Mindfulness-Based Student Training Improves Vascular Variability Associated With Sustained Reductions in Physiological Stress Response.

In today's fast-paced society, chronic stress has become an increasing problem, as it can lead to psycho-physiological health problems. University students are also faced with stress due to the demands of many courses and exams. The positive effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on stress management and self-regulation have already been studied.

Computed tomography angiography versus Agatston score for diagnosis of coronary artery disease in patients with stable chest pain: individual patient data meta-analysis of the international COME-CCT Consortium.

Objectives: There is conflicting evidence about the comparative diagnostic accuracy of the Agatston score versus computed tomography angiography (CTA) in patients with suspected obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).

Purpose: To determine whether CTA is superior to the Agatston score in the diagnosis of CAD.

Methods: In total 2452 patients with stable chest pain and a clinical indication for invasive coronary angiography (ICA) for suspected CAD were included by the Collaborative Meta-analysis of Cardiac CT (COME-CCT) Consortium.

Weather conditions associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage: a multicenter case-crossover study.

Background: Most spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhages (SAH) occur unexpectedly and independently of classical risk factors. In the light of increasing climate variability and change, we investigated weather and rapid weather changes as possible short-term risk factors for SAH.

Methods: Seven hundred ninety one patients admitted to three major hospitals in Germany for non-traumatic SAH with a determinable onset of SAH symptoms were included in this hospital-based, case-crossover study.

Alterations of neurometabolism in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus in transition to psychosis patients change under treatment as usual - A two years follow-up H/P-MR-spectroscopy study.

Background: The ultra-high risk (UHR) paradigm allows early contact with patients developing acute psychosis and the study of treatment effects on the underlying pathology.

Methods: 29 patients with first acute psychosis according to CAARMS criteria (transition patients, TP) (T0) and thereof 22 patients after two-year follow-up (mean 788 d) (T1) underwent H-/P-MR spectroscopy of the prefrontal (DLPFC) and anterior midcingulate (aMCC) cortices and the thalamus. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), glutamate (Glu, Glx), energy (PCr, ATP) and phospholipid metabolites (PME, PDE) were compared to 27 healthy controls by ANCOVA and correlated with patients' symptom ratings (BPRS-E, SCL-90R).

Thickness of the Stifle Joint Articular Cartilage in Different Large Animal Models of Cartilage Repair and Regeneration.

Objective: Regulatory guidelines for preclinical cartilage repair studies suggest large animal models (e.g., sheep, goat, [mini]-pig, or horse) to obtain results representative for humans.

Viruses and atypical bacteria in the respiratory tract of immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients with airway infection.

Respiratory tract infections (RTI) can take a serious course under immunosuppression. Data on the impact of the underlying pathogens are still controversial. Samples from the upper (n = 322) and lower RT (n = 169) were collected from 136 children and 355 adults; 225 among them have been immunocompromised patients.

Do annuloplasty rings designed to treat ischemic/functional mitral regurgitation alter left-ventricular dimensions in the acutely ischemic ovine heart?

Objective: To quantify the effects of annuloplasty rings designed to treat ischemic/functional mitral regurgitation on left ventricular septal-lateral (S-L) and commissure-commissure (C-C) dimensions.

Methods: Radiopaque markers were placed as opposing pairs on the S-L and C-C aspects of the mitral annulus and the basal, equatorial, and apical level of the left ventricle (LV) in 30 sheep. Ten true-sized Carpentier-Edwards Physio (PHY), Edwards IMR ETlogix (ETL), and GeoForm (GEO; all from Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, Calif) annuloplasty rings were inserted in a releasable fashion.

Limitations in the Assessment of Prosthesis-Patient Mismatch.

Background: Prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) after aortic valve replacement (AVR) may affect survival but data are conflicting. It is assessed by relating effective orifice area (EOA) to body surface area (EOAi). EOA is patient-specific as the result of flow-velocity times area at the individual patient's outflow tract levels (LVOT) divided by trans-prosthetic flow velocity.

Characterization of 3-dimensional papillary muscle displacement in in vivo ovine models of ischemic/functional mitral regurgitation.

Objective: Papillary muscle (PM) displacement contributes to ischemic/functional mitral regurgitation (IMR/FMR). The displaced PMs pull the mitral leaflets into the left ventricle (ie, toward the apex) thus hampering leaflet coaptation. Intuitively apical leaflet tethering results from apical PM displacement.

Weather, Weather Changes and the Risk of Bell's Palsy: A Multicenter Case-Crossover Study.

Background: To evaluate if weather or changes in weather are risk factors for Bell's palsy (BP) as exposure to draught of cold air has been popularly associated with the occurrence of BP.

Methods: Using a multicenter hospital-based case-crossover study, we analyzed the association between ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative air humidity or their 24 h changes and the risk for BP in 825 patients or subgroups.

Results: One day following a 24 h increase in atmospheric pressure of more than 6 hPa, the risk for BP increased by 35% (OR 1.

Rapid increases in nitrogen oxides are associated with acute myocardial infarction: A case-crossover study.

Aims High concentrations of air pollutants are associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction. The European Union has defined statutory limits for air pollutants based on upper absolute concentrations. We evaluated the association between rapid changes in air pollutants and the risk of myocardial infarction independently of absolute concentrations.

Partial nephrectomy versus radical nephrectomy for clinical localised renal masses.

Background: Partial nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy are the relevant surgical therapy options for localised renal cell carcinoma. However, debate regarding the effects of these surgical approaches continues and it is important to identify and summarise high-quality studies to make surgical treatment recommendations.

Objectives: To assess the effects of partial nephrectomy compared with radical nephrectomy for clinically localised renal cell carcinoma.

Weather as a risk factor for epileptic seizures: A case-crossover study.

Objective: Most epileptic seizures occur unexpectedly and independently of known risk factors. We aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of patients' perception that weather is a risk factor for epileptic seizures.

Methods: Using a hospital-based, bidirectional case-crossover study, 604 adult patients admitted to a large university hospital in Central Germany for an unprovoked epileptic seizure between 2003 and 2010 were recruited.

Computed tomography versus invasive coronary angiography: design and methods of the pragmatic randomised multicentre DISCHARGE trial.

Objectives: More than 3.5 million invasive coronary angiographies (ICA) are performed in Europe annually. Approximately 2 million of these invasive procedures might be reduced by noninvasive tests because no coronary intervention is performed.

Long-term effectiveness of a school-based primary prevention program for anorexia nervosa: A 7-to 8-year follow-up.

Purpose: This is the first study to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of a school-based prevention program in Germany. The aim is to determine the long-term effects of the primary prevention program PriMa (Primary prevention of anorexia nervosa in preadolescent girls) on disordered eating and body self-esteem from childhood to young adulthood.

Methods: PriMa was conducted and successfully evaluated in a quasi-experimental pre-post design with a control group from 2007 to 2008 consisting of 11-13year old girls (N=1508) from Thuringian schools in Germany.

Glutamatergic dysfunction linked to energy and membrane lipid metabolism in frontal and anterior cingulate cortices of never treated first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Background: Glutamatergic dysfunction and altered membrane lipid and energy metabolism have been repeatedly demonstrated in the frontal/prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in schizophrenia. Though having been already studied in animals, the presumed link between glutamatergic function and structural plasticity has not been investigated directly in the human brain yet. We measured glutamate (Glu), focal energy metabolism, and membrane phospholipid turnover to investigate main pathologies in those key brain regions of schizophrenia.

Rapid weather changes are associated with increased ischemic stroke risk: a case-crossover study.

Observational studies focusing on absolute meteorological values suggest an association between meteorological parameters and stroke risk but these results are inconsistent and conflicting. Since changes in weather can provoke atrial fibrillation, we examined the association between rapid weather changes and stroke risk in 1694 patients with determinable onset of stroke symptoms in a case-crossover study in central Germany. Days one to three before stroke onset were classified as hazard periods and day seven as the respective control period.

Age-related structural and functional changes of low back muscles.

During aging declining maximum force capacity with more or less unchanged fatigability is observed with the underlying mechanisms still not fully understood. Therefore, we compared morphology and function of skeletal muscles between different age groups. Changes in high-energy phosphate turnover (PCr, Pi and pH) and muscle functional MRI (mfMRI) parameters, including proton transverse relaxation time (T2), diffusion (D) and vascular volume fraction (f), were investigated in moderately exercised low back muscles of young and late-middle-aged healthy subjects with (31)P-MR spectroscopy, T2- and diffusion-weighted MRI at 3T.

Mixture models in diagnostic meta-analyses--clustering summary receiver operating characteristic curves accounted for heterogeneity and correlation.

Objectives: Bivariate linear and generalized linear random effects are frequently used to perform a diagnostic meta-analysis. The objective of this article was to apply a finite mixture model of bivariate normal distributions that can be used for the construction of componentwise summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curves.

Study Design And Setting: Bivariate linear random effects and a bivariate finite mixture model are used.

Force capacity of back extensor muscles in healthy males: effects of age and recovery time.

To judge a person's maximum trunk extension performance as either age-appropriate or deconditioned is challenging. The current study aimed at determining age and anthropometrically adjusted maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of back extensors considering the number and recovery time between trials. Thirty-one younger (20-30 years) and 33 older (50-60 years) healthy males performed five repetitions of maximal isometric trunk extensions in an upright standing position with randomized recovery times ranging between one to five minutes at one minute intervals.