How to assess post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia by means of laser Doppler perfusion monitoring: application of a standardised protocol to patients with peripheral arterial obstructive disease.

The standardisation of manoeuvres to perform clinically discriminative microvascular flow reserve tests is still poorly developed, as well as the response analysis. The aim of this study was to establish a reproducible analysis method for the post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia (PORH) test measured using laser Doppler perfusion monitoring (LDPM). LDPM data were measured from the PORH response of 24 Fontaine class II-III peripheral atherosclerotic/arterial obstructive disease (PAOD) patients and 30 healthy subjects.

[Antonin Jean Desormeaux].

Antonin Jean Desormeaux was the first to regularly perform optical examination of the male urethra. He advanced the knowledge of urethral disease and the treatment of urethral strictures and paved the way for the development of endoscopy.

Determinants of physicians' decisions to specialize.

In this paper, we study physician specialty decisions using several unique data sets which include information on almost all Canadian physicians who practised in Canada between 1989 and 1998. Unlike previous studies, we use a truly exogenous measure of potential income across general and specialty medicine to estimate the effect of income on physicians' specialty choices. Furthermore, our estimation procedure allows us to purge the income-effect estimates of non-pecuniary specialty attributes which may be correlated with higher paying specialties.

Automated SNP detection in expressed sequence tags: statistical considerations and application to maritime pine sequences.

We developed an automated pipeline for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in expressed sequence tag (EST) data sets, by combining three DNA sequence analysis programs: Phred, Phrap and PolyBayes. This application requires access to the individual electrophoregram traces. First, a reference set of 65 SNPs was obtained from the sequencing of 30 gametes in 13 maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.

Remifentanil induces systemic arterial vasodilation in humans with a total artificial heart.

Background: To assess intrinsic vascular effects of remifentanil, increased concentrations were infused in critically ill patients with a total artificial heart.

Methods: In the early postoperative period after implantation of a total artificial heart, nine ventilated patients requiring short general anesthesia were included in this study. After anesthesia was induced with 0.

Incidence and prognosis of cancer associated with bilateral venous thrombosis: a prospective study of 103 patients.

Background: A strong association between bilateral deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and cancer had been found in one retrospective study. To confirm this finding, consecutive patients with an objective diagnosis of bilateral DVT were followed over 12 months.

Patients And Methods: One-hundred and three patients, hospitalized for bilateral DVT, were included in the study.

[The lower limb of elderly patients (venous and arterial diseases)].

Elderly patients frequently suffer from vascular pathologies of the leg. In these more fragile patients, diagnostic work-up must cause as little trauma as possible. The clinical status and morphological appearance of the vessels make vascular investigations sometimes difficult to perform in the elderly.

Bridge to transplantation with the Jarvik-7 (CardioWest) total artificial heart: a single-center 15-year experience.

Background: At our institution, the total artificial heart (TAH) Jarvik-7 (CardioWest) has been used since 1986 as a bridge to transplantation for the most severely ill patients with terminal congestive heart failure.

Methods: Between 1986 and 2001, 127 patients (108 males, mean age 38 +/- 13) were bridged to transplantation with the Jarvik-7 TAH. All were in terminal biventricular failure despite high-dose inotropic support.

[Totally implantable completely electric artificial heart: "AbioCor"].

The fully implantable complete electric artificial heart "AbioCor" is the ultimate stage in the 3rd generation assistance systems. It has been authorized for clinical use since last year by the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.

Circulatory support for fulminant myocarditis: consideration for implantation, weaning and explantation.

Objective: Fulminant myocarditis (FM) is an uncommon but life-threatening condition for which a mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device can be life-saving. However, device selection, weaning and explantation procedures remain poorly defined.

Methods: Four patients were bridged to recovery using the Thoratec biventricular support device.

[Identification of risk factors for allogenic transfusion in cardiac surgery from an observational study].

Objective: To determine perioperative variables for predicting allogenic transfusion in adult cardiac surgery.

Study Design: Prospective study.

Patients: We included 335 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery between February and April 2001.

Target-controlled infusion of propofol and remifentanil in cardiac anaesthesia: influence of age on predicted effect-site concentrations.

Background: Propofol-anaesthesia administrated via target-controlled infusion (TCI) has been proposed for cardiac surgery. Age-related changes in pharmacology explain why propofol dose requirement is reduced in elderly patients. However, the Marsh pharmacokinetic model incorporated in the Diprifusor propofol device does not take age into account as a covariable.

Bone mineral decrease in the leg with unilateral chronic occlusive arterial disease.

Objective: The links between osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis have been established by numerous epidemiological studies. Could arteriosclerosis induce bone mineral loss via ischemia or other pathological process? We carried out a comparative study of bone mineral density in both legs of patients with unilateral arterial disease of the lower limbs.

Methods: We studied 25 patients, 22 men and 3 women, whose mean age was 62.

Long-term ventilation in restrictive ventilatory disorders.

Long-term ventilation (LTV) had its beginning with restrictive ventilatory disorders. Today, LTV is predominately represented by noninvasive ventilation (NIV). Invasive ventilation was used for a long time but is now usually restricted for selected patients in which NIV fails.

Utilisation and safety of low molecular weight heparins: prospective observational study in medical inpatients.

Aims: Low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) are widely used as curative or preventive treatments of thromboembolic diseases. The aim of our study was to: investigate the pattern of prescription of LMWHs in different departments of French teaching hospitals; andestimate the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) induced by LMWHs and associated risk factors for the occurrence of bleeding events.

Methods: This prospective study was performed in two teaching hospitals in Toulouse (south-western France) in March 1999 in different medical wards.

[Buerger's disease or thromboangiitis obliterans].

The Buerger's disease or thromboangiitis obliterants (TAO) is a non atheromatous inflammatory disease which alters medium and small-sized arteries and veins. It can be found world-wide, but it is more frequent in Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia. Young men and smokers are the most affected.

[End-stage heart failure: role of various circulation assistance techniques].

There are currently 4 main types of cardiac assist devices: centrifugal pumps, paracorporeal pneumatic assist devices, implantable ventricular assist devices, total artificial heart. Although the efficacy of centrifugal pumps remains limited, that of the other 3 types of assist devices has now been clearly demonstrated. The choice between these various devices depends on the severity of heart failure at the time of implantation, the univentricular or biventricular disease, the potential for recovery, the patient's morphology and obviously the device or devices available to the team concerned.

Infrastructure, funding and follow-up in a programme of noninvasive ventilation.

Originating from centres charged with the care of patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been used increasingly in chronic and acute respiratory failure during the last decade. Despite a considerable number of series and randomised studies advocating access to NIV for units that treat acute or chronic ventilatory failure, the number of units and the proportion of total ventilatory support remains poor. This is due to lack of education, as many units treat only a few patients per year.

[Oral anticoagulant treatment: practical aspects and significance of anticoagulant clinics].

Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) decrease the synthesis of the active forms of four coagulation factors (factors II, VII, IX, X) and three inhibitors (proteins C, S, Z). There are VKA having a short half life (Sintrom, Pindione) and VKA having a long half life (Apegmone, Previscan, Coumadine). The treatment is monitored by the INR which in the majority of the indications must range between two and three.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy for palmar hyperhidrosis: results in 102 cases.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the immediate and long-term outcome of video-assisted thoracoscopic sympathectomy for idiopathic palmar hyperhidrosis. Between January 1996 and December 2000, a total of 67 patients underwent 102 sympathectomy procedures with excision of the sympathetic chain between the second and fourth sympathetic ganglion. The mean duration of hospitalization was 1.

[Validation of a French translation of the Edinburgh claudication questionnaire among general practitioners' patients].

Objectives: Intermittent claudication is one of the clinical symptoms of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The presence of PAD is a high risk marker of cardiac events and stroke. The PAD screening can be enhanced by the use of questionnaires.