Asymmetric distributed trust.

Quorum systems are a key abstraction in distributed fault-tolerant computing for capturing trust assumptions. They can be found at the core of many algorithms for implementing reliable broadcasts, shared memory, consensus and other problems. This paper introduces that model subjective trust.

[Controlled release hydromorphone for visceral, somatic and neuropathic pain].

The aim of this multicentre, longitudinal investigation was to document the efficacy and tolerability profiles of controlled release hydromorphone in patients with heavy visceral, somatic or neuropathic pain under practical conditions. To this end, a prospective observational study was conducted in 57 centres in Switzerland, on a total of 196 patients. After an average of 43 days of treatment with controlled release hydromorphone, the intensity of momentary pain dropped by 46.

Return-to-work status 1 year after muscle reconditioning in chronic low back pain patients.

Objective: To evaluate return-to-work status 1 year after a physical deconditioning program in manual laborers with chronic low back pain.

Methods: In this open prospective study, a questionnaire was sent to 125 patients and their physicians (115 men and 10 women, mean age 40 years). Mean sick leave duration at program initiation was 4 months.

Good outcomes of Lyme arthritis in 24 patients in an endemic area of Switzerland.

Objective: To describe outcomes of treated Lyme arthritis in an endemic area of western Switzerland, where some of the first cases of Lyme disease outside the United States were reported.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively studied 24 patients (15 males and nine females, mean age 38.7 years) managed by rheumatologists between 1994 and 1999 for Borrelia burgdorferi arthritis manifesting as monoarthritis (n = 20), oligoarthritis (n = 3), or polyarthritis (n = 1).

[Outpatient management of common persistent low back pain].

Non specific low back pain is commonly a persistent or recurrent problem associated sometimes with impairment to return to work. In this article, we study some treatments strategies through a typical history.

[Confronted with mono-arthritis: which tests?].

A monoarthritis may correspond to a localized inflammatory process or to the onset of rheumatoid disease that may later on spread over few or several of the other joints. In this article the different diagnostic and therapeutic steps to approach monoarthritis are presented. One of the first investigations consists in an analysis of the synovial fluid.

[Stress fracture of the distal end of the tibia simulating ankle arthropathy].

The authors report four cases of stress fracture of the distal tibia simulating acute arthritis of the ankle. Two patients had a noninflammatory tibiotarsal joint effusion whose cause is discussed.

[The pitfalls of cruralgia].

Crural neuralgia can initially present as an involvement of the hip joint. We studied some clinical factors helpful for the diagnosis, which is sometimes difficult.

[Inaugural rachialgia in polyradiculoneuritis or meningoradiculitis].

Meningoradiculitis or polyradiculoneuritis can manifest itself as a back pain of inflammatory nature. Two case reports give us information about the characteristics of a back pain at the onset of a neurological disease.

[Duration of rehabilitation and fate of patients with cerebral infarction].

We studied 61 patients with a first stroke, admitted in our rehabilitation center. Functional evolution is usually good, 84% of patients are able to return at home, after a mean of 4.6 months of rehabilitation.

Cardiac sources of embolism and cerebral infarction--clinical consequences and vascular concomitants: the Lausanne Stroke Registry.

We studied clinical characteristics and coexisting causes of stroke in 305 patients admitted to a population-based primary care center with an initial ischemic stroke and a potential cardiac source of embolism (PCSE). Using systematic standardized cardiac, arterial, and cerebral investigations and the logistics of the prospective Lausanne Stroke Registry, we found that nonprogressive onset, hemianopia without hemiparesis or hemisensory disturbances, Wernicke's aphasia, ideomotor apraxia, involvement of specific territories (posterior division of middle cerebral artery, anterior cerebral artery, cerebellum, multiple territories), and a hemorrhagic component were associated with the presence of a PCSE, as compared with 1,006 initial ischemic stroke patients without PCSE. Although age and sex did not differ, the frequency of hypertension, diabetes, cigarette smoking, elevated blood cholesterol, and deep hemispheric or brainstem infarcts was higher in the patients without a PCSE.

[Cardiac sources of cerebral embolism and infarction: results of the Lausanne register for cerebrovascular accidents].

We studied 305 patients with a first stroke and a potential cardiac source of embolism (PCSE), on the basis of the Lausanne Stroke Registry. We have compared these patients with 1006 patients with stroke but without PCSE, admitted into the Registry during the same period, in order to assess the potential role of PCSE and the coexistence of other causes of stroke. Analysis of the various types of PCSE suggests that some neurologic characteristics are more frequent in patients with than without PCSE (infarcts of the posterior division of middle cerebral artery with Wernicke's aphasia and lateral hemianopia; maximal neurologic deficit at onset; haemorrhagic infarcts).