Development and validation of an interpretable machine learning-based calculator for predicting 5-year weight trajectories after bariatric surgery: a multinational retrospective cohort SOPHIA study.

Background: Weight loss trajectories after bariatric surgery vary widely between individuals, and predicting weight loss before the operation remains challenging. We aimed to develop a model using machine learning to provide individual preoperative prediction of 5-year weight loss trajectories after surgery.

Methods: In this multinational retrospective observational study we enrolled adult participants (aged ≥18 years) from ten prospective cohorts (including ABOS [NCT01129297], BAREVAL [NCT02310178], the Swedish Obese Subjects study, and a large cohort from the Dutch Obesity Clinic [Nederlandse Obesitas Kliniek]) and two randomised trials (SleevePass [NCT00793143] and SM-BOSS [NCT00356213]) in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, with a 5 year follow-up after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, or gastric band.

Impact of bodyweight-adjusted antimicrobial prophylaxis on surgical-site infection rates.

Background: Antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP) adjustment according to bodyweight to prevent surgical-site infections (SSI) is controversial. The impact of weight-adjusted AMP dosing on SSI rates was investigated here.

Methods: Results from a first study of patients undergoing visceral, vascular or trauma operations, and receiving standard AMP, enabled retrospective evaluation of the impact of bodyweight and BMI on SSI rates, and identification of patients eligible for weight-adjusted AMP.

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass versus laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: 5-year outcomes of merged data from two randomized clinical trials (SLEEVEPASS and SM-BOSS).

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) are both effective surgical procedures to achieve weight reduction in patients with obesity. The trial objective was to merge individual-patient data from two RCTs to compare outcomes after LSG and LRYGB.

Methods: Five-year outcomes of the Finnish SLEEVEPASS and Swiss SM-BOSS RCTs comparing LSG with LRYGB were analysed.

Perianal block with ropivacaine as a supplement to anaesthesia in proctological surgery: double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial (PERCEPT).

Background: The benefit of a perianal block as an adjunct to general or regional anaesthesia is debated. This RCT aimed to compare pain at 24 h and up to 14 days after proctological surgery in patients with and without a perianal block.

Methods: Between January 2018 and April 2019, patients were allocated to receive a perianal block with ropivacaine or placebo as an adjunct to anaesthesia.

Systematic review and simulation study of ignoring clustered data in surgical trials.

Background: Multiple surgical procedures in a single patient are relatively common and lead to dependent (clustered) data. This dependency needs to be accounted for in study design and data analysis. A systematic review was performed to assess how clustered data were handled in inguinal hernia trials.

Guideline for the diagnosis of drug hypersensitivity reactions: S2K-Guideline of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) and the German Dermatological Society (DDG) in collaboration with the Association of German Allergologists (AeDA), the German Society for Pediatric Allergology and Environmental Medicine (GPA), the German Contact Dermatitis Research Group (DKG), the Swiss Society for Allergy and Immunology (SGAI), the Austrian Society for Allergology and Immunology (ÖGAI), the German Academy of Allergology and Environmental Medicine (DAAU), the German Center for Documentation of Severe Skin Reactions and the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Products (BfArM).

Drug hypersensitivity reactions are unpredictable adverse drug reactions. They manifest either within 1-6 h following drug intake (immediate reactions) with mild to life-threatening symptoms of anaphylaxis, or several hours to days later (delayed reactions), primarily as exanthematous eruptions. It is not always possible to detect involvement of the immune system (allergy).

Patellar tendon shortening for flexed knee gait in spastic diplegia.

Unlabelled: We evaluated the outcome of three different approaches to the management of flexed knee gait patients with spastic diplegia. The three surgical procedures were patellar tendon shortening (PTS), PTS combined with rotational osteotomies of the femur and/or tibia, and PTS combined with supracondylar extension osteotomy (SEO) of the distal femur. The primary outcome measure was gait kinematics.

Complexity of nursing care in acute care hospital patients: results of a pilot study with a newly developed questionnaire.

Aim: The aim of this pilot study was to develop an instrument for measuring complexity of nursing care in hospitalised acute care patients as well as to examine its comprehensibility, its feasibility, the effort required for data collection, and its inter-rater reliability as well as its face validity.

Methods: This pilot study was designed as a descriptive, explorative cross-sectional survey with multiple measurements of the patient-related complexity of nursing care and a supplemental qualitative questionnaire conducted on six units of a Swiss university hospital. The instrument to assess complexity of nursing care was developed on the framework of Perrow and encompasses on three subscales a total of 15 items with a 5-point Likert scale.

Randomized multicentre trial of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI versus conventional MRI or CT in the staging of colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Background: This multicentre international randomized trial compared the impact of gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRI with extracellular contrast medium (ECCM-MRI) and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) as a first-line imaging method in patients with suspected colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM).

Methods: Between October 2008 and September 2010, patients with suspected CRCLM were randomized to one of the three imaging modalities. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients for whom further imaging after initial imaging was required for a confident diagnosis.

Brain atrophy: an in-vivo measure of disease activity in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) has traditionally been considered to be primarily an inflammatory demyelinating disorder. Nowadays it is recognised as both an inflammatory and a neurodegenerative condition. This recognition is reflected in the development of new disease-modifying therapies that may offer the potential to reduce axon damage, either by inhibiting neurodegeneration or by promoting endogenous repair mechanisms.

Dampening of blood-flow pulsatility along the carotid siphon: does form follow function?

Background And Purpose: The tortuous distal part of the ICA may have an attenuating effect on pulsatile arterial flow. We investigated local arterial blood flow patterns in the ICA proximal and distal to the carotid siphon to detect quantitative waveform changes.

Materials And Methods: Arterial flow patterns were analyzed by using flow-sensitized 4D PC MR imaging (time-resolved 3D PCMR) at 3T in 17 healthy volunteers.

Swiss Cancer League communication skills training programme for oncology nurses: an evaluation.

Aim: This paper is a report of an evaluation of the effectiveness of a communication skills training programme for oncology nurses.

Background: Clinical care for patients with cancer is increasingly being divided between nurses and physicians, with nurses being responsible for the continuity of patient care, and oncologists choosing and explaining the basics of anti-cancer therapy. Therefore, oncology nurses will profit from evidence-based communication skills training to allow them to perform in a professional way.

Triple pelvic osteotomy as treatment for osteoarthritis secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Joint-preserving osteotomies are an established treatment for adult hip pain secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip. However, their value for advanced osteoarthritis is unclear. Therefore this study addresses the question of long-term results of triple pelvic osteotomy in patients with second grade osteoarthritis.

Randomized clinical trial of Lichtenstein's operation versus mesh plug for inguinal hernia repair.

Background: Two of the most commonly used open prosthetic tension-free techniques for inguinal hernia repair are Lichtenstein's operation and the mesh plug repair. The technique of choice remains a subject of ongoing debate. The objective of the present investigation was to compare the two surgical procedures with respect to associated morbidity and recurrence rates.

Retrobulbar blood flow in patients with cataract.

Objective: To investigate retrobulbar haemodynamics in patients with cataract.

Subjects And Methods: Colour Doppler imaging of the ophthalmic artery was carried out on the eye scheduled for surgery in 30 patients with cataract and in one randomly selected eye of 100 healthy controls. The peak systolic velocity, mean velocity, end diastolic velocity and resistivity index in the ophthalmic artery were computed and adjusted for the influence of age and mean arterial pressure.

No indication for activation of exogenous retroviruses in patients with renal allograft rejection.

Aim: Reactivation of latent BK virus in kidney-transplanted patients results in severe graft dysfunction. The role of retroviruses infecting also latently target cells is not investigated so far in this setting. We determined the presence or induction of retroviruses in sera of immunosuppressed patients with renal allografts at the timepoint of organ rejection or ongoing polyomavirus nephropathy.

Epidemiology of aphasia attributable to first ischemic stroke: incidence, severity, fluency, etiology, and thrombolysis.

Background And Purpose: In a geographically defined population, we assessed incidence and determinants of aphasia attributable to first-ever ischemic stroke (FEIS).

Methods: A 1-year prospective, population-based study among the permanent residents of the canton Basle City, Switzerland, was performed using multiple overlapping sources of information.

Results: Among 188,015 inhabitants, 269 patients had FEIS, of whom 80 (30%; 95% CI, 24 to 36) had aphasia.

Hospital patients' preferences for involvement in decision-making. A questionnaire survey of 1040 patients from a Swiss university hospital.

Objectives: Assessing patients' preferences for shared decision-making and receiving information.

Design: Cross-sectional cohort study.

Setting: University Hospital in Northwest Switzerland.

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of severe autoimmune disease: results from phase I/II studies, prospective randomized trials and future directions.

Around 700 patients have received an autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) as treatment for a severe autoimmune disease (AD). The majority of these have been within the context of phase I/II clinical trials and following international guidelines proposed 7 years ago. In general, a positive benefit/risk ratio has led to phase III prospective randomized controlled trials in multiple sclerosis (MS), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Europe.

Demographics and prevalent risk factors of chronic subdural haematoma: results of a large single-center cohort study.

Chronic subdural haematoma (CSDH) is a typical disease in elderly patients and encountered frequently in neurosurgical practice. With an increasing number of elderly people in the general population, there is a need to investigate risk factors (age, falls, anticoagulant or antithrombotic therapy) which could be pertinent to the development of this disease. We reviewed 354 patients undergoing surgery for CSDH over a period of 7 years (1996-2002), the occurrence being equally distributed over these years.

CADASIL mimicking primary angiitis of the central nervous system.

Background: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) and primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) share several clinical and radiological features. However, digital subtraction angiogram (DSA) is generally reported as normal in CADASIL, whereas lumen irregularities in distal cerebral arteries indicate PACNS.

Objective: To describe a potential pitfall of DSA interpretation, which led to the tentative diagnosis of PACNS in a CADASIL patient.

Chondroblastoma and clear cell chondrosarcoma: radiological and MRI characteristics with histopathological correlation.

Objective: To analyze and compare the radiological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearances of chondroblastoma and clear cell chondrosarcoma with histopathological correlation.

Design And Patients: Twelve patients with histologically proven chondroblastoma and of another four patients with clear cell chondrosarcoma were investigated by radiographs and MRI (T1-, T2-weighted sequences, intravenous gadolinium application). Additionally, the clinical and radiologic data of seven cases of clear cell chondrosarcoma without available MRI were considered.

Polysomnographic effects of adjuvant ginkgo biloba therapy in patients with major depression medicated with trimipramine.

Sleep disturbance and cognitive impairment are frequent complaints of depressed patients under standard antidepressant medication. Therefore, additional therapies are required which specifically focus on the improvement of these deficits without exerting major side effects. Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb) has been shown to improve cognitive abilities in elderly subjects and in patients with disorders of the dementia spectrum.