Conduire les premières consultations pour obésité en médecine générale. De l’analyse d’une demande à une proposition d’un suivi pour obésité: points forts et pièges à éviter

The quality of healthcare support about obese patients needs to customize rightly the basics of the healthcare plan. The challenges of the first consultations, for the general practitioner and his/her patient are even more important as they engage usually on a long term relationship. The therapeutic management of obese patients cannot be summed up as an energy imbalance between inputs and expenditures. The involved elements in this process are multiple and subtle. There are errors to avoid in order keeping off an impairment of the care relationship for a long time.     

An open trial of adjunctive escitalopram in bipolar depression

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a highly potent and selective serotonergic antidepressant, escitalopram, in the treatment of bipolar depression. METHOD: Twenty outpatients with DSM-IV bipolar depression types I and II were enrolled in a 12-week open trial of escitalopram, 10 mg daily, adjunctive to their ongoing mood stabilizer. Assessments were carried out using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and the Clinical Global Impressions for Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scales. The study was conducted from August 2003 to February 2004. RESULTS: Escitalopram was associated with significant improvement as measured by the HAM-D total score, which showed a mean reduction from baseline (mean = 20.9, SD = 4.2) to endpoint (mean = 8.9, SD = 3.6; p < .001) of 12 points. The mean CGI-S score decreased by 3.3 points (baseline: mean = 4.8, SD = 0.7; week 12: mean = 1.5, SD = 0.6; p < .001). Adverse events emerged in 75% of the patients (N = 15), usually of mild-to-moderate severity. Four dropouts took place due to manic switch (N = 1), hypomanic symptoms (N = 2), and hospitalization due to the emergence of suicidal ideation and psychosis (N = 1). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that escitalopram in association with mood stabilizers may be an effective and reasonably well-tolerated treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe bipolar depression. The switch rate was similar to what is described in the literature for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Randomized controlled trials of escitalopram in bipolar depression are warranted.     

Changes in serological markers of hepatitis B virus after renal transplantation

An estimated 350 million persons worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Immunosuppression after renal transplantation seems to enhance viral replication and increase the risk of developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. This retrospective study was performed to assess the prevalence among and serological status of HBV infection after renal transplantation at a single university Brazilian center. Thirty six (4.2%) patients among 850 kidney recipients showed positive HBsAg for more than 6 months; 31 were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive at transplantation. Of the 15 hepatitis B e antigen (HbeAg) positive patients, six had spontaneous HBeAg seroconversion and three also had HBsAg clearance. An additional two showed HBeAg clearance with Lamivudine without seroconversion. Among 15 HBeAg-negative patients, three developed HBeAg reversion with no elevation of alanine transferase (ALT) levels and one had HBsAg clearance. Only one patient had acute exacerbation of hepatitis B (ALT > 20 times normal range) but remained HbeAg negative. During follow-up, five patients became HBsAg positive; two reactivations of resolved hepatitis B, two with previous anti-HBS induced by vaccination, and one with no serological marker for HBV. Lamivudine was prescribed for 16 patients, two of whom had HbeAg clearance without seroconversion and five who developed viral resistance to Lamivudine after a mean of 29.2 months. No hepatocellular carcinoma or deaths related to hepatitis B were seen in this group. In summary, prevalence of HBV in kidney transplant patients was 4.2%. Immunosuppression after renal transplantation in HBV infection led to an increased risk of liver complications and changes in HBV serological status.     

Dynamics of anti‐human leukocyte antigen antibodies after renal transplantation and their impact on graft outcome

The purpose of this study was to sequentially monitor anti‐HLA antibodies and correlate the results with antibody‐mediated rejection (AMR), graft survival (GS), and graft function (GF). We collected sera from 111 kidney transplant recipients on transplant days 0, 7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 180, and 360 and analyzed PRA levels by ELISA. DSAs were analyzed by single‐antigen beads in rejecting kidneys. At pre‐transplant, 79.3% of the patients were non‐sensitized (PRA = 0%) and 20.7% were sensitized (PRA > 1%). After transplant, patients were grouped by PRA profile: no anti‐HLA antibodies pre‐ or post‐transplant (group HLApre?/post?; n = 80); de novo anti‐HLA antibodies post‐transplant (group HLApre?/post+; n = 8); sensitized pre‐transplant/increased PRA post‐transplant (group HLApre+/post↑; n = 9); and sensitized pre‐transplant/decreased PRA post‐transplant (group HLApre+/post↓; n = 14). De novo anti‐HLA antibodies were detected at 7–180 d. In sensitized patients, PRA levels changed within the first 30 d post‐transplant. Incidence of AMR was higher in HLApre?/post+ and HLApre+/post↑ than in HLApre?/post?, and HLApre+/post↓ (p < 0.001) groups. One‐yr death‐censored GS was 36% in group HLApre+/post↑, compared with 98%, 88% and 100% in groups HLApre?/post?, HLApre?/post+, and HLApre+/post↓, respectively (p < 0.001). Excluding first‐year graft losses, GF and GS were similar among the groups. In conclusion, post‐transplant antibody monitoring can identify recipients at higher risk of AMR.     

Heterogeneity of B cell involvement in acute nonlymphocytic leukemia

In order to study the pattern of B cell involvement in acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL), multiple B lymphoid cell lines were established by Epstein-Barr virus transformation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from two patients with the disease who were heterozygous for the X chromosome-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). In one patient, the progenitor cells involved by the leukemia exhibited multipotent differentiative expression, whereas in the other patient the cells showed differentiative expression restricted to the granulocytic pathway. In the patient whose abnormal clone showed multipotent expression, the ratio of B-A G6PD in B lymphoid cell lines was skewed in the direction of type B (the enzyme characteristic of the leukemia clone) and significantly different from the 1:1 ratio expected. It is, therefore, likely that the neoplastic event occurred in a stem cell common to the lymphoid series as well as to the myeloid series. In contrast, evidence for B cell involvement was not detected in the patient whose ANLL progenitor cells exhibited restricted differentiative expression. These findings underscore the heterogeneity of ANLL. Clinically and morphologically similar malignancies in these two patients originated in progenitors with different patterns of stem cell differentiative expression. This difference may reflect differences in cause and pathogenesis.     

Ectopic pituitary grafts in mice: hormone levels, effects on fertility, and the development of adenomyosis uteri, prolactinomas, and mammary carcinomas

Some endocrinological consequences of grafting hypophyses of mice to sites distant from the hypothalamic-pituitary portal vessels were investigated. Serum PRL levels in recipients rose within 3 weeks to levels seen during pregnancy, resulting in a premature increase in serum progesterone (P) levels. After 7 weeks, luteolytic effects were evident in BALB/c females, and P values had plateaued in the range of those seen in normal adult animals, while in BALB/c X C3H F1 hybrids, this effect was delayed, and P values rose, reaching, in some animals, levels reported during pregnancy. Despite continuing hyperprolactinemia, the fertility of graft-bearing females was reduced only slightly. By the 6th month, lesions of adenomyosis were frequent in uteri of C3H and F1 hybrids, but essentially absent from BALB/c animals. The number of corpora lutea was reduced in all experimental groups, yet serum P values were somewhat elevated in hybrid females and BALB/c animals bearing three grafts. Evidence is presented indicating that PRL enhances the action of P on both the estrogen-stimulating vagina and uterus. Small groups of grafted BALB/c and hybrid females not infected with exogenous mouse mammary tumor virus were allowed to survive until mammary cancers developed or until they reached 18 months of age. The grafts in the hybrids routinely became adenomatous, producing serm PRL levels of 1-21 X 10(3) ng/ml; only one secreted excessive GH. Adenomyosis wained in the aged hybrids, apparently due to declining ovarian function. The majority of the animals developed adenoid cystic mammary cancers that seemed to arise from areas of hyperplasia within dilated ducts rather than from alveolar hyperplasias, as is most frequently the case in mice carrying exogenous mouse mammary tumor virus.     

Ventral hernia repair: a study of current practice

Ventral wall hernias are common; despite this, there are no guidelines on the best surgical management. The aim of this study was to examine the types of repair in use for abdominal wall hernias in the West of Scotland over a 3-month period. Data were gathered on 120 patients. There were 60 incisional, 32 umbilical, and 28 epigastric hernias. The main indication for repair was pain (78%), while 12 patients (10%), presented acutely with incarceration or strangulation. The most common method of repair was sutured (55%), followed by mesh (29%) and Mayo repair (16%). There was no correlation between use of mesh and hernia size or whether repair was for a recurrent hernia. Surgical practice varies widely in the repair of ventral wall hernias. Clinical trials are required to establish the best method of repair for this common condition. Electronic Publication     

The occurrence of osteoarthritis at a minimum of ten years after reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament

Objective  

The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of radiographic osteoarthritis in the operated knee in comparison with the contralateral knee ten years after a bone-tendon bone patellar autograft ACL-reconstruction and to evaluate to which level patients regain activity ten years after reconstruction.