Intérêt de l’abaissement du testicule non descendu chez l’adulte. Etude à propos de 259 patients

Introduction

Undescended testis is a frequent congenital disease, more often diagnosed and treated during childhood. However, due to ignorance or negligence, this disease can be seen even after puberty, when it raises a therapeutic problem: is orchidopexy still useful? This study was designed to evaluate the outcome of orchidopexy at adulthood in terms of improvement of fertility and prevention of malignant degeneration.

Material and methods

Retrospective study performed over a 23-year period (1983–2005). We have found 259 patients with undescended testis diagnosed and treated after the age of 18 years.

Results

The mean age of patients was 24 years (range: 18–63). In the majority of cases, undescended testis was diagnosed at a systemic medical examination in 199 patients (77% of cases), and in a context of infertility in 33 patients, testicular malignancy in 8 patients, testicular torsion in 2 patients and, in 17 cases, undescended testis had been known since birth but was neglected by the parents. Undescended testis was unilateral in 209 cases and bilateral in 50 cases. Out of 37 couples, only 4 gave birth to children (10.8% paternity rate). Sperm analysis was abnormal in all infertile patients. All patients were treated by orchidopexy, except for 36 patients in whom orchidectomy was performed due to testicular atrophy (27 cases), malignancy (8 cases) or necrosis (1 case). Biopsy of the intrascrotal testis was performed in 3 patients with unilateral cryptorchidism. Histological examination was normal in two cases and abnormal in one case. The long-term outcome was characterized by:

1. Testicular atrophy in 6 patients (2.7% of cases).
2. Progression to malignancy in 3 patients (1.3% of cases).
3. Improvement of sperm parameters in 16 of 33 infertile patients (48.5%); 4 patients fathered children after treatment.

Conclusion

Orchidopexy at adulthood can lead to improvement of infertility. It can also decrease the incidence of malignancy and facilitate clinical examination looking for possible malignancy. However, the best treatment remains preventive, based on early diagnosis and orchidopexy.     

Discovering biomarkers from gene expression data for predicting cancer subgroups using neural networks and relational fuzzy clustering

Background  

The four heterogeneous childhood cancers, neuroblastoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and Ewing sarcoma present a similar histology of small round blue cell tumor (SRBCT) and thus often leads to misdiagnosis. Identification of biomarkers for distinguishing these cancers is a well studied problem. Existing methods typically evaluate each gene separately and do not take into account the nonlinear interaction between genes and the tools that are used to design the diagnostic prediction system. Consequently, more genes are usually identified as necessary for prediction. We propose a general scheme for finding a small set of biomarkers to design a diagnostic system for accurate classification of the cancer subgroups. We use multilayer networks with online gene selection ability and relational fuzzy clustering to identify a small set of biomarkers for accurate classification of the training and blind test cases of a well studied data set.     

Chemical Composition,Antibacterial, Antioxidant and in Vitro Antidiabetic Activities of Essential Oils from Eruca vesicaria

This work describes the study of the chemical composition and bioactivity of the essential oils (EOs) of the different organs (leaves, flowers, stems and roots) from Eruca vesicaria. According to the GC and GC/MS analysis, all the EOs were dominated by erucin (4‐methylthiobutyl isothiocyanate) with a percentage ranging from 17.9 % (leaves) to 98.5 % (roots). The isolated EOs were evaluated for their antioxidant (DPPH, ABTS and β‐carotene/linoleic acid), antibacterial and inhibitory property against α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase. Most EOs exhibited an interesting α‐glucosidase and α‐amylase inhibitory potential. The roots essential oil was found to be the most active with IC₅₀ values of 0.80±0.06 and 0.11±0.01 μg mL^?1, respectively. The essential oil of roots exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (DPPH, PI=92.76±0.01 %; ABTS, PI=78.87±0.19; and β‐carotene, PI=56.1±0.01 %). The isolated oils were also tested for their antibacterial activity against two Gram‐positive and three Gram‐negative bacteria. Moderate results have been noted by comparison with Gentamicin used as positive control.     

Afternoon Nap and Bright Light Exposure Improve Cognitive Flexibility Post Lunch

Beneficial effects of napping or bright light exposure on cognitive performance have been reported in participants exposed to sleep loss. Nonetheless, few studies investigated the effect of these potential countermeasures against the temporary drop in performance observed in mid-afternoon, and even less so on cognitive flexibility, a crucial component of executive functions. This study investigated the impact of either an afternoon nap or bright light exposure on post-prandial alterations in task switching performance in well-rested participants. Twenty-five healthy adults participated in two randomized experimental conditions, either wake versus nap (n=15), or bright light versus placebo (n=10). Participants were tested on a switching task three times (morning, post-lunch and late afternoon sessions). The interventions occurred prior to the post-lunch session. In the nap/wake condition, participants either stayed awake watching a 30-minute documentary or had the opportunity to take a nap for 30 minutes. In the bright light/placebo condition, participants watched a documentary under either bright blue light or dim orange light (placebo) for 30 minutes. The switch cost estimates cognitive flexibility and measures task-switching efficiency. Increased switch cost scores indicate higher difficulties to switch between tasks. In both control conditions (wake or placebo), accuracy switch-cost score increased post lunch. Both interventions (nap or bright light) elicited a decrease in accuracy switch-cost score post lunch, which was associated with diminished fatigue and decreased variability in vigilance. Additionally, there was a trend for a post-lunch benefit of bright light with a decreased latency switch-cost score. In the nap group, improvements in accuracy switch-cost score were associated with more NREM sleep stage N1. Thus, exposure to bright light during the post-lunch dip, a countermeasure easily applicable in daily life, results in similar beneficial effects as a short nap on performance in the cognitive flexibility domain with possible additional benefits on latency switch-cost scores.     

Sesquiterpenoids from Teucrium ramosissimum

An antiplasmodial bioguided investigation of the EtOAc extract of the aerial parts of Teucrium ramosissimum led to isolation and identification of three sesquiterpenoids, teucmosin, 4α-hydroxy-homalomenol C, 1β,4β,7α-trihydroxy-8,9-eudesmene and two trinorsesquiterpenoids, 4β-hydroxy-11,12,13-trinor-5-eudesmen-1,7-dione and 1β,4β-dihydroxy-11,12,13-trinor-8,9-eudesmen-7-one together with five known sesquiterpenoids, oplopanone, homalomenol C, oxo-T-cadinol, 1β,4β,6β-trihydroxyeudesmane, 1β,4β,7α-trihydroxyeudesmane and four flavonoids, 5-hydroxy-7,4′-dimethoxyflavone, salvigenin, genkwanin and cirsimaritin. The structures and the relative stereochemistry were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic studies including 1D and 2D NMR and mass spectrometry (MS). Homalomenol C, 4β-hydroxy-11,12,13-trinor-5-eudesmen-1,7-dione, oxo-T-cadinol and 1β,4β,6β-trihydroxyeudesmane displayed a significant in vitro antiplasmodial activity against Plasmodium falciparum with IC₅₀ values ranging from 1.2 to 5.0 μg/ml. Furthermore, no cytotoxicity was observed upon the human diploid lung cell line MRC-5 for these compounds.     

Effects of salt stress on photosynthesis,PSII photochemistry and thermal energy dissipation in leaves of two corn (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Zea mays</Emphasis> L.) varieties

The effect of four different NaCl concentrations (from 0 to 102 mM NaCl) on seedlings leaves of two corn (Zea mays L.) varieties (Aristo and Arper) was investigated through chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence parameters, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic pigments concentration, tissue hydration and ionic accumulation. Salinity treatments showed a decrease in maximal efficiency of PSII photochemistry (F_v/F_m) in dark-adapted leaves. Moreover, the actual PSII efficiency (ϕ_PSII), photochemical quenching coefficient (q_p), proportion of PSII centers effectively reoxidized, and the fraction of light used in PSII photochemistry (%P) were also dropped with increasing salinity in light-adapted leaves. Reductions in these parameters were greater in Aristo than in Arper. The tissue hydration decreased in salt-treated leaves as did the photosynthesis, stomatal conductance (g _s) and photosynthetic pigments concentration essentially at 68 and 102 mM NaCl. In both varieties the reduction of photosynthesis was mainly due to stomatal closure and partially to PSII photoinhibition. The differences between the two varieties indicate that Aristo was more susceptible to salt-stress damage than Arper which revealed a moderate regulation of the leaf ionic accumulation.     

Freshwater fish diversity in Algeria with emphasis on alien species

Little is known about freshwater fish diversity in Algeria, especially after the broad national program of introduction of exotic species applied for over 20 years. This paper is an attempt to describe the current situation emphasizing the characteristics of the various introductions of non-autochthonous species, their current status and their possible impacts. The freshwater fish fauna of Algeria is composed of 48 species belonging to 15 families. Twenty-one species are autochthonous, of which, three are endemic (Haplochromis desfontainii, Aphanius saourensis, Aphanius apodus), two are endangered (H. desfontainii, Aphanius iberus), and one is critically endangered (Anguilla anguilla). Twenty-seven species were introduced, of which, 18 never became established and 9 are established. Four species are reported for the first time: Abramis brama, Aspius aspius, Carassius carassius, Perca fluviatilis. Since 1860, 303 introduction events have been recorded at almost 107 different sites in Algeria. The number of introduction events per site was between 1 and 10. Most of the introduced fish are found in Oubéïra Lake (seven species). Aquaculture development was the main reason for fish introductions (37.0%). The five most often introduced species were Cyprinus carpio (86 records), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (65 records), Aristichthys nobilis (51 records), Oreochromis niloticus niloticus (33 records), and Ctenopharyngodon idella (18 records). Since the adverse effects of introduced fish are risky and demonstrated in several countries, the adoption of the precautionary principle is recommended when new introductions are planned. It is important, therefore, to adopt regulations and procedures which will minimize the risks arising from introductions.