[Cannabinoid Drugs in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders - Data from the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices].

Background: Since 2017 physicians in Germany can prescribe cannabis based medicines or medical cannabis with subsequent funding by the statutory health insurance system.

Methods: Physicians prescribing cannabinoid drugs were legally required to take part in a survey conducted by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. This study analyses data from 16.

[Three years of cannabis as medicine-preliminary results of the survey accompanying the prescription of medical cannabis in Germany].

In Germany, physicians who prescribe medical cannabis flowers or cannabis-based medicines (narcotic prescription) at the expense of the statutory health insurance are obliged to take part in a noninterventional accompanying survey that runs until 31 March 2022.At the time of this interim evaluation, 11 May 2020, there were 10,010 complete datasets collected. The most frequently treated symptoms were pain (73%), followed by spasticity (10%), and anorexia/wasting (6%).

[Interim analysis of the survey accompanying insurance-covered prescriptions of cannabis-based medicines in Germany].

In Germany, medical doctors who prescribe cannabis medicines at the expense of the statutory health insurance are obliged to take part in a noninterventional survey on the use of these cannabis medicines. The survey collects and evaluates anonymized treatment data and runs until 31 March 2022. Amongst other things, the results of the accompanying survey are the basis on which the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA) regulates the future assumption of treatment costs in the context of a therapy with cannabis medicines in accordance with the Social Code (SGB) V.

German nursing home professionals' knowledge and specific self-efficacy related to palliative care.

Background: In Germany, more and more terminally ill patients spend their last days of life in nursing homes, and this presents a challenge for these institutions. Even though palliative care is a growing domain in health care, no quantitative in-depth evaluations of the status quo in nursing homes has been conducted so far in Germany, partly because of lacking measuring tools.

Objective: This study used a new questionnaire to assess German health care professionals' theoretical knowledge of palliative care and their perceived self-efficacy.

Vindesine and etoposide: A practical and well-tolerated therapy for elderly patients or patients in reduced clinical condition with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Background: Small-cell lung cancer is a disease affecting mostly elderly persons. Therefore, many patients show marked comorbidity and intensive chemotherapy is not possible in such patients. As the disease is most often in the 'extensive' stage at diagnosis, the therapy option is only palliative.

Non-viral and hybrid vectors in human gene therapy: an update.

Non-viral DNA vectors have several advantages over viral vectors. For example, virus production is expensive and there are safety concerns regarding viral manipulations. In addition, the size of the delivered plasmid is limited by the size of the viral capsid, whereas this is not a problem with non-viral vectors.