Annales pharmaceutiques françaises
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French guidelines for immunization are elaborated by a permanent advisory committee (Comité technique des vaccinations), which is part of the Public Health Council. This committee is composed of 20 experts from the different medical specialties involved in the immunization process, who are appointed for 3 years by the French Ministry of Health. Other members, without voting power, represent de different agencies, affiliated to the health minister, other ministers and different institutions. ⋯ The committee's advice statement may also mention the need for a specific survey of the impact of the vaccination on epidemiology, as well as a broader survey related to its safety. Usually, when a vaccine is recommended, the Transparency Commission of the Haute Autorité de santé and the economic committee on drugs decide on its reimbursement by the public health care fund. The guidelines become part of the immunization schedule, which is updated annually and published in the Official Bulletin of the Minister of Health and in the Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire.
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Acute head injury is a common reason for seeking care in an emergency department and in France accounts for more than 500 consultations daily. In most cases, though the trauma is minor/moderate, a computed tomography scan is necessary to establish the diagnosis and avoid medical and/or social sequelae. This examination is however expensive and not always readily available in the emergency setting. ⋯ Due to specificity of its cellular expression, S100B protein is a useful biological marker of acute neurological disorders, such as ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, and traumatic brain injury. This brief review exposes the contribution of S100B measurement in biological fluids to the diagnosis, the follow-up, and the prognosis of acute minor/moderate head injury. In addition, we describe the French STIC-S100 study, a cohort study designed to determine the negative prognostic value of early determination of plasma S100B levels for the diagnosis of minor/moderate head injury and its medical/social consequences.