Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2016
Case ReportsFalse positive dengue NS1 antigen test in a traveller with an acute Zika virus infection imported into Switzerland.
We report the first case of an acute Zika virus infection imported into Switzerland by a traveller returning from Canoa Quebrada, Ceará state, in the north-eastern part of Brazil. Due to a false positive dengue virus NS1 antigen test, IgG antibody seroconversion and a suggestive clinical picture,an acute dengue fever was initially considered. However, because of lack of specific IgM-antibodies, stationary IgG antibody titre and a negative dengue virus PCR test result, a dengue virus infection was excluded and a cross-reaction with other, causative flaviviruses was postulated. ⋯ Because of a lack of commercially available Zika virus diagnostic tests, the case was confirmed in the WHO reference laboratory. As the clinical presentation of Zika virus infection can be confused with dengue fever and chikungunya fever, and because of possible public health implications, all patients returning from affected areas should be additionally tested for Zika virus. This case illustrates the urgent medical need for a broadly available assay capable of differentiating Zika from Dengue infections.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2016
Sun protective behaviour and sunburn prevalence in primary and secondary schoolchildren in western Switzerland.
Although solar overexposure during childhood and adolescence increases the risk of melanoma, determinants of sunburn and sun protective behaviours of Swiss children have scarcely been explored. We investigated sunburn occurrence and sun protective behaviours of schoolchildren in western Switzerland, the region with the highest incidence of melanoma in Europe. ⋯ Sunscreen use as a last protective barrier against ultraviolet radiation should be better emphasised in prevention campaigns targeting children and adolescents. Multi-faceted interventions, including role models, parents and peers should help to improve children's sun protective behaviours.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2015
ReviewNovel psychoactive substances (designer drugs): overview and pharmacology of modulators of monoamine signaling.
Novel psychoactive substances are newly used designer drugs ("internet drugs", "research chemicals", "legal highs") potentially posing similar health risks to classic illicit substances. Chemically, many novel psychoactive substances can be classified as phenethylamines, amphetamines, synthetic cathinones, piperazines, pipradrols/piperidines, aminoindanes benzofurans, and tryptamines. Pharmacologically, these substances interact with various monoaminergic targets. ⋯ Dopaminergic drugs are highly addictive and acute toxicity includes prolonged stimulation, insomnia, agitation, and psychosis. Agitation, anxiety, paranoia, hypertension, and rarely myocardial infarction and renal failure are seen with synthetic cannabinoids. Treatment is supportive.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2015
ReviewBiomarker-guided personalised emergency medicine for all - hope for another hype?
Polymorbid patients, diverse diagnostic and therapeutic options, more complex hospital structures, financial incentives, benchmarking, as well as perceptional and societal changes put pressure on medical doctors, specifically if medical errors surface. This is particularly true for the emergency department setting, where patients face delayed or erroneous initial diagnostic or therapeutic measures and costly hospital stays due to sub-optimal triage. A "biomarker" is any laboratory tool with the potential better to detect and characterise diseases, to simplify complex clinical algorithms and to improve clinical problem solving in routine care. ⋯ The rational for the use of all these biomarkers, first, tackle diagnostic ambiguity and consecutive defensive medicine, second, delayed and sub-optimal therapeutic decisions, and third, prognostic uncertainty with misguided triage and site-of-care decisions all contributing to the waste of our limited health care resources. A multifaceted approach for a more targeted management of medical patients from emergency admission to discharge including biomarkers, will translate into better resource use, shorter length of hospital stay, reduced overall costs, improved patients satisfaction and outcomes in terms of mortality and re-hospitalisation. Hopefully, the concepts outlined in this review will help the reader to improve their diagnostic skills and become more parsimonious laboratory test requesters.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2015
ReviewCurrent concepts of protective ventilation during general anaesthesia.
Mechanical ventilation with high tidal volumes (VT) has been common practice in operating theatres because this strategy recruits collapsed lung tissue and improves ventilation-perfusion mismatch, thus decreasing the need for high inspired oxygen concentrations. Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) was not used routinely because it was thought to impair cardiovascular function. Over the past two decades there have been advances in our understanding of the causes and importance of ventilation-induced lung injury based on studies in animals with healthy lungs, and trials in critically ill patients with and without acute respiratory distress syndrome. Recent data from randomised controlled trials in patients receiving ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery have demonstrated that lung-protective strategies (use of low VT, use of PEEP if indicated, and avoidance of excessive oxygen concentrations) are also of importance during intraoperative ventilation.