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Biomedical subjects

L G Latulippe

Publications and source records attributed to L G Latulippe.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Homeopathic treatment of plantar warts.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a homeopathic treatment of plantar warts. DESIGN: Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Hospital-based family medicine unit. PATIENTS: Patients were recruited from the unit, through advertisements in the local media and through personal contacts with colleagues. Of the 853 people screened between December 1987 and January 1989, 174 met the eligibility criteria (age 6 to 59 years and presence of one or more plantar warts untreated during the previous 3 months) and agreed to participate; 162 (93%) completed the 18-week follow-up. INTERVENTIONS: The 6-week homeopathic treatment consisted of thuya 30 "centésimal hahnemannien" (CH) (one tube containing 200 pellets weekly), antimonium crudum 7 CH (5 pellets daily) and nitricum acidum 7 CH (one tube containing 200 pellets daily). The placebo pellets were identical to the treatment pellets in appearance and taste. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The proportion of healed patients; a patient was considered healed if all of the warts had disappeared. MAIN RESULTS: The rates of healing at 6, 12 and 18 weeks were 4.8%, 13.4% and 20.0% respectively in the homeopathic treatment group and 4.6%, 13.1% and 24.4% in the placebo treatment group. CONCLUSION: The homeopathic treatment was no more effective than the placebo treatment of plantar warts.

Adolescent↗

Smoking during labour.

Smoking in hospitals is now forbidden. In several hospitals, however, women in labour are allowed to smoke in designated smoking areas. This study assesses whether smoking during labour increases the carboxyhaemoglobin concentrations in maternal and cord blood, taking into account the number of cigarettes smoked during pregnancy, duration of labour and parity. Women were questioned on their smoking behaviour shortly after delivery. A total of 295 mother-infant pairs were included in the study. Of the 94 (31.9%) smokers, 33 smoked during labour at home only and 34 during labour at the hospital. For newborns of smokers, the daily ration of cigarettes smoked by the mother during pregnancy and the number smoked during labour explained respectively 10.4% and 10.8% of the residual variance of carboxyhaemoglobin in cord blood. Smoking during labour significantly increases carboxyhaemoglobin levels. It should be prohibited in hospitals.

Blood Specimen Collection↗

[Interobserver agreement in the diagnosis and management of foot warts].

The interobserver agreement in diagnosing the presence or the disappearance of plantar wart was assessed among ten Family Physicians from the Family Medicine Unit (FMU) of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval (CHUL). Physicians were trained to recognize predetermined clinical criteria for the presence (microthrombi, interruption of skin folds and hyperkeratosis) and disappearance (return of skin folds) of plantar warts. Sixty (60) untreated plantar lesions in 43 patients were examined independently by two to five available physicians. Twenty-two (22) patients who came for one to six follow-up visits generated 77 post treatment assessments of plantar warts. The observed agreement was 82% for diagnosis (49/60) and for cure (63/77). The agreement corrected for chance as measured by the Kappa coefficient was 0.60 for diagnosis and 0.61 for cure. A good degree of agreement on diagnosis and disappearance of plantar wart was achieved among the FMU physicians.

Diagnosis, Differential↗