Nutritional support during the hospital stay reduces mortality in patients with different types of cancers: secondary analysis of a prospective randomized trial.

Background: Nutritional support in patients with cancer aims at improving quality of life. Whether use of nutritional support is also effective in improving clinical outcomes requires further study.

Patients And Methods: In this preplanned secondary analysis of patients with cancer included in a prospective, randomized-controlled, Swiss, multicenter trial (EFFORT), we compared protocol-guided individualized nutritional support (intervention group) to standard hospital food (control group) regarding mortality at 30-day (primary endpoint) and other clinical outcomes.

Effect of different corticosteroid regimes for hospitalised patients with exacerbated COPD: pooled analysis of individual participant data from the REDUCE and CORTICO-COP trials.

Background: Systemic corticosteroid administration for severe acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) reduces the duration of hospital stays. Corticosteroid-sparing regimens have showed non-inferiority to higher accumulated dose regimens regarding re-exacerbation risk in patients with AECOPD. However, it remains unclear whether 14-day or 2-5-day regimens would result in shorter admission durations and changes in mortality risk.

Quality of life after hospitalization predicts one-year readmission risk in a large Swiss cohort of medical in-patients.

Purpose: Estimating the probability of readmission following hospitalization using prediction scores can be complex. Quality of life (QoL) may provide an easy and effective alternative.

Methods: Secondary analysis of the prospective "TRIAGE" cohort.

Duration of antibiotic treatment using procalcitonin-guided treatment algorithms in older patients: a patient-level meta-analysis from randomized controlled trials.

Background: Older patients have a less pronounced immune response to infection, which may also influence infection biomarkers. There is currently insufficient data regarding clinical effects of procalcitonin (PCT) to guide antibiotic treatment in older patients.

Objective And Design: We performed an individual patient data meta-analysis to investigate the association of age on effects of PCT-guided antibiotic stewardship regarding antibiotic use and outcome.

Elezanumab, a human anti-RGMa monoclonal antibody, promotes neuroprotection, neuroplasticity, and neurorecovery following a thoracic hemicompression spinal cord injury in non-human primates.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition characterized by loss of function, secondary to damaged spinal neurons, disrupted axonal connections, and myelin loss. Spontaneous recovery is limited, and there are no approved pharmaceutical treatments to reduce ongoing damage or promote repair. Repulsive guidance molecule A (RGMa) is upregulated following injury to the central nervous system (CNS), where it is believed to induce neuronal apoptosis and inhibit axonal growth and remyelination.

Association of endothelial activation assessed through endothelin-I precursor peptide measurement with mortality in COVID-19 patients: an observational analysis.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) has been linked to thrombotic complications and endothelial dysfunction. We assessed the prognostic implications of endothelial activation through measurement of endothelin-I precursor peptide (proET-1), the stable precursor protein of Endothelin-1, in a well-defined cohort of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Methods: We measured proET-1 in 74 consecutively admitted adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 and compared its prognostic accuracy to that of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (n = 876) and viral bronchitis (n = 371) from a previous study by means of logistic regression analysis.

Individualized Nutritional Support for Hospitalized Patients With Chronic Heart Failure.

Background: Deterioration of nutritional status during hospitalization in patients with chronic heart failure increases mortality. Whether nutritional support during hospitalization reduces these risks, or on the contrary, may be harmful due to an increase in salt and fluid intake, remains unclear.

Objectives: The purpose of this trial was to study the effect of nutritional support on mortality in patients hospitalized with chronic heart failure who are at nutritional risk.

Admission kidney function is a strong predictor for the response to nutritional support in patients at nutritional risk.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at substantial risk of malnutrition, which negatively affects clinical outcomes. We investigated the association of kidney function assessed at hospital admission and effectiveness of nutritional support in hospitalized medical patients at risk of malnutrition.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of an investigator-initiated, randomized-controlled, Swiss multicenter trial (EFFORT) that compared individualised nutritional support with usual hospital food on clinical outcomes.

Brain Density Clustering Analysis: A New Approach to Brain Functional Dynamics.

Background: A number of studies in recent years have explored whole-brain dynamic connectivity using pairwise approaches. There has been less focus on trying to analyze brain dynamics in higher dimensions over time.

Methods: We introduce a new approach that analyzes time series trajectories to identify high traffic nodes in a high dimensional space.

Perspective: Treatment for Disease Modification in Chronic Neurodegeneration.

Symptomatic treatments are available for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. An unmet need is cure or disease modification. This review discusses possible reasons for negative clinical study outcomes on disease modification following promising positive findings from experimental research.

Reward Processing in Novelty Seekers: A Transdiagnostic Psychiatric Imaging Biomarker.

Background: Dysfunctional reward processing is implicated in multiple mental disorders. Novelty seeking (NS) assesses preference for seeking novel experiences, which is linked to sensitivity to reward environmental cues.

Methods: A subset of 14-year-old adolescents (IMAGEN) with the top 20% ranked high-NS scores was used to identify high-NS-associated multimodal components by supervised fusion.

Prevalence and outcome of comorbidities associated with acromegaly.

Background: Acromegaly is associated with various comorbidities, such as arterial hypertension (aHT), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and polyposis coli. For therapeutic decisions, it is essential to know if, and to what extent, these associated morbidities are reversible or preventable. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and course of aHT, obesity, OSAS, CTS, DM2 and polyposis coli in acromegalic patients.

Effects of interleukin-1 antagonism and corticosteroids on fibroblast growth factor-21 in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF21) is elevated in patients with the metabolic syndrome. Although the exact underlying mechanisms remain ill-defined, chronic low-grade inflammation with increased Interleukin-(IL)-1β expression may be responsible. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of two different anti-inflammatory treatments (IL-1 antagonism or high-dose corticosteroids) on FGF21 in patients with the metabolic syndrome.

Hospitalization and mortality outcomes in the first 5 years after a childhood cancer diagnosis: a population-based study.

Purpose: Children with cancer are frequently hospitalized. However, hospitalization and death by disease category are not well defined < 5 years from diagnosis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked cancer registry-hospital discharge-vital records to identify cancer cases < 20 years at diagnosis during 1987-2012 (n = 4,567) and comparison children without cancer, matched on birth year and sex (n = 45,582).

Value of handgrip strength to predict clinical outcomes and therapeutic response in malnourished medical inpatients: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Disease-related malnutrition is associated with loss of muscle mass and impaired functional status. Handgrip strength (HGS) has been proposed as an easy-to-use tool to assess muscle strength in clinical practice.

Objectives: We investigated the prognostic implications of HGS in patients at nutritional risk with regard to clinical outcomes and response to nutritional support.

Association of Nutritional Support With Clinical Outcomes in Malnourished Cancer Patients: A Population-Based Matched Cohort Study.

Malnutrition is prevalent in hospitalized cancer patients and has been associated with poor therapy response and unfavorable clinical outcome. While recent studies have shown a survival benefit through nutritional support in a hospitalized malnourished medical population including cancer patients, we aimed to investigate the association of nutritional support with in-hospital mortality and other clinical outcomes in a nationwide inpatient cancer population. In this population-based cohort study, using a large Swiss administrative claims database from April 2013 to December 2018, we created two cohorts of malnourished cancer patients on medical wards.

Salvage of locally recurrent breast cancer with repeat breast conservation using 45 Gy hyperfractionated partial breast re-irradiation.

Purpose: Mastectomy has long been the preferred approach for local salvage of recurrent breast cancer following breast-conservation therapy (BCT). Growing interest in avoiding mastectomy prompted RTOG 1014, a landmark phase two study demonstrating the feasibility of repeat BCT using a novel radiotherapy (RT) regimen (i.e.

Nutritional risk is a predictor for long-term mortality: 5-Year follow-up of the EFFORT trial.

Background And Aims: The nutritional risk screening (NRS 2002) is a validated screening tool for malnutrition. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of the NRS 2002 and its individual components regarding long-term mortality and adverse outcomes in a well-characterized cohort of medical inpatients.

Methods: We performed a 5-year follow-up investigation of patients included in the investigator-initiated, prospective, randomized controlled multicenter EFFORT trial that evaluated the effects of individualized nutritional intervention vs.

Modeling Immunity with Rosetta: Methods for Antibody and Antigen Design.

Structure-based antibody and antigen design has advanced greatly in recent years, due not only to the increasing availability of experimentally determined structures but also to improved computational methods for both prediction and design. Constant improvements in performance within the Rosetta software suite for biomolecular modeling have given rise to a greater breadth of structure prediction, including docking and design application cases for antibody and antigen modeling. Here, we present an overview of current protocols for antibody and antigen modeling using Rosetta and exemplify those by detailed tutorials originally developed for a Rosetta workshop at Vanderbilt University.

Social behaviors and gray matter volumes of brain areas supporting social cognition in children and adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure.

The goal of this study was to examine: 1) differences in parent-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors between children and adolescents with and without prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE); 2) differences in gray matter volumes of brain areas supporting social cognition between children and adolescents with and without PAE; 3) correlations between gray matter volumes of brain areas supporting social cognition and parent-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Parents of children and adolescents ages 8-16 years completed measures on their prosocial and antisocial behaviors (i.e.

Simultaneous attenuation of trace organics and change in organic matter composition in the hyporheic zone of urban streams.

Trace organic compounds (TrOCs) enter rivers with discharge of treated wastewater. These effluents can contain high loads of dissolved organic matter (DOM). In a 48 h field study, we investigated changes in molecular composition of seven DOM compound classes (FTICR-MS) and attenuation of 17 polar TrOCs in a small urban stream receiving treated wastewater.

Association of in-hospital multimorbidity with healthcare outcomes in Swiss medical inpatients.

Importance: Multimorbidity poses a worldwide health- and socio-economic challenge, exacerbated by changing demographics. The association of multimorbidity with healthcare outcomes in hospitalised medical inpatients remains incompletely understood.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and burden of in-hospital multimorbidity over a 6-year time period and its association with in-hospital mortality, intensive care unit admission, length of hospital stay and readmission rates.

The vasoactive peptide MR-pro-adrenomedullin in COVID-19 patients: an observational study.

Objectives: Midregional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is a vasoactive peptide with key roles in reducing vascular hyperpermeability and thereby improving endothelial stability during infection. While MR-proADM is useful for risk stratification in patients with sepsis, clinical data about prediction accuracy in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease (COVID-19) is currently missing.

Methods: We included consecutively adult patients hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19 at a tertiary care center in Switzerland between February and April 2020.

Does mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) improve the sequential organ failure assessment-score (SOFA score) for mortality-prediction in patients with acute infections? Results of a prospective observational study.

Objectives: Risk stratification in patients with infection is usually based on the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment-Score (SOFA score). Our aim was to investigate whether the vasoactive peptide mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) improves the predictive value of the SOFA score for 30-day mortality in patients with acute infection presenting to the emergency department (ED).

Methods: This secondary analysis of the prospective observational TRIAGE study included 657 patients with infection.