Drug monitoring detects under- and overdosing in patients receiving 5-fluorouracil-containing chemotherapy-results of a prospective, multicenter German observational study.

Introduction: Body surface area (BSA)-based dosing of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) results in marked inter-individual variability in drug levels, whereas determination of plasma 5-FU concentration and area under the curve (AUC) is a more precise dosing method but has not been integrated into clinical routine. We conducted a multicenter, prospective study to study 5-FU AUC distributions and assess clinical factors predicting therapeutic dosing in patients receiving BSA-dosed 5-FU.

Methods: Between June 2017 and January 2018, a total of 434 patients receiving continuous, infusional BSA-dosed 5-FU from 37 sites in Germany were included.

[ADHD screening in alcohol dependent subjects : Psychometric characteristics of ADHD self-report scale and Wender Utah Rating Scale short form].

Background: Routine screening using self report questionnaires for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in patients with alcohol use disorder is recommended due to its high prevalence and the time-consuming and demanding diagnostic assessment. The psychometric properties of such self-report instruments have hardly been investigated in this patient group.

Methods: The performance of the ADHD self-report scale (ADHD-SR) and the German short form of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS-k) was determined in 402 patients with alcohol dependence during long-term residential weaning treatment.

Real-world effectiveness and safety of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection: data from the German Hepatitis C-Registry.

Background: Glecaprevir/pibrentasvir is a pangenotypic direct-acting antiviral regimen approved for treating adults chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). There are limited real-world data on glecaprevir/pibrentasvir to date.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir under real-world conditions in the German Hepatitis C-Registry (DHC-R).

Prevalence Estimates of ADHD in a Sample of Inpatients With Alcohol Dependence.

ADHD is common in patients with alcohol dependence, but prevalence results are inconsistent. We investigated ADHD prevalence in a complex design to avoid over- or underdiagnosing. Patients with alcohol dependence starting long-term residential treatment were included.

Expect the unexpected: a case of isolated eosinophilic meningitis in toxocariasis.

We present the case of a young police officer suffering from headache without other neurological symptoms caused by isolated eosinophilic meningitis, which resulted from an infection with Toxocara cati, along with a discussion of the differential diagnosis.

Evidence for varying social strategies across the day in chacma baboons.

Strong social bonds can make an important contribution to individual fitness, but we still have only a limited understanding of the temporal period relevant to the adjustment of social relationships. While there is growing recognition of the importance of strong bonds that persist for years, social relationships can also vary over weeks and months, suggesting that social strategies may be optimized over shorter timescales. Using biological market theory as a framework, we explore whether temporal variation in the benefits of social relationships might be sufficient to generate daily adjustments of social strategies in wild baboons.

Amniotic fluid volume in normal singleton pregnancies: modeling with quantile regression.

Purpose: To develop uniform and reliable reference ranges for amniotic fluid volume (AFV) across gestation in normal singleton pregnancies using quantile regression (QR).

Methods: An analysis of true AFVs determined by dye-dilution techniques or by direct measurement at cesarean delivery in normal singleton pregnancies. AFV centiles were established by QR, a flexible semi-parametric approach of estimating rates of change across the entire distribution of AFV rather than just in the mean as is observed with standard linear regression.

Continuous magnetic resonance perfusion imaging acquisition during systemic thrombolysis in acute stroke.

Background: Early recanalization and increase in collateral blood supply are powerful predictors of favourable outcome in acute ischaemic stroke. The factors contributing to the heterogeneous response to intravenous thrombolysis therapy in individual patients, however, are not fully understood. The on-going single-centre 'MR perfusion imaging during thrombolysis' study uses repetitive arterial spin labelling (ASL) measurements to characterize the haemodynamic processes in acute stroke during therapy.

Intra-abdominal adhesion formation: does surgical approach matter? Questionnaire survey of South Asian surgeons and literature review.

Aim: The impact of postsurgical intra-abdominal adhesions, which represent a considerable burden for patients and health services, is often underestimated. Various factors influence adhesion formation, including the surgical approach. This study aimed to further understand the condition by investigating surgeons' perceptions of adhesion formation, particularly differences after laparoscopic and open surgery, and by performing a selective literature review.

Awareness and perception of intra-abdominal adhesions and related consequences: survey of gynaecologists in German hospitals.

Objective: Intra-abdominal adhesion formation after abdominal surgery is the most common postsurgical complication, and the consequences are a considerable burden for patients, surgeons and health systems. Since a wide variety of factors influence adhesion formation, it is difficult to define clear guidelines on how to reduce adhesion formation in daily practice. Given this dilemma, this study assessed the awareness and perception of adhesion formation among gynaecologists in Germany in order to define a baseline for further research and education.

[Orolingual angioedema under systemic thrombolysis with rt-PA: an underestimated side effect].

Background: Orolingual angioedema (OA) is an unappreciated complication of acute stroke treatment with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA). It has been described in 2% of patients receiving thrombolysis, and it seems that patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors are especially at risk. Even though the presentation is generally unilateral and limited to lips and tongue, an extension of edema to the oropharynx may lead to life-threatening upper airway obstruction.

Effects of prophylactic antibiotic therapy with mezlocillin plus sulbactam on the incidence and height of fever after severe acute ischemic stroke: the Mannheim infection in stroke study (MISS).

Background And Purpose: Fever after stroke is a strong predictor for a negative outcome with infections as the most common cause. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of prophylactic antibiotic therapy on the incidence and height of fever after acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: This is a randomized, controlled study of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with ischemic stroke enrolled within 24 hours from clinical onset who presented bedridden (modified Rankin score >3) with no significant infection.

Multilobated nuclei in Waldenström' macroglobulinaemia.

We report a case of Waldenström' macroglobulinaemia, where the bone marrow analysis showed an almost complete infiltration by a heterogeneous population, consisting of 80% small lymphoplasmacytoid cells and 20% large atypical cells with multilobulated nuclei. Both cell populations were CD19+ and CD38+ and contained IgM. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis with a chromosome 8 painting probe on interphase nuclei revealed only two signals in each cell, including in those with multiple nuclei.

Cortical current density reconstruction of interictal epileptiform activity in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: To investigate the value of cortical current density (CCD) reconstruction in localizing intracranial generators of interictal epileptiform activity in mesial and lateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Methods: Non-linear minimum L(1)-norm CCD reconstruction (with current sources restricted to the individual cortical surface and a realistic boundary element method (BEM) head model) was used to localize and to study the propagation of interictal epileptiform EEG activity in 13 pre-surgical patients with TLE.

Results: In all but one patient with mesial temporal lesions, an initial activation maximum corresponding to the ascending part of averaged sharp waves was found in the ipsilateral anterior basolateral temporal lobe, mostly extending up to the affected mesial structures whose resection rendered the patients seizure-free.

Predominantly BCR-ABL negative myeloid precursors in interferon-alpha treated chronic myelogenous leukemia: a follow-up study of peripheral blood colony-forming cells with fluorescence in situ hybridization.

The mechanism and target cell of the life-prolonging effect of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) are controversial. We studied the influence of IFN-alpha treatment on the frequency of malignant hematopoietic precursor cells in the peripheral blood (PB) of CML patients during the course of the disease. PB 10-day colony-forming cells (PB-CFCs) were assessed with regard to their quantity, lineage distribution, and BCR-ABL status, as determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

Novel chicken CXC and CC chemokines.

Upon stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) the chicken macrophage cell line HD-11 secretes factors with cytokine activity. To characterize these molecules, representational difference analysis with RNA of LPS-induced and uninduced HD-11 cells was performed. Two cDNA clones were isolated that code for polypeptides with structural features of chemokines.

Fatal liver failure associated with valproate therapy in a patient with Friedreich's disease: review of valproate hepatotoxicity in adults.

Purpose: Valproate (VPA)-associated hepatotoxicity is usually considered a problem of young children with polytherapy, mental retardation, and underlying metabolic defects.

Methods: An adult patient with fatal liver failure during treatment with VPA is presented, and a review of the literature on other adult patients is given.

Results: A 29-year-old female patient with Friedreich's ataxia and partial seizures with acute liver failure during VPA treatment is reported.

Does long-term culture favor normal clonogenic cells from interferon-treated patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia?

We have tested whether peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) from interferon (IFN)-treated patients may lose residual BCR-ABL sequence-positive progenitor cells when long-term cultured for 35 days on allogeneic stromal cells. IFN-treated patients have low white blood cell counts and a fair number of BCR-ABL-negative colony-forming cells in the peripheral blood. Particularly, IFN responders show increased numbers of normal hematopoietic cells.

A chicken homolog of mammalian interleukin-1 beta: cDNA cloning and purification of active recombinant protein.

Upon induction with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) the chicken macrophage cell line HD-11 secretes an activity that stimulates the synthesis of a CXC chemokine in the chicken fibroblast cell line CEC-32. We used a cDNA expression cloning strategy in COS cells to characterize this activity. The isolated cDNA clone codes for a polypeptide of 267 amino acids which lacks a hydrophobic N-terminal domain that could serve as secretory signal.

Sex chromosome linkage of chicken and duck type I interferon genes: further evidence of evolutionary conservation of the Z chromosome in birds.

Type I interferons (IFNs) are a family of proteins that are predominantly expressed in response to viral infection. Two serologically distinct forms of type I IFN, designated ChIFN1 and ChIFN2, have recently been recognized in the chicken. ChIFN1 is encoded by a cluster of ten or more intronless genes, whereas ChIFN2, whose primary sequence is 57% identical, is encoded by a single intronless gene.

Promoter structures and differential responses to viral and nonviral inducers of chicken type I interferon genes.

Two serologically distinct type I interferons (IFNs), designated ChIFN1 and ChIFN2, are known in the chicken. ChIFN1 is encoded by a family of 10 or more genes, whereas ChIFN2 is encoded by a single gene. We show here that ChIFN1 and ChIFN2 transcripts are both strongly induced by Newcastle disease virus in primary chicken macrophages.

Dominant-negative mutants of human MxA protein: domains in the carboxy-terminal moiety are important for oligomerization and antiviral activity.

Human MxA protein is an interferon-induced 76-kDa GTPase that exhibits antiviral activity against several RNA viruses. Wild-type MxA accumulates in the cytoplasm of cells. TMxA, a modified form of wild-type MxA carrying a foreign nuclear localization signal, accumulates in the cell nucleus.

A novel BCR-ABL fusion gene (e6a2) in a patient with Philadelphia chromosome-negative chronic myelogenous leukemia.

A novel variant of the chimeric BCR-ABL mRNA transcript was detected in a patient with Philadelphia chromosome-negative (Ph-) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) by multiplex reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Sequence analysis of the fusion region of the amplified cDNA fragment showed an in-frame joining of exon e6 of the BCR gene and exon a2 of the ABL gene, giving rise to an e6a2 BCR-ABL transcript. This finding was confirmed by Southern blot analysis using a specific probe corresponding to intron 6 of the BCR gene, whereas conventional Southern blot for rearrangement of the major breakpoint cluster region (M-bcr) was negative.

A family of genes coding for two serologically distinct chicken interferons.

Southern blot analysis and screening of a genomic lambda phage library with the previously cloned chicken interferon (IFN) cDNA indicated that the chicken genome contains at least 10 IFN genes. A particularly strongly hybridizing phage clone that we analyzed in more detail carried a head to tail arrangement of three intron-less IFN genes that differed from each other and from the cloned chicken IFN cDNA by only a few base changes. The primary translation products of these three IFN genes consist of 193 amino acids, and the mature proteins are composed of 162 amino acids.

Verbal memory deterioration after unilateral infarct of the internal capsule in an adolescent.

After an infarction in the territory of the anterior perforating arteries, a 15-year-old, previously healthy, left-handed patient developed considerable verbal long term memory disturbances which could be followed up and tested for more than nine months. An extensive memory test battery was used to determine spared and impaired functions. The patient had remote memory disturbances with respect to personal events for the last 5 years and problems in all verbal task tested which required remembering items over time periods exceeding an hour.