Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – importance of active case finding and consideration of comorbidities

The study of Tschopp et al. published in Swiss Medical Weekly clearly supports two important messages of the latest GOLD report: COPD is underdiagnosed and can be easily and cheaply assessed by use of spirometry in a population at risk with a low “number needed to screen”; and there is a high correlation between COPD and peripheral artery disease.

Oncological patients in the intensive care unit: prognosis, decision-making, therapies and end-of-life care

Intensive care unit admission of cancer patients is an extremely controversial and delicate issue, blancing concerns about inappropriate use of limited resources against deprivation of critical medical care.

Virally vectored vaccine delivery: medical needs, mechanisms, advantages and challenges

Contemporary vaccine makers are confronted with numerous challenging indications, for which virally vectored vaccines represent strong development candidates.

Personalised immunomodulating treatments for Graves’ disease: fact or fiction?

Graves’ disease is a heterogeneous syndrome, with patients showing signs of both autoimmunity and immunodeficiency. Exploration of these different mechanisms may help us to better understand individual variations in this disease with consequences for relapse risk and treatment approaches in the future.

Value of the Pitt Bacteraemia Score to predict short-term mortality in Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection: a validation study

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bloodstream infections, associated with a high mortality. Mortality risk scores in S. aureus bloodstream infections may have a profound impact on clinical decision support and risk adjustment in observational studies.

Trends and socioeconomic inequalities in amenable mortality in Switzerland with international comparisons

Amenable mortality is a composite measure of deaths from conditions that might be avoided by timely and effective health care. It was developed as an indicator of healthcare quality.

Sources of distress for physicians and nurses working in Swiss neonatal intensive care units

Medical personnel working in intensive care often face difficult ethical dilemmas, which may represent important sources of distress and may lead to a diminished self-perceived quality of care and burnout.

Prescription and indication for oral nutritional supplements in a Swiss university hospital: a prospective survey

Patients with an acute or chronically negative nutritional balance are at nutritional risk. Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) are a simple and effective treatment of nutritional risk.

Association of the haem oxygenase-1 gene with inflammatory bowel disease

Haem oxygenase 1 (HO-1) plays an important role in regulating intestinal homeostasis through anti-apoptosis and angiogenesis in cancer. It has anti-inflammatory properties and may have a role in recovery from inflammatory bowel disease.

Therapy-related longitudinal brain perfusion changes in patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome

Arterial spin labelling may have advantages over functional magnetic resonance imaging when slow varying changes in brain function are investigated, as in this study in patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome.