Avoiding the stigma. A qualitative study of socially included women's experiences of drug use and dealing, health services and the police in France.

The figure of drug user and dealer is stigmatized, linked to violence and illness. This is due to a reductionist discourse which implements othering processes generating scapegoat figures in the drug world. All drug users and sellers are assimilated with these spoiled identities in the media or in drug policies, while the reality is much more diverse. This article draws on relational sociology to focus on figures who are the antithesis of stereotypes: socially integrated women who use or sell drugs (WUSD) and are invisible to the health and control enforcement agencies. By seeking to avoid the stigma of the drug user's and dealer's identities, how do socially included WUSD distance themselves from the control enforcement agencies and health institutions? This qualitative research is based on 26 semi-structured interviews conducted with socially included WUSD in France. Participants were recruited using a snowball sampling strategy. It appears that the participants normalized their drug use and integrated it into their professional and personal lives. Some were drug user-dealers and had social supply practices, selling the drugs they used to their friends in order to finance their consumption. None of the participants have ever been in contact with harm reduction and addiction services, both because they do not identify with the users of these services, and because these services are not designed to support this population. With the police, the participants play gender games and show their social inclusion to protect themselves from arrest. In both cases, the stigmatized figure of the drug user and drug seller alienate the participants from the health systems and control enforcement agencies. One of the consequences of the othering process is the invisibility of those who do not want to be identified as "others" by the health and law enforcement services. Rethinking drug policy is essential to reach populations that may need information and support.

How non-drug interventions affect the quality of life of patients suffering from progressive cognitive decline and their main caregiver.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of cure for age-related neurodegenerative diseases, non-drug interventions (NDIs) represent useful options. Quality of life (QOL) is a multidimensional concept progressively affected by cognitive decline. How single or multiple NDIs impact QOL is unknown. RESULTS: We found no significant effect of multiple over single NDI on QOL. Socio-demographic variables influenced patients' (age, gender, caregivers' occupational status, management of patients' financial affairs) and caregivers' (gender, occupational status, patients' severity of cognitive decline) QOL. When dyads interrupted interventions after 6 months, their QOL was lower and caregivers' anxiety, depression and physical symptoms were higher at the end of the study. CONCLUSIONS: While the type and number of interventions do not appear to be critical, the continuity of adapted interventions in the long-term might be important for maintaining QOL of patients and caregivers. METHODS: This is a multicenter (7 Swiss Memory Clinics), quasi-experimental, one-year follow-up study including 148 subjects (mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia patients and their caregivers). Primary outcome was the effect of multiple vs single NDIs on QOL. Secondary outcome included NDIs effect on patients' cognitive impairment and functional autonomy, caregivers' burden, severity of patients' neuropsychiatric symptoms and dyads' anxiety and depression.

[Cognitive impairment and non-medical interventions: quality of life of patients and their caregivers]. / Troubles cognitifs et interventions non médicamenteuses†: qualité de vie des patients et de leurs proches.

In the absence of curative pharmaceutical treatment for evolving cognitive impairment, non-drug interventions are key components in patients' and caregivers' care. These interventions, when combined and adapted to the needs of the patient and the caregiver, allow for maintaining functional autonomy, decreasing caregiver burden and, possibly, slowing down cognitive decline. An on-going study in Suisse Romande (INDID-MCI-QOL) assesses the effect of the number and type of interventions conducted over a year on the evolution of physical, psychological and cognitive health in this population.

Les interventions non médicamenteuses sont des outils clés dans la prise en charge des patients atteints de troubles cognitifs évolutifs et de leurs proches aidants, en l'absence de traitement médicamenteux curatif. Ces interventions, lorsqu'elles sont combinées et adaptées aux besoins du patient et du proche aidant, permettent un meilleur maintien de l'autonomie, une diminution du sentiment de fardeau et pourraient même aider à ralentir le déclin cognitif. Une étude en cours en Suisse romande (INDID-MCI-QOL) évalue l'effet à un an du nombre et du type d'interventions non médicamenteuses effectuées sur l'évolution de la santé physique, cognitive et psychologique de cette population.

Morel-Lavallee lesion in an adolescent with ultrasound and MRI correlation.

The Morel-Lavallee lesion is a serous collection in the region of the greater trochanter, resulting from a closed degloving injury at the deep fascial interface. Imaging demonstrates characteristic appearance in relation to this lesion, differentiating it from other mass lesions. We report a case of Morel-Lavallee lesion in an adolescent, with ultrasound and MRI correlation.