Quality assessment of expert answers to lay questions about cystic fibrosis from various language zones in Europe: the ECORN-CF project.

Background: The European Centres of Reference Network for Cystic Fibrosis (ECORN-CF) established an Internet forum which provides the opportunity for CF patients and other interested people to ask experts questions about CF in their mother language. The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a detailed quality assessment tool to analyze quality of expert answers, 2) evaluate the intra- and inter-rater agreement of this tool, and 3) explore changes in the quality of expert answers over the time frame of the project.

Methods: The quality assessment tool was developed by an expert panel.

Activation of umbilical cord endothelial cells and fetal inflammatory response in preterm infants with chorioamnionitis and funisitis.

Chorioamnionitis and funisitis are associated with preterm labor and postnatal morbidity. Activation of endothelium resulting in up-regulation of adhesion molecules seems to be a key mechanism in development of organ damage. We investigated whether chorioamnionitis with or without funisitis in preterm infants induced expression and shedding of adhesion molecules in the umbilical cord and resulted in increased concentrations of E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, IL-1beta, IL-6, and IL-8 in the cord blood.