PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Choutet

Publications and source records attributed to P Choutet.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Prevalence and persistence of antibody titers to recombinant HIV-1 core and matrix proteins in HIV-1 infection.

Numerous studies have established the correlation between antibodies to the core protein p24 of HIV-1 and the progression of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In this study, we analyzed the immune response to two recombinant gag proteins, p24 and p17, in order to evaluate their diagnostic or prognostic significance. Immune response to the immunodominant domain of the transmembrane glycoprotein gp41 was used as a reference. Sera collected from individuals from France and Burundi (Central Africa) at various CDC stages of HIV-1 infection were tested using three sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassays developed with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the immunodominant domain of gp41, SP gp41, or recombinant p24 and p17 cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. These assays allowed detection of titer antibodies to the three cited antigens. Antibodies to SP gp41 were detected in every HIV-1-positive patient from France and Burundi, generally at a high and stable level. Results obtained with p24 confirmed the value of antibodies to p24 as a prognostic marker only in European and North American populations, since the African population had very high levels of these antibodies even at an advanced stage of the disease. They also confirmed that initial antibody response to p24 is more predictive of outcome than antibody titer change over time. Although antibodies to p17 decline during progression to AIDS, they are frequently absent in French patients at early, asymptomatic stages and therefore could not be used as a prognostic marker. In contrast, antibodies to p17 are significantly less common in African patients with AIDS when compared with symptomless HIV-1-infected African individuals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Protein-energy malnutrition in elderly medical patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate (1) the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition in elderly patients; (2) the changes in nutritional status during the hospital stay; and (3) (main objective) the relationship between simple nutritional parameters and short-term in-hospital mortality. DESIGN: Prospective time series at admission and on the 15th day of hospitalization. SETTING: Medical care unit in a teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive sample of 324 hospitalized patients greater than or equal to 70 years (86.4% of eligible patients). Norms of measurements were obtained from a referred sample of healthy control subjects (26 males and 36 females). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mid-arm circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, serum albumin, prealbumin, and retinol-binding protein levels were measured in patients at admission and on the 15th day. RESULTS: (1) Prevalence of PEM was 30% in male and 41% in female patients. (2) Both mid-arm circumference and serum albumin level decreased over the first 15 days of hospital stay (53 patients, paired t test, P less than 0.05). Triceps skinfold thickness did not change. (3) A step-wise discriminant-function analysis determined the utility of the parameters at admission as predictors of in-hospital mortality before the 15th day. Mid-arm circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, albumin, and prealbumin levels, as well as age, are predictors of in-hospital mortality, with 73% sensitivity, 69% specificity, and 70% of correctly classified patients of both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Parameters used are predictors for short-term in-hospital mortality of elderly patients hospitalized in an acute medical unit. The lean body mass is preferentially mobilized for energy during hospitalization.

Aged↗

Successful treatment of acute fascioliasis with bithionol.

Fascioliasis is the parasitic infestation of the liver and biliary tract related to Fasciola hepatica. Bithionol is proposed as the treatment of choice for human fascioliasis without major side effects. However, the efficacy of bithionol has been evaluated in chronic but not in acute fascioliasis. In this study we report on the success of treatment with bithionol in 10 patients with fascioliasis, 8 having acute fascioliasis. The criteria for the diagnosis of fascioliasis were hypereosinophilia, positive immunoelectrophoresis and indirect hemagglutination. Bithionol was given orally to hospitalized patients at the daily dose of 25 mg/kg body wt for 10 days. Three patients with acute fascioliasis received a second course of bithionol 2 or 3 mo after the first because of the recurrence of diarrhea and fatigue in one patient and persistent hypereosinophilia in two patients. All patients were cured. The follow-up period after the first course of treatment was between 16 and 47 mo. No major side effects were observed. We conclude that bithionol is the drug of choice for both acute and chronic fascioliasis. Moreover, its oral administration may allow treatment of fascioliasis in outpatients who do not have serious symptoms.

Acute Disease↗

[Scintigraphic assessment of pulmonary deposition of pentamidine administered by aerosol].

Isotopic techniques enable to determine the best conditions to aerosolize pentamidine as a preventive treatment of pneumocystis. An original labelling technique of pentamidine isethionate has led into a feasibility study of pentamidine scintigraphy in the monkey, and then to a clinical study. A tracer dose of 2 mg of pentamidine isethionate was diluted into 200 mg of pentamidine mesylate. An ultrasonic nebulizer (TV 6000) and a jet nebulizer (Venticis II) were first compared in four baboons. With the two nebulisers the curves of pulmonary kinetic activity showed a peak 10-15 minutes after the beginning of inhalation and then a plateau. With the ultrasonic TV6000 the pulmonary dose was on average 0.8 mg or 0.4% of the pentamidine aerosolized and the gastric contamination 3.1%. With the Venticis II compressed air apparatus the amount of pentamidine delivered to the deep lung was a mean of 4.2 mg or 2.1% of the aerosolized dose whereas the gastric contamination was only 0.5%. The delivery of the aerosol by the ultrasonic inhaler TV 6000 was then compared with two compressed air inhalers Venticis II and Respirgard II in four patients infected with HIV virus who were submitted to a preventative therapy against pneumocystis. With the ultrasonic TV 6000 the pulmonary dose was 0.8 mg or 0.3%-0.5% of the dose of pentamidine aerosolized and the digestive contamination was 3.1%. The performance of the two compressed air nebulizers Venticis II and Respirgard II were similar. The amount of pentamidine delivered to the deep lung was respectively 12 and 14 mg or 6 and 8% of the dose of pentamidine aerosolized and the digestive activity was 0.2%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Primary staphylococcal septicemia in adults. A retrospective study].

In this retrospective study, 100 cases of primary staphylococcal septicaemia collected in 5 hospitals over a 2-year period were reviewed. Out of 91 strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated, 6 were methicillin-resistant, but all 6 came from the same hospital. The mortality rate was 36 per cent. The only prognostic factors elicited were chronic renal failure and septic shock. The 64 patients who survived stayed in hospital for a mean period of 42 days, and 42 recovered without sequelae. Staphylococcal infections remain serious and are not all hospital-acquired.

Adolescent↗

Cutaneous cryptococcosis resembling molluscum contagiosum: a first manifestation of AIDS.

A 30-year-old homosexual man developed multiple skin umbilicated lesions resembling molluscum contagiosum. Initially the lesions were on his face but they rapidly spread. Histopathology and mycologic cultures of a skin biopsy revealed cryptococcus neoformans which was also identified in cerebrospinal fluid and in bronchoalveolar washings. The patient had fever, weight loss, generalized lymph node enlargement, depletion of the T helper subpopulation and positive HIV-1 serology. During treatment with flucytosine and amphotericin B, the skin lesions regressed in 3 months (cryptococcus neoformans disappeared in the cerebrospinal fluid and skin within one and five weeks, respectively). Our case demonstrates that molluscum contagiosum-like skin manifestations may be caused by cryptococcal infections. So it is necessary to perform skin biopsy in HIV seropositive patients with skin lesions resembling molluscum contagiosum, to diagnose mycotic infections, and especially cryptococcosis. Cutaneous cryptococcosis was, in this case, the first symptom of AIDS.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Malaria, pregnancy and prophylaxis].

We present two case histories. The first is a case of congenital malaria in a newborn whose Laotian mother immigrated into France 2 years ago. The other is a case of very severe malaria with fetal death in a 28 year old woman who was 8 months pregnant and who had come back to France from Gabon where she had lived for 2 years. The authors wish to draw attention to malaria brought into the country and how serious it can be, and suggest prophylactic measures to be applied for pregnant women and their newborn babies.

Adult↗

Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ditiocarb sodium ('Imuthiol') in human immunodeficiency virus infection.

83 patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (CDC groups II, III, or IV-A) were randomised in a crossover trial of sodium-diethyldithiocarbamate (ditiocarb sodium, 'Imuthiol') (10 mg/kg body weight given orally once a week) against placebo. Each arm of the trial lasted 16 weeks. The disease did not progress to CDC-defined acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in the ditiocarb group but did so in 4 patients in the placebo group (3 between week 0 and 16, 1 between week 17 and 32). Ditiocarb was also associated to a significantly greater extent than placebo with relief of constitutional symptoms, improvement in clinical status (including shrinkage of enlarged spleen and lymph nodes), and improvement in immune function (as measured by CD4+ cell count and skin test reactivity). When placebo was replaced by ditiocarb, similar improvements were observed, whereas symptoms slowly reappeared and CD4+ cell levels progressively declined when ditiocarb treatment was replaced by placebo.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Serologic diagnosis and epidemiology of acute delta hepatitis in Indre-et-Loire].

A 6 years retrospective study (1981-1986) of 153 consecutive cases of HBsAg positive acute hepatitis was carried out to assess the prevalence of delta virus infections in the Indre-et-Loire a district of the Loire Valley in France. Diagnostic value of the various serum markers of delta infection, i. e. HDAg, anti-HD and anti-HD IgM, were evaluated using immunoenzyme assays. During the survey, 22 cases of delta hepatitis were diagnosed (12 co-infections, 10 superinfections). They all involved young adults, 21 of them were drug-addicts, and one young woman was the consort of a drug-addict. In Indre-et-Loire, delta virus infection was responsible for half of acute HBsAg positive hepatitis among drug-users in the last 3 years of our study. Clinical and biological features of acute delta hepatitis were compared to those of the other HBsAg positive hepatitis: two cases of fulminant hepatitis occurred among the 12 co-infections; 4 of 6 superinfection that could be followed up to 6 months developed biopsy-proven chronic active hepatitis. Delta Ag was found constantly during the first week of the disease, its disappearance was always followed by a seroconversion to anti-HD after four weeks. Anti-delta IgM was an inconstant and late marker: it was detected within the first 4 weeks in only one case (a co-infection); it persisted only in superinfections. Our study shows that delta Ag is an efficient serum marker for the early diagnosis of acute delta hepatitis.

Acute Disease↗

[Neuromeningeal listeriosis in adults, excluding pregnancy. Prognosis and development of neurologic manifestations. Retrospective study of 63 cases].

Patients' constitutional background, treatment and neurological manifestations were analyzed in a retrospective study of 63 cases of neuromeningeal listeriosis in adults. Age over 60 and coma at the onset were of poor prognosis, but immunodepression (present in only 38% of the cases) did not seem to affect the outcome. The ampicillin-aminoglycoside combination did not appear to improve the vital and functional prognoses more than ampicillin alone. The neurological manifestations observed at the end of hospitalization in 16 of the 42 patients who were cured were not necessarily permanent: among the 13 patients who could be followed up for a mean period of 6.5 years, 5 recovered completely, 5 recovered partially and 3 remained unchanged at neurological examination.

Adult↗