Utility of electrophysiological studies to predict arrhythmic events

AIM To evaluate the prognostic value of electrophysiological stimulation (EPS) in the risk stratification for tachyarrhythmic events and sudden cardiac death (SCD). METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study and analyzed the long-term follow-up of 265 consecutive patients who underwent programmed ventricular stimulation at the Luzerner Kantonsspital (Lucerne, Switzerland) between October 2003 and April 2012. Patients underwent EPS for SCD risk evaluation because of structural or functional heart disease and/or electrical conduction abnormality and/or after syncope/cardiac arrest. EPS was considered abnormal, if a sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) was inducible. The primary endpoint of the study was SCD or, in implanted patients, adequate ICD-activation. RESULTS During EPS, sustained VT was induced in 125 patients (47.2%) and non-sustained VT in 60 patients (22.6%); in 80 patients (30.2%) no arrhythmia could be induced. In our cohort, 153 patients (57.7%) underwent ICD implantation after the EPS. During follow-up (mean duration 4.8 ± 2.3 years), a primary endpoint event occurred in 49 patients (18.5%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.593 (95%CI: 0.515-0.670) for a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 35% and 0.636 (95%CI: 0.563-0.709) for inducible sustained VT during EPS. The AUROC of EPS was higher in the subgroup of patients with LVEF ≥ 35% (0.681, 95%CI: 0.578-0.785). Cox regression analysis showed that both, sustained VT during EPS (HR: 2.26, 95%CI: 1.22-4.19, P = 0.009) and LVEF < 35% (HR: 2.00, 95%CI: 1.13-3.54, P = 0.018) were independent predictors of primary endpoint events. CONCLUSION EPS provides a benefit in risk stratification for future tachyarrhythmic events and SCD and should especially be considered in patients with LVEF ≥ 35%.

Lung cancer in the Canton of St. Gallen, Eastern Switzerland: sex-associated differences in smoking habits, disease presentation and survival.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess sex-associated differences in lung cancer patients in Eastern Switzerland. METHODS All 670 lung cancer patients referred to the cancer center in St. Gallen between January 2000 and December 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. We investigated sex-associated differences in age, smoking habits, histology, stage, treatment and survival. RESULTS There were 474 (71%) men and 196 (29%) women with lung cancer. Mean age at the time of diagnosis was 64 years for women and 67 years for men (p = 0.01). Of the patients <55 years of age, 47 (24%) were women and only 65 (14%) were men. Men smoked significantly more than women (median pack-years: 50 vs. 30; p < 0.001). Of the heavy smokers (>40 pack-years), 278 (56%) were men and 68 (33%) were women. More men had squamous cell carcinoma (36%) than women (17%). Conversely, more women presented with adenocarcinoma (48%) than men (27%). No significant sex-associated differences were observed when analyzing first treatments received. Median overall survival was 10 months for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS In Eastern Switzerland, women with lung cancer were younger, more likely to have smoked significantly less and more likely to have adenocarcinoma, compared to men with lung cancer. These findings are consistent with those found in other western populations.

Tissue Crowding Induces Caspase-Dependent Competition for Space.

Regulation of tissue size requires fine tuning at the single-cell level of proliferation rate, cell volume, and cell death. Whereas the adjustment of proliferation and growth has been widely studied [1, 2, 3, 4 and 5], the contribution of cell death and its adjustment to tissue-scale parameters have been so far much less explored. Recently, it was shown that epithelial cells could be eliminated by live-cell delamination in response to an increase of cell density [6]. Cell delamination was supposed to occur independently of caspase activation and was suggested to be based on a gradual and spontaneous disappearance of junctions in the delaminating cells [6]. Studying the elimination of cells in the midline region of the Drosophila pupal notum, we found that, contrary to what was suggested before, Caspase 3 activation precedes and is required for cell delamination. Yet, using particle image velocimetry, genetics, and laser-induced perturbations, we confirmed [ 6] that local tissue crowding is necessary and sufficient to drive cell elimination and that cell elimination is independent of known fitness-dependent competition pathways [ 7, 8 and 9]. Accordingly, activation of the oncogene Ras in clones was sufficient to compress the neighboring tissue and eliminate cells up to several cell diameters away from the clones. Mechanical stress has been previously proposed to contribute to cell competition [ 10 and 11]. These results provide the first experimental evidences that crowding-induced death could be an alternative mode of super-competition, namely mechanical super-competition, independent of known fitness markers [ 7, 8 and 9], that could promote tumor growth.

Die Piutim des Machsors für Jomkippur

übersetzt und erläutert von Joseph Breuer

Na 50 Nachlass Arthur Schopenhauer - 'Schopenhauer-Archiv', 68 - Dankesschreiben anlässlich des Hinweises Schopenhauers auf eine jüngst erschienene Rezension

u.a.: Tod der Ehefrau von Friedrich Grävel; Farbenlehre; Ankündigung einer Reise nach Frankfurt; negatives Urteil zur Rezension von Otto Uhle; Rezension von Rudolph Radau in der Königsberger Hartungschen Zeitung; wissenschaftliche Diskussion mit einer Gruppe von Physikern; Aufsatz von Hermann von Helmholtz, "Ueber Goethe's naturwissenschaftliche Arbeiten" in der Kieler Monatschrift 1853; A.F. Dittmann, "Die Erde ein Himmelskörper. Ein kritischer Hinblick auf die Geschichte und Wissenschaft der Astronomie, Kiel 1856; Einschätzung über die Wirkung der Werke Schopenhauers in Deutschland; Isaak Newton; A. F. Dittmann;

Die soziale und volkswirthschaftliche Gesetzgebung des Alten Testaments : unter Berücksichtigung moderner Anschauungen dargestellt

von Franz Eberhard Kübel

Das Alte Testament und die Humanität

ein Vortrag gehalten von Carl Heinrich Cornill

Die Propheten in ihrem sozialen Beruf und das Wirtschaftsleben ihrer Zeit : ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Sozialethik

von Franz Walter

Das Kaddisch der Trauernden

von Dr. Adolf Kurrein

Das Kaddisch-Gebet: dessen Sinn, Bedeutung und Tendenz

erklärt und commentiert von Jakob Hübscher

Abend- und Morgengebet

übersetzt und erläutert von Joseph Breuer

Mussaf- Mincha- und Neilagebet

übersetzt und erläutert von Joseph Breuer

Kol Nidre und seine Entstehungsgeschichte

von Joseph S. Bloch. Mit einem Vorwort von Alfred Stern

Das Achtzehngebet nach seiner sprachlichen und geschichtlichen Entwickelung : dargestellt als Beitrag zur Geschichte der jüd. Liturgie

von Joseph Enoch

Die Piutim für Rosch Haschana

übersetzt und erläutert von Joseph Breuer