External Validation of COVID-19 Risk Scores during Three Waves of Pandemic in a German Cohort-A Retrospective Study.

Several risk scores were developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify patients at risk for critical illness as a basic step to personalizing medicine even in pandemic circumstances. However, the generalizability of these scores with regard to different populations, clinical settings, healthcare systems, and new epidemiological circumstances is unknown. The aim of our study was to compare the predictive validity of qSOFA, CRB65, NEWS, COVID-GRAM, and 4C-Mortality score.

Real-Time Detection of Tumor Cells during Capture on a Filter Element Significantly Enhancing Detection Rate.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that enter the bloodstream play an important role in the formation of metastases. The prognostic significance of CTCs as biomarkers obtained from liquid biopsies is intensively investigated and requires accurate methods for quantification. The purpose of this study was the capture of CTCs on an optically accessible surface for real-time quantification.

Platelets in chronic liver disease, from bench to bedside.

In the last decade, numerous studies revealed physiologic and pathophysiologic roles of platelets beyond haemostasis, a process to prevent and stop bleeding. These include the activation of the immune system and the promotion of inflammation, infection and cancer. Hence, the emerging view on the role of platelets has shifted - platelets are now seen as alert "sentinels" of the immune compartment, rather than passive bystanders.

Three different ways of training ultrasound student-tutors yield significant gains in tutee's scanning-skills.

Many medical universities rely these days on trained student tutors to enable faculty-wide undergraduate ultrasound training. However, there is neither consensus on an optimal method nor any developed and agreed standard in the training of these student tutors. Usually internships and courses are employed which have both a specific set of advantages and disadvantages.

[Gastrointestinal complications of the new immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies].

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI) have become established as an integral part of drug tumor therapy. They belong to a group of monoclonal antibodies that promote anti-cancer cell immune response. Inhibitory signaling pathways are interrupted by binding to CTLA-4 and PD-1 or PD-L1, which increases the activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and reduces the immunological tolerance to tumor cells.

Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Radiation Oncology: Initial Experience After Workflow Implementation.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) technologies are increasingly used in various medical fields. However, the potential of mHealth to improve patient care in radiotherapy by acquiring electronic patient reported outcome measures (ePROMs) during treatment has been poorly studied so far.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and implement a novel Web app (PROMetheus) for patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Outcomes of three different ways to train medical students as ultrasound tutors.

Background: In order to provide faculty-wide undergraduate ultrasound training in times of scarce resources, many medical faculties employ trained peer-student tutors to oversee the hands-on training. However, data to guide the training of ultrasound peer-student tutors are scarce. We conducted a prospective quasi-randomized study to assess the gain in theoretical knowledge and practical scanning skills of peer-student tutors who were trained with a course only, an internship only, or the combination of a course and an internship.

[Surveillance after Treatment of Gastrointestinal Cancer].

Treatment for gastrointestinal malignancies has evolved over the past two decades. Long-term outcomes have considerably improved, however a high rate of recurrence persists. With the exception of colon cancer, clear consensus strategies with regards to post-treatment surveillance are lacking.

Doxycycline regulation in a single retroviral vector by an autoregulatory loop facilitates controlled gene expression in liver cells.

The tetracycline system has limitations in liver cells, such as toxic effects and low controllability. We generated different retroviral vectors for controlled gene expression in liver cells, in which the regulatory elements were arranged in different patterns. Only the organization of the tetracycline system in an autoregulatory loop in the sense orientation results in high retroviral titres and in tight regulation of gene expression in highly differentiated hepatoma cells.

Caspase 8 small interfering RNA prevents acute liver failure in mice.

A major concern in therapy of acute liver failure is protection of hepatocytes to prevent apoptosis and maintain liver function. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a powerful tool to silence gene expression in mammalian cells. To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of siRNA in vivo we used different mouse models of acute liver failure.