Cognitive aid and performance for simulated umbilical venous catheter placement: A randomized trial.

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal resuscitation may require urgent umbilical venous catheter (UVC) placement. Complications can be observed with umbilical venous catheterization, especially in a stressful context. Inspired by the aeronautic environment, medical routine checklists, also called "cognitive aids," secure the equipment and environment for the patients once they are admitted to the operating room. We hypothesized that reading a cognitive aid for UVC placement in the delivery room during neonatal resuscitation simulation scenarios can (a) improve the performance in reducing catheterization duration and (b) can limit complications. METHODS: This was a prospective single-center randomized study. A total of 23 dyads for a simulation scenario were included: 12 in the control group and 11 in the cognitive aid group. In the cognitive aid group, the cognitive aid was read by the same facilitator for every scenario. RESULTS: No significant difference concerning the duration of the procedure was identified between the cognitive aid and control groups: 412 s [342; 420] vs. 374 s [338;402], respectively (p = 0.781). Nevertheless, there were significantly fewer deviations from hygiene guidelines and improved prevention of air embolism in the cognitive aid group compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: The UVC insertion time was similar between the control and cognitive aid groups. Moreover, cognitive aid can limit infectious complications or air embolism by allowing caregivers to follow UVC placement standards.

Resistance to senescence induction and telomere shortening by a G-quadruplex ligand inhibitor of telomerase.

The molecular mechanisms induced by G-quadruplex ligands to trigger senescence in mammalian cells are still unknown, although the critical role of telomerase is highly suspected. JFA2 cells selected for resistance to senescence induced by the G-quadruplex ligand 12459 presented an overexpression of hTERT transcript that correlated to a functional increase in telomerase activity and telomere length. Consistently, treatment with 12459 failed to trigger senescence and telomere shortening in JFA2 cells. Resistant cells also presented cross-resistance for senescence induction to telomestatin, another G-quadruplex ligand from a different series, but not to other anticancer agents, indicating the selectivity of the resistance mechanism. We, thus, provide evidence that telomerase activity and telomere length are key cellular determinants of the resistance to G-quadruplex ligands.

[Study of the prognostic value of DNA ploidy and proliferation index (Ki-67) in renal cell carcinoma with venous thrombus]. / Etude de la valeur pronostique de l'ADN-ploïdie et de l'index de prolifération (Ki-67) dans la tumorogenèse du cancer du rein avec thrombus veineux.

INTRODUCTION: Malignant tumours of the renal parenchyma are accompanied by extension to the inferior vena cava in 4% to 10% of cases. The objective of this study was to compare DNA ploidy and proliferation index of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with renal vein (RV) thrombus and RCC with inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombus and to investigate a correlation between these markers and Fuhrman grade and patient survival. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in 58 patients with RCC and venous thrombus (40 in the RV and 18 in the IVC). Flow cytometry (FCM) and MiBI antibody immunolabelling (Ki-67 index) were performed on the healthy parenchyma, the renal tumour and the venous thrombus. Eighteen tumours with inferior vena cava thrombus were compared to 40 tumours with renal vein thrombus. Fuhrman grade, the presence of capsular rupture, invasion of the perirenal fat, and the presence of sarcomatoid transformation were investigated for a possible correlation with survival. RESULTS: No difference of expression of Ki-67 antigen expression was observed between the two populations of renal tumours with thrombus (RV/IVC), but a significant difference was observed for the two types of thrombus (RV/IVC). A difference in ploidy index was observed was also observed between tumours with RV and IVC thrombus (p<0.005). The tumours had less intense MiB1 immunolabelling and a lower DNA ploidy than their corresponding renal vein and inferior vena cava thrombi (Ki-67: 1.07% vs 5.12%, p<0.01: DNA index: 1.61 vs 1.87, p<0.01). A correlation between Fuhrman grade and tumour DNA index was demonstrated (1.149 for low grade tumours and 1.857 for high grade tumours, p<0.05). Sarcomatoid transformation, capsular effraction and capsular rupture were significantly correlated with Fuhrman grade (p<0.01) and patient survival (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The proliferation index is not a prognostic factor, but DNA ploidy appears to be more useful because of its correlation with Fuhrman grade and the level of extension of the thrombus (RV/IVC). The proliferation index and ploidy appear to be involved in the process of carcinogenesis and venous thrombus.