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Background: 3,4-Methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA) is increasing being used by youth in Europe and in France, but characteristics of its use are unknown. Objectives: The aim was to characterize MDMA use in a sample of French medical students. Methods: Cross-sectional study of Paris VII medical students ( N  = 592) with an online self-reporting questionnaire. Results: 592 students completed the online questionnaire. 21.5% ( n  = 127) had experimented with MDMA. Use of MDMA was associated with male sex ( p  < 0.001), older age ( p  < 0.001), left the parent's home ( p  < 0.01), and belonging to a fraternity ( p  < 0.05). Most experimenters (90.7%) used MDMA in a club or during a music festival. Among users, 42.5% used it more than once a year and less than once a month. During the use, users drank alcohol (90.6%), smoked tobacco (70.9%), smoked cannabis (42.0%) or used cocaine (20.5%). In the days after the use, some smoked tobacco (40.9%), smoked cannabis (29.1%), drank alcohol (22.0%), used cocaine (1.6%) and also took benzodiazepines (5.5%). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, criteria, the prevalence of MDMA use disorder was 8.5% in our sample and 40.9% among MDMA users. As compared with students who never experienced MDMA, fewer users thought that occasional intake could be dangerous (66.9% vs 83.9%, p  < 0.001) and that MDMA could be addictive (74.0% vs 90.3%, p  < 0.001). Conclusions: Other studies focusing on drug consumption among students are necessary to define specific public health strategies of prevention and harmful reduction.

Objective: During the pilot phase of a trial to evaluate the effectiveness of caesarean section delivery compared with vaginal delivery in reducing mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the feasibility of randomisation to mode of delivery was assessed., Design: At 36 weeks of pregnancy, women infected with HIV were randomly allocated to either caesarean section delivery at 38 weeks or vaginal delivery. Information was also collected on the reasons why women were not enrolled, either because they refused or had a contraindication., Setting: Fifty-one centres in six European countries., Population: Pregnant women with confirmed HIV-1 infection., Main Outcome Measures: Randomisation., Results: Three-hundred and thirty-nine women had been randomised by the end of 1996, the large majority from Italy (n = 250) and France (n = 54), with 22 from South Africa, three from Sweden, nine from Barcelona and one from London. A further 150 women were eligible but had not been randomised. Forty-eight women (14%) were not delivered according to the arm to which they were randomised; the majority (n = 44) were changed from vaginal to caesarean section delivery. There is wide variation between European countries in the acceptability and adherence to the mode of delivery trial., Conclusion: The pilot phase of this trial has shown that in some settings randomisation to mode of delivery is feasible and acceptable, but that in other settings clinicians and pregnant women are more reluctant to be randomised. Pending further information on transmission rates and accrual, enrollment into the trial continues.