Prevalence of tinea capitis among schoolchildren in Mahajanga, northern Madagascar: An epidemio-clinical survey using conventional, proteomic and molecular approaches.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, clinical, and epidemiological features of tinea capitis (TC) in schoolchildren in Mahajanga city, north-west Madagascar, to identify the etiological dermatophyte species by morphological, proteomic and molecular approaches and ultimately to analyze the risk factors promoting TC in the studied region.

Methods: A survey was conducted in a randomly selected primary school. Symptomatic schoolchildren with signs resembling TC were sampled by scraping and sterile swabbing after examination of the scalp with a Wood's lamp.

Laboratory practices for the diagnosis and management of mucormycosis in France, 2024.

This study investigates the diagnostic practices for mucormycosis among 30 French University Hospital mycology laboratories, in 2024. All laboratories perform both direct examination and culture, with fluorescent brighteners being the most commonly used method for direct examination. While 77 % of the participating laboratories routinely identify Mucorales to the species level, with 70 % having adopted Mucorales-specific quantitative PCR, primarily for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections.

MASLD-related HCC: Multicenter study comparing patients with and without cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Despite its growing incidence, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) related to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in non-cirrhotic livers remains poorly characterized. We compared the characteristics, management, survival, and trends of MASLD-related HCC in patients with or without underlying cirrhosis in a large multicenter cohort.

Methods: A total of 354 cases of MASLD-related HCC presented at the liver tumor meetings of four French university hospitals between 2007 and 2018 were included in the study.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus screening in France: Missed opportunities? A retrospective multicenter study of serological testing in hospital laboratories.

Objectives: Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 infection is endemic in the French Antilles, French Guiana, and sub-Saharan Africa, the origin of many immigrants currently living in France. There are no national screening recommendations outside of the regulatory obligations concerning donations of blood, tissue, gametes, or milk to a lactarium. This study aimed to investigate the screening and diagnostic practices for this infection in France.

Identifying innovations produced by primary health care centers and evaluating their scalability: the SPRINT Occitanie cross-sectional study in France.

Background: Practice-based research is one of the levers identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) to strengthen primary health care. The scaling of health and social care innovations has the potential to reduce inequities in health and to expand the benefits of effective innovations. It is now rapidly gaining the attention of decision-makers in health and social care, particularly in high-income countries.

Treatment of positive catheter tip culture without bloodstream infections in critically ill patients. A case-cohort study from the OUTCOMEREA network.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact on subsequent infections and mortality of an adequate antimicrobial therapy within 48 h after catheter removal in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with positive catheter tip culture.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 29 centers of the OUTCOMEREA network. We developed a propensity score (PS) for adequate antimicrobial treatment, based on expert opinion of 45 attending physicians.

An e-Learning Course to Train General Practitioners in Planetary Health: Pilot Intervention Study.

Background: According to the World Health Organization, climate and ecological emergencies are already major threats to human health. Unabated climate change will cause 3.4 million deaths per year by the end of the century, and health-related deaths in the population aged ≥65 years will increase by 1540%.

[Take-home messages from the 2nd COPD 2023 Biennial of the French Society of Respiratory Diseases. Placing the patient at the center of the care pathway].

Introduction: The second COPD Biennial organized by the COPD working group of the French Society of Respiratory Diseases took place in Paris (Cochin) on 13th December 2023.

State Of The Art: Major trends in 2023 were discussed; they encompassed concepts, definitions, biologics, care pathways, pulmonary rehabilitation and complex situations entailed by respiratory infections, cardiovascular comorbidities and pulmonary hypertension, and modalities of oxygen therapy and ventilation.

Perspectives: The different talks underlined major changes in COPD including the concepts of pre-COPD, etiotypes, health trajectories and new definitions of exacerbation.

The CT revolution: the role of PIOPED II in establishing CT pulmonary angiography as the reference standard for pulmonary embolism diagnosis.

https://bit.ly/3HEyVxy.

Meeting the needs of pregnant women in socially vulnerable situations: A phenomenological qualitative study.

Objective: Vulnerability relates to fragile physical, psychological, and socio-environmental circumstances. Pregnant women's social vulnerability can lead to disruptions in their medical follow-ups, prematurity, and increased infant mortality rates, such that their special needs must be considered. Yet, despite different governments' 'perinatality' plans, international literature suggests their care can be improved.

Prognostic value of hypermetabolic bone sarcoidosis observed by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.

Objectives: Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatosis diagnosed mainly in young adults.18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) is useful in sarcoidosis cases to search for a biopsiable site or assess disease activity.18F-FDG PET-CT can reveal bone hypermetabolism in sarcoidosis patients, even in the absence of osteoarticular symptoms.

Thoracic ultrasound for pneumothorax and infectious effusion: from equine beginnings to clinical cornerstone.

https://bit.ly/3FO6jBg.

Artificial intelligence-based pathology as a biomarker of sensitivity to atezolizumab-bevacizumab in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a multicentre retrospective study.

Background: Clinical benefits of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (atezolizumab-bevacizumab) are observed only in a subset of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and the development of biomarkers is needed to improve therapeutic strategies. The atezolizumab-bevacizumab response signature (ABRS), assessed by molecular biology profiling techniques, has been shown to be associated with progression-free survival after treatment initiation. The primary objective of our study was to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) model able to estimate ABRS expression directly from histological slides, and to evaluate if model predictions were associated with progression-free survival.

Optimisation of treatments for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in routine practice: a position statement from a panel of experts.

Major international practice guidelines recommend the use of a combination of 4 medication classes in the treatment of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) but do not specify how these treatments should be introduced and up-titrated. Consequently, many patients with HFrEF do not receive an optimized treatment regimen. This review proposes a pragmatic algorithm for treatment optimization designed to be easily applied in routine practice.

Time to intestinal clearance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in hospital patients: a longitudinal retrospective observational cohort study.

Background: Intestinal clearance of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE-IC) is a cornerstone to discontinue isolation precautions for CPE patients in hospitals. This study aimed to evaluate the time to spontaneous CPE-IC and identify its potential associated risk factors.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was carried out between January 2018 and September 2020 on all patients in a 3200-bed teaching referral hospital with confirmed CPE intestinal carriage.

Gradient concentration strip-specific epidemiological cut-off values of antifungal drugs in various yeast species and five prevalent Aspergillus species complexes.

Objectives: To determine the epidemiological cut-off values (ECVs) of ten antifungal agents in a wide range of yeasts and Aspergillus spp. using gradient concentration strips.

Methods: The minimum inhibitory concentrations for amphotericin B, anidulafungin, caspofungin, micafungin, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, isavuconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole, determined with gradient concentration strips at 35 French microbiology laboratories between 2002 and 2020, were retrospectively collected.

Efficacy and Safety of Botulinum Toxin in Adults with Raynaud's Phenomenon Secondary to Systemic Sclerosis: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

Objective: To determine whether a single session of botulinum toxin type A (BTA) injections into both hands more effectively decreases the frequency of systemic sclerosis-associated Raynaud's phenomenon (SSc-RP) episodes than placebo.

Methods: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group phase III trial in patients with SSc-RP assessed the effect of 50-unit BTA or placebo injections into the palms of both hands around each neurovascular bundle during 1 session in winter. The primary end point was the between-group difference in the median change in the number of RP episodes from baseline (day 0) to 4 weeks postinjection.