Listeriosis outbreak associated with the consumption of rillettes in France in 1993.

An outbreak of listeriosis involving 38 patients occurred in France between 18 June and 5 October 1993. The epidemic clone was characterized by serovar 4b, phagovar 2671:108:312, and DNA macrorestriction patterns 12 and 13. Thirty-one case-patients were materno-neonatal patients and 7 patients were nonpregnant adults. Preliminary analysis of a case-control study implicated a pork product, rillettes, of a particular brand (odds ratio, 18; 95% confidence interval, 2.2-208) as the vehicle of infection. Rillettes is a ready-to-eat food prepared with ham meat cooked with grease. The implicated lots of rillettes were recalled in mid-August, and the French authorities issued a warning to the general public. Microbiologic analysis of unopened plastic cans of rillettes confirmed the results of the case-control study 3 weeks after the recall. Final analysis showed that the rillettes was the major vehicle of the outbreak but suggested that other brand A meat products could also have been involved.

Radioimmunoassay of cytidine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate: unambiguous assay by means of an optimized protocol incorporating a trilayer column separation to obviate cross-reactivity problems.

Previous assays for cytidine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic CMP) have been criticized as being ambiguous. Here a modified RIA protocol, in which the production of assay components has been optimized and a novel trilayer chromatography column separation introduced which successfully separates cyclic CMP from compounds, endogenous to living tissues, which cross-react with anti-cyclic CMP sera, is described. The assay is capable of assaying cyclic CMP between 0.1 and 5 pmol, can be increased in sensitivity by means of an additional acetylation step, and enables the separation of cyclic CMP, cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP so that all three can be estimated in a single sample.

[Infertility in France: results of a multicenter survey in three French departments (1988-1989)]. / L'infecondite en France: resultats d'une etude multicentrique dans trois departements francais (1988-1989).

Results are presented from a survey of 1,686 couples living in three French departments who consulted a practitioner over a 12-month period for primary or secondary infertility. "The prevalence rate of infertility was found to be 14.1%, indicating that one woman out of seven in France will consult a doctor for an infertility problem during her reproductive life." The main causes of both male and female infertility are analyzed. (SUMMARY IN ENG)

[Medico-administrative aspects of medically assisted reproduction techniques]. / Aspects médico-administratifs des techniques de procréation médicalement assistée.

Artificial procreation techniques raise many ethical questions. The National Consultative Ethics Committee has pronounced on two occasions on this subject. Apart from ethical considerations, the rapid development of various techniques has required regulations aimed at ensuring the quality of the medical activities performed. The decree of April 8, 1988 concerning medically assisted procreation limits the practice of these activities to hospitals and medical biology laboratories. These regulations do not apply to fundamental questions which fall in the realm of legislation. A bill has already been drafted; if it passes it might provide a few guiding marks on this subject for practitioners and for society as a whole.

Extraction, purification, identification and metabolism of 3',5'-cyclic UMP, 3',5'-cyclic IMP and 3',5'-cyclic dTMP from rat tissues.

The large-scale extraction and partial purification of endogenous 3',5'-cyclic UMP, 3',5'-cyclic IMP and 3',5'-cyclic dTMP are described. Rat liver, kidney, heart, spleen and lung tissues were subjected to a sequential purification procedure involving freeze-clamping, perchlorate extraction, alumina and Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography and preparative electrophoresis. The samples thus obtained co-chromatographed with authentic cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP on t.l.c. and h.p.l.c. and the u.v. spectra of the extracted samples were identical with those of the standards. Fast atom bombardment of the three cyclic nucleotide standards yielded mass spectra containing a molecular protonated ion in each case; mass-analysed ion kinetic-energy spectrometry ('m.i.k.e.s') of these ions produced a spectrum unique to the parent cyclic nucleotide. The extracted putative cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP each produced a m.i.k.e.s. identical with that obtained with the corresponding cyclic nucleotide standard. Rat liver, heart, kidney, brain, intestine, spleen, testis and lung protein preparations were each found capable of the synthesis of cyclic UMP, cyclic IMP and cyclic dTMP from the corresponding nucleoside triphosphate, of the hydrolysis of these cyclic nucleotides and of their binding, with the exception that cyclic dTMP was not synthesized by the kidney preparation.