[Impact of media alerts on contraceptive pills medication]. / Enquête concernant le retentissement des alertes médiatiques sur la pilule.

INTRODUCTION: The end of 2012 was marked by some media alerts regarding combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC) and lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies selling these birth control pills. In this study, we analyzed whether these information had an impact on the number of abortion. METHODS: Prospective study determining the number of women asking for abortion and who spontaneously declare that the contraception defect was due to an abandon of their oral contraception as they were scared of some information they received from media about the medication. RESULTS: Eleven centers out of 16 did participate to the study, allowing the study of 2300 abortion during this time frame. Ninety-eight of these pregnancies (4.2%) were due to an interruption of the contraceptive treatment as a consequence of media alerts. Average age was 26 years old. Within these pregnancies, 4 (6%) started in December 2012, 3 months after the beginning of the alerts, 11 (16%) in January, 24 (36%) in February and 18 (27%) in March 2013 (4-6 months later). In 7 cases (10%) CHC stopped by fear of information reported by media were of 2nd generation, in 17 cases (25%) of 3rd generation, in 32 cases (48%) of 4th generation and microprogestative in 2 cases (3%). CONCLUSION: Women who declared that they stopped their birth control medication by fear of information reported in media, represented 4% of the number of abortions performed between 2013 February 18th and 2013 April 30th.

[Pregnancy termination between 12 and 14 weeks gestation: practices and early complications in comparison with termination between 8 and 12 weeks]. / Conditions de réalisation et complications précoces des IVG entre 12 et 14 semaines d'aménorrhée comparées aux IVG entre 8 et 12 semaines d'aménorrhée.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare practices and complications of induced abortions (IA) between 12 and 14 gestational weeks (GW) with those performed at lower terms (8-10 and 10-12 GW). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cohort study enrolled in two IA centers 411 women, 147 of them with 12-14 weeks gestation. Comparisons were made according to pregnancy term (8-10, 10-12 and 12-14 GW). RESULTS: Pregnancy term influenced the technical conditions of IA. Number and diameter of dilators and suction cannula as well as surgery time increase with gestational age--whether priming agents were used or not. Pain felt during surgery and early complications (within 15 days post IA) did not increase with gestational age. CONCLUSION: Results of this study show that IA between 12 and 14 GW are as feasible as with lower terms.

Induction of IL-1 release through stimulation of the C3b/C4b complement receptor type one (CR1, CD35) on human monocytes.

Soluble polymerized human C3b and C3b bound to Sepharose induced the production of cell-associated IL-1 and the extracellular release of IL-1 activity from cultured human adherent monocytes. Cultures were performed in serum-free conditions in the presence of polymyxin B and of the PG synthesis inhibitor indomethacin. Induction of intracellular IL-1 activity was associated with that of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta Ag. Biologically active released IL-1 was IL-1 beta. Monomeric C3b induced cell-associated IL-1 but not the release of IL-1 from monocytes. IL-1 production was also induced by stimulation of CR1 on adherent monocytes with anti-C3b receptor (CR1) antibody. The ability of multivalent C3b to induce IL-1 production could be dissociated from that of possibly contaminating LPS by several criteria including: the lack of detectable LPS in purified C3b; functional inhibition of LPS in cultures with polymyxin B; the lack of induction of extracellular IL-1 by C3b monomer; a correlation between the expression of CR1 on monocytes and the monocytic response to C3b; a dissociation between the expression of CR1, and the expression of LPS binding sites and the IL-1 response of monocytes to endotoxin. Induction of IL-1 represents a novel pathway by which C3b-CR1 interactions may modulate the immune response.

In vivo induction of interleukin-1 during hemodialysis.

In vivo induction of interleukin-1 (IL-1) production during hemodialysis was investigated by measuring IL-1 activity in monocyte lysates from 59 patients undergoing long-term maintenance hemodialysis with complement activating and non-complement activating devices. In patients dialyzed with new hollow-fiber cuprophane dialyzers, predialytic (T0) monocyte-associated IL-1 activity was 12.5 +/- 3.0 U/ml (mean +/- SEM), a value that was higher than that found in normal individuals (2.85 +/- 0.85 U/ml; P less than 0.0025) and in non-dialyzed patients with chronic renal failure (0.95 +/- 0.85 U/ml, P less than 0.0001). Cell-associated IL-1 activity was consistently increased after five hours of dialysis with cuprophane membranes (42.4 +/- 5.5 U/ml, P less than 0.0005). Systemic complement activation was demonstrated by the finding of increased plasma levels of C3adesArg antigen during dialysis. In patients dialyzed with high permeability polyacrylonitrile and polysulfone membranes, no intradialytic change in cell-associated IL-1 and no complement activation occurred. However, the mean predialytic values of monocyte-associated IL-1 in these patients (that is, 32.9 +/- 5.6 U/ml and 38 +/- 5.65 U/ml for the polyacrylonitrile and the polysulfone groups, respectively) were higher than the predialytic levels of cell-associated IL-1 in the patients from the cuprophane group (P less than 0.0025). Monocytes obtained at the beginning and five hours of dialysis from patients dialyzed with polyacrylonitrile devices, and monocytes obtained at five hours but not at the beginning of dialysis from patients dialyzed with cuprophane membranes, spontaneously released extracellular IL-1 after 24 hours of culture in serum free conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)