Herpes hepatitis and high levels of circulating interferon.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Camus.
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Cessation of massive hemoptysis after iatrogenic balloon catheter rupture of the pulmonary artery was observed after a 2-ml inflation of the balloon. A wedge angiogram showed a small cavity near the rupture. Secondary lobectomy was performed; however, the patient died 1 month later. Therapeutic approaches of this life-threatening complication are presented.
Children come into contact very early with the written language. The work of Emilia Ferreiro, a student of Piaget, has shown that from early on, well before they can read, they know that the written word has a meaning. Their successive hypotheses show an elaboration which does not occur by chance. Experience shows that babies have a specific interest for a book as an object. They recognize the value of the pictures, as much representations of their mental representations as are words, whereas these two capacities evolve in a complementary fashion. The capacity to be interested by a narrative introduces a new form of organization in the chain of representations, whether they refer to absent or imaginary objects. A good story has a special place among the narratives the child hears, which actually have the specific structures of the written language. The authors of this work report a number of examples of very young children who are put in contact with books. They see in this a new model for mental health work which can be set up by virtue of meetings outside the school rooms, the mental health services, and even of the libraries, by people of different professional skills, in order to loosen the vice of the children's daily routine, and to give the child time to dream with the books, and to draw the adults in to a salutary disorder.
Potential antiviral properties of cyclosporine against hepatitis C virus have been highlighted in several publications. Therefore, we investigated the effect of a switch from tacrolimus to cyclosporine in a liver transplant recipient with recurrent hepatitis C who did not respond to antiviral therapy. The patient received a liver transplant for hepatitis C cirrhosis. Initial immunosuppressive treatment was based on tacrolimus. Because of viral activity, a combined therapy was initiated 20 months later including interferon and ribavirine. Then, due to a lack of virological and biochemical response, tacrolimus was replaced by cyclosporine (Neoral), while maintaining the same antiviral therapy. Decreases in the viral load and transaminases levels were observed.
Water intoxication mostly occurs in psychiatric patients. We observed 13 episodes of severe hyponatremia (less than 120 mmol/l) following a period of increased water consumption in 10 psychiatric patients (5 men, 5 women, mean age 48.8 years) treated with neuroleptics and/or benzodiazepines. Other causes of hyponatremia were excluded. The initial clinical signs were associated with severe gastrointestinal and neurological disorders requiring intensive care. In every case a gradual return to normal of natremia was obtained by creating a negative water balance while compensating for the sodium loss. From a study of urine and plasma osmolality ratio (U/P osm) on admission, several physiopathological mechanisms could be envisaged. A U/P osm ratio lower than 1 (6 cases) suggested a water intake exceeding the maximum dilution capacity of the kidneys (20-25 1), or a lesser water intake with little or no osmolal intake, or again an intrarenal disorder of urine dilution. When the U/P osm ratio was higher than 1 (7 cases), reflecting inappropriate secretion of the antidiuretic hormone, the hyponatremia could be explained by the psychosis itself, the treatment taken by the patients, a disorder of thirst regulation and/or a non-osmotic stimulation of vasopressin. This population, therefore, was heterogeneous: the mechanisms which contribute to this pathology are not fully elucidated, and they probably involve several factors.
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The aim of this study is to assess the economic impact of neuroleptic strategies in the long-term treatment of schizophrenic patients. In this respect a new neuroleptic strategy (amisulpride) was compared to a reference drug (haloperidol) using a cost minimization method. Clinical, demographic and economic (direct medical costs) data were obtained retrospectively from patients' charts. Patients (n = 160) were randomly selected according to diagnosis (schizophrenia, DSM III-R), treatment (outpatient, amisulpride or haloperidol) and follow up period (at least 6 months). The health insurance point of view was selected for the economic analysis. We found a significant reduction of the annual number of days of relapse when patients were treated with amisulpride compared to haloperidol. This reduction was associated with a significant reduction of direct costs mainly related to shorter length of hospitalization. This result was only partly explained by demographic and clinical variables such as the severity of the disease. The differences remained significant when populations were matched. This finding illustrates the validity of the concept of efficiency in psychiatry.
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Using the traditional technique for liver transplantation, there are two supra and subhepatic anastomoses to the vena cava. With the piggy-back method, the donor's inferior vena cava is implanted terminolaterally into the recipient's inferior vena cava. The aim of this work was to evaluate results in two matched groups. PATIENTS AND METHODS. From June 1992 to May 1993, 13 patients underwent piggy-back liver transplantation (group 1) and 14 others underwent traditional liver transplantation (group 2). There were 17 men and 10 women, mean age 48 years (range 25-65 years). There was no significant difference between the groups for age, sex, indications, number of rejections and retransplantations. RESULTS. There were no deaths in group 1 and 2 deaths in group 2 within the first 30 days postoperatively. There was no significant difference between groups 1 and 2 for duration of cold ischaemia (552 +/- 323 vs 463 +/- 345 min respectively), the number of packed cell transfusions (9.8 +/- 11 vs 11.1 +/- 5.5), duration of the operation (474 +/- 151 vs 500 +/- 95 min), duration of anastomosis (56 +/- 17 vs 66 +/- 20 min), creatinine levels at day 30 (140 +/- 79 vs 200 +/- 145 min). But there was a significant difference in the anhepatic phase (56 +/- 17 vs 66 +/- 20 min). CONCLUSION. Unexpectedly, there was no significant difference between the two types of transplantation with the exception of the anhepatic phase.