Multicentric evaluation of eight glucose and four ketone blood meters.

OBJECTIVES: High precision meters for blood glycemia are mandatory for monitoring glucose status in patients, avoiding both hypo- and hyper-glycemia. Health care providers routinely used in both out- and in-patients point-of-care measurements of glucose and ketone. These measurements, frequently used for medical decisions, are known to be less accurate than those performed in laboratories. Our aim was to evaluate, within the frame of an Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) multicentric study, the performances of eight glucose and four ketone meters, either connected or non-connected to a laboratory software. DESIGN AND METHODS: Glucose meter accuracy, precision, correlation with plasma glucose determined in central laboratories and hematocrit interferences were determined according to the ISO 15197:2003 norm. The same norm was applied for the determination of accuracy, precision and recovery of ketone meters for B-hydroxybutyrate measurements. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Among those meters, seven were considered as acceptable for glucose measurement and two for ketone measurement. Since all meters do not fit clinically relevant criteria, meters' performances have to be evaluated before use in clinical practice.

[Evaluation of the quality of clinical practice guidelines published in the Annales de Biologie Clinique with the help of the EFLM checklist]. / Évaluation de la qualité des recommandations de pratique clinique publiées dans les Annales de biologie clinique à l'aide de la check-list de l'EFLM.

Several tools are available to help evaluate the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPG). The AGREE instrument (Appraisal of guidelines for research & evaluation) is the most consensual tool but it has been designed to assess CPG methodology only. The European federation of laboratory medicine (EFLM) recently designed a check-list dedicated to laboratory medicine which is supposed to be comprehensive and which therefore makes it possible to evaluate more thoroughly the quality of CPG in laboratory medicine. In the present work we test the comprehensiveness of this check-list on a sample of CPG written in French and published in Annales de biologie clinique (ABC). Thus we show that some work remains to be achieved before a truly comprehensive check-list is designed. We also show that there is some room for improvement for the CPG published in ABC, for example regarding the fact that some of these CPG do not provide any information about allowed durations of transport and of storage of biological samples before analysis, or about standards of minimal analytical performance, or about the sensitivities or the specificities of the recommended tests.

Low-dose interleukin 2 in patients with type 1 diabetes: a phase 1/2 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: An improper balance of regulatory/effector T (Treg/Teff) cells is central to the development of autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. We previously showed that low-dose interleukin 2 (IL2) induced Treg cell expansion and activation and clinical improvement in patients with hepatitis-C-virus-induced vasculitis. We aimed to establish which low doses of IL2 would be safe and induce Treg cells in patients with type 1 diabetes, considering that: (1) type 1 diabetes might be linked to alteration of the IL2/IL2R activation pathway; (2) activation of pathogenic Teff cells by IL2 could exacerbate disease; and (3) the safety of low-dose IL2 is not known in type 1 diabetes. METHODS: This was a single-centre phase 1/2 study. 24 adult patients (18-55 years) with established insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes and at least one diabetes-related autoantibody were enrolled and randomly assigned (in a 1:1:1:1 ratio, by computer-generated randomisation list, with block size four) to placebo or IL2 at 0.33 MIU/day, 1 MIU/day, or 3 MIU/day for a 5-day course and were followed up for 60 days. All investigators and participants were masked to assignment. The primary outcome was change in Treg cells, measured by flow cytometry, and expressed as a percentage of CD4+ T cells, from day 1 to day 60. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01353833. FINDINGS: Six patients were assigned to each group between June 1, 2011, and Feb 3, 2012. IL2 was well tolerated at all doses, with no serious adverse events. However, there was a dose-response association for non-serious adverse events during the treatment phase (days 1-6); one patient in the placebo group, three patients in the 0.33 MIU group, five patients in the 1 MIU group, and six patients in the 3 MIU group had non-serious adverse events. The most common adverse events in the treatment phase were injection-site reaction (no patients with placebo vs three patients with 0.33 MIU and 1 MIU vs two patients with 3 MIU) and influenza-like syndrome (no patients with placebo vs one patient with 0.33 MIU and 1 MIU vs four patients with 3 MIU). After the treatment phase, adverse events did not differ between groups. IL2 did not induce deleterious changes in glucose-metabolism variables. IL2 induced a dose-dependent increase in the proportion of Treg cells, significant at all doses compared with placebo (placebo mean increase 0.5% [SD 0.4]; 0.33 MIU 2.8% [1.2], p=0.0039; 1 MIU 3.9% [1.8], p=0.0039; 3 MIU 4.8% [1.9] p=0.0039). INTERPRETATION: We have defined a well-tolerated and immunologically effective dose range of IL2 for application to type 1 diabetes therapy and prevention, which could be relevant to other disorders in which a Treg cell increase would be desirable.

Atorvastatin decreases computed tomography and S100-assessed brain ischemia after subarachnoid aneurysmal hemorrhage: a comparative study.

OBJECTIVE: Statins, which improve the bioavailability of endogenous nitric oxide and upregulate endothelial nitric oxide synthase, have been used to prevent cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. The objective of this study was to determine whether statin therapy diminished vasospasm-induced ischemia as assessed using daily measurements of serum S100B, a biomarker for cerebral ischemia, and computed tomography measurement of ischemic lesion volume. DESIGN: Single-center study of cases and historical controls. SETTING: Neurointensive care unit in a university hospital. PATIENTS: Consecutive patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage treated with clipping or coiling within 96 hrs of symptom onset (n = 278) were included from April 2004 to October 2007. INTERVENTION: Oral atorvastatin, 40 mg/day for 21 days, was used routinely starting on December 1, 2005, in 142 patients, who were compared with the 136 patients managed earlier. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Ischemic lesion size was measured using computed tomography on the last available scan and serum S100B was assayed daily for 15 days after admission. Angiographic narrowing was semiquantitatively assessed in patients with vasospasm. In the overall population, cerebral vasospasm was significantly less common in the statin-treated group. Severity of vasospasm, as assessed on the most severe angiogram, was lowered with statin. Statins significantly reduced volume of ischemia in patients with vasospasm and an uncomplicated coiling procedure. S100B levels were significantly lower in statin-treated patients, and the decrease was greatest among high-grade patients (World Federation of Neurological Surgeons 3-5). No differences were found between statin-treated and untreated groups regarding rescue therapy intensity or 1-yr clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Atorvastatin reduces the incidence, the severity and the ischemic consequences of vasospasm as assessed on computed tomography. In high-grade World Federation of Neurological Surgeons patients, atorvastatin decreases serum levels of S100B, a biomarker of brain ischemia. Despite these positive effects on biomarkers, no improvement of outcome was seen in the overall population, although there was a tendency for a better clinical outcome in high-grade patients.

Critical Appraisal of Microbiology Guidelines Endorsed by two Professional Organisations: Société Française De Microbiologie (SFM) and American Society of Microbiology (ASM).

Medical practice guidelines (GLs) being tools that are mainly designed to evaluate medical professionals, it sounds logical, and fair, that professionals should in turn evaluate GLs. Microbiology being a medical discipline, we used the AGREE instrument, i.e. an established evaluation tool for GLs, in order to evaluate the quality of two major microbiology guidelines, i.e. the SFM GLs and the ASM GLs). Both guidelines remain sub-optimal in their levels of quality, and obtain scores that are not very different from the average scores obtained by many other guidelines in various medical disciplines. We therefore believe that both guidelines need to be modified before they can be recommended without provisos. A higher degree of multi-disciplinary work, including a more formal implication of methodologists, as well as of infectious disease clinicians, and of economists, might perhaps enable future editions of these guidelines to reach higher levels of quality.

[Evaluation of the AFSSAPS clinical practice guidelines on prevention and treatment of thrombo-embolic disease in medicine (2009), in comparison with those of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP 2008) with the help of the AGREE tool]. / Évaluation du référentiel de l'Afssaps sur la prévention et le traitement de la maladie thromboembolique veineuse en médecine (2009) par comparaison à celui de l'American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP 2008) à l'aide de la grille AGREE.

We have evaluated the methodological quality of the AFSSAPS French clinical practice guidelines on prevention and treatment of thrombo-embolic disease in medicine, published in 2009. We have evaluated in parallel the similar recommendations from north-America on the subject (ACCP 2008). Our evaluation tool was the AGREE instrument which is consensual at an international level, in particular at the WHO (World Health Organisation) and at the European Union. The methodological quality of the AFSSAPS guidelines is sub-optimal, significantly lower than that of the ACCP guidelines. Compared with the ACCP guidelines, the weakest points of the AFSSAPS guidelines are about rigor of development (AGREE domain 3), applicability (AGREE domain 5) and editorial independence (AGREE domain 6). The main common shortcoming in quality of both guidelines is about lack of stakeholder involvement (AGREE domain 2). A more important implication of methodologists might explain why the ACCP guidelines reach a higher level of quality than those of the AFSSAPS guidelines. We do not make judgments about the content of the recommendations of the AFSSAPS or of the ACCP.

[Multicenter evaluation of the reliability of five blood glucose monitoring systems]. / Évaluation multicentrique de la fiabilité de cinq lecteurs de glycémie.

As part of a tender AP-HP Paris Hospitals, an assessment of the reliability record of five blood glucose monitoring systems (BGMSs) (Optium Xceed (Abbott), Contour TS (Bayer), One Touch Ultra (Lifescan), Stat Strip Xpress (Nova) and Accu Check (Roche) and an evaluation of their sensitivity to changes in hematocrit were conducted in 4 hospitals of Paris. In terms of inaccuracy, all BGMSs have submitted CV repetability under the limits of acceptability. One BGMS (Lifescan) presented a CV of reproducibility outside limit of acceptability (13.1%). The inaccuracy was measured by a comparison method on multiparameter analyser relative to the hexokinase method for two sites, the glucose oxidase for the two others. The coefficients of correlation varied from 0.8405 to 0.9303. However, according to both defined acceptability criteria (absolute value difference between the result acquired on analyzer and those determined with the BGMS), the percentage of results outside acceptability was above 20% for two BGMSs (Abbott and Lifescan). Similarly, a net effect of changes in hematocrit was observed on the results of those two BGMSs. BGMS Nova was the most reliable, because of the correction device for hematocrit and blank substractions owed to interferences. In terms of expertise, BGMSs Nova and Roche have been selected with the best analytical performance and practicability satisfactory. In the future, accreditation with standard NF/EN 22870 requested for point of care testing, will require a close collaboration between biologists and clinicians to establish a system of strict quality control to detect deviations of these BGMSs.

[Evaluation of the methodological quality of the Rémic (microbiology guidelines - bacteriology and mycology) of the Société française de microbiologie]. / Évaluation de la qualité méthodologique du Rémic (référentiel en microbiologie médicale - bactériologie et mycologie) de la Société française de microbiologie, 3(e) édition (2007).

We have evaluated the methodological quality of the Rémic (microbiology guidelines - bacteriology and mycology) of the Société française de microbiologie (edition2007), using to AGREE criteria, which are consensual at an international level, in particular at the the World Health Organisation (WHO) and at the European Union. The methodological quality of the Rémic appears to be sub-optimal. These shortcomings in quality are mainly observed in AGREE domain n° 5 (applicability), in AGREE item n° 5 (patients' opinions were not considered), and in AGREE item n° 23 (conflicts of interest were not declared). The users of the Rémic must be aware of these few methodological shortcomings in order for them to be careful before they put its recommendation in practice. In conclusion, we advise the editors of the Rémic to insert at least a methodological chapter in their next edition.

Changing electrolyte and acido-basic profile in HIV-infected patients in the HAART era.

BACKGROUND: HIV-infected patients may develop a variety of underreported metabolic abnormalities that may be classified into HIVAN, specific HIV abnormalities, coincidental renal disorders and anti-retroviral-treatment-induced side effects. METHODS: Our descriptive cross-sectional study evaluates the prevalence of electrolyte and acid base disorders in HIV patients in the HAART era in a tertiary care teaching hospital. All consecutive HIV-infected patients (n = 1,232) presenting at our Department of Infectious Disease over 3 months were included. MEASUREMENTS: All available biochemical data obtained at admission or on the day of the visit were analyzed. We identified risk factors for electrolyte and acid base disorders with univariate regression analysis and multivariate stepwise regression analysis. Variables tested for significance included age, sex, absolute CD4 and CD8 counts, hepatitis B and C antibodies, and use and type of anti-retroviral medication. RESULTS: Most frequent and clinically relevant abnormalities were hyperuricemia in 41.3%, hypophosphatemia in 17.2% and low bicarbonate level in 13.6% of HIV-tested patients. Plasma magnesium was out of the normal range in 38.9% and blood glucose in 25.3% of the tested patients. When CD4 count was below 200/mm3, 9.2% of tested patients experienced low serum calcium (vs. 0.5% if CD4 count >200/mm3, p < 0.002), 11.4% increased creatinine plasma level (vs. 2.3% if CD4 count >200/mm3, p < 0.0001) and 24.5% low serum bicarbonate (vs. 13.7% if CD4 count >200/mm3, p < 0.0001). Protease inhibitor treatment was a significant risk factor of hyperuricemia (p < 0.003). Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor therapy was significantly associated with less hyperuricemia (OR = 0.6, 95% CI 0.38-0.96) and with hypophosphatemia (OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.4). CONCLUSIONS: The profile of biochemical abnormalities in HIV-infected patients has changed, hyperuricemia and hypophosphatemia being the most prevalent. Causes are poorly understood. Interpretation of drug-induced side effects in the HIV patient is only meaningful if performed versus a control group of patients.

A different approach to analyzing age-related HbA1c values in non-diabetic subjects.

Using appropriate statistical tests and taking into account the analytical performance of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measurements, is it useful to establish HbA1c age-related values in non-diabetic subjects? Non-diabetic subjects (n=135, 72 women and 63 men) from the neuromuscular department of the Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital (Paris) were involved in our study. Subjects were divided into two groups related to age: 51 patients under 50 years old and 84 subjects aged 50 years or more. Fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c measurements were respectively performed by enzymatic assay using the hexokinase method and high-performance liquid chromatography based on the ion exchange methodology with high precision. We first checked the normality of HbA1c distribution using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Then we compared mean HbA1c in the two age subgroups using the Student's t test. Mean HbA1c was significantly (p<0.0001) higher in the subgroup aged 50 years or more (mean HbA1c=5.2%) than in younger subjects (mean HbA1c=5.0%). Then plots were drawn to check the relationship between HbA1c and age. Under the hypothesis of linearity, determination coefficients (R2) were calculated. However, considering their low values, this hypothesis must be rejected and other factors than age must be retained to explain HbA1c variability.