Pittsburgh, Pa. (Ivanhoe Newswire)—With the COVID Delta variant fueling hospitalizations again, doctors are continuing to weigh the best treatments for seriously ill patients. A newly published study suggests that for some patients, a full dose of a blood thinner may improve their chances of avoiding a ventilator. Heparin

In current cardiac surgery practice, most operative procedures are performed on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Additionally, even those surgical procedures planned as ´off-pump´ will at times utilize CPB as a backup if needed. The processes of initiating (´going on´) CPB, maintaining adequate perfusion and oxygenation during CPB (´on pump´), and terminating (´coming off´) CPB involve intricate balances between the cardiac surgical, perfusion, and anesthesia teams. Each of these stages presents the potential for catastrophe if not appropriately controlled and clear communication is not part of routine practice. While some may view the anesthetist´s role as extraneous while on CPB, Steven Bartels and Kathirvel Subramaniam (Pittsburgh/USA) focus on the anesthetist´s role and problems from the anesthetist´s perspective and within their realm regarding patients on CPB. The detailed review appeared in the new textbook "Extracorporeal Circulation in Theory and Practice" (edited by Rudolf Tschaut et al.).

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Business Psychology: What is a specific Indian perspective on leadership? Professor Dr. Subhash Sharma (Bangalore) answers in "Wirtschaftspsychologie" Nr. 3/2021:

The leader improves the managerial effectiveness in a self evolution model. "At level one is the selfish gene model, at level two it is self-interest, level three self-actualisation, level four is self-ethicalization and level five self-realisation. The idea of selfish gene rooted in biology, self-interest in economics, self-actualisation in psychology (Maslow´s idea), self-ethicalization in ethics literature - and self-realisation is rooted in spirituality.

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is the intensive feeling that the own body will be "more completed" after amputation of a limb. What all people affected by BIID have in common, is that they ultimately wish to be handicapped. But the personality profiles of the most sufferers are in the average range. Many sufferers - mostly men - are well educated and successful. Prof. Dr. Aglaja Stirn, Dr. Aylin Thiel et al. deliver insights into the previously unexplored disorder.

Together with heroin, crack cocaine has been the joint number one drug in the marginalised drug user´s scene in Frankfurt/Main (Germany) for almost two decades. Bernd Werse and Lukas Sarvary asked in a qualitative study: Why? Many respondents could not refer to particular motives for crack use. Instead, the drug was often described as dominating one´s mind and routine. A majority described staying in the core area of the drug scene (Bahnhofsviertel) as the strongest trigger for use. This perception underlines the significance of social factors for the user´s habits. Public and individual beliefs about the addictive potential of the drug have reinforced each other, leading to the ubiquitous ´motiveless´ use of the drug.

Extracorporeal Circulation in cardiac surgery: One of the unresolved controversies of cardiopulmonary bypass procedures has been whether there are benefits to using pulsatile flow rather than conventional non-pulsatile perfusion. Dr. Akif Ündar (Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center/USA) summarizes the clinical benefits and disadvantages of pulsatile flow (in: Extracorporeal Circulation in Theory and Practice):

The underwater cables that connect nations could go offline for months, the study warns. The sun is always showering Earth with a mist of magnetized particles known as solar wind. For the most part, our planet's magnetic shield blocks this electric wind from doing any real damage to Earth or its inhabitants, instead sending those particles skittering toward the poles and leaving behind a pleasant aurora in their wake.

When critically ill patients receive a donor organ, they have to take immune-suppressing medication for the rest of their lives. However, these immunosuppressants can also prevent a vaccine from triggering the desired response in the patient’s immune system. Professor of Immunology Martina Sester and her team have recently shown that despite the weakened immune response in organ transplant recipients, the different Covid-19 vaccines mobilize the immune defences in these individuals in different ways and that the best immune response is achieved when these vaccines are used in combination.

For many generations, violent conflicts, oppression, persecution and war have characterized people´s lives in the Middle East. Many people are severely mentally traumatized. Professor Jan Ilhan Kizilhan and other psychotherapists wrote the "Trauma Workbook" - to help the helpers to provide the appropriate treatment. The book appeared in three versions: Farsi, English, German.

Numerous attempts to create a uniform classification system for ventilation modes have been unsuccessful. With the new brochure "Understanding and comparing modes of ventilation" Dres. Peter Kremeier and Christian Woll succeeded. To define a useful system of classification, the authors have settled on five categories: