The sarcoma ring trial: a case-based analysis of inter-center agreement across 21 German-speaking sarcoma centers.

Purpose: The management of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) at reference centers with specialized multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTB) improves patient survival. The German Cancer Society (DKG) certifies sarcoma centers in German-speaking countries, promoting high standards of care. This study investigated the variability in treatment recommendations for localized STS across different German-speaking tertiary sarcoma centers.

A multi-site cross-sectional study on the burden of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers in Madagascar.

The prevalence of infections and risk factors that go along with them give insights into the burden of disease and effectiveness of infection prevention and control strategies. In this study we investigated the burden of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and associated epidemiological factors in three regions of Madagascar among healthcare workers. Between May and June 2021, we conducted a multi-site cross-sectional study among healthcare workers in eight University Hospital Centers, during the local second wave and before the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination campaign in three regional capitals of Madagascar.

Healthcare workers' knowledge, attitude and practices on infection prevention and control in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Faranah regional hospital and associated healthcare centers, Guinea.

Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO launched a strategic preparedness and response plan, outlining public health measures to support countries worldwide. Healthcare workers have an increased risk of becoming infected and their behaviour regarding infection prevention and control (IPC) influences infection dynamics. IPC strategies are important across the globe, but even more in low-resource settings where capacities for testing and treatment are limited.

The life-saving benefit of dexamethasone in severe COVID-19 is linked to a reversal of monocyte dysregulation.

Dexamethasone is a life-saving treatment for severe COVID-19, yet its mechanism of action is unknown, and many patients deteriorate or die despite timely treatment initiation. Here, we identify dexamethasone treatment-induced cellular and molecular changes associated with improved survival in COVID-19 patients. We observed a reversal of transcriptional hallmark signatures in monocytes associated with severe COVID-19 and the induction of a monocyte substate characterized by the expression of glucocorticoid-response genes.

Adaptation and validation of a light microscope for use in energy insecure settings: a proof-of-concept study.

Microscopy as a basic diagnostic method cannot be used everywhere globally. Validity of slide reading was tested on torch-modified microscopes. Experienced microscopists handled the modification without prior standard-adaptation.

PASQUALE - A long-term partnership to improve hand hygiene and capacity building in infection prevention and control in the Faranah region of Guinea.

Across the globe, hand hygiene (HH) is promoted to fight the spread of healthcare associated infections. Despite multiple ongoing HH campaigns and projects, the healthcare associated infection rates remain high especially in low- and middle-income countries. In the narrative overview presented here, we aim to share objectives, framework, successes and challenges of our long-term partnership in Guinea to offer guidance for other projects aiming to sustainably improve HH.

What should be done to combat misinformation about health products?

The increasing role of digital technology, social media, the wide range of channels and the volume of information, the role of medicine as a societal subject, public information that is insufficient and poorly suited to situations of uncertainty are all observations which led to the theme of this round table. After discussing the definition of disinformation, which is not limited to fake news, and talking about contributors who misinform, whether intentionally or not, the participants of this round table made nine recommendations (R) to combat disinformation about health products: create a collaborative platform, information/training on health products, a platform with five major characteristics, namely accessibility, flexibility, objectivity, transparency and independence, as well as media suited to the different targets (R1); promote basic knowledge on health products: education/training to restore the particularly poor image of medication, and teach the public how to use basic concepts appropriately (R2); improve communication to the public based on the observation that information is the main weapon against misinformation and entails, in particular, coordinating communication from the different institutions to make public information more audible, making institutional messages clearer, ensuring they are more factual and prioritising them (R3); know how to communicate using the correct codes and tools (R4), because, to be understood, the substance and the form are inseparable; develop research on communication in the field of health products (R5); acquire tools to identify and regulate as soon as possible (R6); keep check of content by developing critical thinking (R7); define quality criteria for information sources (R8); identify, assess and reference initiatives for the public that could be placed on the platform (R9).

Whole blood stimulation as a tool for studying the human immune system.

The human immune system is best accessible via tissues and organs not requiring major surgical intervention, such as blood. In many circumstances, circulating immune cells correlate with an individual's health state and give insight into physiological and pathophysiological processes. Stimulating whole blood ex vivo is a powerful tool to investigate immune responses.

Prevalence and risk factors for long COVID and post-COVID-19 condition in Africa: a systematic review.

Background: An improved estimation of the clinical sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection is crucial in African countries, where the subject has received little attention despite more than 12 million reported cases and evidence that many more people were infected. We reviewed the evidence on prevalence, associated risk factors for long COVID, and systemic or sociocultural determinants of reporting long COVID.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review, searching PubMed, the Living OVerview of Evidence platform, and grey literature sources for publications from Dec 1, 2019, to Nov 23, 2022.

Systems analysis of human innate immunity in COVID-19.

Recent developments in sequencing technologies, the computer and data sciences, as well as increasingly high-throughput immunological measurements have made it possible to derive holistic views on pathophysiological processes of disease and treatment effects directly in humans. We and others have illustrated that incredibly predictive data for immune cell function can be generated by single cell multi-omics (SCMO) technologies and that these technologies are perfectly suited to dissect pathophysiological processes in a new disease such as COVID-19, triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Systems level interrogation not only revealed the different disease endotypes, highlighted the differential dynamics in context of disease severity, and pointed towards global immune deviation across the different arms of the immune system, but was already instrumental to better define long COVID phenotypes, suggest promising biomarkers for disease and therapy outcome predictions and explains treatment responses for the widely used corticosteroids.

Qualitative assessment of hand hygiene knowledge, attitudes and practices among healthcare workers prior to the implementation of the WHO Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy at Faranah Regional Hospital, Guinea.

Healthcare-associated infections are a serious burden globally. Few qualitative studies have explored healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes and practices of hand hygiene. Prior to the implementation of the World Health Organization's Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy at Faranah Regional Hospital in the Upper Region of Guinea in December 2018, we conducted a qualitative baseline assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices of hand hygiene among healthcare workers to guide future hand hygiene interventions.

Comparative effectiveness of contact tracing interventions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.

Contact tracing is a non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) widely used in the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its effectiveness may depend on a number of factors including the proportion of contacts traced, delays in tracing, the mode of contact tracing (e.g.

Epigenetic regulation of T cell lineages in skin and blood following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) seeks to reconstitute the host's immune system from donor stem cells. The success of HSCT is threatened by complications including leukemia relapse or graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD). To investigate the underlying regulatory processes in central and peripheral T cell recovery, we performed sequential multi-omics analysis of T cells of the skin and blood during HSCT.

Tick feeding modulates the human skin immune landscape to facilitate tick-borne pathogen transmission.

During cutaneous tick attachment, the feeding cavity becomes a site of transmission for tick salivary compounds and tick-borne pathogens. However, the immunological consequences of tick feeding for human skin remain unclear. Here, we assessed human skin and blood samples upon tick bite and developed a human skin explant model mimicking Ixodes ricinus bites and tick-borne pathogen infection.

Vagus nerve stimulation increases stomach-brain coupling via a vagal afferent pathway.

Background: Maintaining energy homeostasis is vital and supported by vagal signaling between digestive organs and the brain. Previous research has established a gastric network in the brain that is phase synchronized with the rhythm of the stomach, but tools to perturb its function were lacking.

Objective: To evaluate whether stomach-brain coupling can be acutely increased by non-invasively stimulating vagal afferent projections to the brain.

Low-grade mucinous neoplasms (LAMN) of the appendix in Germany between 2011 and 2018: a nationwide analysis based on data provided by the German Center for Cancer Registry Data (ZfKD) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Introduction: Low-grade appendiceal mucinous neoplasms (LAMN) are semi-malignant tumors of the appendix which are incidentally found in up to 1% of appendectomy specimen. To this day, no valid descriptive analysis on LAMN is available for the German population.

Methods: Data of LAMN (ICD-10: D37.

Association between women's authorship and women's editorship in infectious diseases journals: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Gender inequity is still pervasive in academic medicine, including journal publishing. We aimed to ascertain the proportion of women among first and last authors and editors in infectious diseases journals and assess the association between women's editorship and women's authorship while controlling for a journal's impact factor.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we randomly selected 40 infectious diseases journals (ten from each 2020 impact factor quartile), 20 obstetrics and gynaecology journals (five from each 2020 impact factor quartile), and 20 cardiology journals (five from each 2020 impact factor quartile) that were indexed in Journal Citation Reports, had an impact factor, had retrievable first and last author names, and had the name of more than one editor listed.

Surgical Site Infection Following Single-Port Appendectomy: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are one of the most common postoperative complications after appendectomy leading to recurrent surgery, prolonged hospital stay, and the use of antibiotics. Numerous studies and meta-analyses have been published on the effect of open versus conventional laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA) reporting faster postoperative recovery and less postoperative pain for CLA. A development from CLA has been the single-port appendectomy (SPA), associated with a better cosmesis but seemingly having a higher risk of wound infections.