Bulletin et memoires de l'Academie royale de medecine de Belgique最新文献

A university cooperation in the field of the medico-surgical management of pediatric digestive pathology was set up since 1999 at Children's Hospital no 2 in Saigon, Vietnam. Supported by the Belgian Commission for University Development (CUD), this program focused on postgraduate teaching and research regarding the early detection of neonatal malformations. Replying to a request of Vietnamese health authorities, a pediatric liver transplant program with parental living donors was also launched. Six children were successfully transplanted since 2005, an achievement which required the elaboration of new standards of clinical care in this eight hundred beds pediatric hospital. The direct and indirect improvements promoted through this program should contribute to enhance the overall medico-surgical management of children in this major Southern institution.

We characterized the successive and cumulative molecular modifications associated with transition in the histological stages of lung squamous carcinogenesis (normal epithelium from smokers, hyperplasia, metaplasia, mild, moderate and severe dysplasia, in situ carcinoma and invasive carcinoma) to improve our understanding of the mechanisms involved and identify new biomarkers for the early detection of lung squamous cell carcinoma. We employed immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, gene expression microarrays and quantitative RT-PCR to successively assess the expression of various proteins involved in cellular proliferation and apoptosis as well as messenger RNAs and microRNAs expression. Based on our data, we have improved the classification of bronchial preneoplastic lesions and furthered our understanding of the pathways involved in early lung carcinogenesis. The large number of biomarkers highlighted in these studies has opened two major and interesting perspectives: 1) the development of non invasive tests based on biomarkers for lung cancer detection at pre-invasive and early invasive stages and 2) new avenues of fundamental research whose goal is to understand the mechanisms underlying lung carcinogenesis.

The species barrier is not perfect for Influenza A and numerous transmissions of the virus from pigs or poultry to humans have been described these years. Appearing in 1997 and becoming epidemic in 2003, influenza A/H5N1 provoked many deadly enzootics in poultry batteries (highly pathogenic avian influenza of HPAI). Starting in Asia, many countries throughout Africa and Europe were affected. Sporadic human cases were described in direct contact with diseased chicken or other poultry. Half of the cases are lethal, but human to human transmission occurs with difficulty. From January 2003 to August 11th 2009, 438 cases were declared worldwide with 262 deaths. Many countries declared cases, but recently most cases occurred in Egypt. Measures in hospital were taken which were copied from the measures for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), but these were probably excessive in this case, considering the low rate of secondary cases with A/H5N1. In many human infections, signs of severe respiratory distress develop and multi organ failure. It was feared that this deadly virus could become easily transmitted between humans, leading to a new pandemic. This was not the case up to now. The strong pathogenicity of the virus is still not completely explained, but the deep location of infection in the lungs and the deregulation of cytokine production by the target cells, particularly macrophages, may be part of the explanation.

The striatum, the first relay of the basal ganglia system, is critically involved in motor functions and motivational processes. The dorsal striatum is central to the motor control and motor learning and the ventral striatum or nucleus accumbens is essential for motivation, the reward system and reinforcement by drugs. This system is dysfunctional in movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease and in psychiatric disorders including drug addiction. The striatum consists of two populations of neurons projecting at the origin of two distinct paths in the circuit of basal ganglia, and of different populations of interneurons. These two populations of efferent neurons, striatopallidal and striatonigral neurons, are characterized by their projection sites and their differential expression in dopamine receptors and neuropeptides. Their roles in motor control and motivational processes and in the mechanisms of neuroadaptation in the system's pathologies remain mostly unknown. To identify these specific functions, we have developed new animal models wearing molecular or cell "lesions" by a conditional transgenic approach to target a specific population of neurons. By this approach, we demonstrated the inhibitory role of the population of striatopallidal neurons in the motor control and in the process of drug addiction, identified new genes selectively expressed by striatopallidal neurons that could be the target for future therapies and identified the potential role of this population of neurons disturbances in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Until recently, Influenza was considered as a veterinary problem in avian, swine and horse only. New influenza strains able to infect and cause a disease in dogs and cats emerged these last six years. The most widely used influenza veterinary vaccines are the inactivated adjuvanted vaccines which are based on whole or split virus. New technologies have allowed the development of new generation vaccines including modified-live and vector vaccines. Modified-live influenza vaccines are available for horses only but they are in development in other species. Vector vaccines are already in use in chickens (replicative fowlpox vector) and in horses (non-replicative canarypox vector). These vaccines induce a rapid cellular and humoral immunity. Experimental studies have also shown that these vector vaccines are protective in other domestic species. These vector vaccines are compatible with the "DIVA" strategy which consists in differentiating infected from vaccinated animals and which allows disease eradication. The successive use of vector and inactivated vaccines (heterologous "prime-boost") induces a superior protective immunity in domestic poultry and constitutes a promising strategy for the control of H5N1 infection.

Every year, Influenza virus infection is at the origin of substantial excess in morbidity and mortality in developed as well as developing countries. Influenza viruses undergo antigenic drift which cause annual replacement of strain included in classical trivalent vaccines. Less frequently, this virus can also undergo antigenic shift, which corresponds to a major antigenic change and can lead to an extra medical burden. Several vaccines have been made available to immunize individuals against seasonal as well as pandemic influenza viruses. For seasonal Influenza vaccines, live attenuated and classical inactivated trivalent vaccines have been licensed and are widely used. Additionally, several strategies are under investigations to improve further the efficacy of existing seasonal vaccines in children and elderly. These include the use of adjuvant, increase in antigen content, or alternative route of delivery. Similarly, several approaches have been licensed to address additional challenge posed by pandemic viruses. The different vaccination strategies used to maximise protection against seasonal as well as pandemic influenza will be reviewed and discussed in the perspective the current threat posed by the H1N1v pandemic Influenza.

Sodium chloride (salt) plays a role in the development and maintenance of high blood pressure (25% of the normotensive population are called sodium sensitive and 50% of the hypertensive people would present a significative decrease either of their blood pressure when low salt diet is applied) or of cardiovascular complications, but also of other diseases (obesity, osteoporosis, kidney stones, cancer,...) The regulation of salt balance is played by the kidneys, the function of which can be genetically (more rarely) or secondarily acquired (most often) disturbed. Salt restriction (maximum 5-6 g/d) with higher potassium intake, is now recommended. This can easier allow the lowering of the blood pressure, especially in resistant forms of hypertension. Proposed to everybody, even normotensive, it could be beneficial reducing the trend of blood pressure increase with age, but also the burden of cardiovascular complications and promoting general health. For reaching these objectives, this reduction in salt consumption needs motivated and well educated people, well labelled food products about salt content and the apprppriate help of food industries.