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E Cua

Publications and source records attributed to E Cua.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

[Gnathostomiasis: an emerging parasitic disease?].

INTRODUCTION: Human gnathostomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by the ingestion of foods contaminated with the larvae of various species of Gnathostoma. This zoonosis is currently endemic in Asia and Central America. CASE REPORT: A 46-year-old French woman resident in Vietnam presented with intermittent pruritic swelling of the hand, present for one year, coupled with eosinophilia. The patient's history and serological testing confirmed the suspected diagnosis of gnathostomiasis. A favorable outcome was attained on treatment with albendazole. DISCUSSION: This case, together with several others recently reported in France and Europe, underlines the need to inform travelers and migrants to endemic regions of the risks associated with eating raw or marinated fish.

Albendazole↗

Triple nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor- vs. nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-containing regimens as first-line therapy: efficacy and durability in a prospective cohort of French HIV-infected patients.

OBJECTIVE: Based on the short-term results of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) A5095 trial, zidovudine (ZDV)/lamivudine (3TC)/abacavir (ABC) is no longer recommended as a first-line antiretroviral regimen. Data on the efficacy of this triple nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) combination compared with the gold-standard nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) regimen could provide important information. METHODS: Patients were selected from three prospective cohorts of patients who received first-line therapy with ZDV/3TC plus an NNRTI or ABC, started after January 1998. Immunovirological changes and the proportion of treatment discontinuations were compared between groups. RESULTS: Of the 380 patients, 190 started on ABC [the triple-NRTI group (3N)] and 190 on NNRTI. At baseline, there was no statistical difference between the NNRTI and 3N groups for age (mean=38 years), sex (66% male) or CD4 cell count (mean=305 cells/muL). Mean baseline plasma HIV-1 viral load (pVL) was higher in the 3N group (4.6 vs. 4.3 log10 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL: P<0.01). Lower and higher estimates of median pVL decrease at month 24 were 2.05 and 4.76 log10 copies/mL in the 3N group, and 1.73 and 4.31 log10 copies/mL in the NNRTI group (not significant). CD4 cell count evolution did not differ between groups. Treatment discontinuation occurred in 45% vs. 44% of patients in the NNRTI and 3N groups, respectively, after median durations of 9 and 4 months, respectively (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective cohort, 3N and NNRTI regimens as first-line therapy produced similar immunovirological responses.

Adult↗

[Anti-TNF alpha monoclonal antibodies (infliximab) and tuberculosis: apropos of 3 cases].

INTRODUCTION: Monoclonal TNF alpha antibodies are a new treatment of severe rheumatoid arthritis. One of the possible side effects is the appearance of opportunistic infections. We report here on three cases of disseminated tuberculosis observed in patients undergoing treatment with infliximab. EXEGESIS: A 45-year-old woman, treated with infliximab, was hospitalised after five infusions for fever and dyspnoea. The exams showed pulmonary and peritoneal tuberculosis. The second case is a 75-year-old woman whose symptoms were fever, cough and cervical adenopathy after three infliximab infusions. Diagnosis was disseminated tuberculosis. The third case is a 59-year-old man who was hospitalised for an infectious syndrome with dyspnoea, after two infliximab infusions. We discovered pulmonary tuberculosis. CONCLUSION: These three cases added to the 68 cases of tuberculosis registered with the treatment of infliximab. This confirms the risk of severe opportunist infectious side effects. TNF alpha is a cytokine which has anti-infectious properties. These tuberculoses are severe and generalized. It is recommended to search for an active or latent tuberculosis before beginning treatment with infliximab, and to check these patients frequently.

Aged↗

[Necrobiotic xanthogranuloma , a cutaneous disorder associated with monoclonal gammopathy].

INTRODUCTION: Necrobiotic xanthogranuloma is a rare cutaneous disorder usually associated with monoclonal gammapathy. We describe two new cases. EXEGESIS: A 70-year-old patient was affected by a monoclonal gammopathy. She presented with a diplopia related to a retro-orbital tumor. The biopsy showed inflammatory lesions. Five years later, inflammatory xanthomatous skin lesions appeared. Biopsy specimens gave the diagnosis of necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. A 70-year-old woman was referred for inflammatory cutaneous lesions. Clinical, biological investigations and skin biopsies led to the diagnosis of cutaneous sarcoidosis associated with monoclonal gammopathy. Four years later, she developed a nephrotic syndrome. New skin biopsy specimens showed a necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. CONCLUSION: Necrobiotic xanthogranuloma is a systemic disease. It is a rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis characterized by frequent cutaneous and ophthalmologic lesions and associated with monoclonal gammopathy. To our knowledge, retro-orbital involvement has never been reported in necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. Treatment is difficult.

Aged↗

[Primary hyperparathyroidism, a differential diagnosis of motor neuron diseases].

INTRODUCTION: Motor neuron diseases are always lethal. Other curable causes of neurologic disorders have to be sought. We report an example. EXEGESIS: A 72-year-old man presented a distal weakness and atrophy of the upper extremities. Electromyography showed thenar and hypothenar denervation, without fasciculation. Hypercalcemia led to the discovery of a primary hyperparathyroidism. Five months after parathyroid surgery, there was no worsening. CONCLUSION: Von Recklinghausen and Vical were the first to describe neuromuscular involvement in primary hyperparathyroidism. Faced with symptoms mimicking motor neuron diseases, calcium and phosphorus levels have to be measured because hyperparathyroidism can be cured and neurologic disorders disappear after surgery.

Adenoma↗

[Recurrent infectious and metastatic cellulitis cause by Escherichia coli].

BACKGROUND: We report a case of recurrent and metastatic infectious cellulitis caused by Escherichi coli. CASE REPORT: A 79-year-old man with a history of alcoholic cirrhosis and a myelodyplasia syndrome was hospitalized for skin rash and inflammatory edema of the right leg associated with bullous and necrotic lesions. Culture of a bulla puncture fluid grew E. coli. A two-drug intravenous antibiotic regimen and surgical cleansing led to a favorable outcome in 3 weeks. One week after withdrawal of the antibiotics, the patient developed a recurrent erythematous and inflammatory lesion of the right flank. Blood culture grew E. coli. The intravenous antibiotics were reinitiated immediately and provided rapid regression of the skin signs. Search for a urinary or digestive tract neoplastic focus was negative. DISCUSSION: E. coli cellulitis is a very uncommon usually fatal condition. Clinicians should be aware of a possible association with alcoholic cirrhosis. In case of recurrence, it is important to search for a digestive, hepatobiliary or urinary tract focus. Broad spectrum empirical antibiotic therapy must be initiated rapidly. Surgery is required in case of necrotizing cellulitis whatever the infectious agent.

Aged↗

Effect of diabetes and Sorbinil treatment on phospholipid metabolism in rat glomeruli.

To explore the hypothesis that changes in membrane phospholipids accompany tissue myo-inositol depletion and reduced (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity in diabetes, we examined phospholipid concentrations in glomeruli isolated from control and streptozotocin-diabetic rats and the effect of diabetes on myo-[3H]inositol incorporation in vitro into glomerular phosphatidylinositol. Since the aldose reductase inhibitor, Sorbinil, prevents the fall in myo-inositol and the decrease in (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity associated with diabetes, phospholipid and phosphatidylinositol content were also examined in glomeruli isolated from Sorbinil-treated diabetic rats. Total phospholipids (microgram phosphorus/mg dry weight) did not differ in the three groups of animals. The concentration of phosphatidylcholine was elevated in preparations from diabetic rats, both untreated and Sorbinil-treated. Phosphatidylethanolamine was reduced in glomeruli from Sorbinil-treated rats. Neither acute experimental diabetes nor Sorbinil treatment produced detectable changes in the glomerular concentration of phosphatidylinositol. In vitro incubations with glomeruli isolated from control and diabetic animals resulted in increased levels of incorporation of myo-[3H]inositol into phospholipids of diabetic glomeruli. The specific activity of [3H]phosphatidylinositol in glomeruli from diabetic rats was significantly greater than that in control samples. The findings do not support the postulate invoking correspondent changes in myo-inositol and phosphatidylinositol contents as contributory to diminished glomerular (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity in diabetes, but are compatible with depletion of glomerular intracellular myo-inositol in diabetes.

Aldehyde Reductase↗

Hepatic abscess caused by Brucella US, CT and MRI findings: case report and review of the literature.

The authors describe the findings detected by ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a 42-year-old patient with a hepatic abscess due to brucellosis. This localization by Brucella (hepatic brucelloma) is quite rare and very often is asymptomatic. A review of the medical literature shows only 40 cases of an hepatic abscess due to brucellosis. The findings demonstrated by US, CT and MRI can offer important diagnostic elements, albeit not specific, which should, together with a positive serologic test, confirm the diagnosis.

Adult↗

Prevalence of nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) resistance-associated mutations and polymorphisms in NNRTI-naïve HIV-infected patients.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of treatment containing nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) could be compromised in NNRTI-naïve patients already harboring a virus resistant to NNRTIs. On the contrary, hypersusceptibility to NNRTIs in patients having failed nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-containing regimens has been described and has been associated with improved outcome. METHOD: We assessed the prevalence of NNRTI resistance-associated mutations or polymorphisms in 146 antiretroviral-naïve patients and in 181 HIV-infected patients who were given an NNRTI-based regimen. We phenotypically evaluated the NNRTI susceptibility of 41 strains presenting with amino acid substitutions at positions involved in NNRTI resistance. RESULTS: In the 268 genotypically analyzable samples, the overall prevalence of NNRTI resistance-associated mutations was 2% (6/268 patients). The prevalence of strains with amino acid substitutions at reverse transcriptase (RT) gene positions (A98, K101, K103, V106, V108, V179) involved in NNRTI resistance was 15%. Hypersusceptibility to NNRTI was rare (2%, 1/41) in those samples. RT substitutions at positions involved in NNRTI resistance were not associated with a significantly worse virologic outcome in NNRTI-treated patients. Our understanding of small shifts in IC50 values (higher or lower) toward NNRTI is very limited. The significance of many RT mutations on NNRTI susceptibility is not clear. CONCLUSION: In contrast to resistance mutations, RT substitutions at positions involved in NNRTI resistance are frequent. They are not associated with a worse virologic outcome or with decreased phenotypic susceptibility to NNRTIs. It may be prudent not to rule out the use of NNRTIs in patients with small shifts in IC50 values or poorly understood mutations.

Adult↗

Variable virological outcomes according to the center providing antiretroviral therapy within the PharmAdapt clinical trial.

PURPOSE: Differences in virological response between HIV-infected patients at different study centers were analyzed as a substudy of PharmAdapt, a multicenter prospective randomized study to evaluate the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring after a genotypic-based treatment adaptation. RESULTS: After 12 weeks, the percentage of patients participating in PharmAdapt with HIV RNA < 200 copies/mL ranged from 17% to 69% between centers providing antiretroviral care. In a multivariate analysis, independent factors predictive of viral load <200 HIV RNA copies/mL at Week 12 included: lower baseline viral load, lower nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance, lower protease inhibitor resistance, and the center providing antiretroviral therapy. To evaluate the final factor, study sites were divided into two groups based on Week 12 HIV RNA values above or below the median. CONCLUSION: Using this definition, observed differences between centers included the use of stavudine, abacavir-, and/or efavirenz-based regimens and use of online expert advice.

Adult↗