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Objectives: To explore the patient experience of a spirometry test used to confirm chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnosis in patients with suspected smoking-related COPD., Design: This is a qualitative study, performed with open interviews in adults following a routine spirometry test to confirm COPD diagnosis. Data were analysed with a phenomenological-inspired micro-phenomenology approach., Participants: Eligible patients were recruited through their general practitioner, 10 were interviewed., Setting: Primary care in Centre-Val-De-Loire area, France, in 2018., Results: Participants reported the spirometry test experience as being unfamiliar but gave meaning to the symptoms they experience. Participants expressed a desire to perform the test well and a willingness to confront their state of health. After the spirometry had been completed and the results announced, participants moved through stages of grief from their pre-spirometry self and symptom perception to a state of acceptance. Overall, participants expressed a narrative of an evolving cognitive and corporeal awareness during this spirometry experience. The verbatim quotes describe a cognitive rupture with their chronic illness usually considered as a 'way of life'., Conclusions: A spirometry test goes beyond a diagnostic value, providing patients with an opportunity to gain awareness of their own state of health, reframe their breathlessness-related limitations and thus begin to accept the disease. These awareness gains may be considered as small steps towards health behavioural change. Spirometry may have educative potential and support lifestyle changes., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

1. The quantitative prediction of the pharmacokinetic parameters of a drug from data obtained using human in vitro systems remains a significant challenge i.e. prediction of metabolic clearance in humans and estimation of the relative contribution of enzymes involved in the clearance. This has become particularly problematic for low turnover compounds. 2. Having human hepatocytes with stable cellular function over several days that adequately mimic the complexity of the physiological environment would be a major advance. Thus, we evaluated human hepatocytes, maintained in culture during 7 days in the microfluidic LiverChip™ system, in terms of morphological appearance, relative mRNA expression of phase I and II enzymes and transporters as a function of time, and metabolic capacity using probe substrates. 3. The results showed that mRNA levels of the major genes for enzymes involved in drug metabolism were well-maintained over a 7-day period of culture. Furthermore, after 4 days of culture, in the Liverchip™ device, human hepatocytes exhibited higher or similar CYPs activities compared to 1 day of culture in 2D-static conditions. 4. The functional data were supported by light/electron microscopies and immunohistochemistry showing viable tissue structure and well-differentiated human hepatocytes: presence of cell junctions, glycogen storage, and bile canaliculi.

The Agora Data project started in October 1997 in France. The objective was to share medical data between several medical institutions to analysis medical care pathways for patients that suffer from low back pain. The analysis of the medical records decomposed in three steps allowed us to produce knowledge on medical contacts of patients with the health care system. In order to study the relations between these contacts, we created medical path of patients within the framework of the possible contacts we had isolated. This work relates the implementation and the first results of the pilot study.

The re-usability of lexicons and knowledge in medicine is a crucial challenge. The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project has attempted to provide a repository of concepts, semantically categorized for biomedical domain. This paper describes some results about the relevance of UMLS structures for specific purposes. We have focused on the description of surgical procedures. Discussion concerns synonymy of terms, granularity of concepts, and ontology. A preliminary work on the exploitation of interconcept links by a computerized application reveals a heterogeneous implementation of those relationships. However, the UMLS provides a powerful knowledge base for developers.

The UMLS is a complex collection of interconnected biomedical concepts derived from standard nomenclatures. Designing a specific subset of the UMLS knowledge base relevant to a medical domain is a prerequisite for the development of specialized applications based on UMLS. We have developed a method based on the selection of the appropriate terms in original nomenclatures and the capture of a set of UMLS terms that are linked to them in the network to a certain degree. We have experimented it as the foundation for a concept base applied to urology. Results depend on the exhaustiveness of the relationships between the Metal concepts. A preliminary analysis of the sub-base reveals that some adaptations of vocabulary and ontology are required for clinical applications.

The birth and subsequent hospitalization of very low birth weight premature infants can be a psychological shock for parents which may disturb further relationships between infant and parents. The parents' memories from the birth period of 94 very low birthweight premature infants (< 32 weeks of gestational age) have been analyzed by way of an interview. This study has shown the painful aspect of the birth and of the parents' first meeting with the infant. However, despite these first difficulties, the relationship normally improves with time.

The ecological effect of cefixime on aerobic fecal flora was evaluated in 6 children aged 2 to 5 years given oral cefixime (8 mg/kg/day in two divided doses) for five days. Serial dilutions of stools recovered at baseline (D0), 2 and 5 days after initiation of therapy (D2 and D5) and two days after completion of therapy (DC + 2) were cultured on selective media. Colonies of Enterobacteriaceae, group D streptococci, staphylococci, and Candida were counted. A moderate but significant (p less than 0.01) decrease in the Enterobacteriaceae count was seen, with a fall from 8 log 10 (4.8 to 9.4) on D0 to 6.4 (3.6-9) on D2, 6 (4.6-7.2) on D5 and 4.7 (2-8.2) on DC + 2. No cefixime-resistant Entrobacteriaceae or Pseudomonas strains were evidenced. A slight, non significant decrease in group D streptococci counts was found, with values of 7.1, 7.1, 5.8, and 8.3 log 10 at the successive time points. All children exhibited fecal staphylococcal strains which were all coagulase-negative and which did not undergo noticeable quantitative changes (mean successive values were 2.5, 1.8, 3.5, and 3.8 log 10). Candida were found in four children and also changed little over time (mean successive values: 2, 1.7, 2, and 2.6 log 10). In sum, oral administration of cefixime was associated with a modest decrease in the number of Enterobacteriaceae, with no development of resistance to cefixime.

This is a case of local mercury absorption caused by accidental rectal perforation during monitoring of temperature. This complication is only reported in cases of subcutaneous injury by a broken thermometer. Treatment necessitates complete excision of mercury deposits. When mercury remains, a clinical and biochemical follow-up is necessary but indication for chelation therapy is exceptional.

To evaluate the effect of roxithromycin on aerobic flora in 14 children treated orally (5 mg/kg/day during 5 to 7 days) quantitative stool cultures were performed using selective media. Enterobacteriaceae (EB), streptococci D (STR D), Staphylococcus aureus, Candida were counted at days 0, 2 and 5 days, and 2 days after treatment. The MIC of each strain was determined for roxithromycin, erythromycin and spiramycin. Ten infants in a nursery had already received antibiotics. A moderate albeit significant (p less than 0.01) decrease was observed for EB, falling from 7.2 log 10 (range 5-9) to 4.9 (range 2-8) per gram of stools, rising to 5.8 after treatment. There was no significant effect for STR D. The MIC of roxithromycin for EB increased from 244 mg/l (range 0.03-512) to 340 (range 0.03-512). For STR. D, it increased from 138 (range 1-1024) to 427 (range 1-1024). The bacteria with low MIC (less than or equal to 64 mg/l for EB and less than or equal to 4 mg/l for STR. D) are Escherichia coli and Streptococcus faecium. The MIC increased for the three macrolides tested.