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Introduction: Health sciences students usually report high rates of mental health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic context may have serious psychological impacts in this at-risk population. We aimed to assess the self-reported mental health status, health-related quality of life and coping strategies of health sciences students during the early stage of the pandemic., Method: An online 128-item questionnaire sent to 17,673 health sciences students from the Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 in April 2020 assessed: a) sociodemographic characteristics, b) conditions of lockdown, c) depressive (Beck Depression Inventory- Short Form, BDI-SF), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-A, STAI-A) and traumatic symptoms (Impact of Event Scale -Revised, IES-R), d) health-related quality of life (SF12) and e) coping strategies (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced, Brief COPE)., Results: The participation rate was 9.9% (n=1,765). A total of 19.5% of participants reported an IES-R>33, 11.6% depressive symptoms, 58.1% anxiety symptoms, and 4.4% suicidal ideation. Their mental health-related quality of life was significantly poorer than for physical health. Female gender, COVID-like symptoms, social isolation due to the lockdown, pandemic-related financial restraint and exams-related stress were significantly associated with poorer self-reported mental health conditions. Volunteering in the healthcare system was significantly associated with lower mental health scores. Coping strategies were mostly oriented toward avoidance and positive appraisal., Conclusion: French health sciences students exhibited high levels of self-reported mental health problems and a poor mental health-related quality of life during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific risk factors related to the pandemic partly explain the observed prevalence., (Copyright © 2021 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Schizophrenia is a frequent disorder since it affects about 1% of the general population. Drug compliance, that is to say patients' adherence to their treatment, remains rather poor concerning this disease with, on an average, one patient out of two not complying with his/her medication. Among the factors influencing drug compliance, we focused on patients' beliefs in terms of health control, a concept known as health locus of control. This is a concept that originated from social psychology and derived from the Rotters' original concept of locus of control: it corresponds to the type of connexion established by an individual between subsequent events in the history of his/her disease and internal (personal abilities) or external factors (chance, powerful others). Nowadays, the tridimensional structure of this concept is commonly admitted as being in three dimensions: internality, chance externality and powerful others externality, the latter group being divided between doctors and others. We have assumed that there is a correlation between the degree of drug compliance and the internal and/or doctors' external health locus of control. For this purpose, we have determined the quality of drug compliance by using the Medical Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) and the type of health locus of control by using the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scale among 65 schizophrenic patients. We have also considered it was important to evaluate patients' insight by using the Amador's scale (Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder) because many researchers have established a strong correlation between insight and drug compliance in schizophrenia. Associations between the four dimensions of health locus of control ("internal", "chance external", "others external" and "doctors' external") and drug compliance were assessed by estimating Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (r) and its degree of significance (p). These associations were judged significant at an alpha threshold of 5%, which corresponded to a level of p inferior to 0.05. Our results tend to confirm a statistically significant positive correlation between internal (r=0.25; p=0.043) and/or doctors' external (r=0.27; p=0.027) health locus of control and drug compliance. Conversely, there is no correlation between chance external or others' external health locus of control and drug compliance (p>0.05). This means that the more patients believe that their schizophrenia can be controlled by themselves and/or by doctors, the more they follow their prescriptions. Furthermore, the link between health locus of control and drug compliance appears to be confused by two dimensions of insight, namely awareness of the response to the treatment and perceived need for treatment. An application of these results is that, in the case of patients whose health locus of control is chance or others' external, it can be beneficial to attempt to change their beliefs in order to improve drug compliance. These results hold particular interest in the field of psycho-education and can be directly applied to cognitive therapy for beliefs among stabilized schizophrenic patients., (Copyright © 2010 L'Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

We propose studying signs of cervicothoracic CSF hypotension by MRI. Axial T1-weighted GRE sequence with and without saturation bands positioned above and below the selected image plane, MR venography and MR Angiography with contrast administration are helpful to confirm the venous nature of the epidural thickening and to make the differential diagnosis with infectious or neoplastic epiduritis.

A 67-year-old woman had three different tumors of the eyelids. The most prominent one was a nevus of the free margin of the inferior left eyelid. The nevus was followed for 18 months without change while two epidermal papillomatous tumors grew and were surgically removed. Histopathology disclosed that one tumor was a seborrheic keratosis and the other was a pre-epitheliomatous keratosis. Histologic evaluation of the margins showed that surgical removal was complete. A regular examination of the scars was recommended to the patient.

The purpose of this article is to clarify interactions between oral contraception (using low- and high-dose oral contraceptives) and the main neurological diseases occurring in genitally active women. Vascular disorders predominate, since contraception is in itself a well-recognized a risk factor, especially in case of other intercurrent risk factors (high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, history of vascular event) contradicting contraception. Low-dose oral contraception can be proposed for women free of these risk factors. There is however a formal contraindication for oral contraception, even with mini-dose contraceptives, for women with a history of cerebral venous thrombosis. In case of migraine headache, which is also a risk factor of vascular disease (especially in case of aura), oral contraceptives should be discussed on an individual basis, depending on the presence of other risk factors. Contraception has no effect on epilepsy but oral contraceptives may be inhibited by inducing anti-seizure drugs. Non-inducing drugs are preferable. The course of certain brain tumors known to express estrogen or progesterone receptors (particularly meningiomas and hemangioblastomas) may worsen with oral contraception, which is formally contradicted except when search for hormone receptors is negative. Oral contraception has no influence in other disease such as multiple sclerosis

The kinetics of cerebrospinal fluid can be analyzed equally well with velocity imaging and 3D T2-weighted flow sensitive sequences. These techniques constitute a valuable evaluation for intracranial and spinal CSF obstructive pathology.

The authors present the different aspects of HIV encephalitis in CT and MR in a series of 15 patients with anatomopathological proof. Atrophy was the most commonly found lesion (12 patients) and could rapidly be evolutive. White matter lesions (9 patients) were more of ten nodular than diffuse. They were better demonstrated by MRI and did not enhance after intra-venous injection of DOTA-gadolinium. A frequent association with opportunistic infections (toxoplasmosis: 10 patients, CMV:2 patients), lymphoma (4 patients), or PML (3 patients) was observed which emphasized the low specificity of brain imaging in patients with HIV encephalitis.

The authors report an original method to explore vascular structures. This method combines the presaturation technique with gradient-echo vascular imaging, and it makes it possible to obtain qualitative data complementing those obtained by digital subtraction angiography in cerebral vascular pathology.

From a serie of ten cases of compressive vertebral hemangiomas (H.V.C.), the interest of different imaging methods was evaluated. CT scan and M.R.I. were the best imaging modalities in most cases. A CT guided biopsy was necessary in three cases to differentiate from metastasis. Angiography permitted to establish the vascular patterns and to evaluate the usefulness of embolization performed in six cases.

In Guadeloupe, during a general survey on intestinal schistosomiasis, the authors made a structural analysis of a limited focus of infection. The focus is formed by a river basin on the Carribean coast of Basse-Terre island. Sampling of the various elements of the parasitic cycle was done in spatial units defined by ecological and epidemiological criteria. The study of corresponding populations shows that: -- inside the twelve delimited sectors, only two include both hosts and parasites. They are zones with ditches and small temporary streams; -- the vector (Biomphalaria glabrata) density is always high in inhabited sectors; -- the rat, although present over the whole river basin, is only parasitized near inhabited places; -- fluorescent antibody level is an excellent indicator of the level of infection of human populations. Its variation can be detected in a time interval of less than one year; -- distance from contaminated water is one of the principal risk factors. A mathematical expression for this is given.

The authors describe seven cases of pituitary adenoma with acute neurological symptoms (the so-called pituitary apoplexy), which were examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Four patients underwent surgery and the diagnosis of pituitary adenoma was histologically confirmed. In 3 patients, conservative treatment was decided and serial MRI examinations showed progressive decrease in size of the tumour, leading in one case to an empty sella. Computerized tomography (CT) was positive in all 7 cases, but less contributive than T1-weighted MRI images both for tumoral volume determination and detection of intratumoral haemorrhage. Although theoretical problems may arise concerning the diagnosis of acute intratumoral bleeding at an early stage, the authors emphasize the value of MRI in showing the extension of the tumor into the retroclival cistern and the cavernous sinus, especially when surgery is not performed in the acute period.