The impact of the AO Foundation on fracture care: An evaluation of 60 years AO Foundation.

Objectives: Sixty years ago, the Association of Osteosynthesis (AO) was founded with the aim to improve fracture treatment and has since grown into one of the largest medical associations worldwide. Aim of this study was to evaluate AO's impact on science, education, patient care and the MedTech business.

Design/methods: Impact evaluations were conducted as appropriate for the individual domains: Impact on science was measured by analyzing citation frequencies of publications promoted by AO.

Cognitive outcome of early school-aged children born very preterm is not predicted by early short-term amplitude-integrated electroencephalography.

Aim: We investigated the association between early amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) and cognitive outcome in very preterm infants at early school-age.

Methods: This prospective cohort study, conducted in the Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, from 2009 to 2012, comprised of infants born at <32 weeks of gestation, who underwent continuous aEEG recording during the first 4 days of life. Cognitive outcome was assessed with the Kaufman-Assessment Battery for Children at 5 years.

IL-4 polymorphism influences susceptibility to Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in HIV-positive patients.

Objectives: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-positive patients. Polymorphisms in immune genes are increasingly reported to influence susceptibility to fungal infections. We analysed the role of 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 19 candidate genes on PJP development in patients from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study.

Disentangling the genetics of lean mass.

Background: Lean body mass (LM) plays an important role in mobility and metabolic function. We previously identified five loci associated with LM adjusted for fat mass in kilograms. Such an adjustment may reduce the power to identify genetic signals having an association with both lean mass and fat mass.

Referring Physicians Assess the Quality of Outpatient Diagnostic Imaging Services: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a Questionnaire.

Goal:  In order to ensure high-quality cooperation between referring physicians and imaging services, it is important to assess the quality of imaging services as perceived by referring physicians. The present study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire for referring physicians to assess the quality of outpatient diagnostic imaging services.

Materials & Methods:  The questionnaire was developed by discussing and modifying an existing instrument by the German Association of Surgeons.

Case Report: A rare cause of vaginal bleeding at Keren Zonal Referral Hospital, Eritrea.

Vaginal bleeding due to leech infestation is a very uncommon but important gynaecological problem. This report presents the case of a 65-year-old woman who presented to Keren Regional Referral Hospital, Eritrea, with vaginal bleeding of two and half weeks duration, dizziness and fatigue. On the day of her admission complete blood count and speculum exam were done and she was diagnosed with anaemia due to cervical leech infestation.

Impact of participation in a surgical site infection surveillance network: results from a large international cohort study.

Background: Surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs) is a core component of effective infection control practices, though its impact has not been quantified on a large scale.

Aim: To determine the time-trend of SSI rates in surveillance networks.

Methods: SSI surveillance networks provided procedure-specific data on numbers of SSIs and operations, stratified by hospitals' year of participation in the surveillance, to capture length of participation as an exposure.

Structural and Functional Lung Impairment in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. Assessment with Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Multiple Breath Washout in Comparison to Spirometry.

Rationale: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an inherited disorder characterized by heterogeneous airway disease. Traditional lung function techniques (e.g.

Interferon lambda 3/4 polymorphisms are associated with AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma.

Background: Kaposi's sarcoma, the most common AIDS-related cancer, represents a major public concern in resource-limited countries. Single nucleotide polymorphisms within the Interferon lambda 3/4 region (IFNL3/4) determine the expression, function of IFNL4, and influence the clinical course of an increasing number of viral infections.

Objectives: To analyze whether IFNL3/4 variants are associated with susceptibility to AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma among MSM enrolled in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS).

OATPB1/B3 and MRP3 expression in hepatocellular adenoma predicts Gd-EOB-DTPA uptake and correlates with risk of malignancy.

Background And Aims: Hepatobiliary phase (HBP) Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has increased the accuracy in differentiating focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and hepatocellular adenoma (HCA). However, the ability of this technique to distinguish HCA subtypes remains controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of hepatocyte transporters (OATPB1/B3, MRP2, MRP3) in HCA subtypes, hence to understand their MRI signal intensity on HBP Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI.

Decision curve analysis: a technical note.

Multivariable regression models are widely used in medical literature for the purpose of diagnosis or prediction. Conventionally, the adequacy of these models is assessed using metrics of diagnostic performances such as sensitivity and specificity, which fail to account for clinical utility of a specific model. Decision curve analysis (DCA) is a widely used method to measure this utility.

Surgical teaching does not increase the risk of intraoperative adverse events.

Introduction: Training and teaching are cornerstones in developing surgical skills. The present study aimed to compare intraoperative outcomes of colonic resections among fellows, consultants, and supervised trainees.

Methods: Data of consecutive colonic resections including demographics, surgical details, and intraoperative outcomes were recorded in a prospectively maintained institutional database.

Assessment of Avoidable Readmissions in a Visceral Surgery Department with an Algorithm: Methodology, Analysis and Measures for Improvement.

Background: Standardized quality indicators assessing avoidable readmission become increasingly important in health care. They can identify improvements area and contribute to enhance the care delivered. However, the way of using them in practice was rarely described.

Assessment of the safety climate in outpatient diagnostic services: Development and psychometric evaluation of a questionnaire.

Introduction: Safe practice and safety culture are important issues in outpatient diagnostic imaging services. As questionnaires assessing safety culture through the measurement of safety climate in this setting are not yet available, the present study aimed to develop and validate such an instrument.

Materials And Methods: After adaptation of an existing questionnaire and qualitative pretesting, the instrument was tested by collaborators from three outpatient imaging services in Switzerland.

Respiratory rate in infants with cystic fibrosis throughout the first year of life and association with lung clearance index measured shortly after birth.

Background: Lung impairment in cystic fibrosis (CF) starts in infancy. However, tools to monitor early lung disease are limited. Respiratory rate (RR) as a key vital sign is easy to assess during sleep and is elevated during acute respiratory disease.

Stabilizing cumulative incidence estimation of pregnancy outcome with delayed entries.

A pregnancy may end up with (at least) three possible events: live birth, spontaneous abortion, or elective termination, yielding a competing risks issue when studying an association between a risk factor and a pregnancy outcome. Cumulative incidences (probabilities to end up with the different outcomes depending on gestational age) can be estimated via the Aalen-Johansen estimate. Another issue is that women are usually not entering such an observational study from the first day of pregnancy, resulting in delayed entries.

Immuno-monitoring reveals an extended subclinical disease activity in tocilizumab-treated giant cell arteritis.

Objective: Tocilizumab is effective in inducing and maintaining remission of GCA. Despite clinical and serological control of disease, magnetic resonance angiography may show persistence of inflammatory signals of unknown significance in arterial walls. Thus, there is an unmet need for tools to detect subclinical disease activity.

Clinical and radiographic course of early undifferentiated arthritis under treatment is not dependent on the number of joints with erosions at diagnosis: results from the Swiss prospective observational cohort.

Objective: To analyse whether early arthritis patients who do not fulfil the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) 2010 classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have a different course of the disease dependent on whether they can or cannot be classified as RA because of radiographic disease (EULAR task force) at diagnosis.

Methods: For this observational study within the Swiss RA cohort SCQM, we included patients with early undifferentiated arthritis (disease duration ≤1 year), who had not received any previous disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). 2010 ACR/EULAR criteria negative patients were separated into two groups (radiographic vs non-radiographic arthritis) depending on whether or not they had radiographic changes defined as erosive disease by a EULAR task force (≥3 joints with erosions).

"I found that I was well and strong": Women's motivations for remaining on ART under Option B+ in Malawi.

Most Malawian women who start ART under Option B+ are still in care three years later, a higher than average adherence rate for life-threatening chronic disease treatments, worldwide (50%). We asked 75 Malawian on ART their motivations for remaining in treatment, and what barriers they overcame. Focus groups and interviews included 75 women on ART for 6+ months, at 12 health facilities.

Clinical significance of post-prophylaxis cytomegalovirus infection in lung transplant recipients.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease has been associated with the development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) after transplantation. However, the relevance of CMV replication occurring after the discontinuation of antiviral prophylaxis on the development of CLAD has not been fully established. Patients who underwent lung transplantation during 2004-2014 were included.