Development and validation of a quality of life measurement for chronic skin disorders in french: VQ-Dermato. The RéseaudEpidémiolo gie en Dermatologie.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) assessment is crucial to assess the severity of dermatological diseases.

Purpose: To construct and validate the first dermatology-specific instrument in French.

Methods: Items were generated from the interview of patients.

An exploration of the psychometric properties of the French version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.

The psychometric properties of the French version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were studied in a population of 85 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in accordance with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) criteria. The results of the study of the properties (internal consistency and principal-component analysis) of the initial structure with 3 scales (positive, negative, and general psychopathology) led us to investigate other factorial structures. We thus isolated a 5-factor structure (negative, hostility, positive, disorganization, and anxiety), explaining 54.

[A scale of perioperative satisfaction for anesthesia. II--Preliminary results].

Purpose: To assess the patient's experience of anaesthesia in the early postoperative period, with a self-completed questionnaire (Evan).

Study Design: Descriptive and evaluative study.

Patients: The study included 742 adults undergoing an elective surgical or non surgical procedure under anaesthesia.

[A scale of perioperative satisfaction for anesthesia. I--Construction and validation].

Objective: To develop and to validate a scale assessing perioperative patient's satisfaction with anaesthesia (Evan).

Study Design: Descriptive and evaluative study.

Patients: The study included 742 adults undergoing a surgical or a diagnostic procedure under general anaesthesia.

[Anti-hepatitis B vaccination: after the health authorities' decision].

In 1991, the WHO proposed that the antihepatitis B vaccine be included in national vaccination programs. In France, it was decided in 1994 to move on from a selective immunization scheme aimed at high-risk subjects to a general vaccination policy aimed first at adolescents in school and secondly infants. During this period, several cases of demyelinizing diseases after vaccination led to court actions and were magnified in the popular press, interfering with this new vaccination policy.

Validity and reliability of the French-language version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Objective: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the French-language version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Method: The validity and reliability of the PANSS were studied in a population of 342 patients diagnosed as schizophrenic according to DSM-III-R criteria.

Results: The study of the internal consistency and principal-component analysis of the initial structure with three subscales (positive, negative and general psychopathology) led us to investigate other factorial structures.

[Research using the human embryo. A timely question].

There has been a considerable amount of debate in Europe on the use of the human embryo in research, a key point in the ongoing examination of bioethics laws. The French Academy of Medicine, the National Consultative Committee on Ethics, the State Council and the Parliamentary Office for the evaluation of scientific and technologic decisions have all made formal statements. An examination of these opinions discloses that there is a critical agreement concerning the Laws of July 1994 and on the requirement for a better text regulating research on the human embryo.

[Satisfaction with anesthesia: a review of the existing instruments].

EVALUATING PATIENT SATISFACTION: In France, patient satisfaction is a criteria for health care facility accreditation. In this context, the anesthesia community has studied tools available for assessing satisfaction with anesthesia. LIMITATIONS OF AVAILABLE INSTRUMENTS: The construction of a satisfaction assessment instrument can be divided into three phases: design, sorting items, validation.

[Evaluation of the quality of life in children and adolescents].

Unlabelled: HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE: Personal perception of health is proposed as an innovating assessment alternative for making medical and therapeutic choices on an individual and population basis. Standardized questionnaires have been developed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL). ASSESSMENT OF HRQL IN ADOLESCENTS AND CHILDREN: Several approaches have been used.

[Is ultrasonographic evaluation the the length of the kidney possible in children? Apropos of a prospective study in Madagascar children less than 1 year of age].

Renal US was prospectively performed in 124 madagascan children less than 1 year of age. Patients were examined in the prone position and maximum kidney length was measured in the longitudinal plane. These measurements and the height and weight of our patient population were compared to published tables.

HLA DRB1, DMA, and DMB gene polymorphisms in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To study the influence of DMA and DMB genes on susceptibility to Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

Methods: HLA-DRB1, DMA and DMB polymorphisms were defined by PCR SSOP in 203 European Mediterranean RA patients and 181 unrelated healthy controls.

Results: No significant difference in the phenotype frequencies of DMA and DMB alleles was observed between patients and controls.

Phenotype-genotype correlation in 20 deletion and 20 non-deletion Angelman syndrome patients.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the absence of a maternal contribution to chromosome 15q11-q13. There are four classes of AS according to molecular or cytogenetic status: maternal microdeletion of 15q11-q13 (approximately 70% of AS patients); uniparental disomy (UPD); defects in a putative imprinting centre (IM); the fourth includes 20-30% of AS individuals with biparental inheritance and a normal pattern of allelic methylation in 15q11-q13. Mutations of UBE3A have recently been identified as causing AS in the latter group.

Factorial structure of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS): a forced five-dimensional factor analysis.

We conducted a study on 205 schizophrenic patients in order to explore the factorial structure of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). We first documented the validity and reliability of the five-dimensional structure of the PANSS, initially derived from the work of Kay and Sevy and completed by Lindenmayer et al. Some items (stereotyped thinking, mannerisms and posturing, poor attention, lack of judgement, disturbance of volition, and preoccupation) appeared to contribute little to the constitution of the dimensions initially described by Kay and Sevy.

[The effects of midazolam on oxygen consumption and the level of vigilance. The possibility of the sedative effect of the plexiglas dome (canopy) of the Deltatrac indirect calorimetry device].

Objective: To assess the effects of midazolam on oxygen consumption (VO2) and the level of vigilance. To search for a possible "sedative effect" of the canopy of the Deltatrac (Datex) when a placebo is administered instead of midazolam.

Study Design: Prospective, comparative, randomized, double-blinded, cross-over study.

Vitrification of in vitro produced bovine blastocysts: methodological studies and developmental capacity.

Methodological studies were undertaken to test the validity of a three-step vitrification procedure for bovine in vitro produced embryos using glycerol and ethylene glycol as cryoprotectants. Embryos were produced in a low-phosphate culture system (medium VT1 + 10% foetal calf serum) and vitrified at day 7 post-insemination either in a mixture of 25% glycerol--25% ethylene glycol or a mixture of 10% glycerol--40% ethylene glycol. In the first mixture 67% (n = 283) of blastocysts were re-expanded after 72 h of culture and 53% were hatched while in the second one (n = 65) only 5% survived.

[Assessment of the quality of life in the surgery of cancer of the esophagus: critical review of the literature].

The surgery of the oesophageal carcinoma is subjected today to a renewed interest. In the objective to draw recommendations for the clinicians wishing to include quality of life measures in clinical trials, it seemed pertinent to us to critically review existing studies. The review of the literature, presented here, is based on a bibliographic research using Medline database (January 1986-December 1996).

Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia: a study of the validity of a French-language version in a population of schizophrenic patients.

The Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) is a nine-item structured interview scale developed by Addington et al. to assess depression in schizophrenics. This paper describes the testing of the reliability and validity of the French version of the CDSS in a population of 70 schizophrenic patients.

[Risk factors for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Review of the literature 1990-1995].

The steady increase in the prevalence of post-menopausal osteoporosis and the associated rise in mortality make this disease a serious threat to public health. Further research and a consequently greater understanding of the risk factors of this disease should make it possible for preventative strategies to be put into operation. Although the literature relating to these risk factors is particularly abundant, the conclusions are often inconsistent if not contradictory.

Effects of co-culture and embryo number on the in vitro development of bovine embryos.

It is generally accepted that culturing embryos in groups or with somatic cells improves both the yield and quality of the blastocysts obtained. The aims of this study were 1) to compare the yield and quality of the embryos obtained after culture in several number conditions and in several culture systems and 2) to assess the effect of co-culture started at various stages of embryo development. Under cell-free culture conditions (modified synthetic oviduct fluid [mSOF] supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum [FCS] 48 h post insemination, the rate of Day 10 blastocysts was lower when embryos were cultured in small groups (1 to 6 per drop) than in large groups (4 versus 23% ; P < 0.

Some aspects of the cost of schizophrenia in France.

This study aimed to investigate how patients with schizophrenia were treated and to evaluate the cost of treatment in medical and social terms in France. The study was questionnaire-based. 6000 French hospital and community psychiatrists in the public and private sectors received the questionnaire.

Teratozoospermia influences fertilization rate in vitro but not embryo quality.

The purpose of this study was to retrospectively compare the overall results and embryo quality in 102 cycles of in-vitro fertilization (IVF)-embryo transfer using normal frozen donor semen (group D) and 94 cycles of IVF-embryo transfer using husbands' teratozoospermic sperm (group T). Donor semen was purchased from men with proven fertility and normal semen parameters. Teratozoospermia was defined in group T as the presence of <20% of normal spermatozoa in semen on the day of oocyte retrieval.

[Frontal lobe cognition disorders in 42 schizophrenic patients compared with 19 normal probands].

In schizophrenia, the hypothesis of frontal dysfunctions is sustained by various clinical, neuroradiological and neuropsychological observations. We have studied the degree of frontal cognitive impairment in 42 schizophrenic patients according to the DSM IV as compared to 19 normal subjects. Furthermore, the performances of the different tests were connected with the age, the duration of the disease, the severity of the illness (measured by the PANSS scale) and the incidence of the treatments.

[Psychometric properties of PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) in the French version in a sample of schizophrenic patients].

Our study focuses on psychometrics properties of the french version of the Positive and Negative Syndrom Scale (PANSS). 85 schizophrenic subjects, in accordance with DSM III-R criteria were included in this study. Our results allow us to discuss the construct validity and the reliability of this scale.

Effects of supplementation with fetal calf serum on development of bovine embryos in synthetic oviduct fluid medium.

The effects of fetal calf serum (FCS) or serum fractions on the development of bovine embryos was investigated. Bovine zygotes were produced in vitro and were cultured in a semi-defined culture medium (mSOF). In the first experiment, blastocysts produced in mSOF supplemented with 10% whole heat-treated FCS or desalted FCS appeared about 1 day earlier, their proportion was significantly (P < 0.