[Routine Practice Data for Health Care Analyses: Part 3 of the Manual].

Analyses of health and health care (hereafter referred to as "health care analyses") usually aim to make transparent the structures, processes, results and interrelationships of health care and to record the degree to which health care systems and their actors have achieved their goals. Health care-related data are an indispensable source of data for many health care analyses. A prerequisite for the examination of a degree of goal achievement is first of all an agreement on those goals that are to be achieved by the system and its substructures, as well as the identification of the determinants of the achievement of the objectives.

[Legal principles and decision making of the Federal Joint Committee on minimum caseloads in operative medicine].

Minimum caseload requirements represent a regulatory instrument of the Federal Joint Committee in order to improve patient safety for elective, highly complex procedures or treatments. A relationship between case volume and quality of the outcome must be demonstrated within the scientific literature before minimum caseload requirements can be implemented. Furthermore, patients need to be allocated to hospitals which perform higher case volumes but without causing temporal and/or transport distress for them.

[Quality assurance and improvement in healthcare: instruments and perspectives].

In the German statutory health insurance system, quality healthcare is an imperative - healthcare must correspond to current medical knowledge. The central decision-making body, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), uses directives to regulate quality standards and instruments to ensure compliance. The Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Health Care (IQTIG) supports the G‑BA in this task with independent scientific recommendations.

Current Practice of Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis in Surgical Departments in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, Germany.

Background: Despite the growing concern over its potentially severe side effects and considerable economic burden, stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) is still frequently prescribed to patients in medical non-intensive care units. Recent data indicate that the situation is similar in surgical departments. Currently, data on the concepts within and regulation of routine SUP practice in surgical departments are sparse.

Gastric Balloon Implantation as Part of Morbid Adiposity Therapy Changes the Structure of the Stomach Wall.

Purpose: The implantation of a gastric balloon (also known as intragastric balloon) is an established and reversible endoscopic procedure for adiposity therapy. Structural changes of the stomach wall are expected to occur with gastric balloon implantation; however, until now these changes have rarely been investigated.

Methods: We compared the histological structure of the stomach wall after gastric-sleeve resection in a group of patients following gastric balloon implantation and a group without previous gastric balloon implantation.

Current practice of stress ulcer prophylaxis in a surgical patient cohort in a German university hospital.

Introduction: Stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP) has been a widespread practice both in intensive care units (ICU) and internal wards at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Clinical data suggests an important overuse of acid suppressive therapy (AST) for this indication. Data on current clinical practice of SUP in surgical patients in a non-ICU setting are spares.

[Routine Practice Data for Evaluating Intervention Effects: Part 2 of the Manual].

The evaluation of intervention effects is an important domain of health services research. The ad hoc commission for the use of routine practice data of the German Network for Health Services Research (DNVF) therefore provides this second part of its manual focusing on the use of routine practice data for the evaluation of intervention effects. First, we discuss definition issues and the importance of contextual factors.

A Klebsiella pneumoniae ST307 outbreak clone from Germany demonstrates features of extensive drug resistance, hypermucoviscosity, and enhanced iron acquisition.

Background: Antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae are a major cause of hospital- and community-acquired infections, including sepsis, liver abscess, and pneumonia, driven mainly by the emergence of successful high-risk clonal lineages. The K. pneumoniae sequence type (ST) 307 lineage has appeared in several different parts of the world after first being described in Europe in 2008.

Influence of COVID-19 confinement measures on appendectomies in Germany-a claims data analysis of 9797 patients.

Purpose: COVID-19 pandemic had multiple influences on the social, industrial, and medical situation in all affected countries. Measures of obligatory medical confinement were suspensions of scheduled non-emergent surgical procedures and outpatients' clinics as well as overall access restrictions to hospitals and medical practices. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess if the obligatory confinement (lockdown) had an effect on the number of appendectomies (during and after the period of lockdown).

Rates of Complications After Appendectomy in Children and Adolescents: Pediatric Surgical Compared to General Surgical Hospitals.

Background: Appendectomies in children and adolescents are performed in Germany in pediatric surgical (PS) or general surgical hospitals (GS). The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the surgery in a PS or GS hospital has an influence on the postoperative course after appendectomy in children and adolescents.

Materials And Methods: Nationwide routine data from children and adolescents aged 1-17 y insured by the Local Health Insurance Fund who underwent appendectomy between 2014 and 2016 were analyzed (cohort study).

Active Integration of Patients into Infection Control, as perceived by Health Care Professionals: Results of the AHOI Pilot Study.

Objective: Medical professionals have a key role in active patient involvement in infection control and prevention (ICP). ICP of hospital-associated infections is critical for patient safety and requires targeted integration of patients and their relatives. The possibilities of proper involvement are identified, tested and realized in the innovative AHOI project.

Oxidation-Specific Epitopes (OSEs) Dominate the B Cell Response in Murine Polymicrobial Sepsis.

In murine abdominal sepsis by colon ascendens stent peritonitis (CASP), a strong increase in serum IgM and IgG antibodies was observed, which reached maximum values 14 days following sepsis induction. The specificity of this antibody response was studied in serum and at the single cell level using a broad panel of bacterial, sepsis-unrelated as well as self-antigens. Whereas an antibacterial IgM/IgG response was rarely observed, studies at the single-cell level revealed that IgM antibodies, in particular, were largely polyreactive.

Gas Plasma-Conditioned Ringer's Lactate Enhances the Cytotoxic Activity of Cisplatin and Gemcitabine in Pancreatic Cancer In Vitro and In Ovo.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive tumor entities. Diffuse metastatic infiltration of vessels and the peritoneum restricts curative surgery. Standard chemotherapy protocols include the cytostatic drug gemcitabine with limited efficacy at considerable toxicity.

Active involvement of patients and relatives improves subjective adherence to hygienic measures, especially selfreported hand hygiene: Results of the AHOI pilot study.

Background: The prevention of nosocomial infections requires participation from the patients themselves. In the past, however, patients have been apprehensive to point out hygiene-relevant behaviour to the personnel.In the project AHOI, the possibilities of active patient involvement in infection prevention are identified, tested and realized.

Extensively drug-resistant ST307 outbreak, north-eastern Germany, June to October 2019.

From June to October 2019, 17 patients (six infected, 11 colonised) with an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain were notified from four Western Pomerania medical facilities. The XDR produced carbapenemases NDM-1 and OXA-48, and was only susceptible to chloramphenicol, tigecycline and cefiderocol. Synergistic activity was observed for the combination of aztreonam plus ceftazidime-avibactam.

Influence of Bio-sorb Cream on Sweat Production and Efficacy of Surgical Hand Antisepsis Under Surgical Gloves.

Since the introduction of surgical gloves, one of the main challenges has been to improve donning and wearability. For the wearer, the formation of "glove juice" is problematic. To improve gliding properties for donning the gloves and absorbing sweat, in 1963 Bio-sorb cream: sterile powder cream (Johnson & Johnson Medical, Gargrave, Skipton, United Kingdom) was introduced.

Early removal of urinary drainage in patients receiving epidural analgesia after colorectal surgery within an ERAS protocol is feasible.

Background: ERAS guidelines recommend early removal of urinary drainage after colorectal surgery to reduce the risk of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). Another recommendation is the postoperative use of epidural analgesia (EA). In many types of surgery, EA was shown to increase the risk of postoperative urinary retention (POUR).

Risk Assessment of kINPen Plasma Treatment of Four Human Pancreatic Cancer Cell Lines with Respect to Metastasis.

Cold physical plasma has limited tumor growth in many preclinical models and is, therefore, suggested as a putative therapeutic option against cancer. Yet, studies investigating the cells' metastatic behavior following plasma treatment are scarce, although being of prime importance to evaluate the safety of this technology. Therefore, we investigated four human pancreatic cancer cell lines for their metastatic behavior in vitro and in chicken embryos (in ovo).