ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The epidemiology of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) in France is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to determine the number of prevalent cases of CBD in France between 2010 and 2014. METHODS: We conducted a national survey using a specific questionnaire distributed by the professional pathology services. RESULTS: In total, 33 CBD cases were reported in France, with a diagnosis established between 1982 and 2014. 85% (28/33) of CBD cases resulted from professional exposure and mostly concerned foundry workers (39%). A definite diagnosis defined by the association of an abnormal beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test and of a granulomatous inflammatory response in the lung, was obtained in 29/33 cases (88%). The other cases were probable CBD, defined by a granulomatous lung disease with a beryllium exposure, but without evidence of beryllium sensitisation. The diagnosis of granulomatous disease was confirmed a mean of 4 years after the end of exposure. The median delay between diagnosis of a granulomatous disease and diagnosis of CBD was 2 years (range 0-38 years). A genetic predisposition was found in 14 of 17 tested patients (82%). CONCLUSION: In this study, we report 33 cases of CBD followed in France between 2010 and 2014. The poor understanding of CBD and the exposure leading to it, the late development after the end of exposure, the complexity of the diagnosis and the similarities with sarcoidosis may explain the small number of cases reported.
Subject(s)
Berylliosis/diagnosis , Berylliosis/epidemiology , Adult , Aged , Berylliosis/genetics , Chronic Disease , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , France/epidemiology , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Granuloma/diagnosis , Granuloma/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Sarcoidosis/diagnosis , Sarcoidosis/epidemiology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
COLIBRI-COPD is a francophone consultation web portal accessible to pulmonologists in the hospital and in the community. We present this observation which describes the phenotype of COPD patients entered (anthropometry, exposures, addictions, functional impairments, questionnaires: MRC, DIRECT, CAT, HAD, Epworth, co-morbidities, incidence of exacerbations, drug treatment or other treatments). The results of the first 1079 patients show a high level of completeness for the main data items. A comparison of patients seen in outpatient consultations shows significant variability between patients with the same GOLD stage, regarding the incidence of exacerbations, signs of anxiety-depression, of diabetes mellitus, or the prescriptions of anticholinergics and inhaled corticosteroids. These initial results suggest that data collection in real life gives a reliable database to obtain longitudinal data on various aspects of COPD. The data quality (completeness, reliability) is partly related to the usability of the web tool and to the possibility of doing self-assessment of practitioners' own recorded data.
Subject(s)
Databases, Factual , Internet , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive , Feasibility Studies , Humans , Quality ImprovementABSTRACT
The saturation of oxygen (SaO2) using oxygen therapy with an oxygen saving system, Optimox (CFPO) or COS 5 (Puritan, Bennett) has been compared to the SaO2 using continuous oxygen therapy. The oxygen output using the oxygen saving system was regulated in such a way as to be equivalent to the oxygen flow without the economiser. Three situations were studied: the day, the night and during effort. Ninety four patients (84 men and 10 women), aged 65.3 +/- 9.7), who were hypoxaemic (SaO2: 84.5 +/- 6.4%) coming from twelve pneumology units were included in the study. The percentage of time spent above SaO2 (T greater than 90) was used to judge the criteria of the efficacy of the oxygen therapy. T greater than 90 without (SSECO) and with the oxygen saving system (AVECO) were compared in each subject. T greater than 90 AVECO was below T greater than 90 SSECO in 52% of patients and was greater in 23% of subjects. The nasal, auditory and respiratory comfort was good whatever the period of examination for more than half of the subjects. In conclusion for an equivalent oxygen flow the addition of an oxygen saving device significantly alters the quality of diurnal and nocturnal oxygen therapy in one patient out of two.
Subject(s)
Oxygen Inhalation Therapy/instrumentation , Oxygen Inhalation Therapy/methods , Oxygen/blood , Aged , Equipment Design , Female , Humans , Lung Diseases, Obstructive/therapy , Male , Oximetry/methods , Oxygen/administration & dosage , Patient Satisfaction , Physical Exertion/physiology , Respiration , RestABSTRACT
A spectrometer has been built to perform Doppler-free saturated absorption experiments in the millimeter range (30-300 GHz); a plane-cylindrical resonator between Stark plates has been used. With that device, inverted Lamb-dips have been observed at 115 GHz with a width 25 times below the Doppler width. However, the essential feature of this apparatus is to allow the application of Stark field typically of 2500 V/cm, leading to such specific uses as the Stark tuned Lamb-dip, level-crossing, and mode-crossing experiments. Typical examples are given and other applications are proposed.
