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Background. Although diosmectite has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of acute watery diarrhoea in children, its efficacy in adults still needs to be assessed. The objective of this study was therefore to assess the efficacy of diosmectite on the time to recovery in adults with acute diarrhoea. Methods. A total of 346 adults with at least three watery stools per day over a period of less than 48 hours were prospectively randomized to diosmectite (6 g tid) or placebo during four days. The primary endpoint was time to diarrhoea recovery. Results. In the intention-to-treat population, median time to recovery was 53.8 hours (range [3.7–167.3]) with diosmectite (n=166) versus 69.0 hours [2.2–165.2] with placebo, (n=163; P=.029), which corresponds to a difference of 15.2 hours. Diosmectite was well tolerated. Conclusion. Diosmectite at 6 g tid was well tolerated and reduced the time to recovery of acute watery diarrhoea episode in a clinically relevant manner.

Background/Aims: Sedation rates may vary among countries, depending on patients’ and endoscopists’ preferences. The aim of this survey was to investigate the rate of using premedication for routine diagnostic upper gastrointestinal (UGI) endoscopy in endoscopy societies, members of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE). Methods: We evaluated a multiple-choice questionnaire which was e-mailed to representatives of national endoscopy societies, which are members of the ESGE. The questionnaire had 14 items referring to endoscopy practices in each country and the representatives’ endoscopy units. Results: The response rate was 76% (34/45). In 47% of the countries, less than 25% of patients undergo routine diagnostic UGI endoscopy with conscious sedation. In 62% of the responders’ endoscopy units, patients are not asked their preference for sedation and do not sign a consent form (59%). Common sedatives in use are midazolam (82%), diazepam (38%) or propofol (47%). Monitoring equipment is not available ‘in most of the endoscopy units’ in 46% (13/28) of the countries. Though they were available in 91% of the national representatives’ endoscopy units, they are rarely (21%) used to monitor unsedated routine diagnostic UGI endoscopy. Conclusions: In about 50% of ESGE-related countries, less than 25% of patients are sedated for routine diagnostic UGI endoscopy. Major issues to improve include availability of monitoring equipment and the use of a consent form.

Optimization of electrical characteristics for electronic components is a main objective for the majority of recent research in this field. In this work, an experimental study of the Schottky diode is realized. This study is based on the proposal of a new measurement approach which concerns the Schottky contact technique by metallization of gold. The structure studied is composed of the InP substrate of selected section (1cm × 1cm), thickness of the order of 350 μm and cut out in the crystallographic plane (100). On this substrate, a thin layer of InN (2 nm) is engraved. We have used gold (Au) for two different values of diameters placed one next to the other in an alternative way; large ( 1.366038 mm) and small ( = 0.815575 mm). Our measurement technique has allowed us to obtain the electrical characteristics of the Schottky diode I-V, C-V and G-V. These measurements allowed us to calculate the ideality factor ( 1.79, 2.58), the saturation current (, ), the potential barrier ( 0.66 eV, eV) and the series resistance (, ) of our diode for the two diameters. The measurement results obtained on our Au/n-type InN/InP diode show the optimized electrical characteristics of the studied Schottky diode. In the logic of comparison of our work, we compared the obtained results for each contact and also the important results of other recent works for the same field of research. This comparison showed us a good agreement from the point of view of numerical values as well as the effectiveness of our proposed measurement approach.

Background Brown tumors are unusual but serious complications of renal osteodystrophy. This unusual complication of secondary hyperparathyroidism (HPT) is more commonly seen with increased longevity of hemodialysis patients and can be found in any bone Objectives We retrospectively studied 12 patients presenting with chronic renal failure and brown tumor related to secondary hyperparathyroidism Methods The purpose of this study is to analyze cli­nical, biologic and radiologic characteristics of brown tumors in our patients Results Eleven patients were on chronic hemodialysis and 1 case was chronic renal failure. The median duration between renal failure and end stage renal failure was 36 months (range: 12-190 months) and the median duration in dialysis for 11 cases: 92 months (range: 72-252 months). The bone pain was noted in all cases (100%), pathological fracture in one case (8%) and a palpable bone tumor in 10 cases (83%). Elevated serum calcium (> 2.35 mmol/L) was noted in four cases (33%), elevated serum Phosphate (> 1.78 mmol/L) in ten cases (80%), elevated serum alkaline phosphate (> 290 UI/L) in all cases and intact PTH was > 300 pg/mL in all cases with a serum median rate at 1475 pg/mL (range: 682-3687 pg/L). Subtotal parathyroidectomy was performed in all cases with a resultant decrease in size of brown tumors. Conclusions Phosphate binders and vitamin D are useful preventive measures of secondary HPT and brown tumors. Radiological bone evaluation is need to diagnosis asymptomatic brown tumors. Parathyroidectomy remains the first choice treatment leads often in a decrease of size of brown tumors. Remaining tumor mass may need sometimes local surgical removal after parathyroidectomy. Disclosure of Interest None Declared