Publications by authors named "KRAMER R"

Purpose: To propose a gastrointestinal bleeding management algorithm that incorporates an endoscopic and imaging scoring system and specifies management of vascular complication from button battery ingestion.

Recent Findings: Button batteries (BB) are found in many electronic devices and ingestions are associated with serious complications especially in cases of unwitnessed ingestions, prolonged impaction, and in children less than 5 years of age. Gastrointestinal bleeding from BB related vascular injury is rare but often rapidly fatal, with a mortality rate as high as 81%.

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Background: The majority of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in young children are managed in primary care, however, the disease burden in this setting remains poorly defined.

Methods: We did a prospective cohort study in primary care settings in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK during the RSV seasons of 2020-21 (UK only; from Jan 1, 2021), 2021-22, and 2022-23. Children aged younger than 5 years presenting to their general practitioner or primary care paediatrician with symptoms of an acute respiratory tract infection were eligible for RSV testing.

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High-dimensional photon states (qudits) are pivotal to enhance the information capacity, noise robustness, and data rates of quantum communications. Time-bin entangled qudits are promising candidates for implementing high-dimensional quantum communications over optical fiber networks with processing rates approaching those of classical telecommunications. However, their use is hindered by phase instability, timing inaccuracy, and low scalability of interferometric schemes needed for time-bin processing.

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Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders are prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders typically treated with behavioral techniques or pharmacological interventions, primarily antipsychotics. However, many patients do not achieve sufficient response to conventional treatments, underscoring the need for further research in this area. To provide a comprehensive overview of ongoing research activities, we systematically searched the clinical registries of the World Health Organization (WHO) and of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) for currently planned or ongoing registered clinical studies.

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A single photoexcited electron-hole pair within a polar semiconductor nanocrystal (SNC) alters the charge screening and shielding within it. Perturbations of the crystal lattice and of the valence and conduction bands result, and the quantum-confinement states in a SNC shift uniquely with a dependence on the states occupied by the carriers. This shifting is termed quantum-state renormalization (QSR).

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Objectives: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is traditionally done in the prone position. In pediatrics, patient anatomy and anesthesia practices are considerations that affect procedural success and anesthesia time. The aim of our study was to evaluate the safety, procedural success, and efficiency of pediatric ERCP in the prone versus supine positions.

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For unfamiliar faces, deciding whether two photographs depict the same person or not can be difficult. One way to substantially improve accuracy is to defer to the 'wisdom of crowds' by aggregating responses across multiple individuals. However, there are several methods available for doing this.

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Regarding nirsevimab immunization status, among 1085 infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis, the odds of hospitalization for respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis were 4.7 times higher for nonimmunized children. Immunized infants were less likely to require oxygen supplementation (20.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus are major viral etiologies of pediatric lower respiratory tract infection, but comparative data on inpatient burden are lacking.

Methods: Using a large-scale health claims database in Japan, we identified patients under 5 years of age with a confirmed RSV or influenza diagnosis as an outpatient or inpatient between 2011 and 2022. Hospitalization rate, inpatient characteristics, various in-hospital outcomes/complications, and healthcare resource utilization were described.

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Objectives: Parents infrequently recognize childhood overweight/obesity and healthcare professionals (HCPs) also struggle to visually identify it, potentially limiting the offer and uptake of weight management support. This study examined perceptual and attitudinal/cognitive determinants of child weight judgements amongst parents and HCPs to identify targets for intervention.

Design: We used a mixed experimental design with parents and HCPs as the between-participants factor.

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Market integration (MI), or the shift from subsistence to market-based livelihoods, profoundly influences health, yet its impacts on infectious diseases remain underexplored. Here, we synthesize the current understanding of MI and infectious disease to stimulate more research, specifically aiming to leverage concepts and tools from disease ecology and related fields to generate testable hypotheses. Embracing a One Health perspective, we examine both human-to-human and zoonotic transmission pathways in their environmental contexts to assess how MI alters infectious disease exposure and susceptibility in beneficial, detrimental and mixed ways.

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Importance: Inferior vena cava filters (IVCFs) are commonly used to prevent pulmonary embolism in selected clinical scenarios, despite limited evidence to support their use. Current recommendations from professional societies and the US Food and Drug Administration endorse timely IVCF retrieval when clinically feasible. Current IVCF treatment patterns and outcomes remain poorly described.

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ChatGPT's large language model, GPT-4V, has been trained on vast numbers of image-text pairs and is therefore capable of processing visual input. This model operates very differently from current state-of-the-art neural networks designed specifically for face perception and so I chose to investigate whether ChatGPT could also be applied to this domain. With this aim, I focussed on the task of face matching, that is, deciding whether two photographs showed the same person or not.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapies effectively treat a broadening spectrum of cancer entities but induce various immune-related side effects (irAEs). Recent reports suggest a correlation between ICI-induced systemic inflammation and thromboembolic events as well as an increased effectiveness by coadministration of anticoagulants. With cancer patients having a higher risk of thrombotic events per se, it is crucial to dissect and characterize the mechanisms that cause pro-coagulative effects induced by systemic tumor therapies and their potential interplay with anti-tumor response.

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Weight-centric health practices are based on the principle that excess weight predicts chronic disease, informing a growing sociopolitical movement to address an "obesity epidemic." This hyper-focus on preventing obesity may contribute to weight stigma (i.e.

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Background/objectives: It is vital to identify children whose weight status means that they may benefit from medical or behavioural support, but adult visual judgements of child weight status are inaccurate, and children are seldom routinely weighed and measured. Consequently, there is a need for validated visual tools for use in training, communication, and interventions relating to child weight.

Methods: This paper presents validation data for a set of innovative photo-realistic colour body size scales depicting boys and girls aged 4-5 and 10-11.

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Article Synopsis
  • A significant outbreak of blastomycosis, a serious fungal infection, occurred among workers at a paper mill in Delta County, Michigan, affecting 131 patients from December 2022 to July 2023.
  • Hospitalization rates were notable, with 12% requiring hospitalization, and factors like diabetes and elevated urine antigen levels were linked to more severe cases.
  • This outbreak is the largest recorded in the U.S., highlighting the importance of early diagnosis to avoid unnecessary antibiotic use and improve treatment outcomes.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study highlights the importance of the therapist-client working alliance in guided Internet-based interventions (IBIs) compared to unguided ones, particularly in the context of a cognitive behavioral therapy program for depression.
  • Guided IBIs showed a significantly stronger working alliance by the end of treatment, which correlated positively with symptom reduction.
  • The findings suggest that the working alliance plays a crucial role in enhancing adherence and therapeutic outcomes in guided IBIs, supporting the need for therapist involvement in online therapy settings.
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First impressions based on facial appearance affect our behaviour towards others. Since the same face will appear different across images, over time, and so on, our impressions may not be equally weighted across exposures but are instead disproportionately influenced by earlier or later instances. Here, we followed up on previous work which identified an anchoring effect, whereby higher attractiveness ratings were given to a person after viewing naturally varying images of their face presented in descending (high-to-low), rather than ascending (low-to-high), order of attractiveness of these images.

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Introduction: Influenza-associated excess mortality and morbidity is commonly estimated using statistical methods. In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) uses the relative mortality distribution method (RMDM) to estimate influenza-associated excess mortality without reporting age-specific values. In order to better differentiate the distribution of the disease burden, a distinction by age is of high relevance.

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Objectives: Understanding disease transmission is a fundamental challenge in ecology. We used transmission potential networks to investigate whether a gastrointestinal protozoan (Blastocystis spp.) is spread through social, environmental, and/or zoonotic pathways in rural northeast Madagascar.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the implications of Germany's 2023 law requiring recording of working hours in surgery, focusing on surgeons' perspectives regarding personnel availability and work conditions.
  • - Utilizing 20 qualitative interviews and an online questionnaire with 186 responses, the research found strong support (82%) for working time recording among surgeons, with varied opinions on improvement through in-house dialogue.
  • - Key findings highlight a preference for transponder-based systems among surgeons with long hours, as well as challenges related to transparency, compensatory time off, and the need for better communication and strategic planning in hospitals.
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Common variants in the MicroRNA 137 host gene MIR137HG and its adjacent gene DPYD have been associated with schizophrenia risk and the latest Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). Genome-Wide Association Study on schizophrenia has confirmed and extended these findings. To elucidate the association of schizophrenia risk-associated SNPs in this genomic region, we examined the expression of both mature and immature transcripts of the miR-137 host gene (MIR137HG) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) of postmortem brain samples of donors with schizophrenia and psychiatrically-unaffected controls using qPCR and RNA-Seq approaches.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in infants and young children worldwide. Using routine statutory health insurance claims data including patients from all regions of Germany, we investigated the health-care resource use and costs associated with RSV prophylaxis with palivizumab in Germany. In the database, infants from the birth cohorts 2015-2019 eligible for palivizumab immunization were identified using codes of the 10 revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).

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