[Fifty feminine shades of domestic violence: time for doctors to get involved!]. / Cinquante nuances de violences domestiques au féminin: l'implication des médecins est essentielle.

Domestic violences are very common and constitute a criminal offence. Women are mainly victims but can also be perpetrators. Domestic violences have a major health impact on people, families and society. The primary care physician holds a major role in the targeted detection of domestic violences and their prevention. He must know their specificities and adapt his response according to the situations. This specific response does not prevent a rational approach: we propose to distinguish between different types of women's vulnerability. Management must involve an efficient network taking into account individual, family, community and social factors. In this context, use of regularly updated information from official websites is mandatory.

[Presumptive clinical diagnosis of malaria in children in a hospital in the North Region (Cameroon)]. / Diagnostic clinique présomptif du paludisme chez l'enfant en milieu hospitalier au Nord Cameroun.

The authors studied the correlation between the prescription of antimalarial drugs and the results of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and thick smear during dry and rainy seasons in a regional hospital outpatient clinic in North Cameroon. Clinical diagnosis, essentially based on the presence of fever, has a positive predictive value of 2% when compared with laboratory results during the dry season, against 44% during the rainy season. This study confirms the epidemic nature of malaria in the Sahelian zone of the North Region and challenges the currently available hospital statistics. In this epidemiological context, the authors recommend routine laboratory diagnosis of malaria before any treatment, especially during the dry season. This is justified both therapeutically and economically.

Eosinophil major basic protein-1 does not contribute to allergen-induced airway pathologies in mouse models of asthma.

The relationship between eosinophils and the development of Ag-induced pulmonary pathologies, including airway hyper-responsiveness, was investigated using mice deficient for the secondary granule component, major basic protein-1 (mMBP-1). The loss of mMBP-1 had no effect on OVA-induced airway histopathologies or inflammatory cell recruitment. Lung function measurements of knockout mice demonstrated a generalized hyporeactivity to methacholine-induced airflow changes (relative to wild type); however, this baseline phenotype was observable only with methacholine; no relative airflow changes were observed in response to another nonspecific stimulus (serotonin). Moreover, OVA sensitization/aerosol challenge of wild-type and mMBP-1(-/-) mice resulted in identical dose-response changes to either methacholine or serotonin. Thus, the airway hyper-responsiveness in murine models of asthma occurs in the absence of mMBP-1.

Adrenomedullin gene expression is developmentally regulated and induced by hypoxia in rat ventricular cardiac myocytes.

Adrenomedullin is a recently discovered hypotensive peptide that is expressed in a variety of cell and tissue types. Using the technique of differential display, the adrenomedullin gene was observed to be differentially expressed in developing rat heart. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the level of adrenomedullin mRNA was significantly higher in adult ventricular cardiac muscle as compared with embryonic day 17 ventricular cardiac muscle. Adrenomedullin receptor mRNA was constitutively expressed throughout development of the ventricular heart. Two potential hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) consensus binding sites were identified in the mouse adrenomedullin promoter at -1095 and -770 nucleotides from the transcription start site. Exposure of cultured adult rat ventricular cardiac myocytes to hypoxia (1% O2) resulted in a significant, time-dependent increase in adrenomedullin mRNA levels. Transfection studies revealed that the 5'-flanking sequence of adrenomedullin was capable of mediating a hypoxia-inducible increase in transcription. Mutation of the putative HIF-1 consensus binding sites revealed that the major regulatory sequence that mediates the hypoxia-inducible transcriptional response is located at -1095. These data demonstrate that the adrenomedullin gene is developmentally regulated in ventricular cardiomyocytes, that adrenomedullin transcription can be induced by hypoxia, and that this response is primarily mediated by HIF-1 consensus sites in the adrenomedullin promoter.

Differential display: identifying genes involved in cardiomyocyte proliferation.

An estimated 15,000 different mRNA species are expressed in a typical mammalian cell. The differential expression of mRNAs in both a temporal and cell-specific manner determines the fate of the cell and creates the organism. Analysis of this differential gene expression has become a central aim of many laboratories attempting to understand the mechanisms underlying various biological processes. Currently, we are using a technique called differential display to analyze the differential expression of genes in cardiomyocytes. Differential display is a rapid and powerful technique that was introduced by Liang and Pardee in 1992. Since that time, it has been successfully applied by several groups, and it is quickly becoming a standard method for studying differential gene expression. Here, we present a detailed article discussing the differential display methodology and how we have utilized it to identify potential genes involved in cardiomyocyte proliferation. Furthermore, we have provided a list of materials and supplied examples of data obtained, in an effort to allow the reader to perform the technique with success in their own laboratory.