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Background: Existing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) use a variety of recall periods and response scales to assess CRS symptom burden. Global perspectives of CRS patients regarding optimal recall periods and response scales for CRS PROMs are unknown. Methods: This was a multi-center, cross-sectional study recruiting 461 CRS patients from sites across the United States, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and Austria. Participants chose which CRS symptom recall period (1 day, 2 weeks, 1 month, >1 month) was most reflective of their current disease state and upon which to best base treatment recommendations (including surgery). Participants also chose which of six response scales (one visual analogue scale and five Likert scales ranging from four to eight items) was easiest to use, understand, and preferred. Results: A plurality of participants (40.0%) felt their CRS symptoms' current state was best reflected by a 1-month recall period. However, most patients (56.9%) preferred treatment recommendations to be determined by symptoms experienced over a >1 month period. The four- and five-item Likert scales were the easiest to understand (26.0% and 25.4%, respectively) and use (23.4% and 26.7%, respectively). The five-item (26.4% rating it most preferred and 70.9% rating it preferred) and four-item Likert (22.3% rating it most preferred and 56.4% rating it preferred) response scales were most preferred. Conclusion: Future PROMs for CRS should consider assessment of symptoms over a 1-month period and use a four- or five-itemLikert response scale to reflect global patient preferences. These findings also inform interpretation of current CRS PROMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A cluster of 34 cases of listeriosis was traced to consumption of quargel cheese, a sour milk specialty, in Austria, Germany and Czech Republic between 2009 and 2010. After recall from the retail market all soft cheese batches (n=18) were sent for investigation and ISO 11290 based microbiological analysis revealed all red smear-ripened batches (16/18) to be positive for Listeria monocytogenes whereas mold ripened cheeses were negative. The 16 positive batches were grouped into three categories: those having exceeded shelf-life (G1), those around shelf-life (±4days, G2) and those within shelf-life (G3). Tracing the contamination levels as measured after recall (CLR) to the theoretical contamination level after processing (CL0) was considered to provide an estimate as to whether the in-house monitoring system would have been capable of unraveling the contamination scenario. Growth simulations starting from various hypothetical initial contamination levels of cheese at the plant and considering the potential variability in growth of L. monocytogenes due to model parameters and storage conditions suggested that a very low initial contamination level (e.g., <1CFU/g or 5CFU/100g) could justify the levels of L. monocytogenes enumerated in recalled samples of G1 and G2 lots. This in turn, may have resulted in low detection probability using ISO 11290:1996. In lots of G3 group, however, high initial contamination levels or temperature abuse at retail are inferred, based on simulated outputs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article deals with several questions that relate to the emergence of accountability of head of state in Germany and Austria, in the period between two world wars. In the first place, theoretical reasons for the modification of authentic parliamentary system and strengthening of the head of state's position are analyzed, and after that the new forms of political and legal accountability, which came as a consequence of the changed presidential role and the introduction of constitutional court's control of constitutionality, are examined. Exploration of these issues is not only relevant from the stance of constitutional history, but also from the perspective of contemporary constitutional developments. That is especially true for constitutions of transitional countries, including Serbia, because forms of presidential accountability in these countries were often modeled after German and Austrian solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]