Analgesic effect of auricular acupuncture for cancer pain: a randomized, blinded, controlled trial.

Purpose: During the last 30 years, auricular acupuncture has been used as complementary treatment of cancer pain when analgesic drugs do not suffice. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of auricular acupuncture in decreasing pain intensity in cancer patients.

Patients And Methods: Ninety patients were randomly divided in three groups; one group received two courses of auricular acupuncture at points where an electrodermal signal had been detected, and two placebo groups received auricular acupuncture at points with no electrodermal signal (placebo points) and one with auricular seeds fixed at placebo points.

Lenograstim for the treatment of neutropenia in patients receiving ganciclovir for cytomegalovirus infection: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial in AIDS patients.

This phase IIa, randomised, single-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted to determine the dose of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (lenograstim) suitable for use in AIDS patients. The study was conducted at 27 European AIDS/HIV centres, and recruited 69 AIDS patients with an initial episode or relapse of cytomegalovirus infection (neurological site excluded) and an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) < or = 1.0 x 10(9)/L upon diagnosis or between days 1 and 12 of ganciclovir (GCV) treatment.

Costs and benefits of measures to prevent needlestick injuries in a university hospital.

Objective: To document the costs and the benefits (both in terms of costs averted and of injuries averted) of education sessions and replacement of phlebotomy devices to ensure that needle recapping did not take place.

Design: The percentage of recapped needles and the rate of needlestick injuries were evaluated in 1990 and 1997, from a survey of transparent rigid containers in the wards and at the bedside and from a prospective register of all injuries in the workplace. Costs were computed from the viewpoint of the hospital.

Acute, relapsing brain oedema with diffuse blood-brain barrier alteration and axonal damage in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

A 38-year-old homosexual male with AIDS suffered four neurological episodes including headaches, confusion, visual impairment, memory disturbances, and dysarthria which resolved spontaneously in a few days. He was admitted to hospital during a fifth episode. Neurological examination revealed a cerebellar syndrome.

Leishmania infantum: lack of parasite resistance to amphotericin B in a clinically resistant visceral leishmaniasis.

Amphotericin B (AmB) has been used as a second-line treatment of visceral leishmaniasis, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients. AmB median effective doses (ED50s) were determined on an isolate obtained before any treatment and on a second isolate obtained 4 years later from the same AmB-treated patient. ED50s were similar (0.

[Central nervous system mycoses in AIDS with the exception of cryptococcosis. Apropos of 3 anatomo-clinical cases].

Fungal infections of the central nervous system are uncommon in human immunodeficiency virus infected patients. The most frequently encountered is cerebromeningeal cryptococcosis. We report 3 clinicopathological cases of rarer fungal infections of the central nervous system in AIDS patients due to Candida and Aspergillus genders.

Quantitative competitive PCR with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients.

Of 121 AIDS patients, 12 (10%) had Toxoplasma gondii DNA detected by competitive PCR in their bronchoalveolar lavage samples. Quantitation of the PCR results showed a correlation between the parasite burden and the serum lactic dehydrogenase titer. Quantitative competitive PCR could be useful to assess the diagnosis and the severity of pulmonary toxoplasmosis.

Determination of the blood lactate:pyruvate ratio as a noninvasive test for the diagnosis of zidovudine myopathy.

Objective: To evaluate the use of the lactate: pyruvate ratio as a test for the detection of zidovudine myopathy.

Methods: Twenty consecutive human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with muscle involvement and 20 without muscle involvement were studied prospectively. Blood lactate and pyruvate levels and serum creatine kinase levels were tested, muscle involvement was assessed both clinically and electrophysiologically, and muscle biopsy was performed in patients with myopathy.

Acute varicella-zoster virus ventriculitis and meningo-myelo-radiculitis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

A 30-year-old AIDS patient with no history of cutaneous eruption, presented with rapidly progressive flaccid paraplegia, hypoesthesia, urinary retention, moderate psychomotor slowing and fever (39.8 degrees C), leading to death within 1 week. CD4 count was 290/mm3.