Advanced Practice Nursing and CAR-T Cell Therapy: Opportunities, Challenges and Future Directions.

Objectives: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a new treatment for patients with myeloma and other B cell malignancies where advanced practice nurses (APN) can make a great contribution. The aim of this review is to identify key aspects of current literature relevant to APNs working with this population.

Methods: Discussion of selected peer-reviewed literature and best practice guidelines found through electronic database searches (CINAHL, MEDLINE).

[Assessments in the initial nursing consultation-starting point for interprofessional cooperation in oncology].

Background: Most oncology patients are not adequately screened for symptoms during the admission process. As a result, their needs are not properly assessed and included in their treatment.

Objective: To investigate which assessments are already used by different nursing, medical, and social services at oncology centers and how these could be centralized in order to include the different services involved in the care of patients in a bundled way.

Diverging role of epicardial adipose tissue across the entire heart failure spectrum.

Aims: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a metabolically highly active tissue modulating numerous pathophysiological processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between EAT thickness and endothelial function in patients with heart failure (HF) across the entire ejection fraction spectrum.

Methods And Results: A total of 258 patients with HF with an ejection fraction across the entire spectrum [HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), n = 168, age 60.

Patient-reported experiences of cancer care related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland.

Purpose: This study aims to describe the experience of Swiss oncological patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A national multi-center study including five hospitals covering the three main language regions of Switzerland was conducted between March and July 2021. Patients with melanoma, breast, lung, or colon cancer receiving active systemic anti-cancer treatment at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic were included.

Characterising the epidemic spread of influenza A/H3N2 within a city through phylogenetics.

Infecting large portions of the global population, seasonal influenza is a major burden on societies around the globe. While the global source sink dynamics of the different seasonal influenza viruses have been studied intensively, its local spread remains less clear. In order to improve our understanding of how influenza is transmitted on a city scale, we collected an extremely densely sampled set of influenza sequences alongside patient metadata.

Identification of influenza urban transmission patterns by geographical, epidemiological and whole genome sequencing data: protocol for an observational study.

Introduction: Urban transmission patterns of influenza viruses are complex and poorly understood, and multiple factors may play a critical role in modifying transmission. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) allows the description of patient-to-patient transmissions at highest resolution. The aim of this study is to explore urban transmission patterns of influenza viruses in high detail by combining geographical, epidemiological and immunological data with WGS data.

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).

Endothelial function and sympathetic nervous system activity in patients with Takotsubo syndrome.

Background: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute cardiomyopathy associated with intense physical or emotional stress. The precise mechanisms of the disease remain unclear. The aim of this study was to study alterations in endothelial function, vascular compliance and structure and muscle sympathetic activity in the stable phase of the disease.

Vascular Effects of Eplerenone in Coronary Artery Disease With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Background: Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) reduce morbidity and mortality in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Their role in patients without heart failure, particularly in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and preserved EF, is still a matter of debate.

Hypothesis: The MRA eplerenone on top of standard medical therapy improves endothelial dysfunction and other markers of vascular health in CAD patients with preserved EF.

Medical therapy of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: current evidence and new developments.

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is a common cardiovascular condition with a significant individual and societal burden. Although it was previously known as a palliative condition, medical drug therapies that were developed in the last four decades significantly reduced morbidity and mortality of the disease. The cornerstone of HFrEF therapy remains the blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and the β-adrenergic systems.

Trained clinical nurse specialists proficiently obtain bone marrow aspirates and trephine biopsies in a nearly painless procedure--a prospective evaluation study.

Patients often experience bone marrow examinations (BMEs) as frightening and painful. Varying operators and uncertainty about who will perform the BME worsen their anxiety. In our study, clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) were trained to perform BMEs to ensure continuity and to test the feasibility, patient satisfaction, and biopsy quality.

The good and the bad of neuroinflammation in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory, demyelinating, neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). It is widely considered a T-cell mediated autoimmune disease that develops in genetically susceptible individuals, possibly under the influence of certain environmental trigger factors. The invasion of autoreactive CD4+ T-cells into the CNS is thought to be a central step that initiates the disease.

Gender differences in circulating levels of neutrophil extracellular traps in serum of multiple sclerosis patients.

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) trap and kill pathogens very efficiently but also activate dendritic cells and prime T cells. Previously, we demonstrated that neutrophils are primed and circulating NETs are elevated in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Here, we demonstrate gender specific differences in circulating NETs but not in neutrophil priming in RRMS patients.

Neutrophils in multiple sclerosis are characterized by a primed phenotype.

Neutrophils are armed with proteases with indiscriminate histotoxic potential, and to minimize tissue injury, their activation involves priming with inflammatory mediators before cells are fully activated in a second step. Here, we show that neutrophils in multiple sclerosis patients are more numerous and exhibit a primed state based on reduced apoptosis, higher expression of TLR-2, fMLP receptor, IL-8 receptor and CD43, enhanced degranulation and oxidative burst as well as higher levels of neutrophil extracellular traps in serum. The chronic inflammatory environment in multiple sclerosis probably underlies this inappropriate neutrophil priming, which may result in enhanced neutrophil activation during infection.

Polymorphism of the ITS-2 region of the ribosomal DNA of the Triatominae Rhodnius domesticus, R. pictipes, R. prolixus and R. stali.

The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP) was used to compare Rhodnius domesticus (Neiva & Pinto), R. pictipes (Stal), R. prolixus (Stal) and R.

Smoke in the operating theater: an unregarded source of danger.

Monopolar electrocautery devices are being used in operating theaters worldwide and have become a "sine qua non" in modern surgery. Despite being widespread, the use of electrocautery is not harmless, because by burning the tissue with rather low temperatures as compared with usual combustion, toxic gases evolve and particles are dispersed and are inhaled by the staff in the operating theater. Samples of this smoke, which evolves particularly densely during reduction mammaplasty, were analyzed using a carbon dioxide laser photoacoustic spectrometer.

Regulation of the Borna disease virus polymerase complex by the viral nucleoprotein p38 isoform. Brief Report.

Borna disease virus (BDV) polymerase can be reconstituted by co-expression of the viral genes N, P and L. N codes for two proteins, p39 and p38, resulting from alternative translation initiation. Using a viral minireplicon system we observed that unlike p39, p38 was almost completely inactive when expressed with P and L alone.

Active borna disease virus polymerase complex requires a distinct nucleoprotein-to-phosphoprotein ratio but no viral X protein.

Analysis of the composition and regulation of the Borna disease virus (BDV) polymerase complex has so far been limited by the lack of a functional assay. To establish such an assay on the basis of an artificial minigenome, we constructed expression vectors encoding either nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P), X protein, or polymerase (L) of BDV under the control of the chicken beta-actin promoter. A Flag-tagged version of L colocalized with virus-encoded N and P in characteristic nuclear dots of BDV-infected cells and increased viral N-protein levels in persistently infected Vero cells.

[Fat-suppressing STIR sequences with and without contrast media in the MRT of ENT tumors].

Fat-suppressed STIR (short TI inversion recovery) sequences were compared to plain and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted SE sequences of head and neck tumors. 19 patients underwent MR imaging on a 0.5 Telsa system (T5-II, Philips).

Acute effects of shock waves on tumors assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Possible role of blood flow reduction.

Rationale And Objectives: The effects of shock waves on experimental tumors in vivo by gadolinium(+)-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are assessed.

Methods: Two amelanotic hamster melanomas were implanted in the dorsal skin of 19 hamsters. In experiment 1 (n = 7), MRI of untreated tumors was performed before, and 5 and 15 minutes after intravenous injection of Gd(+)-DTPA.

[Magnetic resonance tomography with fast spin-echo sequences--the results in the ENT area].

Unlabelled: The use of T2-weighted spin-echo sequences is mandatory for identifying tumours in the ENT region and for differential diagnosis of pathological findings. A highly promising alternative to time-consuming conventional SE sequences is now available in the fast-spin-echo sequences (FSE). FSE was compared with the conventional SE (CSE) basing on 100 assessments of examinations of 20 patients.