Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for monitoring the tumor growth of an androgen-independent prostate cancer in a subject, by determining the amount of at least one adrenomedullin receptor and optionally adrenomedullin in a prostate cancer cell obtained from said subject. The present invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising an anti-adrenomedullin antagonist antibody and/or at least one anti-adrenomedullin receptor antagonist antibody for treating an androgen-independent prostate cancer.

Abstract: The invention relates to the use of a hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor and of a farnesyl-pyrophosphate synthase inhibitor, or of one of their associated physiologically acceptable salts, in the preparation of a composition, particularly a pharmaceutical composition, for use in the treatment of human or animal, pathological or nonpathological situations related to the accumulation and/or the persistence of prenylated proteins in cells, such as during progeria (Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome), restrictive dermopathy or physiological aging.

Abstract: The invention relates to an in vitro method for determining the ability of a patient with cancer to respond to a monochemotherapy or to a polychemotherapy involving the administration of at least one chemotherapeutic agent the liver elimination of which involves cytidine deaminase (CDA), or to be treated by at least one such chemotherapeutic agent, which method comprises determining the CDA activity in a biological sample of the patient, wherein a CDA activity above 6 U/mg of serum sample total protein is indicative of the inability of the patient to respond to the chemotherapy, a CDA activity between 1.1 U/mg and 6 U/mg of serum sample total protein is indicative of the ability of the patient to be treated by the chemotherapeutic agent when said agent is administered in the context of a monochemotherapy, and a CDA activity between 1.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a method of detection and preferably of quantification of DNA, preferably comprising prokaryotic DNA, extracted from a stool sample of an individual, especially for the molecular determination of the composition of the intestinal flora in the stool. According to the invention, one controls the quality of the DNA extraction by verifying whether one detects a specific DNA of Methanobrevibacter smithii and one performs the quantification of said specific prokaryotic DNA for Archae Methanobrevibacter smithii, for the bacterial genus Lactobacillus, for the phylum Bacteroidetes and for the phylum Firmicutes, respectively, to provide a diagnosis and/or monitoring of the weight status of an individual. The present invention provides a method for carrying out the extraction of prokaryotic DNA in stools.

Abstract: The invention relates to antibodies binding to the proteins forming adrenomedullin receptors, and to the uses thereof as a drug.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a novel mycobacteria culture medium, particularly for mycobacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, that significantly reduces the culture isolation time and thus the time for diagnosing the mycobacteria, particularly those for tuberculosis. A culture medium according to the invention contains defibrinated blood, lecithin, and decomplemented fetal calf serum. The present invention also relates to a culture method and to a method for identifying mycobacteria, particularly bacteria of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The present invention also relates to a novel decontamination method through chlorhexidine treatment of biological samples in an isolation and mycobacteria culture medium, and to a method for determining by phenotype the sensitivity of mycobacteria to antibiotics by means of a solid culture medium according to the invention.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for measuring the plasmine activity of microparticles, in particular circulating microparticles, in a sample of a biological fluid, particularly a biological fluid in a flow situation, wherein said method can be used as a diagnosis method or a method for following a treatment.

Abstract: A retractor-retainer of intestines for celioscopic surgery, includes: a guide wire having a proximal portion consisting of a handle adapted to be connected to an operating table, an elongated distal portion designed to be introduced into the abdominal cavity during a celioscopic procedure; an elongated support mandrel along which is fixed a contention net, folded in such a way as to enable it to be deployed in situ; the distal end of the support mandrel and the distal portion of the guide wire being provided with complementary fast coupling elements; and an instrument for inserting the support mandrel and the contention net into the abdominal cavity and fixing it on the guide wire, the instrument including a barrel whereof at least the distal portion is hollow and dimensioned to receive the support mandrel and the contention net connected thereto.