Maintaining Implementation through Dynamic Adaptations (MIDAS): protocol for a cluster-randomized trial of implementation strategies to optimize and sustain use of evidence-based practices in Veteran Health Administration (VHA) patients.

Background: The adoption and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is a challenge within many healthcare systems, especially in settings that have already strived but failed to achieve longer-term goals. The Veterans Affairs (VA) Maintaining Implementation through Dynamic Adaptations (MIDAS) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) program was funded as a series of trials to test multi-component implementation strategies to sustain optimal use of three EBPs: (1) a deprescribing approach intended to reduce potentially inappropriate polypharmacy; (2) appropriate dosing and drug selection of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs); and (3) use of cognitive behavioral therapy as first-line treatment for insomnia before pharmacologic treatment. We describe the design and methods for a harmonized series of cluster-randomized control trials comparing two implementation strategies.

Publisher Correction: Rates, distribution and implications of postzygotic mosaic mutations in autism spectrum disorder.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Can Heart Rate Variability Determine Recovery Following Distinct Strength Loadings? A Randomized Cross-Over Trial.

This study aimed to compare the acute effects of hypertrophic (HYP) and maximum strength (MAX) loadings on heart rate variability (HRV) and to compare possible loading-specific alterations with other markers of recovery. Ten young men with strength training experience performed two leg press loadings (HYP: five times 10 repetitions at 70% of one repetition maximum (1RM) with 2 minutes inter-set rest; MAX: 15 times one repetition at 100% of 1RM with 3 minutes inter-set rest) in a randomized order. The root mean square of successive differences statistically decreased after both protocols (HYP: 65.

Discrimination of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients and Healthy Adults by 10-Color Flow Cytometry: Development of a Score Based on Leukocyte Subsets.

Background: Leukocytes in peripheral blood (PB) are prognostic biomarkers in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cancer patients (HNSCC-CPs), but differences between HNSCC-CPs and healthy adults (HAs) are insufficiently described.

Methods: 10-color flow cytometry (FCM) was used for in-depth immunophenotyping of PB samples of 963 HAs and 101 therapy-naïve HNSCC-CPs. Absolute (AbsCC) and relative cell counts (RelCC) of leukocyte subsets were determined.

Sequential treatment of ADHD in mother and child (AIMAC study): importance of the treatment phases for intervention success in a randomized trial.

Background: The efficacy of parent-child training (PCT) regarding child symptoms may be reduced if the mother has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The AIMAC study (ADHD in Mothers and Children) aimed to compensate for the deteriorating effect of parental psychopathology by treating the mother (Step 1) before the beginning of PCT (Step 2). This secondary analysis was particularly concerned with the additional effect of the Step 2 PCT on child symptoms after the Step 1 treatment.

Rapid and Highly Sensitive Detection of Therapeutically Relevant Oncogenic Driver Mutations in EBUS-TBNA Specimens From Patients With Lung Adenocarcinoma.

Background: First-line afatinib treatment prolongs overall survival in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring exon 19 deletion of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRdelEx19) mutations. In contrast, Kirsten rat sarcoma 2 viral oncogene homolog (KRAS) mutations are negative predictors for benefit from EGFR-targeting agents. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is well-established for lung cancer diagnosis and staging.

Recognition of tumor cells by immuno-SERS-markers in a microfluidic chip at continuous flow.

SERS active nanoparticles were labeled with a reporter molecule and conjugated with anti-EpCAM antibodies. These immuno SERS markers were mixed with leukocytes, MCF-7 breast cancer cells and polystyrene beads, and the mixture was injected into a microfluidic quartz chip. Raman spectra were acquired at 785 nm excitation with 25 milliseconds exposure time in a continuous flow regime.

Next-generation personalised medicine for high-risk paediatric cancer patients - The INFORM pilot study.

The 'Individualized Therapy for Relapsed Malignancies in Childhood' (INFORM) precision medicine study is a nationwide German program for children with high-risk relapsed/refractory malignancies, which aims to identify therapeutic targets on an individualised basis. In a pilot phase, reported here, we developed the logistical and analytical pipelines necessary for rapid and comprehensive molecular profiling in a clinical setting. Fifty-seven patients from 20 centers were prospectively recruited.

Influence of Polyplex Formation on the Performance of Star-Shaped Polycationic Transfection Agents for Mammalian Cells.

Genetic modification ("transfection") of mammalian cells using non-viral, synthetic agents such as polycations, is still a challenge. Polyplex formation between the DNA and the polycation is a decisive step in such experiments. Star-shaped polycations have been proposed as superior transfection agents, yet have never before been compared side-by-side, e.

OSNA: A Fast Molecular Test Based on CK19 mRNA Concentration for Assessment of EBUS-TBNA Samples in Lung Cancer Patients.

Background: Lung cancer is the major cause of cancer death worldwide. Mediastinal lymph node staging is important for pretreatment lung cancer management. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a well established method for mediastinal lymph node staging.

Prognostic model for long-term survival of locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients after neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and resection integrating clinical and histopathologic factors.

Background: Outcome of consecutive patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer and histopathologically proven mediastional lymph node metastases treated with induction chemotherapy, neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and thoracotomy at the West German Cancer Center between 08/2000 and 06/2012 was analysed. A clinico-pathological prognostic model for survival was built including partial or complete response according to computed tomography imaging (CT) as clinical parameters as well as pathologic complete remission (pCR) and mediastinal nodal clearance (MNC) as histopathologic factors.

Methods: Proportional hazard analysis (PHA) and recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) were used to identify prognostic factors for survival.

MRZ-99030 - A novel modulator of Aβ aggregation: I - Mechanism of action (MoA) underlying the potential neuroprotective treatment of Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Therapeutic approaches addressing β-amyloid1-42 (Aβ1-42) aggregation represent a promising neuroprotective strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma. MRZ-99030 is a dipeptide containing d-tryptophan and 2-amino-2-methylpropionic acid in clinical development for the topical treatment of glaucoma and AMD. MRZ-99030 is an Aβ aggregation modulator, previously reported to prevent the formation of soluble toxic oligomeric Aβ species.

[Role of pretherapeutic biomarkers in lung cancer with special regards to bronchoscopic procedures].

Molecular biomarkers are becoming increasingly significant in the workup of lung carcinoma patients. They assist in diagnosis, selecting the most adequate therapy and determining prognosis. Obtaining blood based biomarkers or volatile markers in exhaled breath may provide a less invasive method in the future.

Accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy within trimodality therapy concepts for stage IIIA/B non-small cell lung cancer: Markedly higher rate of pathologic complete remissions than with conventional fractionation.

Background: Radiation dose escalation within definitive radiochemotherapy (RTx/CTx) was not successful for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using conventional fractionation (CF). Accelerated-hyperfractionation (AHF) counteracts tumour cell repopulation. In this observational study, the effects of neoadjuvant RTx/CTx using AHF or CF were studied by histopathology and using the survival end-point.

Monteggia and Monteggia-like-lesions: Classification, Indication, and Techniques in Operative Treatment.

Monteggia fractures consist of an ulna fracture accompanied by radial head dislocation. Such fractures are easily overlooked due to the prominence of the ulna fracture. Earlier studies have reported on the results of treating Monteggia fractures in children and adults even though this type of fracture is different in these two patient populations.

Pumping of mammalian cells with a nozzle-diffuser micropump.

We discuss the successful transport of jurkat cells and 5D10 hybridoma cells using a reciprocating micropump with nozzle-diffuser elements. The effect of the pumping action on cell viability and proliferation, as well as on the damaging of cellular membranes is quantified using four types of well-established biological tests: a trypan blue solution, the tetrazolium salt WST-1 reagent, the LDH cytotoxicity assay and the calcium imaging ATP test. The high viability levels obtained after pumping, even for the most sensitive cells (5D10), indicate that a micropump with nozzle-diffuser elements can be very appropriate for handling living cells in cell-on-a-chip applications.