[Criteria for the authorization of training in medical specialist competence in internal medicine and rheumatology-A position paper of the German Society for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology].

The model advanced training regulations define the content of advanced training to achieve the qualification of medical specialist in internal medicine and rheumatology. There are currently no criteria for issuing the authorization in advanced training. This position paper describes the criteria proposed by the German Society for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology (DGRh), which should be the foundation for the issuance of authorization for advanced training in the field of internal medicine and rheumatology and for the assessment of the duration.

In Situ Monitoring of the Curing of Highly Filled Epoxy Molding Compounds: The Influence of Reaction Type and Silica Content on Cure Kinetic Models.

Monitoring of molding processes is one of the most challenging future tasks in polymer processing. In this work, the in situ monitoring of the curing behavior of highly filled EMCs (silica filler content ranging from 73 to 83 wt%) and the effect of filler load on curing kinetics are investigated. Kinetic modelling using the Friedman approach was applied using real-time process data obtained from in situ DEA measurements, and these online kinetic models were compared with curing analysis data obtained from offline DSC measurements.

Survey on the working, training, and research conditions of resident physicians in internistic and rheumatological continuing education-BEWUSST.

Background: Data on the training and continuing education situation of residents in the field of internal medicine and rheumatology are not available for Germany. For this reason, the Commission for Education and Training of the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) initiated the BEWUSST survey on the working, training and research conditions of residents in rheumatology.

Methods: A total of 102 questions on the topics of working conditions in everyday professional life, continuing medical education and training, compatibility of career and family, compatibility of work and research, perspectives as a rheumatologist and practical activities were included in an online questionnaire.

Bioinformatical Design and Performance Evaluation of a Nucleocapsid- and an RBD-Based Particle Enhanced Turbidimetric Immunoassay (PETIA) to Quantify the Wild Type and Variants of Concern-Derived Immunoreactivity of SARS-CoV-2.

Since SARS-CoV-2 emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, the resulting pandemic has paralyzed the economic and cultural life of the world. Variants of concern (VOC) strongly increase pressure on public health systems. Rapid, easy-to-use, and cost-effective assays are essential to manage the pandemic.

Modified-release nicotinamide for the treatment of hyperphosphataemia in haemodialysis patients: 52-week efficacy and safety results of the phase 3 randomized controlled NOPHOS trial.

Background: We previously reported that modified-release nicotinamide (NAMR) was superior to placebo in reducing serum phosphate concentrations over 12 weeks in a large cohort of haemodialysis patients with hyperphosphataemia. Here we report outcomes after 52 weeks of treatment.

Methods: NOPHOS was a phase 3, international, randomized, controlled, double-blind trial with a parallel group design.

[Ocular manifestations of Rheumatic diseases].

Pain in the musculoskeletal system and in the joints is what comes to mind first when people talk about rheumatic diseases. However, rheumatic diseases are multisystem disorders that can affect every organ system. Therefore, ocular manifestations are common and can occur in almost every rheumatic disease.

Arthralgia Induced by BRAF Inhibitor Therapy in Melanoma Patients.

Introduction: BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi), commonly used in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma (MM) treatment, frequently cause arthralgia. Although this is one of the most common side effects, it has not been characterized yet.

Methods: We retrospectively included all patients treated with BRAFi +/- MEK inhibitors (MEKi) for MM at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (Heidelberg) between 2010 and 2018 and reviewed patient charts for the occurrence and management of arthralgia.

Effect of a single dose of insulin glargine/lixisenatide fixed ratio combination (iGlarLixi) on postprandial glucodynamic response in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A phase I randomized trial.

This report describes novel clinical data assessing the pharmacodynamics of insulin glargine/lixisenatide (iGlarLixi) compared with placebo and insulin glargine alone, to determine pharmacokinetics of lixisenatide, and to assess safety of iGlarLixi in Japanese people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In a single-centre, open-label, randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study, participants received subcutaneous iGlarLixi 5 U/5 μg and 10 U/10 μg, placebo, and 5 U insulin glargine. The primary endpoint was area under the postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) curve (AUC ).

A Randomized Trial to Evaluate the Effect of Toric Versus Spherical Contact Lenses on Vision and Eyestrain.

Objectives: To compare the effect of toric versus spherical soft contact lenses on objective measures of visual performance using visual acuity and electromyography of the orbicularis oculi muscle.

Methods: Current soft contact lens wearers with -0.75 to -1.

Cost-effective Tapering Algorithm in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: Combination of Multibiomarker Disease Activity Score and Autoantibody Status.

Objective: To analyze the effect of a risk-stratified disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD)-tapering algorithm based on multibiomarker disease activity (MBDA) score and anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) on direct treatment costs for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in sustained remission.

Methods: The study was a posthoc retrospective analysis of direct treatment costs for 146 patients with RA in sustained remission tapering and stopping DMARD treatment, in the prospective randomized RETRO study. MBDA scores and ACPA status were determined in baseline samples of patients continuing DMARD (arm 1), tapering their dose by 50% (arm 2), or stopping after tapering (arm 3).

Early Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in Ischemic Stroke Initiates Multifocally Around Capillaries/Venules.

Background And Purpose: Detection and localization of the early phase of blood-brain barrier disruption (BBBD) in vivo during cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury remain a major challenge but may be a relevant outcome parameter in stroke.

Methods: We studied early BBBD in mice after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion by multimodal, high-field (9.4T) in vivo magnetic resonance imaging, including the contrast agent gadofluorineM as an albumin-binding tracer.

Simultaneous Response in Several Domains in Patients with Psoriatic Disease Treated with Etanercept as Monotherapy or in Combination with Conventional Synthetic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs.

Objective: To evaluate patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) receiving etanercept (ETN) monotherapy or ETN plus conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARD) to determine the proportion achieving a clinically meaningful response in arthritis, psoriasis, and quality of life simultaneously.

Methods: A prospective, multicenter, 52-week observational study in patients with active PsA evaluated treatment with ETN in clinical practice (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00293722).

Balancing the benefits and harms of thyroid cancer surveillance in survivors of Childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer: Recommendations from the international Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Guideline Harmonization Group in collaboration with the PanCareSurFup Consortium.

Radiation exposure to the thyroid gland during treatment of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer (CAYAC) may cause differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Surveillance recommendations for DTC vary considerably, causing uncertainty about optimum screening practices. The International Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Guideline Harmonization Group, in collaboration with the PanCareSurFup Consortium, developed consensus recommendations for thyroid cancer surveillance in CAYAC survivors.

Characterization of arthralgia induced by PD-1 antibody treatment in patients with metastasized cutaneous malignancies.

Background: PD-1 antibodies (PD1ab) are increasingly used in metastatic melanoma and other malignancies. Arthralgia is an underestimated side effect of PD-1 antibody treatment with unknown cause. Our aim was to characterize PD1ab-induced arthralgia.

Efficacy of Toric Contact Lenses in Fitting and Patient-Reported Outcomes in Contact Lens Wearers.

Objectives: To assess whether patient-reported measures are improved with soft toric contact lenses (TCLs) compared with soft spherical contact lenses (SCLs) and whether clinical time needed to fit TCL is greater than SCL.

Methods: Habitual contact lens wearers with vertexed spherical refraction +4.00 to +0.

Phosphodiesterase 2 Protects Against Catecholamine-Induced Arrhythmia and Preserves Contractile Function After Myocardial Infarction.

Rationale: Phosphodiesterase 2 is a dual substrate esterase, which has the unique property to be stimulated by cGMP, but primarily hydrolyzes cAMP. Myocardial phosphodiesterase 2 is upregulated in human heart failure, but its role in the heart is unknown.

Objective: To explore the role of phosphodiesterase 2 in cardiac function, propensity to arrhythmia, and myocardial infarction.

Rituximab in the Treatment of Jo1 Antibody-associated Antisynthetase Syndrome: Anti-Ro52 Positivity as a Marker for Severity and Treatment Response.

Objective: Rituximab (RTX) has been used successfully for the treatment of severe Jo1 antibody-associated antisynthetase syndrome. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the effect of RTX in severe Jo1 antisynthetase syndrome and determine predictive factors for response.

Methods: There were 61 patients with Jo1 antisynthetase syndrome identified; 18 of these received RTX.

Common carotid intima-media thickness relates to cardiovascular events in adults aged <45 years.

Although atherosclerosis starts in early life, evidence on risk factors and atherosclerosis in individuals aged <45 years is scarce. Therefore, we studied the relationship between risk factors, common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and first-time cardiovascular events in adults aged <45 years. Our study population consisted of 3067 adults aged <45 years free from symptomatic cardiovascular disease at baseline, derived from 6 cohorts that are part of the USE-IMT initiative, an individual participant data meta-analysis of general-population-based cohort studies evaluating CIMT measurements.

Computing the probability of RNA hairpin and multiloop formation.

We describe four novel algorithms, RNAhairpin, RNAmloopNum, RNAmloopOrder, and RNAmloopHP, which compute the Boltzmann partition function for global structural constraints-respectively for the number of hairpins, the number of multiloops, maximum order (or depth) of multiloops, and the simultaneous number of hairpins and multiloops. Given an RNA sequence of length n and a user-specified integer 0 ≤ K ≤ n, RNAhairpin (resp. RNAmloopNum and RNAmloopOrder) computes the partition functions Z(k) for each 0 ≤ k ≤ K in time O(K(2)n(3)) and space O(Kn(2)), while RNAmloopHP computes the partition functions Z(m, h) for 0 ≤ mm ≤ M multiloops and 0 ≤ h ≤ H hairpins, with run time O(M(2)H(2)n(3)) and space O(MHn(2)).