[Estimating demand for anti-Chagas drugs: a contribution for access in Latin America].

Objective: Describe a tool to estimate demand for benznidazole and nifurtimox to treat Chagas disease, and report on its implementation in a group of Latin American countries.

Methods: The project was carried out in the following stages: 1) development of a tool to estimate demand, and definition of the evaluation and decision variables to estimate demand 2) data collection via a questionnaire completed by representatives of control programs, complemented with data from the literature; 3) presentation of the tool, followed by validation, and adaptation by representatives of the control programs in order to plan drug procurement for 2012 and 2013; and 4) further analysis of the obtained data, especially regarding benznidazole, and comparison of country estimates.

Results: Fourteen endemic countries of Latin America took part in the third stage, and a consolidated estimate was made.

[Continuous access to healthcare, a bond of trust with the patient].

Working with vulnerable patients who are in precarious situations or sometimes do not speak French raises questions about the caregiver's role. A "Permanence d'Accès aux Soins de Santé" (Pass--Continuous Access to Healthcare) requires patient involvement in their healthcare, communicating honestly and taking into account the various difficulties they are faced with every day, using a holistic approach. A physician and two nurses share their points of view and their way of doing things to ensure that their patients find their unique place as the subject of their healthcare.

Longitudinal study assessing the return of chloroquine susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum in isolates from travellers returning from West and Central Africa, 2000-2011.

Background: Chloroquine (CQ) was the main malaria therapy worldwide from the 1940s until the 1990s. Following the emergence of CQ-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, most African countries discontinued the use of CQ, and now promote artemisinin-based combination therapy as the first-line treatment. This change was generally initiated during the last decade in West and Central Africa.

Efficacy and tolerability of salmeterol/fluticasone propionate versus montelukast in childhood asthma: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group study.

Background: Asthma control remains suboptimal in adults and children worldwide. Inhaled salmeterol/fluticasone propionate combination (SFC) and oral montelukast (MON) are 2 treatments available for childhood asthma.

Objective: This study, the PEdiatric Asthma Control Evaluation (PEACE), investigated the efficacy and tolerability of SFC compared with MON for the control of persistent asthma in children.

[Should there be a specific management for HIV infected-immigrants in France?].

Immigrants living in France account for one third of new cases of infection and are a target population for prevention. Care givers should adapt their management practice, taking into account this population's specificities which are not restricted to cultural differences but include major socioeconomic factors. In addition to training on alien rights and basic sociocultural knowledge, care-givers (especially clinicians) must spend more time with the patient (especially at the beginning of the relationship) and accept sharing the "medical power" with other people with a better knowledge of other aspects of the patients' life in addition to the medical one.

Amniocentesis in pregnant HIV-infected patients. Absence of mother-to-child viral transmission in a series of selected patients.

Objectives: To assess the risk of vertical transmission in HIV-infected pregnant women undergoing diagnostic amniocentesis, and to identify possible predictive factors.

Study Design: This was a single center retrospective study. The records of 330 HIV-infected pregnant women booked in our antenatal clinic from 31 January 2001 to 31 January 2006 were analyzed.

Oral contraception and unprotected sex with occasional partners of women HIV-infected through injection drug use.

Among HIV-infected women, unprotected sex with the main sexual partner is common practice. Conversely, studies about condom use with sexual partners of unknown HIV sero-status are sparsely reported. We aimed to assess the impact of oral contraception on unsafe sexual behaviours with occasional partners in women HIV-infected through injection drug use.

Asthma control in Latin America: the Asthma Insights and Reality in Latin America (AIRLA) survey.

Objectives: The aims of this survey were (1) to assess the quality of asthma treatment and control in Latin America, (2) to determine how closely asthma management guidelines are being followed, and (3) to assess perception, knowledge and attitudes related to asthma in Latin America.

Methods: We surveyed a household sample of 2,184 adults or parents of children with asthma in 2003 in 11 countries in Latin America. Respondents were asked about healthcare utilization, symptom severity, activity limitations and medication use.

Efficacy and safety of a quadruple combination Combivir + abacavir + efavirenz regimen in antiretroviral treatment-naive HIV-1-infected adults: La Francilienne.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a protease inhibitor sparing, quadruple therapy (Combivir + abacavir + efavirenz) in antiretroviral treatment-naive HIV-1-infected adults.

Design: Multicenter open-label pilot study. Clinical and biological assessments were performed at baseline and at weeks 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48.

[Neuromeningeal tuberculosis in northeastern suburbs of Paris. Nineteen cases].

Subject: Analyze characteristics of neuromeningeal tuberculosis in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.

Material And Method: Retrospective study of 19 observations between 1988 and 1999.

Results: Thirteen cases of meningitis, 3 cases of meningitis associated with a tuberculoma and 3 cases with isolated tuberculoma were described.

[Peritoneal tuberculosis: 27 cases in the suburbs of northeastern Paris].

Setting: Peritoneal tuberculosis did not disappear from France during the 1990s.

Objective: To determine the characteristics of peritoneal tuberculosis in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.

Method: A retrospective study of cases diagnosed with peritoneal tuberculosis between 1990 and 1998 in five suburban hospitals in the north-east region of Paris.

Mycobacterium kansasii septic arthritis: French retrospective study of 5 years and review.

Septic arthritis due to Mycobacterium kansasii is rare; only 40 cases have been published. A French national inquiry revealed the occurrence of 10 new cases between 1992 and 1997 (8 men and 2 women: mean age, 37 years; range, 25-54 years). Seven had an underlying condition: AIDS (n=4), chronic skin psoriasis and AIDS (n=2), or a renal transplant (n=1).

Impact of protease inhibitors on AIDS-defining events and hospitalizations in 10 French AIDS reference centres. Fédération National des Centres de Lutte contre le SIDA.

Objective: To assess the clinical and economic consequences of the use of protease inhibitors in the treatment of HIV infection.

Design: Multicentric, observational, retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Ten AIDS reference centres in France.

Amphotericin B in a lipid emulsion for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients.

We determined the safety and efficacy of deoxycholate-amphotericin B (d-AmB) mixed with Intralipid (IL) as the initial treatment of AIDS-associated cryptococcal meningitis in a phase II, multicentre, non-comparative open study, assessing two dosages of ILd-AmB: 1 mg/kg (group A, n = 9) and 1.5 mg/kg (group B, n = 6). Patients were treated daily for 2 weeks, then three times weekly for 4 weeks.

OKT4 epitope deficiency in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus: a cause of underestimation of the CD4 lymphocyte count.

Two black patients who were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who had hereditary deficiency of OKT4 epitope were investigated. The patients' lymphocytes lacked the OKT4 surface antigen but reacted with other monoclonal antibodies recognizing the CD4+ helper-inducer T lymphocytes. The CD4 lymphocyte count is a surrogate marker for clinical progression of HIV disease, but it could be unreliable in regard to patients with partial or complete OKT4 epitope deficiency.

[Chronic refractory pain in cancer patients. Value of the spinal injection of lysine acetylsalicylate. 60 cases].

Several animal studies have demonstrated that pain is modulated by spinal mechanisms involving prostaglandins and that acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) administered intrathecally has an analgesic effect. We report our experience of this treatment in 60 patients with proven and advanced cancer. An isobaric solution of lysine acetylsalicylate was administered by lumbar puncture in doses ranging from 120 to 720 mg of ASA.

[The Duffy blood group in migrants of French-speaking Africa].

The Duffy blood types survey in 544 subjects coming from French speaking African countries, shows the high percentage of subjects having a Duffy a- b- blood type (94%). It ought to be emphasized that this predominantly Duffy a- b- population resides in areas in where there is according to the WHO data, a very low incidence of Plasmodium vivax invasion. Moreover, we have taken for another example North Vietnam, an area where there is a large Plasmodium vivax invasion and where we have found a small percentage of Duffy negative subjects (5.