Linguistic and (micro)cultural differences in the global debate about re-naming 'schizophrenia': A mixed-methods survey from Switzerland.

Background And Hypothesis: This survey explores Swiss mental health professionals', users', and relatives' opinions on re-naming schizophrenia exploiting Switzerland's specific multilingualism to examine possible effects of linguistic and microcultural differences on the issue.

Study Design: Opinions on 'schizophrenia' were collected using a self-rated online questionnaire incl. Freetext answers available in the three main Swiss languages, German, French and Italian.

Enhancing high-throughput optogenetics: Integration of LITOS with Lustro enables simultaneous light stimulation and shaking.

Optogenetics is a powerful tool that uses light to control cellular behavior. Here we enhance high-throughput characterization of optogenetic experiments through the integration of the LED Illumination Tool for Optogenetic Stimulation (LITOS) with the previously published automated platform Lustro. Lustro enables efficient high-throughput screening and characterization of optogenetic systems.

LITOS: a versatile LED illumination tool for optogenetic stimulation.

Optogenetics has become a key tool to manipulate biological processes with high spatio-temporal resolution. Recently, a number of commercial and open-source multi-well illumination devices have been developed to provide throughput in optogenetics experiments. However, available commercial devices remain expensive and lack flexibility, while open-source solutions require programming knowledge and/or include complex assembly processes.

Does eHealth Literacy Impact Patients' Opinion on the EHR?

An electronic health record (EHR) will be established nationwide in Switzerland in 2020. Patients can decide on their own whether they open an EHR. It is still unclear what might influence the patient decision.

The efficacy of hypnosis as an intervention for labor and delivery pain: a comprehensive methodological review.

This paper presents a comprehensive methodological review of research on the efficacy of hypnosis for reducing labor and delivery pain. To be included, studies were required to use a between-subjects or mixed model design in which hypnosis was compared with a control condition or alternative intervention in reducing labor pain. An exhaustive search of the PsycINFO and PubMed databases produced 13 studies satisfying these criteria.

Anomalous dispersion in atomic line filters applied for spatial frequency detection.

The anomalous dispersion of an atomic line filter near a resonant transition is exploited for full-field frequency measurements. The influence of the line shape function on the dispersion in atomic vapors near resonance and the possibilities to increase sensitivity are discussed. From the model-calculated absorption of iodine vapor at frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser wavelengths, the corresponding refractive index is obtained through the Kramers-Kronig relations.

Gamma Knife surgery after fractionated radiotherapy for acromegaly.

Object: Acromegaly that has not been cured by microsurgery is usually treated with fractionated radiotherapy; however, it is not possible to repeat such a treatment with effective radiation doses if it should fail. The authors pose the question: Can stereotactic radiosurgery be used as an effective, alternative method for retreatment by irradiation?

Methods: A retrospective study of 12 patients was performed to compare patients treated with Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) after initial, failed radiotherapy and 37 patients treated with GKS only. The mean dose for the initial fractionated radiotherapy was 44.

Stereotactic radiosurgery for pituitary adenomas: an intermediate review of its safety, efficacy, and role in the neurosurgical treatment armamentarium.

Object: Pituitary adenomas are very common neoplasms, constituting between 10 and 20% of all primary brain tumors. Historically, the treatment armamentarium for pituitary adenomas has included medical management, microsurgery, and fractionated radiotherapy. More recently, radiosurgery has emerged as a viable treatment option.

[Palliative treatment of brain metastases with gamma knife].

The gamma knife is a stereotactic radiosurgery device which allows well defined, deep seated brain tumors or arteriovenous malformations with a maximal volume of about 25 ccm and a diameter not greater than 3.5 cm, to be treated in a single session under local anesthesia. The gamma knife offers an alternative treatment method to the classical approach of treating brain metastases by surgical excision and/or whole brain radiotherapy.

History of pituitary surgery from the technical aspect.

Transcranial and trans-sphenoidal pituitary surgery were developed independently with few exceptions by different groups of surgeons. The transcranial approaches, primarily the transfrontal-parasagittal and the frontotemporal along the sphenoid ridge, evolved without many variations within a short time span. The trans-sphenoidal exposures of the pituitary, on the contrary, underwent many modifications provoked by the fear of postoperative meningitis and the search for improved vision through the narrow alley leading to the target.

Gamma knife radiosurgery for prolactinomas.

Object: In this retrospective investigation the authors examined the results of gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) for tumor remnants after unsuccessful open surgery and medical treatment in 20 patients with prolactinomas. Particular attention is paid to a possible radioprotective action of dopamine agonists similar to the action of octreotide in acromegaly.

Methods: Twenty patients with prolactinomas were followed after GKS.

Development of pituitary adenoma treatment--a critical essay.

The history of pituitary adenoma treatment shows, as in medicine in general, a succession of movements and counter movements. A large number of surgical techniques was proposed, but only very few survived the selection process. This selection was influenced not only by the general development of surgical techniques that also by the introduction of effective medical treatments and the arrival of new diagnostic methodology.

Octreotide may act as a radioprotective agent in acromegaly.

Clinical experience shows that an increasing number of patients undergoing radiation treatment for recurring acromegaly or acromegaly persisting after surgery are treated with octreotide. We, therefore, performed a follow-up study of patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma Knife) to determine whether this medication has an influence on the ultimate result of radiation therapy in either a positive or negative sense. It has been suggested that the combination of radiation with antisecretory drugs may increase the effectiveness of radiation.

17Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1, 2, 3, and 4 expression and enzyme activity in human anterior pituitary adenomas.

17Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17betaHSD) isoforms reversibly catalyze the final step in the formation of estradiol (E2) from estrone (E1) and the formation of testosterone from androstenedione. We have investigated 17betaHSD type 1, 2, 3, and 4 gene expression and 17betaHSD estrogenic activity in human anterior pituitary adenomas. 17BetaHSD messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression was studied by RT-PCR in 42 pituitary tumors and 3 normal pituitaries, 17betaHSD activity was studied in 11 tumors and 17betaHSD type 1 was immunolocalized in vitro in 6 tumors.

Stereotactic radiosurgery for recurrent surgically treated acromegaly: comparison with fractionated radiotherapy.

Object: The authors tested the assumption that gamma knife radiosurgery is more effective than fractionated radiotherapy for the treatment of patients with acromegaly who have undergone unsuccessful resective surgery. Untreated and uncured acromegaly causes illness and death. Acromegalic patients in whom growth hormone and, particularly, insulin-like growth factor I are not normalized must undergo further treatment.

Effect of cell density on hormonal secretion from human pituitary adenomas in vitro.

Unlabelled: Cell density effects were investigated on tumorous hormonal secretion from 10 pituitary adenomas: 3 somatotrophinomas secreting GH and PRL; 7 gonadotrophinomas, 3 co-secreted both FSH and LH, all 7 secreted LH. Enzymatically dispersed tissue was plated out in 24-well plates at 5 x 10(5), 10(5), 5 x 10(4) and 10(4) cells/well in serum-free media. Media were collected weekly for 2 weeks.

[Gamma knife radiosurgery in neurosurgery].

The gamma knife is a stereotactic radiosurgery device which allows well defined, deep seated brain tumors, or arteriovenous malformations having a diameter of less than 3 cm, to be treated in a single session under local anesthesia. This technique, which was first described over 40 years ago, has undergone major development in recent years and is the most commonly used method for radiosurgery worldwide. The principle relies on the over-lapping of narrow collimated beams from 201 cobalt-60 sources.

Identification of proliferating human anterior pituitary adenoma cells in vitro.

A method to determine whether dispersed human anterior pituitary adenoma cells proliferate in mixed culture was developed. Fifteen pituitary adenomas were dispersed enzymatically to single cells, following which twelve were double immunostained after eight days. Proliferating cells were identified immunologically following one hour of bromo-deoxyuridine incorporation.

A comparison of proliferation indices in human anterior pituitary adenomas using formalin-fixed tissue and in vitro cell culture.

The authors compared detection methods for cell proliferation in human anterior pituitary adenomas using histological sections and dispersed cell culture. After tumor cells had been grown for 4 days in dispersed culture, bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and Ki-67 were compared by double immunostaining and contrasted with single staining of PCNA and Ki-67 indices in the corresponding histological sections from 12 human pituitary adenomas. In vitro, the BUdR labeling index was positive in six of 12 tumors (range < 0.

Cytokine expression in human anterior pituitary adenomas.

Objective: There is increasing evidence for the role of cytokines in pituitary differentiated function and tumorigenesis, but the spectrum of cytokines found in the pituitary is unknown. Therefore profiles of cytokine expression were determined in different human anterior pituitary adenoma sub-types.

Design: The reverse transcriptase-linked polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the presence of cytokine mRNA within human pituitary adenomas.

External irradiation of macroinvasive pituitary adenomas with telecobalt: a retrospective study with long-term follow-up in patients irradiated with doses mostly of between 40-45 Gy.

Purpose: Published dose recommendations for radiotherapy in patients with pituitary macroadenomas vary. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed the results in our patients from the treatment period 1973-1992.

Methods And Materials: From a total of 89 patients with macroinvasive adenomas, 66 received radiation therapy immediately following subtotal surgical removal (combined treatment modality), and 22 were irradiated as primary treatment or after surgical recurrence.

Effects of insulin-like growth factor-I on growth hormone and prolactin secretion and cell proliferation of human somatotrophinomas and prolactinomas in vitro.

Objective: IGF-I inhibits GH secretion from normal and some tumorous pituitary tissue, and has been shown to be mitogenic for gonadotrophinoma cells in vitro. It is not known whether IGF-I affects somatotrophinoma cellular proliferation or the secretion of other hormones, such as PRL and alpha-subunit, which are often co-secreted by these tumours. We have therefore examined the effects of IGF-I on proliferation and hormonal secretion of human somatotrophinomas and prolactinomas in vitro.

Fibrin sealing of mucoperichondrial flaps in endonasal-transsphenoidal pituitary surgery: technical note.

We describe a simple technique that helps to avoid nasal septum perforations and the related complications after endonasal-transseptal transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. At the end of the Hirsch procedure, the mucoperichondrium is fixed to the septal cartilage with a thin layer of fibrin glue. Two silicone splints are applied to both sides of the septum and left in place for 2 days.

The value of inferior petrosal sinus sampling in diagnosis and treatment of Cushing's disease.

Objective: While microsurgical selective adenomectomy is the best method available at present for the treatment of Cushing's disease, its success depends to a large degree on precise preoperative intrapituitary microadenoma localization. This study compares the results of intrapituitary adenoma localization obtained with inferior petrosal sampling, computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging with the adenoma localization as found at surgery.

Design: The results of inferior petrosal sampling for intrapituitary localization of ACTH-producing pituitary adenomas were compared in a retrospective study with the results of computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, surgical and pathological findings.