University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein

Disease Duration Differentiates Freezing of Gait Response to Subthalamic and Nigral Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease in an Exploratory Multicenter Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Freezing of gait (FoG) belongs to most pressing unmet symptoms in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. OBJECTIVES: To explore whether combined subthalamic and nigral (STN + SNr) deep brain stimulation improves FoG compared with optimized STN stimulation alone; to ide...

Measurement properties of instruments for post-extubation dysphagia in critically ill patients: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES: Post-extubation dysphagia (PED) is a common but often under-recognised complication in critically ill patients following invasive mechanical ventilation. Systematic assessment of PED in routine ICU practice is not common. This systematic review aimed to identify clini...

Outcomes of front-line tagraxofusp in patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) in a real-world scenario

Abstract Tagraxofusp (TAG), a CD123-directed protein-drug conjugate, is approved in front-line and relapsed/refractory blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Multicenter real-world outcomes and the contribution of up-front consolidation post-TAG remain less defined...

Clindamycin under pressure: resistance in hospitalized patients with odontogenic infections and a penicillin allergy label – a multicenter retrospective study

Odontogenic infections may progress to deep space infection with systemic complications and require prompt surgical drainage and, when indicated, systemic antibiotics. In patients with a documented penicillin allergy label, empiric therapy is often shifted toward clindamycin, alt...

Depletion of regulatory T cells breaks self-tolerance and induces epidermolysis bullosa acquisita in resistant C57BL/6J mice

Pemphigoid diseases (PDs) are antibody-mediated autoimmune blistering diseases caused by loss of tolerance to basement membrane proteins such as type VII collagen (COL7), triggering pathogenic T and B cell responses. The contribution of regulatory T cells (T regs ) to disease res...

Predictors of One-Year Restenosis After Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty in Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis: Real-World Data From 555 Patients and the Limited Impact of Periinterventional Transesophageal Echocardiography

OBJECTIVE: Mitral balloon valvuloplasty remains an established first-line treatment for appropriately selected patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. However, predictors of long-term restenosis and the additional value of periinterventional transesophageal echocardiography rema...

Epitranscriptomic profiling of VSMC phenotypes reveals uridine modifications linked to post-transcriptional regulation

Background The phenotypic plasticity of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) can modulate atherosclerosis progression. Although several gene regulatory steps towards pro-inflammatory phenotypes have been well-studied, epitranscriptomic changes during this transition and their reg...

Development of a prospective clinical workflow for proton beam therapy of ventricular tachycardia

Abstract Purpose This study presents a prospective preclinical workflow for proton beam therapy of refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT), covering target transfer, treatment planning (TP), and beam gating. Methods Photon-based stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation (STAR) protoc...

Diagnosing autoimmune encephalitis in psychiatry: clinical recommendations and unresolved challenges from the GENERATE network

Psychiatric syndromes can be caused by underlying autoimmune encephalitis (AE). This represents a diagnostic challenge at the interface of psychiatry and neurology. While AE mostly manifests with a combined, complex neuropsychiatric syndrome, some patients with AE may (initially)...

Dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes is associated with higher diastolic blood pressure in adolescents: The School*Vape*Science study

Background: E-cigarette use is increasing significantly worldwide, particularly among young people. However, the cardiovascular impact of nicotine exposure during adolescence remains unclear. Although cigarette and e-cigarette use are known to increase arterial stiffness in adult...

CADD-ThresholdApp: an interactive web application for calibrating CADD scores using ClinVar

Abstract Background The Combined Annotation Dependent Depletion (CADD) score is one of the most widely used genome-wide variant deleteriousness scores. In practice, however, the distribution of CADD scores differs across genes and gene sets and may also vary between genome builds...

Prophylactic vs Therapeutic Anticoagulation in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19

Importance Coagulopathy in the context of COVID-19 is a major threat due to deep vein thromboses and pulmonary embolisms. Objective To assess whether therapeutic anticoagulation on top of standard of care (SOC) compared with prophylactic anticoagulation as part of SOC can improve...

AI-based smoke removal in robotic urooncologic surgery: a clinical pilot study

Abstract Surgical smoke from electrocautery limits visibility during robot-assisted oncological surgery by obscuring tumor margins, blood vessels and anatomical landmarks. AI-based smoke removal demonstrated promising technical performance, structured clinical evaluation remains...

Transoral robotic reconstruction of a posterior palatal defect using an upper arm flap following polymorphous adenocarcinoma resection: a novel minimally invasive approach

Abstract Background Surgical management of malignant tumors in the orofacial region frequently necessitates extensive resection, resulting in significant functional and aesthetic morbidity. In younger patients, these sequelae carry a substantial psychosocial burden, emphasizing t...

Do Androgens and Sex Hormone–Binding Globulin Mediate Sex Differences in the Risk of Stroke and Myocardial Infarction? The KORA Study

BACKGROUND: Sex differences in cardiovascular disease are well established, but the role of androgens and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) remains unclear. We investigated whether these hormones and SHBG mediate sex differences in the risk of stroke and myocardial infarction (...

Exploring patients' and family members’ perspectives on intensive care unit experiences through unsolicited feedback: A qualitative content analysis

Background Intensive care unit (ICU) stays are profound and distressing experiences for critically ill patients and their family members, often resulting in physical, psychological, cognitive, and social sequelae. Existing knowledge stems largely from structured interviews or que...

Interaction of walking activity and long-term air pollution on exacerbation rate in COPD

Background Regular walking activity can improve the prognosis in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, its benefit may be reduced when living in highly polluted areas. Aim To assess the combined effects of walking activity and air pollution on the rat...

Migration and tuberculosis transmission in Hamburg, Germany: insights from 25 years of molecular epidemiology

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology in low-incidence settings is increasingly influenced by the importation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Mtbc) strains from high-incidence regions. Globally, more virulent “generalist” lineages such as Lineage 2 (L2) and Li...

Aggregation framework for continuous digital health measures and application to walking activity data

Abstract No standardized procedures for aggregating continuous digital health measures exist. Using a modified Delphi approach, we developed a framework to standardize the selection of aggregations that provide clinically meaningful, stable values. This was applied to aggregate s...

Belantamab mafodotin plus venetoclax in t(11;14)-positive relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma – the BELI(E)VE trial

Abstract Background Multiple myeloma (MM) is a widely incurable B-cell malignancy that predominantly affects older adults, representing 10% of hematologic cancers. Despite advancements in therapy that have significantly extended median overall survival (OS), MM remains a clinical...