Fulminant myocarditis: outcome predictors in an international cohort study.

Background And Aims: Fulminant myocarditis (FM) is a complex clinical syndrome characterized by acute myocardial inflammation and cardiogenic shock. Evidence on long-term outcomes, mortality risk factors, and targeted treatment options remains limited.

Methods: This retrospective analysis included consecutive adult patients admitted for FM between January 2012 and November 2022 at 26 European tertiary centres.

Self-Reported Adherence to Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Insights From the 3rd Bavarian Food Consumption Survey.

Vegetarian and vegan diets are increasingly popular in Germany due to ethical considerations, perceived health and environmental benefits. Regionally representative data, particularly for Bavaria, remain scarce. This study updates the prevalence, demographics and eating motives of vegetarians and vegans using data from the 3rd Bavarian Food Consumption Survey (BVS III; 2021-2023), a repeated, population-based, representative study.

Comparison of prognostication by IPSS-M, IPSS-R and AIPSS-MDS in the context of limited availability of molecular data in daily clinical practice.

The IPSS-M was developed to revolutionize the prediction of MDS patients' survival by incorporating molecular data. To compensate for lack of access to molecular analyses, the AIPSS-MDS, a supervised machine learning algorithm exclusively based on clinical and cytogenetic data, was developed by the Spanish MDS Group. We used data of the Düsseldorf MDS Registry and included 207 of more than 8500 registry patients whose IPSS-M-requested complete molecular data were known to compare and validate prognostication regarding OS and LFS of the IPSS-M, IPSS-R and AIPSS-MDS.

Association of Inflammatory and Cardiovascular Proteomics Biomarkers With Indices of Heart Rate Variability in the General Population: KORA S4/FF4 Study.

Background: We sought to investigate the association between circulating inflammatory and cardiovascular proteomics biomarkers and cardiac autonomic nervous dysfunction-sensitive heart rate variability indices.

Methods: Using the population-based KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) cohort, 233 proteomics biomarkers were quantified in baseline plasma samples of 1389 individuals using proximity extension assay technology. Five heart rate variability indices (Rényi entropy of the histogram with order [α] 4, total power of the density spectra, SD of word sequence, SD of the short-term normal-to-normal interval variability, compression entropy) were assessed at baseline in 982 individuals and in 407 individuals at baseline and at 14-year follow-up.

Impact of summer heat on male children's physiological responses during football training.

Background: As summer temperatures rise due to climate change, the Pediatrics Society calls for more research on children's core body temperature. This study aims to analyze these concerns by investigating the specific effects of heat exposure on children's physiological parameters such as body temperature during football training.

Methods: This case-crossover study investigated the effects of heat on several physiological parameters (e.

Comparing supervised machine learning algorithms for the prediction of partial arterial pressure of oxygen during craniotomy.

Background And Objectives: Brain tissue oxygenation is usually inferred from arterial partial pressure of oxygen (paO), which is in turn often inferred from pulse oximetry measurements or other non-invasive proxies. Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of continuous paO prediction in an intraoperative setting among neurosurgical patients undergoing craniotomies with modern machine learning methods.

Methods: Data from routine clinical care of lung-healthy neurosurgical patients were extracted from databases of the respective clinical systems and normalized.

Pathways between intimate partner violence and HIV care and treatment during pregnancy and postpartum: A qualitative study in southwestern Kenya.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with suboptimal HIV treatment behaviors and health outcomes among perinatal women. Less is known about the postpartum phase or how distinct types of perinatal IPV exposure may inhibit HIV-related care. We conducted a qualitative study nested within an ongoing trial among perinatal women in rural Kenya to explore the influence of IPV on adherence to HIV treatment during pregnancy and postpartum.

Drivers and levers of the double burden of malnutrition in Cape Town, South Africa: insights from in-depth interviews with multi-sectoral stakeholders.

Background: South Africa faces a high burden of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight, obesity, and diet-related non-communicable diseases. This coexistence and interaction of multiple forms of malnutrition within individuals and communities across the life-course is referred to as the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) and has complex, interrelated causes that need to be concurrently addressed. This qualitative study explored the drivers and potential leverage points of the DBM at individual, household, community, and (local) policy level in the Cape Town Metropolitan region.

Assessing the effectiveness of the heat health warning system in preventing mortality in 15 German cities: A difference-in-differences approach.

Background: Heatwaves pose significant risks to human health. Implementing heat health warning systems (HHWS) has been widely adopted as a preventive measure. However, the effectiveness of the German HHWS in reducing mortality during heat episodes across different cities has scarcely been researched.

Feasibility and Preliminary Results of a Standardized Stair Climbing Test to Evaluate Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Children and Adolescents in a Non-Clinical Setting: The "Hand Aufs Herz" Study.

: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is of great interest in children and adolescents. Due to the limited availability of cardiopulmonary exercise testing, simple and reliable alternatives are needed. A stair climbing test (SCT) for the assessment of CRF developed at the Department of Pediatric Cardiology of the LMU University Hospital in Munich showed a strong correlation with VOmax.

Position paper of the German Network for Health Care Research: What is health care research?

The scope and definition of health care research is a matter of discussion in our scientific community. The Board of the German Network for Health Care Research has drafted a position paper that was extensively reviewed and commented upon by all working groups and specialist groups of the network. The present version represents consented common grounds to a large degree but is neither complete nor final.

The MCL elderly III trial protocol: an international, randomized, open-label phase II trial to investigate the combinations of venetoclax, ibrutinib and rituximab or bendamustine, ibrutinib and rituximab in patients with treatment naive mantle cell lymphoma not eligible for dose-intensive treatment.

Background: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare B-cell Non-Hodgkin-lymphoma that predominantly affects elderly patients. While younger and fit patients receive an intensive first-line treatment, older or comorbid patients have limited options of chemo-immunotherapy (CIT) alone followed by anti-CD20-antibody maintenance. Targeted oral agents as Bruton`s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi, e.

Magnesium Depletion, Metabolic Impairment, and Cardiac Alterations: The NAKO-MRI Study with Mendelian Randomization.

Context: Magnesium deficiency may contribute to subclinical cardiac changes, particularly metabolic diastolic cardiomyopathy.

Objective: To investigate the association between magnesium depletion, metabolic syndrome (MetS), and MRI-derived cardiac alterations in a population-based sample.

Methods: We cross-sectionally analyzed N = 9568 participants from the baseline examination of the German National Cohort (NAKO) who underwent whole-body MRI.

The Impact of Women's Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence and Gender Equity on Intimate Partner Violence Experience: Findings From a Longitudinal Study in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Inequitable gender norms can manifest in attitudes about gender and intimate partner violence (IPV) acceptability and be risk factors for women's experience of male-perpetrated IPV. This longitudinal study explored the effect of Tanzanian women's attitudes toward gender equity and toward IPV on physical and/or sexual IPV experience with mixed-effects and cross-lagged regressions. Unadjusted mixed-effects regression shows that an increase in gender equity or IPV unacceptance is significantly associated with a decrease of IPV experience.

Occurrence of coronary events in the absence of traditional risk factors: Understanding residual risk.

Background And Aims: The major predictors of future coronary heart disease (CHD) events in individuals without traditional modifiable cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) remain unknown. We investigated the association between circulating biomarkers, reflecting residual risk, with incident CHD in a general population, according to the presence of five CVRFs (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, smoking and obesity) at baseline.

Methods: Overall 212,598 CHD-free individuals from 21 European population-based cohorts were stratified by CVRF burden into three groups, having zero (n = 35,707), one (n = 68,548) or ≥2 (n = 108,343) risk factors at baseline.

Triangulating data to define patient pathways, diagnostic and treatment patterns, and outcomes in cancer patients with deep vein thrombosis in Germany: a mixed-methods real-world data study.

Purpose: Cancer incidence is rising in Germany, increasing the burden of cancer-associated deep vein thrombosis (DVT). To improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, robust regional data on patient numbers, cancer types, healthcare access, and outcomes are essential but currently scarce. This study addresses these gaps using a multi-source approach.

Reducing meat consumption: Results from a German survey on attitudes, behaviour and willingness to change among adults.

Background: Individual meat consumption in Germany has fallen slightly in recent years, but still exceeds the recommended quantities. High meat consumption has negative impacts both on human health and the environment. This study intends to identify which population groups in Germany may have already reduced their meat consumption, based on which motives, and to capture the willingness to limit future consumption.

Heat-related emergency medical service operations: the relevance of the heat definition.

Heat is associated with an increase in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) operations. However, different heat definitions in research, including outside air temperature (T), Heat Index (HI) and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), impair the assessment of heat onthe frequency of EMS operations. Therefore, this study aims to compare (1) the relationship between different heat definitions and the frequency of days defined as heat events, (2) the percentage change in the number of EMS operations per heat definition, and (3) the goodness of model fit of each heat definition.

Key concepts in clinical epidemiology: FAIRification of biomedical research data.

The Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable guiding principles promote Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of data to enhance data management and stewardship. In biomedicine, particular ethical, legal, and technical barriers complicate research data sharing. To help researchers overcome these challenges, we propose a framework of FAIRification from three dimensions - scientific, technical, and legal/ethical.

Gender-based violence and child nutrition in fragile settings: exploring intersections and opportunities for evidence generation.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is disproportionately perpetrated against women and girls, due to harmful gender and social norms, structural gender-based power inequalities and pervasive discrimination against women and girls globally. In settings of fragility (eg, weak governance and humanitarian emergencies), risk factors for GBV are exacerbated while protective factors are eroded. Adequate nutrition is critical for mental and physical health and ensuring adequate nutrition for children in fragile settings is particularly critical.

PACIC: patient activation and problem solving not related to age in patients with depressive symptoms.

The Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) assesses alignment of chronic care with the Chronic Care Model (CCM). We analysed PACIC subscales in patients with depressive symptoms to identify gaps in patient-centred care. A total of N = 2741 patients (59.

Diagnostic challenges in vestibular migraine-clinical differentiation from Menière's disease and discrepancies with current classification criteria.

Background: Vestibular migraine (VM) and Menière's disease (MD) are spontaneous episodic vestibular syndromes and often present with overlapping features, making clinical differentiation challenging. This study aimed to (1) identify key features distinguishing VM from MD and (2) investigate discrepancies between expert diagnosis and International Classification of Vestibular Disorders (ICVD) criteria for VM.

Methods: We analyzed data from patients diagnosed with VM or MD at the tertiary dizziness center of LMU Munich.

Associations of breastfeeding with maternal and child health outcomes: umbrella review.

Background: Breastfeeding (BF) has been reported to be beneficial for both mothers and their offspring, but the evidence for these associations has not been systematically evaluated.

Objectives: This umbrella review aims to assess the credibility of existing evidence regarding the associations between BF and health outcomes in mothers and offspring.

Methods: For each health outcome, evidence levels were determined using reanalyzed random-effects estimates, between-study heterogeneity, 95% predictive intervals, publication bias, small-study effects, and excess significance bias.

Association between post-stroke depressiveness and the utilization of healthcare services three months after the stroke.

Post-stroke depression affects approximately one-third of stroke survivors and can result in various adverse outcomes. With the rising prevalence of strokes, understanding the impact of post-stroke depression on healthcare utilization is crucial. The study examined the association between patient-reported post-stroke depressiveness and the healthcare service utilization three months post-stroke.

Cocaine Use Disorder in German outpatient addiction care - A trend analysis.

Background: Cocaine is more readily available than ever in Europe, leading to rising consumption rates and an increasing demand for treatment of Cocaine Use Disorder (CoUD) in Germany. This study examines the impact of these trends on the outpatient addiction care setting in Germany by analyzing national trends in the demand for CoUD-related care and the sociodemographic characteristics of clients entering outpatient addiction care facilities (OACF) with a primary diagnosis of CoUD between 2001 and 2023.

Methods: Data were derived from the German Addiction Care Statistical Service (DSHS), which annually aggregates data from OACFs across Germany.