Prophylactic use of inotropic agents for the prevention of low cardiac output syndrome and mortality in adults undergoing cardiac surgery.

Background: As the burden of cardiovascular disease grows, so does the number of cardiac surgeries. Surgery is increasingly performed on older people with comorbidities who are at higher risk of developing perioperative complications such as low cardiac output state (LCOS). Surgery-associated LCOS represents a serious pathology responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality.

Comparison between Invasive Intervention and Conservative Treatment in Patients with In-Hospital Myocardial Infarctions: Results from the Regional Myocardial Infarction Registry of Saxony-Anhalt (RHESA) Study.

: In-hospital myocardial infarctions (AMIs) are less often treated with invasive intervention, compared to out-of-hospital AMIs. We aimed to identify the determinants of invasive intervention in patients with in-hospital AMIs and assess its association with mortality, compared to conservative treatment. : This was a cross-sectional study of in-hospital AMIs in The Regional Myocardial Infarction Registry of Saxony-Anhalt.

Body composition parameters predict survival in pancreatic cancer-A retrospective multicenter analysis.

Background: Parameters to adapt individual treatment strategies for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are urgently needed. The present study aimed to evaluate body composition parameters as predictors of overall survival (OS) in PDAC patients.

Methods: Measurements of body composition parameters were performed on computed tomography scans at diagnosis.

Differences in the levels of inflammatory markers between metabolically healthy obese and other obesity phenotypes in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aims: The aim of this study was to systematically review and analyze differences in the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) comparing metabolically healthy but obese (MHO) with metabolically healthy non-obese (MHNO), metabolically unhealthy non-obese (MUNO), and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO) subjects.

Data Synthesis: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus for studies that matched the relevant search terms. Differences in inflammatory marker levels between MHO and the other three phenotypes were pooled as standardized mean differences (SMD) or differences of medians (DM) using a random-effects model.

Quality of Life Assessment and Pain Severity in Breast Cancer Patients Prior to Palliative Oncology Treatment in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: Studies assessing quality of life (QOL) in palliative care settings are still scarce. We assessed the QOL score and pain severity in advanced breast cancer patients at the National Cancer Hospital in Indonesia and associations between QOL domains with QOL and pain scores.

Materials And Methods: A total of 160 patients who met the study inclusion criteria (female, >18 years old, diagnosed with stage III or IV breast cancer) answered the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QOL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL) and the visual analogue scale (VAS) tool for pain severity, prior to palliative oncology treatment.

Efficacy and Safety of Neoadjuvant Gemcitabine Plus Nab-Paclitaxel in Borderline Resectable and Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Therapy with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (GNP) is the most commonly used palliative chemotherapy, but its advantage in the neoadjuvant setting remains unclear. Accordingly, our aim is to evaluate the impact of first-line neoadjuvant therapy with GNP in patients with borderline resectable (BRPC) and locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). A systematic search for published studies until August 2020 was performed.

Patterns of glioblastoma treatment and survival over a 16-years period: pooled data from the German Cancer Registries.

Introduction: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a primary malignant brain tumour characterized by a very low long-term survival. The aim of this study was to analyse the distribution of treatment modalities and their effect on survival for GBM cases diagnosed in Germany between 1999 and 2014.

Methods: Cases were pooled from the German Cancer Registries with International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition (ICD-O-3) codes for GBM or giant-cell GBM.

Lung Cancer Attributed Mortality Among 316,336 Early Stage Breast Cancer Cases Treated by Radiotherapy and/or Chemotherapy, 2000-2015: Evidence From the SEER Database.

Objective: To estimate the risk of death from lung cancer in patients treated for breast cancer (BC) in relation to the general population.

Methods: BC data, covering 2000 to 2015, were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-18 (SEER-18) cancer registry database. A comparison of lung cancer attributed mortality between BC patients and the general population was performed using standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and SMRs conditional on survival length (cSMRs).

Socioeconomic disparities in head and neck cancer survival in Germany: a causal mediation analysis using population-based cancer registry data.

Purpose: Despite recent improvements in cancer treatment in Germany, a marked difference in cancer survival based on socioeconomic factors persists. We aim to quantify the effect of socioeconomic inequality on head and neck cancer (HNC) survival.

Methods: Information on 20,821 HNC patients diagnosed in 2009-2013 was routinely collected by German population-based cancer registries.

Inotropic agents and vasodilator strategies for the treatment of cardiogenic shock or low cardiac output syndrome.

Background: Cardiogenic shock (CS) and low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) are potentially life-threatening complications of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF) or cardiac surgery. While there is solid evidence for the treatment of other cardiovascular diseases of acute onset, treatment strategies in haemodynamic instability due to CS and LCOS remains less robustly supported by the given scientific literature. Therefore, we have analysed the current body of evidence for the treatment of CS or LCOS with inotropic and/or vasodilating agents.

Quality of life of cancer patients at palliative care units in developing countries: systematic review of the published literature.

Purpose: This systematic review aims to summarize factors that influence the quality of life (QOL) of advanced cancer patients in palliative care (PC) in developing countries. Understanding this context in developing countries milieu is necessary; however, this outcome is rarely reported.

Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science were systematically searched using the search terms: QOL, cancer, PC, and names of all developing countries.

Metabolically Healthy, but Obese Individuals and Associations with Echocardiographic Parameters and Inflammatory Biomarkers: Results from the CARLA Study.

Introduction: The research on heterogeneity among obese individuals has identified the metabolically healthy, but obese (MHO) phenotype as a distinct group that does not experience the typical cardiovascular-related diseases (CVD). It is unclear if this group differs with regard to preconditions for CVDs. Our aim was to assess differences in echocardiographic parameters and inflammatory biomarkers between MHO and metabolically healthy, normal weight individuals (MHNW).

Association of office and ambulatory blood pressure with blood lead in workers before occupational exposure.

In view of decreasing lead exposure and guidelines endorsing ambulatory above office blood pressure (BP) measurement, we reassessed association of BP with blood lead (BL) in 236 newly employed men (mean age, 28.6 years) without previous lead exposure not treated for hypertension. Office BP was the mean of five auscultatory readings at one visit.

ECG Voltage in Relation to Peripheral and Central Ambulatory Blood Pressure.

Background: The heart ejects in the central elastic arteries. No previous study in workers described the diurnal profile of central blood pressure (BP) or addressed the question whether electrocardiogram (ECG) indexes are more closely associated with central than peripheral BP.

Methods: In 177 men (mean age, 29.

Post-processing reproducibility of the structural characteristics of the common carotid artery in a Flemish population.

Introduction: Common carotid artery (CCA) intima-media thickness (IMT), lumen diameter, and maximum plaque thickness were assessed on ultrasound images. The objective of the study was to evaluate the intra- and inter-reader reproducibility of the measurements following a standardised protocol.

Methods: Two readers performed the off-line measurements on B-mode ultrasound images of the distal CCA, in a randomly selected subset (n = 60) from a Flemish population cohort (FLEMENGHO).

Risk for Incident Heart Failure: A Subject-Level Meta-Analysis From the Heart "OMics" in AGEing (HOMAGE) Study.

Background: To address the need for personalized prevention, we conducted a subject-level meta-analysis within the framework of the Heart "OMics" in AGEing (HOMAGE) study to develop a risk prediction model for heart failure (HF) based on routinely available clinical measurements.

Methods And Results: Three studies with elderly persons (Health Aging and Body Composition [Health ABC], [PREDICTOR], and Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk [PROSPER]) were included to develop the HF risk function, while a fourth study (Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial [ASCOT]) was used as a validation cohort. Time-to-event analysis was conducted using the Cox proportional hazard model.

Quality Assessment of Studies Published in Open Access and Subscription Journals: Results of a Systematic Evaluation.

Introduction: Along with the proliferation of Open Access (OA) publishing, the interest for comparing the scientific quality of studies published in OA journals versus subscription journals has also increased. With our study we aimed to compare the methodological quality and the quality of reporting of primary epidemiological studies and systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in OA and non-OA journals.

Methods: In order to identify the studies to appraise, we listed all OA and non-OA journals which published in 2013 at least one primary epidemiologic study (case-control or cohort study design), and at least one systematic review or meta-analysis in the field of oncology.

Are the Conventional Commercial Yeast Identification Methods Still Helpful in the Era of New Clinical Microbiology Diagnostics? A Meta-Analysis of Their Accuracy.

Accurate identification of pathogenic species is important for early appropriate patient management, but growing diversity of infectious species/strains makes the identification of clinical yeasts increasingly difficult. Among conventional methods that are commercially available, the API ID32C, AuxaColor, and Vitek 2 systems are currently the most used systems in routine clinical microbiology. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate and to compare the accuracy of the three systems, in order to assess whether they are still of value for the species-level identification of medically relevant yeasts.