Oral vaccination against pancreatic tumours
The world’s first gene cancer therapy study of an innovative oral vaccine is underway at the Surgical Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital.
Medication
Risks and benefits of first line diabetes treatment
Although the drug metformin is considered the gold standard in the management of type 2 diabetes, a study by a group of French researchers published in this week's PLoS Medicine suggests that the long-term benefits of this drug compared with the risks are not clearly established - an important finding given that currently, thousands of people around the world are regularly taking metformin to…
Organisation and technology as factors of success in A&E
Point of care technologies (POCT) have an important, quality enhancing, risk-reducing and cost-impacting role within the extremely time-critical medical decision structures of a central Accident and Emergency department, says Professor Wilfried von Eiff, Centre for Hospital Management, University of Muenster, Germany.
Germany to limit test strips prescriptions
Since the German Federal Ministry of Health did not oppose the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) decision to eliminate reimbursement for urine and blood sugar test strips for Type 2 diabetics not dependent on insulin from the services provided by statutory medical insurers, from this October test strips will only be prescribed in exceptional cases.
Human error – or a fault in the system?
Medication errors sit among the top ten causes of harm to patients. They can, of course, occur in any department, but it’s still a surprise that they happen as frequently in anaesthetics departments, considering anaesthetists’ expertise is in handling tricky medication. However, apparently they are not the fault of the professional, but of the nature of the processes. Report: Karoline…
Cardiac conundrum
France – Re-opening clogged arteries with metal stents has proved a life-saver for a majority of patients with coronary disease. Yet the high rates of complications and mortality for patients with diabetes following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continue to baffle cardiologists. Report: John Brosky
Several methods for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease developed by European scientists
PredictAD is an EU-funded research project that develops objective and efficient methods for enabling earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Diagnosis requires a holistic view of the patient combining information from several sources, such as, clinical tests, imaging and blood samples.
Positron emission mammography is coming to Europe
Every medical congress is an opportunity for the manufacturers to showcase their products. This year’s congress of the German Röntgen Society was no exception -- and one innovation particularly caught the attention of our European Hospital team: positron emission mammography, PEM for short.
Laboratory challenges in disasters and world tragedies
This May, IFCC WorldLab Berlin with its manifold scientific programme gives clinical lab physicians the opportunity to see over the rim of the tea cup of their working field. Within the congress theme ‘Healing the world’ comes an exciting lecture on laboratory work in third world countries and disaster areas.
Treatment options for atrial fibrillation to prevent a stroke
Neurocardiology – especially atrial fibrillation (AF) – was the key topic during a press conference held during the 55th Annual Congress of the Germany Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and Functional Imaging (DGKN) this March. For good reason: Worldwide, there are around six million AF sufferers -- and it is one of the most common causes of stroke because this cardiac irregularity can…
A novel prostate disease marker and index show increased clinical accuracy
The role of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer detection continued to command attention at during the annual congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU) in March.
Article • Medical research
Pharmacogenetics - Researchers focus on customised medication for patient groups
In the first month of 2011, the Centre for Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics at the Paracelsus Private Medical University in Salzburg, Austria, officially opened its doors. Why have pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics so increasingly important in medical research? We asked the head of the new research centre, Professor Markus Paulmichl.
Contrast-induced nephropathy
Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is widely recognised as a potentially serious complication of contrast media use -- a risk that increases with a patient’s age and decreased renal function. Mark Nicholls reports
Contrast enhanced tumour studies
Medical imaging has recently advanced so rapidly that it should halt. Applying more power to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners is becoming too dangerous for patients and healthcare workers. Magnets for the next-generation MRIs are so powerful that they must be moved to a separate building on hospital campuses, while CT radiation levels have risen to alarming…
Bacterial or viral? – Name it! Beat it!
The smaller the child, the more defenceless it is against viral and bacterial attacks. That is why infection accompanied by the symptom of a high temperature is the most common illness in children. So, when a child has a runny nose and fever an infection is clear. The more elemental question is: Should it be treated with antibiotics?
The 3rd Annual General Meeting of the Austrian Society for Laboratory Medicine and Clinical Chemistry
Different tests bring different results, and results of the same types of test vary from laboratory to laboratory. "In the case of test procedures for autoimmune diseases there are incredible discrepancies," confirmed Professor Manfred Herold, head of the Laboratory for Rheumatism at the University Clinic for Internal Medicine One, Innsbruck. The reason: "There are no standards for…
POCT brings values
Bedside testing of parameters has been introduced in clinical practice much earlier than laboratory testing: In past centuries, not only were temperature or pulse rate taken at the point of care (POC), but also qualitative blood or urine analysis were performed right next to a patient’s bed
Stroke - New options for prevention and therapy
It’s hardly surprising that stroke was a focus at the 20th meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS) -- every year at least a million people suffer one in the EU. In an interview with Bettina Döbereiner, Professor Karl Max Einhäupl, Director of the Department of Neurology at the Charité - University of Medicine Berlin, of which he is Chairman of the Board and co-chair of the ENS…
Environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals inadequate
The strategies used to assess the environmental risks posed by pharmaceuticals are not enough to protect natural microbial communities, reveals a researcher from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who is calling for better environmental risk assessments.
Concern over insulin drug withdrawal
Drug company Novo Nordisk’s decision to pull its Mixtard 30 insulin drug from the UK could add almost €11 million to the NHS drugs bill in England alone, according to an editorial in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB). This decision could also leave thousands of patients dependent on others to help them take their insulin, said DTB, as it launched its Don’t Drop Mixtard 30 campaign in…
New stents for the future
Drug-eluting stents to treat narrowed coronary vessels met with sensational success, and then things became rather quiet. Now, two new developments from Cordis and Biotronik are being tested at Essen University Hospital, Germany. We asked Professor Holger Eggebrecht, head of the hospital’s cardiac catheter lab, why these new models look important.
Cardiac Biomarkers
When in 1992 Dr Luigi Marzio Biasucci, head of the Sub-intensive Care Unit at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy, published with his team the first paper on C-reactive protein (CRP) in unstable angina, few people believed in the diagnostic power of biochemical features to measure the effects or progress of disease, illness, or a condition. Today, biomarker tests are part…
Stiff heart - The ‘stepchild’ of cardiology
Patients with heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HFNEF) also referred to as ‘stiff heart’, show a normal ejection fraction and severe diastolic dysfunction. President of the Austrian Society of Cardiology, Professor Irene Lang warns: ‘It is particularly concerning that stiff heart is a little known and insufficiently researched cardiac condition -- a stepchild in research,…
Immunotherapy could aid stroke recovery
Trials for a new type of treatment for stroke that could help millions of people at risk of death or disability should commence in 2011. A research team in France has successfully completed laboratory tests of antibodies that protect the brain and reduce the side-effects of current therapy.
Advanced melanoma
An increase in survival in metastatic melanoma – the cancer with the most rapidly increasing incidence across the EU – has been shown for the first time in a major international study by researchers from across Europe. The results showed that patients who received a novel monoclonal antibody called ipilimumab lived 34% longer than control patients given gp100 peptide vaccine.
