[Repolarisation anomalies simulating anterior myocardial infarction during ischemic cerebrovascular accident]. / Anomalies de la repolarisation simulant un infarctus du myocarde antérieur au cours d'un accident vasculaire cérébral ischémique.

The authors report the case of a woman admitted to hospital for minor trauma of the left hip and who presented major ST segment elevation on the second day suggesting an acute anterior wall myocardial infarction at the same time as a cerebrovascular accident. Complementary investigations and follow-up excluded the diagnosis of myocardial infarction with normalisation of the ECG on the 5th day. ECG changes during cerebrovascular accidents may be very variable ranging from extrasystoles to ST elevation mimicking myocardial infarction. They carry a poor prognosis with an increased risk of sudden death necessitating continuous ECG monitoring until the ECG reverts to normal. The cardiac involvement is not ischaemic but due to disease of the insular cortex of the brain which induces myocytolysis (centered around the intra-cardiac nerve endings) due to the sudden liberation of catecholamines. These lesions may be treated by propranolol or phentolamine.

[Chronic proximal spinal amyotrophies in Tunisia. Clinical, genetic, epidemiologic and histopathologic study]. / Amyotrophies spinales proximales et chroniques en Tunisie. Etude clinique, génétique, épidémiologique et histopathologique.

The results of a clinical, pathological, genetic and epidemiological study of 101 cases of chronic proximal spinal muscular atrophy are reported. Ages at onset allow to distinguish clearly an infantile, a juvenile and an adult groups. The infantile and juvenile groups comprising 93 p. 100 of the patients, were characterized by onset before the age of 20 (54 p. 100 before age 5) and by a large intra- and interfamilial clinical variability. The severity of the disease was unrelated either to sex or the sporadic or familial nature of the disease. On the other hand it was closely related to age at onset and to the pathology of the muscles. There seems to be no genetic heterogeneity in this group. Inheritance is of the autosomal recessive type in the great majority of cases. Certain sporadic cases may be due to a dominant mutation or to a phenocopy, as suggested by segregation analysis. The adult group, comprising 6 patients, included 4 cases of autosomal dominant inheritance without consanguinity of the parents, and one case of dominant inheritance.

Casein degradation and amino acid liberation in milk by two highly proteolytic strains of lactic acid bacteria.

Amongst 100 isolates of lactic acid bacteria, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus feacalis proved to be highly proteolytic as demonstrated by starch gel electrophoresis and liberation of various amino acids. Both these organisms hydrolysed casein differently to produce different concentrations of amino acids.