[Perception of everyday life by schizophrenic patients and nurses: content analysis of patients' speech on different domains of quality of life]. / Perception par les sujets schizophrènes de la vie quotidienne: analyse de contenu du discours des patients sur les domaines d'une échelle de qualité de vie.

INTRODUCTION: The validation of a questionnaire of subjective quality of life was used as pretext to question the way in which various fields of the everyday life were understood by schizophrenic subjects and nursing team members. Content analysis allowed the development of logico-semantic categories shared by the two populations and likely to give body to the subjacent social representations. METHOD: Patients were asked to comment on the different items of the SQUALA. Patients' and nurses' answers for each item were grouped and the analysis was conducted on this corpus. For each item, the different points of view were summarised into categories of signification. RESULTS: The results are presented item by item. The most important points are the followings: perceived health, physical autonomy, mental well-being and safety are linked to social and relational aspect of patients' life. Abstract concepts could be questioned among schizophrenic patients. It was possible to establish coherent categories. The analysis of certain unclassifiable statements makes it possible to specify phenomenological aspects of the schizophrenic experience. DISCUSSION: Methodological limitations of this study are essentially due to content analysis methodology (standardisation of answers, choice of categories) and to the characteristics of the populations selected.

[Sleep polygraphy: diagnostic value in depressive pseudo-dementia. Attempt to improve visual scoring by digital periodic analysis]. / La polygraphie du sommeil: outil diagnostique dans la pseudo-démence dépressive. Tentative d'amélioration de la méthode de lecture visuelle par l'analyse digitale de période.

ARGUMENT: Pseudo depressive dementia is a common pathology for elderly patients. Classically, it is said that depression is taking the mask of dementia, but very often deterioration and depression are present at the same time. Sleep EEG can help the clinician to differentiate dementia and depression in pseudo depressive dementia. Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) is a good indicator of deterioration process. We tried to improve the sleep recording and analysis and our ability to differentiate SWS in this indication. We use a portable digital recording material (Hypnotrace). The signal is analysed by the association of a visual standard method to Digital Periodic Analysis (DPA) which is very sensitive to SWS. The visual analysis gives informations about the macroarchitecture of the night. The Digital Periodic Analysis gives at any moment the value of the wave frequency and thus informations about the microarchitecture. Our hypothesis is that this association helps to better recognise SWS and thus improves sleep EEG as a diagnostic tool in this indication. METHODS: 23 inpatients meeting both the criteria for major depression and dementia (DSM IV) have been recorded during two nights after 15 days of wash out and before antidepressant treatment. The recordings are analysed with the visual standard method and with the help of DPA. The patients are evaluated every 15 days during two months in order to define three groups based on the clinical evolution. RESULTS: The scoring with DPA is more sensitive to Slow Wave Sleep, particularly for the patients with good clinical evolution (with the strongest depressive component). Thus, this method could be a good diagnostic tool to differentiate dementia and depression in pseudo depressive dementia.

Calcific band keratopathy after intraocular chondroitin sulfate.

A patient developed an acute onset of pseudophakic bullous keratopathy and a diffuse, gray, subepithelial corneal deposit ten days following surgery during which sodium chondroitin sulfate was used. The deposit, identified histologically as calcium, was noted throughout Bowman's layer. The absence of chronic pathologic features in the posterior cornea eliminated Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy as the cause of the acute corneal decompensation. This histopathologic confirmation of calcium deposition with one formulation of chondroitin sulfate, combined with similar conclusions from previous case reports, stimulated the reformulation of the product, which has been shown to be useful in clinical practice.