[ePROs in the routine care of a major oncology center: Results and experiences].

Background: To what extent and under what conditions electronically captured patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) can be used in routine medical care and contribute to improved patient care is a widely discussed question. In the field of oncology, few studies in Germany have focused this topic that go beyond the scope of time-limited studies.

Method: First, we present the centrally coordinated collection of ePROs in the routine care of a comprehensive cancer center of the German Cancer Aid in its development, and then describe its qualitative dimension.

D-dimer and fibrinogen indicate ischemic risk in patients with atrial fibrillation after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the association of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and conventional markers of coagulation with ischemic and bleeding risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: In this prospective two-center observational cohort study, patients with AF and an indication for oral anticoagulation (OAC) were enrolled after PCI. Blood was drawn on day 1-3 after PCI.

Thrombelastography Compared with Multiple Impedance Aggregometry to Assess High On-Clopidogrel Reactivity in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: High on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity (HPR) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with increased ischemic risk. It is unclear whether conventional definitions of HPR apply to patients with concomitant oral anticoagulation (OAC). This study aimed to compare the performance of multiple platelet aggregometry (MEA) and thrombelastography (TEG) to detect HPR in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and indication for an OAC.

Implementation of a mobile inpatient quality of life (QoL) assessment for oncology nursing.

Purpose: Cancer patients suffer from a variety of symptoms, but little is known about changes during hospitalization and symptom burden at discharge. We implemented an electronic quality of life (QoL) assessment used by the nursing team in routine inpatient care. Feasibility, acceptance, and the course of QoL were investigated.

How should I treat dislocation of a TAVI SAPIEN prosthesis into the left ventricle?

Background: Despite the technical advancements of the transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedure, valve embolisation into the left ventricle remains a challenging situation requiring expedited management through the Heart Team.

Investigation: The advantages and pitfalls of an interventional transfemoral approach, a transapical extraction of the dislocated prosthesis or the conversion to open heart surgery have to be balanced depending on the overall situation and the specific characteristics of the patient.

Diagnosis: A transfemoral approach would be the first choice for most TAVI implanters.

"First-in-man" MitraClip via pulmonary vein access through a right mini-thoracotomy in a patient with agenesis of the inferior vena cava.

Aims: Transcatheter mitral valve repair has become a promising alternative treatment option for severe symptomatic mitral regurgitation in patients at high risk for open heart surgery with heart-lung bypass.

Methods And Results: We describe the first successful procedure of mitral clipping through a right lateral mini-thoracotomy via the right upper pulmonary vein in a patient with an agenesis of the inferior vena cava. The set-up of the MitraClip system on a separate table located at 70¡ on the right side of the patient and the fixation of the steerable sheath at the entry into the thorax with constant posterior pressure enabled clip implantation using the usual manoeuvres with marked reduction of the mitral insufficiency.

Early diagnosis of sepsis-related hepatic dysfunction and its prognostic impact on survival: a prospective study with the LiMAx test.

Introduction: Liver dysfunction can derive from severe sepsis and might be associated with poor prognosis. However, diagnosis of septic liver dysfunction is challenging due to a lack of appropriate tests. Measurement of maximal liver function capacity (LiMAx test) has been successfully evaluated as a new diagnostic test in liver resection and transplantation.

Drug development from natural products: exploiting synergistic effects.

Drug development in phytomedicine has been focused in the past on the discovery and analysis of new structures from natural products. The search aimed at the determination of the single "active principle" in plants, based on the assumption that a plant has one or a few ingredients which determine its therapeutic effects. But traditional systems of medicines like Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine or the European phytotherapy generally assume that a synergy of all ingredients of the plants will bring about the maximum of therapeutic efficacy.

Spine trauma due to diving: main features and short-term neurological outcome.

Study Design: This is a retrospective study.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the main features and short-term neurological outcomes associated with injuries to the spine due to diving into water in a Latin American country.

Setting: Salvador, Brazil.

Bolus ingestion of white and green tea increases the concentration of several flavan-3-ols in plasma, but does not affect markers of oxidative stress in healthy non-smokers.

White tea (WT) is rich in flavan-3-ols as green tea (GT) and might provide health protective effects due to the strong antioxidant properties of flavan-3-ols. Since intervention studies with WT are lacking, we evaluated the effects of WT consumption on antioxidant status, antioxidant capacity and biomarkers of oxidative stress compared to water and GT. After an overnight fast, 70 healthy non-smokers were randomized to consume 600 mL of WT, GT or water (control).

[Parameters of quality for aortic valve replacement].

Advantages and disadvantages of mechanical or biological heart valve prostheses in combination with complications during long-term follow-up are responsible for the quality of aortic valve replacement. Anatomical conditions like narrow aortic root, concomitant coronary artery disease or reduced left ventricular function impair the quite good surgical results necessitating surgical intervention or the use of stentless valve implants.

New perspectives for synergy research with the "omic"-technologies.

Synergistic effects, understood as true overadditive effects, are often observed in experimental and clinical studies using phytopharmaceuticals. The introduction of the "omic"-technologies is now opening new perspectives in rationalizing these effects and making use of them in the development of a new generation of phytopharmaceuticals. This review describes possible mechanism of synergistic actions of herbal drugs by mono- and multitargeting and by the activation of signal cascades.

Synergy research: vitamins and secondary plant components in the maintenance of the redox-homeostasis and in cell signaling.

The maintenance of the redox-homeostasis is an essential task of antioxidants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed during oxidative stress can potentially damage the normal cellular functions and support pathological processes like atherosclerosis in vessels or malignant growth in other tissues, but also the aging process. However, recent findings link ROS also to cell survival and/or proliferation, which revolutionises the age-old dogmatic view of ROS being exclusively involved in cell damage and death.

Head and neck squamous-cell cancer and its association with polymorphic enzymes of xenobiotic metabolism and repair.

Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and occupational exposures to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are the major proven risk factors for human head and neck squamous-cell cancer (HNSCC). Major research focus on gene-environment interactions concerning HNSCC has been on genes encoding enzymes of metabolism for tobacco smoke constituents and repair enzymes. To investigate the role of genetically determined individual predispositions in enzymes of xenobiotic metabolism and in repair enzymes under the exogenous risk factor tobacco smoke in the carcinogenesis of HNSCC, we conducted a case-control study on 312 cases and 300 noncancer controls.

Statistical methods for detecting genetic interactions: a head and neck squamous-cell cancer study.

Tobacco smoke and occupational exposures to chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are, aside from alcohol, the major risk factors for development of head and neck squamous-cell cancer (HNSCC). In this study, new statistical methods were applied. We employ new statistical methods to detect genetic interactions perhaps of higher order, that might play a role in developing HNSCC.

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis--a differential diagnosis of obesity. Is there a rationale for fibrate treatment?

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) is characterized by a rapid progression of multiple, symmetric nonencapsulated fat masses in the face, neck, and extremities. The lipomas are thought to be the result of defective brown adipose tissue (BAT). In up to 90% MSL is associated with chronic alcohol abuse.

Serotonin mediates PGE2 overexpression through 5-HT2A and 5-HT3 receptor subtypes in serum-free tissue culture of macrophage-like synovial cells.

Serotonin antagonists show impressive analgesic efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis (OA) or fibromyalgia; however, this effect is not well understood. We examined the mechanism of serotonin-induced inflammation and its antagonists in OA. Serotonin receptor subtypes and COX-2 were analysed by RT-PCR from synovial tissue.

Inflammatory responses after endothelin B (ETB) receptor activation in human monocytes: new evidence for beneficial anti-inflammatory potency of ETB-receptor antagonism.

Endothelin (ET) stimulates potent ETA/ETB receptors important in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and fibrosis. Though therapy with ET-receptor antagonists is well established uncertainty exists whether selective ETA or dual ETA/ETB-receptor antagonism is superior in PAH. The objective of this study was to further elucidate the pro-inflammatory effects of ET-1 on ETB receptors in cultured human monocytes (10(5)/20 h) compared with non-specific stimulation with LPS in vitro and to define the antagonizing effects of bosentan, a dual ETA/ETB-receptor antagonist, on inflammatory mediator production.

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis--a differential diagnosis of obesity: is there a rationale for fibrate treatment?

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) is characterized by a rapid progression of multiple, symmetric nonencapsulated fat masses in face, neck, and extremities. The lipomas are thought to be the result of defective brown adipose tissue (BAT). In up to 90%, MSL is associated with chronic alcohol abuse.

Protective effects of taurine on endothelial cells impaired by high glucose and oxidized low density lipoproteins.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction, common to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, is an early step in the development of atherosclerosis and diabetic angiopathies. Deficiencies of taurine have been related to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Aims Of The Study: We investigated whether taurine provides protective action against endothelial dysfunction induced by hyperglycemia and/or oxidized low density lipoproteins (oxLDL).

Effect of medical honey on wounds colonised or infected with MRSA.

Full healing was achieved in seven consecutive patients whose wounds were either infected or colonised with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antiseptics and antibiotics had previously failed to irradicate the clinical signs of infection.

A novel stop mutation truncating critical regions of the cardiac transcription factor NKX2-5 in a large family with autosomal-dominant inherited congenital heart disease.

We report on a familial screen of five female members in three generations affected by an autosomal-dominant inherited atrioventricular (AV) conduction block associated with atrial septal defects (ASD) and other congenital cardiovascular diseases (CCVD), such as pulmonary artery stenosis (PAS), patent foramen ovale (PFO) and ventricular septal defect (VSD). We tested the cardiac transcription factor NKX2-5 which is known to cause CCVD with variable phenotype and penetrance by direct sequencing of the two NKX2-5 coding exons in the index patient and identified a novel heterozygous c.325G> T mutation in exon 1 of the gene.

Differential diagnoses of suspected Lyme borreliosis or post-Lyme-disease syndrome.

The symptoms of Lyme borreliosis are similar to those of a variety of autoimmune musculoskeletal diseases. Persistence of complaints is frequently interpreted as unsuccessful antibiotic treatment of Borrelia-associated infections. However, such refractory cases are rare, and re-evaluation of differential diagnoses helps to avoid the substantial risk of long-term antibiotic therapy.