Emicizumab versus immunosuppressive therapy for the management of acquired hemophilia A.

Background: Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder caused by neutralizing antibodies against coagulation factor VIII. Immunosuppressive therapy (IST) is standard of care to eradicate autoantibody production and protect from further bleeding but carries a risk of severe infection and mortality in frail patients with AHA. Recently, emicizumab has been studied for its potential to reduce the need for early and aggressive IST.

Both hyperglycemia and hyperuricemia aggravate acute kidney injury during cholesterol embolism syndrome despite opposite effects on kidney infarct size.

Kidney cholesterol crystal embolism (CCE) occurs in advanced atherosclerosis and induces a thrombotic (micro)angiopathy, a drop in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and an ischemic kidney infarction with necroinflammation. We speculated that common metabolic comorbidities such as diabetes or hyperuricemia would independently modulate each of these distinct pathophysiological processes. To test this, experimental CCE was induced by injecting cholesterol crystals into the left kidney artery of mice and thrombotic angiopathy, GFR drop, and infarct size were analyzed after 24 hours in the presence of hyperglycemia (about 500 mg/dL) or hyperuricemia (about 8 mg/dL) or their absence.

International Society of Nephrology first consensus guidance for preclinical animal studies in translational nephrology.

Preclinical tests in animal models are key steps in early drug development. Consequently, the International Society of Nephrology held a consensus meeting that connected experts in the global kidney community in order to provide guidance on optimal management of translational animal studies for the development of new drugs to treat kidney disease, entitled "TRANSFORM; TRAnslational Nephrology Science FOR new Medications." The meeting covered various themes, including the following: (i) selection of disease model; (ii) pharmacokinetics; (iii) interventions in late preclinical models; (iv) choice of animal; (v) statistical power; (vi) organoids and organ-on-a-chip models; and (vii) reporting of results.

Uptake of HPV vaccination among boys after the introduction of gender-neutral HPV vaccination in Germany before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: HPV vaccination has been recommended and reimbursed for girls in Germany since 2007. In June 2018 the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommended the gender-neutral vaccination of adolescents aged 9 to 14 years with catch-up through age 17. Objectives of this study were to describe the uptake of vaccination in boys before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spontaneous healing of acute ACL ruptures: rate, prognostic factors and short-term outcome.

Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is considered the first line treatment in ACL rupture. However, some patients return to high intensity sport activities and show a normal knee function without ACL reconstruction. Therefore, aim of this study was to evaluate the rate and prognostic factors of spontaneous healing in patients with ACL rupture and the short-term functional outcome.

Dental education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany - cross-sectional lecturer-side evaluation for the application of digital teaching concepts.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant restrictions on dental teaching. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the attitudes of faculty members towards digital teaching formats and the effort creating digital lectures. We hypothesized that on the lecturer side there is no difference between the various digital teaching concepts in terms of workload and effort and that there is no increase in workload and effort when switching to digital teaching concepts.

Intravenous Glu-plasminogen attenuates cholesterol crystal embolism-induced thrombotic angiopathy, acute kidney injury and kidney infarction.

Background: Cholesterol crystal (CC) embolism causes acute kidney injury (AKI) and ischaemic cortical necrosis associated with high mortality. We speculated that sustaining the fibrinolytic system with Glu-plasminogen (Glu-Plg) could be a safe way to attenuate AKI and prevent ischaemic infarction upon CC embolism.

Methods: We induced CC embolism by injecting CC into the left kidney artery of C57BL/6J mice.

Patient preferences for atopic dermatitis medications in the UK, France and Spain: a discrete choice experiment.

Objectives: We aimed to quantify patient preferences for efficacy, safety and convenience features of atopic dermatitis (AD) treatments.

Design And Setting: Online discrete choice experiment survey.

Participants: Adults in the UK, France and Spain who had used AD treatments during the past 2 years.

The Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: The first coronary artery bypass operation (CABG) was performed on May 2, 1960. The first percutaneous coro - nary intervention (PCI) was performed almost 20 years later. Since then, the invasive treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) has moved into the spotlight of cardiac medical care.

Three-dimensional simulations of six treatment maneuvers for horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo canalithiasis.

Background And Purpose: Horizontal canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the second most common variant of BPPV after posterior canal BPPV. Various liberatory maneuvers are recommended for the treatment of horizontal canal BPPV canalithiasis (hc-BPPV-ca). The aim of this study was to show how three-dimensional (3D) dynamic simulation models visualize the movement of the clot of otoconia within the canal for a better understanding of the theoretical efficacy.

Management lessons through an interactive online discussion about hospital management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting demand for innovative hospital management we organized an interactive online discussion for medical students and healthcare professionals about hospital management during the crisis. The event offered an opportunity to learn from a hospital crisis management. We looked at how this new online format compares to a traditional discussion event.

Mendelian Randomization Study of Obesity and Cerebrovascular Disease.

Objective: To systematically investigate causal relationships between obesity and cerebrovascular disease and the extent to which hypertension and hyperglycemia mediate the effect of obesity on cerebrovascular disease.

Methods: We used summary statistics from genome-wide association studies for body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and multiple cerebrovascular disease phenotypes. We explored causal associations with 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) accounting for genetic covariation between BMI and WHR, and we assessed what proportion of the association between obesity and cerebrovascular disease was mediated by systolic blood pressure (SBP) and blood glucose levels, respectively.

The use of iliac branch devices for preservation of flow in internal iliac artery during endovascular aortic aneurysm repair.

Objective: Common iliac artery aneurysms are present in more than a third of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm and may pose a challenge during open and endovascular repair. Although embolization of the internal iliac artery is an established method, it may be complicated with buttock claudication, erectile dysfunction, colon ischemia, and pelvic necrosis. Iliac branch devices (IBDs), which permit preservation of the hypogastric artery, have been used to prevent these complications.

One-year outcomes in a multicentre cohort study of incident rare diffuse parenchymal lung disease in children (ChILD).

We performed a prospective, observational, cohort study of children newly diagnosed with children's interstitial lung disease (ChILD), with structured follow-up at 4, 8, 12 weeks and 6 and 12 months. 127 children, median age 0.9 (IQR 0.

Automated deep learning design for medical image classification by health-care professionals with no coding experience: a feasibility study.

Background: Deep learning has the potential to transform health care; however, substantial expertise is required to train such models. We sought to evaluate the utility of automated deep learning software to develop medical image diagnostic classifiers by health-care professionals with no coding-and no deep learning-expertise.

Methods: We used five publicly available open-source datasets: retinal fundus images (MESSIDOR); optical coherence tomography (OCT) images (Guangzhou Medical University and Shiley Eye Institute, version 3); images of skin lesions (Human Against Machine [HAM] 10000), and both paediatric and adult chest x-ray (CXR) images (Guangzhou Medical University and Shiley Eye Institute, version 3 and the National Institute of Health [NIH] dataset, respectively) to separately feed into a neural architecture search framework, hosted through Google Cloud AutoML, that automatically developed a deep learning architecture to classify common diseases.

Cervical Debranching in the Endovascular Era: A Single Centre Experience.

Objective/background: Debranching of the supra-aortic arteries is a common practice either as part of a hybrid treatment of aortic arch pathology or owing to arterial occlusive disease. Results of the debranching techniques have not been reported frequently.

Methods: This was a retrospective single centre study of all consecutive patients with cervical debranching procedures as part of hybrid aortic arch repair.

Emicizumab in the Treatment of Acquired Haemophilia: A Case Report.

The prognosis of acquired haemophilia A (AHA) is severe and treatment options are limited. Emicizumab is a novel bispecific humanized monoclonal antibody in the treatment of inherited AHA with inhibitors. An 83-year-old AHA patient with congestive heart failure and a high risk for thromboembolic and cardiac events who had initially been treated successfully with steroids and substitution of recombinant B-domain-deleted porcine FVIII developed severe bleeding complications and a secondary increase in inhibitor titres after 4 weeks of treatment.

Introduction to the Biophotonics Congress 2018 feature issue.

The guest editors introduce a feature issue containing papers based on research presented at the OSA Biophotonics Congress (the former BIOMED) held in Hollywood, FL, 2-6 April, 2018.

Occupational Stress in Helicopter Emergency Service Pilots From 4 European Countries.

Objective: Working conditions are known to affect motivation, well-being, and ultimately work performance. Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) pilots' work is highly demanding and safety critical, but virtually no published data on occupational stress and strain symptoms in HEMS pilots are available. We investigated work stressors and resources and their association with work engagement, subjective well-being, and energy levels in European HEMS pilots.