Research procedure acceptability through women during pregnancy and postpartum: A pilot study.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and relevancy of a systematic data collection process in characterizing factors influencing research acceptability through women during pregnancy and early postpartum.

Methods: A pilot prospective observational crossover unicentric study was conducted in Est France. All the women (except language barrier and intensive care transfer) were called upon to complete a survey (33 questions).

Antithrombotic therapy is associated with better survival in patients with severe heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (EPICAL study).

Background: In patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), clinical trials have demonstrated the benefit of a number of drugs on morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless so far, there is no published controlled study of long-term antithrombotic therapy in patients with CHF. The aim of this work was to identify the relationship between cardiovascular drug use, especially antithrombotic therapy, and survival of CHF patients in current clinical practice, using an observational, population-based database.

A Discrete Choice Model When Context Matters.

This paper contributes to the description of the choice behavior of an individual who, as a result of capacity limitations, is unable to deal with a large number of alternatives and who is also unsure about his most preferred alternative in any given set. Hence, there is a conflict in that the individual wants both to reduce the choice set and to keep as many alternatives as possible. A natural way to solve this conflict is to view the individual as choosing sequentially while giving a weight to each corresponding subset of alternatives.

Influence of cigarette smoking on rate of reopening of the infarct-related coronary artery after myocardial infarction: a multivariate analysis.

Objectives: This study sought to determine whether the reopening of the infarct-related vessel is related to clinical characteristics or cardiovascular risk factors, or both.

Background: In acute myocardial infarction, thrombolytic therapy reduces mortality by restoring the patency of the infarct-related vessel. However, despite the use of thrombolytic agents, the infarct-related vessel remains occluded in up to 40% of patients.

[Myocardial infarction caused by thrombosis of the common trunk of the left coronary artery without collateral circulation. Treatment by intra-aortic counterpulsation and subsequent heart transplantation].

The authors report the case of an acute anterior myocardial infarction due to occlusion of the left main coronary artery without a collateral circulation. The patient survived after intraaortic balloon pumping followed by cardiac transplantation.

[The satellite lymph node of surgically-treated epidermoid bronchial cancer. Evaluation and meaning. Apropos of 167 cases].

This study is based on the analysis of the radiological and histological features of the lymph nodes in 167 operated cases of bronchial carcinoma. The conventional evaluation by means of radiography demonstrates the difficulty of accurately diagnosing lymph node involvement; these investigations are simply able to reveal the presence or absence of enlarged lymph nodes without being able to distinguish between neoplastic and purely inflammatory lymphadenopathy. Histological examination demonstrates the presence of hilar and mediastinal node involvement: the first does not influence the survival in contrast with the second which seems to reflect an intense immune response.

[Triple biphasic chemotherapy in the treatment of small-cell bronchial cancer].

Forty-three patients with small-cell bronchial carcinoma were treated with sequential combination chemotherapy of the CMC-VAP type alternating every 6 weeks. Toxicity affected mostly blood cells and occurred during induction. The response rate was 60% in circumscribed forms with a median survival of 15 months, and 30% in diffuse forms with a median survival of 6 months.