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Biomedical subjects

C Barbier

Publications and source records attributed to C Barbier.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Radiologic aspects of endoscopic sphincterotomy complications].

Endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) is a minimally invasive technique which is the standard of reference in many clinical situations (e.g distal choledocolithiasis, recurrent lithiasis or bile duct stenosis). Complication are rare but are often misdiagnosed although radiological aspects are demonstrative. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the patterns of the complications. Ten patients have been treated for the last four years in our institution for ES complications. There were eight cases of pancreatitis, three of which had associated perforation, one arterioportal fistula, and one isolated perforation. Diagnosis was reached with CT in all but one case. Two patients have been successfully treated with percutaneous treatment (one embolization with Gianturco coils, and one drainage). Two patients died, one of necrotizing pancreatitis and the second of decubitus complication. The other patient were followed with CT. We give exemples of different observations and discuss their follow up. The severity and extent of post ES pancreatitis were readily assessed by CT and response to therapy monitored by serial examinations. Severity of disease, evaluated according to the length of hospitalization, correlated well with the presence and degree of pancreatic necrosis. CT also highlights perforations including minimal effusions. In our study differential diagnosis between post ES pancreatitis and perforation is not significant regarding the initial conservative therapy in both situations. CT scan helps us to opt for a surgical decision or for a percutaneous drainage. It also permits to follow the evolution of the lesions. In our cases involving perforations, we noted a spontaneous complete resolution of gas effusion on control and we also observed that pancreatitis evolution was similar to standard pancreatitis evolution. In a life threatening post ES hemobilia, not responding to standard medical treatment, angiography is the diagnostic exam of choice before embolization which is regarded as the best initial treatment of vascular lesions. We conclude that CT is the exam of choice in the initial diagnosis and follow up post ES complications.

Acute Disease↗

[Parenchymatous abscess in Streptococcus anginosus (Streptococcus milleri) septicemia. Value of their systematic search, apropos of 4 cases].

Streptococcus anginosus, the term suggested to cover a set of streptococci previously known under various names (milleri, MG, anginosus, intermedius, constellatus), is characterized by a propensity to create parenchymatous abscesses, essentially cerebral or hepatic, particularly within the terms of septicemia. These abscesses are sometimes difficult to detect due to a difficult or non-existent symptomatology. The authors report on four cases illustrating the necessity to search for them systematically by cerebral CT scan and abdominal echography or CT scan in all cases of septicemia caused by Streptococcus anginosus.

Aged↗

Fully automated high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the analysis of free catecholamines in urine.

A totally automated and reliable high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the routine determination of free catecholamines (norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine) in urine. The catecholamines were isolated from urine samples using small alumina columns. A standard automated method for pH adjustment of urine before the extraction step has been developed. The extraction was performed on an ASPEC (Automatic Sample Preparation with Extraction Columns, Gilson). The eluate was collected in a separate tube and then automatically injected into the chromatographic column. The catecholamines were separated by reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatography and quantified by fluorescence detection. No manual intervention was required during the extraction and separation procedure. One sample may be run every 15 min, ca. 96 samples in 24 h. Analytical recoveries for all three catecholamines are 63-87%, and the detection limits are 0.01, 0.01, and 0.03 microM for norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine, respectively, which is highly satisfactory for urine. Day-to-day coefficients of variation were less than 10%.

Autoanalysis↗

Oligothymidylates covalently linked to an acridine derivative and with modified phosphodiester backbone: circular dichroism studies of their interactions with complementary sequences.

Oligothymidylates involving alternating alkyl phosphotriester-phosphodiester or methylphosphonate-phosphodiester backbones and covalently linked to an acridine derivative have been studied using circular dichroism. Two isomers with the same diastereoisomeric configuration for all the phosphotriesters (ethyl triester and neopentyl triester) or the methylphosphonate linkages were studied. These six compounds were compared to the parent oligonucleotide with unmodified phosphodiester bonds. Intramolecular interactions between the acridine and the bases of the oligonucleotides were revealed by the induced circular dichroism of the acridine dye. Binding to poly(rA) and poly(dA) induced large changes in the circular dichroism signal. All oligothymidylates formed double-stranded complexes with poly(rA). Substitution of phosphotriesters and methylphosphonates to phosphates allowed both double- and triple-stranded structures to be formed with with poly(dA). The double-stranded structures formed with poly(rA) and poly(dA) were characterized by different environments of the acridine dye. The circular dichroism spectra of the complexes with poly(dA) and the thermal stabilities of the complexes formed with both poly(rA) and poly(dA) were drastically dependent of the diastereoisomeric configuration of the phosphate modification. For the complexes formed with the pseudoequatorial stereoisomer the modification of the phosphate groups increased the stability of the complexes as compared with the oligothymidylate containing only phosphodiester linkages whereas it decreased it for pseudoaxial modifications.

Aminoacridines↗

Sequence-specific recognition and cleavage of duplex DNA via triple-helix formation by oligonucleotides covalently linked to a phenanthroline-copper chelate.

Homopyrimidine oligodeoxynucleotides recognize the major groove of the DNA double helix at homopurine.homopyrimidine sequences by forming local triple helices. Phenanthroline was covalently attached to the 5' end of an 11-mer homopyrimidine oligonucleotide of sequence d(TTTCCTCCTCT). Simian virus 40 DNA, which contains a single target site for this oligonucleotide, was used as a substrate for the phenanthroline-oligonucleotide conjugate. In the presence of copper ions and a reducing agent, a single specific double-strand cleavage site was observed at 20 degrees C by agarose gel electrophoresis. The efficiency of double-strand cleavage was greater than 70% at 20 degrees C and pH 7.4. Secondary cleavage sites were observed when binding of the oligonucleotide to mismatched sequences was allowed to take place at low temperature. The exact location of the cleavage sites was determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of denatured fragments by using both simian virus 40 DNA and a synthetic DNA fragment containing the target sequence. The asymmetric distribution of the cleavage sites on the two strands revealed that the cleavage reaction took place in the minor groove even though the phenanthroline linker was located in the major groove. Linkers of different lengths were used to tether phenanthroline to the oligonucleotide and their relative efficacies of DNA cleavage were compared. Based on these comparative studies and on model building, it is proposed that the phenanthroline ring carried by the oligonucleotide intercalates from the major groove and that copper chelation locks the complex in place from within the minor groove where the cleavage reaction occurs.

Base Sequence↗

The French version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ).

We report the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the French language of two health status instruments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health related quality of life instrument designed to capture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. Five hundred children were enrolled including 306 patients with JIA classified into systemic (23%), polyarticular (22%), extended oligoarticular (25%), and persistent oligoarticular (30%) subtypes, and 194 healthy children. Both instruments were reliable with intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficients for the test-retest procedure of 0.91 for the CHAQ, and 0.87 and 0.89 for the physical and psychosocial summary scores of CHQ, respectively. Agreement between parents and children evaluated for the CHAQ was high with an ICC of 0.89 for the disability index; weighted kappa coefficients for the 8 domains ranged from 0.61 to 0.72. Convergent validity was demonstrated by significant correlations with the JIA core set of variables (physician and parent global assessment, scores for active joints and joints with limited range of motion, erythrocyte sedimentation rate) for both instruments. Both CHAQ and CHQ discriminated between healthy and JIA children, but only the disease specific CHAQ questionnaire discriminated clearly between the 4 JIA subtypes. In conclusion, the French versions of the CHAQ and the CHQ are reliable, and valid health assessment questionnaires to be used in children suffering from JIA.

Adolescent↗

[Jejunal volvulus secondary to torsion of a pedunculated subserosal lipoma: CT diagnosis of a rare cause of bowel obstruction].

The authors report a case of a bowel obstruction secondary to jejunal volvulus in relation with the torsion of a large pedunculated subserosal lipoma. To our knowledge, no such case has ever been reported. The differential diagnosis of intra-abdominal fatty tumors and differential diagnosis of such tumors in association with small bowel obstruction will be discussed. Small bowel volvulus secondary to torsion of a subserosal lipoma should be considered when CT shows a large encapsulated fatty tumor in a patient with suggestion of mechanical small bowel obstruction.

Abdominal Pain↗