[Treatment of nonmetastatic prostate cancer: a systematic review of interactive, personalized patient decision aids]. / Therapie des nichtmetastasierten Prostatakarzinoms : Eine systematische Übersicht interaktiv personalisierter patientenorientierter Entscheidungshilfen.

BACKGROUND: Patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer face a complex treatment decision. To support them with personalized information, a variety of interactive computerized decision aids have been developed in Anglo-Saxon countries. Our goal was to identify relevant decision aids and investigate their didactic strengths and limitations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included decision aids that derived individualized content from personal and clinical data provided by the patient. By conducting a systematic literature and internet research through November 2013 supplemented by expert interviews, we identified 10 decision aids of which 6 had been investigated scientifically. We compared their individual characteristics as well as the design and results of the evaluation studies. RESULTS: The decision aids present two to seven therapy choices, whereby radical prostatectomy and percutaneous radiotherapy are always included. Number and type of parameters provided by the patient also vary considerably. Two decision aids derive a therapeutic recommendation from the patient's input. Evaluation studies showed higher disease-related knowledge and greater confidence in the treatment decision after using one of six decision aids. Satisfaction with the decision aid was predominantly high. CONCLUSIONS: Currently personalized patient decision aids for treatment of nonmetastatic prostate cancer are only available in English. These tools can facilitate the shared decision making process for patients and physicians. Therefore, comparable decision aids should be developed in German.

Experiences of early users of direct-to-consumer genomics in Switzerland: an exploratory study.

AIMS: This study explores attitudes, motivations and self-reported impact in connection with direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomic testing amongst a group of life scientists in Switzerland. METHODS: Data were collected through: (1) a self-completion online questionnaire, and (2) semi-structured qualitative interviews. Forty participants completed the questionnaire and 10 were interviewed. RESULTS: Curiosity was mentioned as the primary reason for undergoing testing, while less significance was attributed to receiving actionable health information. The opportunity to contribute to research ranked high as a motive for testing. Overall, participants assessed their experience with the test as positive and were willing to recommend it to others. Some reported that the testing had an impact on how they view their health, but only a third of participants planned on showing the results to health practitioners. Participants consistently referred to 'fun' when describing several aspects of the testing experience. The 'fun factor' manifested itself in different phases of the process, including the motivation for taking the test, receiving the information and putting the test results to use (including sharing and discussing it with others). This finding suggests the need to further explore the concept of personal utility in DTC genomics. CONCLUSIONS: Although this group is not representative of the broader population due to both their scientific expertise and their willingness to try out a controversial new technology, their experiences provide valuable insights into the role of personal curiosity and altruism (fostering medical research) as motivations for testing and the utility attributed to both.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated encephalitis in childhood--nervous system disorder during or after a respiratory tract infection.

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an important aetiological agent of encephalitis in children, with encephalitis being the most frequent paediatric extrapulmonary manifestation of M. pneumoniae infections. Evidence of M. pneumoniae involvement in childhood encephalitis is difficult to obtain, because M. pneumoniae is seldom detected in the cerebrospinal fluid and the clinical picture shows gradual onset. Therefore, we present a small case-study as a paradigm of M. pneumoniae-associated encephalitis in childhood and illustrate the importance of this entity based on a review of previously published cases. PATIENTS: We describe neurological signs and symptoms of 2 patients with M. pneumoniae-associated encephalitis in childhood. Respiratory symptoms with fever occurred in both children. They were seropositive for M. pneumoniae, but did not have the organism detected by PCR from cerebrospinal fluid. No long-term neurologic sequelae occurred. CONCLUSION: M. pneumoniae has to be considered as a responsible pathogen of encephalitis in children, even if respiratory symptoms do not occur. Due to the seldom detection of M. pneumoniae in cerebrospinal fluid, evidence of m. pneumoniae involvement in childhood encephalitis is difficult to obtain.Faced with a neurological disease with no organism detected in CNS in the majority of cases assumes that M. pneumoniae-associated encephalitis is most likely a paradigm for an autoimmune disease with uniform pathogenesis mediated by an immunologic response to an antecedent antigenic stimulus from M. pneumoniae. It is important to relate this organism to this relatively common and potentially devastating clinical syndrome.

In vitro inhibition of coagulase-negative staphylococci by vancomycin/aminoglycoside-loaded cement spacers.

BACKGROUND: Successful treatment of allograft infections by the temporary implantation of an antibiotic-loaded polymethylmethacrylate cement spacer depends on the diffusion of antibiotics out of the cement and inhibition of bacterial growth in the surrounding tissue. We investigated with an in vitro model how long antibiotics are released by the cement and if gentamicin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are inhibited by vancomycin mixed with the gentamicin-loaded cement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four formulations of antibiotic-loaded cement disks, i.e. gentamicin, tobramycin, vancomycin and tobramycin combined with vancomycin, respectively, were used to test the inhibition of eight isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis and two reference strains of Staphylococcus aureus by an agar diffusion test on Mueller-Hinton (MH) agar similar to the routine laboratory disk diffusion method. Moreover, cement spacer cylinders loaded with gentamicin alone or combined with vancomycin were submerged in MH agar for weeks and the capacity to inhibit five different isolates of S. epidermidis was measured. RESULTS: The size of the inhibition zones around the antibiotic-loaded cement disks correlated with the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antibiotics against the tested strains. All five strains of S. epidermidis were inhibited by vancomycin-loaded cement spacers for at least 30 days. However, two gentamicin-resistant S. epidermidis strains with MICs of 4 mg/l and 16 mg/l could not be inhibited longer than 3 days by the gentamicin-loaded cement spacer. CONCLUSION: The in vitro data suggest that antibiotic-loaded cement spacers inhibit susceptible bacteria for 4-6 weeks. The addition of vancomycin to commercial aminoglycoside-loaded cements might be helpful in allograft infections in tumor patients to inhibit a broad range of bacteria including gentamicin-resistant CNS very commonly found in such infections.