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Parameters of pulse wave velocity: determinants and reference values assessed in the population-based study LIFE-Adult
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

AIMS AND BACKGROUND Parameters of arterial stiffness such as pulse wave velocity (PWV) were recently proposed as independent risk factors of cardiovascular events. We analyse three PWV parameters in …n the large population-based study LIFE-Adult to identify risk factors, normal and reference values. METHODS AND RESULTS Brachial-ankle (ba), brachial-femoral (bf) and carotid-femoral (cf) PWV assessment was performed using Vicorder device. 8509 participants aged 19-80 were analysed. PWV parameters were moderately correlated (r(ba/bf) = 0.6, r(ba/cf) = 0.46, r(bf/cf) = 0.59). Age and blood pressure are the dominant determinants of PWV parameters explaining \textgreater 18% of variability. Sex was only relevant for bfPWV and cfPWV. All further analysed cardiovascular and other risk factors are of minor importance. We provide age-dependent percentiles for the population (reference values) and for the subgroup of normotonic individuals. All percentiles show a strong increase with age. The difference between normotonic and all individuals is small for younger age groups but increases up to 1 m/s for elderly subjects. CONCLUSION Our study confirms and further underpins the strong impact of age and blood pressure on arterial stiffness and the relatively weak contribution of other factors, supporting an independent role of arterial stiffness in cardiovascular disease development. Age-dependent reference and normal values were provided on the basis of the so far largest study sample facilitating the implementation of PWV assessment in clinical practice. Due to better compliance, handling and stronger association with age and blood pressure, baPWV could serve as an alternative to cfPWV. Follow-up data are required to estimate the clinical significance of specified PWV cut-offs.

Authors: Daniel Baier, Andrej Teren, Kerstin Wirkner, Markus Loeffler, Markus Scholz

Date Published: 1st Nov 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Parametric model for the 3D reconstruction of individual fovea shape from OCT data.
ProstataCA

Abstract (Expand)

As revealed by optical coherence tomography (OCT), the shape of the fovea may vary greatly among individuals. However, none of the hitherto available mathematical descriptions comprehensively reproduces … all individual characteristics such as foveal depth, slope, naso-temporal asymmetry, and others. Here, a novel mathematical approach is presented to obtain a very accurate model of the complete 3D foveal surface of an individual, by utilizing recent developments in OCT. For this purpose, a new formula was developed serving as a simple but very flexible way to represent a given fovea. An extensive description of the used model parameters, as well as, of the complete method of reconstructing a foveal surface from OCT data, is presented. Noteworthy, the formula analytically provides characteristic foveal parameters and thus allows for extensive quantification. The present approach was verified on 432 OCT scans and has proved to be able to capture the whole range of asymmetric foveal shapes with high accuracy (i.e. a mean fit error of 1.40 mum).

Authors: P. Scheibe, A. Lazareva, U. D. Braumann, A. Reichenbach, P. Wiedemann, M. Francke, F. G. Rauscher

Date Published: 3rd Dec 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: eye disease

Parenthood in long-term survivors after CHOP with or without etoposide treatment for aggressive lymphoma.
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: J. Meissner, D. Tichy, S. Dietrich, T. Schmitt, M. Ziepert, E. Kuhnt, T. Rixecker, M. Witzens-Harig, M. Pfreundschuh, A. D. Ho

Date Published: 3rd Apr 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: lymphoma

Past and next 10 years of medical informatics
Management of health information systems

Abstract (Expand)

More than 10 years ago Haux et al. tried to answer the question how health care provision will look like in the year 2013. A follow-up workshop was held in Braunschweig, Germany, for 2 days in May, … 2013, with 20 invited international experts in biomedical and health informatics. Among other things it had the objectives to discuss the suggested goals and measures of 2002 and how priorities on MI research in this context should be set from the viewpoint of today. The goals from 2002 are now as up-to-date as they were then. The experts stated that the three goals: \textquotedblpatient-centred recording and use of medical data for cooperative care\textquotedbl; \textquotedblprocess-integrated decision support through current medical knowledge\textquotedbl and \textquotedblcomprehensive use of patient data for research and health care reporting\textquotedbl have not been reached yet and are still relevant. A new goal for ICT in health care should be the support of patient centred personalized (individual) medicine. MI as an academic discipline carries out research concerning tools that support health care professionals in their work. This research should be carried out without the pressure that it should lead to systems that are immediately and directly accepted in practice.

Authors: F. Uckert, Elske Ammenwerth, C. Dujat, A. Grant, Reinhold Haux, A. Hein, A. Hochlehnert, Petra Knaup-Gregori, C. Kulikowski, J. Mantas, V. Maojo, M. Marschollek, L. Moura, M. Plischke, R. Rohrig, Jürgen Stausberg, K. Takabayashi, Alfred Winter, Klaus-Hendrik Wolf, A. Hasman

Date Published: 1st Jul 2014

Publication Type: Journal article

Pathology of breast and ovarian cancers among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: results from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA)
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Previously, small studies have found that BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast tumors differ in their pathology. Analysis of larger datasets of mutation carriers should allow further tumor characterization. …. METHODS We used data from 4,325 BRCA1 and 2,568 BRCA2 mutation carriers to analyze the pathology of invasive breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancers. RESULTS There was strong evidence that the proportion of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast tumors decreased with age at diagnosis among BRCA1 (P-trend = 1.2 \times 10(-5)), but increased with age at diagnosis among BRCA2, carriers (P-trend = 6.8 \times 10(-6)). The proportion of triple-negative tumors decreased with age at diagnosis in BRCA1 carriers but increased with age at diagnosis of BRCA2 carriers. In both BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers, ER-negative tumors were of higher histologic grade than ER-positive tumors (grade 3 vs. grade 1; P = 1.2 \times 10(-13) for BRCA1 and P = 0.001 for BRCA2). ER and progesterone receptor (PR) expression were independently associated with mutation carrier status [ER-positive odds ratio (OR) for BRCA2 = 9.4, 95% CI: 7.0-12.6 and PR-positive OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.3-2.3, under joint analysis]. Lobular tumors were more likely to be BRCA2-related (OR for BRCA2 = 3.3, 95% CI: 2.4-4.4; P = 4.4 \times 10(-14)), and medullary tumors BRCA1-related (OR for BRCA2 = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.18-0.35; P = 2.3 \times 10(-15)). ER-status of the first breast cancer was predictive of ER-status of asynchronous contralateral breast cancer (P = 0.0004 for BRCA1; P = 0.002 for BRCA2). There were no significant differences in ovarian cancer morphology between BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers (serous: 67%; mucinous: 1%; endometrioid: 12%; clear-cell: 2%). CONCLUSIONS/IMPACT: Pathologic characteristics of BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors may be useful for improving risk-prediction algorithms and informing clinical strategies for screening and prophylaxis.

Authors: Nasim Mavaddat, Daniel Barrowdale, Irene L. Andrulis, Susan M. Domchek, Diana Eccles, Heli Nevanlinna, Susan J. Ramus, Amanda Spurdle, Mark Robson, Mark Sherman, Anna Marie Mulligan, Fergus J. Couch, Christoph Engel, Lesley McGuffog, Sue Healey, Olga M. Sinilnikova, Melissa C. Southey, Mary Beth Terry, David Goldgar, Frances O’Malley, Esther M. John, Ramunas Janavicius, Laima Tihomirova, Thomas v. O. Hansen, Finn C. Nielsen, Ana Osorio, Alexandra Stavropoulou, Javier Benítez, Siranoush Manoukian, Bernard Peissel, Monica Barile, Sara Volorio, Barbara Pasini, Riccardo Dolcetti, Anna Laura Putignano, Laura Ottini, Paolo Radice, Ute Hamann, Muhammad U. Rashid, Frans B. Hogervorst, Mieke Kriege, Rob B. van der Luijt, Susan Peock, Debra Frost, D. Gareth Evans, Carole Brewer, Lisa Walker, Mark T. Rogers, Lucy E. Side, Catherine Houghton, JoEllen Weaver, Andrew K. Godwin, Rita K. Schmutzler, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Alfons Meindl, Karin Kast, Norbert Arnold, Dieter Niederacher, Christian Sutter, Helmut Deissler, Doroteha Gadzicki, Sabine Preisler-Adams, Raymonda Varon-Mateeva, Ines Schönbuchner, Heidrun Gevensleben, Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Muriel Belotti, Laure Barjhoux, Claudine Isaacs, Beth N. Peshkin, Trinidad Caldes, Miguel de La Hoya, Carmen Cañadas, Tuomas Heikkinen, Päivi Heikkilä, Kristiina Aittomäki, Ignacio Blanco, Conxi Lazaro, Joan Brunet, Bjarni A. Agnarsson, Adalgeir Arason, Rosa B. Barkardottir, Martine Dumont, Jacques Simard, Marco Montagna, Simona Agata, Emma D’Andrea, Max Yan, Stephen Fox, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Wendy Rubinstein, Nadine Tung, Judy E. Garber, Xianshu Wang, Zachary Fredericksen, Vernon S. Pankratz, Noralane M. Lindor, Csilla Szabo, Kenneth Offit, Rita Sakr, Mia M. Gaudet, Christian F. Singer, Muy-Kheng Tea, Christine Rappaport, Phuong L. Mai, Mark H. Greene, Anna Sokolenko, Evgeny Imyanitov, Amanda Ewart Toland, Leigha Senter, Kevin Sweet, Mads Thomassen, Anne-Marie Gerdes, Torben Kruse, Maria Caligo, Paolo Aretini, Johanna Rantala, Anna von Wachenfeld, Karin Henriksson, Linda Steele, Susan L. Neuhausen, Robert Nussbaum, Mary Beattie, Kunle Odunsi, Lara Sucheston, Simon A. Gayther, Kate Nathanson, Jenny Gross, Christine Walsh, Beth Karlan, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Douglas F. Easton, Antonis C. Antoniou

Date Published: 5th Jan 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Patient age at diagnosis is associated with the molecular characteristics of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
MMML - Molecular mechanisms in malignant lymphoma

Abstract (Expand)

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most frequent type of B-cell lymphoma in adult patients but also occurs in children. Patients are currently assigned to therapy regimens based on arbitrarily chosen … age limits only (eg, 18 or 60 years) and not biologically justified limits. A total of 364 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and related mature aggressive B-cell lymphomas other than Burkitt lymphoma from all age groups were analyzed by comprehensive molecular profiling. The probability of several biologic features previously reported to be associated with poor prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, such as ABC subtype, BCL2 expression, or cytogenetic complexity, increases with age at diagnosis. Similarly, various genetic features, such as IRF4 translocations, gains in 1q21, 18q21, 7p22, and 7q21, as well as changes in 3q27, including gains and translocations affecting the BCL6 locus, are significantly associated with patient age, but no cut-offs between age groups could be defined. If age was incorporated in multivariate analyses, genetic complexity lost its prognostic significance, whereas the prognostic impact of ABC subtype and age were additive. Our data indicate that aging is a major determinant of lymphoma biology. They challenge current concepts regarding both prognostic biomarkers and treatment stratification based on strict age cut-offs.

Authors: W. Klapper, M. Kreuz, C. W. Kohler, B. Burkhardt, M. Szczepanowski, I. Salaverria, M. Hummel, M. Loeffler, S. Pellissery, W. Woessmann, C. Schwanen, L. Trumper, S. Wessendorf, R. Spang, D. Hasenclever, R. Siebert

Date Published: 23rd Feb 2012

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Patients with IDH1 wild type anaplastic astrocytomas exhibit worse prognosis than IDH1-mutated glioblastomas, and IDH1 mutation status accounts for the unfavorable prognostic effect of higher age: implications for classification of gliomas.
GGN - German Glioma Network

Abstract (Expand)

WHO grading of human brain tumors extends beyond a strictly histological grading system by providing a basis predictive for the clinical behavior of the respective neoplasm. For example, patients with … glioblastoma WHO grade IV usually show a less favorable clinical course and receive more aggressive first-line treatment than patients with anaplastic astrocytoma WHO grade III. Here we provide evidence that the IDH1 status is more prognostic for overall survival than standard histological criteria that differentiate high-grade astrocytomas. We sequenced the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 gene (IDH1) at codon 132 in 382 patients with anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma from the NOA-04 trial and from a prospective translational cohort study of the German Glioma Network. Patients with anaplastic astrocytomas carried IDH1 mutations in 60%, and patients with glioblastomas in 7.2%. IDH1 was the most prominent single prognostic factor (RR 2.7; 95% CI 1.6-4.5) followed by age, diagnosis and MGMT. The sequence from more favorable to poorer outcome was (1) anaplastic astrocytoma with IDH1 mutation, (2) glioblastoma with IDH1 mutation, (3) anaplastic astrocytoma without IDH1 mutation and (4) glioblastoma without IDH1 mutation (p < 0.0001). In this combined set of anaplastic astrocytomas and glioblastomas both, IDH1 mutation and IDH1 expression status were of greater prognostic relevance than histological diagnosis according to the current WHO classification system. Our data indicate that much of the prognostic significance of patient age is due to the predominant occurrence of IDH1 mutations in younger patients. Immunohistochemistry using a mutation-specific antibody recognizing the R132H mutation yielded similar results. We propose to complement the current WHO classification and grading of high-grade astrocytic gliomas by the IDH1 mutation status and to use this combined histological and molecular classification in future clinical trials.

Authors: C. Hartmann, B. Hentschel, W. Wick, D. Capper, J. Felsberg, M. Simon, M. Westphal, G. Schackert, R. Meyermann, T. Pietsch, G. Reifenberger, M. Weller, M. Loeffler, A. von Deimling

Date Published: 20th Nov 2010

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: brain glioma, glioblastoma multiforme

Performance of in silico prediction tools for the classification of rare BRCA1/2 missense variants in clinical diagnostics
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND The use of next-generation sequencing approaches in clinical diagnostics has led to a tremendous increase in data and a vast number of variants of uncertain significance that require …e interpretation. Therefore, prediction of the effects of missense mutations using in silico tools has become a frequently used approach. Aim of this study was to assess the reliability of in silico prediction as a basis for clinical decision making in the context of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer. METHODS We tested the performance of four prediction tools (Align-GVGD, SIFT, PolyPhen-2, MutationTaster2) using a set of 236 BRCA1/2 missense variants that had previously been classified by expert committees. However, a major pitfall in the creation of a reliable evaluation set for our purpose is the generally accepted classification of BRCA1/2 missense variants using the multifactorial likelihood model, which is partially based on Align-GVGD results. To overcome this drawback we identified 161 variants whose classification is independent of any previous in silico prediction. In addition to the performance as stand-alone tools we examined the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) of combined approaches. RESULTS PolyPhen-2 achieved the lowest sensitivity (0.67), specificity (0.67), accuracy (0.67) and MCC (0.39). Align-GVGD achieved the highest values of specificity (0.92), accuracy (0.92) and MCC (0.73), but was outperformed regarding its sensitivity (0.90) by SIFT (1.00) and MutationTaster2 (1.00). All tools suffered from poor specificities, resulting in an unacceptable proportion of false positive results in a clinical setting. This shortcoming could not be bypassed by combination of these tools. In the best case scenario, 138 families would be affected by the misclassification of neutral variants within the cohort of patients of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. CONCLUSION We show that due to low specificities state-of-the-art in silico prediction tools are not suitable to predict pathogenicity of variants of uncertain significance in BRCA1/2. Thus, clinical consequences should never be based solely on in silico forecasts. However, our data suggests that SIFT and MutationTaster2 could be suitable to predict benignity, as both tools did not result in false negative predictions in our analysis.

Authors: Corinna Ernst, Eric Hahnen, Christoph Engel, Michael Nothnagel, Jonas Weber, Rita K. Schmutzler, Jan Hauke

Date Published: 1st Dec 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Personalized disease phenotypes from massive omics data.
LHA - Leipzig Health Atlas

Abstract (Expand)

Application of new high-throughput technologies in molecular medicine collects massive data for hundreds to thousands of persons in large cohort studies by characterizing the phenotype of each individual … on a personalized basis. The chapter aims at increasing our understanding of disease genesis and progression and to improve diagnosis and treatment. New methods are needed to handle such "big data." Machine learning enables one to recognize and to visualize complex data patterns and to make decisions potentially relevant for diagnosis and treatment. The authors address these tasks by applying the method of self-organizing maps and present worked examples from different disease entities of the colon ranging from inflammation to cancer.

Authors: Hans Binder, Lydia Hopp, K. Lembcke, Henry Löffler-Wirth

Date Published: 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

PET/MR in dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

The spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases covers the dementias, parkinsonian syndromes, Huntington disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and prion diseases. In these entities, brain MRI is often … used in clinical routine to exclude other pathologies and to demonstrate specific atrophy patterns. [18F]FDG PET delivers early and sensitive readouts of neural tissue loss, and more specific PET tracers currently in use clinically target beta-amyloid plaques or dopaminergic deficiency. The recent integration of PET into MR technology offers a new chance to improve early and differential diagnosis of many neurodegenerative diseases. Initial evidence in the literature is available to support this notion. New emerging PET tracers, such as tracers that bind to tau or alpha-synuclein aggregates, as well as MR techniques, like diffusion-tensor imaging, resting-state functional MRI, and arterial spin labeling, have the potential to broaden the diagnostic capabilities of combined PET/MRI to image dementias, Parkinson disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. The ultimate goal is to establish combined PET/MRI as a first-line imaging technique to provide, in a one-stop-shop fashion with improved patient comfort, all biomarker information required to increase diagnostic confidence toward specific diagnoses. The technical challenge of accurate PET data attenuation correction within PET/MRI systems needs yet to be solved. Apart from the projected clinical routine applications, future research would need to answer the questions of whether combined brain PET/MRI is able to improve basic research of neurodegenerative diseases and antineurodegeneration drug testing.

Authors: H. Barthel, M. L. Schroeter, K. T. Hoffmann, O. Sabri

Date Published: 6th Apr 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: dementia, neurodegenerative disease

Pharmacokinetic and -dynamic modelling of G-CSF derivatives in humans
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND\backslashr\backslashnThe human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is routinely applied to support recovery of granulopoiesis during the course of cytotoxic chemotherapies. However, … optimal use of the drug is largely unknown. We showed in the past that a biomathematical compartment model of human granulopoiesis can be used to make clinically relevant predictions regarding new, yet untested chemotherapy regimen. In the present paper, we aim to extend this model by a detailed pharmacokinetic and -dynamic modelling of two commonly used G-CSF derivatives Filgrastim and Pegfilgrastim.\backslashr\backslashnRESULTS\backslashr\backslashnModel equations are based on our physiological understanding of the drugs which are delayed absorption of G-CSF when applied to the subcutaneous tissue, dose-dependent bioavailability, unspecific first order elimination, specific elimination in dependence on granulocyte counts and reversible protein binding. Pharmacokinetic differences between Filgrastim and Pegfilgrastim were modelled as different parameter sets. Our former cell-kinetic model of granulopoiesis was essentially preserved, except for a few additional assumptions and simplifications. We assumed a delayed action of G-CSF on the bone marrow, a delayed action of chemotherapy and differences between Filgrastim and Pegfilgrastim with respect to stimulation potency of the bone marrow. Additionally, we incorporated a model of combined action of Pegfilgrastim and Filgrastim or endogenous G-CSF which interact via concurrent receptor binding. Unknown pharmacokinetic or cell-kinetic parameters were determined by fitting the predictions of the model to available datasets of G-CSF applications, chemotherapy applications or combinations of it. Data were either extracted from the literature or were received from cooperating clinical study groups. Model predictions fitted well to both, datasets used for parameter estimation and validation scenarios as well. A unique set of parameters was identified which is valid for all scenarios considered. Differences in pharmacokinetic parameter estimates between Filgrastim and Pegfilgrastim were biologically plausible throughout.\backslashr\backslashnCONCLUSION\backslashr\backslashnWe conclude that we established a comprehensive biomathematical model to explain the dynamics of granulopoiesis under chemotherapy and applications of two different G-CSF derivatives. We aim to apply the model to a large variety of chemotherapy regimen in the future in order to optimize corresponding G-CSF schedules or to individualize G-CSF treatment according to the granulotoxic risk of a patient.

Authors: Markus Scholz, Sibylle Schirm, Marcus Wetzler, Christoph Engel, Markus Loeffler

Date Published: 1st Dec 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modelling of the novel human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor derivative Maxy-G34 and pegfilgrastim in rats
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVES\backslashr\backslashnThis study aims to compare pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of pegfilgrastim, a pharmaceutical recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF), … with that of a newly developed reagent, Maxy-G34. This comparison was performed using rat experiments and biomathematical modelling of granulopoiesis.\backslashr\backslashnMETHODS\backslashr\backslashnHealthy rats and those with cyclophosphamide-induced neutropenia were treated with either pegfilgrastim or Maxy-G34 under various schedules. Time courses of absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and G-CSF serum level were measured and we constructed a combined pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model of both drugs. Neutropenic episodes were assessed by experimental data and model simulations.\backslashr\backslashnRESULTS\backslashr\backslashnBoth Pegfilgrastim and Maxy-G34 showed strong dose-dependent efficacy in reducing neutropenic episodes. However, time courses of ANC and G-CSF serum levels were markedly different. The biomathematical model showed good agreement with these data. We estimated that differences between the two drugs could be explained by lower bioavailability and reduced elimination of Maxy-G34. Based on the data and model interpolations, we estimated that Maxy-G34 is superior in reducing neutropenic episodes. Also, we predicted that G-CSF administration 48 h after cyclophosphamide would be superior to its administration after 2 or 24 h, for both derivatives.\backslashr\backslashnCONCLUSION\backslashr\backslashnMaxy-G34 is a highly potent drug for stimulation of neutrophil production in rats. By our modelling approach, we quantified differences between Maxy-G34 and pegfilgrastim, related to pharmacokinetic parameters. Model simulations can be used to estimate optimal dosing and timing options in the present preclinical rat model.

Authors: Markus Scholz, Christoph Engel, D. Apt, S. L. Sankar, E. Goldstein, Markus Loeffler

Date Published: 1st Dec 2009

Publication Type: Journal article

PIXELSOF. Aachener Bildverarbeitungssoftware
Management of health information systems

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: T. Tolxdorff, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1983

Publication Type: Misc

Planung und Fortschreibung von Krankenhausinformationssystemen am Beispiel des Heidelberger Klinikuminformationssystems
Management of health information systems

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Reinhold Haux, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 26

Publication Type: Misc

Plasma Amino Acid Concentrations Predict Mortality in Patients with End-Stage Liver Disease
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND The liver plays a key role in amino acid metabolism. In former studies, a ratio between branched-chain and aromatic amino acids (Fischer’s ratio) revealed associations with hepatic encephalopathy. …. Furthermore, low concentrations of branched-chain amino acids were linked to sarcopenia in literature. Encephalopathy and sarcopenia are known to dramatically worsen the prognosis. Aim of this study was to investigate a complex panel of plasma amino acids in the context of mortality in patients with end-stage liver disease. METHODS 166 patients evaluated for orthotopic liver transplantation were included. 19 amino acids were measured from citrated plasma samples using mass spectrometry. We performed survival analysis for plasma amino acid constellations and examined the relationship to established mortality predictors. RESULTS 33/166 (19.9%) patients died during follow-up. Lower values of valine (p\textless0.001), Fischer’s ratio (p\textless0.001) and valine to phenylalanine ratio (p\textless0.001) and higher values of phenylalanine (p\textless0.05) and tyrosine (p\textless0.05) were significantly associated with mortality. When divided in three groups, the tertiles discriminated cumulative survival for valine (p = 0.016), phenylalanine (p = 0.024) and in particular for valine to phenylalanine ratio (p = 0.003) and Fischer’s ratio (p = 0.005). Parameters were also significantly correlated with MELD and MELD-Na score. CONCLUSIONS Amino acids in plasma are valuable biomarkers to determine increased risk of mortality in patients with end-stage liver disease. In particular, valine concentrations and constellations composed of branched-chain and aromatic amino acids were strongly associated with prognosis. Due to their pathophysiological importance, the identified amino acids could be used to examine individual dietary recommendations to serve as potential therapeutic targets.

Authors: Benedict Kinny-Köster, Michael Bartels, Susen Becker, Markus Scholz, Joachim Thiery, Uta Ceglarek, Thorsten Kaiser

Date Published: 13th Jul 2016

Publication Type: Journal article

Plasma levels of apolipoproteins C-III, A-IV, and E are independently associated with stable atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). As key regulators of lipoprotein metabolism, apolipoproteins (apos) are discussed as vascular …r risk factors. This study aimed to analyze associations of major plasma apos with coronary artery disease (CAD), peripheral artery disease (PAD) and carotid artery plaque (CAP) to elucidate their diagnostic potential in risk assessment. METHODS ApoA-I, apoA-II, apoA-IV, apoB-100, apoC-I, apoC-III, apoE, and apoJ were simultaneously quantified in 3 \textgreekmL EDTA-plasma by LC-MS/MS in a case-control subgroup of the Leipziger LIFE-Heart Study (N = 911). Confounder analysis with demographic, clinical covariates and serum lipids, cardiac, inflammatory, and hepatic markers were performed. Apos were associated with CAD, CAP, and PAD in a multivariate regression model. RESULTS Fasting and statin therapy showed strongest effects on apo concentrations. Inverse correlations of HDL-related apos A-I, A-II, A-IV, and C-I were observed for troponin T and interleukin 6. Concentrations of apos A-II, B-100, C-I, and E were decreased under statin therapy. After adjustment for influencing factors and related lipids, only apoB-100 (odds ratio per one SD [OR], 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.84) was independently associated with CAD while apoA-IV (OR, 0.74; 95% CI 0.58-0.95) indicated PAD. ApoB-100 (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.18-2.04), apoC-III (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.06-1.58), and apoE (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13-1.58) were associated with CAP. CONCLUSIONS Triglyceride rich lipoproteins (TRLs) associated apos A-IV, B-100, C-III, and E are independently associated with stable ASCVD, providing further evidence for a potential role of TRLs in atherogenesis.

Authors: Julia Dittrich, Frank Beutner, Andrej Teren, Joachim Thiery, Ralph Burkhardt, Markus Scholz, Uta Ceglarek

Date Published: 1st Feb 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

POLAR – „POLypharmazie, Arzneimittelwechselwirkungen und Risiken“ – wie können Daten aus der stationären Krankenversorgung zur Beurteilung beitragen?
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract (Expand)

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Mit der zunehmenden Anzahl eingenommener Arzneimittel steigt die Prävalenz von Medikationsrisiken. Hierzu zählen beispielsweise Arzneimittelwechselwirkungen, welche erwünschte … und unerwünschte Wirkungen einzelner Arzneistoffe reduzieren aber auch verstärken können. Fragestellung Das Verbundvorhaben POLAR (POLypharmazie, Arzneimittelwechselwirkungen und Risiken) hat das Ziel, mit Methoden und Prozessen der Medizininformatikinitiative (MII) auf Basis von „Real World Data“ (stationärer Behandlungsdaten von Universitätskliniken) einen Beitrag zur Detektion von Medikationsrisiken bei Patient:innen mit Polymedikation zu leisten. Im Artikel werden die konkreten klinischen Probleme dargestellt und am konkreten Auswertebeispiel illustriert. Material und Methoden Konkrete pharmakologische Fragestellungen werden algorithmisch abgebildet und an 13 Datenintegrationszentren in verteilten Analysen ausgewertet. Eine wesentliche Voraussetzung für die Anwendung dieser Algorithmen ist die Kerndatensatzstruktur der MII, die auf internationale IT-, Interoperabilitäts- und Terminologiestandards setzt. Ergebnisse In POLAR konnte erstmals gezeigt werden, dass stationäre Behandlungsdaten standortübergreifend auf der Basis abgestimmter, interoperabler Datenaustauschformate datenschutzkonform für Forschungsfragen zu arzneimittelbezogenen Problemen nutzbar gemacht werden können. Schlussfolgerungen Als Zwischenstand in POLAR wird ein erstes vorläufiges Ergebnis einer Analyse gezeigt. Darüber hinaus werden allgemeinere technische, rechtliche, kommunikative Chancen und Herausforderungen dargestellt, wobei der Fokus auf dem Fall der Verwendung stationärer Behandlungsdaten als „Real World Data“ für die Forschung liegt.

Authors: André Scherag, Wahram Andrikyan, Tobias Dreischulte, Pauline Dürr, Martin F Fromm, Jan Gewehr, Ulrich Jaehde, Miriam Kesselmeier, Renke Maas, Petra A Thürmann, Frank Meineke, Daniel Neumann, Julia Palm, Thomas Peschel, Editha Räuscher, Susann Schulze, Torsten Thalheim, Thomas Wendt, Markus Loeffler, D Ammon, W Andrikyan, U Bartz, B Bergh, T Bertsche, O Beyan, S Biergans, H Binder, M Boeker, H Bogatsch, R Böhm, A Böhmer, J Brandes, C Bulin, D Caliskan, I Cascorbi, M Coenen, F Dietz, F Dörje, T Dreischulte, J Drepper, P Dürr, A Dürschmid, F Eckelt, R Eils, A Eisert, C Engel, F Erdfelder, K Farker, M Federbusch, S Franke, N Freier, T Frese, M Fromm, K Fünfgeld, T Ganslandt, J Gewehr, D Grigutsch, W Haefeli, U Hahn, A Härdtlein, R Harnisch, S Härterich, M Hartmann, R Häuslschmid, C Haverkamp, O Heinze, P Horki, M Hug, T Iskra, U Jaehde, S Jäger, P Jürs, C Jüttner, J Kaftan, T Kaiser, K Karsten Dafonte, M Kesselmeier, S Kiefer, S Klasing, O Kohlbacher, D Kraska, S Krause, S Kreutzke, R Krock, K Kuhn, S Lederer, M Lehne, M Löbe, M Loeffler, C Lohr, V Lowitsch, N Lüneburg, M Lüönd, I Lutz, R Maas, U Mansmann, K Marquardt, A Medek, F Meineke, A Merzweiler, A Michel-Backofen, Y Mou, B Mussawy, D Neumann, J Neumann, C Niklas, M Nüchter, K Oswald, J Palm, T Peschel, H Prokosch, J Przybilla, E Räuscher, L Redeker, Y Remane, A Riedel, M Rottenkolber, F Rottmann, F Salman, J Schepers, A Scherag, F Schmidt, S Schmiedl, K Schmitz, G Schneider, A Scholtz, S Schorn, B Schreiweis, S Schulze, A K Schuster, M Schwab, H Seidling, S Semler, K Senft, M Slupina, R Speer, S Stäubert, D Steinbach, C Stelzer, H Stenzhorn, M Strobel, T Thalheim, M Then, P Thürmann, D Tiller, P Tippmann, Y Ucer, S Unger, J Vogel, J Wagner, J Wehrle, D Weichart, L Weisbach, S Welten, T Wendt, R Wettstein, I Wittenberg, R Woltersdorf, M Yahiaoui-Doktor, S Zabka, S Zenker, S Zeynalova, L Zimmermann, D Zöller, für das POLAR-Projekt

Date Published: 1st Sep 2022

Publication Type: Journal article

Polygenic Risk Scores for Prediction of Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Subtypes
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

Stratification of women according to their risk of breast cancer based on polygenic risk scores (PRSs) could improve screening and prevention strategies. Our aim was to develop PRSs, optimized for … prediction of estrogen receptor (ER)-specific disease, from the largest available genome-wide association dataset and to empirically validate the PRSs in prospective studies. The development dataset comprised 94,075 case subjects and 75,017 control subjects of European ancestry from 69 studies, divided into training and validation sets. Samples were genotyped using genome-wide arrays, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected by stepwise regression or lasso penalized regression. The best performing PRSs were validated in an independent test set comprising 11,428 case subjects and 18,323 control subjects from 10 prospective studies and 190,040 women from UK Biobank (3,215 incident breast cancers). For the best PRSs (313 SNPs), the odds ratio for overall disease per 1 standard deviation in ten prospective studies was 1.61 (95%CI: 1.57-1.65) with area under receiver-operator curve (AUC) = 0.630 (95%CI: 0.628-0.651). The lifetime risk of overall breast cancer in the top centile of the PRSs was 32.6%. Compared with women in the middle quintile, those in the highest 1% of risk had 4.37- and 2.78-fold risks, and those in the lowest 1% of risk had 0.16- and 0.27-fold risks, of developing ER-positive and ER-negative disease, respectively. Goodness-of-fit tests indicated that this PRS was well calibrated and predicts disease risk accurately in the tails of the distribution. This PRS is a powerful and reliable predictor of breast cancer risk that may improve breast cancer prevention programs.

Authors: Nasim Mavaddat, Kyriaki Michailidou, Joe Dennis, Michael Lush, Laura Fachal, Andrew Lee, Jonathan P. Tyrer, Ting-Huei Chen, Qin Wang, Manjeet K. Bolla, Xin Yang, Muriel A. Adank, Thomas Ahearn, Kristiina Aittomäki, Jamie Allen, Irene L. Andrulis, Hoda Anton-Culver, Natalia N. Antonenkova, Volker Arndt, Kristan J. Aronson, Paul L. Auer, Päivi Auvinen, Myrto Barrdahl, Laura E. Beane Freeman, Matthias W. Beckmann, Sabine Behrens, Javier Benitez, Marina Bermisheva, Leslie Bernstein, Carl Blomqvist, Natalia V. Bogdanova, Stig E. Bojesen, Bernardo Bonanni, Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale, Hiltrud Brauch, Michael Bremer, Hermann Brenner, Adam Brentnall, Ian W. Brock, Angela Brooks-Wilson, Sara Y. Brucker, Thomas Brüning, Barbara Burwinkel, Daniele Campa, Brian D. Carter, Jose E. Castelao, Stephen J. Chanock, Rowan Chlebowski, Hans Christiansen, Christine L. Clarke, J. Margriet Collée, Emilie Cordina-Duverger, Sten Cornelissen, Fergus J. Couch, Angela Cox, Simon S. Cross, Kamila Czene, Mary B. Daly, Peter Devilee, Thilo Dörk, Isabel Dos-Santos-Silva, Martine Dumont, Lorraine Durcan, Miriam Dwek, Diana M. Eccles, Arif B. Ekici, A. Heather Eliassen, Carolina Ellberg, Christoph Engel, Mikael Eriksson, D. Gareth Evans, Peter A. Fasching, Jonine Figueroa, Olivia Fletcher, Henrik Flyger, Asta Försti, Lin Fritschi, Marike Gabrielson, Manuela Gago-Dominguez, Susan M. Gapstur, José A. García-Sáenz, Mia M. Gaudet, Vassilios Georgoulias, Graham G. Giles, Irina R. Gilyazova, Gord Glendon, Mark S. Goldberg, David E. Goldgar, Anna González-Neira, Grethe I. Grenaker Alnæs, Mervi Grip, Jacek Gronwald, Anne Grundy, Pascal Guénel, Lothar Haeberle, Eric Hahnen, Christopher A. Haiman, Niclas Håkansson, Ute Hamann, Susan E. Hankinson, Elaine F. Harkness, Steven N. Hart, Wei He, Alexander Hein, Jane Heyworth, Peter Hillemanns, Antoinette Hollestelle, Maartje J. Hooning, Robert N. Hoover, John L. Hopper, Anthony Howell, Guanmengqian Huang, Keith Humphreys, David J. Hunter, Milena Jakimovska, Anna Jakubowska, Wolfgang Janni, Esther M. John, Nichola Johnson, Michael E. Jones, Arja Jukkola-Vuorinen, Audrey Jung, Rudolf Kaaks, Katarzyna Kaczmarek, Vesa Kataja, Renske Keeman, Michael J. Kerin, Elza Khusnutdinova, Johanna I. Kiiski, Julia A. Knight, Yon-Dschun Ko, Veli-Matti Kosma, Stella Koutros, Vessela N. Kristensen, Ute Krüger, Tabea Kühl, Diether Lambrechts, Loic Le Marchand, Eunjung Lee, Flavio Lejbkowicz, Jenna Lilyquist, Annika Lindblom, Sara Lindström, Jolanta Lissowska, Wing-Yee Lo, Sibylle Loibl, Jirong Long, Jan Lubiński, Michael P. Lux, Robert J. MacInnis, Tom Maishman, Enes Makalic, Ivana Maleva Kostovska, Arto Mannermaa, Siranoush Manoukian, Sara Margolin, John W. M. Martens, Maria Elena Martinez, Dimitrios Mavroudis, Catriona McLean, Alfons Meindl, Usha Menon, Pooja Middha, Nicola Miller, Fernando Moreno, Anna Marie Mulligan, Claire Mulot, Victor M. Muñoz-Garzon, Susan L. Neuhausen, Heli Nevanlinna, Patrick Neven, William G. Newman, Sune F. Nielsen, Børge G. Nordestgaard, Aaron Norman, Kenneth Offit, Janet E. Olson, Håkan Olsson, Nick Orr, V. Shane Pankratz, Tjoung-Won Park-Simon, Jose I. A. Perez, Clara Pérez-Barrios, Paolo Peterlongo, Julian Peto, Mila Pinchev, Dijana Plaseska-Karanfilska, Eric C. Polley, Ross Prentice, Nadege Presneau, Darya Prokofyeva, Kristen Purrington, Katri Pylkäs, Brigitte Rack, Paolo Radice, Rohini Rau-Murthy, Gad Rennert, Hedy S. Rennert, Valerie Rhenius, Mark Robson, Atocha Romero, Kathryn J. Ruddy, Matthias Ruebner, Emmanouil Saloustros, Dale P. Sandler, Elinor J. Sawyer, Daniel F. Schmidt, Rita K. Schmutzler, Andreas Schneeweiss, Minouk J. Schoemaker, Fredrick Schumacher, Peter Schürmann, Lukas Schwentner, Christopher Scott, Rodney J. Scott, Caroline Seynaeve, Mitul Shah, Mark E. Sherman, Martha J. Shrubsole, Xiao-Ou Shu, Susan Slager, Ann Smeets, Christof Sohn, Penny Soucy, Melissa C. Southey, John J. Spinelli, Christa Stegmaier, Jennifer Stone, Anthony J. Swerdlow, Rulla M. Tamimi, William J. Tapper, Jack A. Taylor, Mary Beth Terry, Kathrin Thöne, Rob A. E. M. Tollenaar, Ian Tomlinson, Thérèse Truong, Maria Tzardi, Hans-Ulrich Ulmer, Michael Untch, Celine M. Vachon, Elke M. van Veen, Joseph Vijai, Clarice R. Weinberg, Camilla Wendt, Alice S. Whittemore, Hans Wildiers, Walter Willett, Robert Winqvist, Alicja Wolk, Xiaohong R. Yang, Drakoulis Yannoukakos, Yan Zhang, Wei Zheng, Argyrios Ziogas, Alison M. Dunning, Deborah J. Thompson, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Jenny Chang-Claude, Marjanka K. Schmidt, Per Hall, Roger L. Milne, Paul D. P. Pharoah, Antonis C. Antoniou, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Peter Kraft, Montserrat García-Closas, Jacques Simard, Douglas F. Easton

Date Published: 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Polymorphisms at PRSS1-PRSS2 and CLDN2-MORC4 loci associate with alcoholic and non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis in a European replication study.
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVE: Several genetic risk factors have been identified for non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (NACP). A genome-wide association study reported an association of chronic pancreatitis (CP) with … variants in PRSS1-PRSS2 (rs10273639; near the gene encoding cationic trypsinogen) and CLDN2-MORC4 loci (rs7057398 in RIPPLY1 and rs12688220 in MORC4). We aimed to refine these findings in a large European cohort. DESIGN: We studied 3062 patients with alcohol-related CP (ACP) or NACP and 5107 controls. Also, 1559 German patients with alcohol-associated cirrhosis or alcohol dependence were included for comparison. We performed several meta-analyses to examine genotype-phenotype relationships. RESULTS: Association with ACP was found for rs10273639 (OR, 0.63; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.72). ACP was also associated with variants rs7057398 and rs12688220 in men (OR, 2.26; 95% CI 1.94 to 2.63 and OR, 2.66; 95% CI 2.21 to 3.21, respectively) and in women (OR, 1.57; 95% CI 1.14 to 2.18 and OR 1.71; 95% CI 1.41 to 2.07, respectively). Similar results were obtained when German patients with ACP were compared with those with alcohol-associated cirrhosis or alcohol dependence. In the overall population of patients with NACP, association with rs10273639 was absent (OR, 0.93; 95% CI 0.79 to 1.01), whereas rs7057398 of the X chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms was associated with NACP in women only (OR, 1.32; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.51). CONCLUSIONS: The single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs10273639 at the PRSS1-PRSS2 locus and rs7057398 and rs12688220 at the CLDN2-MORC4 locus are associated with CP and strongly associate with ACP, but only rs7057398 with NACP in female patients.

Authors: M. H. Derikx, P. Kovacs, M. Scholz, E. Masson, J. M. Chen, C. Ruffert, P. Lichtner, R. H. Te Morsche, G. M. Cavestro, C. Ferec, J. P. Drenth, H. Witt, J. Rosendahl

Date Published: 26th Sep 2014

Publication Type: Journal article

Polymorphisms in a Putative Enhancer at the 10q21.2 Breast Cancer Risk Locus Regulate NRBF2 Expression
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

Genome-wide association studies have identified SNPs near ZNF365 at 10q21.2 that are associated with both breast cancer risk and mammographic density. To identify the most likely causal SNPs, we fine … mapped the association signal by genotyping 428 SNPs across the region in 89,050 European and 12,893 Asian case and control subjects from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. We identified four independent sets of correlated, highly trait-associated variants (iCHAVs), three of which were located within ZNF365. The most strongly risk-associated SNP, rs10995201 in iCHAV1, showed clear evidence of association with both estrogen receptor (ER)-positive (OR = 0.85 [0.82-0.88]) and ER-negative (OR = 0.87 [0.82-0.91]) disease, and was also the SNP most strongly associated with percent mammographic density. iCHAV2 (lead SNP, chr10: 64,258,684:D) and iCHAV3 (lead SNP, rs7922449) were also associated with ER-positive (OR = 0.93 [0.91-0.95] and OR = 1.06 [1.03-1.09]) and ER-negative (OR = 0.95 [0.91-0.98] and OR = 1.08 [1.04-1.13]) disease. There was weaker evidence for iCHAV4, located 5’ of ADO, associated only with ER-positive breast cancer (OR = 0.93 [0.90-0.96]). We found 12, 17, 18, and 2 candidate causal SNPs for breast cancer in iCHAVs 1-4, respectively. Chromosome conformation capture analysis showed that iCHAV2 interacts with the ZNF365 and NRBF2 (more than 600 kb away) promoters in normal and cancerous breast epithelial cells. Luciferase assays did not identify SNPs that affect transactivation of ZNF365, but identified a protective haplotype in iCHAV2, associated with silencing of the NRBF2 promoter, implicating this gene in the etiology of breast cancer.

Authors: Hatef Darabi, Karen McCue, Jonathan Beesley, Kyriaki Michailidou, Silje Nord, Siddhartha Kar, Keith Humphreys, Deborah Thompson, Maya Ghoussaini, Manjeet K. Bolla, Joe Dennis, Qin Wang, Sander Canisius, Christopher G. Scott, Carmel Apicella, John L. Hopper, Melissa C. Southey, Jennifer Stone, Annegien Broeks, Marjanka K. Schmidt, Rodney J. Scott, Artitaya Lophatananon, Kenneth Muir, Matthias W. Beckmann, Arif B. Ekici, Peter A. Fasching, Katharina Heusinger, Isabel Dos-Santos-Silva, Julian Peto, Ian Tomlinson, Elinor J. Sawyer, Barbara Burwinkel, Frederik Marme, Pascal Guénel, Thérèse Truong, Stig E. Bojesen, Henrik Flyger, Javier Benitez, Anna González-Neira, Hoda Anton-Culver, Susan L. Neuhausen, Volker Arndt, Hermann Brenner, Christoph Engel, Alfons Meindl, Rita K. Schmutzler, Norbert Arnold, Hiltrud Brauch, Ute Hamann, Jenny Chang-Claude, Sofia Khan, Heli Nevanlinna, Hidemi Ito, Keitaro Matsuo, Natalia V. Bogdanova, Thilo Dörk, Annika Lindblom, Sara Margolin, Veli-Matti Kosma, Arto Mannermaa, Chiu-Chen Tseng, Anna H. Wu, Giuseppe Floris, Diether Lambrechts, Anja Rudolph, Paolo Peterlongo, Paolo Radice, Fergus J. Couch, Celine Vachon, Graham G. Giles, Catriona McLean, Roger L. Milne, Pierre-Antoine Dugué, Christopher A. Haiman, Gertraud Maskarinec, Christy Woolcott, Brian E. Henderson, Mark S. Goldberg, Jacques Simard, Soo H. Teo, Shivaani Mariapun, Åslaug Helland, Vilde Haakensen, Wei Zheng, Alicia Beeghly-Fadiel, Rulla Tamimi, Arja Jukkola-Vuorinen, Robert Winqvist, Irene L. Andrulis, Julia A. Knight, Peter Devilee, Robert A. E. M. Tollenaar, Jonine Figueroa, Montserrat García-Closas, Kamila Czene, Maartje J. Hooning, Madeleine Tilanus-Linthorst, Jingmei Li, Yu-Tang Gao, Xiao-Ou Shu, Angela Cox, Simon S. Cross, Robert Luben, Kay-Tee Khaw, Ji-Yeob Choi, Daehee Kang, Mikael Hartman, Wei Yen Lim, Maria Kabisch, Diana Torres, Anna Jakubowska, Jan Lubinski, James McKay, Suleeporn Sangrajrang, Amanda E. Toland, Drakoulis Yannoukakos, Chen-Yang Shen, Jyh-Cherng Yu, Argyrios Ziogas, Minouk J. Schoemaker, Anthony Swerdlow, Anne-Lise Borresen-Dale, Vessela Kristensen, Juliet D. French, Stacey L. Edwards, Alison M. Dunning, Douglas F. Easton, Per Hall, Georgia Chenevix-Trench

Date Published: 1st Jul 2015

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Polymorphisms in BRCA2 resulting in aberrant codon-usage and their analysis on familial breast cancer risk
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with increased breast cancer risk. While numerous non-synonymous SNPs in BRCA1/2 have been investigated for breast cancer risk, the impact of synonymous SNPs … has not been studied so far. Recently, it has been reported that synonymous SNPs leading to an aberration from the preferred codon-usage can have functional effects and consequently be associated with disease. This motivated us to search for SNPs with the tendency to differential codon-usage in BRCA1/BRCA2. Based on defined criteria, two codon-usage-changing variants, Ser455Ser (1365A \textgreater G) and Ser2414Ser (7242A \textgreater G), were detected in BRCA2, whereas no such variant could be identified in BRCA1. We investigated the impact of these variants on breast cancer risk in a large case-control study. However, both SNPs, BRCA2 Ser2414Ser (7242A \textgreater G) and Ser455Ser (1365A \textgreater G), showed no association with breast cancer risk. This indicates that these codon-usage-changing SNPs have no major impact on familial breast cancer risk.

Authors: Rongxi Yang, Bowang Chen, Kari Hemminki, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Christoph Engel, Christian Sutter, Nina Ditsch, Bernhard H. F. Weber, Dieter Niederacher, Norbert Arnold, Alfons Meindl, Claus R. Bartram, Rita K. Schmutzler, Barbara Burwinkel

Date Published: 1st Nov 2009

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Populational equilibrium through exosome-mediated Wnt signaling in tumor progression of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract (Expand)

Tumors are composed of phenotypically heterogeneous cell populations. The nongenomic mechanisms underlying transitions and interactions between cell populations are largely unknown. Here, we show that … diffuse large B-cell lymphomas possess a self-organized infrastructure comprising side population (SP) and non-SP cells, where transitions between clonogenic states are modulated by exosome-mediated Wnt signaling. DNA methylation modulated SP-non-SP transitions and was correlated with the reciprocal expressions of Wnt signaling pathway agonist Wnt3a in SP cells and the antagonist secreted frizzled-related protein 4 in non-SP cells. Lymphoma SP cells exhibited autonomous clonogenicity and exported Wnt3a via exosomes to neighboring cells, thus modulating population equilibrium in the tumor.

Authors: R. Koch, M. Demant, T. Aung, N. Diering, A. Cicholas, B. Chapuy, D. Wenzel, M. Lahmann, A. Guntsch, C. Kiecke, S. Becker, T. Hupfeld, V. Venkataramani, M. Ziepert, L. Opitz, W. Klapper, L. Trumper, G. G. Wulf

Date Published: 3rd Apr 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Population-genetic comparison of the Sorbian isolate population in Germany with the German KORA population using genome-wide SNP arrays
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND\backslashr\backslashnThe Sorbs are an ethnic minority in Germany with putative genetic isolation, making the population interesting for disease mapping. A sample of N = 977 Sorbs is currently … analysed in several genome-wide meta-analyses. Since genetic differences between populations are a major confounding factor in genetic meta-analyses, we compare the Sorbs with the German outbred population of the KORA F3 study (N = 1644) and other publically available European HapMap populations by population genetic means. We also aim to separate effects of over-sampling of families in the Sorbs sample from effects of genetic isolation and compare the power of genetic association studies between the samples.\backslashr\backslashnRESULTS\backslashr\backslashnThe degree of relatedness was significantly higher in the Sorbs. Principal components analysis revealed a west to east clustering of KORA individuals born in Germany, KORA individuals born in Poland or Czech Republic, Half-Sorbs (less than four Sorbian grandparents) and Full-Sorbs. The Sorbs cluster is nearest to the cluster of KORA individuals born in Poland. The number of rare SNPs is significantly higher in the Sorbs sample. FST between KORA and Sorbs is an order of magnitude higher than between different regions in Germany. Compared to the other populations, Sorbs show a higher proportion of individuals with runs of homozygosity between 2.5 Mb and 5 Mb. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) at longer range is also slightly increased but this has no effect on the power of association studies. Oversampling of families in the Sorbs sample causes detectable bias regarding higher FST values and higher LD but the effect is an order of magnitude smaller than the observed differences between KORA and Sorbs. Relatedness in the Sorbs also influenced the power of uncorrected association analyses.\backslashr\backslashnCONCLUSIONS\backslashr\backslashnSorbs show signs of genetic isolation which cannot be explained by over-sampling of relatives, but the effects are moderate in size. The Slavonic origin of the Sorbs is still genetically detectable. Regarding LD structure, a clear advantage for genome-wide association studies cannot be deduced. The significant amount of cryptic relatedness in the Sorbs sample results in inflated variances of Beta-estimators which should be considered in genetic association analyses. BACKGROUND The Sorbs are an ethnic minority in Germany with putative genetic isolation, making the population interesting for disease mapping. A sample of N = 977 Sorbs is currently analysed in several genome-wide meta-analyses. Since genetic differences between populations are a major confounding factor in genetic meta-analyses, we compare the Sorbs with the German outbred population of the KORA F3 study (N = 1644) and other publically available European HapMap populations by population genetic means. We also aim to separate effects of over-sampling of families in the Sorbs sample from effects of genetic isolation and compare the power of genetic association studies between the samples. RESULTS The degree of relatedness was significantly higher in the Sorbs. Principal components analysis revealed a west to east clustering of KORA individuals born in Germany, KORA individuals born in Poland or Czech Republic, Half-Sorbs (less than four Sorbian grandparents) and Full-Sorbs. The Sorbs cluster is nearest to the cluster of KORA individuals born in Poland. The number of rare SNPs is significantly higher in the Sorbs sample. FST between KORA and Sorbs is an order of magnitude higher than between different regions in Germany. Compared to the other populations, Sorbs show a higher proportion of individuals with runs of homozygosity between 2.5 Mb and 5 Mb. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) at longer range is also slightly increased but this has no effect on the power of association studies. Oversampling of families in the Sorbs sample causes detectable bias regarding higher FST values and higher LD but the effect is an order of magnitude smaller than the observed differences between KORA and Sorbs. Relatedness in the Sorbs also influenced the power of uncorrected association analyses. CONCLUSIONS Sorbs show signs of genetic isolation which cannot be explained by over-sampling of relatives, but the effects are moderate in size. The Slavonic origin of the Sorbs is still genetically detectable. Regarding LD structure, a clear advantage for genome-wide association studies cannot be deduced. The significant amount of cryptic relatedness in the Sorbs sample results in inflated variances of Beta-estimators which should be considered in genetic association analyses. BACKGROUND The Sorbs are an ethnic minority in Germany with putative genetic isolation, making the population interesting for disease mapping. A sample of N = 977 Sorbs is currently analysed in several genome-wide meta-analyses. Since genetic differences between populations are a major confounding factor in genetic meta-analyses, we compare the Sorbs with the German outbred population of the KORA F3 study (N = 1644) and other publically available European HapMap populations by population genetic means. We also aim to separate effects of over-sampling of families in the Sorbs sample from effects of genetic isolation and compare the power of genetic association studies between the samples. RESULTS The degree of relatedness was significantly higher in the Sorbs. Principal components analysis revealed a west to east clustering of KORA individuals born in Germany, KORA individuals born in Poland or Czech Republic, Half-Sorbs (less than four Sorbian grandparents) and Full-Sorbs. The Sorbs cluster is nearest to the cluster of KORA individuals born in Poland. The number of rare SNPs is significantly higher in the Sorbs sample. FST between KORA and Sorbs is an order of magnitude higher than between different regions in Germany. Compared to the other populations, Sorbs show a higher proportion of individuals with runs of homozygosity between 2.5 Mb and 5 Mb. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) at longer range is also slightly increased but this has no effect on the power of association studies. Oversampling of families in the Sorbs sample causes detectable bias regarding higher FST values and higher LD but the effect is an order of magnitude smaller than the observed differences between KORA and Sorbs. Relatedness in the Sorbs also influenced the power of uncorrected association analyses. CONCLUSIONS Sorbs show signs of genetic isolation which cannot be explained by over-sampling of relatives, but the effects are moderate in size. The Slavonic origin of the Sorbs is still genetically detectable. Regarding LD structure, a clear advantage for genome-wide association studies cannot be deduced. The significant amount of cryptic relatedness in the Sorbs sample results in inflated variances of Beta-estimators which should be considered in genetic association analyses.

Authors: Arnd Gross, Anke Tönjes, Peter Kovacs, Krishna R. Veeramah, Peter Ahnert, Nab R. Roshyara, Christian Gieger, Ina-Maria Rueckert, Markus Loeffler, Mark Stoneking, Heinz-Erich Wichmann, John Novembre, Michael Stumvoll, Markus Scholz

Date Published: 2011

Publication Type: Journal article

Population Levels Assessment of the Distribution of Disease-Associated Variants With Emphasis on Armenians - A Machine Learning Approach.
LHA - Leipzig Health Atlas, oBIG - omics Bioinformatics for Health

Abstract (Expand)

Background: During the last decades a number of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) has identified numerous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with different complex diseases. However, … associations reported in one population are often conflicting and did not replicate when studied in other populations. One of the reasons could be that most GWAS employ a case-control design in one or a limited number of populations, but little attention was paid to the global distribution of disease-associated alleles across different populations. Moreover, the majority of GWAS have been performed on selected European, African, and Chinese populations and the considerable number of populations remains understudied. Aim: We have investigated the global distribution of so far discovered disease-associated SNPs across worldwide populations of different ancestry and geographical regions with a special focus on the understudied population of Armenians. Data and Methods: We have used genotyping data from the Human Genome Diversity Project and of Armenian population and combined them with disease-associated SNP data taken from public repositories leading to a final dataset of 44,234 markers. Their frequency distribution across 1039 individuals from 53 populations was analyzed using self-organizing maps (SOM) machine learning. Our SOM portrayal approach reduces data dimensionality, clusters SNPs with similar frequency profiles and provides two-dimensional data images which enable visual evaluation of disease-associated SNPs landscapes among human populations. Results: We find that populations from Africa, Oceania, and America show specific patterns of minor allele frequencies of disease-associated SNPs, while populations from Europe, Middle East, Central South Asia, and Armenia mostly share similar patterns. Importantly, different sets of SNPs associated with common polygenic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegeneration in populations from different geographic regions. Armenians are characterized by a set of SNPs that are distinct from other populations from the neighboring geographical regions. Conclusion: Genetic associations of diseases considerably vary across populations which necessitates health-related genotyping efforts especially for so far understudied populations. SOM portrayal represents novel promising methods in population genetic research with special strength in visualization-based comparison of SNP data.

Authors: M. Nikoghosyan, S. Hakobyan, A. Hovhannisyan, H. Loeffler-Wirth, H. Binder, A. Arakelyan

Date Published: 21st May 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Portraying the Expression Landscapes of B-CellLymphoma-Intuitive Detection of Outlier Samples and of Molecular Subtypes.
MMML-MYC-SYS

Abstract (Expand)

We present an analytic framework based on Self-Organizing Map (SOM) machine learning to study large scale patient data sets. The potency of the approach is demonstrated in a case study using gene … expression data of more than 200 mature aggressive B-cell lymphoma patients. The method portrays each sample with individual resolution, characterizes the subtypes, disentangles the expression patterns into distinct modules, extracts their functional context using enrichment techniques and enables investigation of the similarity relations between the samples. The method also allows to detect and to correct outliers caused by contaminations. Based on our analysis, we propose a refined classification of B-cell Lymphoma into four molecular subtypes which are characterized by differential functional and clinical characteristics.

Authors: L. Hopp, K. Lembcke, H. Binder, H. Wirth

Date Published: 2nd Dec 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: non-Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell lymphoma

Portraying the expression landscapes of cancer subtypes. A case study of glioblastoma multiforme and prostate cancer
HNPCC-Sys - Genomic and transcriptomic heterogeneity of colorectal tumours arising in Lynch syndrome, GGN - German Glioma Network

Abstract (Expand)

Self-organizing maps (SOM) portray molecular phenotypes with individual resolution. We present an analysis pipeline based on SOM machine learning which allows the comprehensive study of large scale … clinical data. The potency of the method is demonstrated in selected applications studying the diversity of gene expression in Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) and prostate cancer progression. Our method characterizes relationships between the samples, disentangles the expression patterns into well separated groups of co-regulated genes, extracts their functional contexts using enrichment techniques, and enables the detection of contaminations and outliers in the samples. We found that the four GBM subtypes can be divided into two “localized” and two “intermediate” ones. The localized subtypes are characterized by the antagonistic activation of processes related to immune response and cell division, commonly observed also in other cancers. In contrast, each of the “intermediate” subtypes forms a heterogeneous continuum of expression states linking the “localized” subtypes. Both “intermediate” subtypes are characterized by distinct expression patterns related to translational activity and innate immunity as well as nervous tissue and cell function. We show that SOM portraits provide a comprehensive framework for the description of the diversity of expression landscapes using concepts of molecular function.

Authors: Lydia Hopp, Henry Löffler-Wirth, M. Fasold, Hans Binder

Date Published: 27th Jan 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: brain glioma, prostate cancer

Post-mortem in situ stability of serum markers of cerebral damage and acute phase response
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

The aim of the given study was to test the in situ stability of biochemical markers of cerebral damage and acute phase response in the early post-mortem interval to assess their usability for forensic … pathology. A monocentric, prospective study investigated post-mortem femoral venous blood samples at four time points obtained within 48 h post-mortem starting at the death of 20 deceased, using commercial immunoassays for the ten parameters: S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), ferritin, soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 (sTNFR1), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Significant changes in serum levels were observed only later than 2 h after death for all markers. Inter-laboratory comparability was high, and intra-assay precision was sufficient for most markers. Most of the biomarker levels depended on the severity of hemolysis and lipemia but were robust against freeze-thaw cycles. Serum levels increased with longer post-mortem intervals for S100B, NSE, ferritin, sTNFR1, and LDH (for all p \textless 0.001) but decreased over this period for CRP (p = 0.089) and PCT (p \textless 0.001). Largely unchanged median values were found for GFAP (p = 0.139), BDNF (p = 0.106), and IL-6 (p = 0.094). Serum levels of CRP (p = 0.059) and LDH (p = 0.109) did not differ significantly between the final ante-mortem (resuscitation) and the first post-mortem sample (moment of death). Collecting the post-mortem blood sample as soon as possible will reduce the influence of post-mortem blood changes. Serum GFAP for detection of cerebral damage as well as serum IL-6 and CRP as proof of acute phase response seemed to be preferable due to their in situ stability in the first 2 days after death.

Authors: Benjamin Ondruschka, Lina Woydt, Michael Bernhard, Heike Franke, Holger Kirsten, Sabine Löffler, Dirk Pohlers, Niels Hammer, Jan Dreßler

Date Published: 1st May 2019

Publication Type: Journal article

Potential of chromosomal and matrix-based comparative genomic hybridization for molecular diagnostics in lymphomas.
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: S. Wessendorf, P. Lichter, C. Schwanen, B. Fritz, M. Baudis, K. Walenta, M. Kloess, H. Dohner, M. Bentz

Date Published: 5th Jan 2002

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: lymphoma

Practicability and acute haematological toxicity of 2- and 3-weekly CHOP and CHOEP chemotherapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: results from the NHL-B trial of the German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Study Group (DSHNHL).
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that intensified variants of the classical 3-weekly CHOP-21 chemotherapy [cyclophosphamide (C), doxorubicin (H), vincristine (O), prednisone (P)] may improve treatment … outcome in aggressive lymphoma. Three variants using either an addition of etoposide (CHOEP-21: 100 mg/m(2) on days 1-3), the shortening to 2-week intervals using recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF; CHOP-14) or both (CHOEP-14) are currently compared with CHOP-21 in the NHL-B trial of the German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Study Group (DSHNHL). To enable more extensive testing of these schemes we here characterise their practicability regarding schedule adherence, acute haematotoxicity and need for supportive treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The trial included patients with normal lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) aged </=60 years (NHL-B1) and patients aged 61-75 years (NHL-B2). The data are taken from an interim analysis. Data from 959 patients (CHOP-21: 232; CHOP-14: 238; CHOEP-21: 244; CHOEP-14: 245) from 162 institutions with a total of 5331 therapy cycles were evaluated. RESULTS: The dose adherence in the NHL-B1 trial was excellent. The median relative dose (RD; i.e. actually given compared to planned dose) exceeds 98% for the myelosuppressive drugs in all four regimens. Only </=5% of patients received a relative dose <80% (RD <80). The median treatment duration could be shortened as scheduled for both CHOP-14 by 36 days and CHOEP-14 by 35 days. The dose adherence in the NHL-B2 trial was excellent for CHOP-21 and CHOP-14 for the myelosuppressive drugs (median RD >/=98%, RD <80 </=15%). Addition of etoposide, however, was accompanied by more dose erosion (median RD >/=97%, RD <80 </=17% for CHOEP-21 and </=27% for CHOEP-14). The median treatment duration could be shortened by 34 days with CHOP-14 compared with CHOP-21. Less treatment shortening was feasible for CHOEP-14 compared with CHOP-21 (median of 29 days). CHOP-14 and CHOP-21 were similar regarding toxicity profile, rate of infection, use of antibiotics, rate of transfusions and hospitalisation. CHOEP schemes were associated with a higher rate of infections, more transfusion requirements, more antibiotic use and longer hospitalisation than the CHOP schemes, particularly in patients aged >60 years. Haematopoietic recovery was age- and treatment-related. CONCLUSIONS: CHOP-14 with the addition of rhG-CSF is safe and practicable in a large multicentre setting in patients aged 18-75 years. Despite shorter treatment intervals it can be delivered at the same dose as the classical 3-weekly CHOP with a comparable toxicity profile. The addition of etoposide is feasible and safe for patients </=60 years old in both the CHOEP-21 and CHOEP-14 schemes. For patients >60 years of age the addition of etoposide is associated with marked dose erosion due to increased toxicity. In this age group CHOEP should be used with caution.

Authors: A. Wunderlich, M. Kloess, M. Reiser, C. Rudolph, L. Truemper, S. Bittner, H. Schmalenberg, R. Schmits, M. Pfreundschuh, M. Loeffler

Date Published: 11th Jun 2003

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Practice and perception–a nationwide survey of therapy habits in sepsis
SepNet - German Competence Network Sepsis

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVE To simultaneously determine perceived vs. practiced adherence to recommended interventions for the treatment of severe sepsis or septic shock. DESIGN One-day cross-sectional survey. SETTING …TING Representative sample of German intensive care units stratified by hospital size. PATIENTS Adult patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Practice recommendations were selected by German Sepsis Competence Network (SepNet) investigators. External intensivists visited intensive care units randomly chosen and asked the responsible intensive care unit director how often these recommendations were used. Responses \textquotedblalways\textquotedbl and \textquotedblfrequently\textquotedbl were combined to depict perceived adherence. Thereafter patient files were audited. Three hundred sixty-six patients on 214 intensive care units fulfilled the criteria and received full support. One hundred fifty-two patients had acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Low-tidal volume ventilation \textless or = 6 mL/kg/predicted body weight was documented in 2.6% of these patients. A total of 17.1% patients had tidal volume between 6 and 8 mL/kg predicted body weight and 80.3% \textgreater 8 mL/kg predicted body weight. Mean tidal volume was 10.0 +/- 2.4 mL/kg predicted body weight. Perceived adherence to low-tidal volume ventilation was 79.9%. Euglycemia (4.4-6.1 mmol/L) was documented in 6.2% of 355 patients. A total of 33.8% of patients had blood glucose levels \textless or = 8.3 mmol/L and 66.2% were hyperglycemic (blood glucose \textgreater 8.3 mmol/L). Among 207 patients receiving insulin therapy, 1.9% were euglycemic, 20.8% had blood glucose levels \textless or = 8.3 mmol/L, and 1.0% were hypoglycemic. Overall, mean maximal glucose level was 10.0 +/- 3.6 mmol/L. Perceived adherence to strict glycemic control was 65.9%. Although perceived adherence to recommendations was higher in academic and larger hospitals, actual practice was not significantly influenced by hospital size or university affiliation. CONCLUSIONS This representative survey shows that current therapy of severe sepsis in German intensive care units complies poorly with practice recommendations. Intensive care unit directors perceive adherence to be higher than it actually is. Implementation strategies involving all intensive care unit staff are needed to overcome this gap between current evidence-based knowledge, practice, and perception.

Authors: Frank M. Brunkhorst, Christoph Engel, Max Ragaller, Tobias Welte, Rolf Rossaint, Herwig Gerlach, Konstantin Mayer, Stefan John, Frank Stuber, Norbert Weiler, Michael Oppert, Onnen Moerer, Holger Bogatsch, Konrad Reinhart, Markus Loeffler, Christiane Hartog

Date Published: 2008

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: disease by infectious agent

Practice of volume therapy in patients with severe sepsis: results from a nationwide sepsis prevalence study
SepNet - German Competence Network Sepsis

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Christiane S. Hartog, Frank M. Brunkhorst, Frank Bloos, Holger Bogatsch, Christoph Engel, Kerstin Sengebusch, Konrad Reinhart, Maximilian Ragaller

Date Published: 1st Mar 2010

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: disease by infectious agent

Predicting behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia with pattern classification in multi-center structural MRI data.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

PURPOSE: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a common cause of early onset dementia. Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), its most common subtype, is characterized by deep … alterations in behavior and personality. In 2011, new diagnostic criteria were suggested that incorporate imaging criteria into diagnostic algorithms. The study aimed at validating the potential of imaging criteria to individually predict diagnosis with machine learning algorithms. MATERIALS & METHODS: Brain atrophy was measured with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla in a multi-centric cohort of 52 bvFTD patients and 52 healthy control subjects from the German FTLD Consortium's Study. Beside group comparisons, diagnosis bvFTD vs. controls was individually predicted in each subject with support vector machine classification in MRI data across the whole brain or in frontotemporal, insular regions, and basal ganglia known to be mainly affected based on recent meta-analyses. Multi-center effects were controlled for with a new method, "leave one center out" conjunction analyses, i.e. repeatedly excluding subjects from each center from the analysis. RESULTS: Group comparisons revealed atrophy in, most consistently, the frontal lobe in bvFTD beside alterations in the insula, basal ganglia and temporal lobe. Most remarkably, support vector machine classification enabled predicting diagnosis in single patients with a high accuracy of up to 84.6%, where accuracy was highest in a region-of-interest approach focusing on frontotemporal, insular regions, and basal ganglia in comparison with the whole brain approach. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that MRI, a widespread imaging technology, can individually identify bvFTD with high accuracy in multi-center imaging data, paving the road to personalized diagnostic approaches in the future.

Authors: S. Meyer, K. Mueller, K. Stuke, S. Bisenius, J. Diehl-Schmid, F. Jessen, J. Kassubek, J. Kornhuber, A. C. Ludolph, J. Prudlo, A. Schneider, K. Schuemberg, I. Yakushev, M. Otto, M. L. Schroeter

Date Published: 29th Mar 2017

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: frontotemporal dementia

Predicting brain-age from multimodal imaging data captures cognitive impairment.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

The disparity between the chronological age of an individual and their brain-age measured based on biological information has the potential to offer clinically relevant biomarkers of neurological … syndromes that emerge late in the lifespan. While prior brain-age prediction studies have relied exclusively on either structural or functional brain data, here we investigate how multimodal brain-imaging data improves age prediction. Using cortical anatomy and whole-brain functional connectivity on a large adult lifespan sample (N=2354, age 19-82), we found that multimodal data improves brain-based age prediction, resulting in a mean absolute prediction error of 4.29 years. Furthermore, we found that the discrepancy between predicted age and chronological age captures cognitive impairment. Importantly, the brain-age measure was robust to confounding effects: head motion did not drive brain-based age prediction and our models generalized reasonably to an independent dataset acquired at a different site (N=475). Generalization performance was increased by training models on a larger and more heterogeneous dataset. The robustness of multimodal brain-age prediction to confounds, generalizability across sites, and sensitivity to clinically-relevant impairments, suggests promising future application to the early prediction of neurocognitive disorders.

Authors: F. Liem, G. Varoquaux, J. Kynast, F. Beyer, S. Kharabian Masouleh, J. M. Huntenburg, L. Lampe, M. Rahim, A. Abraham, R. C. Craddock, S. Riedel-Heller, T. Luck, M. Loeffler, M. L. Schroeter, A. V. Witte, A. Villringer, D. S. Margulies

Date Published: 1st Mar 2017

Publication Type: Journal article

Predicting early signs of dyslexia at a preliterate age by combining behavioral assessment with structural MRI
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that neurobiological anomalies are already detectable in pre-school children with a family history of developmental dyslexia (DD). However, there is a lack of longitudinal …l studies showing a direct link between those differences at a preliterate age and the subsequent literacy difficulties seen in school. It is also not clear whether the prediction of DD in pre-school children can be significantly improved when considering neurobiological predictors, compared to models based on behavioral literacy precursors only. METHODS We recruited 53 pre-reading children either with (N=25) or without a family risk of DD (N=28). Quantitative T1 MNI data and literacy precursor abilities were assessed at kindergarten age. A subsample of 35 children was tested for literacy skills either one or two years later, that is, either in first or second grade. RESULTS The group comparison of quantitative T1 measures revealed significantly higher T1 intensities in the left anterior arcuate fascicle (AF), suggesting reduced myelin concentration in preliterate children at risk of DD. A logistic regression showed that DD can be predicted significantly better (p=.024) when neuroanatomical differences between groups are used as predictors (80%) compared to a model based on behavioral predictors only (63%). The Wald statistic confirmed that the T1 intensity of the left AF is a statistically significant predictor of DD (p\textless.05). CONCLUSIONS Our longitudinal results provide evidence for the hypothesis that neuroanatomical anomalies in children with a family risk of DD are related to subsequent problems in acquiring literacy. Particularly, solid white matter organization in the left anterior arcuate fascicle seems to play a pivotal role.

Authors: Indra Kraft, Jan Schreiber, Riccardo Cafiero, Riccardo Metere, Gesa Schaadt, Jens Brauer, Nicole E. Neef, Bent Müller, Holger Kirsten, Arndt Wilcke, Johannes Boltze, Angela D. Friederici, Michael A. Skeide

Date Published: 1st Dec 2016

Publication Type: Journal article

Prediction of Breast and Prostate Cancer Risks in Male BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers Using Polygenic Risk Scores
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

Purpose BRCA1/2 mutations increase the risk of breast and prostate cancer in men. Common genetic variants modify cancer risks for female carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations. We investigated-for the first … time to our knowledge-associations of common genetic variants with breast and prostate cancer risks for male carriers of BRCA1/ 2 mutations and implications for cancer risk prediction. Materials and Methods We genotyped 1,802 male carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 by using the custom Illumina OncoArray. We investigated the combined effects of established breast and prostate cancer susceptibility variants on cancer risks for male carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations by constructing weighted polygenic risk scores (PRSs) using published effect estimates as weights. Results In male carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations, PRS that was based on 88 female breast cancer susceptibility variants was associated with breast cancer risk (odds ratio per standard deviation of PRS, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.19 to 1.56; P = 8.6 \times 10-6). Similarly, PRS that was based on 103 prostate cancer susceptibility variants was associated with prostate cancer risk (odds ratio per SD of PRS, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.35 to 1.81; P = 3.2 \times 10-9). Large differences in absolute cancer risks were observed at the extremes of the PRS distribution. For example, prostate cancer risk by age 80 years at the 5th and 95th percentiles of the PRS varies from 7% to 26% for carriers of BRCA1 mutations and from 19% to 61% for carriers of BRCA2 mutations, respectively. Conclusion PRSs may provide informative cancer risk stratification for male carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations that might enable these men and their physicians to make informed decisions on the type and timing of breast and prostate cancer risk management.

Authors: Julie Lecarpentier, Valentina Silvestri, Karoline B. Kuchenbaecker, Daniel Barrowdale, Joe Dennis, Lesley McGuffog, Penny Soucy, Goska Leslie, Piera Rizzolo, Anna Sara Navazio, Virginia Valentini, Veronica Zelli, Andrew Lee, Ali Amin Al Olama, Jonathan P. Tyrer, Melissa Southey, Esther M. John, Thomas A. Conner, David E. Goldgar, Saundra S. Buys, Ramunas Janavicius, Linda Steele, Yuan Chun Ding, Susan L. Neuhausen, Thomas v. O. Hansen, Ana Osorio, Jeffrey N. Weitzel, Angela Toss, Veronica Medici, Laura Cortesi, Ines Zanna, Domenico Palli, Paolo Radice, Siranoush Manoukian, Bernard Peissel, Jacopo Azzollini, Alessandra Viel, Giulia Cini, Giuseppe Damante, Stefania Tommasi, Paolo Peterlongo, Florentia Fostira, Ute Hamann, D. Gareth Evans, Alex Henderson, Carole Brewer, Diana Eccles, Jackie Cook, Kai-Ren Ong, Lisa Walker, Lucy E. Side, Mary E. Porteous, Rosemarie Davidson, Shirley Hodgson, Debra Frost, Julian Adlard, Louise Izatt, Ros Eeles, Steve Ellis, Marc Tischkowitz, Andrew K. Godwin, Alfons Meindl, Andrea Gehrig, Bernd Dworniczak, Christian Sutter, Christoph Engel, Dieter Niederacher, Doris Steinemann, Eric Hahnen, Jan Hauke, Kerstin Rhiem, Karin Kast, Norbert Arnold, Nina Ditsch, Shan Wang-Gohrke, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Dorothea Wand, Christine Lasset, Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Muriel Belotti, Francesca Damiola, Laure Barjhoux, Sylvie Mazoyer, Mattias van Heetvelde, Bruce Poppe, Kim de Leeneer, Kathleen B. M. Claes, Miguel de La Hoya, Vanesa Garcia-Barberan, Trinidad Caldes, Pedro Perez Segura, Johanna I. Kiiski, Kristiina Aittomäki, Sofia Khan, Heli Nevanlinna, Christi J. van Asperen, Tibor Vaszko, Miklos Kasler, Edith Olah, Judith Balmaña, Sara Gutiérrez-Enríquez, Orland Diez, Alex Teulé, Angel Izquierdo, Esther Darder, Joan Brunet, Jesús Del Valle, Lidia Feliubadalo, Miquel Angel Pujana, Conxi Lazaro, Adalgeir Arason, Bjarni A. Agnarsson, Oskar Th Johannsson, Rosa B. Barkardottir, Elisa Alducci, Silvia Tognazzo, Marco Montagna, Manuel R. Teixeira, Pedro Pinto, Amanda B. Spurdle, Helene Holland, Jong Won Lee, Min Hyuk Lee, Jihyoun Lee, Sung-Won Kim, Eunyoung Kang, Zisun Kim, Priyanka Sharma, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Joseph Vijai, Mark Robson, Anne Lincoln, Jacob Musinsky, Pragna Gaddam, Yen Y. Tan, Andreas Berger, Christian F. Singer, Jennifer T. Loud, Mark H. Greene, Anna Marie Mulligan, Gord Glendon, Irene L. Andrulis, Amanda Ewart Toland, Leigha Senter, Anders Bojesen, Henriette Roed Nielsen, Anne-Bine Skytte, Lone Sunde, Uffe Birk Jensen, Inge Sokilde Pedersen, Lotte Krogh, Torben A. Kruse, Maria A. Caligo, Sook-Yee Yoon, Soo-Hwang Teo, Anna von Wachenfeldt, Dezheng Huo, Sarah M. Nielsen, Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, Katherine L. Nathanson, Susan M. Domchek, Christa Lorenchick, Rachel C. Jankowitz, Ian Campbell, Paul James, Gillian Mitchell, Nick Orr, Sue Kyung Park, Mads Thomassen, Kenneth Offit, Fergus J. Couch, Jacques Simard, Douglas F. Easton, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Rita K. Schmutzler, Antonis C. Antoniou, Laura Ottini

Date Published: 10th Jul 2017

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Prediction of Intensive Care Unit Length of Stay in the MIMIC-IV Dataset
Prediction model of Length of Stay and probability of rehospitalization

Abstract (Expand)

Accurately estimating the length of stay (LOS) of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in relation to their health status helps healthcare management allocate appropriate resources and … resources and better plan for the future. This paper presents predictive models for the LOS of ICU patients from the MIMIC-IV database based on typical demographic and administrative data, as well as early vital signs and laboratory measurements collected on the first day of ICU stay. The goal of this study was to demonstrate a practical, stepwise approach to predicting patient’s LOS in the ICU using machine learning and early available typical clinical data. The results show that this approach significantly improves the performance of models for predicting actual LOS in a pragmatic framework that includes only data with short stays predetermined by a prior classification.

Authors: Lars Hempel, Sina Sadeghi, Toralf Kirsten

Date Published: 1st Jun 2023

Publication Type: Journal article

Predictive impact of MGMT promoter methylation in glioblastoma of the elderly.
GGN - German Glioma Network

Abstract (Expand)

O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation identifies a subpopulation of glioblastoma patients with more favorable prognosis and predicts a benefit from alkylating agent … chemotherapy (CT). Little is known about its prevalence and clinical significance in older glioblastoma patients. We studied 233 glioblastoma patients aged 70 years or more (144 males, 89 females, median age: 74 years, range: 70.0-86.6 years), who were prospectively enrolled in the German Glioma Network, for MGMT promoter methylation by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) in all patients and DNA pyrosequencing in 166 patients. MGMT data were correlated with patient outcome. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.8 months (95% CI: 4.3-5.3) and median overall survival (OS) was 7.7 months (95% CI: 6.3-9.0). MGMT promoter methylation was detected by MSP in 134 patients (57.5%). For the whole cohort, PFS was 5.2 versus 4.7 months (p = 0.207) and OS was 8.4 versus 6.4 months (p = 0.031) in patients with versus without MGMT promoter methylation. Patients with MGMT methylated tumors had longer PFS when treated with radiotherapy (RT) plus CT or CT alone compared to patients treated with RT alone. Patients with MGMT unmethylated tumors appeared to derive no survival benefit from CT, regardless of whether given at diagnosis together with RT or as a salvage treatment. Patients treated with RT plus CT or CT alone demonstrated longer OS when pyrosequencing revealed >25% MGMT methylated alleles. Taken together, MGMT promoter methylation may be a useful biomarker to stratify elderly glioblastoma patients for treatment with versus without alkylating agent CT.

Authors: G. Reifenberger, B. Hentschel, J. Felsberg, G. Schackert, M. Simon, O. Schnell, M. Westphal, W. Wick, T. Pietsch, M. Loeffler, M. Weller

Date Published: 15th Sep 2012

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: glioblastoma multiforme

Predictors of students’ self-reported adoption of a smartphone application for medical education in general practice
Management of health information systems

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Smartphones and related applications are increasingly gaining relevance in the healthcare domain. We previously assessed the demands and preferences of medical students towards an application … accompanying them during a course on general practice. The current study aims to elucidate the factors associated with adoption of such a technology. Therefore we provided students with a prototype of an application specifically related to their studies in general practice. METHODS: A total estimation among students participating in a general practice examination at the Leipzig Medical School was conducted in May 2014. Students were asked to answer a structured self-designed questionnaire. Univariable comparisons were made to identify significant differences between those students who reported to have used the application frequently and those who did not. Multivariable binary logistic regression was used to reveal independent predictors of frequent application usage. RESULTS: The response rate was 99.3 % (n = 305/307). The majority (59 %, n = 180/305) were female students. The mean age was 24.5 years and 79.9 % (n = 243/304) owned a smartphone or tablet computer. Regarding the usage of the provided application, 2.3 % (n = 7/303) did not use the app while 68.0 % (n = 206/303) replied to have used it more than five times. Frequent users significantly differed from non-frequent users with regard to being female rather than male, higher mobile device ownership, more frequent exchange about obtaining the course certificate, higher personal interest in new technologies, larger enjoyment of the technology, lower intention to not use smartphone applications in the future, better opinion towards smartphone applications for the profession of a doctor, higher perceived importance of medical applications on the job, higher compatibility of smartphone applications with personal work style, higher perceived relevance of university support and personal benefit of use. Multivariable analysis revealed a set of four variables independently predicting frequent usage: being female, a higher perceived benefit of the supplied application, a higher personal interest in new technologies, and a higher perceived impact of previous experiences on smartphone adoption (Pseudo-R(2) Nagelkerke = 0.245). CONCLUSIONS: Understanding medical students’ adoption of smartphone applications used for educational purposes may provide useful information to guide the implementation process as well as the design of respective applications.

Authors: M. Sandholzer, T. Deutsch, T. Frese, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1st Dec 2015

Publication Type: Journal article

Pre-operative Tei Index does not predict left ventricular function immediately after mitral valve repair
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

Echocardiographic assessment of systolic left ventricular (LV) function in patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) undergoing mitral valve (MV) repair can be challenging because the measurement … of ejection fraction (EF) or fractional area change (FAC) in pathological states is of questionable value. The aim of our study was to evaluate the usefulness of the pre-operative Tei Index in predicting left ventricular EF or FAC immediately after MV repair. One hundred and thirty patients undergoing MV repair with sinus rhythm pre- and post-operatively were enrolled in this prospective study. Twenty-six patients were excluded due to absence of sinus rhythm post-operatively. Standard transesophageal examination (IE 33, Philips, Netherlands) was performed before and after cardiopulmonary bypass according to the guidelines of the ASE/SCA. FAC was determined in the transgastric midpapillary short-axis view. LV EF was measured in the midesophageal four- and two-chamber view. For calculation of the Tei Index, the deep transgastric and the midesophageal four-chamber view were used. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 17.0. values are expressed as mean with standard deviation. LV FAC and EF decreased significantly after MV repair (FAC: 56\pm12% vs. 50\pm14%, P\textless0.001; EF: 58\pm11 vs. 50\pm12\textgreek’E P\textless0.001). The Tei Index decreased from 0.66\pm0.23 before MV repair to 0.41\pm0.19 afterwards (P\textless0.001). No relationship between pre-operative Tei Index and post-operative FAC or post-operative EF were found (FAC: r=-0.061, P=0.554; EF: r=-0.29, P=0.771). Conclusion: Pre-operative Tei Index is not a good predictor for post-operative FAC and EF in patients undergoing MV repair.

Authors: Chirojit Mukherjee, Steffen Groeger, Maurice Hogan, Markus Scholz, Udo X. Kaisers, Joerg Ender

Date Published: 2012

Publication Type: Journal article

Preparing strategic information management plans for hospitals: a practical guideline: SIM plans for hospitals: a guideline
Management of health information systems

Abstract (Expand)

OBJECTIVES:: Systematic information management in hospitals demands for a strategic information management plan (SIM plan). As preparing a SIM plan is a considerable challenge we provide a practical … guideline that is directly applicable when a SIM plan is going to be prepared. METHODS:: The guideline recommends a detailed structure of a SIM plan and gives advices about its content and the preparation process. It may be used as template, which can be adapted to the individual demands of any hospital. RESULTS:: The guideline was used in several hospitals preparing a SIM plan. Experiences showed that the SIM plans could be prepared very efficiently and timely using the guideline, that the proposed SIM plan structure suited well, that the guideline offers enough flexibility to meet the requirements of the individual hospitals and that the specific recommendations of the guideline were very helpful. CONCLUSIONS:: Nevertheless, we must strive for a more comprehensive theory of strategic information management planning which - in the sense of enterprise architecture planning - represents the intrinsic correlations of the different parts of a SIM plan to a greater extent.

Authors: B. Brigl, Elske Ammenwerth, C. Dujat, S. Graber, A. Gro[ss]e, A. Haber, C. Jostes, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2005

Publication Type: Journal article

Prevalence of atrial fibrillation dependent on coronary artery status: Insights from the LIFE-Heart Study.
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a significant risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). Experimental studies demonstrated that atrial ischemia induced by right coronary artery (RCA) stenosis … promote AF triggers and development of electro-anatomical substrate for AF. AIM: To analyze the association between AF prevalence and coronary arteries status in the LIFE-Heart Study. METHODS: This analysis included patients with available coronary catheterization data recruited between 2006 and 2014. Patients with acute myocardial infarction were excluded. CAD was defined as stenosis >/=75%, while coronary artery sclerosis (CAS) was defined as non-critical plaque(s) <75%. RESULTS: In total, 3.458 patients (median age 63 years, 34% women) were included into analysis. AF was diagnosed in 238 (6.7%) patients. There were 681 (19.7%) patients with CAS and 1.411 (40.8%) with CAD (27.5% with single, 32.4% with double, and 40.1% with triple vessel CAD). In multivariable analysis, there was a significant association between prevalent AF and coronary artery status (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.53-0.78, Ptrend < .001). Similarly, AF risk was lower in patients with higher CAD extent (OR 0.54, 95%CI 0.35-0.83, Ptrend = .005). Compared to single vessel CAD, the risk of AF was lower in double (OR 0.42, 95%CI 0.19-0.95, P = .037) and triple CAD (OR 0.31, 95%CI 0.13-0.71, P = .006). Finally, no association was found between AF prevalence and CAD origin among patients with single vessel CAD. CONCLUSION: In the LIFE-Heart Study, CAS but not CAD was associated with increased risk of AF.

Authors: J. Kornej, S. Henger, T. Seewoster, A. Teren, R. Burkhardt, H. Thiele, J. Thiery, M. Scholz

Date Published: 27th Oct 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Prevalence of BRCA1/2 germline mutations in 21 401 families with breast and ovarian cancer.
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

PURPOSE: To characterise the prevalence of pathogenic germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 in families with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) history. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data from 21 401 … families were gathered between 1996 and 2014 in a clinical setting in the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer, comprising full pedigrees with cancer status of all individual members at the time of first counselling, and BRCA1/2 mutation status of the index patient. RESULTS: The overall BRCA1/2 mutation prevalence was 24.0% (95% CI 23.4% to 24.6%). Highest mutation frequencies were observed in families with at least two OCs (41.9%, 95% CI 36.1% to 48.0%) and families with at least one breast and one OC (41.6%, 95% CI 40.3% to 43.0%), followed by male BC with at least one female BC or OC (35.8%; 95% CI 32.2% to 39.6%). In families with a single case of early BC (<36 years), mutations were found in 13.7% (95% CI 11.9% to 15.7%). Postmenopausal unilateral or bilateral BC did not increase the probability of mutation detection. Occurrence of premenopausal BC and OC in the same woman led to higher mutation frequencies compared with the occurrence of these two cancers in different individuals (49.0%; 95% CI 41.0% to 57.0% vs 31.5%; 95% CI 28.0% to 35.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide guidance for healthcare professionals and decision-makers to identify individuals who should undergo genetic testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Moreover, it supports informed decision-making of counselees on the uptake of genetic testing.

Authors: K. Kast, K. Rhiem, B. Wappenschmidt, E. Hahnen, J. Hauke, B. Bluemcke, V. Zarghooni, N. Herold, N. Ditsch, M. Kiechle, M. Braun, C. Fischer, N. Dikow, S. Schott, N. Rahner, D. Niederacher, T. Fehm, A. Gehrig, C. Mueller-Reible, N. Arnold, N. Maass, G. Borck, N. de Gregorio, C. Scholz, B. Auber, R. Varon-Manteeva, D. Speiser, J. Horvath, N. Lichey, P. Wimberger, S. Stark, U. Faust, B. H. Weber, G. Emons, S. Zachariae, A. Meindl, R. K. Schmutzler, C. Engel

Date Published: 2nd Mar 2016

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: breast cancer, ovarian cancer

Prevalence of minor depression in elderly persons with and without mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Minor depression (MinD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are common disorders in late life that often coexist. The aim of the present review is to demonstrate prevalence rates of minor … depression in older patients with and without MCI. METHODS: Electronic database searches were performed through Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, Psycinfo, and Cochrane library. Two independent reviewers extracted the original studies based on inclusion criteria: representative study population aged 55 and older, diagnostics of MinD according to DSM. Data on prevalence rates, risk factors, comorbidity and health care usage were analyzed. RESULTS: Point prevalence for MinD is higher in medical settings (median 14.4%) than in the community-based settings (median 10.4%) and primary care patients (median 7.7%). Although minor depression is rarely investigated in elderly persons with MCI, nearly 20% of patients with MCI seem to suffer from MinD. No data was found on the prevalence of MCI in patients with MinD. Risk factors associated with MinD include female gender, history of cerebrovascular diseases, generalized anxiety disorder, loneliness, and long-term institutional care. LIMITATIONS: Methodological differences of included studies resulted in a broad range of prevalence rates. No data is shown regarding the prevalence of MCI in MinD group due to insufficient evidence. CONCLUSIONS: Our review indicates that MinD is frequent in elderly population. MCI among those subjects has not been sufficiently investigated. Future studies based on clinical structured interviews should be performed in longitudinal design in order to differentiate late-life depression from progressive MCI or early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease.

Authors: M. Polyakova, N. Sonnabend, C. Sander, R. Mergl, M. L. Schroeter, J. Schroeder, P. Schonknecht

Date Published: 10th Oct 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: mental depression

Prevalence of moderately increased albuminuria among individuals with normal HbA1c level but impaired glucose tolerance: Results from the LIFE-Adult-Study.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

Aims: Diabetes screening strategies using glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) as first-instance diagnostic parameter may cause failure to detect individuals with abnormal glucose regulation and possible signs … of microvascular complications despite "rule-out" HbA1c levels. This cross-sectional study examined the diagnostic performance of HbA1c in relation to fasting and two-hour postload plasma glucose (FPG/2 h-PG), and investigated whether individuals with normal HbA1c but abnormal FPG/2 h-PG have a higher prevalence of moderately increased albuminuria as possible sign of early stage kidney damage. Methods: A total of 2695 individuals (age 40-79 years, 48% men) without prior diagnosis of diabetes and complete measurement of HbA1c, FPG, 2 h-PG and urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) were taken from a large population-based epidemiological study in the City of Leipzig, Germany. Results: A total of 2439 individuals (90.5%, 95% CI: 89.4-91.6) had normal HbA1c levels, <39 mmol/mol (<5.7%), while 234 (8.7%, 95% CI: 7.7-9.8) had prediabetes, HbA1c >/=39 and <48 mmol/mol (>/=5.7 and <6.5%), and 22 (0.8%, 95% CI: 0.5-1.2) had diabetes, HbA1c >/=48 mmol/mol (>/=6.5%), according to HbA1c. Among individuals with normal HbA1c, 35.6% (95% CI: 33.7-37.5) had impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance and 1.8% (95% CI: 1.4-2.4) had diabetes according to FPG/2 h-PG. Individuals with normal HbA1c but prediabetic or diabetic FPG/2 h-PG had a significantly higher prevalence of moderately increased albuminuria (9.4%, 95% CI: 7.6-11.5 and 13.3%, 95% CI: 5.8-25.4, respectively) than individuals with normal HbA1c and normal FPG/2 h-PG (3.9%, 95% CI: 3.0-5.0). Conclusions: The prevalence of prediabetes according to FPG/2 h-PG among individuals with normal HbA1c is considerably high, and the prevalence of moderately increased albuminuria in this group is significantly elevated. Risk factors for diabetes such as age, gender and BMI may help to better identify this at-risk group.

Authors: M. Zivkovic, A. Tonjes, R. Baber, K. Wirkner, M. Loeffler, C. Engel

Date Published: 1st Mar 2019

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: glucose metabolism disease

Prevalence of pathogenic BRCA1/2 germline mutations among 802 women with unilateral triple-negative breast cancer without family cancer history
GC-HBOC - German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND There is no international consensus up to which age women with a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and no family history of breast or ovarian cancer should be offered genetic …c testing for germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 (gBRCA) mutations. Here, we explored the association of age at TNBC diagnosis with the prevalence of pathogenic gBRCA mutations in this patient group. METHODS The study comprised 802 women (median age 40 years, range 19-76) with oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 negative breast cancers, who had no relatives with breast or ovarian cancer. All women were tested for pathogenic gBRCA mutations. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between age at TNBC diagnosis and the presence of a pathogenic gBRCA mutation. RESULTS A total of 127 women with TNBC (15.8%) were gBRCA mutation carriers (BRCA1: n = 118, 14.7%; BRCA2: n = 9, 1.1%). The mutation prevalence was 32.9% in the age group 20-29 years compared to 6.9% in the age group 60-69 years. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant increase of mutation frequency with decreasing age at diagnosis (odds ratio 1.87 per 10 year decrease, 95%CI 1.50-2.32, p \textless 0.001). gBRCA mutation risk was predicted to be \textgreater 10% for women diagnosed below approximately 50 years. CONCLUSIONS Based on the general understanding that a heterozygous mutation probability of 10% or greater justifies gBRCA mutation screening, women with TNBC diagnosed before the age of 50 years and no familial history of breast and ovarian cancer should be tested for gBRCA mutations. In Germany, this would concern approximately 880 women with newly diagnosed TNBC per year, of whom approximately 150 are expected to be identified as carriers of a pathogenic gBRCA mutation.

Authors: Christoph Engel, Kerstin Rhiem, Eric Hahnen, Sibylle Loibl, Karsten E. Weber, Sabine Seiler, Silke Zachariae, Jan Hauke, Barbara Wappenschmidt, Anke Waha, Britta Blümcke, Marion Kiechle, Alfons Meindl, Dieter Niederacher, Claus R. Bartram, Dorothee Speiser, Brigitte Schlegelberger, Norbert Arnold, Peter Wieacker, Elena Leinert, Andrea Gehrig, Susanne Briest, Karin Kast, Olaf Riess, Günter Emons, Bernhard H. F. Weber, Jutta Engel, Rita K. Schmutzler

Date Published: 1st Dec 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Human Diseases: hereditary breast ovarian cancer syndrome

Problems in FAIRifying medical datasets
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract (Expand)

Despite their young age, the FAIR principles are recognised as important guidelines for research data management. Their generic design, however, leaves much room for interpretation in domain-specific … application. Based on practical experience in the operation of a data repository, this article addresses problems in FAIR provisioning of medical data for research purposes in the use case of the Leipzig Health Atlas project and shows necessary future developments.

Authors: Matthias Löbe, Franz Matthies, Sebastian Stäubert, Frank A Meineke, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 1st Jun 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Problems in FAIRifying Medical Datasets.
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract (Expand)

Despite their young age, the FAIR principles are recognised as important guidelines for research data management. Their generic design, however, leaves much room for interpretation in domain-specific … application. Based on practical experience in the operation of a data repository, this article addresses problems in FAIR provisioning of medical data for research purposes in the use case of the Leipzig Health Atlas project and shows necessary future developments.

Authors: M. Lobe, F. Matthies, S. Staubert, F. A. Meineke, A. Winter

Date Published: 16th Jun 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Process Frame Instances for Integrating Strategic, Tactical and Operational Information Management in Hospitals
Management of health information systems

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Lutz Ißler, Gert Funkat, Stefan Smers, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2006

Publication Type: InProceedings

Professionalism of Information Management in Health Care: Development and Validation of the Construct and Its Measurement
Management of health information systems

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Against the background of a steadily increasing degree of digitalization in health care, a professional information management (IM) is required to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate …e information technology (IT). At its core, IM has to ensure a high quality of health data and health information systems to support patient care. OBJECTIVES The goal of the present study was to define what constitutes professional IM as a construct as well as to propose a reliable and valid measurement instrument. METHODS To develop and validate the construct of professionalism of information management (PIM) and its measurement, a stepwise approach followed an established procedure from information systems and behavioral research. The procedure included an analysis of the pertaining literature and expert rounds on the construct and the instrument, two consecutive and comprehensive surveys at the national and international level, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses as well as reliability and validity testing. RESULTS Professionalism of information management was developed as a construct consisting of the three dimensions of strategic, tactical, and operational IM as well as of the regularity and cyclical phases of IM procedures as the two elements of professionalism. The PIM instrument operationalized the construct providing items that incorporated IM procedures along the three dimensions and cyclical phases. These procedures had to be evaluated against their degree of regularity in the instrument. The instrument proved to be reliable and valid in two consecutive measurement phases and across three countries. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that professionalism of information management is a meaningful construct that can be operationalized in a scientifically rigorous manner. Both science and practice can benefit from these developments in terms of improved self-assessment, benchmarking capabilities, and eventually, obtaining a better understanding of health IT maturity.

Authors: Johannes Thye, Moritz Esdar, Jan-David Liebe, Franziska Jahn, Alfred Winter, Ursula Hübner

Date Published: 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Progene – A Large-scale, High-Quality Protein-Gene Annotated Benchmark Corpus
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Erik Faessler, L. Modersohn, C. Lohr, U. Hahn

Date Published: 11th May 2020

Publication Type: InProceedings

Progesterone mediates brain functional connectivity changes during the menstrual cycle-a pilot resting state MRI study.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

The growing interest in intrinsic brain organization has sparked various innovative approaches to generating comprehensive connectivity-based maps of the human brain. Prior reports point to a sexual … dimorphism of the structural and functional human connectome. However, it is uncertain whether subtle changes in sex hormones, as occur during the monthly menstrual cycle, substantially impact the functional architecture of the female brain. Here, we performed eigenvector centrality (EC) mapping in 32 longitudinal resting state fMRI scans of a single healthy subject without oral contraceptive use, across four menstrual cycles, and assessed estrogen and progesterone levels. To investigate associations between cycle-dependent hormones and brain connectivity, we performed correlation analyses between the EC maps and the respective hormone levels. On the whole brain level, we found a significant positive correlation between progesterone and EC in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and bilateral sensorimotor cortex. In a secondary region-of-interest analysis, we detected a progesterone-modulated increase in functional connectivity of both bilateral DLPFC and bilateral sensorimotor cortex with the hippocampus. Our results suggest that the menstrual cycle substantially impacts intrinsic functional connectivity, particularly in brain areas associated with contextual memory-regulation, such as the hippocampus. These findings are the first to link the subtle hormonal fluctuations that occur during the menstrual cycle, to significant changes in regional functional connectivity in the hippocampus in a longitudinal design, given the limitation of data acquisition in a single subject. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of such a longitudinal Resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) design and illustrates a means of creating a personalized map of the human brain by integrating potential mediators of brain states, such as menstrual cycle phase.

Authors: K. Arelin, K. Mueller, C. Barth, P. V. Rekkas, J. Kratzsch, I. Burmann, A. Villringer, J. Sacher

Date Published: 11th Mar 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Prognostic and Pathogenic Role of Angiopoietin-1 and -2 in Pneumonia
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

RATIONALE During pneumonia, pathogen-host interaction evokes inflammation and lung barrier dysfunction. Tie2-activation by Angiopoietin-1 reduces, while Tie2-blockade by Angiopoietin-2 increases …s inflammation and permeability during sepsis. The role of Angiopoietin-1/-2 in pneumonia remains unidentified. OBJECTIVES To investigate the prognostic and pathogenetic impact of Angiopoietins in regulating pulmonary vascular barrier function and inflammation in bacterial pneumonia. METHODS Serum Angiopoietin levels were quantified in pneumonia patients of two independent cohorts (n=148, n=395). Human post mortem lung tissue, pneumolysin- or Angiopoietin-2-stimulated endothelial cells, isolated perfused and ventilated mouse lungs, and mice with pneumococcal pneumonia were investigated. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS In pneumonia patients, decreased serum Angiopoietin-1 and increased Angiopoietin-2 levels were observed as compared to healthy subjects. Higher Angiopoietin-2 serum levels were found in community-acquired pneumonia patients who died within 28 days after diagnosis compared to survivors. ROC analysis revealed improved prognostic accuracy of CURB-65 for 28-day survival, intensive care treatment and length of hospital stay if combined with Angiopoietin-2 serum levels. In vitro, pneumolysin enhanced endothelial Angiopoietin-2 release, Angiopoietin-2 increased endothelial permeability, and Angiopoietin-1 reduced pneumolysin-evoked endothelial permeability. Ventilated and perfused lungs of mice with Angiopoietin-2-knockdown showed reduced permeability upon pneumolysin stimulation. Increased pulmonary Angiopoietin-2 and reduced Angiopoietin-1 mRNA expression were observed in S. pneumoniae infected mice. Finally, Angiopoietin-1 therapy reduced inflammation and permeability in murine pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest a central role of Angiopoietin-1/-2 in pneumonia-evoked inflammation and permeability. Increased Angiopoietin-2 serum levels predicted mortality and length of hospital stay, and Angiopoietin-1 may provide a therapeutic target for severe pneumonia.

Authors: Birgitt Gutbier, Anne-Kathrin Neuhauß, Katrin Reppe, Carolin Ehrler, Ansgar Santel, Jörg Kaufmann, Markus Scholz, Norbert Weissmann, Lars Morawietz, Timothy J. Mitchell, Stefano Aliberti, Stefan Hippenstiel, Norbert Suttorp, Martin Witzenrath

Date Published: 15th Jul 2018

Publication Type: Journal article

Prognostic factors for hematotoxicity of chemotherapy in aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: Little is known on the heterogeneity of hematotoxicity in patients receiving multicycle chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed data of 1399 patients with aggressive lymphoma from … trials using CHOP (combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone)-like therapies. Multivariate modeling was carried out for leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia and anemia and the models were validated by two large independent datasets from trials with/without usage of the CD20-antibody rituximab. RESULTS: On the basis of these models, we are able to predict the remarkable heterogeneity of hematotoxicity and propose to use risk groups. Regarding leukocytopenia, the low toxicity risk group experienced World Health Organization grade 4 in <10% of the cycles while the high toxicity risk group in almost all cycles. For thrombocytopenia, groups were detectable with almost no grade 3 or 4 toxicity and others where two out of three cycles were affected. In a separate set of models, the first cycle toxicity was the strongest predictor for later hematotoxicity. The risk for leukocytopenia was associated with infections, antibiotic use, hospitalization and treatment-related mortality, indicating the clinical usefulness of the models. For the first time, a Web-based tool is made available to easily predict the hematotoxicity in clinical practice (www.toxcalculator.com). CONCLUSION: This analysis has implications for patient management and prophylaxis.

Authors: M. Ziepert, R. Schmits, L. Trumper, M. Pfreundschuh, M. Loeffler

Date Published: 1st Dec 2007

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Prognostic Factors for Iatrogenic Tracheal Rupture: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

Iatrogenic tracheal ruptures are rare but severe complications of medical interventions. The main goal of this study was to explore prognostic factors for all-cause mortality and rupture-related … (adjusted) mortality. We retrospectively analyzed patients admitted to an academic referral center over a 15-year period (2004-2018). Fifty-four patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 36 patients underwent surgical repair and 18 patients were treated conservatively. In a 90-day follow-up, the all-cause mortality was 50%, while the adjusted mortality was 13%. Rupture length was identified as a predictor for all-cause mortality (area under the curve, 0.84; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74-0.94) with a cutoff rupture length of 4.5 cm (sensitivity, 0.70; specificity, 0.81). Multivariate analysis confirmed rupture length as a prognostic factor for all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.5; 95% CI 1.2-1.9; p = 0.001), but not for adjusted mortality (HR 1.5; 95% CI 0.97-2.3; p = 0.068), while mediastinitis predicted adjusted mortality (HR 5.8; 95% CI 1.1-31.7; p = 0.042), but not all-cause mortality (HR 1.6; 95% CI 0.7-3.5; p = 0.243). The extent of iatrogenic tracheal rupture and mediastinitis might be relevant prognostic factors for all-cause mortality and adjusted mortality, respectively.

Authors: Sebastian Krämer, Johannes Broschewitz, Holger Kirsten, Carolin Sell, Uwe Eichfeld, Manuel Florian Struck

Date Published: 1st Feb 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Progression-Free Survival as a Surrogate End Point for Overall Survival in First-Line Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: An Individual Patient-Level Analysis of Multiple Randomized Trials (SEAL).
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract (Expand)

Purpose Overall survival (OS) is the definitive and best-established primary efficacy end point to evaluate diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) therapies, but it requires prolonged follow-up. An … earlier end point assessed post-treatment would expedite clinical trial conduct and accelerate patient access to effective new therapies. Our objective was to formally evaluate progression-free survival (PFS) and PFS at 24 months (PFS24) as surrogate end points for OS in first-line DLBCL. Patients and Methods Individual patient data were analyzed from 7,507 patients from 13 multicenter randomized controlled trials of active treatment in previously untreated DLBCL, published after 2002, with sufficient PFS data to predict treatment effects on OS. Trial-level surrogacy examining the correlation of treatment effect estimates of PFS/PFS24 and OS was evaluated using both linear regression ( R(2)WLS) and Copula bivariable ( R(2)Copula) models. Prespecified criteria for surrogacy required either R(2)WLS or R(2)Copula >/= 0.80 and neither < 0.7, with lower-bound 95% CI > 0.60. Results Trial-level surrogacy for PFS was strong ( R(2)WLS = 0.83; R(2)Copula = 0.85) and met the predefined criteria for surrogacy. At the patient level, PFS strongly correlated with OS. The surrogate threshold effect had a hazard ratio of 0.89. Surrogacy was consistent across comparisons with or without rituximab and with rituximab maintenance trials. Trial-level surrogacy for PFS24 was relatively strong ( R(2)WLS = 0.77; R(2)Copula = 0.78) but did not meet prespecified criteria. At the patient level, PFS24 significantly correlated with OS. The surrogate threshold effect had an odds ratio of 1.51. Conclusion This large pooled analysis of individual patient data supports PFS as a surrogate end point for OS in future randomized controlled trials evaluating chemoimmunotherapy in DLBCL. Use of this end point may expedite therapeutic development with the intent of bringing novel therapies to this patient population years before OS results are mature.

Authors: Q. Shi, N. Schmitz, F. S. Ou, J. G. Dixon, D. Cunningham, M. Pfreundschuh, J. F. Seymour, U. Jaeger, T. M. Habermann, C. Haioun, H. Tilly, H. Ghesquieres, F. Merli, M. Ziepert, R. Herbrecht, J. Flament, T. Fu, B. Coiffier, C. R. Flowers

Date Published: 1st Sep 2018

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Progression-free survival at 24 months (PFS24) and subsequent outcome for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) enrolled on randomized clinical trials.
GLA - German Lymphoma Alliance

Abstract (Expand)

Background: Patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with first-line anthracycline-based immunochemotherapy and remaining in remission at 2 years have excellent outcomes. This study assessed … overall survival (OS) stratified by progression-free survival (PFS) at 24 months (PFS24) using individual patient data from patients with DLBCL enrolled in multi-center, international randomized clinical trials as part of the Surrogate Endpoint for Aggressive Lymphoma (SEAL) Collaboration. Patients and methods: PFS24 was defined as being alive and PFS24 after study entry. OS from PFS24 was defined as time from identified PFS24 status until death due to any cause. OS was compared with each patient's age-, sex-, and country-matched general population using expected survival and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). Results: A total of 5853 patients enrolled in trials in the SEAL database received rituximab as part of induction therapy and were included in this analysis. The median age was 62 years (range 18-92), and 56% were greater than 60 years of age. At a median follow-up of 4.4 years, 1337 patients (23%) had disease progression, 1489 (25%) had died, and 5101 had sufficient follow-up to evaluate PFS24. A total of 1423 assessable patients failed to achieve PFS24 with a median OS of 7.2 months (95% CI 6.8-8.1) after progression; 5-year OS after progression was 19% and SMR was 32.1 (95% CI 30.0-34.4). A total of 3678 patients achieved PFS24; SMR after achieving PFS24 was 1.22 (95% CI 1.09-1.37). The observed OS versus expected OS at 3, 5, and 7 years after achieving PFS24 was 93.1% versus 94.4%, 87.6% versus 89.5%, and 80.0% versus 83.7%, respectively. Conclusion: Patients treated with rituximab containing anthracycline-based immunochemotherapy on clinical trials who are alive without progression at 24 months from the onset of initial therapy have excellent outcomes with survival that is marginally lower but clinically indistinguishable from the age-, sex-, and country-matched background population for 7 years after achieving PFS24.

Authors: M. J. Maurer, T. M. Habermann, Q. Shi, N. Schmitz, D. Cunningham, M. Pfreundschuh, J. F. Seymour, U. Jaeger, C. Haioun, H. Tilly, H. Ghesquieres, F. Merli, M. Ziepert, R. Herbrecht, J. Flament, T. Fu, C. R. Flowers, B. Coiffier

Date Published: 1st Aug 2018

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PROGRESS - prospective observational study on hospitalized community acquired pneumonia
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a high incidence disease resulting in about 260,000 hospital admissions per year in Germany, more than myocardial infarction or stroke. Worldwide, CAP …P is the most frequent infectious disease with high lethality ranging from 1.2 % in those 20-29 years old to over 10 % in patients older than 70 years, even in industrial nations. CAP poses numerous medical challenges, which the PROGRESS (Pneumonia Research Network on Genetic Resistance and Susceptibility for the Evolution of Severe Sepsis) network aims to tackle: Operationalization of disease severity throughout the course of disease, outcome prediction for hospitalized patients and prediction of transitions from uncomplicated CAP to severe CAP, and finally, to CAP with sepsis and organ failure as a life-threatening condition. It is a major aim of PROGRESS to understand and predict patient heterogeneity regarding outcome in the hospital and to develop novel treatment concepts. METHODS PROGRESS was designed as a clinical, observational, multi-center study of patients with CAP requiring hospitalization. More than 1600 patients selected for low burden of co-morbidities have been enrolled, aiming at a total of 3000. Course of disease, along with therapy, was closely monitored by daily assessments and long-term follow-up. Daily blood samples allow in depth molecular-genetic characterization of patients. We established a well-organized workflow for sample logistics and a comprehensive data management system to collect and manage data from more than 50 study centers in Germany and Austria. Samples are stored in a central biobank and clinical data are stored in a central data base which also integrates all data from molecular assessments. DISCUSSION With the PROGRESS study, we established a comprehensive data base of high quality clinical and molecular data allowing investigation of pressing research questions regarding CAP. In-depth molecular characterization will contribute to the discovery of disease mechanisms and establishment of diagnostic and predictive biomarkers. A strength of PROGRESS is the focus on younger patients with low burden of co-morbidities, allowing a more direct look at host biology with less confounding. As a resulting limitation, insights from PROGRESS will require validation in representative patient cohorts to assess clinical utility. TRIAL REGISTRATION The PROGRESS study was retrospectively registered on May 24(th), 2016 with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02782013.

Authors: Peter Ahnert, Petra Creutz, Markus Scholz, Hartwig Schütte, Christoph Engel, Hamid Hossain, Trinad Chakraborty, Michael Bauer, Michael Kiehntopf, Uwe Völker, Sven Hammerschmidt, Markus Loeffler, Norbert Suttorp

Date Published: 1st Dec 2016

Publication Type: Journal article

Promoter methylation and expression of MGMT and the DNA mismatch repair genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 in paired primary and recurrent glioblastomas.
GGN - German Glioma Network

Abstract (Expand)

Epigenetic silencing of the O(6) -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene promoter is associated with prolonged survival in glioblastoma patients treated with temozolomide (TMZ). We investigated … whether glioblastoma recurrence is associated with changes in the promoter methylation status and the expression of MGMT and the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 in pairs of primary and recurrent glioblastomas of 80 patients, including 64 patients treated with radiotherapy and TMZ after the first operation. Among the primary tumors, the MGMT promoter was methylated in 31 patients and unmethylated in 49 patients. In 71 patients (89%), the MGMT promoter methylation status of the primary tumor was retained at recurrence. MGMT promoter methylation, but not MGMT protein expression, was associated with longer progression-free survival, overall survival and postrecurrence survival (PRS). Moreover, PRS was increased under salvage chemotherapy. Investigation of primary and recurrent glioblastomas of 43 patients did not identify promoter methylation in any of the four MMR genes. However, recurrent glioblastomas demonstrated significantly lower MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 protein expression as detected by immunohistochemistry. In conclusion, reduced expression of MMR proteins, but not changes in MGMT promoter methylation, is characteristic of glioblastomas recurring after the current standards of care.

Authors: J. Felsberg, N. Thon, S. Eigenbrod, B. Hentschel, M. C. Sabel, M. Westphal, G. Schackert, F. W. Kreth, T. Pietsch, M. Loffler, M. Weller, G. Reifenberger, J. C. Tonn

Date Published: 1st Aug 2011

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: glioblastoma multiforme

Pro-Neurotensin depends on renal function and is related to all-cause mortality in chronic kidney disease
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a high risk of premature cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and show increased mortality. Pro-Neurotensin (NT) was associated with metabolic diseases …s and predicted incident CVD and mortality. However, Pro-NT regulation in CKD and its potential role linking CKD and mortality have not been investigated, so far. METHODS In a central lab, circulating Pro-NT was quantified in three independent cohorts comprising 4,715 participants (cohort 1: patients with CKD; cohort 2: general population study; cohort 3: non-diabetic population study). Urinary Pro-NT was assessed in part of the patients from cohort 1. Serum Pro-NT was further related to mortality in patients with advanced CKD. Tissue-specific Nts expression was investigated in two mouse models of diabetic CKD and compared to non-diabetic control mice. RESULTS Pro-NT significantly increased with deteriorating renal function (p\textless0.001). In meta-analysis of cohorts 1-3, Pro-NT was significantly and independently associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (p\leq0.002). Patients in the middle/high Pro-NT tertiles at baseline had a higher all-cause mortality compared to the low Pro-NT tertile (Hazard ratio: 2.11, p=0.046). Mice with severe diabetic CKD did not show increased Nts mRNA expression in different tissues compared to control animals. CONCLUSIONS Circulating Pro-NT is associated with impaired renal function in independent cohorts comprising 4,715 subjects and is related to all-cause mortality in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Our human and rodent data are in accordance with the hypotheses that Pro-NT is eliminated by the kidneys and could potentially contribute to increased mortality observed in patients with CKD.

Authors: Anke Toenjes, Annett Hoffmann, Susan Kralisch, Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Nora Klöting, Markus Scholz, Dorit Schleinitz, Anette Bachmann, Juergen Kratzsch, Marcin Nowicki, Sabine Paeschke, Kerstin Wirkner, Cornelia Enzenbach, Ronny Baber, Joachim Beige, Matthias Anders, Ingolf Bast, Matthias Blüher, Peter Kovacs, Markus Löffler, Ming-Zhi Zhang, Raymond C. Harris, Peter Stenvinkel, Michael Stumvoll, Mathias Fasshauer, Thomas Ebert

Date Published: 1st Sep 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Propionic Acid Shapes the Multiple Sclerosis Disease Course by an Immunomodulatory Mechanism
Genetical Statistics and Systems Biology

Abstract (Expand)

Short-chain fatty acids are processed from indigestible dietary fibers by gut bacteria and have immunomodulatory properties. Here, we investigate propionic acid (PA) in multiple sclerosis (MS), an … autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease. Serum and feces of subjects with MS exhibited significantly reduced PA amounts compared with controls, particularly after the first relapse. In a proof-of-concept study, we supplemented PA to therapy-naive MS patients and as an add-on to MS immunotherapy. After 2 weeks of PA intake, we observed a significant and sustained increase of functionally competent regulatory T (Treg) cells, whereas Th1 and Th17 cells decreased significantly. Post-hoc analyses revealed a reduced annual relapse rate, disability stabilization, and reduced brain atrophy after 3 years of PA intake. Functional microbiome analysis revealed increased expression of Treg-cell-inducing genes in the intestine after PA intake. Furthermore, PA normalized Treg cell mitochondrial function and morphology in MS. Our findings suggest that PA can serve as a potent immunomodulatory supplement to MS drugs.

Authors: Alexander Duscha, Barbara Gisevius, Sarah Hirschberg, Nissan Yissachar, Gabriele I. Stangl, Eva Eilers, Verian Bader, Stefanie Haase, Johannes Kaisler, Christina David, Ruth Schneider, Riccardo Troisi, Daniel Zent, Tobias Hegelmaier, Nikolaos Dokalis, Sara Gerstein, Sara Del Mare-Roumani, Sivan Amidror, Ori Staszewski, Gereon Poschmann, Kai Stühler, Frank Hirche, Andras Balogh, Stefan Kempa, Pascal Träger, Mario M. Zaiss, Jacob Bak Holm, Megan G. Massa, Henrik Bjørn Nielsen, Andreas Faissner, Carsten Lukas, Sören G. Gatermann, Markus Scholz, Horst Przuntek, Marco Prinz, Sofia K. Forslund, Konstanze F. Winklhofer, Dominik N. Müller, Ralf A. Linker, Ralf Gold, Aiden Haghikia

Date Published: 1st Mar 2020

Publication Type: Journal article

Prozess-Referenzmodelle für das Dokumentenmanagement am klinischen Arbeitsplatz auf der Grundlage von Bonapart und 3LGM^2
Management of health information systems

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: U. Müller, B. Brigl, A. Häber, Alfred Winter

Date Published: 2003

Publication Type: Journal article

Pseudonymization of PHI items in German clinical reports
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract (Expand)

We describe the adaptation of a non-clinical pseudonymization system, originally developed for a German email corpus, for clinical use. This tool replaces previously identified Protected Health Information … (PHI) items as carriers of privacy-sensitive information (original names for people, organizations, places, etc.) with semantic type-conformant, yet, fictitious surrogates. We evaluate the generated substitutes for grammatical correctness, semantic and medical plausibility and find particularly low numbers of error instances (less than 1%) on all of these dimensions.

Authors: Christina Lohr, Elisabeth Eder, Udo Hahn

Date Published: 1st May 2021

Publication Type: InCollection

Pseudonymization of PHI Items in German Clinical Reports
SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Abstract (Expand)

We describe the adaptation of a non-clinical pseudonymization system, originally developed for a German email corpus, for clinical use. This tool replaces previously identified Protected Health Information … (PHI) items as carriers of privacy-sensitive information (original names for people, organizations, places, etc.) with semantic type-conformant, yet, fictitious surrogates. We evaluate the generated substitutes for grammatical correctness, semantic and medical plausibility and find particularly low numbers of error instances (less than 1%) on all of these dimensions.

Editor:

Date Published: 27th May 2021

Publication Type: Journal article

Pseudotime Dynamics in Melanoma Single-Cell Transcriptomes Reveals Different Mechanisms of Tumor Progression.
Leipzig Melanoma Studies

Abstract (Expand)

Single-cell transcriptomics has been used for analysis of heterogeneous populations of cells during developmental processes and for analysis of tumor cell heterogeneity. More recently, analysis of … pseudotime (PT) dynamics of heterogeneous cell populations has been established as a powerful concept to study developmental processes. Here we perform PT analysis of 3 melanoma short-term cultures with different genetic backgrounds to study specific and concordant properties of PT dynamics of selected cellular programs with impact on melanoma progression. Overall, in our setting of melanoma cells PT dynamics towards higher tumor malignancy appears to be largely driven by cell cycle genes. Single cells of all three short-term cultures show a bipolar expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and AXL receptor tyrosine kinase (AXL) signatures. Furthermore, opposing gene expression changes are observed for genes regulated by epigenetic mechanisms suggesting epigenetic reprogramming during melanoma progression. The three melanoma short-term cultures show common themes of PT dynamics such as a stromal signature at initiation, bipolar expression of the MITF/AXL signature and opposing regulation of poised and activated promoters. Differences are observed at the late stage of PT dynamics with high, low or intermediate MITF and anticorrelated AXL signatures. These findings may help to identify targets for interference at different stages of tumor progression.

Authors: H. Loeffler-Wirth, H. Binder, E. Willscher, T. Gerber, M. Kunz

Date Published: 3rd Apr 2018

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: melanoma

Psychometric evaluation of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener GAD-7, based on a large German general population sample.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

BACKGROUND: The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scales GAD-7 and GAD-2 are instruments for the assessment of anxiety. The aims of this study are to test psychometric properties of these questionnaires, … to provide normative values, and to investigate associations with sociodemographic factors, quality of life, psychological variables, and behavioral factors. METHODS: A German community sample (n=9721) with an age range of 18-80 years was surveyed using the GAD-7 and several other questionnaires. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the unidimensionality and measurement invariance of the GAD-7 across age and gender. Females were more anxious than males (mean scores: M=4.07 vs. M=3.01; effect size: d=0.33). There was no linear age trend. A total of 5.9% fulfilled the cut-off criterion of 10 and above. Anxiety was correlated with low quality of life, fatigue, low habitual optimism, physical complaints, sleep problems, low life satisfaction, low social support, low education, unemployment, and low income. Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption were also associated with heightened anxiety, especially in women. When comparing the GAD-7 (7 items) with the ultra-short GAD-2 (2 items), the GAD-7 instrument was superior to the GAD-2 regarding several psychometric criteria. LIMITATIONS: The response rate (33%) was low. Because of the cross-sectional character of the study, causal conclusions cannot be drawn. A further limitation is the lack of a gold standard for diagnosing anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The GAD-7 can be recommended for use in clinical research and routine.

Authors: A. Hinz, A. M. Klein, E. Brahler, H. Glaesmer, T. Luck, S. G. Riedel-Heller, K. Wirkner, A. Hilbert

Date Published: 1st Mar 2017

Publication Type: Not specified

Human Diseases: generalized anxiety disorder

Psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), derived from a large German community sample.
LIFE Adult

Abstract (Expand)

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to test psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), to provide normative values, and to analyze associations between life satisfaction and … sociodemographic and behavioral data. METHODS: A German community sample (n = 9711) with an age range of 18-80 years was surveyed using the SWLS and several other questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the dimensionality of the SWLS. Invariance across gender and age groups was tested with multiple-group CFA. Associations between SWLS, sociodemographic variables, and behavioral variables were tested with ANOVAs. RESULTS: Confirmatory factorial analysis results confirmed that the SWLS is a one-dimensional scale. Measurement invariance across gender was completely confirmed, while concerning age strict measurement invariance was confirmed. The effects of gender and age on satisfaction with life were weak. Satisfaction with life was associated with fatigue (r = - .49), the mental component of quality of life (r = .45), anxiety (r = - .42), dispositional optimism (r = .41), pessimism (r = - .34), sleep quality (r = - .32), and sociodemographic factors such as marital status, income, and occupational status. Non-smokers reported higher life satisfaction than smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the good psychometric properties, the SWLS can be recommended for use in epidemiological research. Normative values based on a large community sample are provided.

Authors: A. Hinz, I. Conrad, M. L. Schroeter, H. Glaesmer, E. Brahler, M. Zenger, R. D. Kocalevent, P. Y. Herzberg

Date Published: 29th Mar 2018

Publication Type: Not specified

Purpose and structure of strategic plans for information management in hospitals
Management of health information systems

Abstract (Expand)

Information management in hospitals requires a strategic plan that gives directives for the construction and development of a hospital information system. The paper describes the purpose and a suggested … structure for those strategic plans. This structure is a central component for a guideline that may be used for creating and updating strategic plans.

Authors: Alfred Winter, B. Brigl, Anke Buchauer, C. Dujat, S. Graber, W. Hasselbring, Reinhold Haux, A. Heinrich, H. Janssen, I. Kock

Date Published: 2000

Publication Type: Journal article

Purpose and Structure of Strategic Plans for Information Management in Hospitals
Management of health information systems

Abstract

Not specified

Authors: Alfred Winter, Birgit Brigl, Anke Buchauer, Carl Dujat, Stefan Gräber, Wilhelm Hasselbring, Reinhold Haux, Andreas Heinrich, Henning Janssen, Ingo Kock, Andreas Winter

Date Published: 2000

Publication Type: InProceedings

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