Time-to-birth prediction models and the influence of expert opinions

Preterm birth is the leading cause of death among children under five years old. The pathophysiology and etiology of preterm labor are not yet fully understood. This causes a large number of unnecessary hospitalizations due to high--sensitivity clinical policies, which has a significant psychological and economic impact. In this study, we present a predictive model, based on a new dataset containing information of 1,243 admissions, that predicts whether a patient will give birth within a given time after admission. Such a model could provide support in the clinical decision-making process. Predictions for birth within 48 h or 7 days after admission yield an Area Under the Curve of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUC) of 0.72 for both tasks. Furthermore, we show that by incorporating predictions made by experts at admission, which introduces a potential bias, the prediction effectiveness increases to an AUC score of 0.83 and 0.81 for these respective tasks

A severe case of esophageal ulcer causing a tight stricture despite long-term D-penicillamine treatment [Ein Fall eines ausgeprägten Ösophagusulkus mit Striktur trotz Langzeittherapie mit D-Penicillamin]

PubMed ID: 25234939D-penicillamine has long been used in the management of rheumatic diseases due to the effects on inhibition of collagen synthesis. Herein, we report a severe case of esophageal ulcer causing a tight stricture extending through the distal esophagus despite the longterm D-penicillamine treatment in a patient with Wilson’s disease. D-penicillamine would theoretically be expected to contribute to the healing of an esophageal ulcer. However, the drug failed to have a favorable outcome, which is notable and worth reporting. © Springer-Verlag Wien 2014

Frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy of the uterine cervix during regular pregnancies

Preterm labor is a common obstetric complication. Clinical evaluation of cervical ripening to predict preterm labor is very inaccurate. We used frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (FD-NIRS) to non-invasively investigate the changes of the optical properties (i.e., absorption and scattering of light) in the uterine cervix during regular pregnancies. Optical properties of uterine cervices were measured in 13 patients at various time points of regular pregnancies. For each gestational trimester, mean values with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for oxy-, deoxy-, and total hemoglobin concentration (O(2)Hb, HHb, tHb), tissue oxygen saturation and water content and statistically significant differences between the trimesters were determined. The wavelength-dependent scattering (scatter power) was calculated by an exponential fit. O(2)Hb, and tHb and the scatter power showed an increase as a function of the gestational age. Differences between the second and the third trimester were statistically significant. HHb and the water content showed no significant change over time. Our results show that FD-NIRS is a promising diagnostic tool for providing information about cervical content of hemoglobin, water, and extracellular matrix proteins. We propose this technology to assess the cervical ripening and eventually to predict preterm labor