[GRADE guidelines: 11. Making an overall rating of confidence in effect estimates for a single outcome and for all outcomes].

GRADE requires guideline developers to make an overall rating of confidence in estimates of effect (quality of evidence-high, moderate, low, or very low) for each important or critical outcome. GRADE suggests, for each outcome, the initial separate consideration of five domains of reasons for rating down the confidence in effect estimates, thereby allowing systematic review authors and guideline developers to arrive at an outcome-specific rating of confidence. Although this rating system represents discrete steps on an ordinal scale, it is helpful to view confidence in estimates as a continuum, and the final rating of confidence may differ from that suggested by separate consideration of each domain.

[Is there adequate care for patients with psychosomatic disorders in Austria? Analysis of the need and a proposal for a model of quality assurance in Austrian psychosomatic medicine].

Introduction: Quality assurance in psychosomatic medicine in Austria is currently based on a voluntary continuing medical education programme in psychosocial, psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic medicine. It is questionable whether psychosomatic care can be sufficiently provided in this manner. In addition, a broadly based proposal to create a subspecialty in psychosomatic medicine in order to facilitate quality assurance, is investigated.

Guidance for the preparation of neurological management guidelines by EFNS scientific task forces - revised recommendations 2012.

This paper is meant to provide guidance to anyone wishing to write a neurological guideline for diagnosis or treatment, and is directed at the Scientist Panels and task forces of the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS). It substitutes the previous guidance paper from 2004. It contains several new aspects: the guidance is now based on a change of the grading system for evidence and for the resulting recommendations, and has adopted The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE).

[Clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life, and cost-effectiveness of a 6-month community- based lifestyle program for adults at increased cardiovascular risk in lower Austria].

Aim: To investigate lifestyle intervention effects and cost-effectiveness of a structured 6-month exercise and nutrition program for individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

Methods: Uncontrolled before and after study with assessments at baseline and six months. Adults without existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) but at increased CVD risk were eligible.

[GRADE guidelines: 9. Rating up the quality of evidence].

The most common reason for rating up the quality of evidence is a large effect. GRADE suggests considering rating up quality of evidence one level when methodologically rigorous observational studies show at least a two-fold reduction or increase in risk, and rating up two levels for at least a five-fold reduction or increase in risk. Systematic review authors and guideline developers may also consider rating up quality of evidence when a dose-response gradient is present, and when all plausible confounders or biases would decrease an apparent treatment effect, or would create a spurious effect when results suggest no effect.

[Balancing benefits and harms of population-based interventions, using the example of cancer screening].

The assessment of the balance between benefits and harms of population-based interventions faces both methodological and practical difficulties. This paper uses the example of cancer screening to outline existing challenges such as the consideration of outcomes that occur at substantially different times, or the lack of direct evidence which can lead to false conclusions and adverse health effects for healthy individuals undergoing screening. Sometimes not even sound evidence provides clear answers about the benefits and harms of preventive interventions.

[Differential diagnostics of the musculoskeletal system in sports medicine].

The positive effects of sports on the cardiovascular and musculoskeleal systems are widely accepted. Nevertheless, sports also can cause injury and overuse leading to sport-specific problems, which are often a challenge in diagnosing and treatment. The history of the sport-related injury is crucial for further differential diagnosis.

[Avoiding time delay in acute stroke management. Data analysis of the Austrian Stroke Unit Registry].

The aim of our study was to identify factors influencing time from stroke onset to Stroke Unit (SU) admission. Retrospectively, we analysed the data of all stroke patients registered in the Austrian SU-Registry between 01/03 and 02/07. The influence of mode of transportation on time from stroke onset to admission to SU and on rate of thrombolysis was investigated.

[Job satisfaction and prospects of internal medicine specialists in Austria--an analysis of the profession].

Background: In the second half of the 20th century the medical profession has changed considerably. "The golden age of medicine" seems to be over. This study analyses job satisfaction and prospects of Austrian physicians in the twenty-first century.

Insular involvement is associated with QT prolongation: ECG abnormalities in patients with acute stroke.

Purpose: Aim was to assess the frequencies of electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities, including QT prolongation, in acute stroke patients and their association with stroke severity, stroke subtype and location, and cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods: Prospectively, admission 12-lead ECG findings, stroke characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, and potential QT-prolonging factors were collected in 122 consecutive patients with acute stroke.

Results: Eighty-four patients (69%) had ECG abnormalities, most frequently ST changes in 34%, QT prolongation in 31%, and atrial fibrillation in 27% of them.

[Bruxism--a function of the masticatory organ to cope with stress].

Bruxism is generally defined as a parafunctional clenching and grinding action between the upper and lower teeth. During this activity, extremely strong forces can be applied for time periods exceeding those of functional mastication. These biomechanical loads create many dental problems, such as abfractions, hypersensitivity, periodontal distraction, and temporo-mandibular dysfunction.

[Empowerment, quality of life and participation in neurological rehabilitation. Empirical study with stroke patients and their relatives].

The active role (participation) that patients with chronic conditions are able to achieve has increasingly been recognised as a measure for the effectiveness of prevention- and rehabilitation strategies. An empowerment scale is an especially effective instrument for measuring social participation, and was applied to stroke patients in neurological rehabilitation for the first time. 26 stroke survivors and 26 informal carers, who participated in self-help groups in Lower Austria, were surveyed.

[Early recognition of speech and speech-associated disorders after acute stroke].

In the course of increasing demands in acute stroke care in stroke units, criteria for efficient speech diagnosis, which can be applied in the first hours of acute stroke are necessary. In this study we investigated early recognition of speech and speech-associated disorders in acute stroke, and compared the neurologists' clinical diagnoses at admission with the results of a test battery (KAP--Kurze Aphasieprüfung). 90 of 104 consecutively recruited patients could be tested within the first three days.

[Life satisfaction--a dimension of psychotherapeutical prevention. Critical reflections and results of empirical research].

Psychotherapy has historically been developed on ill people and is applied in the system treating the sick. A healthy person who has no complaints is only in exceptional cases the subject of psychotherapeutic inquiries as to his/her experiences and behaviour. In this article, the pathologising basic attitude is abandoned and the appreciation of one's own life over one's lifetime and the accompanying complex possibilities of prevention are given.

[Interdisciplinary quality management in preventive medicine institutions].

Like all health care institutions, preventive medicine institutions, too, need a quality assurance structure. An integrated system consisting of "balanced score card", "finite-elements-model" and "interdisciplinary quality circles" is presented. This organisational structure allows the implementation of quality assurance in complex institutions as well, such as health care organisations.

The quality of acute stroke units on a nation-wide level: the Austrian Stroke Registry for acute stroke units.

Concepts for stroke units that cover the acute phase vary. Therefore, the network of acute stroke units that is being set up in Austria in a uniform way is of general interest. This nationwide network has been established in accordance to evidence-based recommendations and prespecified criteria for available resources.

[Adverse effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A prevalence study in Austria].

Objective: Gastrointestinal side effects are the limiting factor in the prescription of non-steroidal antirheumatic drugs (NSAID). However, there are no recent data from Austria. The aim of this prevalence study was therefore to assess the gastrointestinal risk from NSAID in Austria.

[Epidemiology of stroke].

In spite of the decrease in stroke mortality in industrialized western countries an increase of stroke incidence is expected especially in developing countries. Thus, within the next years, stroke will lead to a growing global health burden. In Austria, mortality has decreased between 1970 and 1994 by half and has now reached a rate of 100 per 100,000 inhabitants per year.

[Classification of endometriosis].

Since 1985 the revised American Fertility Society (r-AFS) classification (renamed later American Society for Reproductive Medicine's classification--ASRM classification) has been a widely accepted system of categorizing the extent of endometriosis. The scoring system gives a detailed description of the location and the severity of the case and correlates to some extent with the degree of pain caused by endometriosis. Based upon collected data the classification was not found sensitive in predicting pregnancy according to the stage and after treatment of the disease.

A novel field generator for magnetic stimulation in cell culture experiments.

A novel field generator specially designed to examine the influence of low frequency magnetic fields on specific cell material was constructed and characterized. The exposure unit described in this paper consists of a controller unit and three sets of coils. The field generator permits a precious definition of the revelant signal parameters and allows the superposition of alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) magnetic fields.

Permeability and adsorption capacity of dialysis membranes to lipid A.

Hemodialysis membranes were tested in vitro for possible penetration by low molecular weight endotoxins containing lipid A. Using lipid A from Escherichia coli as a model substance for this kind of pyrogen, different dialyzers (F4, E3. Acepal 1300, Altraflux, F 40, Polyflux 110, Filtral 12, F 60) were challenged by tangential filtration in aqueous medium.

[Stroke prevention with a high risk strategy of treating hypertension in patients after a transient ischemic attack].

High-risk strategies represent important preventive measures that focus on individuals with a defined high risk of suffering a chronic disease. They are valuable in addition to measures of prevention within the general population. One example for a high-risk approach for stroke prevention is the treatment of hypertension in individuals that have previously suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA).