[Innovations in physical and rehabilitation medicine]. / Innovations en médecine physique et réadaptation.

Over the last decade, Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) is a medical specialty that has evolved considerably in the various fields that concern it : from the management of low back pain and lumbosciatalgia or osteoporosis in a multidisciplinary manner, through the use of new technologies in neuro-locomotor rehabilitation and robotisation in amputee patients for example, the development of regenerative medicine and prevention in sports traumatology and, finally, the progress of electrophysiology techniques for the diagnosis of small-fibre neuropathies. These various advances will be discussed in this article.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, la Médecine Physique et Réadaptation (MPR) est une spécialité médicale qui a fortement évolué dans les différents domaines qui la concernent : de la prise en charge des lombalgies et lombosciatalgies ou encore de l'ostéoporose de manière pluridisciplinaire, en passant par l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies en rééducation neuro-locomotrice et de la robotisation en rééducation, chez les patients amputés par exemple, le développement de la médecine à vocation régénérative et la prévention en traumatologie du sport et, enfin, les progrès des techniques d'électrophysiologie pour le diagnostic des neuropathies à petites fibres. Ces différentes avancées seront abordées dans cet article.

Why pesticides could be a common cause of prostate and breast cancers in the French Caribbean Island, Martinique. An overview on key mechanisms of pesticide-induced cancer.

Prostate and breast cancers have become very frequent in Martinique. We previously conducted a multifactorial analysis in the French Caribbean Island, Martinique, in order to elucidate the aetiology of prostate cancer. Using a linear regression analysis, we found that the growth curves of incidence rates for Martinique and metropolitan France have been significantly diverging since 1983. Although a Caribbean genetic susceptibility factor may be involved in prostate carcinogenesis: this factor, because it could not have changed during the observation period, cannot per se account for the growing incidence of this cancer in the island. We therefore suggested that among possible environmental factors, the intensive and prolonged exposure to Carcinogenic, Mutagenic and/or Reprotoxic (CMR) or presumed CMR pesticides may account for the observed growing incidence of prostate cancer and thus may be involved in prostate carcinogenesis. In this study, we further attempt to show that due to their carcinogenic properties, pesticides and especially organochlorine pesticides may in fact be causally implicated in the growing incidence of prostate cancer in Martinique. Also, we suggest that CMR or presumed CMR pesticides may be causally involved in the growing incidence of breast cancer through a common endocrine disruption mechanism. We therefore propose that protective medical recommendations should be immediately set up and carried out by general practitioners, paediatricians, obstetricians, gynaecologists and urologists; and that public health measures of primary precaution and prevention should be urgently taken in close collaboration with health professionals in order to protect population, more especially pregnant women and children, with the final objective perhaps that these medical recommendations and public health measures will stop Martinique's cancer epidemic.

[Microbiologic cervix and amniotic fluid studies in early 2nd trimester: prognostic value for subsequent course of pregnancy?]. / Mikrobiologische Zervix- und Fruchtwasseruntersuchungen im frühen II. Trimenon: prognostischer Wert für den weitern Schwangerschaftsverlauf?

Our purpose was to determine the impact of cervical and amniotic fluid colonization in the early second trimester on the course of pregnancy. Cervical canal and amniotic fluid specimens were obtained from 167 patients without increased risk for prematurity. The specimens were examined for facultative-pathogenic bacteria (including mycoplasmas), fungi and Chlamydia trachomatis. The outcome of pregnancies was assessed in correlation with the microbiological findings. Of the patients studied 37% were cervically and 9% were intraamniotically colonized. Mycoplasmas dominated (cervix: 70%, amniotic fluid: 33%). In only two cases the same species was demonstrated at both sites. Women intra-amniotically colonized with microorganisms did not demonstrate a higher frequency of premature labor and premature rupture of membranes. Women with cervical detection of microorganisms demonstrate a tendency to higher frequencies of prematurity.

Beam Diagnostics for High Energy Pulsed CO(2) Lasers.

To examine high energy CO(2) pulsed laser beams, reliable sampling and attenuation procedures were devised using the properties of coarse transmission gratings and diffuse scatter from specular metal mirrors. Details of measurements and alignment procedures are described including a single shot, nondisruptive method for effectively scanning the time integrated focal distribution of a high energy pulsed laser. In addition, it is shown that a simple multiple burn pattern technique can be used for the quantitative measurement of the integrated distribution. The data obtained demonstrate near diffraction-limited capability for large e-beam lasers with unstable resonators.