Long-pulsed ruby laser-assisted hair removal in male-to-female transsexuals

Background Unwanted male‐pattern pilosity is a heavy psychological burden and can cause distress for male‐to‐female transsexuals. Orchidectomy and oestrogen supplementation combined with antiandrogens fail to make hair disappear. Aims To study the effect of long‐pulsed ruby laser treatment. Results Hair density was successfully abated on the beard and chest of three male‐to‐female transsexuals. A lingering effect over 6 months with a 50–90% hair density reduction was obtained. Conclusion Photothermolysis using the long‐pulsed ruby laser is a promising, well‐tolerated method of hair removal in male‐to‐female transsexuals under oestrogen supplementation and antiandrogens.     

Drug related falls: a study in the French Pharmacovigilance database

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk of falls associated with drugs among the French population using data reported to the French spontaneous reporting system and recorded in the French Pharmacovigilance database. METHODS: All cases including a fall were searched in the French Pharmacovigilance database between 1995 and 1999. Drugs involved and characteristics of patients were investigated. In a second step, we estimated the risk associated with psychotropic and cardiovascular drugs in a case/non case comparison, where cases were reports including a fall and non cases all other reports. This risk was estimated by calculation of crude and age and gender adjusted reporting odds ratios (ROR). RESULTS: During this period, 328 reports including a fall were reported (0.4% of the database). Patients were female in 70%. Mean age was 76 +/- 18 years. Comparisons between cases and non cases showed that cases were more likely to be women (OR: 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.5-2.4]) and older. After adjustment on age and gender, falls remained significantly associated with exposure to benzodiazepines (4.7 [3.7-5.9]), imipraminic antidepressants (3.6 [2.5-5.1]), serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants (2.2 [1.5-3.1]) or nitrates (1.9 [1.2-2.8]). CONCLUSION: This study confirms that taking psychotropic drugs strongly increases the risk of falls. The role of cardiovascular drugs (except nitrates) remains not significant when confounding factors are taken into account. According to the very high prevalence of psychotropic drug use in the French elderly, further study are needed to investigate the relative effect of some drugs on falls, like for example SRIs or short acting benzodiazepines.     

Health promotion and disease prevention for older adults: Intervention themes and strategies used in Quebec local community health centres and seniors' day centres

OBJECTIVE: Despite the considerable potential of disease prevention and health promotion (DPHP) among older adults, extant data suggest that this field of intervention is still underdeveloped. To shed further light on this issue, this paper presents the results of an inventory of DPHP interventions for older adults conducted in local community health centres (CLSCs) and seniors' day centres in the province of Quebec. METHODS: All CLSCs (N=147) and day centres (N=124) were invited to participate (response rates: 74% and 79%). Data were collected through telephone interviews. Interventions were coded according to type of intervention strategies and target themes. RESULTS: Awareness-raising and health education strategies emerged as the most frequently-cited type of intervention strategies, reported by 77% of CLSCs and 95% of day centres, respectively. The two themes reported by a majority of CLSCs were physical health (87%) and community issues (58%). Lifestyle habits (92%) and social issues (92%) were the two most frequently-cited themes in day centres. DISCUSSION: DPHP for older adults is substantially well developed in terms of intervention offerings in the two types of organizations under study. However, the range of available interventions requires expansion to increase the potential of DPHP programs to tackle the numerous challenges posed by the aging of the population.     

Epoxide-containing side chains enhance antiproliferative activity of paullones

The introduction of side chains bearing epoxide motifs into the molecular scaffold of kenpaullone and 9-trifluoromethylpaullone led to improved antiproliferative activity of the novel derivatives for human tumor cell lines. The syntheses were accomplished applying Stille coupling for the introduction of unsaturated side chains into the 2-position of the paullones and subsequently employing a hydrogen peroxide/nitrile mixture for the epoxidation of C,C-double bonds.     

Distribution of radioactivity following oral administration of carcinogenic 14CH3-labelled nitrosocarbaryl in the rat

After a single intragastric administration of ¹⁴C-labelled carcinogenic nitrosocarbaryl, a nitrosated pesticide, the distribution of radioactivity was investigated in the blood and a number of organs in male rats. The animals received 0.25 mg/kg of labelled nitrosamine and were killed following administration at timed intervals between 0.5 h and 24 h.Our results show that the greatest amount of the ¹⁴CH₃-group was associated with the forestomach, tumor-susceptible tissue; the level of radioactivity is noteworthy but less important in the glandular stomach. There are also sites of radioactivity accumulation mainly in the liver. Moreover, [¹⁴C]nitrosocarbaryl was revealed in the blood suggesting that nitrosamine itself rapidly (0.5 h) crosses the intestinal barrier and in a significant quantity (13%). These facts constitute a potential carcinogenic risk.     

Optimal parameters for the clinical test of dynamic visual acuity in patients with a unilateral vestibular deficit

OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of frequency and direction of head movement and type of vision chart on the score of a clinical test of dynamic visual acuity (DVA). METHODS: The subjects were 31 healthy individuals (22 to 79 years old) and 10 patients (19 to 70 years old) with a unilateral vestibular deficit owing to surgical resection of an acoustic neuroma. They read a Snellen or an E-chart while their head was passively moved +/- 20 degrees back and forth in the horizontal or vertical direction at one of four frequencies (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 Hz). The DVA score was the difference in the number of lines on the vision chart that could be read with the head passively moved versus with the head immobile. RESULTS: Four healthy subjects had a low DVA score during horizontal head movements at the fastest frequency (2.0 Hz) with the Snellen chart. In patients, DVA scores significantly decreased as head movement frequency increased from 0.5 to 1.0 Hz and from 1.0 to 1.5 Hz, during horizontal and vertical movements, and with both vision charts (p < .001). The DVA scores of healthy subjects were more consistent across three trials with the E-chart than with the Snellen chart at 1.0 and 0.5 Hz (horizontal movements, p < .01) and at 1.5 and 1.0 Hz (vertical movements, p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new indications on the optimal parameters for the clinical test of DVA. From the results, it is recommended that DVA be tested during horizontal and vertical head movements at a frequency of 1.5 Hz with the E-chart.     

Role of primary visual cortex in the binocular integration of plaid motion perception

This study assessed the early mechanisms underlying perception of plaid motion. Thus, two superimposed gratings drifting in a rightward direction composed plaid stimuli whose global motion direction was perceived as the vector sum of the two components. The first experiment was aimed at comparing the perception of plaid motion when both components were presented to both eyes (dioptic) or separately to each eye (dichoptic). When components of the patterns had identical spatial frequencies, coherent motion was correctly perceived under dioptic and dichoptic viewing condition. However, the perceived direction deviated from the predicted direction when spatial frequency differences were introduced between components in both conditions. The results suggest that motion integration follows similar rules for dioptic and dichoptic plaids even though performance under dichoptic viewing did not reach dioptic levels. In the second experiment, the role of early cortical areas in the processing of both plaids was examined. As convergence of monocular inputs is needed for dichoptic perception, we tested the hypothesis that primary visual cortex (V1) is required for dichoptic plaid processing by delivering repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to this area. Ten minutes of magnetic stimulation disrupted subsequent dichoptic perception for approximately 15 min, whereas no significant changes were observed for dioptic plaid perception. Taken together, these findings suggest that V1 is not crucial for the processing of dioptic plaids but it is necessary for the binocular integration underlying dichoptic plaid motion perception.     

Factors associated with fragmented sleep at night across early childhood

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors most strongly associated with sleeping less than 6 consecutive hours at night for children aged 5, 17, and 29 months. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A randomized survey design used a representative sample of infants born in 1997-1998 in the Canadian province of Quebec. Data were collected by questionnaires and interviews. Interviews were scheduled at home with the mothers. The number of consecutive hours slept at night by 1741 children aged 5, 17, and 29 months was assessed from parental reports. Factors associated with fragmented sleep were investigated for each age in a cross-sectional design. RESULTS: At 5 months of age, 23.5% of children did not sleep 6 consecutive hours. Of the children who did not sleep 6 consecutive hours at night at 5 months or 17 months of age, 32.9% were still not sleeping 6 consecutive hours at night at 29 months of age. The factor most strongly associated with not sleeping at least 6 consecutive hours per night at 5 months of age was feeding the child after an awakening. Parental presence until sleep onset was the factor most strongly associated with not sleeping at least 6 consecutive hours per night at 17 months and 29 months of age. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep consolidation evolves rapidly in early childhood. Parental behaviors at bedtime and in response to a nocturnal awakening are highly associated with the child's sleep consolidation. The effects are probably bidirectional and probably create a long-term problem. Early interventions could possibly break the cycle.