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Biomedical subjects

E Aron

Publications and source records attributed to E Aron.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Health education at school].

The major health problems of our time cannot be solved only by the physicians. Despite important scientific advances, the number of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, bronchopathies and drug addictions increases. Prevention is a way of improving this alarming situation. Actually, the health of our contemporaries largely depends on themselves. For example, in a world without tobacco, one third of cancers and ninety per cent of lung and larynx tumors would not occur. Thus, the protections of human being's and nature's health are equally essential. Both are the State responsibility. Including hygiene in school education is a critical necessity in view of teaching young French students good health practices by which they will be impressed all their life. School has not only to teach but also to educate. This wish is in agreement with the Declaration of Child Rights voted by the General Assembly of United Nations on November 20, 1959. Unfortunately, the signatory nations do not put in practice this resolution which states that children must be protected against social risks. Descartes believed that "if the human species can be improved the means must be searched in medicine". This essential mission belong today to the educative system from home to school. At the dawn of the third millennium this "children institution", as Montaigne said, may provide health to future generations.

France

Structure of rabbit butyrylcholinesterase gene deduced from genomic clones and from cDNA with introns.

1. Three clones were isolated from a rabbit genomic library. They covered the entire coding sequence of the rabbit BChE gene. The positions of splice sites between exons 2, 3, and 4 are identical to those found in the human gene (Arpagaus et al., 1990). Exon 2 covers 83% of the coding sequence. This contrasts with the small size of exon 3 (167 bp) and large size of introns 2 and 3 (greater than 20 kb each). The active-site serine at position 198 is found in a highly conserved region. Aspartic acids in positions 91 and 170 are conserved in human and rabbit, and one of them could be involved in the calytic triad. Aspartic acid 70, present in the anionic site of human BChE, is also conserved in rabbit BChE. The coding sequences of human and rabbit BChE are 89% identical over 744 bp around the active-site serine. 2. In addition to the genomic clones, one cDNA clone (BNY1) was isolated. This cDNA was unusual in that it contained intronic sequences. The insert of 1 kb contained 167 coding bases homologous to the nucleotide sequence 1434 to 1600 of human cDNA and corresponded to exon 3 of the BChE gene. On each side of this coding region, consensus sequences of intron-exon boundaries were found. 3. The presence of large-size transcripts in Northern blots and the existence of a cDNA copy of unprocessed mRNA found in the BNY1 clone suggest a slow processing of transcripts. A genomic sequence unspliced in a cDNA of Torpedo AChE could give a transmembrane domain (Sikorav et al., 1988); the corresponding sequence in rabbit BChE gene, also found in a cDNA, had no homology with Torpedo AChE but could be translated in a hydrophobic C-terminal domain if maintained in mature mRNA.

Amino Acid Sequence

[Prostitution and public health].

The attitude of public services concerning prostitution was inspired by the fear of venereal diseases. In regimenting prostitution, the state recognised that they were trying to control it. This law was a total failure and was abolished in 1946. The worrying development of sexually contagious diseases (AIDS) will start again the that was dormant with the victory of antibiotherapy on venereal diseases. The proposition to return to regimentation with there opening of "maisons closes" will also restart the debate. These measures will be inefficient against illicit prostitution and are in contradiction with our convictions and morals, and of course with our international obligations. Prostitution is now part of our society and is longer illegal, but soliciting in a public place is still an offence. The prostitute is judged as being permanently in breach of the law, contrary to the opposite sex where no responsibility is acknowledged. We proposed to associate judges, doctors, police force and prostitutes to give some consideration and think of this problem so that this part of the population do not stay on the fringe of our society and that they can have the same rights, particularly the right for housing and health services, as, unfortunately the majority of prostitutes do not have "social security".

Attitude of Health Personnel

Ovulation induction with clomiphene and the rise in heterotopic pregnancies. A report of two cases.

Two women were treated for heterotopic pregnancies, the simultaneous occurrence of an intrauterine pregnancy and an ectopic pregnancy. The commonly accepted incidence is 1:30,000. The actual rate appears to be significantly higher; the two most prominent reasons are today's increased rate of ectopic pregnancies and the increased use of clomiphene in infertile women. A rigorous evaluation is required in all early pregnancies in which an ectopic is suspected to rule out the presence of a heterotopic pregnancy.

Adult

[Decrease in serum gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase following abstention from alcohol in cirrhotics (author transl)].

Gamma-Glutamyltranspeptidase activity of patients having an ascitic cirrhosis due to ethanol consumption is high (139 mU/ml) when the patient is still drinking at the time of the assay; it is lower when the patient had stopped drinking at least two months before the assay (49 mU/ml). On the other hand, in 10 patients out of the 11 who submitted to a second assay gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase decreases as soon as the patient abstains from alcohol. In 4 abstinent patients re-examined one year after the first measurement, the gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase activity had decreased to the reference values of Szasz. The half time of the return to normal has been estimated by extrapolation from the ethylic model at between 11 and 54 days. We conclude that the hyper gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in cirrhotics is due to the ethanol impregnation and that repeated assays of the enzyme show whether the patient abstains from alcohol or not.

Alcohol Drinking

[Serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase and alcoholism. Diagnosis and control of withdrawal].

The gammaGT of a generally healthy population is abnormally high due to the presence of ethanol in the diet. We confirm Rosalki's finding that a high proportion of alchoholics show an increased gammaGT activity. After alcohol deprivation, the gammaGT of alcoholics decreases in the first few days according to an exponential law with a half-time of return to normal of 5-17 days. Among past alcoholics, those who stopped drinking for a year have a lower GT activity (mean: 21 mU/ml) than a generally healthy population and in the range of Szasz's reference values. Alcoholics who did not stop drinking have a higher gammaGT activity (mean: 172). Ascitic cirrhotics who drink at least 1 liter of wine per day have also a high activity (mean: 139) while those who stopped drinking for at least 2 months have a much lower activity (mean: 49) and those who stopped for a year a normal activity. In 10 out of 11 alcoholic cirrhotics who stopped drinking, the gammaGT decreased (half-time: 11-54 days). These results show that the determination of gammaGT activity is a good test for the detection of ethanol impregnation.

Adult