[Problems raised by the use of tetracyclines in the first years of life]. / Problèmes posés par la prescription des tétracyclines durant les premières années de vie.

Tetracyclines administered during the first years of life may produce serious unwanted side-effects, such as intracranial hypertension and, chiefly, abnormalities of the teeth and bones. The tetracyclines have a special affinity for certain metal cations, notably calcium, with which they form relatively stable complexes. When given to children or pregnant women they stain the deciduous and permanent teeth a lasting yellowish-brown or give rise to dental abnormalities; they may also slow down skeletal growth. For these reasons tetracyclines should not be prescribed to children and pregnant women unless absolutely necessary, and other classes of antibiotics should be preferred whenever possible.

[Cutaneous drug reactions: diagnosis and etiology]. / Réactions cutanées aux médicaments: diagnostic et étiologie.

Drug eruptions are frequently encountered in clinical practice. Their great variety raise many problems and their complete knowledge is actually impossible. A logical approach is to describe the dermatological signs and the associated signs and symptoms. All the drugs taken by the patient and the dates of doses must be referred. Secondly, more informations may be obtained thanks to the dermatologist or a Drug Alert Registry (Regional Center of Pharmacovigilance in France). Bibliographical data varied in quality; the Vidal dictionary is often used, but Internet may be questioned. Imputability methods are well developped in France. In vivo and in vitro methods do not offer sufficient sensibility and specificity.

[Gardasil®-induced erythema nodosum]. / Erythème noueux induit par le Gardasil®.

Erythema nodosum is a panniculitis occurring more frequently in young women. We report a 16-year-old woman who presented with erythema nodosum that occurred following Gardasil® administration (vaccine against HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18) and that is proposed to young female. This adverse effect is not a contraindication to the HPV vaccination because its benefit against the oncogene risk of Papillomavirus is documented.

Segmental hypoplasia of the kidney in children.

Of 36 cases of segmental hypoplasia of the kidney in children and adolescents anatomic lesions are described and a detailed definition of the abnormality is given. The disease occurs predominantly in girls and show no familial tendency. Segmental hypoplasia may be separated into four groups: (1) unilateral, (2) bilateral and asymmetrical, (3) bilateral and symmetrical, and (4) unusual presentation such as latent disease or association with other anomalies. The importance of differentiating these four groups is indicated not only with respect to the clinical course and prognosis but also with regard to treatment.

Characterization of the esterases of the mitochondrial fraction of guinea pig cortical renal cells.

The esterase activity of the mitochondrial fraction from cortical renal cells was studied in guinea pigs aged 15, 21, 30, and 120 days. The rate of hydrolysis of beta-naphthyl acetate was measured by incubating aliquots of mitochondrial preparations with physostigmine, diisopropylfluorophosphate, HgCl2, and p-hydroxymercuribenzoate. Enzyme activity was mainly due to the heterogeneous aliesterase group: some aliesterases were sensitive to physostigmine, others to organophosphorus compounds and/or to HgCl2; a C-esterase stimulated by organomercurials and similar to that described by Bergmann et al. in hog kidney was detected (F Bergmann, R Segal, S Rimon. Biochem J 67:481-486, 1957); arylesterase activity was very weak. Acetylthiocholine used as substrate showed there was no cholinesterase activity in the mitochondrial fraction.

High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of amineptine and its main metabolite in human plasma.

An isocratic reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatographic method for the determination of amineptine and its main metabolite in plasma using an internal standard, is reported. The effects of stationary phase alkyl chain length and the concentration of alkyl sulfonate in the mobile phase were investigated. The drugs were extracted as ion pairs and the influence of various parameters on the extraction efficiency are discussed. Using a heptane-octanol-tetraheptylammonium bromide mixture (98:2:0.5, v/v/w) as extraction solvent, more than 60% of each drug was recovered with a very good selectivity. UV detection at 220 nm allowed drug determination down to 0.010 microgram/ml. Linear standard curves up to 1.00 microgram/ml were observed.

High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of bamifylline and its three metabolites in human plasma.

The performance of a gradient elution normal-phase system and of two isocratic elution reversed-phase ion-pair systems was investigated for the high-performance liquid chromatographic separation of bamifylline and its three metabolites. Three packings and mobile phases were tested and the best separation was achieved using a reversed-phase ion-pair system with Hypersil ODS 3 micron as stationary phase. The effects of alkyl chain length and concentration of alkyl sulfonates, salt concentration, column temperature and competing amine on separation and peak tailing are discussed. The determination of bamifylline and metabolites in human plasma using the defined optimal chromatographic conditions is reported.

Transient glomerular proteinuria, enzymuria, and nephrotoxic reaction induced by radiocontrast media.

Contrast nephropathy is a recognized complication of arteriographic procedures; usually, it consists of a mild deterioration of renal function. In an attempt to understand better the mechanisms involved, we conducted a prospective study before and after arteriography that monitored the urinary elimination of high- and low-molecular weight proteins, the urinary activity of tubular enzymes, and renal clearances of 27 patients. We detected a noticeable and transient nonselective proteinuria of glomerular origin together with moderate signs of tubular damage and a stable renal function. We did not identify any risk factor. Contrast media may alter the disposition of charges along the glomerular filtering membrane in a way that promotes proteinuria; consequently, the massive flow of proteins may injure the tubular cells.