[Talking about alcohol with patients who are not seeking treatment]. / Parler d'alcool à des patients qui ne demandent rien....

Studies undertaken in general hospital confirm the high prevalence of alcohol problems among hospitalised patients. Unfortunately, only few of them will be recognised and receive relevant information according to their clinical situation. As far as we know, early screening and targeted intervention are useful to prevent more severe alcohol-related problems but most of care givers as doctors or nurses fail to screen and counsel adequately problem drinkers. Considering the importance of the problem in hospitalised patients, screening and intervention is a public health issue. Hospitalisation is a good opportunity for achieving these goals. This paper describes the activity of a specialised health professional who implemented a bed-patient consultation for those who were screened as problem drinkers during their hospitalisation for any reason but alcohol detoxification or rehabilitation. Strategies to talk about alcohol issues with resistant to change patients are discussed.

Enhanced levels of scrapie responsive gene mRNA in BSE-infected mouse brain.

The expression of the mRNA of nine scrapie responsive genes was analyzed in the brains of FVB/N mice infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The RNA transcripts of eight genes were overexpressed to a comparable extent in both BSE-infected and scrapie-infected mice, indicating a common series of pathogenic events in the two transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). In contrast, the serine proteinase inhibitor spi 2, an analogue of the human alpha-1 antichymotrypsin gene, was overexpressed to a greater extent in the brains of scrapie-infected animals than in animals infected with BSE, reflecting either an agent specific or a mouse strain specific response. The levels of spi 2 mRNA were increased during the course of scrapie prior to the onset of clinical signs of the disease and the increase reached 11 to 45 fold relative to uninfected controls in terminally ill mice. Spi 2, in common with four of the other scrapie responsive genes studied, is known to be associated with pro-inflammatory processes. These observations underline the importance of cell reactivity in TSE. In addition, scrg2 mRNA the level of which is enhanced in TSE-infected mouse brain, was identified as a previously unrecognized long transcript of the murine aldolase C gene. However, the level of the principal aldolase C mRNA is unaffected in TSE. The increased representation of the longer transcript in the late stage of the disease may reflect changes in mRNA processing and/or stability in reactive astrocytes or in damaged Purkinje cells.

[Current aspects of bronchial tuberculosis]. / Les aspects actuels de la tuberculose bronchique.

The authors report a retrospective study of 34 cases of bronchial tuberculosis observed between 1981 and 1985 with precise endoscopic and histological data. Analysis of the population showed a male predominance (71 p. 100) and a high incidence of black Africans (54 p. 100), much higher than that observed in the general population of tuberculosis in our department (20 p. 100 of black Africans). Three groups of patients were identified with respect to age: group I, 23 patients aged 18 to 32 years; 22 of these patients were black Africans (98 p. 100) with primary tuberculosis; group II, 4 patients aged between 44 and 56: all were immunocompromised; group III, 7 patients over 65 years of age with reinfections: 6 of these 7 patients were French nationals. Apart from the specific problem of immunodepression observed in group II, two distinct features were identified: the primary lympho-bronchial infection of the young African and tuberculous bronchial reinfection of European women over of the age of 65.

Mouse scrapie responsive gene 1 (Scrg1): genomic organization, physical linkage to sap30, genetic mapping on chromosome 8, and expression in neuronal primary cell cultures.

We have previously reported a transcript of a novel mouse gene (Scrg1) with increased expression in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the cloning of the human mRNA analogue. In this paper, we present the genomic organization of the mouse and human SCRG1 loci, which exhibit a high degree of conservation. The genes are composed of three exons; the two downstream exons contain the protein coding region. The mouse gene is expressed in brain tissue essentially as a 0.7-kb message but also as a minor 2.6-kb mRNA. We have sequenced 20 kb of DNA at the mouse Scrg1 locus and found that the longer transcript is the prolongation of the 0.7-kb mRNA to a polyadenylation site located about 2 kb further downstream. Sequencing revealed that the mouse Scrg1 gene is physically linked to Sap30, a gene that encodes a protein of the histone deacetylase complex, and genetic linkage mapping assigned the localization of Scrg1 to chromosome 8 between Ant1 and Hmg2. Northern blot analysis showed that Scrg1 is under strict developmental control in mouse embryo and is expressed by cells of neuronal origin in vitro. Comparison of the rat, mouse, and human SCRG1 proteins identified a box of 35 identical contiguous amino acids and a characteristic cysteine distribution pattern defining a new protein signature.

Gene expression in scrapie. Cloning of a new scrapie-responsive gene and the identification of increased levels of seven other mRNA transcripts.

To define genes associated with or responsible for the neurodegenerative changes observed in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, we analyzed gene expression in scrapie-infected mouse brain using "mRNA differential display." The RNA transcripts of eight genes were increased 3-8-fold in the brains of scrapie-infected animals. Five of these genes have not previously been reported to exhibit increased expression in this disease: cathepsin S, the C1q B-chain of complement, apolipoprotein D, and two previously unidentified genes denominated scrapie-responsive gene (ScRG)-1 and ScRG-2, which are preferentially expressed in brain tissue. Increased expression of the three remaining genes, beta2 microglobulin, F4/80, and metallothionein II, has previously been reported to occur in experimental scrapie. Kinetic analysis revealed a concomitant increase in the levels of ScRG-1, cathepsin S, the C1q B-chain of complement, and beta2 microglobulin mRNA as well as glial fibrillary acidic protein and F4/80 transcripts, markers of astrocytosis and microglial activation, respectively. In contrast, the level of ScRG-2, apolipoprotein D, and metallothionein II mRNA was only increased at the terminal stage of the disease. ScRG-1 mRNA was found to be preferentially expressed in glial cells and to code for a short protein of 47 amino acids with a strong hydrophobic N-terminal region.

Characterization of the human analogue of a Scrapie-responsive gene.

We have recently described a novel mRNA denominated ScRG-1, the level of which is increased in the brains of Scrapie-infected mice (Dandoy-Dron, F., Guillo, F., Benboudjema, L., Deslys, J.-P., Lasmézas, C., Dormont, D., Tovey, M. G., and Dron, M. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 7691-7697). The increase in ScRG-1 mRNA in the brain follows the accumulation of PrPSc, the proteinase K-resistant form of the prion protein (PrP), and precedes the widespread neuronal death that occurs in late stage disease. In the present study, we have isolated a cDNA encoding the human counterpart of ScRG-1. Comparison of the human and mouse transcripts firmly established that both sequences encode a highly conserved protein of 98 amino acids that contains a signal peptide, suggesting that the protein may be secreted. Examination of the distribution of human ScRG-1 mRNA in adult and fetal tissues revealed that the gene was expressed primarily in the central nervous system as a 0.7-kilobase message and was under strict developmental control.