[Focusing on a test to evaluate the efficacy of skin barrier creams]. / Mise au point d'un test pour évaluer l'efficacité des crèmes barrières.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to adjust an experimental protocol with the rabbit to control the skin barrier creams efficacy. ELABORATE TECHNIQUE: Therefore, we applied irritant aqueous solutions and solvents on the shaved skin of the rabbit flank protected with one of these creams. We noticed inflammatory reactions of erythema and oedema but we also conducted an histological examination of the treated skin. DISCUSSION: This protocol is simple, there is no investment with equipment and only a few number of rabbits are required. There is only a difficulty with applying the same volume of cream since cream consistency is variable and makes the comparison between the different creams quite delicate. This method should be supported by well-controlled studies between several laboratories.

[Drug-induced aseptic meningitis]. / Les méningites aseptiques d'origine médicamenteuse.

Aseptic meningitis is a very rare drug reaction involving non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents (ibuprofen and sulindac), antibiotics (cotrimoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin) and miscellaneous drugs such as carbamazepine, human immune globulin and muromonab CD3. Meningeal symptoms occur a few hours after drug intake and resolve without sequelae within one or two days after drug withdrawal, mainly in young females with systemic lupus erythematosus or mixed connective tissue disease. Biological findings and radiological investigations are not suggestive of an infectious etiology or rheumatological/neurological disturbances. Diagnosis is simple when recurrent episodes coincide with drug ingestion.

[Acute poisoning by viloxazine chlorhydrate taken by itself]. / Intoxications aiguës par le chlorhydrate de viloxazine pris isolément.

One of the missions of the Poison Control Centres is to collect an important number of cases concerning a substance in order to determine its toxicological pattern for man. Such data were collected for Viloxazine chlorhydrate, an antidepressant belonging to a new chemical, ingested without association with other drugs, at doses varying from 100 mg to 4 g. The toxicological action of this drug was moderate, as no death occurred in the cases under study. The depression of the central nervous system was characterised only by a transitory loss of consciousness with recovery within a few hours. Two cases of convulsive seizure and one of extrapyramidal syndrome were the only complications in these intoxications. This confirms the difference between viloxazine and other antidepressants (tricyclics or IMAO inhibitors) whose toxic action on C.N.S. is more pronounced and sometimes complicated by cardiovascular disorders.