Donor-derived cell-free DNA monitoring for early diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection after kidney transplantation: a randomized trial.

Background And Hypothesis: Donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) shows good diagnostic performance for the detection of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in kidney transplant recipients (KTR). However, the clinical benefits of dd-cfDNA monitoring need to be established. Early diagnosis of AMR at potentially reversible stages may be increasingly important due to emerging treatment options for AMR.

Activation of STAT6 in Intestinal Epithelial Cells Predisposes to Gut Inflammation.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often associated with a Type 2 immune response. Although previous reports hint at a role for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 6 signaling in non-immune cells, the contribution of STAT6-activation particularly in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) is still unknown. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis is a model for UC in mice that we applied here on animals with expression of a constitutively active version of STAT6 in IECs (VillinCre_STAT6vt mice).

Iatrogenic Budd-chiari Syndrome from Misplacement of Right Internal Jugular Central Vein Catheter: A Case Report.

Introduction/background: Budd-Chiari syndrome is a rare entity that is caused by an obstruction of the flow in the hepatic veins or inferior vena cava.

Case Presentation: Herein, we report a rare case of iatrogenic Budd-Chiari syndrome. A 52-year-old woman with chronic renal failure under hemodialysis, presented to our hospital for dyspnea caused by a large pleural effusion.

Guidelines for preparation and flow cytometry analysis of human nonlymphoid tissue DC.

This article is part of the Dendritic Cell Guidelines article series, which provides a collection of state-of-the-art protocols for the preparation, phenotype analysis by flow cytometry, generation, fluorescence microscopy, and functional characterization of mouse and human dendritic cells (DC) from lymphoid organs, and various nonlymphoid tissues. Within this article, detailed protocols are presented that allow for the generation of single-cell suspensions from human nonlymphoid tissues including lung, skin, gingiva, intestine as well as from tumors and tumor-draining lymph nodes with a subsequent analysis of dendritic cells by flow cytometry. Further, prepared single-cell suspensions can be subjected to other applications including cellular enrichment procedures, RNA sequencing, functional assays, etc.

Autonomous medical evaluation for guideline adherence of large language models.

Autonomous Medical Evaluation for Guideline Adherence (AMEGA) is a comprehensive benchmark designed to evaluate large language models' adherence to medical guidelines across 20 diagnostic scenarios spanning 13 specialties. It includes an evaluation framework and methodology to assess models' capabilities in medical reasoning, differential diagnosis, treatment planning, and guideline adherence, using open-ended questions that mirror real-world clinical interactions. It includes 135 questions and 1337 weighted scoring elements designed to assess comprehensive medical knowledge.

The modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) can guide decisions for immunotherapy treatment beyond progression.

Background: Treatment beyond progression (TBP) is common in patients treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), however, there is no biomarker to select patients that are more likely to derive benefit from TBP. Here, we investigated the potential of the modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) as a predictive biomarker to select patients for TBP.

Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of the immunotherapy arms in the randomized phase 3 trials IMmotion151 (renal cell carcinoma), OAK (non-small cell lung cancer) and IMvigor211 (urothelial cancer).

Practical and statistical aspects of subgroup analyses in surgical neuro-oncology: A comprehensive review from the PIONEER Consortium.

Subgroup analyses are essential to generate new hypotheses or to estimate treatment effects in clinically meaningful subgroups of patients. They play an important role in taking the next step towards personalized surgical treatment for brain tumor patients. However, subgroup analyses must be used with consideration and care because they have significant potential risks.

High interobserver variability of PTEN immunohistochemistry defining PTEN status in low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer: results of the first German ring trial.

The prognostication of individual disease trajectory and selection of optimal therapy in patients with localized, low-grade prostate cancer often presents significant difficulty. The phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN) has emerged as a potential novel biomarker in this clinical context, based on its demonstrated prognostic significance in multiple retrospective studies. Incorporation into standard clinical practice necessitates exceptional diagnostic accuracy, and PTEN's binary readout-retention or loss-suggests its suitability as a biomarker.

Symptom Burden and Quality of Life in Long-Term Survivors with Head and Neck Cancer.

In this study, long-term survivors of head and neck cancer (HNC) were evaluated regarding their symptom burden and quality of life (QoL). This prospective study was performed during the regular follow-up consultations at one of Germany's largest tertiary referral centers for HNC. The assessment included demographic, clinical, and oncological data, as well as the MIDOS(2) and the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW QoL) questionnaires.

Have We Solved Glottis Segmentation? Review and Commentary.

Quantification of voice physiology has been a key research goal. Segmenting the glottal area to describe the vocal fold motion has seen increased attention in the last two decades. However, researchers struggled to fully automatize the segmentation task.

[Importance of parametric and molecular imaging for therapeutic management of breast cancer].

Background: In recent years, various magnetic resonance (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) parameters have been investigated in breast cancer. Parametric imaging focuses on the visualization and quantification of biological, physiological, and pathological processes at the cellular and molecular level. It therefore provides important insights into the key processes in carcinogenesis and tumor progression.

Standards for Quality Improvement Registries on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair: A Delphi Consensus Report From VASCUNET and International Consortium of Vascular Registries.

Objective: Outcome registries in vascular surgery are increasingly used to drive quality improvement by vascular societies. The VASCUNET collaboration, within the European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS), and the International Consortium of Vascular Registries (ICVR) developed a set of variables for quality improvement registries on abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair as a registry standard.

Methods: Representatives from international vascular registries within VASCUNET, ICVR, and other nations with established registries were invited to provide the variables.

ESR Essentials: how to get to valuable radiology AI: the role of early health technology assessment-practice recommendations by the European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics.

AI tools in radiology are revolutionising the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of patients. However, there is a major gap between the large number of developed AI tools and those translated into daily clinical practice, which can be primarily attributed to limited usefulness and trust in current AI tools. Instead of technically driven development, little effort has been put into value-based development to ensure AI tools will have a clinically relevant impact on patient care.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells are a non-redundant source of interleukin-5 required for development and function of murine B1 cells.

Tissue-resident immune cells, such as innate lymphoid cells, mediate protective or detrimental immune responses at barrier surfaces. Upon activation by stromal or epithelial cell-derived alarmins, group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are a rapid source of type 2 cytokines, such as IL-5. However, due to the overlap in effector functions, it remains unresolved whether ILC2s are an essential component of the type 2 response or whether their function can be compensated by other cells, such as T cells.

Models for the marrow: A comprehensive review of AI-based cell classification methods and malignancy detection in bone marrow aspirate smears.

Given the high prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) research in medicine, the development of deep learning (DL) algorithms based on image recognition, such as the analysis of bone marrow aspirate (BMA) smears, is rapidly increasing in the field of hematology and oncology. The models are trained to identify the optimal regions of the BMA smear for differential cell count and subsequently detect and classify a number of cell types, which can ultimately be utilized for diagnostic purposes. Moreover, AI is capable of identifying genetic mutations phenotypically.

Reverse switching from the biosimilar SB2 to the originator infliximab in previously switched patients with inflammatory bowel diseases: results of a prospective long-term cohort study.

Background: Data regarding multiple switches including reverse switching between infliximab and its biosimilars are scarce in the field of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Objectives: We investigated the clinical effectiveness as primary outcome measure after repeated switches. Secondary endpoints included C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, immunogenicity (trough levels (TL); anti-drug antibodies (ADA), safety and drug persistence.

Shortage of antiseizure medication in Germany: How big is the problem?

Objectives: We determined the frequency of drug shortages of antiseizure medication (ASM) availability in Germany.

Methods: Retrospective and descriptive analysis of databases of 2 pharmaceutical wholesalers in Germany with a market share of about 45% of the German market in July 2023 (chosen arbitrarily) focusing on antiseizure drug shortages (i.e.

Massive parallel sequencing of head and neck conventional squamous cell carcinomas: A comprehensive review.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and is a cause of significant mortality and morbidity. The epidemiology of this cancer varies worldwide due to either genetic differences in populations or differences in carcinogen exposure. The application of massive parallel sequencing-based techniques in HNSCC should provide a helpful understanding of the genetic alterations that eventually lead to HNSCC development and progression, and ideally, could be used for personalized therapy.

Tumor budding and lymphovascular invasion as prognostic factors in p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas.

Background: We aimed to validate the prognostic significance of tumor budding (TB) in p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC).

Methods: We analyzed digitized H&E-stained slides from a multicenter cohort of five large university centers consisting of n = 275 cases of p16-positive OPSCC. We evaluated TB along with other histological parameters (morphology, tumor-stroma-ratio, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), perineural invasion) and calculated survival outcomes using both univariate and multivariate analyses.

Development of a questionnaire to measure patient-relevant needs and benefits in the treatment of epilepsy (PBI-Epilepsy).

Objective: Therapeutic goals in epilepsy treatment may be highly individual. The aim of the present study was to develop a questionnaire assessing patients' needs and benefits of epilepsy treatment, the Patient Benefit Index on Epilepsy (PBI-Epilepsy).

Methods: We recruited adult patients during their stay at a university based epilepsy centre.

Three-dimensional digital imaging analysis of the palatal bone thickness for orthodontic mini-implant insertion - determination of the safe zone and angulation.

Background: In order to successfully perform orthodontic mini-implant procedures successfully for the subsequent anchoring of orthodontic appliances, it is crucial to know the palatal bone thickness. This is usually assessed using two-dimensional radiographs. The purpose of this study was to use a three-dimensional digital imaging measurement method to provide information on palatal bone volume and bone thickness and to make recommendations on the optimal and safe insertion site and angle for palatal mini-implants.