All scores used were very specific, but the CAM and the DDS were less sensitive compared with the gold standard. Overall, the Nu-DESC was the most sensitive test in the recovery room to detect delirium.

Duration of preoperative fluid fasting and the choice of intraoperative analgesic are risk factors for postoperative delirium, and their modification provides a promising approach to reduce the incidence of postoperative delirium.

All scores showed high specificity but differed in their sensitivity. The Nu-DESC proved to be the most sensitive test for screening for a postoperative delirium on the surgical ward followed by the CAM and DDS when compared to the gold standard.

Separate mechanisms for oncogenesis and metastasis have been postulated. We show here that prolonged and invasive cell migration, a key mechanism in cancer metastasis, is linked to c-erbB-2 signaling. Cell lines with c-erbB-2 and EGFR expression and transphosphorylation activity display a high transendothelial invasiveness in an endothelial-extracellular matrix model mimicking a capillary vessel wall in vitro. Tyrosine-phosphorylated c-erbB-2 receptors and EGFR are localized predominantly in areas of the cell with high membrane extension activity. On the molecular level, there is a subtle cross talk between the transmembrane signaling molecule c-erbB-2 and the actin cytoskeleton at multiple levels, including the generation of the second messenger PIP2 and the mobilization of the actin-regulatory protein gelsolin. Our data strongly suggest that c-erbB-2, especially in a heterodimer with EGFR, is closely involved in signaling pathways, inducing alterations in cell morphology that are required for a human breast cancer cell to become motile and conceivably metastatic.

Despite advances in postoperative pain management, the proportion of patients with moderate to severe postoperative pain is still ranging 20-80%. In this retrospective study, we investigated 1736 patients to determine the incidence of postoperative pain in need of intervention (PPINI)defined as numeric rating scale >4 at rest in the post anaesthesia care unit early after awakening from general anaesthesia, and to identify possible risk factors. The proportion of patients with PPINI was 28.5%. On multivariate analysis, younger age (OR=1.300 [1.007-1.678], p=0.044), female gender (OR=1.494 [1.138-1.962], p=0.004), obesity (OR=1.683 [1.226-2.310], p=0.001), use of nitrous oxide (OR=1.621 [1.110-2.366], p=0.012), longer duration of surgery (OR=1.165 [1.050-1.292], p=0.004), location of surgery (musculoskeletal OR=2.026 [1.326-3.095], p=0.001; intraabdominal OR=1.869 [1.148-3.043], p=0.012), and ASA-PS I-II (OR=1.519 [1.131-2.039], P=0.005) were identified as independent risk factors for PPINI. Patients with PPINI experienced significantly more PONV (10.3% vs. 6.2%, p=0.003), more psychomotor agitation (5.5% vs. 2.7%, p=0.004), needed more application of opioid in PACU (62.8% vs. 24.2%, p<0.001), stayed significantly longer in PACU (89.6min [70-120] vs. 80min [60-100], p<0.001), had a longer median length of hospital stay (6.6 days [4.0-8.8] vs. 6.0 days [3.2-7.8]], p<0.001), and longer postoperative stay (5.0 days [3.0-6.5] vs. 4.1 days [2.5-5.8], p<0.001]). Patients with PPINI required more piritramid (8.0mg [5.0-12.0] vs. 5.0mg [3.0-7.8], p<0.001) in PACU than patients without. The identification of patients at high risk for immediate postoperative pain in need of intervention would enable the formation of effective postoperative pain management programs.