Search

The occurrence of non-viral meningitis remains a heavy diagnosis carrying undeniable pejorative aspects that may vary according to several factors such as the age and the presence or absence of an immunodeficiency. In some cases, uncommon germs can also lead to a bad prognosis such as Listeria monocytogenes that can be responsible of an extremely severe septic state. We report the case of a girl with Listeria meningitis, whose evolution was unfortunately quickly negative.

Introduction: There has been a steady increase in gonorrhoea cases among females in Australian major cities but the reasons remain unclear. The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with gonorrhoea among females attending a sexual health centre in Melbourne., Methods: Analysis of retrospective electronic patient records of females aged 16 to 80 years old attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Australia between 1st January 2008 and 20th March 2015. East and South-East Asian countries were considered as higher-prevalence countries for gonorrhoea. Logistic regression with a generalised estimating equation was used to identify the risk factors associated with gonorrhoea among females., Results: Gonorrhoea positivity by culture among females increased from 0.3% in 2008 to 1.2% in 2015 (ptrend =0.004). The rise in positivity was greatest in females reporting sex in a higher-prevalence country (0% to 7.4%, p trend =0.026) but only moderate (0.2% to 0.4%, ptrend =0.049) in those reporting sex in Australia and/or in lower-prevalence countries. There was no association between gonorrhoea positivity and age, country of birth, number of male partners, condomless sex, or injecting drug use behaviours in the multivariable analysis. Gonorrhoea positivity by culture was significantly associated with presenting as a contact of gonorrhoea (aOR: 74.79; 95% CI: 44.07-126.93) or having sex with someone from a higher-prevalence country (aOR: 2.46; 95% CI: 1.15-5.25) after adjusting for potential confounding factors., Conclusions: There has been a recent four-fold increase in gonorrhoea among females attending a sexual health centre in Melbourne. Females who have sex with a partner from a country with higher-prevalence gonorrhoea (i.e. East and South-East Asian countries) are at higher risk of acquiring gonorrhoea. Public health interventions such as safe sex messages targeting travellers are required., (This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce the whole or part of this work in unaltered form for your own personal use or, if you are part of an organisation, for internal use within your organisation, but only if you or your organisation do not use the reproduction for any commercial purpose and retain this copyright notice and all disclaimer notices as part of that reproduction. Apart from rights to use as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 or allowed by this copyright notice, all other rights are reserved and you are not allowed to reproduce the whole or any part of this work in any way (electronic or otherwise) without first being given the specific written permission from the Commonwealth to do so. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights are to be sent to the Online, Services and External Relations Branch, Department of Health, GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, or by email to copyright@health.gov.au.)

The lacunar skull is a radiologic description characterised by the presence of lacunae in the cranial vault. Its physiopathology remains up to now poorly understood; it is mostly associated with neural tube defects. The association of a lacunar skull with a craniosynostosis has rarely been described in the literature. The case of a 9-month-old patient presenting a multisutural craniosynostosis with a lacunar skull is reported in this article. The surgical treatment allowed to remodel the skull and to hope for a spontaneous regression of the lacunae.

Background: There is a paucity of epidemiologic studies of prolonged seizures (persisting for more than 5 minutes) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Rwanda., Objective: We sought to analyze the clinical presentation, causes, pharmacologic management, and shortterm course of these seizures., Methods: We enrolled 436 children, aged five months to ten years, who presented with prolonged seizures at the pediatric emergency departments of nine hospitals. Findings: Overall, 57.8% of the children were younger than three years; 7% had pre-existing psychomotor delay. Although 21% had had previous seizures, only 13% were receiving antiepileptic therapy. On presentation, 63.5% of the patients had fever and 26% were in status epilepticus. The seizures were focal in 21% of the cases. Malaria was the most common cause, involving 63% of the cases. The recurrence rate was 38%, and the mortality rate 4%., Conclusion: Prolonged seizures in DRC and Rwanda are frequently associated with fever, most commonly caused by malaria. The immediate use of long-acting antiepileptic drug could improve their outcomes.

Febrile Seizures (FS), despite their usual benign clinical course, are still subject of controversies regarding the need for further investigation and treatment with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). Our study aimed to inventory the clinical findings, laboratory and imaging data associated with FS and eventually influencing their management. 275 episodes admitted with FS at the emergency ward of the Liege CHR over a 5 year period were retrospectively analyzed regarding precipitating factors; clinical features; laboratory, electroencephalographic, and imaging studies; as well as treatment response. FS represented 1.4% of admissions to the pediatric service. 31.3% of patients had a family history of seizure disorder. 9% percent of seizures were focal, 11.7% recurrent, and 12.3% prolonged (greater than 10 minutes). Upper respiratory tract and otorhinolaryngologic viral infections were the most often implicated provoking factors, occurring in 69.5% of patients. Laboratory, electroencephalographic and radiographic studies were normal in more than 90% of cases. 73.8% of seizures resolved without intervention. An AED was required to manage the remaining 26.2%. This study confirms the favorable outcomes of FS as demonstrated in previous studies. This happens without requiring AEDs for resolution, and without recurrence. Laboratory, electroencephalographic and imaging studies, as well as initiation of AEDs should be based primarily on clinical severity.

Diastematomyelia is a relatively rare congenital abnormality presenting as a sagittal separation of the spinal cord. Although cases of diastematomyelia have been previously reported, fully documented approaches by both prenatal and postnatal diagnostic workup are rare in the literature. We present a fully studied case of diastematomyelia type I investigated by prenatal US and MRI and postnatal US, MRI and radiography.

Background: Mutations in the FRY1/SAL1 Arabidopsis locus are highly pleiotropic, affecting drought tolerance, leaf shape and root growth. FRY1 encodes a nucleotide phosphatase that in vitro has inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase and 3',(2'),5'-bisphosphate nucleotide phosphatase activities. It is not clear which activity mediates each of the diverse biological functions of FRY1 in planta., Principal Findings: A fry1 mutant was identified in a genetic screen for Arabidopsis mutants deregulated in the expression of Pi High affinity Transporter 1;4 (PHT1;4). Histological analysis revealed that, in roots, FRY1 expression was restricted to the stele and meristems. The fry1 mutant displayed an altered root architecture phenotype and an increased drought tolerance. All of the phenotypes analyzed were complemented with the AHL gene encoding a protein that converts 3'-polyadenosine 5'-phosphate (PAP) into AMP and Pi. PAP is known to inhibit exoribonucleases (XRN) in vitro. Accordingly, an xrn triple mutant with mutations in all three XRNs shared the fry1 drought tolerance and root architecture phenotypes. Interestingly these two traits were also complemented by grafting, revealing that drought tolerance was primarily conferred by the rosette and that the root architecture can be complemented by long-distance regulation derived from leaves. By contrast, PHT1 expression was not altered in xrn mutants or in grafting experiments. Thus, PHT1 up-regulation probably resulted from a local depletion of Pi in the fry1 stele. This hypothesis is supported by the identification of other genes modulated by Pi deficiency in the stele, which are found induced in a fry1 background., Conclusions/significance: Our results indicate that the 3',(2'),5'-bisphosphate nucleotide phosphatase activity of FRY1 is involved in long-distance as well as local regulatory activities in roots. The local up-regulation of PHT1 genes transcription in roots likely results from local depletion of Pi and is independent of the XRNs.