Differences between Current Clinical Practice and Evidence-Based Guideline Recommendations Regarding Tocolysis - an Austria-wide Survey.

Introduction: To evaluate the adherence of Austrian obstetricians to national guideline recommendations by investigating data on the current practice of tocolysis regarding indications, timing and monitoring of tocolysis, choice of tocolytics and serious side effects, maintenance tocolysis, support of decision-making and recommendations at patient's discharge from the hospital.

Materials And Methods: 78 obstetric departments in Austria were invited to participate in a nationwide survey between June 5 and August 31 2023 by answering a web-based questionnaire about clinical standards. The survey was conducted approximately one year after implementation of the AWMF Guideline "Prevention and Therapy of Preterm Birth" 015‑025.

Evaluation of Reproducibility of Measurements of Peripapillary Blood Flow with Laser Speckle Flowgraphy in Healthy and POAG Subjects.

Background: Peripapillary blood flow is of diagnostic value in glaucoma.

Material And Methods: We investigated the reproducibility of peripapillary blood flow measurements in healthy individuals and in open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients with the Nidek laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG)-NAVI system. Blood flow was calculated as the mean of vascular area (MV), mean of tissue area (MT), and mean of overall flow (MA).

Cerebral Overperfusion Despite Reduced Cortical Metabolism Is Associated with Postoperative Delirium in Cardiac Surgery Patients: A Prospective Observational Study.

: Decreased cerebral oximetry (rSO) in cardiac surgery is associated with postoperative delirium (POD). However, interventions optimizing intraoperative rSO are inconclusive. : In this prospective observational cohort study, the relationship between rSO, middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (MCAV), and processed EEG was assessed in cardiac surgery patients with and without POD.

Multi-modal representation learning in retinal imaging using self-supervised learning for enhanced clinical predictions.

Self-supervised learning has become the cornerstone of building generalizable and transferable artificial intelligence systems in medical imaging. In particular, contrastive representation learning techniques trained on large multi-modal datasets have demonstrated impressive capabilities of producing highly transferable representations for different downstream tasks. In ophthalmology, large multi-modal datasets are abundantly available and conveniently accessible as modern retinal imaging scanners acquire both 2D fundus images and 3D optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans to assess the eye.

A Prospective Single-center Pilot Study on the Use of Closed-loop Spinal Cord Stimulation to Treat Chronic Pain Associated With Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Objectives: Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a vascular disorder characterized by episodic peripheral artery vasospasms, resulting in paleness, cyanosis, and/or erythema. There are few reports, mostly case reports, on the benefits of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for the treatment of RP. However, there is a lack of objective evidence on SCS-induced modulation of the sympathetic system (eg, vasodilation) in this condition.

Generalizability of polygenic prediction models: how is the R defined on test data?

Background: Polygenic risk scores (PRS) quantify an individual's genetic predisposition for different traits and are expected to play an increasingly important role in personalized medicine. A crucial challenge in clinical practice is the generalizability and transferability of PRS models to populations with different ancestries. When assessing the generalizability of PRS models for continuous traits, the is a commonly used measure to evaluate prediction accuracy.

Comparison of the Diode Laser Wavelengths 445 nm and 810 nm in Gingival Depigmentation - A Clinical Evaluation.

Nowadays, esthetic appearance plays an important role in the field of dentistry. Discolorations and pigmentations of the gingiva reduce the appearance of a healthy-looking smile. On this occasion, the use of lasers shows a promising approach for a fast and non-aggressive treatment in this field.

Online Compassion Focused Therapy for overeating: Feasibility and acceptability pilot study.

Objective: This pilot study aims to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and potential effectiveness of online Compassion Focused Therapy for overeating (CFT-OE).

Method: Eighteen Portuguese women seeking treatment for overeating were enrolled in this study, and 15 participants completed the CFT-OE. This was a single-arm study.

MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphism's effect on risk of colorectal cancer in Lynch syndrome.

Lynch syndrome (LS) is characterised by an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) and other extracolonic epithelial cancers. It is caused by pathogenic germline variants in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes or the EPCAM gene, leading to a less functional DNA MMR system. Individuals diagnosed with LS (LS individuals) have a 10-80% lifetime risk of developing cancer.

Incidence, risk factors and outcome of acute kidney injury in critically ill COVID-19 patients in Tyrol, Austria: a prospective multicenter registry study.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury is a frequent complication in critically ill patients with and without COVID-19. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of, and risk factors for, acute kidney injury and its effect on clinical outcomes of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Tyrol, Austria.

Methods: This multicenter prospective registry study included adult patients with a SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by polymerase chain reaction, who were treated in one of the 12 dedicated intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic from February 2020 until May 2022.

A community effort in SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a substantial threat to human lives and is likely to do so for years to come. Despite the availability of vaccines, searching for efficient small-molecule drugs that are widely available, including in low- and middle-income countries, is an ongoing challenge. In this work, we report the results of an open science community effort, the "Billion molecules against COVID-19 challenge", to identify small-molecule inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 or relevant human receptors.

Recent Methodological Trends in Epidemiology: No Need for Data-Driven Variable Selection?

Variable selection in regression models is a particularly important issue in epidemiology, where one usually encounters observational studies. In contrast to randomized trials or experiments, confounding is often not controlled by the study design, but has to be accounted for by suitable statistical methods. For instance, when risk factors should be identified with unconfounded effect estimates, multivariable regression techniques can help to adjust for confounders.

Lung Ultrasound in Predicting Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19 Treated with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

Pulmonary involvement due to SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with COVID-19. Consequently, pulmonary imaging is crucial for management of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of lung ultrasound (LUS) with a handheld ultrasound device (HHUD) in patients with COVID-19 treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

The benefit of knowledge: postural response modulation by foreknowledge of equilibrium perturbation in an upper limb task.

For whole-body sway patterns, a compound motor response following an external stimulus may comprise reflexes, postural adjustments (anticipatory or compensatory), and voluntary muscular activity. Responses to equilibrium destabilization may depend on both motor set and a subject`s expectation of the disturbing stimulus. To disentangle these influences on lower limb responses, we studied a model in which subjects (n = 14) were suspended in the air, without foot support, and performed a fast unilateral wrist extension (WE) in response to a passive knee flexion (KF) delivered by a robot.

Gene-based burden scores identify rare variant associations for 28 blood biomarkers.

Background: A relevant part of the genetic architecture of complex traits is still unknown; despite the discovery of many disease-associated common variants. Polygenic risk score (PRS) models are based on the evaluation of the additive effects attributable to common variants and have been successfully implemented to assess the genetic susceptibility for many phenotypes. In contrast, burden tests are often used to identify an enrichment of rare deleterious variants in specific genes.

Cerebroplacental versus Umbilicocerebral Ratio-Analyzing the Predictive Value Regarding Adverse Perinatal Outcomes in Low- and High-Risk Fetuses at Term.

: The aim of this study was to investigate the prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes using the cerebroplacental (CPR) and umbilicocerebral (UCR) ratios in different cohorts of singleton pregnancies. : In this retrospective cohort study, we established our own Multiple of Median (MoM) for CPR and UCR. The predictive value for both ratios was studied in the following outcome parameters: emergency cesarean delivery, operative intervention (OI), OI due to fetal distress, 5-min Apgar < 7, admission to neonatal intensive care unit, and composite adverse perinatal outcome.

Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Postoperative Inflammatory Response: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Unlabelled: Initial evidence indicates that preoperatively initiated administration of omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) attenuates the postoperative inflammatory reaction. The effects of immunonutrition containing omega-3 FAs, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), on the inflammatory response to abdominal surgery continues to be unclear, although improved outcomes have been reported. Therefore, we determined the effectiveness of preoperatively initiated omega-3 FAs administration on postoperative inflammation defined as CRP (C-Reactive Protein), IL-6 (Interleukin 6), and WBC (White Blood Count) and potential effects on postoperative length of hospital stay (LOS) due to an improved inflammatory response.

AI-based multi-PRS models outperform classical single-PRS models.

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) calculate the risk for a specific disease based on the weighted sum of associated alleles from different genetic loci in the germline estimated by regression models. Recent advances in genetics made it possible to create polygenic predictors of complex human traits, including risks for many important complex diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases, typically influenced by many genetic variants, each of which has a negligible effect on overall risk. In the current study, we analyzed whether adding additional PRS from other diseases to the prediction models and replacing the regressions with machine learning models can improve overall predictive performance.

Ability of a polygenic risk score to refine colorectal cancer risk in Lynch syndrome.

Background: Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been used to stratify colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in the general population, whereas its role in Lynch syndrome (LS), the most common type of hereditary CRC, is still conflicting. We aimed to assess the ability of PRS to refine CRC risk prediction in European-descendant individuals with LS.

Methods: 1465 individuals with LS (557 , 517 , 299 and 92 ) and 5656 CRC-free population-based controls from two independent cohorts were included.

The relative area score for sublingual varices reliability measurement: a diagnostic study.

Background: Sublingual varices (SV) and their predictive potential for other clinical parameters is a much studied topic in oral medicine. SVs have been well studied as predictive markers for many common diseases such as arterial hypertension, cardiovascular disease, smoking, type 2 diabetes mellitus and age. Despite many prevalence studies, it is still unclear how the reliability of SV inspection affects its predictive power.

Dissecting the genetic heterogeneity of gastric cancer.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is clinically heterogenous according to location (cardia/non-cardia) and histopathology (diffuse/intestinal). We aimed to characterize the genetic risk architecture of GC according to its subtypes. Another aim was to examine whether cardia GC and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) and its precursor lesion Barrett's oesophagus (BO), which are all located at the gastro-oesophageal junction (GOJ), share polygenic risk architecture.

Maintenance tocolysis, tocolysis in preterm premature rupture of membranes and in cervical cerclage - a Germany-wide survey on the current practice after dissemination of the German guideline.

Objectives: To investigate the adherence of German perinatal specialist units and those of basic obstetric care to the national guideline we compared data from a nation-wide survey on the practice of maintenance tocolysis, tocolysis in preterm premature rupture of membranes and in the perioperative setting of cervical cerclage, and bedrest during and after tocolysis with recommendations from the current German Guideline 015/025 "Prevention and Treatment of Preterm Birth".

Methods: A total of 632 obstetric clinics in Germany were approached and received a link to an online questionnaire. Data were descriptively analyzed by performing measures of frequency.

Boosting multivariate structured additive distributional regression models.

We develop a model-based boosting approach for multivariate distributional regression within the framework of generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape. Our approach enables the simultaneous modeling of all distribution parameters of an arbitrary parametric distribution of a multivariate response conditional on explanatory variables, while being applicable to potentially high-dimensional data. Moreover, the boosting algorithm incorporates data-driven variable selection, taking various different types of effects into account.