Presse Med
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Seven patients of Haitian and Central African origin were investigated for interstitial pneumonitis and unexplained chronic lymphadenopathy. A study of broncho-alveolar lavage fluid showed no opportunistic micro-organisms and disclosed a high alveolar lymphocyte count with more than 80% T8+ cells. ⋯ Follicular hyperplasia was a constant finding in lymph nodes. Benign lymphocytic infiltration was found in other organs of all patients, associated with polyclonal hyperimmunoglobulinaemia, low peripheral T4+ cell count and LAV-Ig G antibodies.
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The finding of an abdominal mass in an 18-month old infant ultimately led to the diagnosis of mycotic aneurysm of a common iliac artery. The lesion was resected and the vessel was ligated. The short and long-term outcome was favourable. ⋯ The vessel most commonly involved is the aorta. Surgical resection, when performed, results in cure. The present case is remarkable on three points: the lesion involved an iliac artery, the diagnosis was delayed and calcifications were present around the aneurysm.
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Sodium concentrations in erythrocytes are lower in women during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle than in women studied during the follicular phase and in men. Sodium cotransport activity is lower in women during the follicular phase than in men. Women taking oral contraceptives show no monthly variations in erythrocyte sodium concentrations. ⋯ There is no difference between negroes with or without haemoglobin S. There are no changes in erythrocyte potassium concentrations in relation to sex, menstrual phase, race, familial essential hypertension, presence of haemoglobin S or use of oral contraceptives. These physiological variations indicate the factors which must be standardized to study sodium concentrations in cells and sodium transmembrane flux.
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Case Reports
[Fulminant meningococcemia with intracranial hypertension. External lumbar drainage of cerebrospinal fluid].
An 18-year old girl developed acute fulminating meningococcaemia with meningitis, coma, shock, coagulation disorders and extensive purpura. Measurement of intracranial pressure showed severe intracranial hypertension. After medical treatment of shock and intracranial hypertension had failed, external drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid was performed in the lumbar region, using a 16 G silicone catheter. ⋯ The lumbar drainage was maintained for 12 days during which 3180 ml of blood-stained cerebrospinal fluid were evacuated. The fluid was sterilized by antibiotics as early as the 1st day of the disease, but it remained positive for bacterial antigen up to the 9th day. Cure was obtained without neurological sequelae, thanks to the lumber drainage which controlled intracranial hypertension and removed large amounts of microbial toxins.