B Acad Nat Med Paris
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Jan 2000
Historical Article[How has the management of mentally disabled people changed?].
Greeting the mentally disabled has largely changed with time. The first attempts to assume "idiots", as Esquirol characterized them, are due to him and his followers, among whom must be mentioned Seguin and Bourneville, whose ward in Bicêtre Hospital was unfortunately suppressed in 1920. ⋯ Nothing has been planned to greet them when grown adults, probably because their life expectancy was then precarious. It is not so at the present time, and their ageing creates a great problem.
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Jan 2000
[Consequences of increased longevity in people with intellectual disability, for the family and society].
People with intellectual disabilities are living far longer than in the past, and this new longevity is creating a series of new problems, among them bottlenecks in special services; changes in relationships between the person, his/her family and professional staff; a new social image for the person with an intellectual disability.
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Jan 1999
Review[Current data on major novel antiamalaria drugs: Artemisinin (qinghaosu) derivatives].
Artemisinin or Qinghaosu (QHS) and its derivatives (mainly artemether and artesunate) are novel and the most rapidly acting antimalarial drugs, effective in adults and children against all the Plasmodium of humans, including multi-drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Resistance to these drugs has not been identified so far. QHS derivatives are very well tolerated and there is no evidence of serious clinical toxicity in man. ⋯ This route eliminates several disadvantages or risks associated with injections. The best indication for rectal administration will be probably a rescue treatment of severe malaria in rural and poorly equipped dispensaries before transfer to hospital for treatment using conventional modalities. All QHS derivatives should not be used for chemophophylaxis.
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Jan 1999
Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial[Sudden cardiac death: the chain of survival in France].
In 1991 the concept of chain of survival was widely accepted. In France, one of the main difficulties was to perform early defibrillation. Only physicians were authorized to use defibrillators and the survival rate was not better than 1 to 2%. ⋯ The survival rate of the 317 FV was 15.1% (9.5% without neurological impairment). This results are encouraging but not sufficient. Since 1998, AED can be legally used by non physicians professionals, but the others links of the chain have to be improved, particularly by educating the public.
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We are faced with difficult and complex questions that cannot be answered by stating great principles or ideological convictions, because they refer to painful situations, always singular, in which each individual, in a unique way, faces his life and his death. But the debate can draw on shared convictions and values. Thus, before being a way of assuming death, the Christian faith is fundamentally a way of welcoming the life, in all times and in its fullness, that Christ has given us. ⋯ When that image of dignity gets shaky, one discovers sorts of dignity that do not answer those criteria, but that testify that any "body" can be a subject, and that we know nothing about it. Lastly, no law or moral authority, be they lax or restrictive, can suppress compassion, nor the ethical responsibility of the patient, of the doctors, of the family circle. None can take the place of the common requirement: go along with life up to death.