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Biomedical subjects

P Marchais

Publications and source records attributed to P Marchais.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Multicenter evaluation of an automated system using selected bacteria that harbor challenging and clinically relevant mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics.

A multicenter study was carried out to evaluate the performance of a new commercial automated system in comparison with that of the reference agar dilution method. Ten clinical microbiology laboratories tested a collection of 61 strains of gram-negative bacilli (49 Enterobacteriaceae and 12 Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and 6 other laboratories tested a collection of 55 strains of gram-positive cocci (10 enterococci and 45 staphylococci) against 10-20 antimicrobial agents. The strains were selected on the basis that they harbored challenging and characterized mechanisms of resistance. In comparison with the agar reference method, the automated system gave an overall essential agreement (+/-1 dilution) of 94.5%, 93.5%, and 97% for the gram-negative bacilli, enterococci, and staphylococci, respectively. According to the interpretive standards of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, the category agreement ranged from 96 to 96.4% for the three sets of organisms. The accuracy of the automated system, as determined by the kappa test, ranged from 0.80 to 0.88, reflecting an almost perfect agreement with the reference technique. Very major, major, and minor errors obtained with the automated system were 0.3%, 2.9%, and 6.6% for gram-negative bacilli, 3.4%, 0%, and 5% for enterococci, and 1%, 1.6%, and 2.7% for staphylococci, respectively. The high rate of very major errors in enterococci was mostly due to a single strain of multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecium, which was found susceptible to several antibiotics in a majority of participant laboratories. The use of a heavy inoculum and of a broth test medium by the automated system might account for a better expression of certain resistance mechanisms, including beta-lactamases, as compared to the agar dilution reference method. The interlaboratory reproducibility was acceptable, as shown by the narrow dispersion of MICs and by the results of quality control.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

[The imagery of geometrical figures in psychiatry].

The image is at the same time a product of the imagining function and an instrument of knowledge. Its use in psychiatry can not be reduced, neither to the current psychological theories nor to techniques of medical imagery. Its correspondences with the modes of thinking admit of the use of geometric figures, which are capable of illustrating the mental troubles and of contributing to the development of the clinic, even the therapy, as shown by the systemal method.

Cognition↗
PubMed1995

[Subjectivity. A new approach].

The difficulties inherent in a study of subjectivity incite the proposal of a new approach based on the systemal method. The strategy evolves in three stages: introspection by several observers leading to individual models, intersubjectivity expressed by interaction of these models, progressive development of models by increase of the number of observers. This strategy admits of a more precise study of subjective phenomena, systems of knowledge and mutually recurrent types of knowledge.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

[The name, scales and diagnostic criteria. Current issues].

The scientific perspective incites modern psychiatry to base itself on quantification. But numbers have a double function, concrete and abstract, and this affects the meaning of statistics. Neglecting this property of each item and the associative character of the methods (scales, diagnostic criteria) will mean a risk of making the quantitative trend mythic to some degree, and may lead to a superficial, even deformed view of mental pathology.

Humans↗
PubMed1994

[Spiritual themes in mental pathology. Methodical approach].

The meaning of the themes with spiritual connotations poses complex problems for psychiatry, because these themes induce the observer to project his own convictions and frames of references on his investigations. A double detachment (objectivation) concerning both the object of study and the observer is implied. This makes it possible to study these phenomena by a more rigorous method, to investigate the conditions of their formation and to demonstrate objectifiable correlates (experienced space and time, the various levels of psychic experience, factors in the environment...). In consequence the appropriate medical behaviour can be more precisely delineated.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

[Logic and analogy in psychiatry. Their "common root"].

Logic and analogy pose a fundamental problem in psychiatry. The latter is at the moment renewed by the existence of fuzzy logics. The authors put forward the hypothesis of a common root using the systemal method, an original strategy and a particular test. Several questions are tackled: definitions, hierarchy, linking, linearity or circularity, closed of open aspect of thought process, integration, separation or continuity, ways of appearance, discrete organization or organization in networks, different or common origin, importance of modal and non monotonous logics. A discussion and the consequences of this hypothesis are specified.

Humans↗
PubMed1991

[On spatio-temporality. A psychiatric and interdisciplinary study].

There is no scientific knowledge without a method, no method without a minimum of theory and no theory without a general frame of reference. The concepts of space and time constitute undoubtedly the most comprehensive frame of reference; it is relevant both to the interior, experienced world of man and to the universe in which he lives. The concepts of space and time, which have emerged from various disciplines such as philosophy, cosmology, physics, biology, neurophysiology, ethology and psychiatry show a certain number of mutual relations and even connections. Characteristically, these concepts fit in with the levels, integrations, communications and self-regulations, all the structural properties, which are emphasized by the model of mental disturbances, created by application of a special systems approach, the "systemal method", to the psychiatric clinic. This structural isomorphism between the mental disturbances and the cognitive concepts of space-time reinforce by feed-back the validity of the systemal method. It also indicates the relevance of the basic sciences to the further development of psychiatry.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

[Psychiatry and its spatiotemporal referentials].

In the course of its history, psychiatry has grown richer parallel to the development of its spatiotemporal system of the reference. Initially classical empirical psychiatry mainly conceived and represented mental disorder in a two dimensional space. Temporality seemed predominant due to the development of the pathology. Psychopathologic, psychoanalytic, and phenomenological currents have inserted it into a three dimensional space by clarifying its psychopathogenic progress connected with the environment. The merely descriptive attitude of the diagnostic criteria tends to place it back in the original two dimensional space. The systemal method views it in a pluri-dimensional space specific of any living system, permitty to understand its mobility and changes better. It results in the notion of a spatio-temporal field. The latter leads to new strategics of knowledge and contributes to a better integration of psychiatry into the world of contemporary scientific knowledge.

Humans↗