Lung Cancer Screening with Low-Dose CT in Smokers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Lung cancer continues to be one of the main causes of cancer death in Europe. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has shown high potential for screening of lung cancer in smokers, most recently in two European trials. The aim of this review was to assess lung cancer screening of smokers by LDCT with respect to clinical effectiveness, radiological procedures, quality of life, and changes in smoking behavior.

[Scientific assessment and regulatory approval of radiological screening examinations in Germany].

Background: Radiologic imaging technologies like computed tomography (CT) have the potential to screen for various diseases. The potential benefits of screening are always associated with risks, particularly from the application of ionizing radiation.

Materials And Methods: The International Basic Safety Standards as well as the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom have set guidelines for the application of ionizing radiation in early detection which were transposed into the German Radiation Protection Law.

Topical resiquimod dosing regimens in patients with multiple actinic keratoses: a multicentre, partly placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial.

Background: Topical immune response modifiers are established for actinic keratosis (AK) treatment and efforts are underway to make further improvements to their efficacy and safety.

Objectives: To investigate the optimal dosing regimens of the Toll-like receptor 7/8 agonist resiquimod in terms of efficacy, safety and tolerability.

Methods: In a multicentre, partly placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, we randomized 217 patients with AK lesions to 0·03% resiquimod gel once-daily application three times per week for 4 weeks or seven times within 2 weeks or five times for 1 week (arms 1/2/3) followed by a treatment-free interval of 8 weeks and one repetition of the cycle.

Recommendations for primary studies evaluating therapeutic medical devices were identified and systematically reported through reviewing existing guidance.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to review existing recommendations on study design, conduct, analysis, and reporting for primary studies of therapeutic medical devices (TMDs) and the closely related field of interventional procedures.

Study Design And Setting: We performed a targeted literature review of publications with recommendations for study design, conduct, analysis, and reporting for primary studies of TMDs and related technologies. We combined an electronic database search with a systematic screening of tables of content of selected journals and scanning the reference lists of relevant articles.

Ten recommendations for assessing the comparative effectiveness of therapeutic medical devices: a targeted review and adaptation.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to review existing guidance on the methods for evaluation of the comparative effectiveness (CE) of therapeutic medical devices (TMDs) and develop recommendations for systematic reviews (SRs) of CE of TMDs as part of health technology assessments.

Study Design And Setting: We performed a targeted literature review of evaluation frameworks and recommendations for evaluation methods for TMDs and related technologies. An electronic database search was combined with systematic screening of tables of content of selected journals and scanning the reference lists of relevant papers.

Five year trends (2008-2012) in cardiac implantable electrical device utilization in five European nations: a case study in cross-country comparisons using administrative databases.

Aims: Common methodologies for analysis of analogous data sets are needed for international comparisons of treatment and outcomes. This study tests using administrative hospital discharge (HD) databases in five European countries to investigate variation/trends in pacemaker (PM) and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implant rates in terms of patient characteristics/management, device subtype, and initial implantation vs. replacement, and compares findings with existing literature and European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) reports.

USING EXPERT OPINION IN HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: A GUIDELINE REVIEW.

Objectives: External experts can be consulted at different stages of an HTA. When using vague information sources, it is particularly important to plan, analyze, and report the information processing in a standardized and transparent way. Our objective was to search and analyze recommendations regarding where and how to include expert data in HTA.

Effects of a helium/oxygen mixture on individuals' lung function and metabolic cost during submaximal exercise for participants with obstructive lung diseases.

Background: Helium/oxygen therapies have been studied as a means to reduce the symptoms of obstructive lung diseases with inconclusive results in clinical trials. To better understand this variability in results, an exploratory physiological study was performed comparing the effects of helium/oxygen mixture (78%/22%) to that of medical air.

Methods: The gas mixtures were administered to healthy, asthmatic, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participants, both moderate and severe (6 participants in each disease group, a total of 30); at rest and during submaximal cycling exercise with equivalent work rates.

Oncotyrol--Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine: Methods and Applications of Health Technology Assessment and Outcomes Research.

Background: The Oncotyrol - Center for Personalized Cancer Medicine is an international and interdisciplinary alliance combining research and commercial competencies to accelerate the development, evaluation and translation of personalized healthcare strategies in cancer. The philosophy of Oncotyrol is to collaborate with relevant stakeholders and advance knowledge "from bench to bedside to population and back". Oncotyrol is funded through the COMET Excellence Program by the Austrian government via the national Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).

Health technology assessment of medical devices: What is different? An overview of three European projects.

Background: With the growing use and importance of health technology assessment (HTA) in decision making during recent years, health technology assessors, decision makers and stakeholders are confronted with methodological challenges due to specific characteristics of health technologies (e. g., pharmaceuticals, diagnostic tests, screening programs), their developmental environment, and their regulation process.

Health technology assessment of utilization, practice and ethical issues of self-pay services in the German ambulatory health care setting.

Objectives: The provision of self-pay medical services is common across health care systems, but understudied. According to the German Medical Association, such services should be medically necessary, recommended or at least justifiable, and requested by the patient. We investigated the empirical evidence regarding frequency and practice of self-pay services as well as related ethical, social, and legal issues (ELSI).

Individual health services.

Background: The German statutory health insurance (GKV) reimburses all health care services that are deemed sufficient, appropriate, and efficient. According to the German Medical Association (BÄK), individual health services (IGeL) are services that are not under liability of the GKV, medically necessary or recommendable or at least justifiable. They have to be explicitly requested by the patient and have to be paid out of pocket.

Prognostic values of specific respiratory sounds for asthma in adolescents.

Childhood wheezing is a common condition associated with asthma, but the term is often misapplied. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic values of specific respiratory sounds for asthma onset in adolescence. In a prospective study, six specific respiratory sounds were evaluated for their prediction of asthma.

Functional morphology of a double-walled multiporous olfactory sensillum: the sensillum coeloconicum of Bombyx mori (Insecta, Lepidoptera).

The fine structure of coeloconic sensilla of Bombyx mori was studied in cryofixed specimens. These sensilla belong to the category of double-walled wall-pore sensilla. The pegs are approximately 10 microm long, located in pits on the dorsal side of the antennal branches, and longitudinally grooved in their distal half (grooved surface approximately 30 microm(2)).

Inhalation of tobramycin in patients with cystic fibrosis: comparison of two methods.

Inhalant tobramycin is established in the treatment of cystic fibrosis patients. Conventional nebulizers require a large amount of the expensive compound, because only a small fraction is deposited in the targeted lung region. In contrast, techniques based on controlled inhalation allow a high and reproducible deposition of the drug in specific lung regions.

Effects of platelet-activating factor on intracellular Ca2+ concentration and contractility in isolated cardiomyocytes.

We investigated the effects of platelet-activating factor (PAF, 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) on intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and cell length in isolated and field-stimulated rat cardiomyocytes. [Ca2+]i and cell length of field-stimulated cells were determined simultaneously by confocal laser scan microscopy by using the fluorescent Ca2+ dye Fluo-3. PAF (10(-12)-10(-8) M) inhibited systolic [Ca2+]i increase in a time- and concentration-dependent manner.

[Is a minimally-invasive treatment concept in the late stage of pleural empyema successful?].

Introduction: Thoracoscopic treatment of pleural empyema is still a controversial method, especially in the chronic stage of the disease. The issue is raised whether the thoracoscopic approach to the empyema-possibly combined with a small additional thoracotomy in advanced stages-is successful and of low risk.

Patients And Methods: Between January 1993 and May 1995 we treated 13 patients in advanced stages of pleural empyema.

[Signet ring cell carcinoma of Vater's papilla: a very rare malignancy].

We describe a rare variant of carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater. A 70-year-old man with several illnesses and a newly appeared jaundice was investigated and a signet-ring cell carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater diagnosed. We performed a local transduodenal excision.

[Laparoscopically assisted formation of end stage and loop ileostomies and colostomies].

Especially in obese or severely ill patients, forming of an ileostomy or colostomy can be very difficult and laparotomy itself can lead to many complications. The intraabdominal part of this operations can easily be performed laparoscopically. The method is quick and simple and many complications can be avoided.