Proactive bedside counseling of smokers hospitalized in cardiac intensive care unit

Aim of the study

To offer routine information on smoking cessation and bedside counseling to smokers admitted in cardiac intensive care unit. The objective is to encourage cessation and/or use of smoking cessation services after discharge.

Population and methods

Thirty-three smokers were admitted in cardiac intensive care unit at the Georges Pompidou European hospital (HEGP) in Paris (France) from 1st March to June 30th 2010. Assessment of tobacco use and offer of counseling and follow-up visits during and after hospital stay. Evaluation of tobacco use by telephone at least six months after discharge.

Results

It was found that 30.3% of the patients stopped smoking, mostly without specialized help despite heavy smoking prior to hospitalization. They declared being impressed by their hospital stay. Motives for smoking among continuing smokers were mostly automatic smoking and stress relief. They had declined any smoking aid, despite subsequent hospital stays in cardiac intensive care. Three smokers with a severe profile had died at follow-up. Smokers followed-up at HEGP were in need of nicotine replacement therapy. More than six months after hospital discharge, nearly all smokers remembered being offered bedside counseling to stop smoking.

Conclusion

This experience reveals the importance of routine bedside counseling for smoking cessation in cardiac intensive care unit. Smokers in this unit often continue smoking even though smoking hinders cardiac rehabilitation.     

Quantitative real-time PCR analysis and microarray-based RNA expression of HER2 in relation to outcome.

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to use quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) and RNA expression profiles (RNA-EPs) to investigate HER2 status in relation to outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cut-off levels for Q-PCR and RNA-EP were established in relation to immunohistochemistry (IHC) validated by FISH in a test set of frozen tissue samples from 40 primary breast cancers. The HER2 status was subsequently studied in another validation set of 306 tumors, where Q-PCR and RNA-EP results were compared with previously carried out IHC that we had validated by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). RESULTS: Q-PCR and RNA-EP offered similar sensitivity (90% versus 77%), specificity (93% versus 95%), and negative (99% versus 98%) and positive (63% versus 61%) predictive values for HER2 determinations. Analyses of relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival on the basis of 5 and 10 years of follow-up indicated equivalent hazard ratios for all three techniques. In contrast to IHC/CISH, both Q-PCR and RNA-EP analyses of HER2 also gave statistically significant results regarding RFS and breast cancer-corrected survival after 10 years of follow-up. CONCLUSION: The use of RNA-EP and Q-PCR to analyze HER2 in frozen and formalin-fixed breast cancer samples may be an alternate approach to IHC in combination with FISH/CISH.     

Peripartum cardiomyopathy in a patient with hyperprolactinaemia.

The clinical course of a patient with peripartum cardiomyopathy and hyperprolactinaemia is described. Hyperprolactinaemia may be a factor in this patient''s heart failure.     

Students' perception of good and bad teaching: report of a critical incident study

Evaluation of teaching by the use of questionnaires to students is now commonplace. If it is to be useful the data obtained must be reliable and valid. One criterion of reliability is the response rate, and a low response rate may indicate low validity, i.e. that the questions asked do not reflect the students' real concerns. In order to inform questionnaire design a critical incident study was undertaken. A 20% random sample of students in each of the 5 years of the course were asked to describe one piece of good teaching and one piece of bad teaching, and say why they were good or bad. There was a 65% response rate, and replies were independently categorized by three people. The factors identified fell into three 'domains': interpersonal behaviour of teachers; planning and preparation; and the ability to run the session well. There was no evidence that teaching which 'played to the gallery' or was very examination-oriented would earn high ratings from students.     

Sound spectrographic analysis of pain cry in preterm infants

Sound spectrographic cry analysis was performed on 302 cries of 48 preterm infants born at 30–37 gestational weeks. The cries were recorded during the first week of life and thereafter weekly until the infants were discharged. The control series comprised 54 cries from 27 fullterm healthy infants. The results showed that the cries of the smallest prematures compared with the controls were shorter, more high-pitched, and included bi-phonation and glide more often. The cry characteristics changed with increasing conceptual age and the older the child the more the cry pattern resembled that of the fullterm. The cries of the preterm infants when they had reached 38 conceptual weeks were similar to those of newly born fullterm infants. The results indicate that the gestational age should be taken into consideration in cry analysis.     

Molecular characterization of the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) in 35 French patients with normal conventional cytogenetics.

Idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) characterized by unexplained and persistent hypereosinophilia is heterogeneous and comprises several entities: a myeloproliferative form where myeloid lineages are involved with the interstitial chromosome 4q12 deletion leading to fusion between FIP1L1 and PDGFRA genes, the latter acquiring increased tyrosine kinase activity. And a lymphocytic variant, where hypereosinophilia is secondary to a primitive T lymphoid disorder demonstrated by the presence of a circulating T-cell clone. We performed molecular characterization of HES in 35 patients with normal karyotype by conventional cytogenetic analysis. TCRgamma gene rearrangements suggesting T clonality were seen in 11 (31%) patients, and FIP1L1-PDGFRA by RT-PCR in six (17%) of 35 patients, who showed no evidence of T-cell clonality. An elevated serum tryptase level was observed in FIP1L1-PDGFRA-positive patients responding to imatinib, whereas serum IL-5 levels were not elevated in T-cell associated hypereosinophilia. Sequencing FIP1L1-PDGFRA revealed scattered breakpoints in FIP1L1-exons (10-13), whereas breakpoints were restricted to exon 12 of PDGFRA. In the 29 patients without FIP1L1-PDGFRA, no activating mutation of PDGFRA/PDGFRB was detected; however; one patient responded to imatinib. FISH analysis of the 4q12 deletion was concordant with FIP1L1-PDGFRA RT-PCR data. Further investigation of the nature of FIP1L1-PDGFRA affected cells will improve the classification of HES.     

Efficacy of galcanezumab in patients with migraine and history of failure to 3–4 preventive medication categories: subgroup analysis from CONQUER study

BackgroundChronic migraine (CM) and episodic migraine (EM) are associated with substantial headache-related disability, poor quality of life and global societal burden. In this subgroup analysis from the CONQUER study, we report efficacy outcomes from a pre-specified analysis of galcanezumab versus placebo in patients with CM or EM and 3–4 prior preventive medication category failures due to inadequate efficacy (after at least 2 months at maximum tolerated dose), or safety or tolerability reasons. The patient population is of particular interest due to evidence of decreased quality of life and increased economic burden among patients with migraine that is inadequately managed and is of interest to decision-makers globally.MethodsKey outcomes included overall mean change from baseline in monthly migraine headache days and proportions of patients achieving ≥30% (CM), ≥50%, and ≥ 75% reduction (response rates) in monthly migraine headache days across Months 1–3. Patient functioning and disability were evaluated at Month 3.ResultsOf the 462 randomized patients, 186 (40.3%) had a history of 3–4 preventive category failures. Galcanezumab versus placebo resulted in significantly (P ≤ .001) larger overall mean reduction in monthly migraine headache days (total: − 5.49 versus − 1.03; CM: − 6.70 versus − 1.56; EM: − 3.64 versus − 0.65). Similarly, the ≥50% response rate was significantly (P ≤ .001) higher with galcanezumab versus placebo (total: 41.0 versus 12.7; CM: 41.5 versus 8.4; EM: 41.1 versus 16.5). In the CM group, the ≥30% response rate was significantly higher in the galcanezumab group than the placebo group (CM, 57.5 versus 19.8, P ≤ .0001) as was the ≥75% response rate (13.3 versus 2.6, P ≤ .05). Galcanezumab also resulted in significant (P < .0001) improvements in patient functioning and reductions in disability.ConclusionsGalcanezumab was effective in a difficult-to-treat population of patients with CM or EM who had failed 3–4 prior preventive medication categories.Trial registrationCONQUER. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT03559257","term_id":"NCT03559257"}}NCT03559257.     

Cancer, fertility preservation and gonadotropins

The recent emergence of oncofertility raises the question of ovarian stimulation and its risks when performed for oocyte or/and embryo cryopreservation in a fertility preservation program. The relation between ovarian stimulation and cancer has been marked by the possible direct or indirect tumorigenic role for pituitary gonadotrophins in the tumorogenesis. Although the growth of many gonadal and extragonadal tumors is stimulated by gonadal sex hormones, whose production is regulated by gonadotrophins, there is still a lack of data to consider FSH and LH as tumor promoters. The purpose of this brief review is to present on one hand, the questions raised by the administration of exogenous gonadotrophins in cancer patients and on the other, to evaluate both experimental and clinical data about the possible relation between gonadotrophins and tumorogenesis.     

Pregnancy after breast cancer: an update

Breast cancers account for one third of cancer patients of childbearing age. Given the trend for women to delay childbearing, many of them will not fulfill their parental project at diagnosis of a potential breast cancer. Thus, planning pregnancies in young patients with a history of breast cancer is increasingly becoming a common situation. In this difficult context, several issues have to be discussed with the patient, such as post-chemotherapy premature ovarian failure, fertility-sparing techniques, risk of cancer recurrence or optimal time between cancer and future pregnancy. Potential obstetrical complications, long-term teratogenicity of anti-cancer drugs or breast-feeding are another points that have to be discussed with the patient and her husband. The aim of this updated review of literature was to provide answers to the numerous questions that may be encountered in this type of highly difficult situation. Thus, planning a pregnancy in breast cancer patients seems to be possible with, in one hand, a multidisciplinary approach in order to answer different questions and to avoid side effects of chemotherapy. In the other hand, a close and specialized obstetrical monitoring should be proposed in order to anticipate potential obstetrical complications.     

Conservative management as an initial approach for post-operative voiding dysfunction

Objectives

The management of voiding dysfunction after tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) remains controversial. Timing of surgical intervention is debatable and the role of conservative management is not well researched. This study aims to determine whether self catheterisation is an effective first line management option for these patients.

Study design

389 women underwent a TVT operation over a five year period. Twenty-two (5.6%) developed post-operative voiding dysfunction. Twenty women commenced CISC and their progress was monitored by recording voided volumes and residual urine volumes in a voiding diary and uroflowmetry. Residual volumes of less than 100 ml s were considered normal.

Results

Voiding function returned to normal with self catheterisation in 72% of patients and of these, 85% were cured in less than 12 weeks.

Conclusion

CISC is a suitable and effective initial approach to managing the majority of cases of voiding dysfunction and avoids the risks associated with further surgery, including the recurrence of stress incontinence.