Plasticity and seasonality of the vertical migration behaviour of Antarctic krill using acoustic data from fishing vessels.

Understanding the vertical migration behaviour of Antarctic krill is important for understanding spatial distribution, ecophysiology, trophic interactions and carbon fluxes of this Southern Ocean key species. In this study, we analysed an eight-month continuous dataset recorded with an ES80 echosounder on board a commercial krill fishing vessel in the southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Our analysis supports the existing hypothesis that krill swarms migrate into deeper waters during winter but also reveals a high degree of variability in vertical migration behaviour within seasons, even at small spatial scales.

Gender effects on quality of life and symptom burden in patients with lung cancer: results from a prospective, cross-cultural, multi-center study.

Background: Lung cancer causes impairment of health-related quality of life (QoL), but little is known about gender aspects in QoL and symptom burden of lung cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in QoL as assessed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 and the updated lung cancer module.

Methods: In a prospective, international, cross-cultural, multicenter study that was undertaken to update the lung cancer-specific module EORTC QLQ-LC13, patients filled in the core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 and the updated lung cancer module.

[On the necessity of philosophy in medical education].

Today, the study and practice of medicine are treated with a natural scientific approach. However, medical action has its foundations not only in the natural sciences and technology, but also in ethics, humanity and philosophy. The Wuerzburg Philosophicum teaches, apart from medical ethics, a systematic analysis of a theory of medicine in the context of other sciences, the theory of knowledge, anthropology and hermeneutics.

Workload and quality of life of surgeons. Results and implications of a large-scale survey by the German Society of Surgery.

Background: Quality of life is of vital importance for patients undergoing surgery. However, little is known about the quality of life of surgeons who are facing a stressful and dramatically changing working environment. For this reason, this large-scale study investigated the quality of life (QL) of surgeons in Germany in the context of occupational, private, and system-related risk factors.

Sternal closure techniques and postoperative sternal wound complications in elderly patients.

Objective: Postoperative sternal wound complications (PSWC) including deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) and sternal dehiscence (SD) cause significant morbidity and mortality. Elderly patients with several risk factors are particularly prone to suffer PSWC.

Methods: We present (I) a subset of 86 patients, all aged > or =75 years out of 339 cardiac surgery patients prospectively randomised to receive either conventional sternal closure or a Robicsek type closure.

Presence of depression and anxiety before and after coronary artery bypass graft surgery and their relationship to age.

Background: Scientific literature on depression and anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) consistently reports data of elevated anxiety and depression scores indicating clinically relevant quantities of these psychopathological conditions. Depression is considered to be a risk factor for the development of CHD and deteriorates the outcome after cardiac rehabilitation efforts. The aim of our study was to evaluate the presence of clinically relevant anxiety and depression in patients before and after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Depression as a manifestation of latent chronic hypoparathyroidism.

The exact cause of depression in cases of hypoparathyroidism is not known. We report the first case of an elderly patient with a long history of major depression as a complication of an undiagnosed chronic hypoparathyroidism following surgery on a parathyroid adenoma. Her depression was completely eliminated by calcium supplementation therapy to restore the calcium homeostasis in serum.

A clinical chameleon: postoperative hypoparathyroidism.

Background: About 1,200 patients per year develop postoperative hypoparathyroidism alone in Germany. Many of those patients may be misdiagnosed as the symptoms of this disease may vary and can be atypical.

Patient/results: As an example, we describe the first known case of an elderly patient with a long history of seizures as a complication of an undiagnosed chronic hypoparathyroidism after surgery of a pT4-esophageal carcinoma.

Left ventricular non-compaction associated with a genetic variant of the CYP2C9 gene.

Polymorphisms in the CYP2C9 gene can have a significant impact on drug therapy by affecting the pharmacokinetics of frequently prescribed drugs, such as phenprocoumon and warfarin. It is essential therefore that genetic CYP2C9 variants are excluded in patients with a suspected intolerance of anticoagulant therapy. Here we present the first report of a case of left ventricular non-compaction syndrome associated with a genetic variant of the CYP2C9 gene in a 45-year-old woman with myocardial insufficiency who was scheduled for implantation of a cardioverter defibrillator.