Fluorescence lifetime imaging unravels the pathway of glioma cell death upon hypericin-induced photodynamic therapy.

Malignant primary brain tumors are a group of highly aggressive and often infiltrating tumors that lack adequate therapeutic treatments to achieve long time survival. Complete tumor removal is one precondition to reach this goal. A promising approach to optimize resection margins and eliminate remaining infiltrative so-called guerilla cells is photodynamic therapy (PDT) using organic photosensitizers that can pass the disrupted blood-brain-barrier and selectively accumulate in tumor tissue.

Risk and Influence Factors of Fall in Immobilization Period after Arthroscopic Interventions.

Knee injuries are one of the most common injuries. Falls during the immobilization period can deteriorate the postoperative outcome. The risk factors causing falls after initial injury and the question of whether a rigid orthosis serves as a protective factor remain unclear.

Accumulation and penetration behavior of hypericin in glioma tumor spheroids studied by fluorescence microscopy and confocal fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.

Glioblastoma WHO IV belongs to a group of brain tumors that are still incurable. A promising treatment approach applies photodynamic therapy (PDT) with hypericin as a photosensitizer. To generate a comprehensive understanding of the photosensitizer-tumor interactions, the first part of our study is focused on investigating the distribution and penetration behavior of hypericin in glioma cell spheroids by fluorescence microscopy.

Severe allergic reactions after COVID-19 vaccination with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Great Britain and USA: Position statement of the German Allergy Societies: Medical Association of German Allergologists (AeDA), German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) and Society for Pediatric Allergology and Environmental Medicine (GPA).

Two employees of the National Health Service (NHS) in England developed severe allergic reactions following administration of BNT162b2 vaccine against COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). The British SmPC for the BNT162b2 vaccine already includes reference to a contraindication for use in individuals who have had an allergic reaction to the vaccine or any of its components. As a precautionary measure, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued interim guidance to the NHS not to vaccinate in principle in "patients with severe allergies".

Hypericin: Single Molecule Spectroscopy of an Active Natural Drug.

Hypericin is one of the most efficient photosensitizers used in photodynamic tumor therapy (PDT). The reported treatments of this drug reach from antidepressive, antineoplastic, antitumor and antiviral activity. We show that hypericin can be optically detected down to a single molecule at ambient conditions.

Hip abductor tendon pathology visualized by 1.5 versus 3. 0 Tesla MRIs.

Introduction: Hip abductor tendinopathies are becoming increasingly recognized as clinically relevant disorders. However, knowledge about prevalence of abductor tendinopathies and associated disorders of adjacent hip articular and periarticular structures is limited. In this context, the relative diagnostic value of 1.

Complications after direct anterior versus Watson-Jones approach in total hip arthroplasty: results from a matched pair analysis on 1408 patients.

Background: The direct anterior approach (DAA) has gained popularity in total hip arthroplasty (THA) over the past decade. A large number of studies have compared the DAA to other approaches with inclusion of a learning curve phase. The aim of this study was to compare the complication rate and bleeding between the DAA and the anterolateral approach after the learning curve phase.

Clinical and genetic characterization of de novo double-hit B cell precursor leukemia/lymphoma.

The 2016 revised World Health Organization (WHO) classification of lymphoid neoplasms included the category of high-grade B cell lymphomas (HGBLs) with combined MYC and BCL2 and/or BCL6 rearrangements (double-hit, DH). However, the clinical features of B cell precursor leukemia (BCP-ALL) that harbor DH genetics remain widely unknown. We performed a retrospective analysis of the German Multicenter Study Group for Adult ALL registry and a literature search for de novo DH-BCP-ALLs.

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: Potentially Underdiagnosed in Intensive Care Units.

Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in adults (aHLH) is a rare life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by excessive activation of macrophages and CD8+ T-cells. Due to the clinical overlap with severe sepsis, aHLH often remains undiagnosed resulting in poor outcome. Here, we present a retrospective study of incidence, clinical findings, and the outcome of aHLH in intensive care units (ICUs).

Erlotinib in routine clinical practice for first-line maintenance therapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Purpose: The controlled phase III trial SATURN demonstrated that maintenance therapy with erlotinib after the first-line platinum-based chemotherapy prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with advanced, non-progressive disease. We conducted the non-interventional study SATURN NIS to investigate the effectiveness and tolerability of erlotinib maintenance in daily clinical practice.

Methods: This single-arm NIS screened 290 patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC (stage IIIB or IV) and stable disease after standard platinum-based first-line chemotherapy in 95 institutions across Germany.

A consensus review on malignancy-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in adults.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a syndrome of severe immune activation and dysregulation resulting in extreme and often life-threatening inflammation. HLH has been well recognized in pediatric populations, and most current diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines are based on pediatric HLH. Recently there has been recognition of HLH in adults, especially secondary to immune deregulation by an underlying rheumatologic, infectious, or malignant condition.

Preference for subcutaneous or intravenous administration of rituximab among patients with untreated CD20+ diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or follicular lymphoma: results from a prospective, randomized, open-label, crossover study (PrefMab).

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate patient preference and satisfaction for the subcutaneous (s.c.) versus intravenous (i.

Long-term survival correlates with immunological responses in renal cell carcinoma patients treated with mRNA-based immunotherapy.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is an immunogenic tumor for which immunotherapeutic approaches could be associated with clinically relevant responses. It was recently shown, that induction of T-cell responses against multiple tumor-associated antigen (TAA) epitopes results in prolonged overall survival in RCC patients. In 2003-2005, we performed a phase I/II trial testing an mRNA-based vaccine formulation consisting of a mixture of in vitro transcribed RNA coding for six different TAAs (MUC1, CEA, Her2/neu, telomerase, survivin, MAGE-A1) in 30 metastatic RCC (mRCC) patients.

Optimal use of bendamustine in hematologic disorders: Treatment recommendations from an international consensus panel - an update.

Bendamustine has achieved widespread international regulatory approval and is a standard agent for the treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Since approval, the number of indications for bendamustine has expanded to include aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma and novel targeted therapies, based on new bendamustine regimens/combinations, are being developed against CLL and lymphomas. In 2010, an international panel of bendamustine experts met and published a set of recommendations on the safe and effective use of bendamustine in patients suffering from hematologic disorders.

Bendamustine in indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a practice guide for patient management.

For patients with advanced indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or elderly patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), the recently reported results of the German StiL NHL-1 2003 and the international BRIGHT phase III trials showed that, as first-line treatment, the combination of bendamustine and rituximab is at least as effective as rituximab/cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone or rituximab/cyclophosphamide/vincristine/prednisone, possibly with a better therapeutic index. Bendamustine is therefore increasingly used in clinical practice. Because bendamustine has been used for many years in Germany and in Switzerland, our institutions have had extensive experience with bendamustine, both as a single agent and in combination with rituximab.

EGFR-TKI resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): new developments and implications for future treatment.

Treatment with receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). One major target for treatment with TKI is the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), particularly in patients harboring activating mutations. However, despite initial responses and long lasting remissions, the development of secondary resistance inevitably leads to treatment failure.

Successful treatment with the fully human antibody panitumumab after a severe infusion reaction with cetuximab.

Aims And Background: There are only limited data on the safety and efficacy of panitumumab in patients who experienced severe infusion reactions during cetuximab antibody therapy.

Case Report: We report the case of a 69-year-old woman with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer who received single-agent cetuximab treatment but experienced a severe reaction during the first infusion, despite premedication with corticosteroids/antihistamines. Cetuximab was discontinued and treatment with panitumumab initiated approximately 14 days later (without premedication); no infusion reactions occurred and there was a rapid improvement in her general condition.

Severe idiopathic erythroblastic synartesis: successful treatment with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab.

Erythroblastic synartesis is a very rare disorder, considered to be caused by autoimmune mechanisms, leading to aggregation of erythroid precursor cells in the bone marrow and subsequently to acquired dyserythropoiesis with severe, transfusion-dependent anemia. An association with lymphoproliferative or autoimmune diseases has been reported or strongly suggested in all six published cases. Here, we report a young patient with severe idiopathic erythroblastic synartesis without an underlying disease, who was successfully treated with rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody.

Neutrophil recovery in elderly breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant anthracycline-containing chemotherapy with pegfilgrastim support.

Shortening duration of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia may reduce risk of infection and aid subsequent chemotherapy delivery. Cycle 1 neutrophil recovery was evaluated in 59 elderly women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant FEC100 (5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m(2), epirubicin 100mg/m(2) and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m(2)) and randomized to pegfilgrastim primary prophylaxis (PP) from cycle 1, or secondary prophylaxis (SP, i.e.

Computer-assisted osteotomy of the lateral femoral condyle with non-constrained total knee replacement in severe valgus knees.

We describe the mid-term results of a prospective study of total knee replacement in severe valgus knees using an osteotomy of the lateral femoral condyle and computer navigation. There were 15 knees with a mean valgus deformity of 21 degrees (17 degrees to 27 degrees) and a mean follow-up of 28 months (24 to 60). A cemented, non-constrained fixed bearing, posterior-cruciate-retaining knee prosthesis of the same design was used in all cases (Columbus-B.