Spirometry practice by French general practitioners between 2010 and 2018 in adults aged 40 to 75 years.

In France, most spirometries are performed by pneumologists. Spirometry is difficult to access due to the distance to medical office and long delays for appointments. This lack of accessibility contributes to the underdiagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among patients aged between 40 and 75 years. In recent years, general practitioners (GPs) have been performing spirometry in private practice. However, the extent of this practice is unknown. A French retrospective, repetitive transversal study analysed data from the "Système National des Données de Santé" (SNDS) database. The targeted population was GPs in primary care that performed spirometries between 2010 and 2018, in patients aged between 40 and 75 years. Between 2010 and 2018, 302,674 (7.2%) spirometries were performed in France by GPs in private practices, in patients 40 to 75 years old. 5.4% by "expert GPs" (>60 spirometries/year) and 1.8% by "non-expert GPs". In "non-expert GPs" (2.8% of French GPs in 2018), the annual number of spirometries increased by 701 each year (p < 2.104), the annual number of GPs performing spirometries increased by 114 each year (p < 2.10-5). Overall, 24.9% of the spirometries performed by GPs were referrals from other GPs. The number of spirometries performed by GPs and the number of GPs performing spirometries has gradually increased over time. However, this increase is inadequate considering the need to early detect and follow up respiratory disorders.

[Guidelines for the management of chronic cough in adults]. / Recommandations de prise en charge de la toux chronique de l'adulte.

Patients with chronic cough experience major alteration in their quality of life. Given its numerous etiologies and treatments, this disease is a complex entity. To help clinicians involved in patient management of patients, guidelines have been issued by a group of French experts. They address definitions of chronic cough and initial management of patients with this pathology. We present herein the second-line tests that might be considered in patients whose coughing has persisted, notwithstanding initial management. The experts have also put forward a definition of unexplained or refractory chronic cough (URCC), the objective being to more precisely identify those patients whose cough persists despite optimal management. Lastly, these guidelines indicate the pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions of use in URCC. Amitriptyline, pregabalin, gabapentin or morphine combined with speech and/or physical therapy are mainstays in treatment strategies. Other treatment options, such as P2X3 antagonists, are being developed and have generated high hopes among physicians and patients alike.

Hypnotherapy and insomnia: A narrative review of the literature.

INTRODUCTION: Hypnotherapy is increasingly used in general medicine in France to manage health problems such as insomnia. There is some evidence to support the efficacy of hypnosis in treating insomnia but this evidence is based on methodologies of various strengths. This review aims to explore the methodological elements employed in hypnotherapy research to manage insomnia. METHOD: We performed a narrative review of the literature using systematic review methods focusing on treating insomnia with hypnosis. PubMed, Psycinfo, BASE and Cochrane databases and Google scholar were searched. RESULTS: Overall, 25 studies were included consisting of 10 case studies, 11 randomised, controlled trials and 4 pre and post intervention studies. The study designs, intervention, control and comparators were heterogeneous, as were the hypnosis definitions and techniques. Also, detailed descriptions of the hypnosis techniques were lacking. Most studies used non-quantifiable measurement criteria and sample numbers were too small to show significance or be representative. No double-blind study was found. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the current research concerning the efficacy of hypnosis to relieve insomnia is lacking in key methodological elements. The evaluation research process requires robust methodology. We propose applying the IDEAL framework, which recommends research steps to evaluate non-pharmacological and other complex therapies to evaluate the efficacy of hypnosis to manage insomnia.

[Early satisfaction with care among outpatients with substance dependence]. / Satisfaction précoce vis-à-vis des soins ambulatoires chez des patients dépendants aux substances psychoactives.

BACKGROUND: Patient satisfaction with health care is an important indicator of health care quality. The main objective was to identify factors associated with early outpatient satisfaction with care 45 days after study inclusion for alcohol and opioid dependence. The secondary objective was to study the reproducibility of the satisfaction during the care. METHODS: A longitudinal study was conducted. Satisfaction was assessed during the early care process 15 and 45 days after study inclusion using the quality of care satisfaction questionnaire in outpatient consultation EQS-C. Multiple linear regression was performed to identify the variables associated with satisfaction level. The reproducibility of the questionnaire between the two measurements (15 and 45 days after inclusion) was tested by intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: A total of 189 outpatients were included, and 90 patients completed the satisfaction questionnaire both at 15 and 45 days after inclusion. The level of early satisfaction with care was high. If patients without a history of previous care for substance dependence were at first more satisfied at 45 days (ß=6.8; P=0.05) than those who had received care previously, only the total score of the satisfaction with care at 15 days is associated with satisfaction with care at 45 days when taken into account in the model (ß=0,7; P<0.0001). The results indicated good total satisfaction reproducibility with an intraclass correlation coefficient ICC=0.68. CONCLUSION: We recommend an early measure of satisfaction with care among outpatients with substance dependence.

[Targeted screening of COPD in primary care: Feasibility and effectiveness]. / Détection précoce de la BPCO en soins primaires : un essai contrôlé randomisé.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common but under-diagnosed pathology in primary care. The objective was to study the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial in general practice to detect new cases of COPD at an earlier stage. METHODS: A cluster randomized, controlled, multicenter intervention study comparing, according to a 2×2 factorial plan, two case finding strategies: a systematic GOLD-HAS hetero-questionnaire and coordination of the patient's path to facilitate access to spirometry. The PIL-DISCO pilot study took place in 2017. Patients between 40 and 80 years old, with no previous history of COPD, consulting their GP on a given day regardless of the reason, were included. RESULTS: 176 patients were included in 1.5 days. Spirometry was performed in none of the control arm, in 13 (29.5%) of the questionnaire arm, in 22 (50%) in the coordination arm and in 32 (72.7%) with the combination of the two strategies. Two cases of stage 2 COPD and thirteen other respiratory diseases were diagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the feasibility of the protocol in primary care in terms of speed of inclusion and acceptability. An extension phase aiming to include 3200 patients will assess the diagnostic value of the two strategies tested in general practice.

Case-control study found that primary language disorders were associated with screen exposure.

AIM: We explored the associations between childhood exposure to screens, including televisions, computers, game consoles, tablets and smartphones and primary language disorders. METHODS: This multi-centre case-control study comprised 167 children aged 3.5-6.5 years, who were born in 2010-2012 and diagnosed with primary language disorders, and 109 matched controls without language disorders. Questionnaires were completed by their parents who were recruited by 16 family doctors and 27 speech and language therapists in the Ille-et-Vilaine region of France. The data were analysed using a multivariate logistic regression model and presented as adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: We found that cases (44.3%) and controls (22.0%) exposed to screens in the morning before nursery or primary school were three times more likely to develop primary language disorders (aOR 3.40, 95% CI 1.60-7.23). When this risk was combined with rarely or never discussing screen content with their parents (aOR 2.14, 95% CI 1.01-4.54) they were six times more likely to have language problems (aOR 5.86, 95% CI 1.44-23.95). CONCLUSION: Being exposed to screens in the morning before school, and rarely or never discussing screen content with parents, meant children were six times more likely to develop primary language disorders.

Does Secretory Clearance Follow Glomerular Filtration Rate in Chronic Kidney Diseases? Reconsidering the Intact Nephron Hypothesis.

Drug-dose modification in chronic kidney disease (CKD) utilizes glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with the implicit assumption that multiple renal excretory processes decline in parallel as CKD progresses. We compiled published pharmacokinetic data to evaluate if GFR predicts renal clearance changes as a function of CKD severity. For each drug, we calculated ratio of renal clearance to filtration clearance (Rnf). Of 21 drugs with Rnf >0.74 in subjects with GFR >90 mL/min (implying filtration and secretion), 13 displayed significant change in Rnf vs. GFR (slope of linear regression statistically different from zero), which indicates failure of GFR to predict changes in secretory clearance. The dependence was positive (n = 3; group A) or negative (n = 10; group B). Eight drugs showed no correlation (group C). Investigated drugs were small molecules, mostly hydrophilic, and ionizable, with some characterized as renal transporter substrates. In conclusion, dosing adjustments in CKD require refinement; in addition to GFR, biomarkers of tubular function are needed for secreted drugs.

Characteristics and prognosis of pneumococcal endocarditis: a case-control study.

Case series have suggested that pneumococcal endocarditis is a rare disease, mostly reported in patients with co-morbidities but no underlying valve disease, with a rapid progression to heart failure, and high mortality. We performed a case-control study of 28 patients with pneumococcal endocarditis (cases), and 56 patients with non-pneumococcal endocarditis (controls), not matched for sex and age, during the years 1991-2013, in one referral centre. Alcoholism (39.3% versus 10.7%; p <0.01), smoking (60.7% versus 21.4%; p <0.01), the absence of previously known valve disease (82.1% versus 60.7%; p 0.047), heart failure (64.3% versus 23.2%; p <0.01) and shock (53.6% versus 23.2%; p <0.01) were more common in pneumococcal than in non-pneumococcal endocarditis. Cardiac surgery was required in 64.3% of patients with pneumococcal endocarditis, much earlier than in patients with non-pneumococcal endocarditis (mean time from symptom onset, 14.1 ± 18.2 versus 69.0 ± 61.1 days). In-hospital mortality rates were similar (7.1% versus 12.5%). Streptococcus pneumoniae causes rapidly progressive endocarditis requiring life-saving early cardiac surgery in most cases.

The concept of temporal 'plus' epilepsy.

The concept of temporal 'plus' epilepsy (T+E) is not new, and a number of observations made by means of intracerebral electrodes have illustrated the complexity of neuronal circuits that involve the temporal lobe. The term T+E was used to unify and better individualize these specific forms of multilobar epilepsies, which are characterized by electroclinical features primarily suggestive of temporal lobe epilepsy, MRI findings that are either unremarkable or show signs of hippocampal sclerosis, and intracranial recordings which demonstrate that seizures arise from a complex epileptogenic network including a combination of brain regions located within the temporal lobe and over closed neighbouring structures such as the orbitofrontal cortex, the insulo-opercular region, and the temporo-parieto-occipital junction. We will review here how the term of T+E has emerged, what it means, and which practical consideration it raises.

Duplication and quadruplication of Arabidopsis thaliana cysteinyl- and asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase genes of organellar origin.

Two cysteinyl-tRNA synthetases (CysRS) and four asparaginyl-tRNA synthetases (AsnRS) from Arabidopsis thaliana were characterized from genome sequence data, EST sequences, and RACE sequences. For one CysRS and one AsnRS, sequence alignments and prediction programs suggested the presence of an N-terminal organellar targeting peptide. Transient expression of these putative targeting sequences joined to jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP) demonstrated that both presequences can efficiently dual-target GFP to mitochondria and plastids. The other CysRS and AsnRSs lack targeting sequences and presumably aminoacylate cytosolic tRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the four AsnRSs evolved by repeated duplication of a gene transferred from an ancestral plastid and that the CysRSs also arose by duplication of a transferred organelle gene (possibly mitochondrial). These case histories are the best examples to date of capture of organellar aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases by the cytosolic protein synthesis machinery.