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C Ferré

Publications and source records attributed to C Ferré.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Racial differences in the patterns of singleton preterm delivery in the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if the association between race and preterm delivery would persist when preterm delivery was partitioned into two etiologic pathways. METHODS: We evaluated perinatal and obstetrical data from the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey and classified preterm delivery as spontaneous or medically indicated. Discrete proportional hazard models were fit to assess the risk of preterm delivery for Black women compared with White women adjusting for potential demographic and behavioral confounding variables. RESULTS: Preterm delivery occurred among 17.4% of Black births and 6.7% of White births with a Black versus White unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 2.8 (95% CI = 2.4-3.3). The adjusted HR for a medically indicated preterm delivery showed no racial difference in risk (HR = 1.0, 95% CI = 0.4-2.6). However, for spontaneous preterm delivery between 20 and 28 weeks gestation, the Black versus White adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 4.9 (95% CI = 3.4-7.1). CONCLUSIONS: Although we found an increased unadjusted HR for preterm delivery among Black women compared with White women, the nearly fivefold increase in adjusted HR for the extremely preterm births and the absence of a difference for medically indicated preterm delivery was unexpected. Given the differences in the risks of preterm birth between Black and White women, we recommend to continue examining risk factors for preterm delivery after separating spontaneous from medically indicated preterm birth and subdividing preterm delivery by gestational age to shed light on the reasons for the racial disparity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Improvement of normothermic rat liver ischemia/reperfusion by muramyl dipeptide.

Normothermic ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) of the liver remains a major problem after liver surgery and transplantation. Activation of Kupffer cells (KCs) after normothermic I/R is responsible for a massive release of various monokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and a decrease in phagocytic activity. Muramyl dipeptide (MDP) is an immunostimulant that increases phagocytic activity of KCs. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that MDP pretreatment might protect the liver against I/R injury by a modification of KC functions. Rats were divided into three groups: group 1, control, Ringer's lactate administration; group 2, MDP (N-acetyl-muramyl-d-alanyl-d-isoglutamine) treatment; group 3, sham-operated control animals. MDP (500 microg/250 g) was injected intravenously 5 min before the induction of 90 min ischemia. Survival rates were compared and serum activities of TNF-alpha, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase were assessed in the blood collected from the suprahepatic vena cava. Histology of the liver and KC activity were assessed 6 and 9 h after the end of ischemia, respectively. MDP treatment significantly increased 7-day survival (86.6%) compared with nontreated rats (40%, P < 0.001). Serum activities of TNF-alpha and aminotransferases were significantly decreased after MDP treatment, whereas phagocytic capacity of KCs was partially restored. The extent of liver necrosis was decreased after MDP administration. A significant difference was observed for other histological parameters studied, except for steatosis. Our findings have demonstrated that MDP is able to protect the liver from ischemic insult by modulation of KC activity (TNF-alpha release and phagocytic capacity). Control of macrophage activity may offer a new strategy to reduce ischemic injury of the liver.

Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine↗
PubMed1996

Filgrastim to treat neutropenia and support myelosuppressive medication dosing in HIV infection. G-CSF 92105 Study Group.

BACKGROUND: Patients with HIV infection frequently experience disease or treatment-related myelosuppression leading to neutropenia. Neutropenia often leads to dose-reduction or discontinuation of important myelosuppressive therapy. OBJECTIVE: To examine the efficacy and safety of filgrastim for reversing neutropenia and determine the effect of this on use of myelosuppressive medications. DESIGN: Open-label, non-comparative, multicentre study in 200 HIV-positive patients with neutropenia [absolute neutrophil count (ANC) < 1.0 x 10(9)/l]. Filgrastim was started at 1 microgram/kg/day subcutaneously for 28 days. This initial treatment phase was followed by a maintenance phase, using 300 micrograms on 1-7 days/week. In both phases the dose of filgrastim was adjusted to achieve an ANC of 2-5 x 10(9)/l. RESULTS: Filgrastim reversed neutropenia in 98% of patients (ANC > or = 2 x 10(9)/l), with a median time to reversal of 2 days (range 1-16) and a median dose of 1 microgram/kg/day (range 0.5-10). Most patients (96%) achieved reversal of neutropenia with a filgrastim dose of < or = 300 micrograms/day (< or = 1 vial/day). Normal ANCs were then maintained with a median of 1 microgram/kg/day (range 0.22-10.6) during the treatment phase and 3 x 300 micrograms vials/week (range 1-7) during the maintenance phase. Ganciclovir, zidovudine, co-trimoxazole and pyrimethamine were the drugs most frequently considered to be causing neutropenia, and 83% of patients received one or more of these in the study. Filgrastim allowed > 80% of patients to increase or maintain dose-levels of these four medications or add them to their therapy. The number of these four medications received per patient increased by > 20% during filgrastim therapy. Filgrastim was well tolerated. CD4, CD8 and total lymphocyte counts all increased slightly, and there was no difference in HIV-1 p24 antigen levels. CONCLUSION: Filgrastim rapidly reverses neutropenia and maintains normal ANC in patients with HIV infection. This allows greater use of myelosuppressive medications without the potentially life-threatening complications of neutropenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Acute abdomen due to cytomegalovirus in AIDS patients. Apropos 2 cases].

Two cases of acute abdomen--because of acute appendicitis and paralytic ileus--due to cytomegalovirus infection in AIDS patients are reported. In both patients evolution was subacute and cytomegalic inclusions were seen in the histologic examination of the surgical samples. The two patients died after surgery. The possibility of cytomegalovirus infection must be kept in mind in AIDS patients who undergo urgent abdominal laparatomy and early treatment should be instituted.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1994

Lung cavitation associated with Pneumocystis carinii infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: a report of six cases and review of the literature.

Lung cavitation in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) has mainly been reported as single case studies. Among 160 episodes of PCP seen in a 1,000 bed teaching hospital and a 600 bed teaching hospital from 1985-1992, we found six cases presenting with lung cavitation and documented Pneumocystis carinii infection. In the cases we report, as well as in the cases reviewed, cavities appear either alone or within an area of pulmonary consolidation, a mass or a nodule. They may present with haemoptysis, show unusual locations, and, most importantly, may frequently be misdiagnosed by bronchoalveolar lavage.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1991

Cocaine use during pregnancy: perinatal outcomes.

The relation between maternal cocaine use and perinatal outcomes was investigated among 17,466 non-Asian singleton deliveries in 1988 from the University of Illinois Perinatal Network data base in the metropolitan Chicago area. Elevated adjusted relative risks (RR) of low birth weight (RR = 2.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.2-3.7), prematurity (RR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.9-3.1), abruptio placentae (RR = 4.5, 95% CI 2.4-8.5), and perinatal death (RR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-4.0) were observed for "any" cocaine users (n = 408) compared with women who did not use cocaine or any other drugs or alcohol (n = 17,058). There was an increased (although unstable) risk of intrapartum placenta previa not previously reported (RR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.0-5.1). The relative risk of small-for-gestational-age births for cocaine users who did not smoke (RR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.8-6.5) was greater than that for cocaine users who did (RR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-4.1). Irrespective of smoking status, cocaine use during pregnancy increased the risk of small-for-gestational-age births.

Abruptio Placentae↗
PubMed1976

Visual effects of pilocarpine in glaucoma comparative study of administration by eyedrops or by ocular therapeutic systems.

Eighteen glaucoma patients each received four pilocarpine regimens in random sequence: 1% and 4% eyedrops and 20mug/hr and 40mug/hr ocular therapeutic systems. Unimportant changes in refraction, near vision, and distance vision occurred during the use of either ocular therapeutic system. Miosis with ocular therapeutic systems was almost always less intense and variable than with eyedrops. Refractive changes occurred in 12 patients following 1% pilocarpine and in 16 patients following 4% pilocarpine drops; decreased distance vision occurred in nine patients after 1% drops and in 12 patients after 4% drops. Fewer patients showed decreases in near vision. In all cases, visual effects peaked one half hour after eyedrop instillations and returned gradually toward normal in the next two to three hours. Intraocular pressure levels were within comparable ranges during all four treatments, but the ocular therapeutic systems maintained pressure at a more constant level.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Histidinuria: a renal and intestinal histidine transport deficiency found in two mentally retarded children.

Two siblings presenting slight mental retardation showed an abnormal elimination of histidine, their blood levels for the same amino acid being normal. The percentage of tubular resorption of histidine was calculated in both boys, and the values were 40.1 per cent (case 1) and 52.8 per cent (case 2). All other amino acids essayed were normal. After an oral overload test with histidine, a low intestinal absorption was found in the two boys, the values of this test in the parents being intermediate between those of the children and of the three normal controls and corresponding to heterozygosity. In view of the studies carried out on the two boys, it is possible to conclude that they are suffering from an impairment in their histidine membrane transport system which affects the kidney and intestines. Since they are siblings a genetically determined trait may be suspected.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗