Remarks on Selected Morphological Aspects of Cancer Neuroscience: A Microscopic Photo Review.

Background: This short review and pictorial essay presents a morphological insight into cancer neuroscience, which is a complex and dynamic area of the pathobiology of tumors.

Methods: We discuss the different methods and issues connected with structural research on tumor innervation, interactions between neoplastic cells and the nervous system, and dysregulated neural influence on cancer phenotypes.

Results: Perineural invasion (PNI), the most-visible cancer-nerve relation, is briefly presented, focusing on its pathophysiology and structural diversity as well as its clinical significance.

Developing and Evaluating Digital Public Health Interventions Using the Digital Public Health Framework DigiPHrame: A Framework Development Study.

Background: Digital public health (DiPH) interventions may help us tackle substantial public health challenges and reach historically underserved populations, in addition to presenting valuable opportunities to improve and complement existing services. However, DiPH interventions are often triggered through technological advancements and opportunities rather than public health needs. To develop and evaluate interventions designed to serve public health needs, a comprehensive framework is needed that systematically covers all aspects with relevance for public health.

Accounting for planetary boundaries in health economic evaluation.

Introduction: Health economic evaluation (HEE) provides guidance for decision-making in the face of scarcity but ignores ecological scarcities as long as they involve external costs only. Following the imperative to account for planetary health, this study explores how this blind spot can be addressed.

Areas Covered: The study is based on a critical review of relevant work, particularly in the fields of HEE and life cycle assessment (LCA).

Carbon footprint of healthcare systems: a systematic review of evidence and methods.

Objective: Given the demand for net-zero healthcare, the carbon footprint (CF) of healthcare systems has attracted increasing interest in research in recent years. This systematic review investigates the results and methodological transparency of CF calculations of healthcare systems. The methodological emphasis lies specifically on input-output based calculations.

Preferences as fairness judgments: a critical review of normative frameworks of preference elicitation and development of an alternative based on constitutional economics.

Preference elicitation is widely used within health economic evaluations to inform coverage decisions. However, coverage decisions involve questions of social justice and it is unclear what role empirical evidence about preferences can play here. This study reviews the prevalent normative frameworks for using population-based preference elicitation and the criticisms they face, and proposes an alternative based on constitutional economics.

The impact of switching from single-use to reusable healthcare products: a transparency checklist and systematic review of life-cycle assessments.

Background: Replacing single-use products with reusable ones may reduce the environmental impact of healthcare. This study aimed to broadly assess the environmental effects of that substitution.

Methods: A systematic review of comparative cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessments (LCAs) of single-use and reusable healthcare products was conducted.

A Transparency Checklist for Carbon Footprint Calculations Applied within a Systematic Review of Virtual Care Interventions.

Increasing concerns about climate change imply that decisions on the digitization of healthcare should consider evidence about its carbon footprint (CF). This study aims to develop a transparency catalogue for reporting CF calculations, to compare results, and to assess the transparency (reporting quality) of the current evidence of virtual care (VC) intervention. We developed a checklist of transparency criteria based on the consolidation of three established standards/norms for CF calculation.

Initial Experience of Clinical Use of [Tc]Tc-PSMA-T4 in Patients with Prostate Cancer. A Pilot Study.

Numerous different molecules of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) ligands are used to detect prostate cancer (PCa); most approaches utilize gallium PET and a few reports describe the role of SPECT/CT. [Tc]Tc-PSMA-T4 is a new radiopharmaceutical designed for the diagnosis of patients with PCa. We conducted a single site, prospective, preliminary case series study that included 31 patients with PCa; all had undergone clinical, biochemical or imaging examination and exhibited clear or suspicious active disease or clinical/biochemical recurrence of PCa.

Clinical characteristics and short-term outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective single-center experience of a designated hospital in Poland.

Introduction: Since the first reported case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) in Poland, the worldwide pandemic has spread throughout the country, leading to many hospital admissions. There has been an urgent need to determine clinical characteristics of Polish patients with laboratory‑confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV 2) infection in the clinical setting.

Objectives: The aim of this retrospective study was to outline characteristics and short‑ term outcomes of SARS‑CoV‑2-positive patients.

Reporting Quality of Discrete Event Simulations in Healthcare-Results From a Generic Reporting Checklist.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to formulate a generic reporting checklist for healthcare-related discrete event simulation (DES) studies and to critically appraise the existing studies.

Methods: Based on the principles of accessibility and generality, assessment items were derived from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)-Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) Task Force reports. The resulting checklist was applied to all 211 DES studies identified in a previous review.

Interleukin-33 polymorphisms and serum concentrations in mycosis fungoides.

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) skin lesions are characterized by low-grade inflammation, which may be sustained by proinflammatory cytokines as probably interleukin-33 (IL-33). We compared serum concentrations of IL-33 and its receptor ST2 and the frequency of selected IL-33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between patients with MF and healthy controls.

Methods: In 88 patients with MF and 66 healthy controls, we analyzed SNPs in the 9894 and 11877 loci of the IL-33 gene.

Lethal privacy: Quantifying life years lost if the right to informational self-determination guides genetic screening for Lynch syndrome.

Genetic relatives of hereditary colorectal cancer patients with Lynch syndrome (LS) are at risk of cancer. Testing both colorectal cancer patients and relatives of mutation carriers for LS allows targeted prevention. However, this could mean disclosing sensitive health data to family members.

MCDA-based deliberation to value health states: lessons learned from a pilot study.

Background: Health economists have shown a growing interest in deliberation and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) as possible pathways to transparently integrate value judgments in cost-utility analyses. In line with these developments, this study piloted a consensus process to derive a German value set for the Short-Form Six-Dimension (SF-6D). In a conference setting, a group was tasked to deliberate on scores and weights for the SF-6D from the perspective of a self-determined and independent life.

Capecitabine and temozolomide combination for treatment of high-grade, well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumour and poorly-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma - retrospective analysis.

Introduction: Many retrospective studies have confirmed that capecitabine combined with temozolomide is effective in neuroendocrine neoplasms. Most of the studies focused on grade 1 and grade 2 neuroendocrine tumours, mainly of pancreatic origin. There are limited data regarding the efficacy capecitabine with temozolomide in grade 3 neuroendocrine tumours.

Evaluation as institution: a contractarian argument for needs-based economic evaluation.

Background: There is a gap between health economic evaluation methods and the value judgments of coverage decision makers, at least in Germany. Measuring preference satisfaction has been claimed to be inappropriate for allocating health care resources, e.g.

Malignant Gliomas as Second Neoplasms in Pediatric Cancer Survivors: Neuropathological Study.

This study presents a unique series of malignant supratentorial gliomas in children previously cured from non-CNS primary cancer. On neuroimaging these tumors were not specific, so the patients were suspected of cerebral recurrence of their primary neoplasm: leukemia in four children and sarcoma in one child. Histologically, the group contained four glioblastomas and one anaplastic astrocytoma.

Colorectal cancer and Cryptosporidium spp. infection.

Unlabelled: Transient or constant impaired immunity is often associated with neoplastic disease or oncological treatment. Among the most common pathogens found in patients with HIV or patients undergoing chemotherapy are protozoans of the Cryptosporidium genus, which cause diarrhea in humans and animals. The present study determined the frequency of Cryptosporidium spp.

Health Care Costs Associated With Incident Complications in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes in Germany.

Objective: The aim of this study is to provide reliable regression-based estimates of costs associated with different type 2 diabetes complications.

Research Design And Methods: We used nationwide statutory health insurance (SHI) data from 316,220 patients with type 2 diabetes. Costs for inpatient and outpatient care, pharmaceuticals, rehabilitation, and nonmedical aids and appliances were assessed in the years 2013-2015.

Retroperitoneal Ganglioneuroma Mimicking a Kidney Tumor. Case Report.

Background: Ganglioneuroma (GN) is a rare benign tumor arising from the neural crest cells. The reported incidence of GN is one per million population. As a primary retroperitoneal tumor, it constitutes only a small percentage of 0.

Manual Compression versus Vascular Closing Device for Closing Access Puncture Site in Femoral Left-Heart Catheterization and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Comparison of Costs and Effects in Inpatient Care.

Objectives: To compare complication rates, length of hospital stay, and resulting costs between the use of manual compression and a vascular closing device (VCD) in both diagnostic and interventional catheterization in a German university hospital setting.

Methods: A stratified analysis according to risk profiles was used to compare the risk of complications in a retrospective cross-sectional single-center study. Differences in costs and length of hospital stay were calculated using the recycled predictions method, based on regression coefficients from generalized linear models with gamma distribution.

Baseline chromogranin A and its dynamics are prognostic markers in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Aim: This study assessed whether absolute chromogranin A (CgA) values at various stages of treatment have prognostic value in patients with pancreatic and midgut neuroendocrine tumors, subjected to peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with Y-[DOTA, D-Phe, Tyr]-octreotate.

Patients & Methods: CgA was determined before peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, 6 weeks, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after the last dose of Y-[DOTA, D-Phe, Tyr]-octreotate. The primary end point was overall survival.

MABp1 as a novel antibody treatment for advanced colorectal cancer: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study.

Background: MABp1, an antibody that targets interleukin 1α, has been associated with antitumour activity and relief of debilitating symptoms in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. We sought to establish the effect of MABp1 with a new primary endpoint in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Methods: Eligible patients for the double-blind phase of this ongoing, placebo-controlled, randomised, phase 3 trial, had metastatic or unresectable disease, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score 1 or 2, systemic inflammation, weight loss, and other disease-related morbidities associated with poor prognosis, and were refractory to oxaliplatin and irinotecan.

Costs of conservative management of early-stage prostate cancer compared to radical prostatectomy-a claims data analysis.

Background: Due to widespread PSA testing incidence rates of localized prostate cancer increase but curative treatment is often not required. Overtreatment imposes a substantial economic burden on health care systems. We compared the direct medical costs of conservative management and radical therapy for the management of early-stage prostate cancer in routine care.