Development of a telemedical monitoring concept for the care of malnourished geriatric home-dwelling patients: a pilot study.

Elderly patients are at high risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia, promoting further morbidity which in turn decreases quality of life and increases the claiming of medical services and associated costs. Early and sustained administration of oral nutritional supplements has been shown to improve the nutritional status with robust clinical benefit. Many patients however, poorly adhere to prescribed supplements, so consistent monitoring is needed.

Assessment of genotoxicity of herbal medicinal products: a co-ordinated approach.

The submission of data on genotoxicity is a precondition for marketing authorisation respectively registration of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) with well established or traditional use in some countries. In European regulatory guidelines prepared by the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) of the European drug regulatory agency EMA, a test strategy is defined giving a pragmatic framework adapted to the assessment of the potential genotoxicity of HMPs. It describes a stepwise approach, including the possibility to reduce the number of extracts of a herbal drug to be tested by the use of a bracketing and matrixing approach.

Monohaloboryls (BHX-) as bridging ligands: observable dinuclear σ-(halo)boranyl intermediates in the synthesis of metalloborylenes.

Upon treating transition-metal-dihaloboryl complexes of the form [L(n)MBX(2)] with K[(η(5)-C(5)H(5))MnH(CO)(2)], salt elimination occurs along with a migration of the Mn-bound hydride ligand onto the boron atom, thereby forming dinuclear σ-(halo)boranyl complexes of the form [L(n)M(μ-BHX)Mn(CO)(2)(η(5)-C(5)H(5))]. Most of these complexes react further at room temperature to lose HX and provide metalloborylene complexes [L(n)M-B = Mn(CO)(2)(η(5)-C(5)H(5))]; however, when ML(n) = Re(CO)(5) the σ-(halo)boranyl complex decomposes into unidentifiable products. We found through DFT calculations that two electronically and structurally distinct forms of the intermediate σ-(halo)boranyl complexes exist, one of which easily loses HX and one that does not.

Challenge of evidence in individualized medicine.

Tension between standardization and individualization has always been a characteristic of medical activity. However, whether it is better that interventions should be based on guideline recommendations on the basis of large multicenter trials, or on a genetic biomarker in individualized medicine, can be the subject of debate. With the aid of stratification, evidence-based medicine and individualized medicine could be linked.

Histological examination of solitary contralateral descended testis in congenital absence of testis.

Purpose: Congenital absence of the testis is believed to be secondary to prenatal torsion, differing from the isolated undescended testis. We determined whether congenital absence of the testis is associated with abnormal histology in the solitary contralateral descended testis.

Materials And Methods: A total of 239 boys with a primary diagnosis of unilateral absent testis underwent orchiectomy and testis biopsy.

Pyocele of the scrotum in the pediatric patient.

Pyocele of the scrotum has been reported but is not well described in the pediatric population. The majority of published cases have been treated definitively with surgical drainage, and the severity of some cases has led to orchiectomy. We report a cases series of four boys with idiopathic pyocele, two of whom were managed successfully without operative intervention.

Histological findings in patients with cryptorchidism and testis-epididymis nonfusion.

Purpose: Fusion anomalies of the testis and epididymis are associated with cryptorchidism. The bilateral histology of the cryptorchid testis associated with the nonfused epididymis has not been reported previously.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients who presented with unilateral undescended testes and underwent bilateral testis biopsy at orchiopexy between 1982 and 2008.

An epidemiology of care approach to lab-on-a-chip systems in individualized medicine?

Lab-on-a-chip systems (LOCs) are microfluidic systems integrating several laboratory functions on a very small single chip. The identification and characterization of innovative biomarkers based on portable LOCs provides a valuable tool to implement individualized medicine. An analysis of the clinical potential, advantages and obstacles of portable diagnostic LOCs is urgently needed to evaluate the associated risks and opportunities from a healthcare perspective.

Transmitted HIV resistance to first-line antiretroviral therapy in Lima, Peru.

Transmission of drug-resistant HIV (TDR) has been associated with virologic failure of "first-line," nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART). A national ART program began in Peru in 2004. We evaluated the prevalence of TDR in individuals initiating ART and their virologic outcome during 2 years of ART.