Difficulties in providing palliative care in identified palliative care beds: An exploratory survey.

Aim: Identified Palliative Care Beds (Lits Identifiés Soins Palliatifs - LISPs) is a French specificity. Primarily created to integrate palliative care culture into conventional hospital units, the relevance of this measure became a controversial issue. Nowadays, hospital teams continue to frequently encounter complex situations regarding medical care for palliative patients.

Alternative or complementary attitudes toward alternative and complementary medicines.

Background: Integrative and complementary health approaches (ICHA) are often pursued by patients facing chronic illnesses. Most of the studies that investigated the factors associated with ICHA consumption have considered that the propensity to use ICHA is a stable or fixed characteristic of an individual. However, people may prefer using ICHA in some situations and not in others, depending on the characteristics of the illness to face.

Prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in schoolchildren: data from the french six cities study.

Background: The prevalence of asthma and allergy has recently risen among children. This increase in prevalence might be related to various factors, particularly diet. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and association of asthma and allergic sensitization with dietary factors in the French Six Cities Study.

High body mass index and allergies in schoolchildren: the French six cities study.

Background: The prevalence of allergic diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis is increasing rapidly worldwide, especially among children and in western countries. This coincides with an increase in body mass index (BMI), which might be a major risk factor for atopic diseases.

Objectives: To study the relationship between high BMI and allergic diseases, as well as skin-prick test (SPT) positivity and exercise-induced asthma (EIA) in 6733 randomly selected schoolchildren aged 9-11 years in the French Six Cities Study.

Asthma among workers in healthcare settings: role of disinfection with quaternary ammonium compounds.

Introduction: An increased incidence of asthma has been reported among healthcare workers. The role of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), commonly used in cleaning/disinfection products, has not been clearly defined. The aim of this study was to analyse associations between asthma and occupational exposure to disinfectants, especially QACs.

Use of psychotropic drugs, systemic antihistamines and medications for cough in 6-year-old children: a survey in the Bas-Rhin Region, France.

Purpose: The use of drugs in France is among the highest in developed countries. Among them, psychotropic medication in children has always been a matter of concern. Furthermore, on the basis of concerns about safety and efficacy, international authorities have either advised against the use of cough and cold medication or considered such an action.

Poor air quality in classrooms related to asthma and rhinitis in primary schoolchildren of the French 6 Cities Study.

Background: Relationships between indoor air quality (IAQ) found in schools and the allergic and respiratory health of schoolchildren have been insufficiently explored. A survey was conducted in a large sample of classrooms of primary schools in France to provide objective assessments of IAQ to which young schoolchildren are exposed in classrooms, and to relate exposure to major air pollutants found in classrooms to asthma and allergies of schoolchildren.

Methods: Concentrations of fine particles with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.

Confusion after spine injury: cerebral fat embolism after traumatic rupture of a Tarlov cyst: case report.

Background: Acute low back pain is a very common symptom and reason for many medical consultations. In some unusual circumstances it could be linked to a rare aetiology.

Case Presentation: We report a 70-year-old man with an 8-month history of left posterior thigh and leg pain who had sudden confusion after a fall from standing.

[Long-term exposure to urban air pollution measured through a dispersion model and the risk of asthma and allergy in children].

The impact of chronic urban air pollution on asthma and allergy remains controversial, probably because exposure is difficult to evaluate. In this cross-sectional epidemiological survey of 9- to 11-year-old children living in six French towns, levels of air pollution were estimated by using dispersion models that take into account background air pollution levels along with traffic density, topography and meteorological conditions. We estimated three-year exposure, in the school environment, to benzene, volatile organic compounds, SO2, particles less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), nitrous oxides (NO2 and NOx) and CO, which are the main urban air pollutants.

Long-term exposure to close-proximity air pollution and asthma and allergies in urban children.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of urban air pollution, assessed through reliable indicators of exposure, on asthma and allergies in schoolchildren. A validated dispersion model combining data on traffic conditions, topography, meteorology and background pollution was used to relate 3-yrs averaged concentrations of major urban pollutants at the sites of schools to skin prick tests, exercise-induced asthma and reported asthma and allergies in 6,683 children (9-11 yrs) attending 108 schools randomly selected in six French communities. For the 4,907 children who had resided at their current address for the past 3 yrs, asthma (exercise induced, past year and lifetime) was significantly positively associated with benzene, SO(2), particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 microm (PM(10)), nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and CO.

Alternaria sensitization and allergic rhinitis with or without asthma in the French Six Cities study.

Background: Allergic sensitization to Alternaria has been related to asthma in various studies, but its association with allergic rhinitis is still controversial.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess at the population level the relationships in childhood between Alternaria sensitization and 'past-year rhinoconjunctivitis' (PYRC), 'ever hay fever' (EHF) and 'ever allergic rhinitis caused by allergens other than pollens' (EAR) according to the presence or the absence of asthma.

Methods: This study is part of the Six Cities Study, the French contribution to the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase II.

Smoking exposure and allergic sensitization in children according to maternal allergies.

Background: Although the negative impact of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on airway diseases in children is well known, the effect of ETS on allergic sensitization is still debated.

Objective: To evaluate how maternal allergies modulate the effect of tobacco exposure on allergic sensitization in childhood.

Methods: Of 9000 children in grades 4 and 5 selected in 6 cities in France, 7798 participated in a survey that consisted of an epidemiologic questionnaire, skin prick testing to common allergens, and skin examination for eczema.

[Recognizing patients in life-threatening emergencies or potentially serious conditions].

The identification of a vital distress belongs to necessary knowledge of any medical doctor. The clinical pictures can reach a level of complexity such as the expert is likely to ignore gravity and the immediate attitude to have. However the search for a vital distress starts from an initially simple clinical step and to the range all.

Long-term exposure to background air pollution related to respiratory and allergic health in schoolchildren.

Background: The impact of air pollution on asthma and allergies still remains a debate.

Objective: Our cross-sectional study was intended to analyse the associations between long-term exposure to background air pollution and atopic and respiratory outcomes in a large population-based sample of schoolchildren.

Methods: Six thousand six hundred and seventy-two children aged 9-11 years recruited from 108 randomly schools in six French cities underwent a clinical examination including a skin prick test (SPT) to common allergens, exercise-induced bronchial reactivity (EIB) and skin examination for flexural dermatitis.

Prevalence of food allergy and its relationship to asthma and allergic rhinitis in schoolchildren.

Background: Food allergy (FA) is an important health problem. However, epidemiological studies at the population level are scarce. We assessed the prevalence of FA and its associations with respiratory manifestations among schoolchildren.

Increased prevalence of asthma and allied diseases among active adolescent tobacco smokers after controlling for passive smoking exposure. A cause for concern?

Background: Whereas effects on allergic and respiratory health have been established for passive tobacco smoking, contradictory results still exist for active tobacco smoking.

Objective: Whether adolescents with asthma and allied diseases have higher rates of active smoking compared with adolescents without asthma was assessed after controlling for environmental tobacco smoking exposure.

Methods: A population-based sample of 14,578 adolescents was enrolled in an epidemiological survey on allergies in France.

[Implication of emergency departments in the regulation of public hospitalizations].

Purpose: Emergency departments become a useful way to access to hospital care. Since these last years difficulties of hospitalization, mainly of the elderly, after visit to the emergency department, are on the increase.

Current Knowledge And Key Points: Emergency departments are an important mode of recruitment for hospital units, 4 patients to 10 are hospitalized from emergency departments.

Bronchial challenge tests in patients with asthma sensitized to cats: the importance of large particles in the immediate response.

Our aim was to compare bronchial responses to major cat allergen (Fel d 1) in individuals with intermittent asthma sensitized to cats (19 subjects) according to the droplet particle size. We used three nebulizers, which delivered particles with mass median aerodynamic diameters of 1.4, 4.

Repeated inhalation of low doses of cat allergen that do not induce clinical symptoms increases bronchial hyperresponsiveness and eosinophil cationic protein levels.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether repeated exposure to subclinical doses of cat allergens, not inducing asthma symptoms, could affect eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) levels in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or in peripheral blood, without the appearance of clinical symptoms. Twelve patients with mild asthma, all sensitized to cats and not exposed to cat allergen at home, underwent a series of inhalations of cat allergen or placebo for 8 days over 2 weeks. A methacholine challenge was performed before and after the allergen and saline exposures, and BAL and blood were sampled for ECP measurements and eosinophil counts.

[Experimental studies of the effects of atmospheric pollutants].

Experimental studies in man are an indispensable complement to epidemiological studies and experimental studies on animals. They aim at understanding the mechanisms of action of the main pollutants and at knowing their thresholds of triggering of the acute effects on the respiratory system. The studies made in man involve controlled exposure to different atmospheric pollutants, with measurement of the functional respiratory repercussions, studies of modification of the cells in broncho-alveolar lavage, as well as experimental protocols that combine inhalation of allergen and exposure to atmospheric pollutants by allergic subjects.