Women's quality of life and mental health in the first year after birth: Associated factors and effects of antenatal preventive measures among mothers in the ELFE cohort.

BACKGROUND: During the perinatal period, women's perceived quality of life (QOL) may be altered due to physiological, psychological, and bodily changes, as well as changes in family functioning. OBJECTIVES: to explore in a sample of women from the general population, the associations between physical and mental QOL at 1 year post-partum and i) pregnancy social support, demographic, socioeconomic, medical and child health-related factors, paternal and maternal psychological characteristics at 2 months and 1 year post-partum, ii) antenatal preventive measures (early prenatal interview/antenatal classes). METHODS: We used data from the "French Longitudinal Study since Childhood" (ELFE), a representative cohort of children and their parents followed from birth to adulthood. Data were collected from mothers in the maternity ward, at 2 months and 1-year post-partum. QOL was assessed using the SF12 physical (PCS-12) and mental (MCS-12) subscales. RESULTS: Women with both low PCS-12 and MCS-12 scores were more likely to have high maternal age and to experience psychological difficulties during pregnancy. They also had more frequent PNDS, quarrels with insults within the couple, low sleep time at 2 months postpartum, and more frequently received psychological, social and child caregiver support, and were more often housewives or students at 1-year post-partum. Others factors are specific for low PCS-12 or MCS-12. There was no association with antenatal preventive measure and QOL at 1-year post-partum. CONCLUSION: Factors influencing maternal QOL are multiple and multidimensional and can mostly be identified during the ante or early postnatal period. A graduated and coordinated preventive and curative pathway would improve women's health. An ecosystemic approach to pregnancy and the perinatal period could help preventing the negative effects of environment on mothers and thus infants during the "1000-day period".

WALANT technique versus locoregional anesthesia in the surgical management of metacarpal and phalangeal fractures: Lessons from the Covid-19 crisis.

Wide Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) is an anesthetic method which uses a local injection of anesthetic and epinephrine, avoiding use of a tourniquet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, human and logistic resources had to be reorganized, and WALANT ensured resilience in our department to maintain access to surgical care. The objective of the present study was to compare hand function recovery 3 months after surgery for unstable metacarpal or phalangeal fracture under regional anesthesia versus WALANT. From November 2020 to May 2021, 36 patients presenting a metacarpal or phalangeal fracture requiring surgical treatment were included in a single-center study in a university hospital center. Nineteen patients underwent surgery under locoregional anesthesia with tourniquet, and 17 under WALANT. The main endpoint was functional recovery at 3 months on QuickDASH score. Need for complementary anesthesia, surgery duration, analgesic consumption, reintervention rate, and patient satisfaction were also assessed. There was no significant difference between groups in functional recovery at 3 months or on the secondary endpoints. In the COVID-19 context, WALANT proved to be a safe and effective method in hand fracture surgery, ensuring access to surgical care. It should be included in surgical training to optimize day-to-day surgical care and face future crises.

Changes in myofilament proteins, but not Ca²âº regulation, are associated with a high-fat diet-induced improvement in contractile function in heart failure.

Pathological conditions such as diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity are characterized by elevated plasma and myocardial lipid levels and have been reported to exacerbate the progression of heart failure (HF). Alterations in cardiomyocyte Ca(2+) regulatory properties and myofilament proteins have also been implicated in contractile dysfunction in HF. However, our prior studies reported that high saturated fat (SAT) feeding improves in vivo myocardial contractile function, thereby exerting a cardioprotective effect in HF. Therefore, we hypothesized that SAT feeding improves contractile function by altering Ca(2+) regulatory properties and myofilament protein expression in HF. Male Wistar rats underwent coronary artery ligation (HF) or sham surgery (SH) and were fed normal chow (SHNC and HFNC groups) or a SAT diet (SHSAT and HFSAT groups) for 8 wk. Contractile properties were measured in vivo [echocardiography and left ventricular (LV) cannulation] and in isolated LV cardiomyocytes. In vivo measures of contractility (peak LV +dP/dt and -dP/dt) were depressed in the HFNC versus SHNC group but improved in the HFSAT group. Isolated cardiomyocytes from both HF groups were hypertrophied and had decreased percent cell shortening and a prolonged time to half-decay of the Ca(2+) transient versus the SH group; however, SAT feeding reduced in vivo myocyte hypertrophy in the HFSAT group only. The peak velocity of cell shortening was reduced in the HFNC group but not the HFSAT group and was positively correlated with in vivo contractile function (peak LV +dP/dt). The HFNC group demonstrated a myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform switch from fast MHC-α to slow MHC-ß, which was prevented in the HFSAT group. Alterations in Ca(2+) transients, L-type Ca(2+) currents, and protein expression of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase and phosphorylated phospholamban could not account for the changes in the in vivo contractile properties. In conclusion, the cardioprotective effects associated with SAT feeding in HF may occur at the level of the isolated cardiomyocyte, specifically involving changes in myofilament function but not sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) regulatory properties.

Effect of zoledronic acid on pain associated with bone metastasis in patients with prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Zoledronic acid reduces skeletal-related events associated with prostate cancer and has long-term efficacy in pain outcomes. Findings of treatment group differences in pain early in treatment are less reliable. We used a recently recommended analytic approach to examine the effect of zoledronic acid on pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a trial of zoledronic acid (n = 214) versus placebo (n = 208), we used the Brief Pain Inventory to assess pain at baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks and every 6 weeks thereafter for a total of 60 weeks. We used a modified longitudinal rank test to determine whether clinically meaningful changes in pain were related to treatment group. RESULTS: Seventy-six of 214 patients (35.5%) receiving zoledronic acid and 62 of 208 patients (29.8%) receiving placebo completed the 60-week visit (P = 0.22). In all 11 pain assessments, patients receiving zoledronic acid reported more favorable, clinically meaningful changes in pain scores. Overall, patients receiving zoledronic acid had a 33% chance of a favorable response, compared with 25% for patients receiving placebo (P = 0.04; 95% CI 0.5% to 15.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Zoledronic acid was more likely than placebo to be associated with clinically meaningful reductions in pain. Thus, zoledronic acid may help to avert the pain experienced by patients with progressing metastatic disease secondary to prostate cancer.

The significance of skeletal-related events for the health-related quality of life of patients with metastatic prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: We examined the clinical relevance of skeletal-related events (SREs) for health state preferences, pain and health-related quality of life in patients with advanced prostate cancer and a history of bone metastases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were from a clinical trial of zoledronic acid versus placebo in the treatment of SREs associated with advanced prostate cancer metastatic to bone. Patients (n=248) were included if they experienced an SRE during the study. Outcome measures were assessed at fixed intervals. We used mixed-effects models to estimate changes in outcomes after each patient's first SRE. RESULTS: There were clinically meaningful and statistically significant declines in physical well-being after: radiation and pathologic fractures; functional well-being after radiation; and emotional well-being after radiation and pathologic fractures. There also were meaningful and significant declines in preference and utility scores after radiation and fracture. Pain intensity declined after radiation, but not after other SREs; no other pain measure changed substantively. CONCLUSIONS: SREs have important and significant effects on measures of health-related quality of life in men with prostate cancer. Treatments that prevent SREs may not demonstrate corresponding effects on outcomes if the effects of SREs occur between scheduled outcome assessments. Implications for trial design are discussed.

A microcosting analysis of zoledronic acid and pamidronate therapy in patients with metastatic bone disease.

Our goal was to calculate resource use associated with administration of zoledronic acid, compared with pamidronate, as palliative care for patients with metastatic bone lesions. We conducted a time-and-motion study of therapy administration at each of three outpatient chemotherapy infusion sites participating in clinical trials of zoledronic acid and pamidronate. We developed a data-collection instrument to record all staff effort and patient resource use in drug administration. The main outcome measures were (a) direct costs of therapy administration per patient and (b) opportunity benefits expressed as the availability of resources gained per year. The average visit time for patients receiving the study dose of zoledronic acid, 4 mg, was 1 h, 6 min, compared to 2 h, 52 min for patients receiving a 90-mg dose of pamidronate. Infusion time accounted for much of the difference. In the base-case analysis, total direct costs per patient were $728 for zoledronic acid and $776 for pamidronate. The opportunity benefit for infusion of zoledronic acid vs pamidronate in the base case was 1.8 chairs per day, or 426 chairs per 240-workday year. Results were sensitive to changes in infusion facility size, days of operation, and average number of patients treated. Shorter infusion time associated with the administration of zoledronic acid, compared with pamidronate, yields substantial time savings for patients, as well as opportunity benefits for outpatient oncology facilities.