L’influence des relations familiales et sociales sur la consommation de médicaments psychotropes chez les personnes âgées

Les psychotropes occupent le deuxième rang dans la consommation de médicaments chez les personnes âgées. L'objectif de cette étude est de vérifier un modèle explicatif de la consommation de psychotropes dans cette population. Notre principale hypothèse est que la qualité des relations qu'entretient une personne âgée avec autrui, et particulièrement avec ses enfants, a une influence directe sur son bien-être psychologique, lequel a une influence directe sur la non-consommation de psychotropes. Une enquête a été réalisée auprès d'un échantillon de 500 personnes âgées de 65 à 84 ans, vivant à domicile. Au cours des trois mois précédant l'entrevue, 31,8 % des répondants ont consommé des psychotropes. Les données empiriques n'ayant pas permis de vérifier le modèle théorique retenu, des analyses multivariées ont conduit à l'élaboration d'un modèle explicatif de la consommation qui met en évidence que le bien-être psychologique et la santé sont les meilleurs prédicteurs de cette consommation. Un bien-être psychologique élevé diminue la consommation alors qu'un mauvais état de santé l'augmente. Les relations sociales influencent directement le bien-être psychologique alors que les relations familiales ont un effet de moindre importance. Le modèle explicatif proposé explique 13 % du phénomène de la consommation de psychotropes chez les personnes âgées.Psychotropic drugs are the second most commonly used medication by Quebec's elderly. The objective of this study is to test a theoretical model of psychotropic drug use in the elderly. The principal hypothesis is that the quality of relationships the elderly person has with others, particularly with his or her children, has a direct influence on his or her psychological well-being, which, in turn, directly affects the consumption of psychotropic agents. A survey was conducted on a sample of 500 elderly people, aged 65-84 years, living at home. 31.8% of the respondents used psychotropic drugs during the three-month period preceding the interview. Path analysis led to the elaboration of a modified model for the consumption of psychotropic drugs by the elderly which indicates that the best predictors of consumption are both the psychological well-being and the state of health of the individual. More elevated is the psychological well-being, less is the consumption of psychotropic drugs, whereas poor health condition increases it. The quality of an individual's social relationships has a direct influence on his or her psychological well-being, whereas family relationships are of lesser importance. Our model accounts for 13% of the predictors of psychotropic consumption by the elderly

Blood pressure-lowering effects of nifedipine/candesartan combinations in high-risk individuals: Subgroup analysis of the DISTINCT randomised trial

The DISTINCT study (reDefining Intervention with Studies Testing Innovative Nifedipine GITS - Candesartan Therapy) investigated the efficacy and safety of nifedipine GITS/candesartan cilexetil combinations vs respective monotherapies and placebo in patients with hypertension. This descriptive sub-analysis examined blood pressure (BP)-lowering effects in high-risk participants, including those with renal impairment (estimated glomerular filtration rate<90 ml min-1, n=422), type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=202), hypercholesterolaemia (n=206) and cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (n=971), as well as the impact of gender, age and body mass index (BMI). Participants with grade I/II hypertension were randomised to treatment with nifedipine GITS (N) 20, 30, 60 mg and/or candesartan cilexetil (C) 4, 8, 16, 32 mg or placebo for 8 weeks. Mean systolic BP and diastolic BP reductions after treatment in high-risk participants were greater, overall, with N/C combinations vs respective monotherapies or placebo, with indicators of a dose-response effect. Highest rates of BP control (ESH/ESC 2013 guideline criteria) were also achieved with highest doses of N/C combinations in each high-risk subgroup. The benefits of combination therapy vs monotherapy were additionally observed in patient subgroups categorised by gender, age or BMI. All high-risk participants reported fewer vasodilatory adverse events in the pooled N/C combination therapy than the N monotherapy group. In conclusion, consistent with the DISTINCT main study outcomes, high-risk participants showed greater reductions in BP and higher control rates with N/C combinations compared with respective monotherapies and lesser vasodilatory side-effects compared with N monotherapy

Molecular biogeography of planktonic and benthic diatoms in the Yangtze River

Background: Diatoms are of great significance to primary productivity in oceans, yet little is known about their biogeographic distribution in oligotrophic rivers. Results: With the help of metabarcoding analysis of 279 samples from the Yangtze River, we provided the first integral biogeographic pattern of planktonic and benthic diatoms over a 6030 km continuum along the world's third largest river. Our study revealed spatial dissimilarity of diatoms under varying landforms, including plateau, mountain, foothill, basin, foothill-mountain, and plain regions, from the river source to the estuary. Environmental drivers of diatom communities were interpreted in terms of photosynthetically active radiation, temperature, channel slope and nutrients, and human interference. Typical benthic diatoms, such as Pinnularia, Paralia, and Aulacoseira, experienced considerable reduction in relative abundance downstream of the Three Gorges Dam and the Xiluodu Dam, two of the world's largest dams. Conclusions: Our study revealed that benthic diatoms are of particular significance in characterizing motile guild in riverine environments, which provides insights into diatom biogeography and biogeochemical cycles in large river ecosystems

A Simulation Environment for Enhanced UMTS Performance Evaluation

Abstract – The paper proposes a new simulator that supports UMTS and Enhanced-UMTS performance evaluation. Existing UMTS simulators integrate linklevel and system-level simulators, implemented using time-based simulation techniques. The proposed simulator integrates time-based link level simulations into an event-based system level simulator by extending ns-2. The simulator can evaluate parameters associated with UMTS or Enhanced-UMTS performance (delay, loss, jitter, throughput), to assess the impact of new services, protocols and architectures. Performance evaluation does not only capture the performance over the air interface but also investigates the influence of the all-IP network in the overall system behaviour. A scenario modelling a demanding traffic-mix in a business city centre environment is evaluated and results are presented