UCAN Make a Difference: Over 40 Years of Flying High Above Chicago.

The University of Chicago Aeromedical Network (UCAN) was established in 1983 and has been providing critical care transport via both air and ground in and around the Chicago area for over 40 years. Over that time, the program has transported thousands of critically ill individuals, including complex specialty populations, while also maintaining a safe transport environment for its crew members and patients. UCAN has had a profound impact not only on its patients, but also on the entire transport community by providing continuing education, conducting vital safety research while maintaining the highest safety standards, and driving the industry forward through service and leadership.

Cell-Free Methylated and Plasma DNA as a Biomarker for Therapy Monitoring and Prognosis in Advanced Stage NSCLC Patients.

Notwithstanding some improvement in the earlier detection of patients with lung cancer, most of them still present with a late-stage disease at the time of diagnosis. Next to the most frequently utilized factors affecting the prognosis of lung cancer patients (stage, performance, and age), the recent application of biomarkers obtained by liquid profiling has gained more acceptance. In our study, we aimed to answer these questions: (i) Is the quantification of free-circulating methylated and plasma DNA a useful method for therapy monitoring, and is this also possible for patients treated with different therapy regimens? (ii) Is this approach possible when blood-drawing tubes, which allow for a delayed processing of blood samples, are utilized? Baseline values for and do not allow for clear discrimination between different response groups.

The Correlation of Lung Function Parameters, Blood Pressure and Beta-Blocker Medication in a General Population.

Objectives:  Prior studies have investigated possible links between blood pressure, antihypertensive medication, especially beta-blockers and impairment of lung function. The aim of our study was to investigate an association between blood pressure, antihypertensive medication, focusing on beta-blockers, and its influence on lung function parameters in our adult population.

Methods:  From the two analysed cohorts of the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-1 and SHIP-TREND), pooled data for interview-based information, lung function variables including bodyplethysmography and blood pressure variables were used to perform adjusted linear regression analyses.

Periodontitis Is Related to Exercise Capacity: Two Cross-sectional Studies.

Although a potential link between periodontitis and cardiorespiratory fitness might provide a reasonable explanation for effects of tooth-related alterations seen on cardiometabolic diseases, evidence is currently limited. Thus, we investigated the association between clinically assessed periodontitis and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Data from 2 independent cross-sectional population-based studies (5-y follow-up of the Study of Health in Pomerania [SHIP-1;  = 1,639] and SHIP-Trend-0 [ = 2,439]) were analyzed.

PAM-50 predicts local recurrence after breast cancer surgery in postmenopausal patients with ER+/HER2- disease: results from 1204 patients in the randomized ABCSG-8 trial.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the PAM-50-based 46-gene assay carries prognostic value for risk of local recurrence of breast cancer.

Methods: The Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG) 8 RCT compared 5 years of tamoxifen with tamoxifen for 2 years followed by anastrozole for 3 years in postmenopausal women with endocrine receptor-positive breast cancer. This study included patients from the trial who had breast-conserving surgery for whom tumour blocks were available for PAM-50 analysis.