Publications by authors named "K Schmitt"
Background/objectives: Patients requiring haemodialysis often perceive the cost of their travels to the dialysis centres as a significant burden. The study aimed to collect a first Swiss national data set on transport costs and assess their impact on patients and their relatives.
Methods: In addition to interviews with patients, a quantitative survey was developed and distributed online using a voluntary sampling strategy.
Article Synopsis
- The ICU environment exposes patients, relatives, and staff to traumatic experiences, prompting the need for effective mental health support to mitigate adverse effects.
- Current mental health services in healthcare systems typically react to existing conditions, making them less effective for prevention; integrated psychosocial support (IPS) models show promise by incorporating psychologists directly into ICU teams.
- Psychologists in the ICU can identify and address mental health issues early, enhancing support for patients and staff, and improving the overall resilience of the ICU team.
Article Synopsis
- Congenital heart defects (CHDs) require surgery often involving cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), which can result in significant post-operative complications due to an inflammatory response.
- A study examined how peri-operative serum samples from CHD patients affect macrophage inflammatory responses, finding that CPB activates the STAT3 signaling pathway but not NF-κB.
- Pre-treatment with Stattic, a STAT3 inhibitor, reduced various inflammatory mediators in macrophages, except for TNFα, indicating that CPB-induced inflammation is driven by cytokines like IL-6 and IL-8.
Nonhuman primate (NHP) models employing simian/simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SIV/SHIVs) played a major role in the study of HIV pathogenesis, latency, and cure studies in a preclinical setting. However, it took many years to arrive at the current effective triple drug ARV regimen against SIV due to the genetic differences with that of HIVs. Since new combinations of drugs will be used in the evolving HIV cure studies, a small animal model would be ideal to determine their efficacy against the commonly used SIVs such as SIVmac239 to triage ineffective drugs prior to their application in NHPs.
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