A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THE OUTCOMES OF PNEUMATIC VITREOLYSIS FOR THE TREATMENT OF VITREOMACULAR TRACTION.

Purpose: To study the effectiveness and safety of pneumatic vitreolysis (PVL) for the treatment of symptomatic vitreomacular traction (VMT) and macular holes (MHs) with VMT.

Methods: This was a retrospective, monocentric analysis of 92 consecutive VMT (±MH) patients treated with PVL at University Hospitals Leuven between January 2022 and March 2024.

Results: Release of VMT occurred in 60% of the patients who had VMT and in 86% of the patients who had MHs.

When do benefits turn to risks? Impact of a 900 mL whole blood donation on Special Forces performance.

Background: Special Forces (SF) teams operate in remote environments with limited medical support. As a result, they may need to rely on buddy transfusions to treat bleeding teammates. Considering that 450 mL has no direct impact on their combat performances, it might be tempting to take more blood from a compatible donor to save a hemorrhaging teammate.

A systematic review of indications when and how a military walking blood bank could bridge blood product unavailability.

Background: Blood supply problems in remote areas are well known. To overcome this shortage, many countries have developed innovative walking blood bank (WBB) protocols. However, no common standards have yet been set for their use and common actions.

Outbreak of Rift Valley Fever Retinitis in Rwanda: Novel Imaging Findings and Response to Treatment with Corticosteroids.

Purpose: To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the first epidemic of Rift Valley Fever retinitis in Rwanda and to report novel imaging findings and a possible role for corticosteroids.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of all patients who presented with presumed Rift Valley Fever retinitis at the Rwanda Charity Eye Hospital over a period of 4 months in 2022. Multimodal images are reviewed including optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography, color, infrared, red-free, and autofluorescence photography.

Walk the line: a systemic perspective on stress experienced by emergency medical personnel by comparing military and civilian prehospital settings.

Introduction: Emergency Medicine (EM) personnel in both military and civilian prehospital settings are often exposed to stressful and extreme events. Therefore, a cross-pollination between both contexts in terms of coping strategies may generate new information for purposes of training, prevention, and support programs. In the current study, we aimed at comparing both contexts to understand the type of stress events personnel experience; whether experience differs between civilian and military personnel; and how they cope with it.

Effects of exercise training on muscle wasting, muscle strength and quality of life in adults with acute burn injury.

Objectives: Exercise training during the acute phase of burns is difficult to implement but offers potential benefits. This multicenter trial explored the effects of an exercise program on muscular changes and quality of life during burn center stay.

Methods: Fifty-seven adults with burns ranging between 10% and 70% TBSA were allocated to receive either standard of care (n = 29), or additionally exercise (n = 28), consisting of resistance and aerobic training, commenced as early as possible according to safety criteria.

Air bubble artifact: why postmortem brain MRI should always be combined with postmortem CT.

Forensic pathology increasingly uses postmortem magnetic resonance imaging (PMMRI), particularly in pediatric cases. It should be noted that each (sudden and unexpected) death of an infant or child should have a forensic approach as well. Current postmortem imaging protocols do not focus adequately on forensic queries.

Nationwide Harmonization Effort for Semi-Quantitative Reporting of SARS-CoV-2 PCR Test Results in Belgium.

From early 2020, a high demand for SARS-CoV-2 tests was driven by several testing indications, including asymptomatic cases, resulting in the massive roll-out of PCR assays to combat the pandemic. Considering the dynamic of viral shedding during the course of infection, the demand to report cycle threshold (Ct) values rapidly emerged. As Ct values can be affected by a number of factors, we considered that harmonization of semi-quantitative PCR results across laboratories would avoid potential divergent interpretations, particularly in the absence of clinical or serological information.

Two fatal autochthonous cases of airport malaria, Belgium, 2020.

We report an outbreak investigation of two fatal cases of autochthonous malaria that occurred in Belgium in September 2020. Various hypotheses of the potential source of infection were investigated. The most likely route of transmission was through an infectious exotic mosquito that was imported via the international airport of Brussels or the military airport Melsbroek and infected the cases who lived at 5 km from the airports.

Lessons From Special Forces Operators for Elite Team Sports Training: How to Make the Whole Greater Than the Sum of the Parts.

This methodology paper describes the design of a holistic and multidisciplinary human performance program within the Belgian Special Forces Group, the Tier 1 Special Operations unit of the Belgian Defense. Performance management approaches in the military draw heavily on sports science. The key component of the program design described here is its integrative nature, which team sports training might benefit from.

Reliability and feasibility of skeletal muscle ultrasound in the acute burn setting.

Objectives: Despite the impact of muscle wasting after burn, tools to quantify muscle wasting are lacking. This multi-centre study examined the utility of ultrasound to measure muscle mass in acute burn patients comparing different methodologies.

Methods: B-mode ultrasound was used by two raters to determine feasibility and inter-rater reliability in twenty burned adults following admission.

Physiology of repeated mixed gas 100-m wreck dives using a closed-circuit rebreather: a field bubble study.

Purpose: Data regarding decompression stress after deep closed-circuit rebreather (CCR) dives are scarce. This study aimed to monitor technical divers during a wreck diving expedition and provide an insight in venous gas emboli (VGE) dynamics.

Methods: Diving practices of ten technical divers were observed.

Comparison of insulation provided by dry or wetsuits among recreational divers during cold water immersion (< 5°C).

Background: Divers thermal status influences susceptibility to decompression sickness hence the need for proper insulation during immersion in cold water. However, there is a lack of data on thermal protection provided by diving suits, hence this study.

Materials And Methods: Two different groups of divers wearing either a wetsuit (n = 15) or a dry suit (n = 15) volunteered for this study.

Heart Rate Variability During a Standard Dive: A Role for Inspired Oxygen Pressure?

Heart rate variability (HRV) during underwater diving has been infrequently investigated because of environment limitations and technical challenges. This study aims to analyze HRV changes while diving at variable hyperoxia when using open circuit (OC) air diving apparatus or at constant hyperoxia using a closed-circuit rebreather (CCR). We used HRV analysis in time and frequency domain adding nonlinear analysis which is more adapted to short-time analysis and less dependent on respiratory rate (Sinus respiratory arrhythmia).

Measuring Spatiotemporal Parameters on Treadmill Walking Using Wearable Inertial System.

This study aims to measure and compare spatiotemporal gait parameters in nineteen subjects using a full wearable inertial mocap system Xsens (MVN Awinda, Netherlands) and a photoelectronic system one-meter OptoGait (Microgait, Italy) on a treadmill imposing a walking speed of 5 km/h. A total of eleven steps were considered for each subject constituting a dataset of 209 samples from which spatiotemporal parameters (SPT) were calculated. The step length measurement was determined using two methods.

Energy Balance and Energy Availability During a Selection Course for Belgian Paratroopers.

Introduction: Adequate energy supply is a prerequisite for optimal performances and recovery. The aims of the present study were to estimate energy balance and energy availability during a selection course for Belgian paratroopers.

Methods: Energy expenditure by physical activity was measured with accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X+, ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) and rest metabolic rate in Cal.

Fatal lymphocytic cardiac damage in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): autopsy reveals a ferroptosis signature.

Aims: Cardiovascular complications, including myocarditis, are observed in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Major cardiac involvement is a potentially lethal feature in severe cases. We sought to describe the underlying pathophysiological mechanism in COVID-19 lethal cardiogenic shock.

Diving with hypertension and antihypertensive drugs.

Hypertension is a common condition, which is highly prevalent amongst scuba divers. As a consequence, a substantial proportion of divers are hypertensive and/or on antihypertensive drugs when diving. In this article, we review available literature on the possible risks of diving in the presence of hypertension and antihypertensive drugs.

Early detection of diving-related cognitive impairment of different nitrogen-oxygen gas mixtures using critical flicker fusion frequency.

Introduction: Cognitive impairment related to inert gas narcosis (IGN) is a threat to diving safety and operations at depth that might be reduced by using enriched air nitrox (EANx) mixtures. Using critical flicker fusion frequency (CFFF), a possible early detection of cognitive abilities/cerebral arousal impairment when breathing different oxygen (O2) fractions was investigated.

Methods: Eight male volunteers performed, in random order, two dry chamber dives breathing either air or EANx40 (40% O₂-60% nitrogen) for 20 minutes (min) at 0.

Timing of Intradermal Rabies Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Injections: Immunological Effect on Vaccination Response.

Introduction: Rabies remains a global threat, with annually over 59,000 deaths. Intradermal (ID) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is very efficient and reduces the need for rabies immunoglobulins. Not much is known about factors that influence the immune response to ID administered rabies vaccine.

Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome in a returning traveller.

A patient presenting with fever and purpura after a stay in the tropics tempts a physician to make a differential diagnosis mainly focusing on imported diseases. Although the importance of considering a tropical disease is obvious, the fact that cosmopolitan infections account for one third of the cases in a febrile returning traveler must not be overseen. Toxic Shock Syndrome is amongst the most notorious diseases due to the high mortality when inappropriately managed and the association with necrotizing fasciitis.