Paris Office Research Articles

Iris Borowy and Anne Hardy (eds), Of Medicine and Men: Biographies and Ideas in European Social Medicine between the World Wars (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008), pp. 224, £27.30, paperback, ISBN: 978-3-631-58044-8.

When a group of scholars from the Wellcome Institute in London and academics from public health education set up the Society for Social History of Medicine in 1970 their stated goal was to broaden a discipline in order to address the relationship of medicine and society. And that meant redefining an academic discipline that had been more or less practised by associations such as the Osler Society of London as the intellectual history of great men in medicine. For some decades subsequently the role of biography in the history of health and medicine was even more disparaged than intellectual and political biographies were by the broader world of academic historical scholarship. However, as Patrick Zyberman comments in a fascinating essay on ‘A Posthumous Audit’, the death of biography in the social and cultural history of health, medicine and science was much exaggerated with a ‘spectacular upsurge’ in biographical publications in the mid-1980s. As Iris Borowy points out in her introduction to this excellent volume, perhaps the continued value of biography as a means of excavating the past and as a heuristic for interpreting pivotal historical transformations is because it remained a genre that could communicate to audiences both within and beyond the world of academic scholarship. Because if, at its most axiomatic, history is the lives of socially interacting and organising individuals then all history is as much narrative as it is structural analysis. Zyberman emphasises, though, that contemporary biographical inquiry does not reproduce the eulogic trope of the great man. Instead biographies of individuals, involved, for example, in public health, are more likely nowadays to be accounts of what Zyberman persuasively refers to as ‘epistemic communities’, and the role played by their interconnections and interactions in transformative historical junctures and disjunctures in which they significantly participated. It would be hard to find a better example of what Zyberman is describing than this volume of essays on a group of actors between the wars who were critical figures in the development of public health internationalism as an interdisciplinary discourse and practice. Perhaps the most intriguing issue brought out by this book is that this group of health internationalists agreed intellectually about the political nature of improving population health while possessing a widely disparate range of ideological beliefs. As Borowy points out, they all linked population disease and health management to political action while their ideological beliefs, actions and associations varied hugely at a time of volatile national and international relations. Those in continental Europe who were socialists or social democrats fell foul of fascism in Germany and Spain. One such was the Jewish public health expert, Franz Goldman, who escaped to save his life. The Minister of Public Health in Yugoslavia, a communist sympathiser and tireless champion of social justice, Andrija Stampar, was more or less exiled by his government as the result of pre-war political intrigue but during the war was imprisoned by the German occupying forces. While all the figures in the volume shared beliefs about the effects of inequality upon population health, some—such as the pathologist Bela Johan in Hungary, and the German social hygienist Otto Olsen—found it possible diplomatically to co-operate with war-time fascism. Others within Germany, such as Fritz Rott, became National Socialists embracing racial hygiene. The brilliant German statistician, Emile Roesele, a communist, remained alive because of his unique indispensability. In neutral Denmark, the eminent serologist, Thorvald Masdan, retreated from the fray to his laboratory. He was accused by some of possessing pro-Axis sentiments. At least one of the internationalists in the collection, Gustavo Pittaluga, was dismissed from his public health role by totalitarian and democratic governments in Spain becoming a refugee in Cuba following the Second World War. Melville Macenzie, the public health lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and tireless champion of the LNHO, became stuck in British imperialist philosophy. As Borowy comments, despite these mixed fortunes, all collectively contributed to what Martin Dubin has termed ‘a biomedical/public health episteme’ that characterised international health co-operation between the wars. Perhaps the unifying element was that each of the public health campaigners was supported by funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and had links with a critical figure explored by Socrates Listios, Selskar ‘Mike’ Gunn. The Director of the Foundation’s Paris Office from 1922–32 facilitated the expanded visions of public health possessed by others explored in the volume but largely in contradiction to the limited strategic goals of the institution he represented. While all these short biographies reflect intriguing contrasts in the relationship between political ideology and public health philosophy, all demonstrate what Iris Borowy compellingly argues has been the role that collective action undertaken in pursuit of population health played in contributing toward the mission to construct a global civil society.

Consumer Society Is the Enemy

Anyone within range of Western television during the 1960s to the 1980s was likely a fan of Jacques Cousteau's famous “underwater adventures” launched from the Calypso research vessel, which roamed the seven seas.Not surprisingly, as an explorer immersed in the natural environment, Cousteau became a radical ecologist in his later life as the costs of industrialization and consumerism began to take their toll. In the summer of 1996 I sat down with the famed oceanographer at the Paris offices of the Cousteau Society.

Global Philosophy

(Yubraj Aryal spoke to William L. McBride. Mr. Aryal specified his questions on global philosophy.) Y. A.: Let me first congratulate you on behalf of Nepali scholarly communities on your new elected presidency for Federation of International Societies of Philosophy (FISP) in Korea this year. Since you are president of single biggest institution for let me begin from a general question about FISP itself. What are objectives of FISP and how it can meet geographic needs for philosophical development of a 'poor' country like Nepal? W. L. M.: Thank you very much for your congratulations. As I think you already know, I am very eager to expand range of FISP's activities and at same time apprehensive about possibilities, especially given relative poverty of FISP itself. That is, we are entirely dependent on dues (and occasional small additional contributions) from member societies for our financial support, and so our annual budget is far lower than are those of some of those member societies... any case, FISP's first responsibility is organization and sponsorship of World Congresses of Philosophy, which take place every five years. The next one will be held in Athens in 2013. But our objectives, at least as I see them, go far beyond that. We aim, through our newsletters and other correspondence with member societies, to serve as hub of a sort of network of philosophy organizations worldwide. An example of how this can work is collection of articles on contemporary situation of philosophy in different countries and regions of world that has been compiled, and continues to be compiled, by one of members of our Steering Committee, Professor Maija Kule of Latvia. We maintain a website which is currently being upgraded, we have just opened an office in Paris in one of buildings of UNESCO (though we ourselves are not a part of UNESCO), and we would like eventually to expand our capacities to circulate information about philosophy meetings everywhere. We try, as far as it is possible with our limited resources, to encourage regional meetings in all parts of globe, with special emphasis on poorer countries; we collaborate with Center for Research in Values and Philosophy, which has its headquarters in Washington but is definitely not oriented toward Washington Establishment, and which holds many regional meetings annually and publishes their Proceedings; we play a major role in annual International Philosophy Olympiad for high school students; we support annual Philosophy Day that was originally developed by UNESCO and which has been taken up as a major event by philosophical societies in many countries now; and.... , well, we simply hope to be able to do a lot more in future! Y. A.: Most recently, people from non-western space are strongly opposing not only western dominated political and economic institutions but also very academic institutions that float all across world in name of globalism. Whatever is western is utterly imperialism for 'them'. How do you want to address their resentment? Is this resentment legitimate or just a paranoia? Should 'their' resentment preclude all of us to build a corporative global society for philosophy and humanistic studies? W. L. M.: The answer to your last question here is obvious: Certainly not. But what lies behind earlier part of these remarks of yours is complex and deserving of a thoughtful response. Some years ago already, I wrote a paper on the global role of American philosophy, and in it and in other subsequent papers I have warned against imperialism in all areas, including imperialism in education in general and in philosophy in particular. We in West and in particular in United States have been fortunate enough to have had resources to develop academic institutions, especially at university level, that have been rather successful in encouraging both scientific research and intellectual exploration and reflection. …

The International Union of Physiological Sciences IUPS Editorial V

In our last IUPS editorial ([1][1]), we promised to report on the outcome of the IUPS Council and International Scientific Program Committee (ISPC) meetings held in December 2007 in Kyoto. Here we shall first describe the progress with regard to the generation of the scientific program for the 2009

Joyce in Hollywood in the 1930s: A Biographical Essay

ometime in 1932, Warner Brothers wanted translate James Joyce's epic onto silver screen. That fact is known, if not well known, by Joyceans. Paul Leon, Joyce, Giorgio Joyce, and Ralph Pinker, Joyce's agent in London, discussed matter in a few published letters. Leon told Pinker that Mr. Joyce has been approached by Warner Bros. in of obtaining his consent filming of Ulysses (LettersIll 262). Leon went see ... manager of their Paris Office, who was eager have film done as quickly as possible (LetterslIll262). Joyce told L to give a dilatory answer (Letterslll 263). Though Bennett Cerf, Joyce's American publisher, thought a film would be great publicity, Leon insisted that publicity was hardly a consideration for Joyce, who took what Leon called the literary rather than material point of view (LetterslII 263). It was not entirely clear that Joyce owned film rights his own novel, but should they belong him, Ldon explained unequivocally Pinker 26 October 1932, would absolutely refuse allow a film be made (LettersllI 263). A few days later, Loon equivocated: if Joyce owned American film rights, then Leon would authorize negotiations[,] and if they run satisfactorily, he wrote, can promise you that I will do my very best prevail upon Mr Joyce alter his present attitude (LettersI 326). Such is general impression left us, and Richard Ellmann confirms what Leon implied: Joyce discountenanced idea of making a film on ground that book could not be made into a film with artistic propriety (JJII 654). At best, he allowed Leon let matter percolate and did not discourage Stuart Gilbert from writing scenarios (JJII 654). More recently, critics have taken Joyce's interest in film more seriously, persuading us that Joyce thought film was a sister new kind of literature he was inventing.1 Critics today take it for granted that film techniques and Joyce's techniques in are connected, and most will admit resemblance between Joyce's method of narration and montage of Sergei Eisenstein. I am interested here not in questions of narrative methodology but in less subtle issue of biography. In particular, I want dispute

Thomas Merton’s Bangkok Lecture of December 1968

Thomas Merton’s Bangkok Lecture of December 1968 Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, OSB Preparations for the Meeting and its Purpose After being elected abbot primate of the Benedictine Confederation in September 1967, I was encouraged by discovering that the Benedictines and the two branches of the Cistercians (those of the Common Observance and those of the Strict Observance, or Trappists) worked together on missionary issues through an office in Paris called Aide à l’Implantation Monastique (AIM).1 After World War II many new monastic foundations were made in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and South America, commonly referred to as the Third World. These fledgling monasteries needed special care that frequently could not be provided by their founding monasteries in Europe or the United States. AIM sought to fill that gap. There existed an unwritten agreement among the three superiors of the two branches of the Cistercians and the abbot primate that the historical differences in the West among those following the Rule of Saint Benedict would not be emphasized in the new areas of expansion. One of the purposes for establishing AIM was to plan and organize meetings of monks and nuns in those vast areas of the world.2 Thus, AIM and its staff acted as the prime instrument for pulling together all the threads that went into the meeting in Bangkok in December 1968. They ultimately were responsible for selecting inculturation as the main theme to be treated. At that time, I noticed that this theme was frequently being discussed among us Superiors General in Rome, especially among those religious congregations with newer foundations in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and South America.3 Many came to realize that this theme was important, not only for newer houses, but also for older ones in the Third World, as they too were rethinking how they engaged the cultures in which they had been implanted. We superiors devoted many meetings to this theme, bringing in experts in theology and anthropology to reflect with us on current thinking and to animate our discussions. Because of the positive treatment at Vatican Council II of the other great religions of the world, this theme was “in the air” at that time. In the Far East the question of inculturation for Catholic missionaries was not a new one in itself, as Christians had been posing it since the time of the first missionary efforts in China and Japan centuries before. For monks, however, it was being asked for the first time and with some urgency. Monasticism [End Page 91] posed questions of adaptation and accommodation in cultures already possessing deeply rooted manifestations of a similar way of life that went under the same label. Thus, since there was already a concept of monasticism and the existence of monks in Asian cultures, the Bangkok meeting was an occasion for reexamining the question of inculturation. At that same time there was a heightened sensitivity to any sign of a residual colonialism in many parts of the Third World. When Western groups made no attempt at inculturation, it was interpreted as old European cultural colonialism, or, as some were beginning to say, new American economic imperialism. When some Benedictine and Cistercian superiors in Asia suggested inculturation as the theme for this meeting, they added the suggestion that superiors of the founding monasteries in Europe and the United States should attend the meeting and interact with the superiors of the local houses. These superiors felt it was important for the founding superiors to gain a better understanding of the issues involved in cultural adaptation and that they be willing to give to the local superiors a broader berth for future developments. For this to occur, the presence of experts at the meeting was also imperative. It was then that Merton’s name was suggested. It was rightly felt that he was well informed about both Eastern and Western forms of monasticism and would be a font of insights and a ready guide for the discussions. In addition, his views—everyone agreed—would be well accepted by the Western superiors. Since the two languages of the meeting were to be French and English, Merton could also...

A Hedonic Model of Office Prices in Paris and its Immediate Suburbs

This paper applies the hedonic method to analysis the office transaction prices for central Paris and its immediate suburbs. We concentrate on the market's two main business districts (the CBD and La Défense). The aim of the paper is to examine the impact of the property markets' spatial and real estate characteristics on office transaction prices, and to compare price cycles, in order to see whether these two business districts differ from the overall office market comprised of Paris and its immediate suburbs over the 1991–2005 study period. Finally, we propose a new hedonic price index for the Paris office property market.

A Krapp Chronology

I begin my chronology with the creation of Krapp's Last Tape. In 1958, Beckett's translation of Fin de partie was scheduled to premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in London, but, some seventy-five minutes long, it was considered too short to play alone. The theatre's artistic director, George Devine, wished to couple it with A Resounding Tinkle by N.F. Simpson. Beckett, however, preferred to try to compose something himself. At about that time – December, 1957 – Beckett heard Patrick Magee reading from Molloy on the radio, and the musical writer was enchanted by the soft, whispering voice of the Irish actor. In January 1958, Beckett went to the BBC office in Paris to hear Magee more clearly on tape, and in February, he began to write what he at first called the Magee Monologue. Six drafts and three weeks later Beckett sent Krapp's Last Tape to George Devine in London.

A Krapp Chronology

A Krapp Chronology Ruby Cohn (bio) I begin my chronology with the creation of Krapp's Last Tape. In 1958 , Beckett's translation of Fin de partie was scheduled to premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in London, but, some seventy-five minutes long, it was considered too short to play alone. The theatre's artistic director, George Devine, wished to couple it with A Resounding Tinkle by N.F. Simpson. Beckett, however, preferred to try to compose something himself. At about that time - December, 1957 - Beckett heard Patrick Magee reading from Molloy on the radio, and the musical writer was enchanted by the soft, whispering voice of the Irish actor. In January 1958, Beckett went to the BBC office in Paris to hear Magee more clearly on tape, and in February, he began to write what he at first called the Magee Monologue. Six drafts and three weeks later Beckett sent Krapp's Last Tape to George Devine in London.1 George Devine directed Endgame and also played Hamm. Donald McWhinnie directed Krapp's Last Tape, with Pat Magee playing Krapp. Each of the Beckett plays aroused the censor, and a licence was withheld until three weeks before their premiere. Beckett was present during the short rehearsal period, and the double bill opened on 28 October 1958. My Grove Press paperback edition of Krapp's Last Tape and Other Dramatic Pieces dates from 1960, which is when I must first have read it. I was disappointed. After happening on the first Godot in Paris in 1953 and being even more impressed with Fin de partie and Endgame, I thought Krapp's Last Tape was a Beckett step backward, and I dismissed it summarily. The plot seemed to me boringly realistic: an ambitious writer has made the wrong choice of a career rather than love. In reading, I was insensitive to the musicality of repetitions, as well as to the play-long opposition of light and dark, of sound and silence. I was unfamiliar with tape recorders, and the dramatic ingenuity of the device was lost upon me. My failure to respond to Krapp blemished my doctoral dissertation, which became my first book on Beckett. (What I dislike most about my writing is its veneer of authority, which is lamentable for Beckett, the perennial perhapser.)2 [End Page 514] About a decade after composing Krapp's Last Tape, Beckett accepted an invitation to direct in the Schiller Theatre Werkstatt in Berlin. In 1967 , he directed Endspiel there, without accompaniment, but Das letzte Band was coupled with Ionesco's Der Neue Mieter (The New Tenant.) As in the case of Endspiel, Beckett prepared a director's notebook, but the two are quite different. That of Endspiel occupies some thirty-five pages and is written in English, with quotations from the German translation of the play. It consists largely of sixteen rehearsal scenes. In contrast, his director's notebook for Das letzte Band occupies eighty-one pages and is written preponderantly in French, again with quotations from the German translation of the play. Moreover, the later notebook displays Beckett's directorial mind at work: he asks himself questions, makes diagrams, hazards calculations as to the duration of an activity, and he guesses that the whole play will last thirty-five minutes. Presumably after brooding about problems that troubled him, Beckett drew up a list of twenty-six items. This is followed by item 27, "Endgu¨ltig Werkstatt," which consists of fifteen pages in English that may describe the actual performance; for example, "Hold dream, then feverish change of spools. Winding back of old tape interrupted by Hain 3." The only date in the notebook is 5-10-69, which is when the production premiered, and I don't know how long before that Beckett composed his director's notebook. Reviews timed the play variously at forty or forty-five minutes. Das letzte Band played in repertory at the Schiller Werkstatt for at least a year. Although Jim Knowlson has scrupulously edited Beckett's director's notebook for The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett, his discussion tends to slide the notebook into the actual performance, and I should like to keep them separate...

Archives en sacristie. Le trésor est-il un bâtiment d'archives ? Le cas du «Trésor des chartes» des rois de France (XIIIe-XIXe siècle)

"Archives in the sacristy. The Treasure as a records building in the Middle Ages ? The case of the 'trésor des chartes' of the 'Sainte Chapelle' of Paris (Xlllth-XIXth century)", by Yann Potin The medieval legacy to contemporaries' records buildings seems to be limited to one word or one image : the "treasure" room" is frequently used as a metonymy of the entire depository or as the heart of the construction, for example in the French Public Record Office in Paris. If the expression appears to be a commonplace, it is nevertheless a witness of a very long spatial association between records and sacristy, between charter room and treasure room. The keeping of documents of the past in the outbuilding of a church or a chapel used to be the right and the main way of keeping records, especially for the institutions ; in France, only the alienation of the clerical property during the French Revolution broke off this practice. Is this very widespread tradition of keeping records can be explained with only security reasons ? Is the integration of records in the larger space of the treasure means that archives had not any form of architectural independence before the eighteenth century ? This contribution try to answer through the specific but much imitated case of the building of "trésor des chartes" - the other name for the sacristy of the "Sainte Chapelle du Palais of Paris" — both founded in the middle of the eighteenth century. Inheriting of a long previous ecclesiastical tradition of settlement, the main record office of the kings managed to stay inside the same building until 1783, before becoming the centre of the depositories of the "hotel Soubise" since 1808.

A critical review of the causes of death among post‐mortem toxicological investigations: analysis of 34 buprenorphine‐associated and 35 methadone‐associated deaths

To assess the trends in the number, mortality and the nature of forensic cases involving toxicological detection of buprenorphine or methadone among toxicological investigations performed in Paris from June 1997 to June 2002. Retrospective, 5 year study with review of premortem data, autopsy, police reports, hospital data, and post-mortem toxicological analyses. 34 forensic cases of buprenorphine and 35 forensic cases of methadone detection among 1600 toxicological investigations performed at the Laboratory of Toxicology in the Medical Examiner's Office in Paris. Therapeutic, toxic or lethal drug concentrations were defined based upon the results of blood analyses and the published literature. Drug concentrations were cross-referenced with other available ante- and post-mortem data. Subsequently, we classified a 'clear responsibility', 'possible responsibility' or 'not causative' role for buprenorphine or methadone in the death process, or 'no explanation of death'. Buprenorphine and methadone can be regarded as being directly implicated in, respectively, four of 34 death cases (12%) and three of 35 death cases (9%), and their participation in the lethal process is strongly plausible in eight (buprenorphine) and 11 (methadone) additional deaths. Analysis of causes of death reveals the difficulties in determining the role of substitution drugs in the death process, as many other factors may be involved, including circumstances surrounding death, past history, differential selection of subjects into either substitution modality and concomitant intake of other drugs (especially benzodiazepines and neuroleptics). The potential for synergistic or additive actions by other isolated molecules-particularly opioids, benzodiazepines, other psychotropes and alcohol-must be also considered.

Norovirus foodborne outbreaks associated with the consumption of oysters from the Etang de Thau, France, December 2002.

In January 2003, the Institut de Veille Sanitaire received notification of clusters of gastroenteritis (GE) thought to be associated with consumption of oysters harvested from Etang de Thau in the south of France. At the same time Italy reported an outbreak (200+ cases) associated with oysters from the Etang de Thau. An investigation was carried out to determine the source and vehicle of the outbreaks. Descriptive analysis of reported clusters in France, microbiological analysis of stool and oyster samples, genotyping of noroviruses and an environmental investigation of the Etang de Thau were carried out. A retrospective cohort study was also undertaken among those attending a number of family meals in Paris. Thirteen family clusters in four districts of France (69 cases) could be attributed to the consumption of Thau oysters based on descriptive evidence. Oysters distributed at an office in Paris and consumed at fourteen family meals between 19 and 24 December led to a further outbreak. In this outbreak the attack rate was 21/36 (58%) for Thau oyster consumers and 0/22 for non-consumers (p=0.00002). Noroviruses (genogroups I and II) were found in stool samples from four clusters and oysters from three clusters (including Paris). Environmental investigations revealed heavy rainfall, an overflow of a water purification station and faecal contamination of the Etang de Thau in December. Oysters from the Etang de Thau were responsible for a number of clusters of norovirus GE in winter 2002 in France and also in Italy. High Escherichia Coli levels in Thau water and shellfish led to an official request, mid-December, for oyster purification before distribution. This was not possible, due to lack of purification facilities. This investigation has contributed to a change in the way that shellfish harvesting areas are classified in France.

Americans in Paris: The J. Walter Thompson Company in France, 1927–1968

J. Walter Thompson (JWT), the leading American advertising agency until the 1970s, established a branch office in Paris in 1927. While many of JWT's worldwide branches became the leading agencies in their respective countries, notably Great Britain and Germany, JWT-Paris foundered from the late 1920s through the early 1960s. This article focuses on the reasons why: cultural clashes between the French and Americans, a regulated and protected French market, anti-Americanism among French businesses, and American condescension and insensitivity. It concludes with an analysis of and the reasons for JWT-Paris's achievement of limited success by the late 1960s.

Americans in Paris: The J. Walter Thompson Company in France, 1927–1968

J. Walter Thompson (JWT), the leading American advertising agency until the 1970s, established a branch office in Paris in 1927. While many of JWT's worldwide branches became the leading agencies in their respective countries, notably Great Britain and Germany, JWT-Paris foundered from the late 1920s through the early 1960s. This article focuses on the reasons why: cultural clashes between the French and Americans, a regulated and protected French market, anti-Americanism among French businesses, and American condescension and insensitivity. It concludes with an analysis of and the reasons for JWT-Paris's achievement of limited success by the late 1960s.

The congress for cultural freedom in Denmark

The Danish section of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was established in 1953 by Arne Sejr, a former wartime resistance leader. The Society for Freedom and Culture was formed as a part of Sejr's private anti-communist intelligence network, called the Firm. But Sejr did not understand the methods or goals of the CCF's work, since he was more concerned with political propaganda and information rather than cultural issues. During its early years the special circumstances of the Danish branch were ignored by the Congress HQ, but in 1957 Jorgen Schleimann, a Danish employee at the Congress office in Paris, set out to reform the Danish Society's work. Denmark's experience with the CCF provides a good example of the tension that could exist between the universal agenda of the Congress and particular national conditions. It also demonstrates the limitations of the CCF's purpose and therefore also the ‘boundaries’ to Cold War cultural manipulation in the West.

Rockefeller and the Internationalization of Mathematics between the Two World Wars: Documents and Studies for the Social History of Mathematics in the 20th Century

Rockefeller and the Internationalization of Mathematics between the Two World Wars: Documents and Studies for the Social History of Mathematics in the 20th Century

Trends in opiate and opioid poisonings in addicts in north-east Paris and suburbs, 1995-99.

(1). To assess the trends in the number, mortality and the nature of severe opiate/opioid poisonings from 1995 to 1999 in north-east Paris and adjacent suburbs and (2). to examine the effects of the introduction of high-dose buprenorphine on these parameters. Retrospective, 5-year study with review of pre-hospital, hospital and post-mortem data. Eighty patients from the toxicological intensive care unit (TICU) in north-east Paris, 421 patients from the pre-hospital emergency medical service in a north-east suburb of Paris (SAMU 93) and 40 deaths from the coroner's office in Paris. We found that the number of pre-hospital opiate/opioid poisonings and deaths decreased over 5 years. During the same time frame, opiate/opioid poisoning admissions to our TICU remained steady, but the number of deaths declined. From 1995 to 1999, the detection of buprenorphine among opiate/opioid-poisoned TICU patients increased from two to eight occurrences per year while detection of opiates diminished from 17 to 10 occurrences per year. Increased buprenorphine detection correlated directly with increasing sales over this time period. In spite of the increased use of buprenorphine, the mortality associated with opiate/opioid poisonings has diminished in the pre-hospital environment from 9% in 1995 to 0% in 1999, and in the TICU from 12% in 1995 to 0% in 1997 and thereafter. We found a high frequency of multiple opiate/opioid use in severe poisonings, as well as the frequent association of other psychoactive drugs including ethanol. The number and the mortality of opiate/opioid poisonings appear to be stable or decreasing in our region. The association of multiple opiates/ opioids appears nearly as common as the association with other psychoactive drugs. The introduction of high-dose buprenorphine coincides with a decrease in opiate/opioid poisoning mortality. Further study will be necessary to clarify this observation.

Personal exposure of Paris office workers to nitrogen dioxide and fine particles

Aims: (1) To obtain an overall estimate of variability of personal exposure of Paris office workers to fine particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and to quantify their microenvironmental determinants....

Opening of new Paris office

Opening of new Paris office

Claude Allègre: Back to the Wall, But Still Fighting

SCIENCE INTERVIEWGeochemist Claude AllA¨gre came to the job of research minister with grand plans to bring more fluidity to France's privileged research system. But his insistence that government researchers develop closer ties with universities and industry has met fierce resistance. In an interview in his Paris office, AllA¨gre outlines his rationale for the changes he wants to see in French research, and underscores his determination to push ahead with the reform program.