Fensomea setacea, gen. & sp. nov. (Cladopyxidaceae, Dinophyceae), is neither gonyaulacoid nor peridinioid as inferred from morphological and molecular data.

Dinophyte evolution is essentially inferred from the pattern of thecal plates, and two different labelling systems are used for the important subgroups Gonyaulacales and Peridiniales. The partiform hypotheca of cladopyxidoid dinophytes fits into the morphological concepts of neither group, although they are assigned to the Gonyaulacales. Here, we describe the thecate dinophyte Fensomea setacea, gen.

Patient preferences for allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: how much benefit is worthwhile from the patient's perspective?

Oncological studies have shown that patients consider small benefits sufficient to make adjuvant chemotherapy worthwhile. We sought to determine the minimal survival benefits that patients considered enough to legitimate allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and the factors associated with patient preferences. One hundred eighty-four patients having previously received allogeneic HCT at our centre were included and completed a questionnaire exploring patient expectations elicited by time trade-off scenarios as well as quality of life (QoL), symptoms of graft-versus host disease (GvHD) and sociodemographic characteristics.

Validating a pain assessment tool in heterogeneous ICU patients: Is it possible?

Background: Non-communicative adult ICU patients are vulnerable to inadequate pain management with potentially severe consequences. In German-speaking countries, there is limited availability of a validated pain assessment tool for this population.

Aim: The aim of this observational study was to test the German version of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) in a heterogeneous adult ICU population.

Correlates and outcomes of alcohol use after single solid organ transplantation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Reviews on alcohol use in transplant recipients focus on liver recipients and their risk of post-transplant rejection, but do not assess alcohol use in kidney, heart, or lung transplant recipients. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to synthesize the evidence on correlates and outcomes of any alcohol use and at-risk drinking after solid organ transplantation (Tx).

Methods: We searched 4 databases for quantitative studies in adult heart, liver, kidney and lung Tx recipients, investigating associations between post-Tx alcohol use and correlates and/or clinical, economic or quality of life outcomes.

Practice patterns to improve pre and post-transplant medication adherence in heart transplant centres: a secondary data analysis of the international BRIGHT study.

Background: As medication non-adherence is a major risk factor for poor post-transplant outcomes, we explored how adherence is assessed, enhanced and integrated across the transplant continuum.

Aim: The aim of this study was to study practice patterns regarding pre- and post-transplant medication adherence assessment and interventions in international heart transplant centres.

Methods: We used data from the Building Research Initiative Group: chronic illness management and adherence in heart transplantation (BRIGHT) study, a cross-sectional study conducted in 36 heart transplant centres in 11 countries.

Symptom experience of multiple myeloma (syMMex) patients treated with autologous stem cell transplantation following high-dose melphalan: a descriptive longitudinal study.

Purpose: High-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) are associated with high symptom burden. This study aimed to explore multiple myeloma (MM) patients' experience of symptom frequency, intensity, and distress during therapy.

Methods: This descriptive longitudinal study enrolled 29 MM patients who completed the 43-item PROVIVO questionnaire, measuring symptom experience across the dimensions of frequency, intensity, and distress at four assessment points: hospital admission (T0), leucocyte nadir (T1), discharge (T2), and 30 days post discharge (T3).

Perception of late effects among long-term survivors after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: Descriptive analysis and validation of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. A sub-study of the PROVIVO study.

Purpose: To give a first description of the perception of late effects among long-term survivors after Allogeneic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) and to validate the German Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ).

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from the cross-sectional, mixed-method PROVIVO study, which included 376 survivors from two Swiss HSCT-centres. First, we analysed the sample characteristics and the distribution for each BIPQ item.

Correlates and Outcomes of Posttransplant Smoking in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Despite smoking being an absolute or relative contraindication for transplantation, about 11% to 40% of all patients continue or resume smoking posttransplant. This systematic review with meta-analysis investigated the correlates and outcomes associated with smoking after solid organ transplantation.

Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO from inception until January 2016, using state-of-the art methodology.

Linguistic and content validation of a German-language PRO-CTCAE-based patient-reported outcomes instrument to evaluate the late effect symptom experience after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Purpose: The aim of this sequential mixed methods study was to develop a PRO-CTCAE (Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events)-based measure of the symptom experience of late effects in German speaking long-term survivors of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), and to examine its content validity.

Methods: The US National Cancer Institute's PRO-CTAE item library was translated into German and linguistically validated. PRO-CTCAE symptoms prevalent in ≥50% of survivors (n = 15) and recognized in its importance by SCT experts (n = 9) were identified.

The Swiss Transplant Cohort Study's framework for assessing lifelong psychosocial factors in solid-organ transplants.

Background: Understanding outcomes after transplant requires a biopsychosocial model that includes biomedical and psychosocial factors. The latter, to date, are assessed only in a limited way as part of transplant registries or cohort studies. The Swiss Transplant Cohort Study (STCS) is a nationwide open cohort study (starting May 2008) to systematically and prospectively assess psychosocial factors.

Waking the dead: morphological and molecular characterization of extant †Posoniella tricarinelloides (Thoracosphaeraceae, Dinophyceae).

The Thoracosphaeraceae are dinophytes that produce calcareous shells during their life history, whose optical crystallography has been the basis for the division into subfamilies. To evaluate the validity of the classification (mainly applied by palaeontologists), living material of phylogenetic key species is necessary albeit frequently difficult to access for contemporary morphological and molecular analyses. We isolated and established five living strains of the rare fossil-taxon †Posoniella tricarinelloides from different sediment samples collected in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea (west coast off Italy).

Understanding the importance of using patient-reported outcome measures in patients with immune thrombocytopenia.

Incorporating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) when studying patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is essential since treatment decisions are complex and using platelet count only partly explains disease burden. Since most symptoms are only experienced subjectively and are seldom captured during clinician-based evaluations, using self-report is crucial for early symptom detection. However, capturing the patient's illness experience necessitates using well-developed and validated instruments.

SAME BUT DIFFERENT: TWO NOVEL BICARINATE SPECIES OF EXTANT CALCAREOUS DINOPHYTES (THORACOSPHAERACEAE, PERIDINIALES) FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA(1).

The diversity of extant calcareous dinophytes (Thoracosphaeraceae, Dinophyceae) is currently not sufficiently recorded. The majority of their coccoid stages are cryptotabulate or entirely atabulate, whereas relatively few forms exhibit at least some degree of tabulation more than the archeopyle. A survey of coastal surface sediment samples from the Mediterranean Sea resulted in the isolation and cultivation of several strains of calcareous dinophytes showing a prominent tabulation.

Phylogeny of calcareous dinoflagellates as inferred from ITS and ribosomal sequence data.

The phylogenetic relationships of calcareous dinoflagellates (i.e., Calciodinellaceae and Thoracosphaera) are investigated.