Characterisation of Aqueous Ultra-high Homeopathic Potencies: Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis.

Background And Objectives:  Over the past decade, research using various methods has claimed the material nature, including nanoparticles (NPs), of high homeopathic potencies. The current study aims to verify these findings using NP tracking analysis (NTA).

Methods:  Six independent serial dilutions of commonly used homeopathic medicines-either soluble (, , ) or insoluble (, , )-were prepared according to European Pharmacopoeia standards.

Could the Olfactory System Be a Target for Homeopathic Remedies as Nanomedicines?

Homeopathic remedies (HRs) contain odorant molecules such as flavonoids or terpenes and can lose their efficiency in presence of some competitive odors. Such similarities, along with extreme sensitivity of the olfactory system, widespread presence of olfactory receptors over all organic tissues (where they have metabolic roles besides perception of odors), and potential direct access to the brain through olfactory nerves (ONs) and trigeminal nerves, may suggest the olfactory system as target for HRs. Recent works highlighted that HRs exist in a dual form, that is, a still molecular form at low dilution and a nanoparticulate form at high dilution, and that remnants of source remedy persist in extremely high dilutions.

Gas nanobubbles and aqueous nanostructures: the crucial role of dynamization.

Nanobubbles (NBs) have been a subject of intensive research over the past decade. Their peculiar characteristics, including extremely low buoyancy, longevity, enhanced solubility of oxygen in water, zeta potentials and burst during collapse, have led to many applications in the industrial, biological and medical fields. NBs may form spontaneously from dissolved gas but the process is greatly enhanced by gas supersaturation and mechanical actions such as dynamization.

Nanosized solvent superstructures in ultramolecular aqueous dilutions: twenty years' research using water proton NMR relaxation.

Background: proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation times T1, T2, T1/T2 are sensitive to motion and organization of water molecules. Especially, increase in T1/T2 reflects a higher degree of structuring. My purpose was to look at physical changes in water in ultrahigh aqueous dilutions.

[Putting into place devices for prevention of falls at the hospital center at Haguenau].

Falls of patients represent the most frequent reported incidents in our 541-bed urban public hospital, reaching more than 200 occurrences per year.This prompted a fall-prevention program consisting of several steps: i) descriptive analysis of 295 consecutive falls in order to look at the factors commonly supposed to be associated with falls, among physical, psychic and pathological characteristics of patients, medication, circumstances or environmental hazards, ii) case-control study on 10 medicine and surgery wards of high risk (178 patients), designed to identify which factors are discriminant to predict the falls, iii) proposal of a fall-risk assessment score to be calculated at the admission of the patient, iv) if the risk is confirmed, implementation of general and specific actions identified by the components of the score. The score is based on a 15-point scale including age older than 65 years, history of previous falls, weakness or insufficient weight, impaired mobility or altered feet state, psychic disorders (depression-agitation-risky behavior), neuro-psychiatric diseases (CVA-confusion-dementia), fever or infection, polypharmacy.

Stimulated salivary pertechnetate clearance revisited: correlation with dynamic scintigraphic indices in Sicca syndrome.

Purpose: The stimulated salivary clearance of Tc-99m pertechnetate (SSCP) introduced in 1985 by Blue and Jackson is revisited here in patients with known or possible salivary disorders and correlated with most commonly cited and up-to-date quantitative indices obtained from standard dynamic salivary scintigraphy.

Methods: An SSCP test was performed after dynamic salivary scintigraphy in 19 patients with oral or ocular dryness, among whom 7 had Sjögren's syndrome. Many scintigraphic indices were calculated: salivary to background ratio (S/B[t]), background-corrected uptake U[t]), maximal uptake (Umax), cumulative gland uptake (CGU), initial slope of the uptake curve (IS), stimulated excretion velocity (SEV), stimulated excretion fraction (SEF), and excreted activity (EA).

The pitfalls of planar three-phase bone scintigraphy in nontraumatic hip avascular osteonecrosis.

Purpose: This study documented the previously reported lower sensitivity of routine planar three-phase bone scintigraphy (BS) performed using a high-resolution parallel-hole collimator compared with MRI to diagnose nontraumatic avascular necrosis of the hip (AVN).

Methods: Six observers reviewed 143 bone scintigrams obtained in patients with nontraumatic hip pain (n = 120) or a control group (n = 23). All patients had a standard radiograph and MRI within 2 months of the BS.

Surface rendering of three-dimensional myocardial SPECT: clinical usefulness compared with bull's-eye and conventional tomograms.

Background: A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the clinical usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) surface-shaded maps for routine practice of myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) by comparison with 2D slices and 2D bull's-eye qualitative analysis.

Methods And Results: Angiograms were performed on 201 consecutive patients, 155 with coronary artery disease (CAD) and 46 with no significant CAD. One-day 201TI stress/rest-reinjection protocol was performed in 110 patients, and 1-day 99mTc-sestamibi or tetrofosmin stress/rest protocol was performed in 91.

Increase in radionuclide left ventricular ejection fraction after cardioversion of chronic atrial fibrillation in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

To assess the potential improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction after cardioversion of chronic atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, we studied prospectively 17 patients, aged 58 +/- 6 years, by radionuclide angiocardiography at rest. Left ventricular ejection fraction was determined before treatment and at a mean delay of 4.7 months after cardioversion.

[Congestive heart failure with intact systolic function].

A retrospective study was undertaken of the cases of patients admitted for congestive cardiac failure over a 4 year period, and investigated by radionuclide angiography to determine the prevalence of cardiac failure with normal left ventricular systolic function, to document the underlying mechanisms of this condition and to assess whether the clinical data could predict the presence or absence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction. After excluding patients with significant valvular disease, severe renal failure, or myocardial infarction in the previous 2 months, the study population comprised 152 patients divided into 2 groups: Group I (N = 112) with abnormal systolic function (radionuclide ejection fraction less than 45%) and Group II (N = 40) with normal systolic function (radionuclide ejection fraction greater than or equal to 45%). The clinical, echocardiographic and radionuclide angiographic data was analysed (global ejection fraction in both groups and peak filling rate in Group II).

Alterations in left ventricular diastolic function in chronic ischemic heart failure. Assessment by radionuclide angiography.

Using radionuclide angiography at rest, we studied several parameters of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function in 60 patients divided into three groups, a control group (G1) of 15 patients and two groups of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and previous anterior wall myocardial infarction but without aneurysm or dyskinetic wall motion, a second group (G2) of 23 patients with no history of heart failure, and a third group (G3) of 22 patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II or III of heart failure. Ejection fraction, peak emptying, and peak filling rates, in addition to times to reach peak rates, were evaluated after constructing a global time-activity curve and its first time derivative. In addition, we computed the first time-derivative curves for each image pixel and obtained functional images (MIN/MAX images) representing the distribution of times to peak emptying or filling rates Using a left ventricular region of interest, time histograms were generated, and indexes of dispersion of times to peak rates, defined as the full width at half maximum of the histograms, were obtained.

[Local intravenous treatment of algodystrophy of the hand: buflomedil versus guanethidine, long term follow-up].

This report compares the results obtained after treatment of reflex sympathetic dystrophies (algodystrophies) of the hand by pharmacological segmental blocks with buflomedil (51 cases) versus guanethidine (30 cases). The results were similar for all the different stages of algodystrophies treated: 65% satisfactory to excellent results with buflomedil, versus 63% with guanethidine. The sooner the algodystrophy is treated after its onset, the better the results.

[Monoclonal anti-AFP immunoscintigraphy of human hepatocellular carcinoma. Influence of biological, anatomical and vascular factors].

The actual interest of immunoscintigraphy for the detection of alphafetoprotein-producing liver tumors was investigated by both visual examination and quantitative analysis in 61 patients with either hepatocellular carcinoma (39 patients, group I), secondary liver cancer (11 patients, group II), or non tumoral liver (9 cirrhosis, 2 healthy liver, group III): All patients received injections of 123I-anti-alphafoetoprotein monoclonal antibodies and planar scans were performed after 28 hours. Only 18 out of 39 hepatocellular carcinoma-bearing patients had a positive scan (46 p. 100).

[Diminution of thyroid stimulating hormone level but normal levels of thyroid hormones. Demonstration of occult hyperthyroidism].

The finding of a low basal concentration of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in the absence of high thyroid hormone levels is difficult to understand. In order to elucidate the meaning of such a dissociation, 22 patients without history of thyroid disease and showing clinical signs compatible with thyrotoxicosis were explored by the thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) test, by thyroid radioisotope scanning and, in case of high nodular uptake, by the triiodothyronine suppression test. A specific surgical, isotopic or medical treatment was instituted in the 17 patients who had a high nodular uptake unsupressible by triiodothyronine.

[Modifications in the contraction and relaxation of the left ventricle in chronic ischemic cardiopathies. Study using equilibrium angio-scintigraphy].

Our purpose was to confirm that abnormalities of left ventricular filling, which are associated with abnormalities of contraction, play an important part in the genesis of cardiac failure in chronic ischaemic heart disease. We used equilibrium radionuclide angiography of the cardiac cavities to study the behaviour of the left ventricle during contraction and relaxation in three groups of patients: a control group of 15 patients without cardiac disease (G2), and a group of 28 patients with chronic ischaemic heart disease complicated by cardiac failure (G3). From the overall activity-time curves and their first derivatives were calculated the ejection fraction, the peak ejection rate and the peak filling rate, as well as the time in the cardiac cycle when these appeared, the reference point in time being the end-diastole.

Three-phase bone scanning in reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the hand.

Three-phase bone scanning was performed in 181 patients suffering from reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) of the hand. Four quantitative parameters were defined as follows: (a) hemovelocity and (b) blood pool (determined from the Fourier processing of angiographic data); (c) early (3-5 min) and (d) delayed (2-3 hr) bone fixation. Three significant stages of RSD were demonstrated scintigraphically.

Is anti-alphafetoprotein immunoscintigraphy a promising approach for the diagnosis of hepatoma? Implications of a quantitative study in 41 patients.

The actual interest of immunoscintigraphy for the detection of liver tumours was investigated by both visual examination and quantitative analysis in 41 patients with hepatoma (HCC, 21 cases, 13 AFP-secreting), other primary or secondary liver cancer (9 cases), testicular cancer (2 cases) and cancer free cirrhosis (9 cases). All patients were injected with 123I-anti-alphafetoprotein (AFP) monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and scans were performed after 28 +/- 2 h. In the hepatoma-bearing patients, 11 positive anti AFP scans were found; 9 of them had an enhanced serum; besides, 3 non HCC tumours were also detected.

[Coronarography-scintigraphy comparison of the effects of trinitrin-spray in 15 patients with coronary disease].

15 patients with coronary disease underwent a dual investigation, angiographic and scintigraphic, first without treatment and after administration of 0.8 mg of sub-lingual trinitrin-spray. The radiocinema angiography enables to explore variations of the coronary and stenosic diameter, the duration of the opacification (inverse of circulatory velocity) and the tonality of the network.

[Developmental profile of scintigraphic parameters within 3 weeks following primary myocardial infarction without any attempt at revascularization].

30 patients with a transmural primary myocardial infarction conventionally treated, are explored by myocardial scintigraphy using thallium 201, and calculation of a lesional score (L.S) and angio-scintigraphy on the first day (D1) and at three weeks (D21). The results of these examinations are compared to those of coronography at D21.

[A multidisciplinary approach to algodystrophy of the hand].

A multidisciplinary approach for the management of reflex sympathetic dystrophy at SOS Main of Strasbourg has been progressively adopted due to the severe functional sequelae of this disease. The TC99 bone scan in three phases has allowed us after a one week duration of the symptoms to make an early diagnosis and to start dynamic splinting in flexion. Our study compares two groups of patients, one with an early treatment and the other with delayed treatment.

[Value of global ejection fractions based on the presence or absence of left ventricular dyskinesia. A comparison between contrast angiography and angioscintigraphy].

The total ejection fraction of the left ventricle is studied in 37 patients, most of them with coronary disease, according to two methods: contrast angiography in a single plane and angioscintigraphy (first passage and balanced), in order to compare the results according to the presence or the absence of dyskinesias. The two methods are performed in succession according to the usual views. The population is divided in two sub-groups according to the presence (17 patients) or the absence (20 patients) of segmental abnormalities.

Three phase bone scanning as an aid to early diagnosis in reflex sympathetic dystrophy of the hand. A study of eighty-nine cases.

In reflex sympathetic dystrophy, three phase radionuclide bone scanning with Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate is preferred. The first phase corresponds to the dynamic behavior of the tracer. After appropriate data processing (by Fourier's analysis), three functional images may be obtained.