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Aims: To analyse recent acute painful conditions for which general practitioners (GPs) would prescribe aspirin., Methods: Prospective observational study investigating GPs' prescription of aspirin to adult patients with acute pain of < or =5 days of duration. Pain intensity was graded on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) prior to and at the 48th hour of aspirin therapy., Results: 4765 patients (53.9% males), aged 42.6 +/- 14.7 years, with recent acute pain (2.2 +/- 1.2 days) were enrolled. Aspirin was prescribed at a mean daily dose of 3g, for musculoskeletal pain (40.8%), headaches and/or migraine (30.7%), ENT pain (23.2%) or dental pain (9.5%), some patients having complained of different types of pain. Pain relief was assessable in 3793 patients (79.6%). In this population, pain intensity was reduced by 65% within 48 hours, from 63.5 +/- 16.7 mm to 22.2 +/- 17.1 mm on the VAS. The rate of responders (decrease > or =75 % on VAS) was 39.6%; however it varied markedly across the different painful disorders., Conclusion: Our survey suggests that GPs may prescribe aspirin for acute pain states similar to those for which they prescribe over-the-counter non aspirin non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Background: The oral status of people living in precarious conditions is problematic. Although the public universal health insurance should allow better access to care, access to dental care remains a critical issue. The analysis of the patient population of a hospital dental consultation (Groupe Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris) seemed relevant to evaluate the needs of care and the means to provide it. The principal objectives are: to estimate dental health and needs of this population, to describe their sociodemographic characteristics and to compare them with patients living in common social conditions., Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from February to June 2003. A medical questionnaire and a dental file record were used. All outpatients coming to the dental consultation, in need of conservative or prosthetic treatment, were included. We analysed the risk factors associated with poor dental health., Results: Three hundred and thirty three questionnaires were analysed: two third were men, 45% were foreigners. More than half of them benefited from a special social health insurance for disadvantaged people or didn't have any health insurance. The comparative analysis of this precarious group vs regular insured people showed significant differences for sociodemographic and oral characteristics. Namely, in the precarious group, a poor dental status was generally observed: more cavities (3.6 versus 2), more absent teeth not replaced (6.8 versus 3.5) and less treated teeth (1.9 versus 3.9)--p < 0.0001. Multivariate analysis showed that main risk factors of poor dental status were to be aged and to be a foreigner., Conclusion: This study stresses the importance of the dental care needs in a context of poor insurance refunding for the costs of dental treatments and the lack of structures able to provide dental care for patients living in difficult social condition. These findings question the organization of the dental care system in France.

The electrophysiological characteristics of the blink reflex evoked by electrical stimulation of supraorbital nerve (V1) have been studied in the awake and anaesthetized rat. This reflex has two components (R1 and R2). The first one, R1, is of short latency, strictly ipsilateral to the stimulus and exhibits all features of an oligosynaptic reflex response. The second component, R2, of longer latency, is observed bilaterally in awaked but ipsilaterally in lightly anaesthetized and totally depressed in deeply anaesthetized animals. This component possesses all characteristics of a largely multi-synaptic reflex response.

(1) A similar proportion of cells in the VPM (24.7%), MGmc (24%), CM (26.8%) and CL (28.6%) is activated by electrical stimulation of the cat's dental pulp. However the thresholds are very different, cells belonging to the first group of the VPM being often activated by stimulation below 0.1 V. (2) Pain seems to be the unique sensation evoked by pulpal stimulation. A first group of cells somatotopically localized in the VPM displays a primary type of response. These cells can also be activated from an oral or perioral field. This fact is reminiscent of referred pain phenomenon often encountered in the clinic. (3) A second group of cells scattered in the VPM and activated by pulpal stimulation displays a non-primary type of response. (4) Strong pinching of the skin activates some MGmc cells tonically. Response characteristics of the MGmc cells after pulpal stimulation are heterogeneojs. (5) CM cells activated by pulpal stimulation display long latency responses whose properties are similar to those obtained after somatic stimulation. However, the latency of responses are shorter after limb stimulation than after pulpal stimulation.

Using glass micropipettes unitary activities were recorded at the level of the trigeminal sensory complex. Iontophoresis of pontamine blue allowed us to localise the recording loci. Two types of spikes were observed, they were distinguished on the basis of their shape: one corresponds to an axon spike, the other to a cell body spike.