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Competing Interests: AM and SA are authors of the work disputed by Gandjour. Previous work related to the letter of Gandjour was financed by Gilead. Further study grants in the last five years were received from Abbvie, Janssen Cilag and Johnson & Johnson.

Background: While substantial progress has been made in the development of disease-modifying medications for multiple sclerosis (MS), a high percentage of treated patients still show progression and persistent inflammatory activity. Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) aims at eliminating a pathogenic immune repertoire through intense short-term immunosuppression that enables subsequent regeneration of a new and healthy immune system to re-establish immune tolerance for a long period of time. A number of mostly open-label, uncontrolled studies conducted over the past 20 years collected about 4000 cases. They uniformly reported high efficacy of AHSCT in controlling MS inflammatory disease activity, more markedly beneficial in relapsing-remitting MS. Immunological studies provided evidence for qualitative immune resetting following AHSCT. These data and improved safety profiles of transplantation procedures spurred interest in using AHSCT as a treatment option for MS. Objective: To develop expert consensus recommendations on AHSCT in Germany and outline a registry study project. Methods: An open call among MS neurologists as well as among experts in stem cell transplantation in Germany started in December 2021 to join a series of virtual meetings. Results: We provide a consensus-based opinion paper authored by 25 experts on the up-to-date optimal use of AHSCT in managing MS based on the Swiss criteria. Current data indicate that patients who are most likely to benefit from AHSCT have relapsing-remitting MS and are young, ambulatory and have high disease activity. Treatment data with AHSCT will be collected within the German REgistry Cohort of autologous haematopoietic stem CeLl trAnsplantation In MS (RECLAIM). Conclusion: Further clinical trials, including registry-based analyses, are urgently needed to better define the patient characteristics, efficacy and safety profile of AHSCT compared with other high-efficacy therapies and to optimally position it as a treatment option in different MS disease stages. Plain language summary: Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis Substantial progress has been made in the development of disease-modifying medications for multiple sclerosis (MS) during the last 20 years. However, in a relevant percentage of patients, the disease cannot completely be contained. Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) enables rebuilding of a new and healthy immune system and to potentially stop the autoimmune disease process for a long time. A number of studies documenting 4000 cases cumulatively over the past 20 years reported high efficacy of AHSCT in controlling MS inflammatory disease activity. These data and improved safety profiles of the treatment procedures spurred interest in using AHSCT as a treatment option for MS. An open call among MS neurologists as well as among experts in stem cell transplantation in Germany started in December 2021 to join a series of video calls to develop recommendations and outline a registry study project. We provide a consensus-based opinion paper authored by 25 experts on the up-to-date optimal use of AHSCT in managing MS. Current data indicate that patients are most likely to benefit from AHSCT if they are young, ambulatory, with high disease activity, that is, relapses or new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesions. Treatment data with AHSCT will be collected within the German REgistry Cohort of autoLogous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation MS (RECLAIM). Further clinical trials including registry-based analyses and systematic follow-up are urgently needed to better define the optimal patient characteristics as well as the efficacy and safety profile of AHSCT compared with other high-efficacy therapies. These will help to position AHSCT as a treatment option in different MS disease stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: The number of people suffering from dementia is increasing worldwide and so is the need for reliable and economical diagnostic instruments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the processing times of the neuropsychological tests Trail Making Tests A and B (TMT-A/B) and Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT), which were performed in both digital and paper versions. Methods: The pilot study was conducted among 50 healthy participants (age 65–83 years) using a randomized crossover design. The correlations and differences in the individual processing times of the two test versions were statistically analyzed. Further research questions concerned the influence of the individual usage of technology and the technology commitment of participants as well as the influence of the assessed usability on participants' performance. Results: Between the two versions (paper-based vs. digital) statistically significant correlations were found in all tests, e.g., TMT-A r(48) = 0.63, p < 0.01; TMT-B rs(48) = 0.77, p < 0.001). The mean value comparison showed statistically significant differences, e.g., interference table (CWIT) t(49) = 11.24, p < 0.01). Correlations with medium effect were found between the differences in processing times and the individual usage of computer (e.g., rs(48) = − 0.31) and smartphone (rs(48) = − 0.29) and between the processing times of the TMT-B and the usability (rs(48) = 0.29). Conclusions: The high correlations between the test procedures appear promising. However, the differences found in the processing times of the two test versions require validation and standardization of digitized test procedures before they can be used in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical quality indicators (QI) are important tools in the evaluation of medical quality. Their development is subject to specific methodological requirements, which include practical applicability. This is especially true for intensive care medicine with its complex processes and their interactions. This methods paper presents the status quo and shows necessary methodological developments for intensive care QI. For this purpose, a cooperation with the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies' Institute for Medical Knowledge Management (AWMF-IMWi) was established. Methodology: Review of published German manuals for QI development from guidelines and narrative review of quality indicators with a focus on evidence and consensus-based guideline recommendations. Future methodological adaptations of indicator development for improved operationalization, measurability and pilot testing are presented, and a development process is proposed. Results: The development of intensive care quality indicators in Germany is based on an established process. In the future, additional evaluation criteria (QUALIFY criteria) will be applied to assess the evidence base. In addition, a continuous exchange between the national steering committee of the DIVI responsible for QI development and guideline development groups involved in intensive care medicine is planned. Conclusion: Intensive care quality indicators will have to meet improved methodological requirements in the future by means of an improved development process. Future QI development is intended to improve the structure of the development process, with a focus on scientific evidence and a link to guideline projects. This is intended to achieve the goal of a broad application of QI and to further evaluate its relevance for patient outcome and performance of institutions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Kumpf et al.)

Having teaching staff with didactic qualifications in university teaching leads to a measurable improvement in academic skills among students. Previous recommendations on the type and scope of medical didactic qualification measures primarily apply to teaching staff at university and in-patient settings. The situation of primary care medicine, which often employs external lecturers and whose teaching takes place to a considerable extent in decentralized training facilities (teaching practices) is not adequately addressed. Taking into account a survey on the status quo at higher education institutions for General Practice in Germany, recommendations for minimum standards are made, based on national and international recommendations on the content and scope of medical didactic qualification measures. These recommendations include preliminary work by the Personnel and Organizational Development in Teaching (POiL) Committee of the Society for Medical Education (GMA), the MedicalTeachingNetwork (MDN), the Society of University Teaching Staff in General Medicine (GHA) as well as the experiences of the committee members, who hail from the field of general medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics amongst others., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Böhme et al.)

Purpose: Current trials on adjunctive treatment with antiseizure drugs often do not reveal results which are relevant for clinical practice., Method: Therefore, an interdisciplinary group of German experts discussed a new framework for future antiseizure drug (ASD) trials in adults. This group included members of the executive board of the German Society of Epileptology, of the German institutes for health technology assessment (HTA), of patient organizations and of drug manufacturers. Agreement was reached by consensus decision making after intensive discussion of the findings of a narrative review of the current literature., Results: The group jointly recommends that ASD trials in adults should be based on and include relevant patient groups, e.g. elderly patients and patients with relevant co-morbidities, should adopt a study duration of at least 12 months, should avoid placebo arms, should include active comparators of clinical relevance, may be designed as open label trials with blinded outcome measurements, should focus on patient relevant outcomes that reflect the impact of benefits and harms of treatments on daily living, such as seizure freedom and seizure severity as well as retention rate, functional outcomes and quality of life as compound measures, and should avoid arbitrary and non-sensitive primary endpoints such as dichotomized changes in seizure frequency., Conclusions: This paper focused on improved head-to-head trials on adjunctive treatment with antiseizure drugs. The group welcomes any further work and discussion to enhance future studies which can be applied to the entire spectrum of potentially meaningful study populations and outcomes., (Copyright © 2020 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weighting (SEIQoL-DW) is a prevalent face-to-face interview method for measuring quality of life by integrating respondent-generated dimensions. To apply this method in clinical trials, a paper-administered alternative would be of interest. Therefore, our study aimed to analyze the agreement between the SEIQoL-DW and a paper questionnaire version (SEIQoL-PF/G)., Methods: In a crossover design, both measures were completed in a random sequence. 104 patients at a heart surgery hospital in Germany were randomly assigned to receive either the SEIQoL-DW or the SEIQoL-PF/G as the first measurement in the sequence. Patients were approached on their earliest stable day after surgery. The average time between both measurements was 1 day (mean 1.3; SD 0.8). Agreement regarding the indices, ratings, and weightings of nominated life areas (cues) was explored using Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement (LoA). Agreement of the SEIQoL indices was defined as acceptable if the LoA did not exceed a threshold of 10 scale points. Data from n = 99 patients were included in the agreement analysis., Results: Both measures led to similarly nominated cues. The most frequently nominated cues were "physical health" and "family". In the Bland-Altman plot, the indices showed a mean of differences of 2 points (95% CI, - 1 to 6). The upper LoA showed a difference of 36 points (95% CI, 30 to 42), and the lower LoA showed a difference of - 31 points (95% CI, - 37 to - 26). Thus, the LoAs and confidence intervals exceeded the predefined threshold. The Bland-Altman plots for the cue levels and cue weights showed similar results. The SEIQoL-PF/G version showed a tendency for equal weighting of cues, while the weighting procedure of the SEIQoL-DW led to greater variability., Conclusions: For cardiac surgery patients, use of the current version of the SEIQoL-PF/G as a substitute for the SEIQoL-DW is not recommended. The current questionnaire weighting method seems to be unable to distinguish weighting for different cues. Therefore, the further design of a weighting method without interviewer support as a paper-administered measure of individual quality of life is desirable.

Copyright of Anaesthesiologie & Intensivmedizin is the property of DGAI e.V. - Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Anasthesiologie und Intensivmedizin e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The Syria crisis has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homeland. As a result, in 2016, an overwhelming number of refugees reached Germany. In response to this, it was of utmost importance to set up refugee camps and to provide humanitarian aid, but a health surveillance system was also implemented in order to obtain rapid information about emerging diseases., Objective: The present study describes the effects of using digital paper and pen (DPP) technology on the speed, sequence, and behavior of epidemiological documentation in a refugee camp., Methods: DPP technology was used to examine documentation speed, sequence, and behavior. The data log of the digital pens used to fill in the documentation was analyzed, and each pen stroke in a field was recorded using a timestamp. Documentation time was the difference between first and last stroke on the paper, which includes clinical examination and translation., Results: For three months, 495 data sets were recorded. After corrections had been made, 421 data sets were considered valid and subjected to further analysis. The median documentation time was 41:41 min (interquartile range 29:54 min; mean 45:02 min; SD 22:28 min). The documentation of vital signs ended up having the strongest effect on the overall time of documentation. Furthermore, filling in the free-text field clinical findings or therapy or measures required the most time (mean 16:49 min; SD 20:32 min). Analysis of the documentation sequence revealed that the final step of coding the diagnosis was a time-consuming step that took place once the form had been completed., Conclusions: We concluded that medical documentation using DPP technology leads to both an increase in documentation speed and data quality through the compliance of the data recorders who regard the tool to be convenient in everyday routine. Further analysis of more data sets will allow optimization of the documentation form used. Thus, DPP technology is an effective tool for the medical documentation process in refugee camps., (©Kai Kehe, Roland Girgensohn, Walter Swoboda, Dan Bieler, Axel Franke, Matthias Helm, Martin Kulla, Kerstin Luepke, Thomas Morwinsky, Markus Blätzinger, Katalyn Rossmann. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 19.08.2019.)

Background: Currently, more than 30,200,000 COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Germany alone. However, data regarding prevalence of COVID-19 in children, both in Germany and internationally, are sparse. We sought to evaluate the number of infected children by measuring IgG antibodies. Methods: Oropharyngeal swabs were collected between December 2020 and August 2021 to measure SARS-CoV-2, and capillary blood for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (by rapid test NADAL® and filter paper test Euroimmun® ELISA); venous blood was taken for validation (Roche® ECLIA and recomLine Blot) in 365 German children aged 3–16 years from 30 schools and preschools. We used multiple serological tests because the filter paper test Euroimmun® ELISA performs better in terms of sensitivity and specificity than the rapid test NADAL®. The Roche® ECLIA test is used to detect SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and the recomLine Blot test is used to rule out the possibility of infection by seasonal SARS-viruses and to test for specific SARS-CoV-2 proteins (NP, RBD and S1). In addition, one parent each (n = 336), and 4–5 teachers/caregivers (n = 90) per institution were tested for IgG antibodies from capillary blood samples. The total study duration was 4 months per child, including the first follow-up after 2 months and the second after 4 months. Results: Of 364 children tested at baseline, 3.6% (n = 13) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies using Euroimmun® ELISA. Seven children reported previously testing positive for SARS-CoV-2; each of these was confirmed by the Roche® Anti-SARS-CoV-2-ECLIA (antibody to spike protein 1) test. SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies persisted over a 4-month period, but levels decreased significantly (p = 0.004) within this timeframe. The median IgG values were 192.0 BAU/ml [127.2; 288.2], 123.6 BAU/ml [76.6; 187.7] and 89.9 BAU/ml [57.4; 144.2] at baseline, 2 months and 4 months after baseline, respectively. During the study period, no child tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by oropharyngeal swab. A total of 4.3% of all parents and 3.7% of teachers/caregivers tested positive for IgG antibodies by Euroimmun® ELISA at baseline. Conclusion: We noted a rather low seroprevalence in children despite an under-reporting of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Measurement of IgG antibodies derived from capillary blood appears to be a valid tool to detect asymptomatic infections in children. However, no asymptomatic active infection was detected during the study period of 4 months in the whole cohort. Further data on SARS-CoV-2 infections in children are needed, especially in the group of <5-year-olds, as there is currently no licensed vaccine for this age group in Germany. The Robert Koch Institute's Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO) recommended COVID-19 vaccination for 12–17 and 5–11 year olds in August 2021 and May 2022 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the last years, there has been an increase in publication of systematic reviews of normative ("argument-based") literature or of normative information (such as ethical issues) in bioethics. The aim of a systematic review is to search, select, analyse and synthesise literature in a transparent and systematic way in order to provide a comprehensive and unbiased overview of the information sought, predominantly as a basis for informed decision-making in health care. Traditionally, one part of the procedure when conducting a systematic review is an appraisal of the quality of the literature that could be included., Main Text: However, while there are established methods and standards for appraising e.g. clinical studies or other empirical research, quality appraisal of normative literature (or normative information) in the context of a systematic review is still rather a conundrum - not only is it unclear how it could or should be done, but also the question whether it necessarily must be done is not settled yet. Based on a pragmatic definition of "normative literature" as well as on a typology of different types of systematic reviews of normative literature/information, this paper identifies and critically discusses three possible strategies of conducting quality appraisal., Conclusions: The paper will argue that none of the three strategies is able to provide a general and satisfying solution to the problems associated with quality appraisal of normative literature/information. Still, the discussion of the three strategies allows outlining minimal conditions that elaborated strategies have to meet in future, and facilitates sketching a theoretically and practically promising strategy.

Background: Some of the advantages of implementing electronic emergency department information systems (EDIS) are improvements in data availability and simplification of statistical evaluations of emergency department (ED) treatments. However, for multi-center evaluations, standardized documentation is necessary. The AKTIN project ("National Emergency Department Register: Improvement of Health Services Research in Acute Medicine in Germany") has used the "German Emergency Department Medical Record" (GEDMR) published by the German Interdisciplinary Association of Intensive and Emergency Care as the documentation standard for its national data registry., Methods: Until March 2016 the documentation standard in ED was the pen-and-paper version of the GEDMR. In April 2016 we implemented the GEDMR in a timeline-based EDIS. Related to this, we compared the availability of structured treatment information of traumatological patients between pen-and-paper-based and electronic documentation, with special focus on the treatment time., Results: All 796 data fields of the 6 modules (basic data, severe trauma, patient surveillance, anesthesia, council, neurology) were adapted for use with the existing EDIS configuration by a physician working regularly in the ED. Electronic implementation increased availability of structured anamnesis and treatment information. However, treatment time was increased in electronic documentation both immediately (2:12 ± 0:04 h; n = 2907) and 6 months after implementation (2:18 ± 0:03 h; n = 4778) compared to the pen-and-paper group (1:43 ± 0:02 h; n = 2523; p < 0.001)., Conclusions: We successfully implemented standardized documentation in an EDIS. The availability of structured treatment information was improved, but treatment time was also increased. Thus, further work is necessary to improve input time.

Objective: We conducted a trial embedded within the German National Cohort comparing the responses to study invitations sent in recycled envelopes of grey color vs. envelopes of white color. We analyzed paradata for reactions to the invitation letters by potential subjects, the duration between mailing date of the invitation and active responses, and study participation., Results: Grey envelopes only slightly increased the chance of active responses (OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.83, 1.62) to the invitation letter. Potential study subjects with German nationality (OR 3.75, 95% CI 2.07, 7.66) and age groups above 50 years (50-59: OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.19, 2.69; 60-69: OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.48, 3.43) were more likely to actively respond to the invitation letter. The duration between mailing date of the invitation and active response was not associated with envelope color, sex, nationality, or age. Our trial replicates previous observations that the color of the envelope of a study invitation does not influence the likelihood of an active response or study participation.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Background: The Syria crisis has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homeland. As a result, in 2016, an overwhelming number of refugees reached Germany. In response to this, it was of utmost importance to set up refugee camps and to provide humanitarian aid, but a health surveillance system was also implemented in order to obtain rapid information about emerging diseases. Objective: The present study describes the effects of using digital paper and pen (DPP) technology on the speed, sequence, and behavior of epidemiological documentation in a refugee camp. Methods: DPP technology was used to examine documentation speed, sequence, and behavior. The data log of the digital pens used to fill in the documentation was analyzed, and each pen stroke in a field was recorded using a timestamp. Documentation time was the difference between first and last stroke on the paper, which includes clinical examination and translation. Results: For three months, 495 data sets were recorded. After corrections had been made, 421 data sets were considered valid and subjected to further analysis. The median documentation time was 41:41 min (interquartile range 29:54 min; mean 45:02 min; SD 22:28 min). The documentation of vital signs ended up having the strongest effect on the overall time of documentation. Furthermore, filling in the free-text field clinical findings or therapy or measures required the most time (mean 16:49 min; SD 20:32 min). Analysis of the documentation sequence revealed that the final step of coding the diagnosis was a time-consuming step that took place once the form had been completed. Conclusions: We concluded that medical documentation using DPP technology leads to both an increase in documentation speed and data quality through the compliance of the data recorders who regard the tool to be convenient in everyday routine. Further analysis of more data sets will allow optimization of the documentation form used. Thus, DPP technology is an effective tool for the medical documentation process in refugee camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Thirteenth Meeting of the International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13) convened in Hamburg, Germany, in July, 2016. There were two Topic Study Groups (TSGs) dedicated exclusively to adult learners and the authors of this paper served on the organizing committees of these groups. Arrangements were made by the congress committee for the publication of peer-reviewed papers from each TSG by Springer International Publishing AG in a series of edited books. In this paper we focus on our experiences as editors of the monographs resulting from our two TSGs.

This article presents a possible framework for the cooperation of mathematics and physics education research domains. Moreover, the potential topics for such a scientific collaboration are explained by means of a structuring qualitative content analysis of current handbooks and conference proceedings in Germany and Vietnam. These topics can form a basis for further projects on the connection of subject-related didactics. One of these projects is an interdisciplinary course in teacher training at the Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) as part of the Inter TeTra project between the HNUE and the University of Siegen.

Aim: The present study aimed to perform scientometric assessment of global publications output of research on Azadirachta indica during 1997–2016. Methodology: The present study examined 4900 global publications on A. indica, as indexed and covered in international Scopus database during 1997–2016 with a view to understanding their growth rate, global publication share, citation impact, international collaborative papers share, distribution of publications by broad subjects, productivity and citation profile of top organizations and authors, preferred media of communication, and bibliographic characteristics of high cited papers. Results: The global publications registered 7.61% annual average growth rate, and its citation impact averaged to 13.91 citations per paper. The global share of top 10 countries ranged from 1.91% to 31.04%, with the largest share (53.49%) from India, followed by Brazil (6.12%), USA (6.02%), etc., About 86.82% and 85.81% of the cumulative global publication and citation share comes from top 10 countries during 1997–2016. The cumulative global share of top 10 countries increased from 85.89% to 86.35% from 1997–2006 to 2007–2017. Only top three countries registered relative citation index above the world average of 1.0: UK (1.95), USA (1.71), and Germany (1.42) during 1997–2016. Agricultural and biological sciences contributed the largest global publications share of 48.41%, followed by pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics (22.04%), biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (17.35%), medicine (16.80%), environmental science (13.39%), and other three sub-fields contribution varying from 4.90% to 8.22% during 1997–2016. Eight hundred and forty-eight global organizations and 1589 authors participated in global A. indica research, of which the 25 most productive global organizations and authors together contributed 20.65% and 8.92% global publication share and 22.43% and 12.66% global citation share, respectively, during 1997–2016. Among 4387 journal papers (in 959 journals) in global A. indica research, the top 20 most productive journals together contributed 43.63% global share of total journal publication output during 1997–2016. Conclusion: Totally, 78 publications were found to be high cited, as they registered citations from 100 to 1441 during 1997–2016 and they together received 18,498 citations, averaging to 237.15 citations per paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this survey was to examine differences in personality profiles among 198 vegan (n = 64; 32.3%), vegetarian (n = 78; 39.4%) and omnivore (n = 55; 27.8%) medical professionals. Outcomes were motives for the nutritional approaches, WHO QoL-BREF, Big Five SOEP Inventory, Portraits Value Questionnaire, and Empathizing Scale. Regarding motives for particular diets, omnivores rated influence of guardians (p < 0.001), physical health (p = 0.017) and food taste (p = 0.001) as more and love of animals as less important (p < 0.001) than vegans and vegetarians. Vegans and vegetarians consumed less coffee (p = 0.007) and alcohol compared to omnivores (p = 0.017). The duration of adhering to a specific diet was significantly shorter in vegans. Data suggest that vegan medical professionals do not differ from vegetarians or omnivores regarding empathy, values or personality traits. Differences to a related internet sample were observed for a number of outcomes. Given the small sample size and potential selection bias through the specific subpopulation attending a plant-based nutrition conference, further studies are warranted to confirm these results. Particularly, potential reciprocities between empathy and individual nutritional choices deserve further attention.

Social norm interventions hold the potential to change people's behavior. Five field experiments (N = 1,163) examined the effects of a simple and easily realizable social norm nudge based on the social media format "Be like Bill." The nudge consisted of a stick figure named Toni that communicated descriptive and injunctive norms regarding pro-environmental or pro-social behaviors. Nudge conditions were compared to no-intervention control conditions. Experiment 1 (N = 179) focused on paper towel consumption in a women's restroom at a German university. The nudge condition used less paper towels than the control condition, d = 0.48. Experiment 2 (N = 183) replicated this result (d = 0.32) in a more diverse setting of a women's restroom at a German Christmas market. Experiment 3 (N = 250) examined differences in the effects of prescriptive (i.e., 'do-norm') versus proscriptive (i.e., 'do not-norm') social norms on paper towel consumption again in a university women's restroom. The effectiveness of both social norm nudge conditions was shown in comparison to the control condition (d = 0.46; d = 0.40), while the prescriptive and proscriptive social norm manipulations did not differ. Experiment 4 (N = 206) applied the nudging approach to the use of plastic lids in a coffee shop, where no effect was found. Finally, Experiment 5 (N = 345) focused on the pro-social behavior of mask wearing in a bakery toward the end of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in Germany. In the nudge condition, more visitors put on face masks compared to the control group, d = 0.39. Limitations and contextual factors regarding the applicability of our social norm nudge are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health services research is of increasing importance in current psychiatry. Therefore, large datasets and aggregation of data generated by electronic routine documentation due to legal, financial, or administrative purposes play an important role. However, paper-based routine documentation is still of interest. It remains relevant in less developed health care systems, in emergency settings, and in long-term retrospective and historical studies. Whereas studies examining the reliability of electronic routine documentation support the application of routine data for research purposes, our knowledge regarding reliability of paper-based routine documentation is still very sparse. Methods: Basic documentation (BADO) was completed on paper forms and digitalized manually for all inpatients of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, treated within the time period from 1998 to 2006. Four hundred twelve cases of first-episode psychosis patients were chosen for comparison with clinical data from paper-based patient files. The percentage of missing information, the percentage of correct classifications, sensitivity, and positive predictive value were calculated for all applicable variables. Results: In eight cases (1.9%), a BADO form was available, but was not filled in. In 37 cases (7.0%), the patient files were lost and could not be obtained from the centralized archive. Routine data were available for all other cases in 20 (58.8%) of the examined 34 variables, and the percentage of missing data for the remaining variables ranged between 0.3% and 22.9%, with only the variables education and suicidality during treatment having more than 5% missing data. In general, the overall rate of correct classifications was high, with a median percentage of 86.4% to 99.7% for the examined variables. Sensitivity was above 75% for eight and <75% but above 50% for six of the examined 17 variables. Values for the positive predictive value were above 75% for nine and <75% but above 50% for three variables. Conclusion: In summary, paper-based routine documentation reaches acceptable reliability, but this is dependent on the chosen documentation categories and variables. Based on the present findings, paper-based routine documentation can indeed be used for quality management, organizational development, and health services research. Its limitations, however, have to be kept in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a research project comprising data from an interview study and a survey with teachers and school principals in four German federal states ("Bundesländer"), this paper questions the claim that the side effects of accountability in education are bound to high-stakes contexts, and also provides evidence of side effects occurring in no- and low-stakes contexts. The findings suggest that side effects cannot be fully explained by certain implementation features of accountability regimes (e.g., high stakes), but should rather be understood as a result of implementation features as well as systematic effects of accountability in education.

Several studies have investigated the relationship between the energy performance of buildings and housing prices. First, this paper identifies a price premium for energy efficiency within the German rental market. Then, the indexed price differences and associated marginal benefits are compared with the marginal costs of energy retrofits. An extensive database of Germany's largest online platform for housing over a time span from 2016 to 2020 is used in a hedonic regression approach. In addition, to extract the marginal costs of energy consumption abatement, a dataset of 1048 rental units regarding green-retrofit measures is utilized. Although a significant green premium is identified in the rental market, the findings suggest that it is not high enough to compensate landlords for the money they have to spend to retrofit. The marginal costs exceed the marginal benefits by far. Furthermore, it is found that the German government's recent plans to split the carbon tax between landlords and tenants do not change this because the price per metric ton of carbon is insufficiently high. Limitations with respect to the data basis and consequently to the interpretation of the results exist. Nevertheless, the findings can help both tenants and landlords in their decision-making, as well as policy makers in the implementation of decarbonization efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global trend in manufacturing has shifted from a manufacturing-centric process toward a user-centric process. This has resulted in a shorter lifespan and a high product replacement rate of any consumer product. Germany has introduced the concept of Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) to convert manufacturing processes and mechanisms into cyber-physical systems (CPS). Digital factory, being the first step into CPS and IR4.0, is being targeted as the most important evolution of the manufacturing industry. This paper defines digital factories and their differences between other similar domains such as smart factories, CPS, and virtual factories. The requirements and goals of a digital factory are explained in detail to facilitate future digital factory tool developments. Furthermore, the current challenges faced in the implementation of the digital factory are proposed to be approached by adapting an interoperable virtual reality technology. This paper emphasizes the usage of virtual reality (VR) in simulating a digital factory that aids in the decision-making and efficient operation of a manufacturing facility. Furthermore, recommendations gathered from previous studies for developing VR-based digital factory tools are also explained in detail in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although statistical literacy has become a key competence in today's data-driven society, it is usually not a part of statistics education. To address this issue, we propose an innovative concept for a conference-like seminar on the topic of statistical literacy. This seminar draws attention to the relevance and importance of statistical literacy, and moreover, students are made aware of the process of science communication and are introduced to the peer review process for the assessment of scientific papers. In the summer term 2020, the seminar was conducted as a joint project by the University of Hamburg, the University of Muenster, and the Joachim Herz Foundation. In this article, we present the concept of the seminar and our experience with this concept in the summer term 2020.

The study presents a global research scenario in the domain of quantum sensing in quantitative and qualitative terms. The study is based on an analysis of 588 global publications in the field, sourced from the Scopus database for the period 1991-2020. The study identified key countries, organizations and authors, network collaborative linkages at national, institutional, and author level. In addition, it identified broad subject areas intersecting quantum sensing research, key journals for research communications, and broad characteristics of highly-cited papers. The study finds that the USA and Germany lead the world ranking in quantum sensing research with a combined share of 50% to the global output. The USA, Germany, and Italy are the home countries to 13 of the top 15 most productive organizations, and also the home countries to 14 of the top 15 most productive authors in the subject. The top journals publishing most research publications are Physical Review A, Physical Review Letters and New Journal of Physics. However, in the most cited journals list in the subject, Agriculture & Forest Meterology, Science and Physical Review A tops the list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To give an overview of the multicenter Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study, involving paper-based and web-based collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) in patients undergoing local treatment for prostate cancer in certified centers in Germany. The PCO study is part of the larger Movember-funded TrueNTH Global Registry. The article reports on the study's design and provides a brief progress report after the first 2 years of data collection. Methods: Prostate cancer centers (PCCs) certified according to German Cancer Society requirements were invited to participate in collecting patient-reported information on symptoms and function before and at least once (at 12 months) after treatment. The data were matched with disease and treatment information. This report describes progress in patient inclusion, response rate, and variations between centers relative to online/paper use, and also data quality, including recruitment variations relative to treatment in the first participating PCCs. Results: PCC participation increased over time; 44 centers had transferred data for 3094 patients at the time of this report. Patient recruitment varied widely across centers. Recruitment was highest among patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. The completeness of the data was good, except for comorbidity information. Conclusions: The PCO study benefits from a quality improvement system first established over 10 years ago, requiring collection and harmonization of a predefined clinical dataset across centers. Nevertheless, establishing a PROM routine requires substantial effort on the part of providers and constant monitoring in order to achieve high-quality data. The findings reported here may be useful for guiding implementation in similar initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) has been widely applied and accepted in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Despite numerous studies exploring the effects of DBS on the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), there is a limited number of articles summarizing this research. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current trends, hot topics, and potential in research surrounding DBS therapy for PD, as well as to anticipate the challenges of such research. Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection database (WoSCC) for DBS research literature related to PD published from January 2014 to January 2024, utilized CiteSpace, VOS viewer, the bibliometric online analysis platform, Scimago Graphica, Microsoft Excel 2021, and R software version 4.2.3 for data analysis. And we conducted quantitative research on publications, citations, journals, authors, countries, institutions, keywords, and references, visualized the results in network graphs. Results: From 2014 to 2024, papers from 39 journals from 11 countries were among the top 100 cited. Most papers were published in Neurology, with the highest average citations per paper in Nature Neuroscience. The United States (US) contributed the most publications, followed by the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany. In terms of total publications, University College London (UCL) contributed the most papers. The primary classifications of articles were Clinical Neurology, Neurosciences, and Surgery. The top five keywords were subthalamic nucleus, DBS, PD, medical therapy, and basal ganglia. Cluster analysis indicates that DBS research focus on improving quality of life and applying computational models. Conclusion: Through bibliometric analysis, researchers could quickly and clearly understand the hotspots and boundaries of their research field, thus guiding their research direction and scope to improve research efficiency and the quality of outcomes. Although studies indicate that DBS is currently a crucial method for treating advanced PD, in the long run, creating a personalized, lowcost treatment regimen with precise targeting and long-term efficacy poses a challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil and soil biodiversity are often a neglected component in assessments of ecosystems and their services. One of the reasons is the increasing complexity of scientific investigation of biotic and abiotic interactions and mechanisms from soil biodiversity and soil components via ecosystem structures, processes, and functions that finally provide specific ecosystem services for human well-being. In particular, soil-related cultural ecosystem services are missing in the publications on interactions. We tested this hypothesis by using a systematic literature analysis and taking Germany as a case study. The findings revealed a huge research gap. Among 2104 peer-reviewed scientific papers, covering all types of soil-related ecosystem services, only 28 publications were related to soil-related cultural ecosystem services in Germany. Furthermore, the terminological awareness of "ecosystem services" is still limited. The following five main categories for cultural soil-related ecosystem services were identified: (1) place of sense, (2) spiritual value, (3) recreation, (4) forecasts and measures, and (5) soil as an archive. Soil as an archive was further divided into storage, archaeological site, and reconstruction of the past. By highlighting the importance of cultural soil-related ecosystem services and their interactions with soil biodiversity, this study underlines the urgent need to better consider soil biodiversity and soil processes in ecosystem service assessments. This systemic and interdisciplinary approach increases also the societal and political relevance of soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliometric indices are a widely used measure of research impact. The aim of the current study was to identify and characterise the top one hundred most-cited research articles in the topic of chronotype research. A search of the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database returned 974 eligible articles (published between 1990 and 2016). Citations for the 100 most-cited articles ranged between 438 and 29. The most represented journal was Chronobiology International (n = 30). Nearly 50% of articles originated in Germany and the U.S. The bibliometrics reported identify key publications and provide insight into trends within the topic of chronotype research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to report the first known incidence of U.S. butter contamination with extremely high levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). METHODS: Ten butter samples were individually analyzed for PBDEs. One of the samples and its paper wrapper contained very high levels of higher-brominated PBDEs. Dietary estimates were calculated using the 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data, excluding the elevated sample. RESULTS: The highly contaminated butter sample had a total upper bound PBDE level of 42,252 pg/g wet weight (ww). Levels of brominated diphenyl ether (BDE)-206, -207, and -209 were 2,000, 2,290, and 37,600 pg/g ww, respectively. Its wrapping paper contained a total upper-bound PBDE concentration of 804,751 pg/g ww, with levels of BDE-206, -207, and -209 of 51,000, 11,700, and 614,000 pg/g, respectively. Total PBDE levels in the remaining nine butter samples ranged from 180 to 1,212 pg/g, with geometric mean of 483 and median of 284 pg/g. Excluding the outlier, total PBDE daily intake from all food was 22,764 pg/day, lower than some previous U.S. dietary intake estimates. CONCLUSION: Higher-brominated PBDE congeners were likely transferred from contaminated wrapping paper to butter. A larger representative survey may help determine how frequently PBDE contamination occurs. Sampling at various stages in food production may identify contamination sources and reduce risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In scholarly debates, Ludwik Fleck's post-war paper 'Problemy naukoznawstwa [Problems of the Science of Science]', published in 1946, has been taken unanimously to illustrate the epistemology expounded in his monograph Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. The paper has also been seen to support parts of the received view of Fleck, notably that he manufactured an anti-typhus vaccine while imprisoned in Buchenwald. However, a different narrative emerges when comparing Fleck's paper with other accounts, also published in 1946 and written by other prisoners alluded to by Fleck in his paper. The situation is further complicated by four papers, published in prestigious scientific journals between 1942 and 1945, by the German medical leader of the typhus studies accounted for by Fleck. In addition, a thus-far neglected paper by Fleck, published in 1946 and summarizing his observations on typhus, discloses his role in the Buchenwald studies. Despite the obvious difficulties with tracing the history behind these works, notably the one on Nazi science, the contention is that what was attempted in Buchenwald in the name of science amounted to pseudoscience. This conclusion is amply supported not only by the accounts given by Fleck's fellow prisoners, but also by his own post-war paper on typhus. Based on the above findings, it is suggested that the mythology about Fleck, established in the 1980s, has been accomplished by a selective reading of his papers and also that the role played by Fleck was more complex than has so far been contemplated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]