) for FibroMeter was 0.893, 0.942 and 0.991, respectively. In study #3, the r(ic) were: FibroMeter: 0.963, Fibrotest: 0.984, APRI: 0.949. Large simulated variations in composite variables had a weak impact on FibroMeter. CONCLUSIONS: When blood marker limits are controlled, inter-laboratory agreement of blood tests is excellent in clinical practice conditions. Blood tests are robust against the variability of composite blood variables.     

Further clinical and sensorial delineation of Schinzel‐Giedion syndrome: Report of two cases

Schinzel‐Giedion syndrome is a rare multiple congenital malformation syndrome defined by an evocative midfacial retraction, kidney and urinary malformations and multiple skeletal abnormalities associated to a recently described neurodegenerative process. Two children with SGS are reported with identical clinical findings: megacalycosis, progressive neurodegeneration with infantile spasms and hypsarrhymtic activity. Ocular investigations revealed alacrimia and corneal hypoesthesia. Computed tomography of the temporal bone showed a tuning‐fork malformation of the stapes for both children. These features may contribute to further delineation of SGS as additional clinical criteria. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

3. Ueber die Veränderungen des Blutes beim Uebergang von Basel (266 m) nach Champéry (1052 m), Serneus (986 m) und Langenbruck (700 m)

Ohne ZusammenfassungDie Versuche wurden im Herbst 1894 abgeschlossen.