Stentless Root Replacement versus Tissue Valves in Infective Endocarditis - A Propensity-Score Matched Study.

Introduction: People with aortic/prosthetic valve endocarditis are a high-risk cohort of patients who present a challenge for all medically involved disciplines and who can be treated by various surgical techniques.

Methods: We analyzed the results of treatment of root endocarditis with Medtronic Freestyle® in full-root technique over 19 years (1999-2018) and compared them against treatment with other tissue valves. Comparison was made with propensity score matching, using the nearest neighbor method.

Time delay of the qCON monitor and its performance during state transitions.

We investigated the performance of the qCON index regarding its time delay for sudden changes in the anesthetic level as well as to separate responsiveness from unresponsiveness during loss and return of responsiveness (LOR and ROR). For evaluation of the time delay, we replayed relevant EEG episodes to the qCON to simulate sudden changes between the states (i) awake/sedation, (ii) adequate anesthesia, or (iii) suppression. We also replayed EEG from 40 patients during LOR and ROR to evaluate the qCON's ability to separate responsiveness from unresponsiveness.

Framework for Deploying a Virtualized Computing Environment for Collaborative and Secure Data Analytics.

Introduction: Large amounts of health data generated by a wide range of health care applications across a variety of systems have the potential to offer valuable insight into populations and health care systems, but robust and secure computing and analytic systems are required to leverage this information.

Framework: We discuss our experiences deploying a Secure Data Analysis Platform (SeDAP), and provide a framework to plan, build and deploy a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to enable innovation, collaboration and operate within academic funding structures. It outlines 6 core components: Security, Ease of Access, Performance, Cost, Tools, and Training.

Big data for population-based cancer research: the integrated cancer information and surveillance system.

The Integrated Cancer Information and Surveillance System (ICISS) facilitates population-based cancer research by developing extensive information technology systems that can link and manage large data sets. Taking an interdisciplinary 'team science' approach, ICISS has developed data, systems, and methods that allow researchers to better leverage the power of big data to improve population health.

Characteristics of highly impaired children with severe chronic pain: a 5-year retrospective study on 2249 pediatric pain patients.

Background: Prevalence of pain as a recurrent symptom in children is known to be high, but little is known about children with high impairment from chronic pain seeking specialized treatment. The purpose of this study was the precise description of children with high impairment from chronic pain referred to the German Paediatric Pain Centre over a 5-year period.

Methods: Demographic variables, pain characteristics and psychometric measures were assessed at the first evaluation.

Performance characteristics of upper airway critical collapsing pressure measurements during sleep.

Objective: The critical pressure (P(CRIT)), a measurement of upper airway collapsibility, is a determinant of the severity of upper airway obstruction during sleep. We examined the performance characteristics of the passive and active P(CRIT) by examining both within-night and between-night variability in the measurements.

Methods: We studied 54 sleep apnea patients (39 men, 15 women) and 34 normal subjects (20 men, 14 women) on either 1 or 2 nights during sleep.