Reliability assessment and validation of the post-acne hyperpigmentation index (PAHPI) in a population from Sub-Saharan Africa in Senegal.

BACKGROUND: A post-acne hyperpigmentation index (PAHPI) has been developed in the United States to better compare therapeutic modalities. Our aim in this study was to validate the PAHPI score in patients with skin type VI from sub-Saharan Africa. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in Dakar, Senegal. Twenty-one patients with Fitzpatrick skin type VI, aged 17 to 55 years, presenting hyperpigmentation secondary to acne were included. Ongoing use of skin bleaching products or acne treatments was allowed. Four trained dermatologists rated the patients using the PAHPI. A narrow-band reflectance spectrophotometer (Mexameter MX-18, Cologne, Germany) was used to measure the degree of pigmentation of involved and adjacent skin on 6 representative facial lesions. RESULTS: The average inter-rater reliability (weighted Kappa) showed substantial agreement for intensity (0.67), moderate agreement for number (0.53) and fair agreement for lesion size (0.28). Inter-rater reliability for the total PAHPI was excellent for both day 1 and day 2 (interclass correlation coefficient of 0.87 and 0.85, respectively; P<0.0001). Intra-rater reliability for total PAHPI ranged from 0.83 to 0.93 (P<0.0001). PAHPI scoring thus demonstrated excellent reliability both between and within raters. The association was moderate to substantial for all raters on both days (range for rho on day 1: 0.531 to 0.815; range for rho on day 2: 0.448 0.762). The correlations between the Mexameter (Courage and Khazaka) measurements and PAHPI scores showed moderate to substantial agreement. CONCLUSION: Although tested primarily in African American women to date, PAHPI is also valid for patients from sub-Saharan Africa.

Place du paludisme en saison de haute transmission dans les urgences fébriles au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Gabriel Touré de Bamako

Le but de cette étude est d'évaluer la fréquence du paludisme parmi les causes de fièvres chez les patients admis au Service d'Accueil des Urgences (SAU) du CHU ­Gabriel Touré de Bamako. Il s'agissait d'une étude transversale allant du 1er août au 30 novembre 2015. Tous les patients admis au Service d'Accueil des Urgences étaient inclus dans notre étude. La goutte épaisse ou le Test de Diagnostic rapide étaient utilisés pour la confirmation biologique des cas de paludisme. Nous avions enregistré 6 641 patients parmi lesquels 5,07 % étaient fébriles. L'âge moyen des patients était de 21 ans avec une prédominance de la tranche d'âge de 18-40 ans soit 52 %. Le sex-ratio était de 1,5 en faveur des hommes. Les élèves-étudiants représentaient 34,85 % des cas suivis des ménagères avec 20,71 %. Le diagnostic clinique réalisé par des médecins avait donné un taux de 74,5 % de paludisme contre 58,8 % selon la GE/TDr. L'incidence du paludisme comme cause de la fièvre était de 58,8 %. Tous les cas de paludisme simple ont été traités avec les CTA et les cas graves avec des formes injectables de l'artesunate dans 68,38 %, l'artemether dans 17,65 % et la quinine dans 13,17 %. Le paludisme est fréquent parmi les urgences fébriles au SAU du CHU-GT. Les dispositions doivent être renforcées pour une confirmation biologique systématique de tous les cas suspects de paludisme pour éviter les erreurs diagnostics

Self-rated health and risk of incident dementia: a community-based elderly cohort, the 3C study.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the relationship between self-rated health and incident dementia, and investigated the impact of cognitive complaints, depressive symptoms, and functional status on this relationship. METHODS: Participants of the 3C Study, a prospective cohort study composed of 8,169 community-dwelling persons aged ≥65 years, were asked to rate their health at the baseline examination in 1999-2001. They were followed for a median of 6.7 years during which dementia was screened and diagnosed. Hazard ratios (HR) of dementia according to baseline self-rated health (good, fair, or poor) were estimated with a Cox model adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: During the 46,990 person-years of follow-up, 618 participants developed dementia. Risk of dementia was increased in participants with poor (adjusted HR 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22-2.37) or fair (adjusted HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.13-1.59) self-rated health compared to those with good self-rated health. Poor self-rated health was associated with both AD (1.48, 1.00-2.24) and vascular dementia (3.38, 1.25-9.17). Self-rated health was a stronger predictor of dementia in participants without cognitive complaints (risk of dementia in subjects without cognitive complaints rating their health as poor: 1.96 [1.24-3.09], p = 0.004) and in those without functional disability. CONCLUSIONS: Participants rating their health as poor or fair at baseline were at increased risk of incident dementia during follow-up. Self-rated health could help raise awareness of medical doctors about a patient's risk of dementia, especially in those without conditions indicative of potential cognitive impairment.

Frequency and location of dilated Virchow-Robin spaces in elderly people: a population-based 3D MR imaging study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: dVRS have been previously associated with aging and cerebrovascular diseases. However, little is known about their prevalence and topographic distribution in the general elderly population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: dVRS were evaluated by using high-resolution 3D MR imaging in 1826 subjects enrolled in the 3C-Dijon MR imaging study. On T1-weighted MR imaging, dVRS were detected according to 3D imaging criteria and rated by using 4-level severity scores based in the BG or in the WM. The number and anatomic location of large dVRS (≥3 mm) were recorded. RESULTS: dVRS were observed in the BG or WM in every subject. The severity of dVRS was significantly associated with higher age in both the BG and WM, whereas sex was related to the severity of dVRS only in the BG. Large dVRS were detected in 33.2% of participants. Status cribrosum was found in 1.3% of participants. dVRS were also highly prevalent within the hippocampus (44.5%) and hypothalamus (11.6%). CONCLUSIONS: dVRS are always detected in the BG or WM in elderly people, and large dVRS are also prevalent. The topographic distribution of dVRS is not uniform within the brain and may depend on anatomic or pathologic characteristics interacting with aging and sex.

Case-control study of writer's cramp.

Task-specific focal dystonias are thought to be due to a combination of individual vulnerability and environmental factors. There are no case-control studies of risk factors for writer's cramp. We undertook a case-control study of 104 consecutive patients and matched controls to identify risk factors for the condition. We collected detailed data on medical history and writing history as part of hobbies or occupation. Cases had a college or university degree more frequently than controls [OR = 4.6 (1.3-20.5), P = 0.01]. The risk of writer's cramp increased with the time spent writing each day (P-trend = 0.001) and was also associated with an abrupt increase in the writing time during the year before onset (OR = 5.7, 95% CI = 1.3-33.9, P = 0.02). Head trauma with loss of consciousness [OR = 3.5 (1.0-15.7), P = 0.05] and myopia [OR = 4.1 (1.7-12.0), P = 0.0009] were both associated with the condition but it was not significantly associated with peripheral trauma, left-handedness, constrained writing, writing in stressful situations or the choice of writing tool. The dose-effect relationship between writer's cramp and the time spent handwriting each day, and the additional burden of acute triggers such as an abrupt increase in the writing time in the year before onset, point to a disruptive phenomenon in predisposed subjects. Homeostatic regulation of cortical plasticity may be overwhelmed, resulting in dystonia.

Cross-sectional association between homocysteine and motor function in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a cross-sectional association between homocysteine (tHcy) level and measures of gait and balance in elderly subjects. METHODS: We studied 3,609 noninstitutionalized subjects aged 65 to 85 years from the Dijon (France) center of the Three-City Study. tHcy concentration was measured from fasting blood samples. Motor function was assessed by measuring walking speed and by using a modified version of the Tinetti scale. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, mean maximum walking speed (MWS) decreased with increasing tHcy levels (p = 0.001). The odds ratio (OR) (95% CI) for having a MWS below the 40th percentile was 1.9 (1.4 to 2.5) in subjects with tHcy levels in the upper quintile compared with those in the lowest quintile. Compared with subjects in the lowest tHcy quintile, the OR for having a modified Tinetti score below 16 ranged from 1.0 (0.8 to 1.4) in the second quintile to 1.9 (1.3 to 2.6) in the upper quintile (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated homocysteine concentrations are associated with worse motor performances in the elderly. These findings support the hypothesis of a vascular contribution to motor function.

Regenerating motor neurons express Nna1, a novel ATP/GTP-binding protein related to zinc carboxypeptidases.

To identify genes involved in axon regeneration, differential screening was applied to RNA isolated from spinal cord of mice subjected to sciatic nerve transection or crush injury. A 4-kb transcript, termed nna1, was identified that was rapidly induced in affected motor neurons in both paradigms. The levels of nna1 transcript levels declined in motor neurons within 1-2 weeks after nerve crush, coincident with target reinnervation. If reinnervation was blocked by nerve cut and ligation, nna1 was continuously expressed in motor neurons. In addition, in situ analysis of developing embryonic nervous tissue showed nna1 was highly expressed in differentiating neurons, but not proliferating populations. Nna1 is predicted to be a zinc carboxypeptidase that contains nuclear localization signals and an ATP/GTP binding motif. Cultured neurons transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-nna1 expressed GFP-Nna1 in cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments. Thus, Nna1 may contribute to nuclear signaling events in differentiating and regenerating neurons.

[Evolutive fractures of the skull]. / Les fractures évolutives du crâne.

The growing fractures of the skull rarely complicate head traumatism among infant and new born. 6 cases have been observed out of 552 fractures of the skull (1.09%) during 10 years from 1979 to 1988 at the neurosurgical clinic of Dakar University Teaching hospital. The patients age varies from 8 months to 21 years. The delay between traumatism and the diagnosis of growing fractures ranges from 18 days to 8 years. The primary fracture can be detected by a skull radiography which allows also to follow the evolution. It can be completed by making a translacuna echography, a non invasive method of investigation easily realisable thanks to the existence of a skull lacuna which constitute a real acoustical window. This type of investigation has been worked on deux patients. Essentially porencephalic forms have been noticed (5 cas). Three have been successfully operated out of four patients, two patients have spontaneously performed evolutions towards the stabilisation of the lesions. The prognosis of the affection is tightly linked with the associated brain injuries.