Association of bilaterally suppressed EEG amplitudes and outcomes in critically ill children.

Background And Objectives: Amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) is used to assess electrocortical activity in pediatric intensive care if (continuous) full channel EEG is unavailable but evidence regarding the meaning of suppressed aEEG amplitudes in children remains limited. This retrospective cohort study investigated the association of suppressed aEEG amplitudes in critically ill children with death or decline of neurological functioning at hospital discharge.

Methods: Two hundred and thirty-five EEGs derived from individual patients <18 years in the pediatric intensive care unit at the University Hospital Essen (Germany) between 04/2014 and 07/2021, were converted into aEEGs and amplitudes analyzed with respect to age-specific percentiles.

Effects of an early transfer from incubator to a warming crib in very low birthweight preterm infants.

Purpose: Very low birth weight infants are cared for postnatally in the incubator because of adverse consequences of hypothermia. Data on the optimal weight of transfer to a warming crib are rare. The aim of this study was to determine the course of temperature and body weight during a standardized transfer to a warming crib at a set weight.

Adaption of Follow-Up Visits for Preterm and High-Risk Children for Video Consultations.

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Current practice of intracranial pressure monitoring in children with severe traumatic brain injury-a nationwide prospective surveillance study in Germany.

Background: For management of severe traumatic brain injuries (sTBI) in children, the overall level of evidence to guide diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is low. Since 2016, international guidelines have subsequently suggested invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring in patients with initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≤8. In Germany, ICP monitoring was an individual case decision from 2011 until the 2022 update of the German pediatric TBI guideline.

Feasibility of Video Consultation for Preterm Neurodevelopmental Follow-up Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cohort Study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents of infants born very preterm or at risk were exceptionally worried about being infected. The only means of protection during the onset of the pandemic was social distancing. Video consultations for neurodevelopmental follow-up care were offered as an alternative way to stay in contact with patients and their families, to provide expert support, and to monitor and assess children's development.

The impact of age and electrode position on amplitude-integrated EEGs in children from 1 month to 17 years of age.

Aim: Amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) is used to monitor electrocortical activity in critically ill children but age-specific reference values are lacking. We aimed to assess the impact of age and electrode position on aEEG amplitudes and derive normal values for pediatric aEEGs from neurologically healthy children.

Methods: Normal EEGs from awake children aged 1 month to 17 years (213 female, 237 male) without neurological disease or neuroactive medication were retrospectively converted into aEEGs.

The major urinary protein gene cluster knockout mouse as a novel model for translational metabolism research.

Scientific evidence suggests that not only murine scent communication is regulated by major urinary proteins, but that their expression may also vary in response to metabolism via a yet unknown mechanism. Major urinary proteins are expressed mainly in the liver, showing a sexually dimorphic pattern with substantially higher expression in males. Here, we investigate the metabolic implications of a major urinary protein knockout in twelve-week-old male and female C57BL/6N mice during ad libitum feeding.

Characterization of aEEG During Sleep and Wakefulness in Healthy Children.

Introduction: Interpretation of amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) is hindered by lacking knowledge on physiological background patterns in children. The aim of this study was to find out whether aEEG differs between wakefulness and sleep in children.

Methods: Forty continuous full-channel EEGs (cEEG) recorded during the afternoon and overnight in patients <18 years of age without pathologies or only solitary interictal epileptiform discharges were converted into aEEGs.

The Integration of Wheelchair Users in Team Handball.

Thus far, there are only a few sports activities in which people with and without intellectual disabilities can participate together and on an equal footing. The situation is even more complicated when people who are dependent on a wheelchair want to take part. The sports project Freiwurf Hamburg aims to make team handball playable for everyone.

[COVID-19 in obstetric anesthesia : Prospective surveillance of peripartum infections with SARS-CoV-2 and peripartum course of disease in affected women].

Background: In the current pandemic regarding the infection with the SARS-CoV-2-virus and COVID-19 as the disease, concerns about pregnant women, effects on childbirth and the health of the newborn remain high. Initially, due to the early manifestation of the disease in younger patients, high numbers of COVID-19 patients in women needing peripartum care were expected.

Objective: This article aims to provide a general overview over the beginning of the pandemic as well as the second wave of infections in Germany and Switzerland, regarding SARS-CoV‑2 positive pregnant women hospitalized for childbirth.

A pragmatic real-life study of flash glucose monitoring versus self-monitoring of blood glucose.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate if the flash glucose level monitoring system (FGM) is better than traditional self-monitoring of blood glucose level (SMBG) in helping patients in the outpatient clinic control their blood glucose and improve glycaemic control measured by the concentration of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c).

Methods: This was an observational real-life study based on data retrieved from a regional diabetes database and conducted in patients with Type 1 diabetes. HbA1c levels at baseline, and at six, nine and 12 months were compared in and between two groups counting 128 patients each.

[Anaesthesia in Patients after Transplantation of Solid Abdominal Organs].

An ever-evolving and successful transplantation medicine is providing a large number of living patients after solid organ transplantation. Anaesthetists should therefore be prepared to come into contact with such a patient. In addition to the preoperative assessment of the pre-existing diseases, including the function of the transplanted organ, immunosuppression also plays an important role.

Postnatal serum creatinine is elevated in preterm infants with PPROM-induced anhydramnios.

Background: The reason for increased serum creatinine levels in preterm infants often remains unclear. We aimed to determine whether postnatal serum creatinine in preterm infants correlates with intake of amniotic fluid, represented by the amount of amniotic fluid after preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).

Methods: 74 preterm infants with PPROM > 48 h duration were retrospectively studied.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy by Viscoelastography.

This article explores the application of viscoelastic tests (VETs) in trauma-induced coagulopathy and trauma resuscitation. We describe the advantages of VETs over conventional coagulation tests in the trauma setting and refer to previous disciplines in which VET use has reduced blood product utilization, guided prohemostatic agents, and improved clinical outcomes such as the mortality of critically bleeding patients. We describe different VETs and provide guidance for blood component therapy and prohemostatic therapy based on specific VET parameters.

Circulating biomarkers for long-term cardiovascular risk stratification in apparently healthy individuals from the MONICA 10 cohort.

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine whether high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) carried incremental prognostic value in predicting cardiovascular morbidity and mortality beyond traditional risk factors in apparently healthy individuals.

Methods And Results: This was a prospective population-based cohort study comprising 1951 subjects included in the 10-year follow-up of the MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease (MONICA) study, between 1993 and 1994. The principal endpoint was death from cardiovascular causes.

The exaggerated natriuresis of essential hypertension occurs independently of changes in renal medullary blood flow.

Aims: In patients with essential hypertension, abnormal renal sodium handling includes exaggerated natriuresis in response to extracellular volume expansion. We tested the hypothesis that exaggerated natriuresis is associated with increases in medullary and/or cortical renal blood flow.

Methods: Patients with mild essential hypertension, but no signs of end organ damage, and control subjects were studied after 4 days of dietary standardization (<60 mmol Na  day ) preceded in patients by a 14-day drug washout period.

Estimated Pulse Wave Velocity Calculated from Age and Mean Arterial Blood Pressure.

In a recently published paper, Greve et al [J Hypertens 2016;34:1279-1289] investigate whether the estimated carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (ePWV), calculated using an equation derived from the relationship between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), age, and blood pressure, predicts cardiovascular disease (CVD) as good as the measured cfPWV. Because ePWV predicts CVD as good as cfPWV, some might wonder whether ePWV could be replaced by cfPWV, which is a time-consuming measurement requiring an expensive apparatus. This question is addressed in this mini-review.

Elevated estimated arterial age is associated with metabolic syndrome and low-grade inflammation.

Background: Arterial age can be estimated from equations relating arterial stiffness to age and blood pressure in large cohorts. We investigated whether estimated arterial age (eAA) was elevated in patients with the metabolic syndrome and/or known cardiovascular disease (CVD), which factors were associated with eAA and whether eAA added prognostic information.

Methods: In 1993, 2366 study participants, 41, 51, 61, and 71 years old, had traditional cardiovascular risk factors and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) measured.

Estimated carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity has similar predictive value as measured carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity.

Background: Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) adds significantly to traditional cardiovascular risk prediction, but is not widely available. Therefore, it would be helpful if cfPWV could be replaced by an estimated carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (ePWV) using age and mean blood pressure, and previously published equations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ePWV could predict cardiovascular events independently of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and/or cfPWV.