Search

Background: The Symptom Navi Program (SNP) is a nurse-led intervention supporting basic symptom self-management for patients with any cancer diagnosis. The SNP has been accepted by patients and healthcare professionals alike., Objective: The aims of this study were to pilot the SNP and evaluate patient-reported symptom outcomes, nursing support for symptom management, and patient safety., Methods: Using a cluster-randomized design, we randomized centers to the intervention (SNP) or control group (usual care). Adult patients starting first-line systemic cancer treatment were included. The primary outcome was the change in symptom interference with daily functions from treatment onset to 16 weeks. Secondary outcomes included changes in symptom severity, symptom burden, self-efficacy, and perceived symptom management support and patient safety. We used linear and logistic mixed-effects models to pilot-test differences in mean changes between groups. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03649984)., Results: Changes in symptom interference with daily functions did not differ (mean difference at 16 weeks: -0.50; 95% confidence interval, -1.38 to 0.38; P = 0.25) between SNP (3 centers, 49 patients) and control (5 centers, 85 patients) as for all other outcomes. No adverse events were reported., Conclusions: Our preliminary findings did not indicate an effect of the SNP on patient-reported symptom outcomes, self-efficacy, or symptom management support. Inadequate power and SNP components (eg, insufficient training, low number of follow-up consultations) may be attributed to the lack of an observed effect., Implications for Practice: The SNP training content and intervention procedures merit reconsideration., Competing Interests: S.P. has received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards, and/or provided lectures for Abbvie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biocartis, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clovis, Daiichi Sankyo, Debiopharm, Eli Lilly, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Foundation Medicine, Illumina, Janssen, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Merck Serono, Merrimack, Novartis, Pharma Mar, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics, and Takeda, from whom she has received honoraria. M.E. received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards, and/or provided lectures for Vifor, Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The Symptom Navi© Programme (SN©P) is a structured nurse-led intervention supporting symptom self-management in cancer patients. We describe the development and evaluation of the intervention, implementation strategy, and the evaluation of nurse training for the Symptom Navi© Pilot Study., Methods: The intervention was developed using multiple methods (e.g. literature synthesis, focus groups) to produce SN©P information leaflets (SN©Flyers in French and German) and standardised training for nurses to deliver semi-structured consultations. We evaluated the SN©P using online surveys, focus groups, interviews, and the Item-Content Validity Index (I-CVI). Nurse training was evaluated in relation to content, acceptability, and confidence in implementing the SN©P. We examined the association between scored on the Work-related Sense of Coherence (Work-SoC) scale and nurses' confidence in implementing the SN©P. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Quantitative data was descriptively analysed and the Kendall Tau test was employed for correlations., Results: Patients and health care professionals confirmed that SN©Flyers and semi-structured consultations facilitated symptom self-management. Nurses considered training content/format acceptable and appropriate and felt confident in implementing the SN©P. Overall Work-SoC scores were correlated with nurses' confidence in implementing the SN©P (r π  = .47, p = .04)., Conclusions: Health care professionals and cancer patients perceived the SN©P as a useful support. Successful implementation of the SN©P depends on centre-specific factors including time, resources and workflow., Clinical Trial Registry: NCT03649984 and SNCTP000002381., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Solange Peters has received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards, and/or provided lectures for: Abbvie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biocartis, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clovis, Daiichi Sankyo, Debiopharm, Eli Lilly, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Foundation Medicine, Illumina, Janssen, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Merck Serono, Merrimack, Novartis, Pharma Mar, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics and Takeda, from whom she has received honoraria. Manuela Eicher received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards, and/or provided lectures for: Vifor, Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. All other authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Self-management interventions show promising results on symptom outcomes and self-management behaviours. The Symptom Navi© Programme (SN©P) is a nurse-led intervention supporting patients' symptom self-management during anticancer treatment. It consists of written patient information (Symptom Navi© Flyers (SN©Flyers)), semistructured consultations and a training manual for nurses., Methods and Analysis: This pilot study will evaluate the implementation of the SN©P based on the Reach Effectiveness-Adoption Implementation Maintenance framework at Swiss outpatient cancer centres. We will use a cluster-randomised design and randomise the nine participating centres to the intervention or usual care group. We expect to include 140 adult cancer patients receiving first-line systemic anticancer treatment. Trained nurses at the intervention clusters will provide at least two semistructured consultations with the involvement of SN©Flyers. Outcomes include patients' accrual and retention rates, patient-reported interference of symptoms with daily functions, symptom burden, perceived self-efficacy, quality of nursing care, nurse-reported facilitators and barriers of adopting the programme, nurses' fidelity of providing the intervention as intended, and patients' safety (patients timely reporting of severe symptoms). We will use validated questionnaires for patient-reported outcomes, focus group interviews with nurses and individual interviews with oncologists. Linear mixed models will be used to analyse patient-reported outcomes. Focus group and individual interviews will be analysed by thematic analysis., Ethics and Dissemination: The Symptom Navi© Pilot Study has been reviewed and approved by Swiss Ethic Committee Bern (KEK-BE: 2017-00020). Results of the study will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journal and at scientific conferences., Trial Registration Number: NCT03649984; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: SP has received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards and/or provided lectures for: Abbvie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biocartis, BoehringerIngelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clovis, Daiichi Sankyo, Debiopharm, Eli Lilly, F Hoffmann-La Roche, Foundation Medicine, Illumina, Janssen, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Merck Serono, Merrimack, Novartis, Pharma Mar, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Seattle Genetics and Takeda , from whom she has received honoraria. ME received education grants, provided consultation, attended advisory boards and/or provided lectures for: Vifor, Roche, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. All other authors have no competing interests to declare., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Germline mutation of the FLCN gene causes Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD), a rare autosomal dominant condition characterized by skin fibrofolliculomas, lung cysts, spontaneous pneumothorax and renal tumours. We identified a hitherto unreported pathogenic FLCN frameshift deletion c.563delT (p.Phe188Serfs*35) in a family of a 46-year-old woman presented with macrohematuria due to bilateral chromophobe renal carcinomas. A heritable renal cancer was suspected due to the bilaterality of the tumour and as the father of this woman had suffered from renal cancer. Initially, however, BHD was overlooked by the medical team despite the highly suggestive clinical presentation. We assume that BHD is underdiagnosed, at least partially, due to low awareness of this variable condition and to insufficient use of appropriate genetic testing. Our study indicates that BHD and FLCN testing should be routinely considered in patients with positive family or personal history of renal tumours. In addition, we demonstrate how patients and their families can play a driving role in initiating genetic diagnosis, presymptomatic testing of at-risk relatives, targeted disease management, and genetic counselling of rare diseases such as BHD.

At the Solothurn Hospitals (soH), 13 academically educated nurses are responsible for the development of nursing care with the goal to improve patient-oriented, effective, appropriate, and economic care. The strategy contains three priorities: a) expert care of single patients in demanding situations, b) sustained application of organisational methods such as primary nursing, nursing process, and skill/grade mix, and c) design and management of practice development projects related to specific patient groups. A first evaluation with qualitative and quantitative methods showed that the exemplary care of single patients by expert nurses was evaluated as positive for the patients as well as for the teams on two wards by nurses who were interviewed. After the introduction of primary nursing, the application rate was 81 to 90 % and the introduction of fall prevention methods in geriatric rehabilitation decreased the fall rate from 8.2 to 5.5 per 1000 patient days. A comparision with the literature shows that the expert nurses of soH perform both, working at the bedside and being responsible for practice development projects, as specialised Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs). APNs at the Solothurn Hospitals work also as generalists when organisational methods need to be consolidated. Their successes depend from their integration into the hierarchy and both, into the nursing as well as into the interprofessional teams. Competencies in Transformational Leadership also are essential at all management levels.

There is accumulating evidence that insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and IGF-II are present in the mammalian ovary but comparable studies on bony fish remain scarce. Thus, the present study aims to analyse several parameters of the IGFs in the ovary of a bony fish, the tilapia, (Oreochromis mossambicus). Molecular biological and morphological techniques were applied. The IGF-I and IGF-II cDNA sequences established from the ovary indicate that the same molecules are present in ovary and liver. Northern blot analysis revealed four IGF-I mRNA transcripts (6.0, 3.9, 1.9, 0.5 kb) and three IGF-II mRNA transcripts (5.0, 4.0, 2.0 kb) in ovary and liver. The amounts of IGF-I and IGF-II mRNA in the ovary were considerably high when compared to those in liver (IGF-I: 80.7%; IGF-II: 63.7%). The expression of IGF-I mRNA and IGF-II mRNA in the ovary were studied by in situ hybridisation and the peptides located by immunohistochemistry. The expression of IGF-I varied between the different developmental stages. Both IGF-I mRNA and IGF-I immunoreactivity were present in small oocytes. Moderate IGF-I expression and immunoreactivity occurred in granulosa cells of follicles at the lipid stage. A high IGF-I expression was observed in the granulosa and theca cells surrounding oocytes at the yolk globule stages and mature oocytes but neither IGF-I mRNA nor IGF-I immunoreactivity occurred in oocytes of the later stages. Thus, the IGF-I production seems to change from the young oocyte to the surrounding follicle cells at the later stages. In contrast, IGF-II mRNA and IGF-II-immunoreactivity occurred only in granulosa cells of the late follicle stages. The results suggest that both IGF-I and IGF-II are involved in the maturation of bony fish oocytes and in follicle development in a paracrine/autocrine manner. IGF-I and IGF-II may exert their effects at different stages of development. Furthermore, the intraovarian IGF-I and IGF-II systems seem to have a long phylogenetic history indicating the importance of the IGFs in reproductive biology.

A report is given of 2 cases of Horner's syndrome caused by trauma. Pharmacological pupillary tests are mentioned. Traumatic Horner's syndrome occurs most often in injuries of spinal nerve roots. In rare instances it is reversible. Traumatic oculopupillary syndrome was first described in 1864.