Utilisation and safety of low molecular weight heparins: prospective observational study in medical inpatients.

Aims: Low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) are widely used as curative or preventive treatments of thromboembolic diseases. The aim of our study was to: investigate the pattern of prescription of LMWHs in different departments of French teaching hospitals; andestimate the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by LMWHs and associated risk factors for the occurrence of bleeding events.

Methods: This prospective study was performed in two teaching hospitals in Toulouse (south-western France) in March 1999 in different medical wards.

[Falls, frailty and osteoporosis in the elderly: a public health problem].

Introduction: Elderly people can be subdivided into three groups: healthy elderly persons (65-70% of the population), elderly subjects with diseases (about 5%) and frail old people. Frailty represents "age-related physiologic vulnerability resulting from impaired homeotasic stock and a reduced capacity of the organism to withstand stress". It could lead elderly subjects to pathological, barely reversible, ageing.

Sarcoma after radiation therapy: retrospective multiinstitutional study of 80 histologically confirmed cases. Radiation Therapist and Pathologist Groups of the Fédération Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre le Cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the best strategy for treatment of sarcoma that occurs after radiation therapy.

Materials And Methods: Records were retrospectively reviewed for 80 patients with a confirmed histologic diagnosis of sarcoma that occurred after radiation therapy performed during 1975-1995. The patients were treated for breast cancer (n = 33, 42%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 9, 11%), cervical cancer (n = 9, 11%), benign lesions (n = 4, 5%), or other tumors (n = 25, 31%).

[Dietary intake recommended for elderly persons].

Recommendations for dietary intake in elderly persons must account for wide interindividual variation. We propose different recommendations for: generally self sufficient elderly persons in good health. The recommended dietary intakes are very similar to those for adults, with a few exceptions (reduced calorie intake, the importance of protein and certain vitamins or minerals: vitamins B6, D, C, calcium, zinc .

Influence of aging on the activity of the hemostatic system: prothrombin fragment 1+2, thrombin-antithrombin III complexes and D-dimers in 80 healthy subjects with age ranging from 20 to 94 years.

To determine the influence of aging on the activity of the hemostatic system, we measured the plasma concentration of prothrombin fragments 1+2 (F 1+2), thrombin-antithrombin III complexes (TAT) and fibrin degradation fragments D-dimers (D-D) in 80 healthy subjects with age ranging between 20 and 94 years. All subjects were free of acute or chronic diseases. The three markers (semi-log scale) were positively correlated with age (r greater than 0.