B Acad Nat Med Paris
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Jan 2012
[Health consequences of environmental temperature and climate variations].
Recent climate change is a consequence of the greenhouse effect and human activity, and is directly responsible for extreme events such as heatwaves (see report of the French Académie des Sciences). Human thermoregulation depends more on behavior than on biology Air conditioning and building structure play an essential role. The 2003 heatwave was not a unique event. ⋯ Climate change plays a important role in allergic diseases, through changes in the diffusion and composition of pollens. These modifications are being monitored by several observatories. Six different veterinary diseases, including several zoonoses, are of particular concern.
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Percutaneous extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is now widespread for treating acute cardiac failure. ECLS has been used for treating in-hospital and out of hospital cardiac arrests. A systematic review of literature was performed in order to assess the results. ⋯ ECLS was used after out of hospital cardiac arrests in 3 studies published between 2008 and January 31, 2011. They included 110 patients of which only 6 survived (4.4 %) despite strict inclusion criteria. Low flow lasted between 60 and 120 min (mean 98 min.) According to these results the use of ECLS should be encouraged after in-hospital cardiac arrest and training in cardiorespiratory resuscitation should be improved in global population and health professionals.
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The physician-patient relationship involves both ethical and psychological aspects. The notion of empathy has been extensively described, and this "asymmetric dialogue" has been shown capable of affecting patient behavior. The Internet, and particularly medical websites, are modifying the physician-patient relationship by providing patients with knowledge of their disease, and are changing the social perception of medicine. More recent theories on medical relationships underline the importance of patience, tolerance and the ability to accept opposition and disappointment.
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A phenomenology of dreams searches for meaning, with the aim not only of explaining but also of understanding the experience. What and who is it for? And what about the nearly forgotten dream among the moderns, the banal returning to the nightmare, sleepiness, or dreamlike reverie. Nostalgia for the dream, where we saw a very early state of light, not a ordinaire qu duel. ⋯ Disappointment at the discovery of a cognitive permanence throughout sleep and a unique fit with the real upon awaking? An excess of methodological rigor where we validate the logic of the dream, correlating the clinical improvement in psychotherapy and the ability to interpret one's own dreams. The dangerous psychological access when the dream primarily is mine, viewed as a veiled expression of an unspoken desire, or when the dream reveals to me, in an existential conception of man, through time and space, my daily life, my freedom beyond my needs. Might its ultimate sense also mean its abolition? From the story of a famous forgotten dream, based on unexpected scientific data emerges the question: do we dream to forget? The main thing would not be consciousness but confidence, when " the sleeping man, his regard extinguished, dead to himself seizes the light in the night " (Heraclitus).
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Apr 2011
[Thrombotic risk factors and antithrombotic treatment in atrial fibrillation].
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia, and its incidence is rising as the population ages. AF is therefore a growing source of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality due to thromboembolic complications and heart failure. The risk of embolic stroke is multiplied by about 5.6-fold in non rheumatic AF and by 17.6-fold in rheumatic AF Strokes due to AF are often fatal or disabling. ⋯ Current guidelines recommend vitamin K antagonist or dabigatran anticoagulation for patients with a CHADS2 score of 2. Patients with a score of 0 should receive either aspirin or no drug therapy, while patients with a score of 1 may receive either a vitamin K antagonist or aspirin. After successful AF ablation, the existing antithrombotic strategy should be pursued New strategies based on antithrombin or anti-Xa medications will probably have a better risk-benefit ratio.