The transplant cohort of the German center for infection research (DZIF Tx-Cohort): study design and baseline characteristics.

Infectious complications are the major cause of morbidity and mortality after solid organ and stem cell transplantation. To better understand host and environmental factors associated with an increased risk of infection as well as the effect of infections on function and survival of transplanted organs, we established the DZIF Transplant Cohort, a multicentre prospective cohort study within the organizational structure of the German Center for Infection Research. At time of transplantation, heart-, kidney-, lung-, liver-, pancreas- and hematopoetic stem cell- transplanted patients are enrolled into the study.

BarrettNET-a prospective registry for risk estimation of patients with Barrett's esophagus to progress to adenocarcinoma.

Risk stratification in patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) to prevent the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is an unsolved task. The incidence of EAC and BE is increasing and patients are still at unknown risk. BarrettNET is an ongoing multicenter prospective cohort study initiated to identify and validate molecular and clinical biomarkers that allow a more personalized surveillance strategy for patients with BE.

Tropomyosin receptor kinase: a novel target in screened neuroendocrine tumors.

Tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) inhibitors are investigated as a novel targeted therapy in various cancers. We investigated the effects of the pan-Trk inhibitor GNF-5837 in human neuroendocrine tumor (NET) cells. The human neuroendocrine pancreatic BON1, bronchopulmonary NCI-H727 and ileal GOT1 cell lines were treated with GNF-5837 alone and in combination with everolimus.

Clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: results of a multicenter study in Germany.

Context: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is an orphan disease and confers a dismal prognosis. Standard treatment is not established.

Objective: The aim of this study is to describe clinical characteristics, current treatment regimens and outcome of ATC and to identify clinical prognostic markers and treatment factors associated with improved prognosis.

Health-related quality of life after radical prostatectomy depends on patient's age but not on comorbidities.

Purpose: Localized prostate cancer affects younger and healthy patients as well as older patients with comorbidities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of age and comorbidities on the quality-of-life (QoL) course before and after radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Patients And Methods: Overall, 374 patients with localized prostate cancer scheduled for radical prostatectomy were prospectively included.

Time to recovery of adrenal function after curative surgery for Cushing's syndrome depends on etiology.

Context: Successful tumor resection in endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) results in tertiary adrenal insufficiency requiring hydrocortisone replacement therapy.

Objective: The aim was to analyze the postsurgical duration of adrenal insufficiency of patients with Cushing's disease (CD), adrenal CS, and ectopic CS.

Design: We performed a retrospective analysis based on the case records of 230 patients with CS in our tertiary referral center treated from 1983-2014.

Favorable long-term outcomes of bilateral adrenalectomy in Cushing's disease.

Objective: Bilateral adrenalectomy (BADX) is an important treatment option for patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS). Our aim is to analyze the long-term outcomes, surgical, biochemical, and clinical as well as morbidity and mortality, of patients who underwent BADX.

Design: A total of 50 patients who underwent BADX since 1990 in two German centers were identified.

Towards responsive IT-infrastructures--assessment of a health information system.

Marburg University Medical Center has been introducing a comprehensive health information system since 1999, using a single-vendor application framework with an integrated generator tool for the development of clinical applications. To find out if this architecture and our participative software engineering approach can be considered a step towards a responsive infrastructure, we compared the situation after the first deployment phase (basically a holistic approach) with the situation after the system was further developed and adapted to the users' needs using the generator tool approach. We collected system statistics and conducted user satisfaction surveys in 2001/02 and 2003 using standardized measurements.