[Evolution of antibiotic resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae: results of Alsace observatory in 2005]. / Evolution de la sensibilité de Streptococcus pneumoniae aux antibiotiques: résultats de l'observatoire du pneumocoque Alsace (année 2005).

OBJECTIVES: Between 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2005, 232 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae were collected in the Alsace county from participating laboratories (one from university hospital, 7 from general hospitals and 12 private laboratories) to assess their susceptibility to penicillin and evaluated serogroups of strains. METHOD: The coordinating centre performed MICs by the reference agar dilution test, interpreted according to CA-SFM breakpoints. Others antibiotics (erythromycin, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline...) were tested by agar diffusion, ATB-PNEUMO gallery or VITEK gallery (BioMérieux, France) by each participating laboratory. Data were processed, using 4th dimension software. RESULTS: Strains were collected from 151 blood samples, 38 ear pus, 11 cerebrospinal fluids, 8 pleural liquids and 24 representative pulmonary samples. The prevalence of pneumococci with decreased susceptibility to penicillin G (PDSP) is 35.1% (pulmonary samples excluded). The rate of PNSP decreases for all types of samples compared with other years of surveillance 2003 (44.0%). The rate of blood samples decreases for first time between the creation of Pneumococcal Observatory. The high-level resistance tend to decrease and began low. The PDSP are rather resistant to erythromycin, cotrimoxazole and fosfomycin. Among the PDSP, the most prevalent serotypes were 14, 19, 6 and 9. CONCLUSION: Among pneumococcal strains, the rate of PDSP tend however to decrease in 2005 compared with 2003. The rate stays inferior to the observed rates in other French counties where the same decreasing is described.

GABA transmission, but not benzodiazepine receptor stimulation, modulates ethanol intake by rats.

Adult male Long Evans were selected as ethanol preferring rats (DR) during 28 days. After this period, they were daily IP injected during 14 days with one of the next drugs: diazepam 1 mg.kg-1, alprazolam 1 mg.kg-1 (benzodiazepines), progabide 25 mg. kg-1 (GABA A and B agonist), nipecotic acid 150 mg.kg-1 (GABA uptake inhibitor), muscimol 0.2 mg.kg-1 (GABA A agonist), AOAA 10 mg.kg-1 (GABA decarboxylase inhibitor), baclofen 3 mg.kg-1 (GABA B agonist), or NaCl 0.9% (1 ml/200 g). During treatment, rats were isolated, had free access to food, and free choice between ethanol (12%) and water whose respective consumption were daily noted. Among treatments, only AOAA and baclofen were able to decrease significantly ethanol intake, without modifying total liquid intake. The action of these different drugs on GABA transmission and on ethanol intake was discussed. It was concluded that GABA A and benzodiazepine receptors were not implicated in ethanol intake, but that modulation of voluntary ethanol intake could be associated with a modification of GABA metabolism and/or stimulation of GABA B receptors. An intervention of GABA B receptors on noradrenergic pathways was also evoked.

[Diffusion of vancomycin in the cerebrospinal fluid, in the dog, in the absence of meningeal inflammation]. / Diffusion de la vancomycine dans le liquide céphalo-rachidien, chez le chien, en l'absence d'inflammation méningée.

The diffusion of vancomycin into the cerebro-spinal fluid was studied in 5 healthy dogs. Its appears that vancomycin does diffuse across the blood-brain barrier. Though the concentrations reached in the CSF are low, they are of the same order of magnitude as the minimal inhibitory concentrations of this antibiotic towards the germs usually treated. The usual pharmacokinetic parameters were determined.

Noradrenaline and GABA brain receptors are co-involved in the voluntary intake of ethanol by rats.

Stimulation of GABA brain receptors by calcium bis acetyl-homotaurine (a new GABAergic agent) or of noradrenergic brain receptors by metapramine reduces the voluntary intake of ethanol by rats. Bicuculline antagonizes the effects of both drugs. It is suggested that both GABA and noradrenaline are implicated in ethanol intake, and that there is a common final pathway of the two systems to modulate ethanol intake.

Is initial sensitivity to ethanol correlated with alcohol preference in alcohol-drinking and non-drinking rats?

The initial sensitivity to ethanol was determined by hypothermia and sleeping time induced by an injection of ethanol (2.5 g/kg, intraperitoneally) in Long-Evans rats whose response to ethanol was later characterized in drinking, non-drinking and other rats. The response to a nociceptive stimulus (electric shock) in drinking rats and non-drinking rats was also studied. There was no correlation between initial sensitivity to ethanol and ethanol consumption and all rats exhibited the same behaviour towards electric shock. Ethanol elimination was not significantly different in both groups after an i.p. injection of a 2.5 g/kg dose of ethanol. These data indicate that our selected drinking and non-drinking rats differ in their ethanol intake behaviour but not in their initial sensitivity to ethanol or their sensitivity to a nociceptive stimulus. Preference for, and initial sensitivity to, ethanol are therefore not related in our rats.