Witten/Herdecke University is a private, state-recognized, nonprofit university in Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was the first German private institution of higher education to receive accreditation as a "Universität", a status recognizing the university's academic quality equivalent to state-run universities and granting the right to award bachelor's and master's degrees, doctorates, and the German Habilitation.Its foundation and history has often been marked by controversial debates and significant difficulties to establish the new university in the German educational system. In 1995, Times Higher Education noted that the university was considered by some "an idealistic model for the future of German higher education and [by] others ... a carbuncle on the country's fiercely state-dominated university landscape". Today Witten/Herdecke University has succeeded in being recognized as one of Germany's few private universities considered 'Humboldtian' and as a role model in terms of course structures, integration of practical and theoretical training and innovative approaches to payment of tuition fees.In 2019, about 2,500 students are enrolled at the University of Witten/Herdecke, with a staff of 582, including faculty of 71 professors and 232 lecturers/researchers. About 100 PhD candidates receive a PhD degree each year from the graduate school. There are also more master's students than bachelor's students, showing the university's strength in graduate education. The university is currently enlarging its campus and increasing the number of students.
Die Laserhämorrhoidoplastie (LHP) ist eine minimal-invasive Operationsmethode zur Behandlung symptomatischer Hämorrhoiden. Das Verfahren basiert auf der Anwendung von Laserenergie, die mithilfe einer spezifischen Laserfaser durch eine kleine Punktionsstelle an der anokutanen Linie submukös eingebracht wird. Dabei wird eine genau vordefinierte Energie sowohl auf die jeweilige Hämorrhoidalarterie als auch auf das Hämorrhoidalpolster abgegeben. Dies führt primär zur Drosselung der Hämorrhoidalperfusion und zur Schrumpfung des Hämorrhoidalgewebes und sekundär zur Fibrosierung der Submukosa mit Fixation der Hämorrhoiden an der Darmwand. Optimale Kandidaten für die LHP als alleiniges Verfahren sind Patienten mit symptomatischen Hämorrhoiden Grad II und III. Die Behandlung von Grad-IV-Hämorrhoiden mittels LHP allein setzt eine umfangreiche Erfahrung mit dem Verfahren voraus, sodass additive Verfahren, insbesondere Hämorrhoidalarterienligatur (HAL) und Mukopexie, zur Verbesserung des Behandlungserfolgs und zur Reduktion des Rezidivrisikos empfohlen werden. Die LHP kann in allen Narkoseformen durchgeführt werden. Durch den Gewebserhalt ist das Verfahren relativ schnell und wenig schmerzhaft. Bei guter Patientenauswahl ist das Verfahren durchaus als Tages- oder ambulanter Eingriff möglich. Schwere postoperative Komplikationen sind selten und können überwiegend der Kategorie des technischen Fehlers zugeordnet werden. Das Rezidivrisiko liegt bei ca. 30
Fieber ist ein häufiges Symptom im Kindesalter und führt oft zu ärztlichen Konsultationen. Eine evidenzbasierte Leitlinie zum Fiebermanagement bei ansonsten gesunden Kindern und Jugendlichen im ambulanten Setting fehlte bisher in Deutschland. Eine systematische Literaturrecherche sowie eine Evidenzbewertung nach dem Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) und dem Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) wurden durchgeführt. Die Literatursuche identifizierte 99 Arbeiten, wovon 19 in die finale Analyse eingeschlossen wurden. Basierend darauf formulierte die Leitliniengruppe 24 Empfehlungen, die in einem Konsensprozess mit einer Stärke von 92 bis 100
Personality interventions are a field of growing interest, as many people want to change aspects of their personality and as such personality changes may positively impact important life outcomes. Although initial research shows that personality interventions can be successful in eliciting lasting trait changes, the strategies, timing, and context of effective personality interventions remain unclear. A careful examination of how these characteristics predict intervention effectiveness would advance theoretical models of volitional personality change. We used intensive longitudinal data from the Changing How I Live Life (CHILL) Study, a smartphone intervention study designed to decrease participants’ neuroticism that combines experience sampling methods and mobile sensing (N = 399; nobs = 39,878; Mage = 25.48 years; 85% female; 47% living in Switzerland). Using these data, we examined the effects of different intervention strategies and their timing and situational context on the proximal intervention outcomes of intervention adherence, satisfaction, and changes in momentary positive affect. Intervention strategies that targeted the state level of neuroticism had more positive effects on people’s momentary affect than habit-level strategies, providing novel insights into the mechanisms of successful personality change. Furthermore, effects differed depending on the timing and situational context of intervention prompts, highlighting possibilities of optimizing the timing of personality interventions. For example, people were more likely to adhere to intervention prompts in quieter environments or when at home. Together, these findings inform theoretical models of personality trait change and can be used to guide the development of effective and refined personality interventions.
Studies have linked personality dispositions to important social evaluations, such as how much power individuals are granted, or how much they are liked. Yet, these links are not always consistent and seem to depend on the social context. We zeroed in on this issue, testing two mutually non-exclusive hypotheses on how the context might moderate the effects of personality dispositions on perceptions of power and likability in newly formed groups. The behavior contingency hypothesis posits that the context moderates the extent to which a disposition is expressed in behavior. The valuation contingency hypothesis posits that the context moderates the extent to which disposition-specific behavior is valued. In a round-robin study, we found support for both hypotheses with regard to perceptions of power (but not with regard to likability). The findings reveal the importance of behavior expression and valuation in the processes underlying personality-situation interactions in power hierarchies.
Medical emergency situations can be highly distressing for patients and potentially lead to the development of psychological disorders. While psychological care and interventions are of obvious necessity to assist patients when coping with emergency situations, research regarding appropriate psychological care of prehospital and clinical emergency patients is limited. This scoping review provides an overview of the current state of research in emergency medicine with particular focus on communication strategies as well as psychological interventions. The aim is to present an overview of the psychological support recommended for or available to emergency patients. PubMed and PsycInfo were searched for eligible articles on psychological interventions or communication styles that assist acute and emergency adult patients in coping with the critical incident. The search started in June 2023 and was repeated in June 2024. The literature search resulted in 1080 articles. Ultimately, 26 articles were eligible for inclusion. The majority of articles focused on major and general trauma patients. Study settings involved emergency rooms, emergency medical services, burn units, intensive care units and other acute medical settings, such as maternity wards. While research results are heterogeneous due to a wide variety of interventions, there is evidence that patients require (psycho-)education and information regarding diagnosis and treatment to reduce psychological distress and maintain or regain mental health. This scoping review shows that the existing interventions and recommendations are too heterogeneous to recommend a universal approach for healthcare professionals. Nevertheless, (psycho-)education and informing patients has been demonstrated to be an effective means of reducing patients’ psychological distress and maintaining mental health. Further research is required to identify the most effective methods for assisting patients. This scoping review was registered with the Open Science Framework on 29 May 2024 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GJ4EX). Clinical trial number: not applicable.
