Archive
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mad cows: lessons learnt from yeast cells
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are fatal neurodegenerative diseases that affect mammals including humans. The proteinaceous nature of the infectious agent, the prion, and its propagation, challenge established dogmas...
Nurse-reported patient safety climate in Swiss hospitals
The findings of this study suggest a need to improve the patient safety climate on many units in Swiss hospitals. Leaders in hospitals should strengthen the patient safety climate at unit level by implementing methods, such as...
Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular risk – current opinion
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Epidemiologic research of the last half-century has clearly shown that psychosocial factors related to the social environment, personality...
Imaging in arthritis: quantifying effects of therapeutic intervention using MRI and molecular imaging
Modern imaging techniques are becoming increasingly important in assessing the course of arthritis and in permitting measurement of response to treatment as part of the follow-up of patients.
Diagnosis of hypersplenism with the epinephrine stimulation test
When used in a large patient cohort, EST is a safe and simple diagnostic test. In this exploratory study EST is of value in evaluating patients with cytopenia and a positive EST argues strongly for hypersplenism. Future studies...
Improved health of hospitality workers after a Swiss cantonal smoking ban
The recent cantonal ban on smoking in public places brought about an improvement in lung function, physical well-being and ETS symptoms of hospitality workers, including smokers.
Updated Swiss guidelines for the treatment and follow-up of cutaneous melanoma
Melanoma is the most common lethal cutaneous neoplasm. In order to harmonise treatment and follow-up of melanoma patients, guidelines for the management of melanoma in Switzerland were inaugurated in 2001 and revised in 2006. A...
Mechanisms of aneuploidy and its suppression by tumour suppressor proteins
Aneuploidy, as a result of numerical changes in chromosome number, was observed in tumours almost a century ago. The molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and their impact on tumour development are still poorly...
Pre- and intra-operative mediastinal staging in non-small-cell lung cancer
Accurate staging is required to provide precise information on the extent of the disease and to determine the most appropriate therapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Quality assessment of a randomly selected sample of Swiss medical expertises
Our results confirm recent criticisms that the professional quality of expertises does not suffice. This is hardly acceptable in face of the financial and personal consequences. There is an obvious need for further research using...
Medical treatment of hypertension in Switzerland
This representative survey on treated adult hypertensive patients shows that, compared to earlier reports, the control rate of hypertension has improved in Switzerland for uncomplicated but not for complicated, particularly...
Dronedarone for the management of atrial fibrillation
Dronedarone is a noniodinated benzofuran derivative of amiodarone that has been recently approved by Swissmedic for management of patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter.
Ignoring non-specific abdominal pain in emergency department patients may be related to decreased quality of life
NSAP persistence may be associated with a decreased quality of life. Emphasis should be put on providing early counselling and support, with the aim of minimising the long term detrimental side effects of NSAP.
Health care renunciation for economic reasons in Switzerland
In a region of Switzerland with a high cost of living, such as Geneva, socioeconomic status may influence the use of the health care system, and renunciation for economic reasons was not uncommon. More than 30% of the lowest...
Hypothermia for perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy
National cooling protocols are needed for the management of infants with perinatal asphyxial encephalopathy in order to ensure safe cooling, appropriate monitoring, imaging and follow-up assessment. A national registry is needed...
Long-term clinical outcomes in patients diagnosed with severe digital ischemia
Among patients with digital ischemia, systemic disease and hypothenar hammer syndrome were the most frequent aetiologies. In patients with hypothenar hammer syndrome the clinical outcome was remarkably benign, although symptoms...
Parkinson’s disease and the bones
Any newly diagnosed patient with PD should be evaluated for the risk of falling and osteoporosis and routinely be supplemented with vitamin D.
Do not attempt resuscitation: the importance of consensual decisions
Establishing DNAR orders is a demanding task. Reaching a consensus is of crucial importance in guaranteeing teamwork and good patient care. Communication and negotiation skills, professional and personal life experience and...
Burden of abdominal obesity in cardiac rehabilitation patients
AO is highly prevalent in CAD patients attending CR. AO is, independently of BMI, associated with metabolic lipid disorders and autonomic cardiovascular dysregulation, suggesting an increased cardiovascular risk. AO patients...
Variation in incidence of orthopaedic surgery between populations with basic or basic plus supplementary health insurance in Switzerland
The study provides evidence that health insurance status accounts for variation in surgery for musculoskeletal problems in Switzerland.
Morbidity and mortality on chronic haemodialysis
Survival on chronic haemodialysis treatment in Switzerland compares favourably to international reference values. Dialysis withdrawal and the frequency of kidney transplantation impact long term patient outcome and should be...
Cyclosporine C0- versus C2-monitoring over three years in maintenance heart transplantation
In long term maintenance patients C2 monitoring was not associated with immediate beneficial effects on number of rejections, blood pressure levels, and renal parameters. However, patients received lower daily CsA doses.
Pacemakers and magnetic resonance imaging
Electromagnetic fields arising from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can cause various clinically relevant functional disturbances in patients with cardiac pacemakers. Consequently, an implanted pacemaker is generally considered...
Risk factors for a first epileptic seizure symptomatic of brain tumour or brain vascular malformation
Cortical involvement and type of lesion are the independent risk factors for a first-ever seizure as a presenting symptom of brain tumours or brain vascular malformations.
Lost in translation: the impact of publication language on citation frequency in the scientific dental literature
Our results suggest that publication language substantially influences the citation frequency of a research paper. Researchers should publish their work in English to render them accessible to the international scientific...
The FIRE project: A milestone for research in primary care in Switzerland
The project proves the feasibility of standardised ongoing collection of research data embedded in routine clinical practice. FIRE provides a unique database for research in PC and highlights the potential of broad implementation...
Spectrum of pathogens in surgical site infections at a Swiss university hospital
The spectrum of pathogens causing SSI identified and the very low incidence of antimicrobial resistance at Basel University Hospital validate the continuous use of single-shot single-drug SAP with cefuroxime (plus metronidazole...
Rapid induction of remission in large vessel vasculitis by IL-6 blockade
The data suggest that IL-6 blockade using tocilizumab qualifies as a therapeutic option to induce rapid remission in large vessel vasculitides.
Cognition and driving in older persons
In Switzerland, approximately 350 000 people aged 70 years or older own a valid driving license. By law, these drivers are medically assessed every other year, most commonly by their general practitioner, to exclude that a...
Care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting
This review article aims to present female genital mutilations/cuttings as a complex socio-healthcare and multidisciplinary issue, outlining the definition, classification, epidemiology and anthropologico-legal aspects of FGM/C.
Long term effects of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation in an inpatient and outpatient setting
Although influenced by patient preference, participation in either inpatient or outpatient CCR led to comparable results in terms of all-cause or cardiac overall survival, event-free survival and other secondary outcome measures...
Serological testing for infectious diseases in pregnant women: are the guidelines followed?
In our collective, serologic testing for rubella, toxoplasmosis and hepatitis B is carried out in almost all pregnant women. The high rate of women not screened for HIV infection clearly contradicts the recommendations of the...
Functional multidisciplinary rehabilitation versus outpatient physiotherapy for non-specific low back pain
Functional multidisciplinary rehabilitation was better than outpatient physiotherapy in improving functional and work status. From an economic point of view, these results should be backed up by a cost-effectiveness study.
Limitations of infrared ear temperature measurement in clinical practice
Cerumen has a statistically significant, albeit not clinically meaningful, influence on IETM. Thus routine ear inspection prior to the use of IETM is not warranted. IETM provides highly reproducible assessments of IET...
Current developments in the use of stem cell for therapeutic neovascularisation
The plasticity and self-regenerative properties of stem cells have opened new avenues in regenerative medicine. Greater understanding of the biology of stem cells is followed by growing expectations of a rapid translation into...
Inhibition of NF-κB and AP-1 by dimethylfumarate correlates with down-regulated IL-6 secretion and proliferation in human lung fibroblasts
Our data suggest that DMF down-regulates TNF-α-induced IL-6 secretion and proliferation by inhibiting NF-ĸB and AP-1 activity, indicating its potential beneficial use for the treatment of inflammatory lung diseases.
APOE epsilon status in Hungarian patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis
Our findings suggest that the presence of the ε2 and ε4 alleles may play a role in the development of the disease. However, if any type of the disease has already developed the alleles show no association with the clinical...
Current clinical management of brainstem cavernomas
Currently, brainstem cavernoma can be treated microsurgically with excellent results and an acceptable morbidity rate.
Mesenchymal stem cells and innate tolerance: biology and clinical applications
The properties of mesenchymal stem cells have been widely investigated during the last decade, from their differentiation capacity to their immunosuppressive effect on any type of immune cell.
