OBJECTIVES Since the last national survey on evaluation of professional practice in France, many peripheral nerve blocks techniques were developed. The aim of this study was to assess the place of such techniques and their impact on the stay in recovery room after orthopaedic surgery. STUDY DESIGN Prospective, multicentric study. PATIENTS AND METHODS Consecutive patients receiving a regional anaesthetic technique for orthopaedic surgery over a 15-day period were included in this multicenter study (four private clinics, two non-university and three university hospitals). Characteristics of blocks, duration of stay and activity of nurses in post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) were recorded for each patient. RESULTS A total of 289 blocks performed in 283 patients were analyzed. A regional anaesthetic technique was performed alone or associated with a light sedation (58 and 8% respectively) or with a general anaesthesia (44%). A continuous peripheral nerve block (mainly for femoral and iliofascial blocks) was performed in 25% of patients, mostly in university hospital and private clinics (35 and 26% respectively), but only in 3% of cases in non-university hospital. Mean duration of PACU stay was 64+/-67 minutes. This time was longer when regional anaesthesia was associated to or performed after general anaesthesia. Workload of nurses was a simple supervision in 47% of the cases (in 61% of patients receiving regional anaesthesia alone vs 21% in those with general anaesthesia, p<0.05). CONCLUSION This survey confirms that peripheral nerve block became widely used in orthopaedic surgery. This decreases the medical workload in PACU, especially for distal upper limb surgery. Regional anaesthetic techniques must be well taught during formation cursus of residents.

Nous rapportons le cas d'une hernie pulmonaire parasternale revelee par la ventilation articielle chez une femme agee de 55 ans victime d'un accident de la route. L'examen clinique met en evidence une masse mousse, expansive a l'insuffluation a travers une dehiscence de la paroi thoracique. Le scanner thoracique confirme une hernie du segment ventral du lobe superieur droit a travers une desunion sterno-costale droite. Un traitement chirurgical a ete necessaire.

Le Groupe de Travail Européen des Grands Foraminifères présente un tableau de répartition stratigraphique de 42 espèces bien définies du Crétacé moyen de la région méditerranéenne. La répartition stratigraphique proposée pour chaque espèce est fondée soit sur des propres observations soit sur des données de la littérature supprimer et est contrôlée par la présence d'Ammonites ou de Foraminifères planctoniques.

Après avoir donné un abrégé de l'échelle stratigraphique de l'Albo-Cénomanien du bassin occidental portugais, les auteurs font état des premiers résultats de leurs recherches sur les kystes de Dinoflagellés trouvés dans ces terrains. L'Albien est en général toujours assez riche, tandis que pour le Cénomanien la richesse est variable suivant les échantillons. A côté de formes spécifiques, particulières, qui seront décrites dans des travaux ultérieurs, on trouve un assez grand nombre de formes déjà connues.

A method has been devised to obtain samples of lamellar Sn-Cd eutectic with highly reduced fault densities. Measurements on the density of various fault types are presented as a function of location within samples. A mechanism for the formation of faults has been observed, and faults are thought to be due to crystallographic factors rather than freezing conditions.