Background: The percentage of organ donors among the German population is very low, and the supply of organs does not meet the demand. Relatively few organ explantations are performed in Germany, compared to other countries. The central element leading up to organ explantation is the donor's consent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHow predictable are life trajectories? We investigated this question with a scientific mass collaboration using the common task method; 160 teams built predictive models for six life outcomes using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a high-quality birth cohort study. Despite using a rich dataset and applying machine-learning methods optimized for prediction, the best predictions were not very accurate and were only slightly better than those from a simple benchmark model. Within each outcome, prediction error was strongly associated with the family being predicted and weakly associated with the technique used to generate the prediction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2019
We present data from a nationally representative 2017 survey of American adults. For heterosexual couples in the United States, meeting online has become the most popular way couples meet, eclipsing meeting through friends for the first time around 2013. Moreover, among the couples who meet online, the proportion who have met through the mediation of third persons has declined over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Knee arthroscopies are regularly carried out in an outpatient setting. The purpose of this retrospective analysis was to investigate the impact of different local anaesthetics for spinal anaesthesia on operating room efficiency (perioperative process times) and postoperative recovery. This study aims to determine the optimal LA for SPA in patients undergoing knee arthroscopy at a day-surgery centre.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Klin Intensivmed Notfmed
November 2014
This article presents the case of a patient with sudden onset of heart failure caused by transient severe left ventricular dysfunction with the typical pattern of stress-induced cardiomyopathy (takotsubo cardiomyopathy) who had wasp sting a few hours before admission in the presence of a previously asymptomatic pheochromocytoma. There seems to be correlation between the wasp-venom-induced pheochomocytoma crisis and acute onset of heart failure. Once pheocromocytoma is diagnosed, medical therapy is preferable before surgical treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study sought to assess the impact of permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation on clinical outcomes among patients undergoing transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).
Background: TAVI is associated with atrioventricular-conduction abnormalities requiring PPM implantation in up to 40% among patients treated with self-expanding prostheses.
Methods: Between 2007 and 2010, 353 consecutive patients (mean age: 82.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide a simple, reproducible, and point-of-care assessment of peri-prosthetic aortic regurgitation (periAR) during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and to decipher the impact of this peri-procedural parameter on outcome.
Background: Because periAR after TAVI might be associated with adverse outcome, precise quantification of periAR is of paramount importance but remains technically challenging.
Methods: The severity of periAR was prospectively evaluated in 146 patients treated with the Medtronic CoreValve (Minneapolis, Minnesota) prosthesis by echocardiography, angiography, and measurement of the aortic regurgitation (AR) index, which is calculated as ratio of the gradient between diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) to systolic blood pressure (SBP): [(DBP - LVEDP)/SBP] × 100.
A favorable attitude of health professionals to organ donation can positively influence the decision of families of potential donors. By increasing health professionals knowledge about donation and transplantation and qualifying them to disseminate information, education has produced a positive response to increase the insufficient number of donors. Educating students early in their careers may become crucial in this setting.
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