Multi-centre deep learning for placenta segmentation in obstetric ultrasound with multi-observer and cross-country generalization.

The placenta is crucial to fetal well-being and it plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of hypertensive pregnancy disorders. Moreover, a timely diagnosis of placenta previa may save lives. Ultrasound is the primary imaging modality in pregnancy, but high-quality imaging depends on the access to equipment and staff, which is not possible in all settings.

[Dying in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany): preferred and actual place of death].

Background: Until now, no official statistics about the place of death in Germany exist.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine where people died in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) in 2008, and which place of death was preferred. We further aimed to identify influencing factors on dying at home vs.

Dying with dementia: symptom burden, quality of care, and place of death.

Background: No detailed information has been available until now about the care setting, circumstances and place of death, symptom burden, and quality of care of persons with end-stage dementia in Germany.

Methods: This cross-sectional study is based on a random sample of 5000 persons who died in the period from 25 May to 24 August 2008 in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Their surviving relatives were contacted and asked to participate in a questionnaire survey.

Dying in Germany--unfulfilled needs of relatives in different care settings.

Context: The integration of family members in the dying process and the recognition of their special needs are important factors for the development of high-quality palliative care.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore important needs and personal experiences of relatives at the end of life, and to detect differences in these needs and experiences for various care settings.

Methods: Our cross-sectional survey was based on a random sampling of 5000 inhabitants of Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) who died between May 25 and August 24, 2008.

Symptom prevalence in the last days of life in Germany: the role of place of death.

Investigations have shown that symptom prevalence varies according to the place of death. We sought to assess the symptom prevalence of chronically ill people in Germany and how this prevalence differs depending on the place of death. We sent questionnaires to 5000 bereaved people in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), whose relatives died between May 25 and August 24, 2008.

Preference for place of death in Germany.

Background: Dying in the preferred place is considered a key requirement for a "good death." The aims of our study were to explore preferred places of death of deceased people and their bereaved relatives in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). We further wanted to assess the congruence between preferred and actual place of death.

Commuting accidents in the German chemical industry.

Due to accident severity and the extent of claim payments commuting accidents are a significant expense factor in the German industry. Therefore the aim of the present study was the identification of risk factors for commuting accidents in a German chemical company. A retrospective analysis of commuting accidents recorded between 1990 and 2003 was conducted in a major chemical company in Germany.

Comparisons of musculoskeletal complaints and data entry between a sitting and a sit-stand workstation paradigm.

Background: Seated working positions are often regarded as a cause for discomfort in the musculoskeletal system. Performing work in different working positions--that is, alternating between sitting and standing (sit-stand workstation paradigm)--could help reduce physical complaints.

Objective: The questions were whether performing office work partly in a standing position leads to reduced complaints and whether standing would change the efficiency of data entry office work.

Analysis of genes encoding laminin beta2 and related proteins in patients with Galloway-Mowat syndrome.

Galloway-Mowat syndrome (GMS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by early onset nephrotic syndrome and microcephaly with various anomalies of the central nervous system. GMS likely represents a heterogeneous group of disorders with hitherto unknown genetic etiology. The clinical phenotype to some extent overlaps that of Pierson syndrome (PS), which comprises congenital nephrotic syndrome and distinct ocular abnormalities but which may also include neurodevelopmental deficits and microcephaly.

Changes of lymphocyte populations in pediatric steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome are more pronounced in remission than in relapse.

Background/aim: Although clinical and immunological findings in steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) favor an immunopathogenesis, many issues remain unsolved. Comprehensive studies analyzing cellular and humoral immunity in SSNS are scarce, and few studies addressed the effect of steroids on immunological factors.

Methods: We therefore performed a cross-sectional study of T and B lymphocyte populations in 89 children during the different stages of the disease and related the findings to parameters of humoral immunity and treatment with steroids.

Unmasking of childhood hypothyroidism by disseminated xanthomas.

Secondary hyperlipidemia is a common laboratory finding in children with nephrotic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, and hypothyroidism. However, clinical signs of hyperlipidemia are extremely rare in childhood. We report on an 11-year-old girl who presented with a disseminated yellow papulomatous rash on the lower limbs and yellow skin creases on the palms of her hands.

Recovery from withdrawal of inhaled nitric oxide and kinetics of nitric oxide-induced inhibition of nitric oxide synthase activity in vitro.

Objective: To examine the kinetics of successful nitric oxide (NO) withdrawal in vivo and in vitro.

Design And Setting: Prospective study in a university pediatric intensive care ward and research laboratory.

Patients And Materials: Nineteen patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).

Tendamistat (HOE 467), a tight-binding alpha-amylase inhibitor from Streptomyces tendae 4158. Isolation, biochemical properties.

Culture fluids of Streptomyces tendae 4158 (ATCC 31210) contain a new kind of polypeptide alpha-amylase inhibitor, tendamistat (HOE 467). Several methods of isolating this inhibitor are described, including two rapid crystallisation methods, which produce homogeneous material. A characteristic of tendamistat is its tight-binding, pH-independent inhibition kinetics and the specific inhibition of the mammalian alpha-amylase form a stoichiometric 1:1 complex, which cannot be separated into its individual components by sodium dodecyl sulphate or molecular sieve chromatography.