Global perspective of psychosocial care of patients with differences of sex development from low-income countries.

Objective: Management of Differences of Sex Development (DSD) is complex and in resource limited settings the psychosexual and psychosocial aspects of DSD care have received limited attention. This review aims to explore recent literature on psychosocial care of DSD in low and upper middle-income countries (L/UMIC).

Materials And Methods: Scientific databases were searched and papers on management of DSD were reviewed according to predefined inclusion criteria.

Between unity and disparity: current treatment protocols for common orofacial clefts in European expert centres.

There is considerable variability in the management of common orofacial clefts across Europe, reflecting differing opinions on optimal treatments. An updated overview of treatment protocols for orofacial clefts across 26 expert centres in the European Reference Network CRANIO is presented here. A structured questionnaire was distributed to map the surgical protocol and additional standard procedures for cleft palate (CP), unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), and bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP).

Climate Therapy: Sustainability Solutions for Breast Cancer Care in the Anthropocene Era.

Climate change is the greatest threat to human existence. Currently it impacts breast cancer care by disrupting treatment, by food poverty and economic hardship and through fossil fuel pollution which increases breast cancer incidence. These impacts are greatest in those already experiencing deprivation.

Diagnosing primary lateral sclerosis: a clinico-pathological study.

Background:  Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a rare motor neuron disease characterized by upper motor neuron degeneration, diagnosed clinically due to the absence of a (neuropathological) gold standard. Post-mortem studies, particularly TDP-43 pathology analysis, are limited.

Methods: This study reports on 5 cases in which the diagnostic criteria for PLS were met, but in which neuropathology findings showed (partially) conflicting results.

Increase in prevalence and costs of cirrhosis in the Netherlands: a nationwide hospital diagnosis data analysis.

Introduction: Due to the rising incidence of patients with cirrhosis and its accompanied extensive management, there is an increasing burden of cirrhosis patients on healthcare resources and costs. However, exact data on Dutch cirrhosis epidemiology and associated costs are lacking.

Aims And Methods: We aimed to determine the year-prevalence of adults (aged ≥18 years) with cirrhosis registered as active patients in Dutch hospitals (2017-2021) using the Dutch hospital claims database.

Lessons learned for pandemic preparedness in the neurodegenerative research and clinical fields: an advice report based on Parkinson's disease as an example.

Background: A sustainable pandemic preparedness strategy is essential to ensure equitable access to healthcare for individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, it is vital to provide clinicians and researchers in the neurodegenerative disease fields with resources and infrastructure to ensure continuity of their work during a (health) crisis.

Methods: We established an international collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and patient representatives from the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

Surgical specialists face higher a risk for malpractice compared to their non-surgical colleagues.

In previous studies, surgical specialties accounted for most malpractice claims. The objective of the present study was to determine the risk for malpractice claims for physicians working in hospitals. A retrospective observational study using anonymized closed malpractice claims between 2007 up to 2021 from two Dutch insurers was carried out.

Actionability of Synthetic Data in a Heterogeneous and Rare Health Care Demographic: Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer.

Purpose: Research on rare diseases and atypical health care demographics is often slowed by high interparticipant heterogeneity and overall scarcity of data. Synthetic data (SD) have been proposed as means for data sharing, enlargement, and diversification, by artificially generating real phenomena while obscuring the real patient data. The utility of SD is actively scrutinized in health care research, but the role of sample size for actionability of SD is insufficiently explored.

Mapping challenges in the accessibility of treatment products for urea cycle disorders: A survey of European healthcare professionals.

Current management guidelines for urea cycle disorders (UCDs) offer clear strategies, incorporating both authorized and non-authorized medicinal products (including intravenous formulations and products regulated as food). These varying product categories are subject to specific accessibility challenges related to availability, reimbursement, and pricing. The aim of this study is to identify potential obstacles to optimal UCD treatment implementation in European clinical practice.

The interplay between organizational culture and burnout among ICU professionals: A cross-sectional multicenter study.

Purpose: Organizational culture is considered a protective factor against burnout among ICU professionals. The aim of this study is to study the association between organizational culture as a potential antecedent to previously found mediating risk factors for burnout, namely, work-life balance and moral distress.

Materials And Methods: Multicenter cross sectional study in eleven Dutch ICUs.

Cardinality matching versus propensity score matching for addressing cluster-level residual confounding in implantable medical device and surgical epidemiology: a parametric and plasmode simulation study.

Background: Rapid innovation and new regulations lead to an increased need for post-marketing surveillance of implantable devices. However, complex multi-level confounding related not only to patient-level but also to surgeon or hospital covariates hampers observational studies of risks and benefits. We conducted parametric and plasmode simulations to compare the performance of cardinality matching (CM) vs propensity score matching (PSM) to reduce confounding bias in the presence of cluster-level confounding.

Effect of genetically predicted sclerostin on cardiovascular biomarkers, risk factors, and disease outcomes.

Sclerostin inhibitors protect against osteoporotic fractures, but their cardiovascular safety remains unclear. We conducted a cis-Mendelian randomisation analysis to estimate the causal effect of sclerostin levels on cardiovascular risk factors. We meta-analysed three GWAS of sclerostin levels including 49,568 Europeans and selected 2 SNPs to be used as instruments.

Repetitive daily oxytocin treatment reduces weight gain but not acute neonatal procedural pain.

Background: While the incidence of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission steadily increases, neonatology lacks evidence of a safe, effective, and preventive analgesic for treating procedural pain. Given its role in nociception and promoting healthy neurodevelopment, the endogenous neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) emerges as a promising candidate.

Methods: This study investigates the use of daily repeated subcutaneous OT (1 mg/kg) treatment in an established model of neonatal repetitive procedural pain and assesses the effectivity of OT treatment on mechanical sensitivity and body weight.

Standardised and Reproducible Phenotyping Using Distributed Analytics and Tools in the Data Analysis and Real World Interrogation Network (DARWIN EU).

Purpose: The generation of representative disease phenotypes is important for ensuring the reliability of the findings of observational studies. The aim of this manuscript is to outline a reproducible framework for reliable and traceable phenotype generation based on real world data for use in the Data Analysis and Real-World Interrogation Network (DARWIN EU). We illustrate the use of this framework by generating phenotypes for two diseases: pancreatic cancer and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Improving Recurrence Prediction in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: The Synergistic Impact of the FIB-4 Index and Tumor Burden Score on Post-hepatectomy Outcomes.

Background: The prognostic role of the fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index relative to intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) after hepatectomy remains unclear. This study sought to characterize the impact of the FIB-4 index and tumor burden score (TBS) on recurrence and overall survival (OS).

Methods: ICC patients undergoing hepatectomy (2000-2020) were identified using a multi-institutional database.

The severe von Willebrand disease variant p.M771V leads to impaired anterograde trafficking of von Willebrand factor in patient-derived and base-edited endothelial colony-forming cells.

Background: von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common inherited bleeding disorder caused by quantitative or qualitative defects in von Willebrand factor (VWF). The p.M771V VWF variant leads to a severe bleeding phenotype in homozygous patients.

Ambient air pollution, urban green space and childhood overweight and obesity: A health impact assessment for Barcelona, Spain.

Background: The burden of childhood overweight and obesity attributable to ambient air pollution and a lack of urban green spaces (UGS) remains unknown. This study aimed to estimate the attributable cases of childhood overweight and obesity due to air pollution and insufficient UGS exposure in Barcelona, Spain.

Methods: We applied a quantitative health impact assessment approach.