Get-togethers: Guided Peer-Support Groups for Young Carers.

To address Young Carers' (YCs) needs for space and opportunities to reflect and exchange, a guided peer-support programme, the "Get-togethers", was developed in collaboration with YC in Switzerland in 2018. In order to evaluate if the Get-togethers were able to meet their originally set goals of (1) strengthening support among YCs, (2) promoting their life skills, (3) strengthening their social network and (4) promoting the inclusion and participation of YCs, participants of the Get-togethers were asked to complete a short questionnaire about their participation in and experiences with the Get-togethers. We also analysed the standard documentation of 17 Get-togethers held between May 2021 and September 2023.

Patients' Perspectives on the Use of a Newly Developed "Patients' Guide for Doctor's Visit": DocVISITguide.

During doctor's visits, fundamental decisions regarding a patient's diagnosis and therapy are taken. However, consultations often take place within a limited time frame and are characterized by an asymmetric interaction. Therefore, patients' questions can remain unanswered and concerns unspoken.

Recruitment of Adolescent Young Carers to a Psychosocial Support Intervention Study in Six European Countries: Lessons Learned from the ME-WE Project.

Young carers provide a substantial amount of care to family members and support to friends, yet their situation has not been actively addressed in research and policy in many European countries or indeed globally. Awareness of their situation by professionals and among children and young carers themselves remains low overall. Thus, young carers remain a largely hidden group within society.

Visibility as a Key Dimension to Better Health-Related Quality of Life and Mental Health: Results of the European Union Funded "ME-WE" Online Survey Study on Adolescent Young Carers in Switzerland.

This paper examines the health-related quality of life (HRQL) and mental health of adolescent young carers (AYCs) aged 15-17 in Switzerland, based on data collected within the Horizon 2020 project 'Psychosocial support for promoting mental health and well-being among AYCs in Europe' (ME-WE). It addresses the following questions: (1) Which characteristics of AYCs are associated with lower HRQL and with higher level of mental health problems? (2) Do AYCs who are less visible and less supported report a lower HRQL and more mental health issues than other AYCs? A total of 2343 young people in Switzerland, amongst them 240 AYCs, completed an online survey. The results show that female AYCs and AYCs with Swiss nationality more often reported having mental health issues than their male and non-Swiss counterparts.

Research and Innovation for and with Adolescent Young Carers to Influence Policy and Practice-The European Union Funded "ME-WE" Project.

Young carers are children and adolescents who provide care to other family members or friends, taking over responsibilities that are usually associated with adulthood. There is emerging but still scarce knowledge worldwide about the phenomenon of young carers and the impact of a caring role on their health, social and personal development spheres. This paper provides an overview of the main results from the ME-WE project, which is the first European research and innovation project dedicated to adolescent young carers (AYCs) (15-17 years).

Relation of corona-specific health literacy to use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: COVID-19 has developed into a worldwide pandemic which was accompanied by an «infodemic» consisting of much false and misleading information. To cope with these new challenges, health literacy plays an essential role. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a trend study in Switzerland on corona-specific health literacy, the use of and trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their relationships.

Health Literacy in the Canton of Zurich: First Results of a Representative Study.

Managing health information and services is difficult for nearly half of the population in Switzerland. Low health literacy has been shown to result in poorer health and health outcomes as well as a higher utilization of health services. To date, studies on health literacy in Switzerland have focused on a national level.

Immune Reconstitution-Based Score for Risk Stratification of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Patients.

Introduction: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation survivors are at a relevant risk of developing chronic GvHD (cGvHD), which importantly affects quality of life and increases morbidity and mortality. Early identification of patients at risk of cGvHD-related morbidity could represent a relevant tool to tailor preventive strategies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic power of immune reconstitution (IR) at cGvHD onset through an IR-based score.

MYD88 L265P mutation and interleukin-10 detection in cerebrospinal fluid are highly specific discriminating markers in patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma: results from a prospective study.

Reliable biomarkers are needed to avoid diagnostic delay and its devastating effects in patients with primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma (PCNSL). We analysed the discriminating sensitivity and specificity of myeloid differentiation primary response (88) (MYD88) L265P mutation (mut-MYD88) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of both patients with newly diagnosed (n = 36) and relapsed (n = 27) PCNSL and 162 controls (118 CNS disorders and 44 extra-CNS lymphomas). The concordance of MYD88 mutational status between tumour tissue and CSF sample and the source of ILs in PCNSL tissues were also investigated.

The Italian Mastocytosis Registry: 6-year experience from a hospital-based registry.

Aim: We collected 'real-life' data on the management of patients with mastocytosis in the Italian Mastocytosis Registry.

Methods: Six hundred patients diagnosed with mastocytosis between 1974 and 2014 were included from 19 centers.

Results: Among adults (n = 401); 156 (38.

Treosulfan based reduced toxicity conditioning followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation in patients with myelofibrosis.

Allogeneic transplantation is the only potentially curative strategy for myelofibrosis, even in the era of new drugs that so far only mitigate symptoms. The choice to proceed to allogeneic transplantation is based on several variables including age, disease phase, degree of splenomegaly, donor availability, comorbidities and iron overload. These factors, along with conditioning regimen and time to transplantation, may influence the outcome of ASCT.

Factors affecting successful mobilization with plerixafor: an Italian prospective survey in 215 patients with multiple myeloma and lymphoma.

Background: Although the efficacy of plerixafor in peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization has been explored in several studies, factors associated with successful plerixafor mobilization after administration of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), with or without chemotherapy, have not been investigated. We analyzed data on PBSC mobilization from a large Italian database of lymphoma and myeloma plerixafor-treated patients.

Study Design And Methods: Two endpoints were established to define successful mobilization: patients with at least 2 × 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg collected by three leukapheresis procedures and patients achieving a peak count of at least 20 × 10(6) CD34+ cells/L during mobilization.

Priming of hematopoietic progenitor cells by plerixafor and filgrastim in children with previous failure of mobilization with chemotherapy and/or cytokine treatment.

Plerixafor has been recently approved by the European Medicines Agency for adult patients who have failed other mobilization strategies. Experience in children, however, is extremely limited. We describe the experience of the use of this drug in 8 children under a compassionate-use program in 3 Italian and 2 Spanish centers.

Plerixafor and G-CSF for PBSC mobilization in patients with lymphoma who failed previous attempts with G-CSF and chemotherapy: a REL (Rete Ematologica Lombarda) experience.

Plerixafor has been previously reported to improve PBSC collection in pts undergoing PBSC mobilization. Aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of plerixafor and G-CSF in pts with lymphoma who failed previous attempts of PBSC mobilization with conventional schemes of chemotherapy+G-CSF. 35 heavily pre-treated lymphoma pts (29 NHL, 6 HL) classified as "poor mobilizers" were enrolled in a program of compassionate use of plerixafor in 7 Italian centres of REL (Rete Ematologica Lombarda).