Informed consent in gynecological oncology: a JAGO/NOGGO survey on real-world practices in daily clinical routine.

Purpose: Informed consent is a quintessential element of contemporary medicine, reflecting the fundamental right of patients to participate in decision-making regarding their health. Despite its critical importance, there is a lack of data on real-world practices regarding patient informed consent in the context of modern, high-pressure medical environments.

Methods: We conducted a multinational multicentric survey from February 24, 2022, to September 14, 2022, investigating the practices and challenges surrounding informed consent in hospitals across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with the use of a specifically developed questionnaire.

Liver microRNA transcriptome reveals miR-182 as link between type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease in obesity.

Background: The development of obesity-associated comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hepatic steatosis has been linked to selected microRNAs in individual studies; however, an unbiased genome-wide approach to map T2D induced changes in the miRNAs landscape in human liver samples, and a subsequent robust identification and validation of target genes are still missing.

Methods: Liver biopsies from age- and gender-matched obese individuals with (n=20) or without (n=20) T2D were used for microRNA microarray analysis. The candidate microRNA and target genes were validated in 85 human liver samples, and subsequently mechanistically characterized in hepatic cells as well as by dietary interventions and hepatic overexpression in mice.

Joining forces for pathology diagnostics with AI assistance: The EMPAIA initiative.

Over the past decade, artificial intelligence (AI) methods in pathology have advanced substantially. However, integration into routine clinical practice has been slow due to numerous challenges, including technical and regulatory hurdles in translating research results into clinical diagnostic products and the lack of standardized interfaces. The open and vendor-neutral EMPAIA initiative addresses these challenges.

Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on reactive response inhibition.

Reactive response inhibition cancels impending actions to enable adaptive behavior in ever-changing environments and has wide neuropsychiatric implications. A canonical paradigm to measure the covert inhibition latency is the stop-signal task (SST). To probe the cortico-subcortical network underlying motor inhibition, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been applied over central nodes to modulate SST performance, especially to the right inferior frontal cortex and the presupplementary motor area.

[Evaluation of Psychological Distress in Obstetric Patients during the Visit Ban in Hospitals in the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Prospective, Multicentre, Controlled Study].

Introduction: Risk factors for postpartum depression include a lack of social support and perceived social isolation. We would like to determine whether the isolation of inpatients on the maternity wards during Covid-19 leads to increased psychological stress.

Methods: This is a multicentre, controlled study of obstetric patients who gave birth during an inpatient stay.

Turning the Light Switch on Binding: Prefrontal Activity for Binding and Retrieval in Action Control.

According to action control theories, responding to a stimulus leads to the binding of response and stimulus features into a common representation, that is, an event file. Repeating any component of an event file retrieves all previously bound information, leading to performance costs for partial repetitions measured in so-called binding effects. Although otherwise robust and stable, binding effects are typically completely absent in "localization tasks," in which participants localize targets with spatially compatible responses.

A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study on the prefrontal correlates of cognitive offloading via a personal knowledge assistant.

The saving of previously encoded information boosts both memory for subsequent information (saving-enhanced memory; SEM) as well as cognitive performance in general (saving-enhanced performance; SEP). These findings have been replicated in a setting that involves the assistance by an intelligent software that automatically structures and saves work content in an interactive sidebar. It is assumed that beneficial effects on cognitive performance due to (automatic) saving are caused by a reduction in current workload by means of cognitive offloading.

Resistance to thyroid hormone induced tachycardia in RTHα syndrome.

Mutations in thyroid hormone receptor α1 (TRα1) cause Resistance to Thyroid Hormone α (RTHα), a disorder characterized by hypothyroidism in TRα1-expressing tissues including the heart. Surprisingly, we report that treatment of RTHα patients with thyroxine to overcome tissue hormone resistance does not elevate their heart rate. Cardiac telemetry in male, TRα1 mutant, mice indicates that such persistent bradycardia is caused by an intrinsic cardiac defect and not due to altered autonomic control.

Treatment of Cesarean Scar and Cervical Pregnancies Using the Ovum Aspiration Set for Intrachorial Methotrexate Injection as a Conservative, Fertility-Preserving Procedure.

: Cesarean scar and cervical pregnancies are rare forms of ectopic pregnancies, occurring in 1 in 2000 and 1 in 9000 pregnancies, respectively. Both entities are medically challenging due to their high morbidity and mortality potential. : In this retrospective study, we analyzed all cesarean scar and cervical pregnancies from 2010 to 2019 in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Hospital Freiburg, treated with both intrachorial (using the ovum aspiration set) and systemic methotrexate application.

The influence of climate warming on flowering phenology in relation to historical annual and seasonal temperatures and plant functional traits.

Climate warming has the potential to influence plant flowering phenology which in turn can have broader ecological consequences. Herbarium collections offer a source of historical plant data that makes possible the ability to document and better understand how warming climate can influence long-term shifts in flowering phenology. We examined the influence of annual, winter, and spring temperatures on the flowering phenology of herbarium specimens for 36 species collected from 1884-2015.

Fatty Acid Induced Hypermethylation in the Gene in Visceral Adipose Tissue Is Associated to Insulin-Resistance and Obesity.

De novo lipogenesis (DNL) in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with systemic insulin sensitivity. DNL in VAT is regulated through ChREBP activity and glucose uptake through Glut4 (encoded by ). expression, ChREBP activity, and DNL are decreased in obesity, the underlying cause however remains unidentified.

Explainability and causability in digital pathology.

The current move towards digital pathology enables pathologists to use artificial intelligence (AI)-based computer programmes for the advanced analysis of whole slide images. However, currently, the best-performing AI algorithms for image analysis are deemed black boxes since it remains - even to their developers - often unclear why the algorithm delivered a particular result. Especially in medicine, a better understanding of algorithmic decisions is essential to avoid mistakes and adverse effects on patients.

Time-dependent effects of acute stress on working memory performance: A systematic review and hypothesis.

Laboratory procedures such as the Trier Social Stress Test or the (Socially Evaluated) Cold Pressor Test have been used to investigate working memory performance under stress. Researchers so far have reported a diverse spectrum of stress effects (including the lack thereof) on working memory tasks. We conducted a systematic review of the effect acute stress on working memory performance in standardized laboratory procedures.

The influence of tDCS on perceived bouncing/streaming.

Processing ambiguous situations is a constant challenge in everyday life and sensory input from different modalities needs to be integrated to form a coherent mental representation on the environment. The bouncing/streaming illusion can be studied to provide insights into the ambiguous perception and processing of multi-modal environments. In short, the likelihood of reporting bouncing rather than streaming impressions increases when a sound coincides with the moment of overlap between two moving disks.

Recommendations on compiling test datasets for evaluating artificial intelligence solutions in pathology.

Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that automatically extract information from digital histology images have shown great promise for improving pathological diagnosis. Prior to routine use, it is important to evaluate their predictive performance and obtain regulatory approval. This assessment requires appropriate test datasets.

Endothelial ENPP2 (Ectonucleotide Pyrophosphatase/Phosphodiesterase 2) Increases Atherosclerosis in Female and Male Mice.

Background: Maladapted endothelial cells (ECs) secrete ENPP2 (ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 2; autotaxin)-a lysophospholipase D that generates lysophosphatidic acids (LPAs). ENPP2 derived from the arterial wall promotes atherogenic monocyte adhesion induced by generating LPAs, such as arachidonoyl-LPA (LPA20:4), from oxidized lipoproteins. Here, we aimed to determine the role of endothelial ENPP2 in the production of LPAs and atherosclerosis.

EMPAIA App Interface: An open and vendor-neutral interface for AI applications in pathology.

Background And Objective: Artificial intelligence (AI) apps hold great potential to make pathological diagnoses more accurate and time efficient. Widespread use of AI in pathology is hampered by interface incompatibilities between pathology software. We studied the existing interfaces in order to develop the EMPAIA App Interface, an open standard for the integration of pathology AI apps.

Illuminating the prefrontal neural correlates of action sequence disassembling in response-response binding.

Execution of two independent actions in quick succession results in transient binding of these two actions. Subsequent repetition of any of these actions automatically retrieves the other. This process is probably fundamental for developing complex action sequences.

Dietary induction of obesity and insulin resistance is associated with changes in Fgf21 DNA methylation in liver of mice.

DNA methylation is dynamically regulated in metabolic diseases, but it remains unclear whether the changes are causal or consequential. Therefore, we used a longitudinal approach to refine the onset of metabolic and DNA methylation changes at high temporal resolution. Male C57BL/6N mice were fed with 60 % high-fat diet (HFD) for up to 12 weeks and metabolically characterized weekly.

Simultaneous treatment with pentoxifylline does not adversely affect the neurotrophic effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on spiral ganglion neurons.

The hemorheologic drug pentoxifylline is applied for the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus to improve cochlear microcirculation. Recent studies also suggest protective and trophic effects on neuronal cells. Because the preservation of sensorineural structures of the inner ear is fundamental for normal hearing and hearing restoration with auditory prostheses, pentoxifylline and neurotrophic factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are promising candidates to treat degenerative disorders of the inner ear.

MicroRNA-21 Controls Circadian Regulation of Apoptosis in Atherosclerotic Lesions.

Background: The necrotic core partly formed by ineffective efferocytosis increases the risk of an atherosclerotic plaque rupture. Microribonucleic acids contribute to necrotic core formation by regulating efferocytosis and macrophage apoptosis. Atherosclerotic plaque rupture occurs at increased frequency in the early morning, indicating diurnal changes in plaque vulnerability.

Restructuring of the male mice peripheral circadian network after bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery is still the most effective long-term weight-loss therapy. Recent data indicate that surgical outcomes may be affected by diurnal food intake patterns. In this study, we aimed to investigate how surgery-induced metabolic adaptations (i.

Impact of age on the cumulative risk of transformation in patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.

In older patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) and limited life expectancy due to age and or comorbidities, it is particularly important to consider the risk of transformation for individualised treatment decisions. There is limited information on potential differences between younger and older CMML patients regarding the cumulative risk of transformation as well as haematological, molecular and biologic characteristics. We analysed data from the Austrian Biodatabase for CMML (ABCMML) to compare these parameters in 518 CMML patients.