Sanitary Structures Research Articles

CS13 - Douleur, traitement et éthique cliniqueou « Values-based medicine »

In France, drug abuse among the young population first appeared at the end of the sixties. Repressive and therapeutic measures were then combined and specific sanitary structures set up. The authors describe the historical and social backgrounds of this phenomenon and review the sources of relevant statistical information records of offences against the drug law; statistics of special care centres; epidemiological studies on confirmed drug addicts. These sources are various and the approaches quite different. However, they reveal socio-demographic characteristics of French drug abusers and a typology of substances abused and identify different periods in drug career. These studies also allow identification and evaluation of risk factors of drug abuse by typological analysis and by psychometric tests. The authors outline the benefit of collaboration between researchers and clinicians: partial interviews of small addicted populations and national surveys provide complementary information. Systematic epidemiological studies would give global measures of changes in addiction.

Greenhouse gas reduction and primary energy savings via adoption of a fuel cell hybrid plant in a hospital

The Kyoto agreement, expressing great concern about global climate change, has stated emissions of greenhouse gases, especially CO 2 from fossil fuel use, need to be reduced. According to this, existing plants have been required to cut emissions; moreover, there has been a greater emphasis on adopting efficient systems in order to reduce the energy losses. Among high efficiency technologies, fuel cells appear to be the most promising for their high efficiency and their very low environmental impact. This paper first reviews the state-of-the-art of fuel cells systems, then simulates the operation of a hybrid fuel cells plant in a “typical hospital” analysing how it could optimize the hospitals energetic requirements. Hospitals and sanitary structures are normally characterized by considerable energy demands not often suitable with resolute energy retrofit strategies. Both the considerable primary energy savings and the pollutant emissions reduction, achieved upgrading conventional systems to a fuel cell hybrid plant, have the potential to prompt national boards to support their business development, as long as they achieve a consolidated market penetration.

Drug abuse in France: A review of statistical data

In France, drug abuse among the young population first appeared at the end of the sixties. Repressive and therapeutic measures were then combined and specific sanitary structures set up. The authors describe the historical and social backgrounds of this phenomenon and review the sources of relevant statistical information records of offences against the drug law; statistics of special care centres; epidemiological studies on confirmed drug addicts. These sources are various and the approaches quite different. However, they reveal socio-demographic characteristics of French drug abusers and a typology of substances abused and identify different periods in drug career. These studies also allow identification and evaluation of risk factors of drug abuse by typological analysis and by psychometric tests. The authors outline the benefit of collaboration between researchers and clinicians: partial interviews of small addicted populations and national surveys provide complementary information. Systematic epidemiological studies would give global measures of changes in addiction.

Small Sanitary Structures : The Need for Care in Design, by R. H. THOMAS, A.M.I.S.E., Health Inspector, Department of Health, Northern Rhodesia. (Member.)

Small Sanitary Structures : The Need for Care in Design, by R. H. THOMAS, A.M.I.S.E., Health Inspector, Department of Health, Northern Rhodesia. (Member.)