Adaptation of French general practitioners for the management of nursing home patients during COVID-19 in 2020: a multilevel analysis.

Background: To describe French general practioners' (GPs) adaptation strategies to ensure follow-up care of nursing home patients during the first wave of COVID-19 (May 2020) and to identify factors associated with each strategy.

Methods: A national cross-sectional study was conducted with online questionnaires in May 2020 among GPs practicing in France (metropolitan and overseas) and usually providing nursing home visits before pandemic. The outcome was defined as the GPs' adaptation strategies for managing nursing home patients and was categorized into four groups: Maintenance of Nursing Home Visits NHV (reference), Stopping NHV, Numeric adaptation (teleconsultations only), Mixed adaptation (NHV and teleconsultations).

Effectiveness of comprehensive geriatric assessment adapted to primary care when provided by a nurse or a general practitioner: the CEpiA cluster-randomised trial.

Background: The benefits of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) are well established for hospital care but less so for primary care. Our primary objective was to assess the effect of two multifaceted interventions based on a CGA adapted for primary care on a composite criterion combining all-cause mortality, emergency department visits, unplanned hospital admissions, and institutionalisation.

Methods: This open-label, pragmatic, three-arm, cluster-randomised controlled trial involved 39 general practices in France.

Understanding attendance patterns and determinants in cardiac, pulmonary, and ICU rehabilitation/recovery programs: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Cardiac, pulmonary, and intensive care unit (ICU) rehabilitation/recovery programs are health promotion interventions designed to improve physical recovery, psychological well-being, and quality of life after acute illness while reducing the risk of adverse events.

Objective: Identify the difference in attendance rates for patients invited to a cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation, or ICU recovery program and factors influencing attendance.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis by searching PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and manual reference lists from inception to June 3, 2024.

Observation of Kekulé vortices around hydrogen adatoms in graphene.

Fractional charges are one of the wonders of the fractional quantum Hall effect. Such objects are also anticipated in two-dimensional hexagonal lattices under time reversal symmetry-emerging as bound states of a rotating bond texture called a Kekulé vortex. However, the physical mechanisms inducing such topological defects remain elusive, preventing experimental realization.

Atomic-Layer Controlled Transition from Inverse Rashba-Edelstein Effect to Inverse Spin Hall Effect in 2D PtSe Probed by THz Spintronic Emission.

2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, are ideal platforms for spin-to-charge conversion (SCC) as they possess strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), reduced dimensionality and crystal symmetries as well as tuneable band structure, compared to metallic structures. Moreover, SCC can be tuned with the number of layers, electric field, or strain. Here, SCC in epitaxially grown 2D PtSe by THz spintronic emission is studied since its 1T crystal symmetry and strong SOC favor SCC.

Giant Atomic Swirl in Graphene Bilayers with Biaxial Heterostrain.

The study of moiré engineering started with the advent of van der Waals heterostructures, in which stacking 2D layers with different lattice constants leads to a moiré pattern controlling their electronic properties. The field entered a new era when it was found that adjusting the twist between two graphene layers led to strongly-correlated-electron physics and topological effects associated with atomic relaxation. A twist is now routinely used to adjust the properties of 2D materials.

Checkpoint Inhibitors in Combination With Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors: The CHEERS Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and PD-1 ligand 1 have improved the outcome for many cancer types, the majority of patients fails to respond to ICI monotherapy. Hypofractionated radiotherapy has the potential to improve the therapeutic ratio of ICIs.

Objective: To assess the addition of radiotherapy to ICIs compared with ICI monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Use of visual aids in general practice consultations: A questionnaire-based survey.

Objectives: Visual aids (VAs) seem effective to improve doctor-patient communication. The objective was to describe how VAs are used in consultation and what French general practitioners (GPs) expect of them.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire among French GPs in 2019.

Initial characteristics and course of disease in patients with suspected COVID-19 managed in general practice: a prospective, multicentre cohort study.

Objectives: To describe and compare the initial clinical characteristics of a cohort of patients with suspected COVID-19 managed by general practitioners (GPs); to assess whether 3-month persistent symptoms were more frequent among confirmed cases than among no-COVID cases; and to identify factors predictive of persistent symptoms and adverse outcomes among confirmed cases.

Design And Setting: A comparative, prospective, multicentre cohort study in primary care in the Paris region of France.

Participants: 521 patients aged ≥18 with suspected COVID-19 were enrolled between March and May 2020.

Patient-reported Outcomes in Men with Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer Harboring DNA Damage Response Alterations Treated with Talazoparib: Results from TALAPRO-1.

Background: Talazoparib has shown antitumor activity with a manageable safety profile in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and DNA damage response (DDR)/homologous recombination repair (HRR) alterations.

Objective: To evaluate patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and pain in patients who received talazoparib in the TALAPRO-1 study, with a special interest in patients harboring breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 or 2 (BRCA1/2) mutations.

Design, Setting, And Participants: TALAPRO-1 is a single-arm, phase 2 study in men with mCRPC DDR alterations either directly or indirectly involved in HRR, who previously received one to two taxane-based chemotherapy regimens for advanced prostate cancer and whose mCRPC progressed on one or more novel hormonal agents.

Heterostrain Determines Flat Bands in Magic-Angle Twisted Graphene Layers.

The moiré of twisted graphene bilayers can generate flat bands in which charge carriers do not possess enough kinetic energy to escape Coulomb interactions with each other, leading to the formation of novel strongly correlated electronic states. This exceptionally rich physics relies on the precise arrangement between the layers. Here, we survey published scanning tunneling microscope measurements to prove that near the magic-angle, native heterostrain, the relative deformations between the layers, dominates twist in determining the flat bands as opposed to the common belief.

Checkpoint inhibition in combination with an immunoboost of external beam radiotherapy in solid tumors (CHEERS): study protocol for a phase 2, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Background: While the introduction of checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) as standard of care treatment for various tumor types has led to considerable improvements in clinical outcome, the majority of patients still fail to respond. Preclinical data suggest that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) could work synergistically with CPIs by acting as an in situ cancer vaccine, thus potentially increasing response rates and prolonging disease control. Though SBRT administered concurrently with CPIs has been shown to be safe, evidence of its efficacy from large randomized trials is still lacking.

Inappropriate direct oral anticoagulant prescriptions in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: cross-sectional analysis of the French CACAO cohort study in primary care.

Background: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) account for an increasing proportion of prescriptions in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) in primary care. Inappropriate dosing of DOACs is a common problem, with under-dosing being a particular issue. However, conflicting results have been reported about the factors independently associated with inappropriate dosing.

How GPs adapted their practices and organisations at the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak: a French national observational survey.

Objectives: To describe how general practitioners (GPs) adapted their practices to secure and maintain access to care in the epidemic phase. A secondary objective was to explore if GPs' individual characteristics and type of practice determined their adaptation.

Design: Observational study using an online questionnaire.

[At-risk drinking screening by general practitioners: A survey of patients in primary care].

Background: The screening of patients who are at-risk drinkers, which means exceeding the thresholds defined by health authorities or associated with a specific situation (taking psychotropic drugs, having an organic pathology, driving a vehicle, drinking during pregnancy), represents a major issue in primary care. Few studies have offered perspective from the patients' standpoint. The main purpose of this study was to describe general practitioners at-risk drinking screening from their patients point of view.

Measuring the Berry phase of graphene from wavefront dislocations in Friedel oscillations.

Electronic band structures dictate the mechanical, optical and electrical properties of crystalline solids. Their experimental determination is therefore crucial for technological applications. Although the spectral distribution in energy bands is routinely measured by various techniques, it is more difficult to access the topological properties of band structures such as the quantized Berry phase, γ, which is a gauge-invariant geometrical phase accumulated by the wavefunction along an adiabatic cycle.

Predictive factors for non-participation or partial participation in breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening programmes†.

Background: No study has investigated factors associated with non-participation or partial participation in the different combination patterns of screening programmes for all three cancers, that is, breast, colorectal and cervical cancer.

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, we sought to describe combinations of cancer screening participation rates among women in the Val-de-Marne area of France and to identify individual and contextual factors associated with non-participation or partial participation.

Results: Women aged between 50 and 65 and who were eligible for all three screening programmes (n = 102 219) were analysed in multilevel logistic models, with the individual as the Level 1 variable and the place of residence as the Level 2 variable.

Changes over time in attitudes towards the management of older patients with heart failure by general practitioners: a qualitative study.

Background: Underdiagnosis and undertreatment of chronic heart failure (CHF) are common in older patients, who are usually treated by general practitioners (GPs). In 2007, the French ICAGE study explored GPs' attitudes to the management of this condition in older patients.

Objectives: To explore changes over time in GPs' attitudes towards the management of CHF in patients aged ≥75 and to identify barriers to optimal management.

Weekly carboplatin plus neoadjuvant anthracycline-taxane-based regimen in early triple-negative breast cancer: a prospective phase II trial by the Breast Cancer Task Force of the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO).

Aim: To evaluate the pCR rate and toxicity of the addition of weekly carboplatin (Cp) to paclitaxel (wP) and dose-dense (dd) epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (EC) in an open-label phase II study in TNBC patients.

Methods: Patients were included if they had stage II and III TNBC and received wP (80 mg/m/week) concurrent with weekly Cp (AUC = 2) for 12 weeks, followed by bi-weekly epirubicin (90 mg/m) and cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m) plus granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for four cycles, followed by surgery. The primary endpoint was the rate of pCR [(ypT0/isypN0)].

Mandatory vaccination of infants in France: Is that the way forward?

In this opinion paper, the authors argue that the extension of mandatory immunization of infants up to two years of age from three diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis) to 11 diseases, introduced in France in January 2018, is not a sustainable response to the challenge of controlling vaccine-preventable diseases. In France in 2017, infant immunization coverage (IC) rates were sufficiently high or increasing (hepatitis B), except for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and meningococcus C disease. Even if vaccination obligation makes it possible to achieve the MMR IC objectives among infants, communication programmes and supported advice from GPs are essential for the catch-up of susceptible adults to obtain herd immunity.

Electronic Spectrum of Twisted Graphene Layers under Heterostrain.

We demonstrate that stacking layered materials allows a strain engineering where each layer is strained independently, which we call heterostrain. We combine detailed structural and spectroscopic measurements with tight-binding calculations to show that small uniaxial heterostrain suppresses Dirac cones and leads to the emergence of flat bands in twisted graphene layers (TGLs). Moreover, we demonstrate that heterostrain reconstructs, much more severely, the energy spectrum of TGLs than homostrain for which both layers are strained identically, a result which should apply to virtually all van der Waals structures opening exciting possibilities for straintronics with 2D materials.

Graphene as a Mechanically Active, Deformable Two-Dimensional Surfactant.

In crystal growth, surfactants are additive molecules used in dilute amount or as dense, permeable layers to control surface morphologies. We investigate the properties of a strikingly different surfactant: a 2D and covalent layer with close atomic packing, graphene. Using in situ, real-time electron microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, and continuum mechanics calculations, we reveal why metallic atomic layers can grow in a 2D manner below an impermeable graphene membrane.

Efficacy of nurse-led and general practitioner-led comprehensive geriatric assessment in primary care: protocol of a pragmatic three-arm cluster randomised controlled trial (CEpiA study).

Introduction: Older patients raise therapeutic challenges, because they constitute a heterogeneous population with multimorbidity. To appraise this complexity, geriatricians have developed a multidimensional comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), which may be difficult to apply in primary care settings. Our primary objective was to compare the effect on morbimortality of usual care compared with two complex interventions combining educational seminars about CGA: a dedicated geriatric hotline for general practitioners (GPs) and CGA by trained nurses or GPs.