Association between excreta management and incidence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae: role of healthcare workers' knowledge and practices.

Background: The spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) in healthcare environments has become a major public health threat in recent years.

Aim: To assess how healthcare workers (HCWs) manage excreta and the possible association with the incidence of ESBL-PE.

Methods: Eight hundred HCWs and 74 nurse-supervisors were questioned through two self-report questionnaires in order to assess their knowledge and practices, and to determine the equipment utilized for excreta management in 74 healthcare departments.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in a French General Hospital: fortuitous detection rather than efficient screening.

Introduction: We studied the characteristics of the screening procedure for alpha-1 antitrypsin at Nevers Hospital (France), together with the performance of serum protein gel electrophoresis for the fortuitous detection of patients with deficiency.

Material And Methods: We carried out a retrospective study of requests for alpha-1 antitrypsin determination referred to the laboratory during 3 years. We compared these requests with the numbers of patients seen at the hospital and requiring screening according to international recommendations.

Fecundity and Quality of Life of Women Treated for Solid Childhood Tumors Between 1948 and 1992 in France.

Purpose: To describe fecundity in female survivors of childhood cancer and consider the correlation with quality of life (QOL).

Materials And Methods: Of 1744 women treated for childhood cancer before the age of 15 years at one of eight French cancer treatment centers between 1948 and 1992, 1187 who were alive in 2005 were sent a self-administered questionnaire, including questions about health status, QOL (MOS SF-36), and fecundity. A standardized fecundity ratio (SFR) was calculated (SFR: observed/expected number of children) for each individual based on a national reference.

Docetaxel, Cisplatin, and 5-Fluorouracil as perioperative chemotherapy compared with surgery alone for resectable gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) significantly improved overall survival in metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA). The aim of this study was to assess efficacy of DCF regimen as perioperative chemotherapy compared with surgery alone in patients with resectable GEA. We identified 789 patients who underwent surgery alone and 62 patients who received at least one cycle of DCF regimen consisting of docetaxel (75 mg/m on day 1), cisplatin (75 mg/m on day 1), and 5-fluorouracil (750 mg/m /day on continuous perfusion on days 1 to 5), every 3 weeks.

[Radiotherapy in cancers of the oesophagus, the gastric cardia and the stomach].

Localized oesophageal and gastric cancers have a poor prognosis. In oesophageal cancer, external radiotherapy combined with concomitant chemotherapy is accepted as part of the therapeutic armamentarium in a curative intent in the preoperative setting for resectable tumours; or without surgery in inoperable patients or non-resectable tumours due to wide local and/or regional extension. Data from the literature show conflicting results with no clinical evidence in favour of either a unique dose protocol or consensual target volume definition in the setting of exclusive chemoradiation.