Prostate cancer after heart transplantation: unicenter case-control study.

BACKGROUND: We have noted an unexpectedly high incidence of prostate cancer in our heart transplant recipients (HTR). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients after heart transplantation to investigate the prevalence, treatment, and outcome of prostate cancer diagnosed after systematic screening (study group). We compared them with case-matched HTR (control). RESULTS: Among 702 recipients, 15 patients had elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Fourteen cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed and treated. The median time between transplantation and prostate cancer diagnosis was 73 months. No patient was diagnosed in a locally advanced (>T2) or metastatic stage. Eleven patients (78.6%) received curative treatment. During follow-up (median, 44 months), 1 patient died from prostate cancer. The survival rate between the study and control groups did not differ. CONCLUSION: Routine PSA testing is recommended as a screening test for prostate cancer in patients after heart transplantation. We believe this could also result in detection of early stages of prostate cancer, thus allowing curative treatment, and achieving similar survival to other case-matched HTR with no prostate cancer.     

Le suicide par saut et les stratégies de prévention

The topic of this article is to probe into the specificities of suicide by jumping. This means of suicide hasn't been studied much and isn't well known yet.We reviewed the international scientific literature so as to take an in-depth look at this type of auto-aggressive action and highlight the characteristics of the subjects likely to commit suicide by jumping. We thus focus on the available epidemiological data and risk factors associated to suicide jumping. We also describe the prevention strategies most often evoked to deal with this public health issue, which are respectively about improving safety on the identified suicide sites and providing medical and psychological care to individuals likely to commit suicide by jumping.This meta-analysis presents our critical analysis of the methodological limits in the studies exposed. We provide further hints for researching this field of study; they're based on both the taking into account of variables that could be risk factors for this particular means of suicide and the evaluation of the efficiency for the preventive measures used.     

Is one assessment enough? Patterns of helping alliance development and outcome

Early therapeutic alliance is usually measured by the rating of a single session (between the third and the fifth sessions). However, there is a strong argument in favor of viewing early alliance as a developing process. This study examined the relationship between patient's rating of the helping alliance (HAq) at each session and therapy outcome. This comparison was repeated using patterns of alliance over the course of treatment. Patterns of therapeutic alliance development were detected by clustering ratings of a sample of N = 70 outpatients across four sessions of very brief psychotherapeutic intervention. Cluster analysis revealed two main patterns (shapes) of alliance development: (i) stable alliance, and (ii) linear growth pattern. These patterns are more predictive of symptom improvement and social adjustment than single ratings, whereas single ratings measuring the strength of alliance are more correlated with patient's satisfaction. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monoclonal antibodies against respiratory syncytial virus and their use for rapid detection of virus in nasopharyngeal secretions.

We developed five monoclonal antibodies against respiratory syncytial virus. Three of these (23A3, 12A4, and 18B2) were used in an indirect fluorescent antibody test, and the results were compared with those of a similar indirect fluorescent test with commercial anti-respiratory syncytial virus serum. The results obtained with antibody 18B2 and commercial anti-respiratory syncytial virus serum were identical, whereas with antibodies 23A3 and 12A4 the incidence of positive identifications was around 50%.