Acceptability of an acupuncture intervention for geriatric chronic pain: an open pilot study.

Objective: This study investigated the acceptability and effectiveness of acupuncture for persistent musculoskeletal pain in the elderly and assessed the conditions for a future controlled trial.

Methods: A total of 60 patients, hospitalized in a geriatric hospital were enrolled. The intervention consisted of eight acupuncture sessions.

[The time of dying and the time of hospital: end of life patients in emergency departments].

A significant number of seriously ill patients die in French emergency departments. A qualitative study of the care of end of life patients in two emergency departments in teaching hospitals was conducted to analyze the work of practitioners. Organizational and funding constraints exert a significant influence on the quality of care, which in some cases may become inconsistent and cause tensions among staff.

Palliative care in emergency departments: an impossible challenge?

The aim of this study was to investigate the care practices surrounding end-of-life patients and the scope for providing palliative care in two emergency department short-stay units. Two qualitative methods of investigation were used: direct ethnographic-type observation and semi-directed group interviews. The results highlight the fact that end-of-life situations inflect the practices of care and give rise to adjustments in the organization of work.

Subpopulations at increased risk of adverse health outcomes from air pollution.

Epidemiological research to identify subpopulations with enhanced susceptibility to air pollution is still at an early stage. From the available studies, there is evidence that both "endogenous" and "exogenous" factors contribute to individual susceptibility. Females and the elderly are at an increased risk of pollution-related diseases.

Early life factors related to clinical manifestations of atopic disease but not to skin-prick test positivity in young children.

The relative influence of early life events in the development of IgE-mediated allergy is still undetermined. We investigated early life factors in relation to skin-prick test positivity (SPT) and clinical manifestations of atopic disease in a population-based sample of 201 Italian children (3 months-5 years), after considering their interactions with known determinants of allergy. Among them, 143 children had SPT performed to common allergens.