[Local versus locoregional anesthesia in transfemoral TAVI procedures].

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become the treatment of choice for the most fragile patients with severe aortic stenosis. The transfemoral route is preferred as the simplest and safest. The aim of our study was to compare the efficacy, tolerance and safety of local vs.

Practical application of the French two-score heart allocation scheme: Insights from a high-volume heart transplantation centre.

Background: In 2018, a cardiac allocation scheme based on an individual score considering the risk of death both on the waitlist and after heart transplantation was implemented in France.

Aims: To analyse the practical application of the pre- and post-transplant risk score in a French high-volume heart transplantation centre.

Methods: All consecutive adult patients listed for a first non-combined heart transplantation between 02 January 2018 and 30 June 2022 at our centre were included.

Therapeutic prevention of COVID-19 in elderly: a case-control study.

COVID-19 is a particularly aggressive disease for the elderly as 86% of deaths related to COVID-19 occur in people over 65 years of age. Despite the urgent need for a preventive treatment, there are currently no serious leads, other than the vaccination. The aim of this retrospective case-control study is to find a pharmacological preventive treatment of COVID-19 in elderly patients.

Parkinsonian gait in elderly people: Significance of the threshold value of two and more falls per year.

Objectives: Parkinsonism in the elderly presents a major risk factor for recurrent falls (2 and more falls per year), which is associated with increased morbidity. The main objective was to investigate explanatory variables relating to the risk of being recurrent fallers (RF) in persons with parkinsonian gait.

Methods: Seventy-nine among 172 eligible persons were enrolled in this prospective study, the findings of which were analyzed at 12 months.

[Effectiveness of "contact" precautions to prevent the spread of vancomycin resistant enterococci in a long-term care facility].

Introduction: Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are major nosocomial pathogens in many countries. VRE can spread rapidly, mostly by cross-transmission through hands of healthcare workers, leading to outbreaks. Moreover, VRE have the possibility to transfer vancomycin resistance genes to other Gram-positive organisms.

Developmental effects on odor learning and memory in children.

The child version of the California Odor Learning Test (COLT) was designed to assess cognitive functioning in impaired and healthy children. The COLT's rationale was based on two assumptions. First, measures of cognitive functioning are a good index of severity or extent of brain damage if compared between normal and clinical populations.

Role of verbal encoding in short- and long-term odor recognition.

The role of verbal encoding in odor recognition memory was investigated using odors of low familiarity to subjects before the experiment began. The experimental procedure included two phases--odor learning (first phase) and odor memory testing (second phase)--separated by a delay of 7 days. Five experimental conditions were established: three conditions of odor learning with names (labeling conditions), one condition of odor learning without names (sensory familiarization), and one condition of no learning prior to testing (control conditions).

Odor discrimination and recognition memory as a function of familiarization.

The role of olfactory familiarization in short-term recognition of odors was investigated. Subjects were asked to make qualitative similarity judgments regarding either identical or dissimilar odors delivered in pairs. Except for control groups, subjects got familiarized with either the first (target) or the second (distractor) or both odors from a pair.

Very short term recognition memory for odors.

An investigation of very short term olfactory recognition memory was made with odors of low familiarity to subjects. The experimental procedure was that currently used to make qualitative similarity judgments on odors delivered in paired succession. Subjects made similarity judgments in a yes/no recognition paradigm on odors that were either identical or different.

[Multicenter study of commercial kits for the determination of human IgG subclasses, using the ELISA technique].

We evaluated two commercially available sandwich type Elisa procedures for the measurement of IgG subclasses in human serum. Assay kits from The Binding Site and the Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service were tested in six laboratories. The performance of spectrophotometers, pipettes and dilutors were assessed at each center.