Impact of stress and burnout on the sexual desire of trainee doctors at Hôtel-Dieu de France hospital: A single-institution survey.

OBJECTIVES: The sexuality of doctors in training, interns and residents, is not well explored, especially in its relation to daily stress. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sexual desire of this population, and the effect of burnout caused by the studies and the hospital work, on this function. METHODS: Medical trainees from our institution (université Saint Joseph de Beyrouth - Hôtel-Dieu de France), interns and residents, were invited to complete a demographic questionnaire, questions about their work conditions, and validated questionnaires on burnout and sexuality. Selected instruments included "Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)" and "Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI)". Statistical correlations were established using the Student's test, Spearmen's or Pearson's Correlations by type of dependent variable, Chi2 and Anova tests when needed. RESULTS: We obtained 262 responses from a population of 300 trainees (131 men and 131 women, mean age 25.1 years). Among them, 123 (46.9%) reported a high burnout score, 137 (52.3%) a high depersonalization score, and 120 (45.8%) a low professional achievement score. Regarding sexuality scores, 21% of men suffered from low sexual desire, compared to 70% of women. It seems that there is a correlation going in the same direction: the more the burnout increases, the more the sexual desire increases, especially among the male population. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide insights into the sexual life of medical students. The rate of low sexual desire among women in medicine in our institution is higher than the world's standard. Additional research is needed.

Characterization of different diamond-like carbon electrodes for biosensor design.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are gaining big interest in electrochemistry research area. DLC electrodes made with different ratio of sp(3)/sp(2) carbon hybridization or doped with different percentages of nickel were characterized electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry and by amperometric measurements towards hydrogen peroxide. SiCAr1 and SiCNi5% were chosen as sensitive transducers for the elaboration of amperometric glucose biosensors. Immobilization of glucose oxidase was carried out by cross-linking with glutaraldehyde. Measurements were made at a fixed potential+1.0V in 40mM phosphate buffer pH 7.4. SiCAr1 seems to be more sensitive for glucose, 0.6875muA/mM, than SiCNi5%, 0.3654muA/mM. Detections limits were 20muM and 30muM, respectively. Apparent Michaelis-Menten constants were found around 3mM. Forty-eight percent and 79% of the original response for 0.5mM glucose remained after 10 days for both biosensors, respectively.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lower lid in a 19-month-old girl with xeroderma pigmentosum.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin usually occurs in older patients and commonly develops from actinic keratosis. Patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) can acquire SCC at an early age. To our knowledge the youngest reported patient with XP and SCC was 8 years of age. We report a 19-month-old Lebanese girl with XP who presented clinically because of a rapidly growing mass of the medial part of her right lower lid that was biopsied and found to be squamous cell carcinoma. The mass was surgically excised with no evidence of recurrence after 2 years of follow-up. We describe our clinical experiences with this patient and have reviewed the available literature concerning XP and malignancy.