Erdheim-Chester disease : a case report

We report the case of a 47-year-old woman with unexplained inflammatory syndrome and asthenia. Imaging findings show bilateral abnormalities of femurs and tibias, suggesting an Erdheim-Chester disease, which is confirmed by a bone marrow biopsy of the left femur. The BRAF V600E mutation is detected, allowing the administration of targeted therapies such as BRAF and MEK inhibitors that lead to the improvement of symptoms

In vitro monitoring of human tissue degradation by TD-GC×GC-TOFMS

Human rescue dog unit are amongst the most efficient tools to locate cadaver or individuals trapped after a natural disaster. However, the dog training process is long and expensive. Dog trainers are still looking for a better understanding of the dog olfaction matching mechanism to improve their training methods (1). How does the decomposition process differ between organs? Are there specific body parts better suited for dog training? What are the major volatile compounds responsible of the dogs’ match response? In the line of these questions, this project was monitoring the headspace of various human organs during the decomposition process. Five different organs, from five different bodies, were used: heart, lung, liver, kidney, and blood. Each organs were sampled in triplicates and let to decompose in glass jar. Regularly, the headspace of the jar was sampled by dynamic pumping to sorbent tubes that were further be desorbed on a comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography system (GC×GC). GC×GC is a powerful analytical tool that allows the resolution of “the smell of death”, i.e. the decomposition odor (2-3). The development of an in vitro approach for decomposition monitoring provided several analytical improvements in the decomposition field. Indeed, the study of dead bodies is always limited in the number of replicates (4). The sampling process developed for this project allows intra and inter corpse comparison with at least triplicates sampling. These comparisons were conducted using advanced chemometric methods (Fisher ratio, PCA, hierarchical analysis…) that will contribute to better understand key parameters of rescue the dog training. References 1. Hoffman et al. FSI (2009) 186, 6-13. 2. Stefanuto et al. CPC (2014) 79, 786-789. 3. Perrault et al. J. Sep. Sci. (2015) 38, 73-80. 4. Stefanuto et al. ABC (2015) 407, 4767-477

A rare cause of colic polyp in a patient with ischemic colitis.

A 50-year-old woman was admitted for a rectal bleeding after an episode of defecation 2 days prior to her admission. The patient had also suffered from lower abdominal pain for 3 days, but did not complain about any other pain. The patient had no personal or familial medical history. The clinical examination only revealed a sensitive abdomen in the left inferior quadrant of the abdomen without defence or rebound. The vital parameters were normal. The blood sample showed the following: haemoglobin 15.2 g/dL (12-16), MCV 105 (85-95), leucocytes 11800/ mm3 (4200-9000) among which 8470/mm3 neutrophils (1900-7000), platelets 225000/mm3 (150000-400000) and CRP 171.5 mg/dL (< 12). We noticed that the haemoglobin had decreased from 15.2 g/dL to 11.6 g/ dL between the emergency and our gastroenterological department. [...

Comprehensive Approach for Monitoring Human Tissue Degradation

peer reviewedIn recent years, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC–TOFMS) has been reported as a suitable tool for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted during the process of cadaveric decomposition. The main aim of the present study was to investigate temporal changes in VOC patterns during the decomposition process of various human tissues. The focus of previous research was mainly on the analysis of VOCs produced by whole cadavers. However, this study aimed to identify whether the VOCs produced during decomposition differ between specific organs, and further, to determine the extent of the variation between cadavers. The sampling process developed for this project allowed inter- and intra-cadaveric comparison. The headspace of heart, lung, liver, kidney and blood was monitored during the decomposition process. Tissue samples from five different cadavers were sampled regularly by dynamic pumping onto sorbent tubes that were further thermally desorbed onto a GC × GC–TOFMS system. A large amount of data (n = 774) was obtained, leading to challenges in the integration, interpretation and representation of the results. Eventually, multivariate statistical methods, such as principal components analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied to the dataset to evaluate trends and differences in subgroups. It was demonstrated that there were subtle differences between the sets of compounds produced from each organ due to the different functions they carry out within the body. However, VOC profiles were more similar among organs from the same cadaver than when comparing samples from different cadavers. Various reasons may cause the differences between the analyzed cadavers, ranging from the individual diet and lifestyle to the time since death. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Long-Term Assessment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse Reoperation Risk in Obese Women: Vaginal and Laparoscopic Approaches

The aim of this study was to compare reoperation risks after pelvic organ prolapse repair at 5-year follow-up between obese, overweight, and normal-weight women and to assess these risks accounting for the surgical procedure. We performed a retrospective chart review of all the women who underwent POP repair by transvaginal mesh surgery between January 2005 and January 2009 or laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy between January 2003 and December 2013 at the Gynecologic Surgery Department of the Lille University Hospital. During the study period, 744 women who underwent POP repair were divided into three groups: 382 (51%), 240 (32%), and 122 (16%) in the nonobese group (BMI p = 0.80), nor among the women who underwent transvaginal mesh surgery or laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy. The risks of reoperation for POP recurrence, stress urinary incontinence, or mesh-related complications did not significantly differ between the three BMI groups in the overall population nor accounting for the surgical procedure. In conclusion, obesity does not seem to be a risk factor of reoperation for POP recurrence, SUI, or mesh-related complications in the long term regardless of the surgical approach