Lisa Fischer, Stephan Hann, Christina Amory, Walther Parson, Farkas Pintér, Christian Reiter
{"title":"One night with Venus, a lifetime with mercury : Analyses of heavy metals in Franz Schubert's hair are consistent with syphilis treatment.","authors":"Lisa Fischer, Stephan Hann, Christina Amory, Walther Parson, Farkas Pintér, Christian Reiter","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02524-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00508-025-02524-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Samples from three strands of Franz Schubert's hair, which are very likely to be authentic due to their well-documented origin and the chain of custody that is still valid today, were analyzed in terms of molecular biology and heavy metal content. The two hair samples presumably taken from the deceased's head showed matching molecular biological parameters, while the sample taken 35 years after his burial did not contain any usable DNA. Heavy metal analyses along the hair samples using LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) with a temporal resolution of 4-5 h revealed significantly increased mercury and lead concentrations in all samples with a decreasing tendency towards the time of death. Taking the different storage conditions into account, the patterns of metal concentrations in the samples match well, suggesting that all three samples came from the same individual. The results of our research support the suggestion, often made in the literature, that Franz Schubert underwent cutaneous treatment with mercury for syphilitic illness many months before his death.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":"438-445"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144041709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comments on \"Determinants of undergraduate medical students' satisfaction with clinical supervision\".","authors":"Rachana Mehta, Shubham Kumar, Ranjana Sah","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02516-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00508-025-02516-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":"428-429"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143449664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MUW researcher of the month.","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02573-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-025-02573-z","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":"137 13-14","pages":"459-460"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144592402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of institutional ethics committees in Austria : Report of the Commission on Ethics and Scientific Integrity of the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences 2018-2023.","authors":"Sophie Schober, Sascha Klee, Franz Trautinger","doi":"10.1007/s00508-024-02462-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00508-024-02462-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research involving human subjects or identifiable human material and data must be assessed by an ethics committee. The Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences has established a Commission on Ethics and Scientific Integrity to evaluate medical research conducted by its faculty and students and at its affiliated hospitals.All projects submitted to the Commission on Ethics and Scientific Integrity between 2018 and 2023 were analyzed regarding their major characteristics, the duration of the evaluation process, and votes issued.A total of 520 applications were electronically submitted during the observation period. Most of the studies were retrospective data analyses in the field of oncology, psychology and surgery. Most studies included less than 100 volunteers. Of the applications 50% received a final vote within 5 months, during which several revision rounds took place. Overall, about 77% of votes issued during the observation period were positive and 2% were rejections. In 11% files were closed due to withdrawal. In 11% final votes were pending at the end of the observation period due to requests for revisions.Our results emphasize the importance of institutional ethics committees using the example of the Commission on Ethics and Scientific Integrity at the Karl Landsteiner University. Such committees fill a gap in evaluating research not covered by Austrian legal regulations. Continuous development of standards, operating procedures, and national and international collaborations are required to assess and minimize risks to trial subjects and to provide a safe and productive environment for research in human medicine and related fields.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":"432-437"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142476159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Clinical characteristics of human brucellosis in different age groups in the Republic of North Macedonia-A case series.","authors":"Mile Bosilkovski, Bachir Khezzani, Kostadin Poposki, Arlinda Osmani Lloga, Marija Dimzova","doi":"10.1007/s00508-024-02479-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00508-024-02479-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Brucellosis is a zoonotic infection that presents a major challenge to public health worldwide.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>This research compares demographic characteristics, clinical features, and outcomes across different age groups in patients with human brucellosis.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>Between 2003 and 2022 a total of 508 patients with brucellosis were subjected to diagnostics and treatment at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Skopje. The patients were classified into three age groups: children (up to 14 years old), adults (from 14-64 years) and older adults (older than 64 years). The demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes between patients from the different age groups were retrospectively evaluated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A family history of brucellosis (p < 0.001), fever (p = 0.013), and hepatosplenomegaly (p < 0.001) were significantly more prevalent in children compared to other age groups. Direct contact with animals (p < 0.001), arthralgia (p = 0.007), and weight loss (p = 0.004) were significantly less frequent in children, whereas the duration of illness before brucellosis diagnosis was significantly shorter in children (p < 0.001) compared to other age groups. Sacroiliitis was more predominant in adults than children (p = 0.043), while focal hematological involvement was more prevalent in children than in adults (p = 0.004). Spondylitis was more dominant in the old age group compared to the other two age groups (p < 0.001). Favorable outcomes were achieved in 88.5% of children, 89.9% of adults, and 87.1% of older patients with specific treatment.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Brucellosis presents highly variable clinical and epidemiological features across all age groups; however, certain characteristics may be associated with age.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":"446-452"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142772736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katharina Moritz, Carolina Amelunxen, Michael Bergmann, Florian Vafai-Tabrizi, Georg-Christian Funk
{"title":"Healing chronic idiopathic eosinophilic pneumonia using mepolizumab alone without corticosteroids.","authors":"Katharina Moritz, Carolina Amelunxen, Michael Bergmann, Florian Vafai-Tabrizi, Georg-Christian Funk","doi":"10.1007/s00508-024-02406-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00508-024-02406-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While glucocorticoids remain the standard first-line treatment for chronic idiopathic eosinophilic pneumonia (CIEP), the long-term use is marred by significant side effects. This case study explores the effectiveness of mepolizumab, an anti-interleukin‑5 (IL-5) monoclonal antibody, as a novel corticosteroid-free alternative in treating CIEP. A 50-year-old woman presented with a 3-week history of progressive shortness of breath, dry cough and night sweats. The blood tests showed eosinophilia, and chest radiography identified lung consolidations. The CIEP was confirmed, ruling out other conditions through a detailed clinical and bronchoscopic work-up. The patient declined to be treated with systemic glucocorticoids. Treatment with mepolizumab was remarkable for effectively resolving symptoms and improving radiological findings without any prior or concurrent glucocorticoid therapy. Notably, the patient remained relapse-free over a 2-year follow-up, underscoring mepolizumab's efficacy as a corticosteroid-free treatment for CIEP. This case study calls for further research into anti-IL‑5 treatment of rare respiratory conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":"453-456"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141903070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sebastian Bernhofer, Julian Prosenz, David Venturi, Andreas Maieron
{"title":"The impact of artificial intelligence on the adenoma detection rate : Comparison between experienced, intermediate and trainee endoscopists' adenoma detection rate.","authors":"Sebastian Bernhofer, Julian Prosenz, David Venturi, Andreas Maieron","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02561-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-025-02561-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Artificial intelligence (AI) is a promising tool to achieve a high adenoma detection rate (ADR). The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a computer-aided detection (CADe) device on the ADRs of endoscopists with different levels of expertise.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data were collected from patients who underwent colonoscopy with CADe within a 12-month period. Endoscopists were divided into three groups, a trainee group (< 500 colonoscopies), an intermediate group (500-1000 colonoscopies) and an expert group (> 2000 colonoscopies). Endoscopists with the same definition of experience without CADe support served as the control cohort. For the differences in ADR between the groups a 2-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) and odds ratios (OR) were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this study 335 patients (155 females, 177 males) with a mean age 62.1 years (SD ± 16.2 years) were included in the CADe cohort. In this cohort 508 polyps were resected. The ADRs for the groups and control groups (without CADe) were as follows: 42.9% (95% CI: 28.5-57.2%) and 21.5% (95% CI: 11.3-31.8%) in the trainee group, 41.3% (95% CI: 33.5-49.0%) and 36.8% (95% CI: 27.9-45.6%) in the intermediate group and 39.8% (95% CI: 30.9-48.8%) and 33.3% (95% CI: 26.3-40.4%) in the expert group. There were no significant differences among the CADe groups when trainees were compared to experts (p = 0.72, OR 1.13, 95% CI: 0.58-2.16) or when intermediate endoscopists were compared to experts (p = 0.81, OR 1.06, 95% CI: 0.65-1.74).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The use of AI appears to provide an opportunity to match the ADR-based quality of colonoscopy at an early stage of endoscopy training with experts.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144486205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Efficacy and safety of imatinib in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Le Li, Chengxiao Zhao, Siyuan Hou","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02552-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-025-02552-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To inform treatment decisions in clinical practice, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of imatinib in patients with COVID-19.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A comprehensive systematic search was conducted across multiple electronic databases to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing imatinib with placebo in patients with COVID-19. A meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager software version 5.3 and followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The analysis included 4 studies with a total of 717 patients. The risk ratio (RR) for 28-day mortality in the imatinib group compared to the placebo group was 0.79 (95% confidence interval. CI 0.51-1.21; p = 0.28). There were no statistically significant differences in the duration of oxygen supplementation (MD = -0.13, 95% CI -2.57-2.31; p = 0.92) or the number of ventilator-free days (MD = 4.71, 95% CI -6.97-16.38; p = 0.43). Imatinib treatment did not significantly reduce the duration of hospital or intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Additionally, there was no significant difference between imatinib and placebo in the risk of any adverse events (AEs) or serious AEs.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Imatinib did not significantly improve clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Future research should consider subgroup analyses based on the biological heterogeneity of COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or the concurrent use of interleukin 6 (IL-6) receptor inhibitors to identify patient populations that may benefit from imatinib treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144327019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identifying patients' signs and symptoms to guide eHealth-directed diuretic therapy intensification in heart failure-Insights from the trial of intensified versus standard medical therapy in elderly patients with congestive heart failure (TIME-CHF).","authors":"Arno J Gingele, Casper Eurlings, Josiane J Boyne, Hans-Peter Brunner-La Rocca","doi":"10.1007/s00508-025-02551-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-025-02551-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heart failure significantly burdens healthcare systems. eHealth products could alleviate this burden by providing patients with recommendations for intensifying diuretic therapy. As evidence on guiding diuretic therapy is scarce, our goal was to identify clinical parameters that eHealth products can use to support heart failure patients in intensifying their diuretic therapy. A post-hoc analysis of the trial of intensified versus standard medical therapy in elderly patients with congestive heart failure (TIME-CHF), comparing an NT-proBNP-guided management strategy with a symptom-guided strategy in elderly heart failure patients, was conducted. Clinical data were collected during patient evaluations at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of follow-up. At each visit, any increase or new prescription of diuretic therapy was recorded as the outcome event. Mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), investigating the relationship between the patient data and the odds of diuretic therapy intensification. In this retrospective analysis, 568 heart failure patients were included. Over a 12-month period, 2013 follow-up visits were conducted, during which diuretics were initiated or increased in 370 visits (18.4%). Higher New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification (OR 2.60, 95%CI 1.94-3.50), presence of edema (OR 2.84, 95%CI 2.15-3.77), paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (OR 1.52, 95%CI 1.04-2.21), and orthopnea (OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.04-1.85) were significantly associated with the initiation or increase of diuretics. Dyspnea, edema, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, and orthopnea are associated with the intensification of diuretic treatment in HF patients. These symptoms, which patients can easily report, should be integrated into eHealth devices that offer guidance on managing diuretic therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":23861,"journal":{"name":"Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144318123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}