Characterization of conducting polymers by inverse gas chromatography

The surface and bulk properties of chemically synthesized conducting polypyrrole doped by Cl- (PPyCl) and its insulating form (PPyR), were studied by Inverse Gas Chromatography (IGC). The dispersive component of the surface tension of both PPyCl and PPyR is in the 30-60 mJ/m2 range at 50°C. Moreover PPyCl and PPyR interact specifically with Lewis acids and bases, thus exhibiting amphoteric behavior. By studying the retention volumes vs temperature we detected a transition around 60-90 °C which might be attributed to the glass transition (Tg) of PPyCl

Tentative de suicide des adolescents: accueil, evaluation, orientation [Suicide attempt: encounter, evaluation, orientation].

Le suicide et les tentatives de suicide des adolescents sont des enjeux de santé publique majeurs. En s'appuyant sur le modèle de soins développé à Genève, nous décrivons les différents temps nécessaires pour accueillir, évaluer et orienter un adolescent pris dans un mouvement suicidaire. Un temps d'accueil et d'évaluation pédiatrique, puis un temps d'évaluation psychiatrique et enfin un temps d'orientation à l'issue duquel est proposée une prise en charge spécifique. En fonction des caractéristiques cliniques du jeune (impulsivité, symptomatologie anxio-dépressive...), de sa capacité d'engagement dans les soins et de la qualité des liens du réseau, la prise en charge sera soit ambulatoire intensive, soit hospitalière. Suicide and suicide attempts of adolescents are major public health issues. Based on a model of care developed in Geneva, we describe the conditions necessary to evaluate and guide a teenager trapped in a suicidal behavior. First of all, there must be some time dedicated to pediatric assessement followed by a psychiatric evaluation and finally, the adolescent can be oriented toward specific treatment. Depending on the clinical characteristics of the young adolescent and according to his willingness to engage himself in intensive follow-up (impulsivity, anxious?--depressive symptomatology...), cares will be given either as outpatient with close monitoring or inpatient

Predictors and Moderators of Clinical Outcomes in Adolescents with Severe Mental Disorders After an Assertive Community Treatment.

Previous studies have shown that stressful life events (SLEs), gender, social functioning and pretreatment severity are some of the predictors and/or moderators of treatment outcome in psychiatric care. The current study explored the effect of these predictors and moderators on the treatment outcome related to assertive community treatment (ACT) proposed to young people with severe mental disorders. 98 patients were assessed for externalizing and emotional difficulties, at admission and then at discharge of an ACT. Analyses revealed significant improvements in terms of symptomatology. In particular, regression analyses showed that pretreatment severity is a significant predictor of the outcome on emotional symptoms and is moderated by SLE on the outcome on externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, higher social functioning proved to predict better outcome on externalizing symptoms. Our results further evidence that these factors can explain inter-individual differences in outcome related to ACT. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed

The curative role of radiotherapy in adenocarcinoma of the prostate in patients under 55 years of age: A rare cancer network retrospective study

To determine whether radiation therapy could be an acceptable alternative to surgery in young patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate, we analysed the outcome of 39 patients aged under 55 with organ confined tumours who received external radiation therapy in a curative intent. Our results suggest that similar local control in younger and older patients can be expected from either external beam radiotherapy or radical prostatectom

Prostate cancer diagnosed before 55: a retrospective study from the Rare Cancer Network

This retrospective study on a large number of cases offers a vision of the modalities of care in prostate cancer diagnosed before the age of 55, according to different policies, aiming to propose other directions for 2005. Between January 1974 and December 2001, 365 patients had a pathological diagnosis of prostate cancer occurring before the age of 55. These patients were referred to the departments of radiation therapy affiliated to the Rare Cancer Network. A questionnaire was filled in retrospectively to allow further analysis of medical and surgical data. The treatments were those recommended at the time of analysis and progressed according to new accepted standards. Clinical and pathological features of the patients were as follows: 36% of the tumours were Gleason > 7 scored, 56% of the patients had a T3-T4 and 31 had metastases at the time of diagnosis. As far as treatment was concerned, 4 groups were considered: 83 patients had a radical prostatectomy, 155 received radiation therapy with a curative intent, 87 were treated by hormonal manipulation, and the remaining 40 patients received palliative care. The free of disease survival rate at 10 years was 38% for patients without immediate metastases, only 1% of patients with metastases were alive. The multivariate analysis demonstrated the significant impact of radiotherapy on both local and distant failure rates and of T stage on distant failure rate. Survival was affected by nodal involvement and local failure. A separate analysis of two periods of time (1974-1989 and 1990-2001) did not show any differences in terms of treatment results. This retrospective study suggests that age is not a negative prognostic factor as far as adequate curative treatments are carried out. Therapeutic modalities having considerably evolved in prostate cancer, a further analysis with a longer follow up may allow the evaluation of these treatments on rates of failures and survival. Screening for prostate cancer in family histories is likely to increase the number of cases diagnosed before 55. Therefore, a complete information on morbidity associated to the different means of treatment would lead to a better acceptance of late side effects