Project description:In Germany medical students should gain proficiency and specific skills in the vaccination field. Especially important is the efficient communication of scientific results about vaccinations to the community, in order to give professional counseling with a complete overview about therapeutic options. AIM OF THE PROJECT: The aim of this project is to set up a vaccination-related curriculum in the Medical Faculty at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. The structure of the curriculum is based on the National catalogue for competency-based learning objectives in the field of vaccination (Nationaler Kompetenzbasierter Lernzielekatalog Medizin NKLM). Through this curriculum, the students will not only acquire the classical educational skills concerning vaccination in theory and practice, but they will also learn how to become independent in the decision-making process and counseling. Moreover, the students will become aware of consequences of action related to this specific topic.According to defined guidelines, an analysis was performed on courses, which are currently offered by the university. A separate analysis of the NKLM was carried out. Both analyses identified the active courses related to the topic of vaccination as well as the NKLM learning objectives. The match between the topics taught in current courses and the NKLM learning objectives identified gaps concerning the teaching of specific content. Courses were modified in order to implement the missing NKLM learning objectives.These analyses identified 24 vaccination-related courses, which are currently taught at the University. Meanwhile, 35 learning objectives on vaccination were identified in the NKLM catalogue. Four of which were identified as not yet part of the teaching program. In summary, this interdisciplinary work enabled the development of a new vaccination-related curriculum, including 35 learning objectives, which are now implemented in regular teaching courses by the Medical Faculty.This project successfully describes a method to develop and implement a competency-based teaching program on the topic of vaccination. Importantly, the process presented here can serve as a guide to develop and implement similar teaching programs on other subjects and Universities.
Project description:PurposeComprehensive genomic profiling identifying actionable molecular alterations aims to enable personalized treatment for cancer patients. The purpose of this analysis was to retrospectively assess the impact of personalized recommendations made by a multidisciplinary tumor board (MTB) on the outcome of patients with breast or gynecological cancers, who had progressed under standard treatment. Here, first experiences of our Comprehensive Cancer Center Molecular Tumor Board are reported.MethodsAll patients were part of a prospective local registry. 95 patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer or gynecological malignancies underwent extended molecular profiling. From May 2017 through March 2019, the MTB reviewed all clinical cases considering tumor profile and evaluated molecular alterations regarding further diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations.Results95 patients with metastatic breast or gynecological cancers were discussed in the MTB (68% breast cancer, 20% ovarian cancer, 5% cervical cancer, 3% endometrial cancer and 4% others). Genes with highest mutation rate were PIK3CA and ERBB2. Overall, 34 patients (36%) received a biomarker-based targeted therapy recommendation. Therapeutic recommendations were implemented in nine cases; four patients experienced clinical benefit with a partial response or disease stabilization lasting over 4 months.ConclusionIn the setting of a multidisciplinary molecular tumor board, a small but clinically meaningful group of breast and gynecological cancer patients benefits from comprehensive genomic profiling. Broad and successful implementation of precision medicine is complicated by patient referral at late stage disease and limited access to targeted agents and early clinical trials.Trial registration number284-10 (03.05.2018).
Project description:Introduction: One of the most important extracurricular aspects of medical studies in Germany is a research thesis completed by most students. This research project often times conveys relevant competencies for the physician's role as scientist. Nevertheless, the choice of the right project remains a challenge. Reasons for this are among others, missing structures for a comprehensive overview of research groups and their respective projects. Description of the project: We developed the online platform Doktabörse as an online marketplace for doctoral research projects. The platform enables authorized researchers to create working groups and upload, deactivate and change research projects within their institute. For interested students, a front end with integrated search function displays these projects in a structured and well-arranged way. In parallel, the Doktabörse provides for a comprehensive overview of research at the medical faculty. We evaluated Researchers' and students' use of the platform. Results: 96,6% of students participating in the evaluation (n=400) were in favor of a centralized research platform at the medical faculty. The platform grew at a steady pace and included 120 research groups in June 2016. The students appreciated the structure and design of the Doktabörse. Two thirds of all uploaded projects matched successfully with doctoral students via the platform and over 94% of researchers stated that they did not need technical assistance with uploading projects and handling the platform. Discussion: The Doktabörse represents an innovative and well accepted platform for doctoral research projects. The platform is perceived positively by researchers and students alike. However, students criticized limited extent and timeliness of offered projects. In addition, the platform serves as databank of research at the medical faculty of the LMU Munich. The future potential of this platform is to provide for an integrated management solution of doctoral thesis projects, possibly beyond the medical field and faculty.
Project description:Intra-fraction motion of the prostate was recorded during 721 fractions of image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) in 28 patients, 14 of which were treated by intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and 14 of which were treated by volumetric arc therapy (VMAT). The prostate was imaged by three-dimensional and time-resolved transperineal ultrasound (4D-US) of type Clarity by Elekta, Stockholm, Sweden. The prostate volume was registered and the prostate position (center of volume) was recorded at a frequency of 1.6 samples per second. This raw data set contains a total of 380.199 prostate and patient couch positions over a time span of 53?hours, 47?minutes and 29?seconds of life radiotherapy as exported by the instrument software. This data set has been used for the validation of models of prostate intra-fraction motion and for the estimation of the dosimetric impact of actual intra-fraction motion on treatment quality and side effects. We hope that this data set may be reused by other groups for similar purposes.
Project description:AimsAlcohol is a risk factor for cardiac arrhythmias. Retrospective analyses suggest supraventricular arrhythmias consecutive to acute alcohol consumption, but prospective data are limited. We intended to prospectively associate acute alcohol consumption with cardiac arrhythmias.Methods and resultsAt the 2015 Munich Octoberfest, we enrolled 3028 voluntary participants who received a smartphone-based ECG and breath alcohol concentration (BAC) measurements. ECGs were analysed for cardiac arrhythmias (sinus tachycardia, sinus arrhythmia, premature atrial/ventricular complexes, atrial fibrillation/flutter) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. By multivariable adjusted logistic regression we associated BACs with cardiac arrhythmias. Similarly, we analysed 4131 participants of the community-based KORA S4 Study (Co-operative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) and associated cardiac arrhythmias with chronic alcohol consumption. In our acute alcohol cohort (mean age 34.4 ± 13.3 years, 29% women), mean BAC was 0.85 ± 0.54 g/kg. Cardiac arrhythmias occurred in 30.5% (sinus tachycardia 25.9%; other arrhythmia subtypes 5.4%). Breath alcohol concentration was significantly associated with cardiac arrhythmias overall (odds ratio (OR) per 1-unit change 1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50-2.05; P < 0.001) and sinus tachycardia in particular (OR 1.96, 95%CI 1.66-2.31; P < 0.001). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia measuring autonomic tone was significantly reduced under the influence of alcohol. In KORA S4, chronic alcohol consumption was associated with sinus tachycardia (OR 1.03, 95%CI 1.01-1.06; P = 0.006).ConclusionsAcute alcohol consumption is associated with cardiac arrhythmias and sinus tachycardia in particular. This partly reflects autonomic imbalance as assessed by significantly reduced respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Such imbalance might lead to sympathetically triggered atrial fibrillation resembling the holiday heart syndrome.Clinicaltrials.org accession numberNCT02550340.
Project description:This experiment contains a subset of data from the BLUEPRINT Epigenome project ( http://www.blueprint-epigenome.eu ), which aims at producing a reference haemopoetic epigenomes for the research community. 29 samples of primary cells or cultured primary cells of different haemopoeitc lineages from cord blood are included in this experiment. This ArrayExpress record contains only meta-data. Raw data files have been archived at the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA, www.ebi.ac.uk/ega) by the consortium, with restricted access to protect sample donors' identity. The relevant accessions of EGA data sets is EGAD00001001165. Details on how to apply for data access via the BLUEPRINT data access committee are on the EGA data set pages. The mapping of samples to these EGA accessions can be found in the 'Sample Data Relationship Format' file of this ArrayExpress record. Information on individual samples and sequencing libraries can also be found on the BLUEPRINT data coordination centre (DCC) website: http://dcc.blueprint-epigenome.eu