Outpatient Check-In Using an Online Portal.

Background: Despite ongoing digital and technological developments, incorporation of new developments in outpatient care tends to be slow. Regarding an increasing demand for outpatient care, digitalization of health care carries the potential of a much needed more efficient and patient-oriented system.

Objective: To optimize classic face-to-face outpatient clinic follow-up consultations and evaluate the added value of an upfront digital consult preparation (DCP).

HLA-DP diversity is associated with improved response to SARS-Cov-2 vaccine in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients show lower humoral vaccine responsiveness than immunocompetent individuals. HLA diversity, measured by the HLA evolutionary divergence (HED) metrics, reflects the diversity of the antigenic repertoire presented to T cells, and has been shown to predict response to cancer immunotherapy. We retrospectively investigated the association of HED with humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in allo-HSCT recipients.

The effect of late-onset sepsis on mortality across different gestational ages in a neonatal intensive care unit: A historical study.

Objectives: Late-onset sepsis is a frequent complication in neonatal intensive care units. This study aims to understand the effect of late-onset sepsis on mortality in hospitalised neonatal patients across different gestational ages.

Design: This is a single-centre, historical cohort study including neonates admitted to hospital during a 10-year period (2002 - 2011).

Dutch injection versus surgery trial in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (DISTRICTS): protocol of a randomised controlled trial comparing two treatment strategies.

Introduction: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral neuropathy. The optimal treatment strategy is still unknown. The objective of the Dutch Injection versus Surgery TRIal in patients with CTS (DISTRICTS) is to investigate if initial surgery of CTS results in a better clinical outcome and is more cost-effective when compared with initial treatment with corticosteroid injection.

Blood culture indications in critically ill neonates: a multicenter prospective cohort study.

Unlabelled: Due to potential lethality of healthcare-associated sepsis (HAS), a low threshold for blood culturing and antimicrobial therapy (ABT) initiation is accepted. We assessed variability in the trigger for blood culturing between three neonatal intensive care units. A multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted.

[Weak respiratory muscles as a first sign of ALS: symptoms may put the physician on the wrong track].

Background: Patients with decreased exercise tolerance and orthopnoea are often referred to an internist, a cardiologist or a pulmonologist. These symptoms can also be caused by weakness of the respiratory muscles, as an indication of a neuromuscular disease. If these symptoms are not recognized as such, this may result in a delay in timely diagnosis.

Patterns of symptom development in patients with motor neuron disease.

Objective: To investigate whether symptom development in motor neuron disease (MND) is a random or organized process.

Methods: Six hundred patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), upper motor neuron (UMN) or lower motor neuron (LMN) phenotypes were invited for a questionnaire concerning symptom development. A binomial test was used to examine distribution of symptoms from site of onset.

Meta-analysis of pharmacogenetic interactions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinical trials.

Objective: To assess whether genetic subgroups in recent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) trials responded to treatment with lithium carbonate, but that the treatment effect was lost in a large cohort of nonresponders.

Methods: Individual participant data were obtained from 3 randomized trials investigating the efficacy of lithium carbonate. We matched clinical data with data regarding the and genotype.

[Does the patient benefit from real-time access to one's electronic record? Evaluation of the patient portal in University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands].

Objective: Evaluation of the use of the UMC Utrecht patient portal, which offers patients real-time access to their hospital electronic medical record, by healthcare providers and patients.

Design: Questionnaires and focus group.

Method: We conducted a single questionnaire survey among healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, secretaries and doctors' assistants) in June 2015, covering topics such as usage of the portal, its user friendliness, and any impact on patient contact and work.

Impact of healthcare-associated sepsis on mortality in critically ill infants.

Unlabelled: Healthcare-associated sepsis (HAS) is a life-threatening complication in neonatal intensive care. Research into the impact of HAS on mortality adjusted for comorbidities is however limited. We conducted a historical cohort study to evaluate impact of HAS on mortality stratified by birth weight and risk factors for mortality in the HAS cohort.

Brain morphologic changes in asymptomatic C9orf72 repeat expansion carriers.

Objective: To investigate possible effects of the C9orf72 repeat expansion before disease onset, we assessed brain morphology in asymptomatic carriers.

Methods: Aiming to diminish the effects of genetic variation between subjects, apart from the C9orf72 repeat expansion, 16 carriers of the repeat expansion were compared with 23 noncarriers from the same large family with a history of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cortical thickness, subcortical volumes, and white matter connectivity, as assessed from high-resolution T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRIs, were evaluated.

Mind the gap: the mismatch between clinical and imaging metrics in ALS.

Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques hold the promise to capture upper motor neuron loss and extramotor brain changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and as such deliver biomarkers relevant to diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring disease progression. However, a correlation between imaging parameters and clinical metrics has thus far been inconsistent across studies. We discuss the contributing factors to this clinical-imaging correlation gap as well as its implications for future research.

Risk Factors for Health Care-Associated Sepsis in Critically Ill Neonates Stratified by Birth Weight.

Background: Health care-associated bloodstream infection (HABSI) is a frequent complication in neonatal intensive care. Research on risk factors stratified by birth weight and adjusted for severity of illness and comorbidities is limited. Our objective is to describe independent risk factors for HABSI in critically ill neonates with emphasis on risk variation between birth weight groups.

What does imaging reveal about the pathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is now recognised to be a heterogeneous neurodegenerative syndrome of the motor system and its frontotemporal cortical connections. The development and application of structural and functional imaging over the last three decades, in particular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has allowed traditional post mortem histopathological and emerging molecular findings in ALS to be placed in a clinical context. Cerebral grey and white matter structural MRI changes are increasingly being understood in terms of brain connectivity, providing insights into the advancing degenerative process and producing candidate biomarkers.

Neuroimaging as a New Diagnostic Modality in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons, with variable involvement of extramotor brain regions. Currently, there are no established objective markers of upper motor neuron and extramotor involvement in ALS. Here, we review the potential diagnostic value of advanced neuroimaging techniques that are increasingly being used to study the brain in ALS.

Prediction models for neonatal health care-associated sepsis: a meta-analysis.

Background And Objectives: Blood culture is the gold standard to diagnose bloodstream infection but is usually time-consuming. Prediction models aim to facilitate early preliminary diagnosis and treatment. We systematically reviewed prediction models for health care-associated bloodstream infection (HABSI) in neonates, identified superior models, and pooled clinical predictors.

Subcortical structures in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The aim of this study was to assess the involvement of deep gray matter, hippocampal subfields, and ventricular changes in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A total of 112 ALS patients and 60 healthy subjects participated. High-resolution T1-weighted images were acquired using a 3T MRI scanner.

Cortical thickness in ALS: towards a marker for upper motor neuron involvement.

Objective: Examine whether cortical thinning is a disease-specific phenomenon across the spectrum of motor neuron diseases in relation to upper motor neuron (UMN) involvement.

Methods: 153 patients (112 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 19 patients with a clinical UMN phenotype, 22 with a lower motor neuron (LMN) phenotype), 60 healthy controls and 43 patients with an ALS mimic disorder were included for a cross-sectional cortical thickness analysis. Thirty-nine patients with ALS underwent a follow-up scan.

Healthcare-associated bloodstream infections in a neonatal intensive care unit over a 20-year period (1992-2011): trends in incidence, pathogens, and mortality.

Objective: To analyze trends in the incidence and pathogen distribution of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections (HABSIs) over a 20-year period (1992-2011).

Design: Historical cohort study.

Setting: Thirty-two-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a tertiary referral hospital.

Correlation between structural and functional connectivity impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease, characterized by progressive loss of motor function. While the pathogenesis of ALS remains largely unknown, imaging studies of the brain should lead to more insight into structural and functional disease effects on the brain network, which may provide valuable information on the underlying disease process. This study investigates the correlation between changes in structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) of the brain network in ALS.

Multimodal tract-based analysis in ALS patients at 7T: a specific white matter profile?

Our objective was to explore the value of additional MR contrasts in elucidating the decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA) as has been observed in the corticospinal tracts (CST) of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Eleven patients and nine healthy control subjects were scanned at 3T and 7T MRI. Whole brain and tract specific comparison was performed of both diffusion weighted (3T), quantitative T1 (qT1), magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) imaging (7T).