[Bioethics in Morocco: An example of research on schizophrenia and the history of the Casablanca biomedical research ethics committee].

The ethics committee for biomedical research of Casablanca (CERBC) was born within the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Casablanca (FMPC) in Morocco in 1989, following the impetus of some teachers who were aware, from their specialties and their concerns, to the protection of people who took part in clinical trials. From the start, the committee faced difficulties in giving itself regulatory legitimacy. Subsequently, it was necessary to make a major educational and communication effort with the medical staff in order to explain the notions of ethics and bioethics, which were unknown at the time to most of the doctors at the University Hospital.

[Generic drugs in morocco: survey of physicians].

Objective: To assess the knowledge of physicians about generic drugs and their prescribing habits, with a view to making proposals for developing the use of generic drug in Morocco.

Methods: Prospective study conducted among 100 physicians working in different sectors, using a questionnaire comprising 14 questions. The points raised in this questionnaire focused on assessing the knowledge of physicians about generic drugs, their prescribing habits, and their point of view towards the rights of substitution.

Daytime sleepiness during Ramadan intermittent fasting: polysomnographic and quantitative waking EEG study.

During the lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and smoking from sunrise to sunset. We reported previously that Ramadan provokes a shortening in nocturnal total sleep time by 40 min, an increase in sleep latency, and a decrease in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep duration during Ramadan. During the same study, the effects of Ramadan intermittent fasting on daytime sleepiness were also investigated in eight healthy young male subjects using a quantitative waking electroencephalograph (EEG) analysis following the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) procedure.

Relapses in bipolar patients: changes in social rhythm?

The Ramadan month represents a valuable opportunity to test the hypothesis that the course of the illness of bipolar patients can be disrupted by the change in social rhythm which usually occurs during this month. The objectives of this study were to follow up the mood state and blood lithium level of fasting Muslim bipolar patients who had been on lithium therapy for at least 3 months, and were clinically stable before being included in the study. Twenty bipolar patients were enrolled during the month of Ramadan in 1997.