COVID-19-associated costs and mortality in Germany: an incidence-based analysis from a payer's perspective.

Background: This study aims to estimate average COVID-19-associated healthcare costs per capita in Germany from a payer perspective. In addition, insights into COVID-19-associated mortality should be gained.

Methods: For this purpose, a retrospective longitudinal analysis using health insurance claims data was performed.

The prognostic value of elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio for cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at significant risk of developing postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI). Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a widely available inflammatory biomarker which may be of prognostic value in this setting.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting associations between perioperative NLR with postoperative AKI.

Perioperative Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts Mortality After Cardiac Surgery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an inflammatory biomarker that has been evaluated across a variety of surgical disciplines and is widely predictive of poor postoperative outcome, but its value in cardiac surgery is unclear. The authors did this systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the impact of elevated perioperative NLR on survival after cardiac surgery.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of study-level data.

Development of a Frailty Index from Routine Hospital Data in Perioperative and Critical Care.

Background/objectives: Frailty is common in surgical and intensive care unit (ICU) populations, yet it is not routinely measured. Frailty indices are able to quantify this condition across a range of health deficits. We aimed to develop a frailty index (FI) from routinely collected hospital data in a surgical and ICU population.

Accuracy of the Clinical Frailty Scale for perioperative frailty screening: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: Perioperative frailty increases postoperative complications, mortality, and new functional dependence. Despite this, routine perioperative frailty screening is not widespread. We aimed to assess the accuracy of the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) as a screening tool prior to anesthesia, and to determine which health domains are affected by frailty.

Protocol for a prospective observational study to develop a frailty index for use in perioperative and critical care.

Introduction: Frailty is of increasing importance to perioperative and critical care medicine, as the proportion of older patients increases globally. Evidence continues to emerge of the considerable impact frailty has on adverse outcomes from both surgery and critical care, which has led to a proliferation of different frailty measurement tools in recent years. Despite this, there remains a lack of easily implemented, comprehensive frailty assessment tools specific to these complex populations.

Ror is a nervous system-specific co-receptor for Wnt ligands.

Wnt ligands are secreted glycoproteins that control many developmental processes and are crucial for homeostasis of numerous tissues in the adult organism. Signal transduction of Wnts involves the binding of Wnts to receptor complexes at the surface of target cells. These receptor complexes are commonly formed between a member of the Frizzled family of seven-pass transmembrane proteins and a co-receptor, which is usually a single-pass transmembrane protein.

IMMERSIVE MENTAL HEALTH SIMULATION HELPS STUDENTS WITH CHALLENGING CONVERSATIONS.

Simulation within nursing education is becoming a popular means of facilitating competency, where there is a tendency for this to focus on the acquisition and development of clinical and technical skills.

Fine mapping of candidate regions for bipolar disorder provides strong evidence for susceptibility loci on chromosomes 7q.

Genomewide scans of bipolar disorder (BP) have not produced consistent linkage findings. Follow-up studies using enlarged samples and enhanced marker density can bolster or refute claims of linkage and pave the way to gene discovery. We conducted linkage and association analyses, using a ~3-cM density map of 10 candidate regions, in a large BP pedigree sample (865 individuals from 56 pedigrees).

A novel in vitro microbial-based model for studying caries formation--development and initial testing.

We report on the development and the initial testing of a new microbial-based caries model. Specimens were fixed on a rotating mount within a reaction chamber hermetically surrounded by a sterilised glove box. A cariogenic environment was obtained by inoculation with Streptococcus mutans (ATCC 25175) combined with a continuously repeating supply of sucrose solution, trypticase soy broth and artificial saliva applied by dripping.

Linkage analysis of psychosis in bipolar pedigrees suggests novel putative loci for bipolar disorder and shared susceptibility with schizophrenia.

The low-to-moderate resolution of linkage analysis in complex traits has underscored the need to identify disease phenotypes with presumed genetic homogeneity. Bipolar disorder (BP) accompanied by psychosis (psychotic BP) may be one such phenotype. We previously reported a genome-wide screen in a large bipolar pedigree sample.

Evidence for a putative bipolar disorder locus on 2p13-16 and other potential loci on 4q31, 7q34, 8q13, 9q31, 10q21-24, 13q32, 14q21 and 17q11-12.

Bipolar disorder (BP) is a severe and common psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme mood swings. Family, twin and adoption studies strongly support a genetic component. The mode of inheritance is complex and likely involves multiple, as yet unidentified genes.

A follow-up linkage study supports evidence for a bipolar affective disorder locus on chromosome 21q22.

Evidence for linkage between bipolar affective disorder (BP) and 21q22 was first reported by our group in a single large pedigree with a lod score of 3.41 with the PFKL locus. In a subsequent study, with denser marker coverage in 40 multiplex BP pedigrees, we reported supporting evidence with a two-point lod score of 2.

A comprehensive linkage analysis of chromosome 21q22 supports prior evidence for a putative bipolar affective disorder locus.

Previously, we demonstrated evidence of linkage to bipolar affective disorder (BP) in a single large, multigenerational family with a LOD score of 3.41 at the PFKL locus on chromosome 21q22.3.

No evidence for significant linkage between bipolar affective disorder and chromosome 18 pericentromeric markers in a large series of multiplex extended pedigrees.

Bipolar affective disorder (BP) is a major neuropsychiatric disorder with high heritability and complex inheritance. Previously reported linkage between BP and DNA markers in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 18, with a parent-of-origin effect (linkage was present in pedigrees with paternal transmission and absent in pedigrees with exclusive maternal inheritance), has been a focus of interest in human genetics. We reexamined the evidence in one of the largest samples reported to date (1,013 genotyped individuals in 53 unilineal multiplex pedigrees), using 10 highly polymorphic markers and a range of parametric and nonparametric analyses.

A possible vulnerability locus for bipolar affective disorder on chromosome 21q22.3.

In a preliminary genome scan of 47 bipolar disorder families, we detected in one family a lod score of 3.41 at the PFKL locus on chromosome 21q22.3.

A pedigree series for mapping disease genes in bipolar affective disorder: sampling, assessment, and analytic considerations.

A series of 57 extended pedigrees with high density of bipolar affective disorder is described. Ascertainment and diagnostic procedures are documented and simulation studies to assess statistical power are carried out. The pedigrees, obtained in the US and Israel, are comprised of 1508 adult individuals with best estimate consensus diagnoses (12-71 relatives per pedigree), 490 of whom (including 401 sib pairs) meet criteria for a conservative disease definition (bipolar disorder or recurrent major depression).

Effect of chronic intake of ethanol on lactate/pyruvate and beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate ratios in rat liver.

Adult male rats were fed a liquid diet providing 35% of the calories as ethanol, while pair-fed controls received the corresponding diet with alcohol replaced by an equicaloric concentration of sucrose. After 1 month, lactate/pyruvate (L/P) and beta-hydroxybutyrate/acetoacetate (beta-HB/AcAc) ratios in the livers were determined under five different conditions: (1) both diets present up to the time of sacrifice, (2) ethanol diet replaced by control diet for 24 h before sacrifice, (3) ethanol diet replaced by control diet for 48 h before sacrifice, (4) as in the preceding, followed by intraperitoneal (i.p.