http://www.epmajournal.com The latest research articles published by EPMA Journal 2013-05-11T00:00:00Z A personalized medicine, a recent trend of clinical pharmacology, makes possible the individual approach to the choice of the drugs and their dosage. According to the results of a study of the activity of different biomarkers, particularly the isoenzymes of the cytochrome P-450, they provide the efficiency and safety of the pharmacotherapy. The activity of the isoenzymes of the cytochrome P-450 determines an individual pharmacological response and depends on many factors, including genetic ones. The biomarkers of the activity of the isoenzymes of the cytochrome P-450 should be tested in the clinical practice settings using the simple and cheap methods, one of the most available is an immunofluorescent assay. The skilled staff and the centers of personalized medicine are necessary for this approach. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/13 Anna Zhestovskaja Vladimir Kukes Dmitry Sychev EPMA Journal 2013, null:13 2013-05-11T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-13 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-13-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 13 2013-05-11T00:00:00Z PDF The authors consider acute problems in the quality and management of medical services challenging health care systems worldwide. This actuality has motivated the representatives of the European Association of Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine and European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine to consider the efforts in promoting an integrative approach based on multidisciplinary expertise to advance health care. The current paper provides a global overview of the problems related to medical services: pandemic scenario in the progression of common chronic diseases, delayed interventional approaches of reactive medicine, poor economy of health care systems, lack of specialised educational programmes, problematic ethical aspects of treatments as well as inadequate communication among professional groups and policymakers. Further, in the form of individual paragraphs, the article presents a consolidated position of the represented European organisations. This position is focused on the patients' needs, expert recommendations for the relevant medical fields and plausible solutions which have a potential to advance health care services if the long-term strategies were to be effectively implemented as proposed here. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/12 Olga Golubnitschaja Ian Watson Elizabeta Topic Sverre Sandberg Maurizio Ferrari Vincenzo Costigliola EPMA Journal 2013, null:12 2013-05-10T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-12 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-12-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 12 2013-05-10T00:00:00Z PDF This is an editorial that introduces the new research article-type with a PPPM-focus. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/11 Olga Golubnitschaja EPMA Journal 2013, null:11 2013-03-28T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-11 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-11-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 11 2013-03-28T00:00:00Z XML Women are considered special groups who are uniquely vulnerable in the context of war exposures. To effectively target the resources aimed at mitigating mental health consequences and optimising and maximising the use of mental health provisions, culturally relevant war trauma counsellor training is required. The objectives of this study are to promote a new philosophy in the Sudanese mental health care by introducing an integrative approach for targeted prevention and tailored treatments to the Darfuri person in a cost-effective way. Furthermore, the study provides evidence- and theory-based guidelines for developing a war trauma counsellor training programme in Sudan, mainly based on qualitative and quantitative studies among war-affected Darfuri female students. Cultural conceptualisations such as gender roles and religious expectations as well as theories that emphasise resilience and other psychosocial adaptation skills have been operationalised to reflect the totality of the Darfuri women’s experiences. Furthermore, the results of four interrelated studies among war-traumatised undergraduate Darfuri women who are internally displaced provide the basis that guides an outline for qualification development, capacity building and skills consolidation among Sudanese mental health care providers. Explicit war-related psychosocial needs assessment tools, specific war-related trauma counsellor training and particular counsellor characteristics, qualities and awareness that pertain to strengthening the efficacy of war trauma Sudanese counsellors are recommended. The aim is to produce expertly trained war trauma counsellors working with war-affected Darfuri women in particular and with regards to their helpfulness in responding to the psychosocial needs of war-exposed Sudanese in general. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/10 Alia Badri Rik Crutzen Shahla Eltayeb HW Van den Borne EPMA Journal 2013, null:10 2013-03-26T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-10 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-10-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 10 2013-03-26T00:00:00Z XML Carbon ion radiotherapy offers superior dose conformity in the treatment of deep-seated malignant tumours compared with conventional X-ray therapy. In addition, carbon ion beams have a higher relative biological effectiveness compared with protons or X-ray beams. The algorithm of treatment planning and beam delivery system is tailored to the individual parameters of the patient. The present article reviews the available literatures for various disease sites including the head and neck, skull base, lung, liver, prostate, bone and soft tissues and pelvic recurrence of rectal cancer as well as physical and biological properties. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/9 Tatsuya Ohno EPMA Journal 2013, null:9 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-9 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-9-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 9 2013-03-04T00:00:00Z XML The main aim of this paper is to present the current statistics and situation of health care system in Georgia; the changes in the transition period within the society and the health care system. Also presented are the efforts from the Government and the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia in the way of numerous initiatives and action in order to improve quality care of patients and sustain the health care system. This paper described the institutional framework, process, content and implementation of health and health care policies in Georgia in the context of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/8 Tamari Rukhadze EPMA Journal 2013, null:8 2013-02-26T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-8 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-8-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 8 2013-02-26T00:00:00Z XML Since the emergence of the so-called omics technology, thousands of putative biomarkers have been identified and published, which have dramatically increased the opportunities for developing more effective therapeutics. These opportunities can have profound benefits for patients and for the economics of healthcare. However, the transfer of biomarkers from discovery to clinical practice is still a process filled with lots of pitfalls and limitations, mostly limited by structural and scientific factors. To become a clinically approved test, a potential biomarker should be confirmed and validated using hundreds of specimens and should be reproducible, specific and sensitive. Besides the lack of quality in biomarker validation, a number of other key issues can be identified and should be addressed. Therefore, the aim of this article is to discuss a series of interpretative and practical issues that need to be understood and resolved before potential biomarkers become a clinically approved test or are already on the diagnostic market. Some of these issues are shortly discussed here. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/7 Elisabeth Drucker Kurt Krapfenbauer EPMA Journal 2013, null:7 2013-02-25T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-7 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-7-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 7 2013-02-25T00:00:00Z XML Breast cancer is a multifactorial disease. A spectrum of internal and external factors contributes to the disease promotion such as a genetic predisposition, chronic inflammatory processes, exposure to toxic compounds, abundant stress factors, a shift-worker job, etc. The cumulative effects lead to high incidence of breast cancer in populations worldwide. Breast cancer in the USA is currently registered with the highest incidence rates amongst all cancer related patient cohorts. Currently applied diagnostic approaches are frequently unable to recognise early stages in tumour development that impairs individual outcomes. Early diagnosis has been demonstrated to be highly beneficial for significantly enhanced therapy efficacy and possibly full recovery. Actual paper shows that the elaboration of an integrative diagnostic approach combining several levels of examinations creates a robust platform for the reliable risk assessment, targeted preventive measures and more effective treatments tailored to the person in the overall task of breast cancer management. The levels of examinations are proposed, and innovative technological approaches are described in the paper. The absolute necessity to create individual patient profiles and extended medical records is justified for the utilising by routine medical services. Expert recommendations are provided to promote further developments in the field. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/6 Olga Golubnitschaja Kristina Yeghiazaryan Vincenzo Costigliola Daniela Trog Michael Braun Manuel Debald Walther Kuhn Hans Schild EPMA Journal 2013, null:6 2013-02-19T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-6 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-6-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 6 2013-02-19T00:00:00Z XML Neurodegenerative disorders show an increasing prevalence in a number of highly developed countries. Often, these diseases require life-long treatment mostly with drugs which are costly and mostly accompanied by more or less serious side-effects. Their heterogeneous manifestation, severity and outcome pose the need for individualised treatment options. There is an intensive search for new strategies not only for treating but also for preventing these diseases. Green tea and green tea extracts seem to be such a promising and safe alternative. However, data regarding the beneficial effects and possible underlying mechanism, specifically in clinical trials, are rare and rather controversial or non-conclusive. This review outlines the existing evidence from preclinical studies (cell and tissue cultures and animal models) and clinical trials regarding preventive and therapeutic effects of epigallcatechin-3-gallate in neurodegenerative diseases and considers antioxidative vs. pro-oxidative properties of the tea catechin important for dosage recommendations. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/5 Anja Mähler Silvia Mandel Mario Lorenz Urs Ruegg Erich Wanker Michael Boschmann Friedemann Paul EPMA Journal 2013, null:5 2013-02-18T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-5 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-5-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 5 2013-02-18T00:00:00Z XML Apart from its principal role in bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis, vitamin D has been attributed additional effects including an immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and possibly even neuroprotective capacity which implicates a possible role of vitamin D in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). Indeed, several lines of evidence including epidemiologic, preclinical, and clinical data suggest that reduced vitamin D levels and/or dysregulation of vitamin D homeostasis is a risk factor for the development of multiple sclerosis on the one hand, and that vitamin D serum levels are inversely associated with disease activity and progression on the other hand. However, these data are not undisputable, and many questions regarding the preventive and therapeutic capacity of vitamin D in multiple sclerosis remain to be answered. In particular, available clinical data derived from interventional trials using vitamin D supplementation as a therapeutic approach in MS are inconclusive and partly contradictory. In this review, we summarise and critically evaluate the existing data on the possible link between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis in light of the crucial question whether optimization of vitamin D status may impact the risk and/or the course of multiple sclerosis. http://www.epmajournal.com/content/4/1/4 Jan Dörr Andrea Döring Friedemann Paul EPMA Journal 2013, null:4 2013-01-29T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1878-5085-4-4 /content/figures/1878-5085-4-4-toc.gif EPMA Journal 1878-5085 ${item.volume} 4 2013-01-29T00:00:00Z XML