Nosocomial viral infections in a pediatric service: example of rotaviral gastroenteritis and respiratory syncytial viral bronchiolitis]

Nosocomial infections are a preoccupation in a pediatric hospital mainly during the winter with bronchiolitis and gastroenteritis epidemics. We have examined the risk factors of nosocomial infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted between November, 1999 and March, 2000 in the infants units of the Le Havre hospital. We systematically listed the admissions and contacted the family after their discharge by phone. A geographic information system was implemented to display the epidemiological data; this software is able to illustrate the sectors at risk. RESULTS: During the study, 687 infants were hospitalized of whom 458 for bronchiolitis and community-acquired gastroenteritis. Mean age was 5.4 months old. No nosocomial bronchiolitis occurred. Prevalence of nosocomial gastroenteritis was 10% (68 cases including nine after discharge). Infants with nosocomial infection were younger than those with community-acquired infection (6.6 months vs. 11.2 months, P < 0.01). The mean length of stay was longer in nosocomial infection (7.7 vs. 4.1 days, P < 0.05). Among the infants with bronchiolitis, 16% have developed nosocomial intestinal infections (RR = 2.65, IC: 1.59-4.4; P < 0.01). The geographic analysis pointed the area with nosocomial risk (bedroom without water, nearness of nurse office and games room). CONCLUSION: Geographic information system is a part of the quality control system and may have some interaction effect on final decision making. Incidence of nosocomial infections showed the need for a prevention strategy in a pediatric hospital.     

人血浆三尖杉酯碱高效液相色谱测定法

本文建立了在常温常速离心条件下进行样品预处理的人血浆三尖杉酯碱高效液相色谱荧光测定法。本法批内CV%为3.08～3.47%,批间CV%为4.36～5.28%,回收率范围为93.6～95%,标准曲线在12.5～500ng/ml范围内线性良好(r=0.998)。方法简单、快速、准确,适于临床应用。     

组织多肽特异性抗原在乳腺癌中的临床研究

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of serum tissue polypeptide-specific antigen (TPS) in breast cancer patients and its clinical value in such cases. METHODS: Altogether 160 subjects (90 patients with breast cancer, 40 with benign breast lesions, and 30 healthy subjects) were enrolled in this study. The serum TPS and CA153 levels were measured by ELISA in all the subjects. RESULTS: The levels and positivity rate of serum TPS and CA153 in breast cancer group were significantly higher than those in the normal subjects group and benign lesion group (P<0.01), and became even higher as the malignancy progressed. High serum TPS level was detected in the cancer patients in stage I. Serum TPS level was the most sensitive to bone metastasis of the malignancy, but its highest levels occurred in cases of lymphoid node metastasis (P<0.05). In patients who responded favorably to the treatment, serum TPS and CA153 levels were significantly reduced (P<0.05), but the reduction in TPS levels tended to be more obvious (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum TPS can be used as a very useful and sensitive tumor marker in the diagnosis of breast cancer, especially in case of bone metastasis, and may be of great value in clinical decision-making and assessment of therapeutic effect.     

47例骨髓穿刺干抽的临床和病理分析

分析４７例骨髓穿刺干抽的临床和病理改变，干抽占同期１３１９例骨穿的３．６％。根据骨髓细胞的密度和间质纤维增殖的程度，把干抽的原因分为４类：高细胞伴间质细胞增多者１９例（４２．２％）；间质细胞增多者１４例（３１．１％）；高细胞者８例（１７．８％）及低细胞者４例（８．９％）。主要疾病为：急性淋巴细胞白血病（２５．５％），急性非淋巴细胞白血病（１７．０％），慢性白血病（１４．９％），骨髓转移瘤（１０．６     

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor signaling is required for cardiac valve formation in zebrafish.

Vascular endothelial growth factor-receptors (VEGF-Rs) are pivotal regulators of vascular development, but a specific role for these receptors in the formation of heart valves has not been identified. We took advantage of small molecule inhibitors of VEGF-R signaling and showed that blocking VEGF-R signaling with receptor selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors, PTK 787 and AAC 787, from 17-21 hr post-fertilization (hpf) in zebrafish embryos resulted in a functional and structural defect in cardiac valve development. Regurgitation of blood between the two chambers of the heart, as well as a loss of cell-restricted expression of the valve differentiation markers notch 1b and bone morphogenetic protein-4 (bmp-4), was readily apparent in treated embryos. In addition, microangiography revealed a loss of a definitive atrioventricular constriction in treated embryos. Taken together, these data demonstrate a novel function for VEGF-Rs in the endocardial endothelium of the developing cardiac valve.     

Direct determination or estimated value of plasma ionized calcium : indications and limits

Calcium plays a fundamental role in many essential for life functions. Ionized calcium (Ca(++) ) represents free fraction and 50% of the total calcium in the plasma is accepted as its physiologically active form. On almost all laboratories, only total calcium is routinely measured, and ionized calcium concentration is calculated based on calcium, protein or albumin concentrations for many plasma sample or with others parameters like pH. Since 1935, the literature was abounted with "correction" formulae of varying degree of sophistication. Many laboratories routinely use correction formulae to either calculate an "adjusted" or "corrected" total calcium, or "ionized" fraction is calculated,but these determinations lack of accuracy or precision. Errors associated with the measurement of the other variables contribuate to the difficulty in producing a useful correction formulae. Direct measurement of ionized calcium by potentiometry is the method of choice for this assay. Improvements in ion selective electrodes (ISE) technology make possible the routine clinical measurement of Ca(++). However this technology implies several obligations for its use, particulary in blood ampling, storage and transport. In this review, characteristics of different available analysers are described. We think that Ca(++) should be systematically performed and not calculated in pathological situations where an possible alteration of the calcium metabolism is found especially in multiple myeloma in which paraprotein may bind calcium.     

Coordinate-based versus structural approaches to brain image analysis

A basic issue in neurosciences is to look for possible relationships between brain architecture and cognitive models. The lack of architectural information in magnetic resonance images, however, has led the neuroimaging community to develop brain mapping strategies based on various coordinate systems without accurate architectural content. Therefore, the relationships between architectural and functional brain organizations are difficult to study when analyzing neuroimaging experiments. This paper advocates that the design of new brain image analysis methods inspired by the structural strategies often used in computer vision may provide better ways to address these relationships. The key point underlying this new framework is the conversion of the raw images into structural representations before analysis. These representations are made up of data-driven elementary features like activated clusters, cortical folds or fiber bundles. Two classes of methods are introduced. Inference of structural models via matching across a set of individuals is described first. This inference problem is illustrated by the group analysis of functional statistical parametric maps (SPMs). Then, the matching of new individual data with a priori known structural models is described, using the recognition of the cortical sulci as a prototypical example.