Epidemiology and phenomenology of the Charles Bonnet syndrome in low-vision patients.

Background: The occurrence of visual hallucinations in visually impaired people without mental impairment is known as Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). To date, the prevalence of CBS has been reported with high variance. The present study aims at evaluating the prevalence of CBS among low-vision patients.

Lung transplantation despite preformed donor-specific antihuman leukocyte antigen antibodies: a 9-year single-center experience.

Pretransplant allosensitization to human leukocyte antigens (HLA) increases the recipient's waiting list time and mortality in lung transplantation. Rather than waiting for crossmatch-negative donors, since 2013, recipients with preformed donor-specific antiHLA antibodies (pfDSA) have been managed with repeated IgA- and IgM-enriched intravenous immunoglobulin (IgGAM) infusions, usually in combination with plasmapheresis before IgGAM and a single dose of antiCD20 antibody. This retrospective study presents our 9-year experience with patients transplanted with pfDSA.

The intra-tumoral heterogeneity in glioblastoma - a limitation for prognostic value of epigenetic markers?

Objective: Epigenetic tumor features are getting into focus as prognostic markers in glioblastoma. Whether intra-tumoral heterogeneity in these epigenetic characteristics may influence prognostic value remains unclear.

Methods: Of 154 patients suffering from glioblastoma, 120 patients served as reference collective, while 34 patients were compiled as test collective.

Right and left liver lobe biopsies by minilaparoscopy reveal clinically significant sampling error in staging and grading of autoimmune hepatitis.

Backgrounds/aims: Liver diseases may affect the liver heterogeneously, especially in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the added benefit of double biopsy of both liver lobes during minilaparoscopy in guiding treatment decisions in patients with AIH.

Methods: We identified all patients with AIH or variant syndromes (AIH/PBC and AIH/PSC) at our center, who underwent a double biopsy of both liver lobes via minilaparoscopy between 01/2016 and 12/2020.

Third SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and breakthrough infections enhance humoral and cellular immunity against variants of concern.

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is the leading strategy to prevent severe courses after SARS-CoV-2 infection. In our study, we analyzed humoral and cellular immune responses in detail to three consecutive homologous or heterologous SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations and breakthrough infections.

Methods: Peripheral blood samples of n=20 individuals were analyzed in the time course of three SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations and/or breakthrough infection.