[Candida pneumopathy: fact or fiction?].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Azoulay.
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Castleman's disease is most often seen by a thoracic physician as a mediastinal tumour which is discovered fortuitously and whose surgical excision leads to a cure. We report a case of a patient of 30 who was seropositive for HIV and was suffering from Castleman's disease initially localised to the mediastinum. The disease was associated with a cutaneous and bronchial Kaposi sarcoma. The mediastinal disease, associated with cutaneous and bronchial Kaposi sarcoma, was marked by evolving in a multicentric manner. We review the histological definition and recent data concerning the pathophysiology and the diagnostic and therapeutic management of this disorder and the very varied clinical expression.
UNLABELLED: Clinical diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia in ventilated patients remains a challenge in the ICU as none of the clinical biological and radiologic parameters can predict its diagnosis. To our knowledge, however, the accuracy of direct visualization of the bronchial tree has never been investigated. PURPOSE: To evaluate the interest of airway visualization and to select independent parameters that predict nosocomial pneumonia in ventilated patients. SETTING: A ten-bed medical-surgical ICU. METHODS: All consecutive patients suspected of having nosocomial pneumonia who underwent bronchoscopy with protected specimen brush, culture examination of BAL, and direct examination of BAL were studied. Clinical and biological data and airways findings were recorded prospectively. Patients were classified as having pneumonia or not according to the results of distal bacteriologic samples, follow-up, and histologic study. Respective accuracies of each variable were calculated using univariate analysis and stepwise logistic regression. RESULTS: Ninety-one patients with suspected nosocomial pneumonia were studied. Patients were randomly assigned to a construction group (n = 46) and a validation group (n = 45). Using multivariate analysis, 3 factors were associated with pneumonia (a decrease in PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen ratio > or = 50 mm Hg, odds ratio [OR] = 9.97, p = 0.026; the presence of distal purulent secretions, OR = 7.46, p = 0.044; the persistence of distal secretions surging from distal bronchi during exhalation, OR = 12.25, p = 0.013). These three factors remained associated with pneumonia in the validation group. Interobserver repeatability of the bronchoscopic parameters was good. Having 2 or more of these 3 independent factors was able to predict pneumonia with a 94% sensitivity and a 89% specificity in the construction group and with a 78% sensitivity and a 89% specificity in the validation group. CONCLUSION: We conclude that direct visualization of the bronchial tree can immediately and accurately predict nosocomial pneumonia in ventilated patients before obtaining definite results of protected samples.
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In order to determine the prevalence of dialysis-associated arthropathy (DAA) and what factors favour its development, we conducted a survey in 19 centres in northeastern France, of all patients receiving haemodialysis for over 10 years (171). A diagnosis of DAA was made in 84 patients (49%) by two investigators, using as criteria single or combined presence of carpal tunnel syndrome (32%), erosions and bone cysts of the large limb joints (33%) and destructive spondylarthropathy (14%). The 84 patients with DAA were compared with the 87 dialysis patients free of these clinical or radiological abnormalities. The affected patients were significantly older at the start of dialysis than unaffected patients. The risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome increased with the duration of dialysis. Amyloid deposits were found in carpal tunnel tissue obtained from 24 of the 39 operated patients (62%) during surgery. Destructive spondylarthropathy was significantly associated with the presence of disc calcifications and more frequent in AN 69-treated patients in whom secondary hyperparathyroidism appeared to be more severe. The use of an AN 69 membrane for at least 90% of the dialysis period (in 15 patients) was not associated with a lower prevalence of DAA. We found that after 10 years of haemodialysis DAA occurred whatever type of membrane was used and the prevalence increased with the patient's age and the duration of dialysis.
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The effectiveness and safety of CY 216 as anticoagulant for extracorporeal circulation were evaluated in 403 haemodialysis of haemofiltration sessions performed in 33 patients with chronic [24] or acute [9] renal failure; 149 of the sessions were carried at risk of haemorrhage. Initially CY 216 was administered as a bolus intravenous injection in doses of 7,500 anti-Xa Institut Choay units (AXa.IC.U) to patients under 50 kg, 15,000 AXa.IC.U to patients weighting between 50 and 80 kg and 22,500 AXa.IC.U to patients over 80 kg. Subsequently dosage was adjusted according to clinical results. With a median dose of 250 AXa.IC.U per kg, no haemorrhage was observed. Blood restitution was satisfactory in 84.6% of the cases, extracorporeal circulation was without clotting of fibrin deposit in 90% of the cases and the incidence of total coagulation was only 0.5%. Using CY 216 seems to be effective in preventing coagulation in the extracorporeal circuit and was well tolerated by all patients whether or not they were carried at risk of haemorrhage.
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Continuous exposure to 2 ppm nitric oxide (NO) for as long as 4 wk did not reduce the resistance of male mice to infection by aerosol inoculation with Pasteurella multocida. In contrast, mortality was slightly enhanced and survival shortened in NO-exposed compared to control female mice; however, the importance of these small differences is uncertain. These results suggest only that male and female mice did not react similarly to the infectious challenge after exposure to NO.
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The synthesis of nitrate reductase by a parental Escherichia coli K12 strain and its isogenic chlA and chlB mutants has been analyzed by protein double labelling with L-[4,5-3H]leucine and sulphur-35 and by immunoprecipitation using specific antiserum. The chlA and chlB mutants although defective in nitrate reductase activity retain the ability to synthesise the different polypeptides that are normally required for functional enzyme activity. In addition the data shows the following. 1. These polypeptides are present in unequal quantities in the membrane and in the cytoplasm of the cells. The chlB mutant synthesizes three times more nitrate reductase than the chlA mutant. 2. The subunit composition of the membrane-bound nitrate reductase present in the two mutants is different. 3. Membrane preparations from the chlB mutant contain the three subunits alpha, beta, gamma in a ratio which is similar to the wild type. 4. In the chlA mutant the two subunits beta and gamma are missing and the level of alpha subunit is very low. In the same membrane a 48,000-Mr subunit (polypeptide beta') precipitable by nitrate reductase antiserum has been found. The chlA and chlB mutants accumulate the three subunits alpha, beta and gamma in different proportion and concentrations in the cytoplasm unlike the parental strain. 5. The cytoplasm from the chlA mutant also contains the beta' polypeptide found in the membrane fraction of this mutant and in addition contain another polypeptide designated alpha' of molecular weight 105,000 which is precipitated by the nitrate reductase antiserum. The formation of particulate active nitrate reductase can be achieved by mixing the supernatant fractions of the chlA and chlB mutants (complementation) and procedes by two distinct but mutually dependent stages. Following reconstitution of activity the two peptides alpha' and beta' present in the supernatant fraction of the chlA mutant, disappear. Analysis of the immunoprecipitate polypeptides present in both the soluble and particulate nitrate reductase protein after reconstitution suggests that these polypeptides are precursors of the alpha and beta subunits following a process that remains to be elucidated.
Several properties of the cytochrome P-450 induced in the yeast Candida tropicalis by growth on tetradecane have been studied by differential visible spectroscopy on microsomes. The spectral changes typical of this cytochrome have been obtained by subtraction of an unspecific spectral change, possibly due to the presence of other hemoproteins in microsomes, from the experimental difference spectra. Like the previously described cytochromes P-450 from yeast and mammalian liver, C. tropicalis cytochrome P-450 is in spin-state equilibrium at ambient temperature: about 30% of the originally low-spin cytochrome is converted to the high-spin state upon increasing the ionic strength of the medium, whereas 30% of the originally high-spin cytochrome is converted to the low-spin state upon addition of hydrophobic alcohols. C. tropicalis cytochrome P-450 readily binds nitrogenous ligands, isocyanides and phosphines in the ferric and ferrous state with spectral characteristics similar to those reported for other yeast or mammalian cytochromes P-450. It also reacts sucessively with cumylhydroperoxide and 1,3-benzodioxole to form a high-valent iron-oxo species and an iron-carbene metabolite complex. However it fails to produce any spectral or spin-state change upon addition of hydrophobic non-coordinating compounds such as n-tetradecane, its substrate in vivo.
Candida tropicalis grows on soluble starch, corn, and cassava powders without requiring that these substrates be previously hydrolyzed. C. tropicalis possesses the enzyme needed to hydrolyze starch, namely, an alpha-amylase. That property has been used to develop a fermentation process whereby C. tropicalis can be grown directly on corn or cassava powders so that the resultant mixture of biomass and residual corn or cassava contains about 20% protein, which represents a balanced diet for either animal fodder or human food. The fact that no extra enzymes are required to hydrolyze starch results in a particularly efficient way of improving the nutritional value of amylaceous products, through a single-step fermentation process.
The respiratory effects of low levels of SO2 alone or associated with NO or NO2 were studied in rats exposed for periods of one day to thirteen weeks. Control rats were exposed to ambient air. Both control and treated rats appeared similarly active and grew uniformly. Erythrocytic variables (hemoglobin, hematocrit, red cell counts, 2,3-DPG, glucose, lactate, methemoglobin) and oxyhemoglobin dissociation curves were determined at different times throughout exposure to the gaseous mixture. Blood variables of the exposed rats were not significantly different from those of controls, and hemoglobin affinity was not modified. Bronchiolar and tracheal epithelia were studied by scanning (TEM) to detect a possible loss of cilia. The alveolar walls were investigated by Light Microscopy and TEM after each period of exposure. No striking changes were observed in rat lung structures under Light Microscopy or TEM. Bronchiolar and tracheal epithelia were normally ciliated. No synergistic effects were produced by either SO2 + NO or SO2 + NO2.
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