Is the duration of pre-operative conservative treatment associated with the clinical outcome following surgical decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis? A study based on the Spine Tango Registry.

Background: The incidence of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) continues to rise, with both conservative and surgical management representing options for its treatment. The timing of surgery for LSS varies from shortly after the onset of symptoms to several months or years after conservative treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the duration of pre-operative conservative treatment and the ultimate outcome following surgical interventions for LSS.

Effects of personalised exposure on self-rated electromagnetic hypersensitivity and sensibility - A double-blind randomised controlled trial.

Background: Previous provocation experiments with persons reporting electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) have been criticised because EHS persons were obliged to travel to study locations (seen as stressful), and that they were unable to select the type of signal they reported reacting to. In our study we used mobile exposure units that allow double-blind exposure conditions with personalised exposure settings (signal type, strength, duration) at home. Our aim was to evaluate whether subjects were able to identify exposure conditions, and to assess if providing feedback on personal test results altered the level of self-reported EHS.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) in occupational and primary health care: A nation-wide survey among general practitioners, occupational physicians and hygienists in the Netherlands.

Subjects who attribute health complaints to every day levels of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF) have been referred to as electrohypersensitive (EHS). Previous surveys in Europe showed that 68-75% of general practitioners had ever been consulted on EHS. Given the lack of data on EHS in the Netherlands in the general population and on EHS in occupational settings, we performed a national survey among three professional groups that are likely in the first line of being consulted by EHS individuals.

Is standardized care feasible in the emergency setting? A case matched analysis of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: Immediate laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the accepted standard for the treatment of acute cholecystitis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of a standardized approach with tailored care maps for pre- and postoperative care by comparing pain, nausea and patient satisfaction after elective and emergent laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Methods: From January 2014 until April 2015, data on pain and nausea management were prospectively recorded for all elective and emergency procedures in the department of visceral surgery.

Bilateral Sensory Changes and High Burden of Disease in Patients With Chronic Pain and Unilateral Nondermatomal Somatosensory Deficits: A Quantitative Sensory Testing and Clinical Study.

Objectives: Widespread sensory deficits resembling hemihypoesthesia occur in 20% to 40% of chronic pain patients on the side of pain, independent of pain etiology, and have been termed nondermatomal sensory deficits (NDSDs). Sensory profiles have rarely been investigated in NDSDs.

Materials And Methods: Quantitative sensory testing according to the protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS) was performed in the face, hand, and foot of the painful body side and in contralateral regions in chronic pain patients.

Balancing competing needs in kidney transplantation: does an allocation system prioritizing children affect the renal transplant function?

Children often merit priority in access to deceased donor kidneys by organ-sharing organizations. We report the impact of the new Swiss Organ Allocation System (SOAS) introduced in 2007, offering all kidney allografts from deceased donors <60 years preferentially to children. The retrospective cohort study included all paediatric transplant patients (<20 years of age) before (n = 19) and after (n = 32) the new SOAS (from 2001 to 2014).

Using a chewing simulator for fatigue testing of metal ceramic crowns.

Objective: Dynamic loading is a more important predictor for the clinical longevity of ceramic crowns than static loading. However, dynamic loading machines are costly and mostly have only one test station. The SD Mechatronik Chewing Simulator (formerly Willytec) may be a cost-effective alternative to evaluate the fatigue resistance of metal ceramic crowns.

Effective plots to assess bias and precision in method comparison studies.

Bland and Altman's limits of agreement have traditionally been used in clinical research to assess the agreement between different methods of measurement for quantitative variables. However, when the variances of the measurement errors of the two methods are different, Bland and Altman's plot may be misleading; there are settings where the regression line shows an upward or a downward trend but there is no bias or a zero slope and there is a bias. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to clearly illustrate why and when does a bias arise, particularly when heteroscedastic measurement errors are expected, and propose two new plots, the "bias plot" and the "precision plot," to help the investigator visually and clinically appraise the performance of the new method.

Prognostic models in male breast cancer.

Purpose: Breast cancer in men is uncommon; it accounts for 1 % of all patients with primary breast cancer. Its treatment is mostly extrapolated from its female counterpart. Accurate predictions are essential for adjuvant systemic treatment decision-making and informing patients.

Control limits to identify outlying hospitals based on risk-stratification.

Outcome indicators are routinely used to compare hospitals with respect to quality of care. Indicators might be based on observed proportions of adverse events (binary outcomes) or observed averages of e.g.

The contribution of travel-related urban zones, cycling and pedestrian networks and green space to commuting physical activity among adults - a cross-sectional population-based study using geographical information systems.

Background: The current political agenda aims to promote active environments and physical activity while commuting to work, but research on it has provided mixed results. This study examines whether the proximity of green space and people's residence in different travel-related urban zones contributes to commuting physical activity.

Methods: Population-based cross-sectional health examination survey, Health 2011 study, and geographical information system (GIS) data were utilized.

The Attitudes of Physicians, Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Midwives Toward Complementary Medicine for Chronic Pain: A Survey at an Academic Hospital.

Objective: To assess the attitudes of physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and midwives toward complementary medicine (CM) at a Swiss academic hospital and toward its use for treating chronic pain.

Design: The cross-sectional survey took place from October to December 2013.

Setting: An e-mail sent to 4925 healthcare professionals (1969 physicians, 2372 nurses, 145 physical therapists, and 111 midwives) working at Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, invited them to answer a web-based questionnaire.

Agenda Setting During Follow-Up Encounters in a University Primary Care Outpatient Clinic.

At the beginning of the medical encounter, clinicians should elicit patients' agendas several times using open-ended questions. Little is known, however, about how many times physicians really solicit a patient's agenda during follow-up encounters. The objective was to analyze the number of agenda solicitations by physicians, of agendas initiated by physicians, and of patients' spontaneous agendas during the beginning and the entire encounter.

Outdoor and indoor sources of residential radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, personal cell phone and cordless phone use, and cognitive function in 5-6 years old children.

Background: Little is known about the exposure of young children to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) and potentially associated health effects. We assessed the relationship between residential RF-EMF exposure from mobile phone base stations, residential presence of indoor sources, personal cell phone and cordless phone use, and children's cognitive function at 5-6 years of age.

Methods: Cross-sectional study on children aged 5-6 years from the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) study, the Netherlands (n=2354).

Travelers Can Import Colistin-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Including Those Possessing the Plasmid-Mediated mcr-1 Gene.

Stool samples from 38 travelers returning from India were screened for extended-spectrum cephalosporin- and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae implementing standard selective plates. Twenty-six (76.3%) people were colonized with CTX-M or DHA producers, but none of the strains was colistin resistant and/or mcr-1 positive.

A two-year retrospective review of the determinants of pre-hospital analgesia administration by alpine helicopter emergency medical physicians to patients with isolated limb injury.

Up to 75% of pre-hospital trauma patients experience moderate to severe pain but this is often poorly recognised and treated with insufficient analgesia. Using multi-level logistic regression analysis, we aimed to identify the determinants of pre-hospital analgesia administration and choice of analgesic agent in a single helicopter-based emergency medical service, where available analgesic drugs were fentanyl and ketamine. Of the 1156 patients rescued for isolated limb injury, 657 (57%) received analgesia.

Assessing interrater agreement on binary measurements via intraclass odds ratio.

Interrater agreement on binary measurements is usually assessed via Scott's π or Cohen's κ, which are known to be difficult to interpret. One reason for this difficulty is that these coefficients can be defined as a correlation between two exchangeable measurements made on the same subject, that is as an "intraclass correlation", a concept originally defined for continuous measurements. To measure an association between two binary variables, it is however more common to calculate an odds ratio rather than a correlation.

Psychosocial Quality-of-Life, Lifestyle and Adiposity: A Longitudinal Study in Pre-schoolers (Ballabeina Study).

Purpose: In obesity prevention, understanding psychosocial influences in early life is pivotal. Reviews reported contradictory results and a lack of longitudinal studies focusing on underlying lifestyle factors. This study tested whether psychosocial Quality-Of-Life (QOL) was associated with pre-schoolers' lifestyle and adiposity changes over one school year and whether lifestyle moderated the latter.

Switching from a two-tablet regimen of tenofovir/emtricitabine and efavirenz to a one-tablet regimen may affect patients' perceptions and drug management.

Objectives: Simplification of antiretroviral therapy enhances a patient's adherence but a new formulation could also lead to new adverse events and changes in daily routine. This study compared medication adherence, tolerance and satisfaction among subjects switching from a two-tablet tenofovir/emtricitabine/efavirenz regimen to a one-tablet regimen.

Methods: Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected and three surveys were administered at month 0 (=switch), and then 1 and 4-6 months after the switch: the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire, the HIV-symptom index questionnaire, the Short HIV Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) two-item adherence questionnaire, and a questionnaire on daily combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) management.

Novel exposure units for at-home personalized testing of electromagnetic sensibility.

Previous experimental studies on electromagnetic hypersensitivity have been criticized regarding inflexibility of choice of exposure and of study locations. We developed and tested novel portable exposure units that can generate different output levels of various extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF; 50 Hz field plus harmonics) and radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). Testing was done with a group of healthy volunteers (n = 25 for 5 ELF-MF and n = 25 for 5 RF-EMF signals) to assess if units were indeed able to produce double-blind exposure conditions.

Racial Disparities in Access to and Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: Results From the ESPN/ERA-EDTA (European Society of Pediatric Nephrology/European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association) Registry.

Background: Racial disparities in kidney transplantation in children have been found in the United States, but have not been studied before in Europe.

Study Design: Cohort study.

Setting & Participants: Data were derived from the ESPN/ERA-EDTA Registry, an international pediatric renal registry collecting data from 36 European countries.

Lesions with unclear malignant potential (B3) after minimally invasive breast biopsy: evaluation of vacuum biopsies performed in Switzerland and recommended further management.

Background: Histopathological B3 lesions after minimal invasive breast biopsy (VABB) are a particular challenge for the clinician, as there are currently no binding recommendations regarding the subsequent procedure.

Purpose: To analyze all B3 lesions, diagnosed at VABB and captured in the national central Swiss MIBB database and to provide a data basis for further management in this subgroup of patients.

Material And Methods: All 9,153 stereotactically, sonographically, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided vacuum-assisted breast biopsies, performed in Switzerland between 2009 and 2011, captured in a central database, were evaluated.