Adjusted trajectory of medication exposure taking into account the periodicity of dispensations and the number of dispensed packs and comparative analysis on EFEMERIS database.

We presented an adjustment method for the calculation of medication exposure trajectories based on the number of dispensed packs and the type of dispensations (occasional or regular). A comparative study based on the EFEMERIS data was carried out using three different scenarios of trajectory calculation depending on whether or not the number of packs and the periodicity of medication dispensations were taken into account. The impact of the scenario was highlighted using global indicators on the number of Define-Daily Dose (DDD) on all women exposed; the study of changes in individual trajectories from one scenario to another was carried out; we also compared the results of a clustering into four groups.

Relationships between left ventricular mass and QRS duration in diverse types of left ventricular hypertrophy.

Aims: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) may be associated with very narrow QRS, while left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) may increase QRS duration. We investigated the relationships between QRS duration and LV mass (LVM) in subtypes of abnormal LV wall thickness.

Methods And Results: Automated measurement of LVM on MRI was correlated to automated measurement of QRS duration on ECG in HCM, left ventricular non compaction (LVNC), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and controls with healthy hearts.

Interest of the trajectory method for the evaluation of outcomes after in utero drug exposure: example of anxiolytics and hypnotics.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the potential benefit to take into account duration and intensity of drug exposure using the recently published method based on individual drug trajectories. This approach was used to define profiles of exposure to anxiolytics/hypnotics during pregnancy and to evaluate the potential effect on newborn health.

Methods: The study was performed in EFEMERIS database (54 918 mother-children pairs).

Prevalence of inherited ichthyosis in France: a study using capture-recapture method.

Background: Inherited ichthyoses represent a group of rare skin disorders characterized by scaling, hyperkeratosis and inconstant erythema, involving most of the tegument. Epidemiology remains poorly described. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of inherited ichthyosis (excluding very mild forms) and its different clinical forms in France.

Markov modelling of changes in HIV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses with time in untreated HIV-1 infected patients.

HIV-specific cytotoxic CD8(+) T-lymphocytes (CTL) appear to be the cornerstone of the immune response to HIV infection. Recent studies show that CTL activity reflects patients' anti-HIV immune status and slows disease progression. However, the dynamics of the diversity of this response also appears as a key parameter for immune control but the dynamics of this diversity is largely undocumented.

Correlation between breadth of memory HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells, viral load and disease progression in HIV infection.

Background: Memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) should play a key role in controlling HIV infection. The correlations between the breadth and specificities of memory CTL and virus production and disease progression are still unknown, but are of major importance for vaccine strategies.

Methods And Design: One-hundred and forty-eight chronically-infected patients, enrolled before the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy, were followed-up prospectively over 5 years.

Interleukin-2 accelerates CD4 cell reconstitution in HIV-infected patients with severe immunosuppression despite highly active antiretroviral therapy: the ILSTIM study--ANRS 082.

Background: Despite effective highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), some patients infected with HIV have persistently low CD4 cell counts with risk of HIV disease progression. The addition of interleukin-2, a cytokine that stimulates CD4 T lymphocyte helper cells, may benefit patients with discordant responses.

Methods: A total of 72 HIV-infected patients with CD4 cell counts of 25-200 x 10(6) cells/l (median 145) and plasma HIV RNA < 1000 copies/ml were randomized in a multicentre study to receive open-label 4.

Influence of renal biomarker variability on the design and interpretation of occupational or environmental studies.

Objectives: To quantify and identify sources of within- and between-subject variability of microalbumin, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and alanine aminopeptidase (AAP), three biomarkers used for early detection of renal injury, and to assess the consequences of this variability for the design and power of epidemiological studies.

Methods: Urinary excretion of microalbumin, NAG, AAP and creatinine as well as blood pressure (BP) were measured three times over a 2-year period among 142 healthy male workers. To minimise physiopathological and analytical sources of variation, standardised methods were used for urine collection and assays, and severe exclusion criteria were applied.

Timing of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission from mother to child: bayesian estimation using a mixture.

The timing of mother-to-child HIV transmission is not directly observable but influences the infected child's viral and immune status in the neonatal period. A hierarchical model was developed in a Bayesian framework to 'back-calculate' the timing of HIV-1 transmission from mother to child from the virological and immunological kinetics in the infected infant. Joint evolution of viral markers and immune response was modelled as a continuous time Markov process.

[Early markers of nephrotoxicity: variation factors and reproducibility].

Epidemiological validity of early markers of nephrotoxicity currently used in occupational epidemiology has been poorly investigated. The aim of this study was to identify variation factors of these markers, to quantify their intra- and inter-individual variability and to evaluate the consequences of these results on study size and power. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 1991 in a rotogravure plant including 168 male subjects (92 exposed to toluene and 76 controls).