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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Cannabis is the most consumed illicit drug. For a number of years it was thought to be not very toxic, although this idea has no scientific backup. The object of much controversy, it is a public health problem for the most vulnerable populations, adolescents, subjects with evolutive psychopathologies and certain highly cognitive situations: driving a car, the professional environment and students. ⋯ The complications are basically anxious and psychotic. It is the object of a number of debates associated with schizophrenic disorders, where it seems to be a risk factor where there is a large consumption before the age of fourteen. Like all psychoactive substances, it is an aggravating factor in all evolutive psychopathologies.
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Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-9-THC) is the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis. Smoking is currently most common use of cannabis. The present review focuses on the pharmacokinetics of THC. ⋯ The elimination of THC and its many metabolites, mainly THC-COOH, occurs via the feces and urine for several weeks. Thus, to confirm abstinence, urine THC-COOH analysis would be a useful tool. A positive result could be checked by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry THC blood analysis, indicative of a recent cannabis exposure.
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This paper is a review of the use of drugs in sleep and wakefulness disorders. Insomnia is more often a symptom than an autonomic disorder. ⋯ Stimulant drugs are prescribed in attention disorders; methylphenidate is the more frequently used. Narcolepsy, which is characterized by daytime sleepiness and irresistible episodes of sleep, is treated by an alpha1 noradrenergic stimulant modafinil which has no amphetaminic properties.
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Oseltamivir and zanamivir are highly potent inhibitors of influenza A and B neuraminidase and operate by inhibiting viral replication, and more specifically, the release and the movement of the virus through mucus. Neuraminidase inhibitors reduce the severity and duration of symptoms, and prevent clinical influenza as post-exposure and seasonal prophylaxis. ⋯ Although the effectiveness of oseltamivir and zanamivir for the therapy of clinical H5N1 influenza is questionable, simulation models suggest that a combination of targeted antiviral prophylaxis and quarantine might be able to contain an emerging influenza strain at the source. As a consequence, after an initial lack of commercial success probably related to the mild intensity of seasonal influenza during the last winters, neuraminidase inhibitors are now stockpiled by many countries to prepare for an outbreak.