The Intervisions cliniques continuing medical education program: A forum for exchange and mutual knowledge development between general practitioners and psychiatrists

Objective This article presents the Intervisions cliniques program, a continuing Medical Education (CME) initiative for psychiatrists and general practitioners which uses case discussion to foster the acquisition of mental health care knowledge. Method This project is a case study, using qualitative methods. An operational model of Intervisions Cliniques was drawn for analysis. Data mainly come from the program-related literature, direct observation and interviews with 9 key actors, assembled in 2 groups of promoters and participants of the program. Findings The findings help to define the context and vision in which the Intervisions cliniques program was set up and implemented, to identify the perceived benefits and disappointments with regard to the program. Set up in the Canadian public managed care system and university-affiliated hospital, the Intervisions cliniques program helps to create lines of communication and privileged exchanges between general practitioners and psychiatrists as well as to foster mutual knowledge and a crosscutting and interactive view within a shared clinical territory. Several benefits noted by the participants and the organizing committee demonstrate the importance and multimodal effects of this type of initiative. The case-discussion format used as a CME method meets the training needs of general practitioners and is widely appreciated. However, the pressing needs expressed by the general practitioners with regard to improving shared mental health care still pose many challenges. Conclusions Making the link with the duties of responding psychiatrists, who are now funded in Québec, seems to be part of the solution. Maintaining and disseminating the Intervisions Cliniques program will require provincial-wide system implementation strategies to train psychiatrist, support them and regional managers to monitor the quality of this innovative practice within a public managed care system. Clinical implications • In the context of Continuing Medical Education (CME), case discussions are valued because they help to address the full complexity of clinical situations. • In the development of shared mental health care, direct contacts between general practitioners and psychiatrists are an optimal way to foster mutual knowledge and a crosscutting and interactive view within a shared clinical territory. • The Intervisions cliniques program contributes to shared mental health care and is a CME strategy that should be reproduced. Limitations • The operational model presented cannot identify all the links which unite the structures, processes and effects of the Intervisions cliniques program. • Interviews with local and regional managers would have helped to better determine all the issues involved in maintaining and generalizing the Intervisions cliniques program. • Clinical examples illustrating experiences of shared mental health care following participation in the Intervisions cliniques program would have helped to better determine what contribution the Intervisions cliniques program has made to shared mental health care

Combination Antifungal Therapy for Cryptococcal Meningitis

Background Combination antifungal therapy (amphotericin B deoxycholate and flucytosine) is the recommended treatment for cryptococcal meningitis but has not been shown to reduce mortality, as compared with amphotericin B alone. We performed a randomized, controlled trial to determine whether combining flucytosine or high-dose fluconazole with high-dose amphotericin B improved survival at 14 and 70 days. Methods We conducted a randomized, three-group, open-label trial of induction therapy for cryptococcal meningitis in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. All patients received amphotericin B at a dose of 1 mg per kilogram of body weight per day; patients in group 1 were treated for 4 weeks, and those in groups 2 and 3 for 2 weeks. Patients in group 2 concurrently received flucytosine at a dose of 100 mg per kilogram per day for 2 weeks, and those in group 3 concurrently received fluconazole at a dose of 400 mg twice daily for 2 weeks. Results A total of 299 patients were enrolled. Fewer deaths occurred by days 14 and 70 among patients receiving amphotericin B and flucytosine than among those receiving amphotericin B alone (15 vs. 25 deaths by day 14; hazard ratio, 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30 to 1.08; unadjusted P=0.08; and 30 vs. 44 deaths by day 70; hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.97; unadjusted P=0.04). Combination therapy with fluconazole had no significant effect on survival, as compared with monotherapy (hazard ratio for death by 14 days, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.44 to 1.41; P=0.42; hazard ratio for death by 70 days, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.45 to 1.11; P=0.13). Amphotericin B plus flucytosine was associated with significantly increased rates of yeast clearance from cerebrospinal fluid (−0.42 log10 colony-forming units [CFU] per milliliter per day vs. −0.31 and −0.32 log10 CFU per milliliter per day in groups 1 and 3, respectively; P<0.001 for both comparisons). Rates of adverse events were similar in all groups, although neutropenia was more frequent in patients receiving a combination therapy. Conclusions Amphotericin B plus flucytosine, as compared with amphotericin B alone, is associated with improved survival among patients with cryptococcal meningitis. A survival benefit of amphotericin B plus fluconazole was not found

AIDS-Associated Penicillium marneffei Infection of the Central Nervous System

Penicillium marneffei is an important human immunodeficiency virus-associated opportunistic infection endemic in Southeast Asia. Central nervous system infection has not been described. We report the first case series of 21 human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients who presented with a syndrome consistent with acute central nervous system infection and who had Penicillium marneffei isolated from cerebrospinal fluid

Clonality despite sex: the evolution of host-associated sexual neighborhoods in the pathogenic fungus Penicillium marneffei.

Molecular genetic approaches typically detect recombination in microbes regardless of assumed asexuality. However, genetic data have shown the AIDS-associated pathogen Penicillium marneffei to have extensive spatial genetic structure at local and regional scales, and although there has been some genetic evidence that a sexual cycle is possible, this haploid fungus is thought to be genetically, as well as morphologically, asexual in nature because of its highly clonal population structure. Here we use comparative genomics, experimental mixed-genotype infections, and population genetic data to elucidate the role of recombination in natural populations of P. marneffei. Genome wide comparisons reveal that all the genes required for meiosis are present in P. marneffei, mating type genes are arranged in a similar manner to that found in other heterothallic fungi, and there is evidence of a putatively meiosis-specific mutational process. Experiments suggest that recombination between isolates of compatible mating types may occur during mammal infection. Population genetic data from 34 isolates from bamboo rats in India, Thailand and Vietnam, and 273 isolates from humans in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam show that recombination is most likely to occur across spatially and genetically limited distances in natural populations resulting in highly clonal population structure yet sexually reproducing populations. Predicted distributions of three different spatial genetic clusters within P. marneffei overlap with three different bamboo rat host distributions suggesting that recombination within hosts may act to maintain population barriers within P. marneffei

Investigation of Gallium–Boron Spin-On Codoping for poly-Si/SiOx Passivating Contacts

A doping technique for p-type poly-Si/SiOx passivating contacts using a spin-on method for different mixtures of Ga and B glass solutions is presented. Effects of solution mixing ratios on the contact performance (implied open circuit voltage iVoc, contact resistivity ρc) are investigated. For all as-annealed samples at different drive-in temperatures, increasing the percentage of Ga in the solution shows a decrement in iVoc (from ∼680 to ∼610 mV) and increment in ρc (from ∼3 to ∼800 mΩ cm2). After a hydrogenation treatment by depositing a SiNx/AlOx stack followed by forming gas annealing, all samples show improved iVoc (∼700 mV with Ga-B co-doped, and ∼720 mV with all Ga). Interestingly, when co-doping Ga with B, even a small amount of B in the mixing solution shows negative effects on the surface passivation. Active and total dopant profiles obtained by electrical capacitance voltage and secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements, respectively, reveal a relatively low percentage of electrically-active Ga and B in the poly-Si and Si layers. These results help understand the different features of the two dopants: a low ρc with B, a good passivation with Ga, their degree of activation inside the poly-Si and Si layers, and the annealing effects.</p

Clonality despite sex: the evolution of host-associated sexual neighborhoods in the pathogenic fungus Penicillium marneffei.

Molecular genetic approaches typically detect recombination in microbes regardless of assumed asexuality. However, genetic data have shown the AIDS-associated pathogen Penicillium marneffei to have extensive spatial genetic structure at local and regional scales, and although there has been some genetic evidence that a sexual cycle is possible, this haploid fungus is thought to be genetically, as well as morphologically, asexual in nature because of its highly clonal population structure. Here we use comparative genomics, experimental mixed-genotype infections, and population genetic data to elucidate the role of recombination in natural populations of P. marneffei. Genome wide comparisons reveal that all the genes required for meiosis are present in P. marneffei, mating type genes are arranged in a similar manner to that found in other heterothallic fungi, and there is evidence of a putatively meiosis-specific mutational process. Experiments suggest that recombination between isolates of compatible mating types may occur during mammal infection. Population genetic data from 34 isolates from bamboo rats in India, Thailand and Vietnam, and 273 isolates from humans in China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam show that recombination is most likely to occur across spatially and genetically limited distances in natural populations resulting in highly clonal population structure yet sexually reproducing populations. Predicted distributions of three different spatial genetic clusters within P. marneffei overlap with three different bamboo rat host distributions suggesting that recombination within hosts may act to maintain population barriers within P. marneffei

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is an Important Cause of Eosinophilic Meningitis in southern Vietnam

We utilised PCR to demonstrate that Angiostrongylus cantonensis was responsible for 67.3% of 55 cases of eosinophilic meningitis from a cohort of 1690 adult patients with CNS infection at a tertiary hospital in southern Vietnam. Longer duration of illness, depressed consciousness and peripheral blood eosinophilia were associated with PCR positivity