Publications by authors named "Piredda M"

Article Synopsis
  • Oral disorders in palliative care are common and negatively affect patients' quality of life, but there are few evidence-based treatments available.
  • This study investigated the effectiveness of a propolis-based product, combined with basic oral hygiene, in preventing and treating these disorders in patients with cancer or other illnesses.
  • Results showed significant improvements in oral health, pain reduction, and overall quality of life among patients, confirming that the treatment was safe and well-accepted.
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  • A study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia) among Spanish young adults aged 18-30, revealing low diagnosis rates but significant symptoms in the population.
  • Women were found to have higher rates of these disorders compared to men, regardless of their socio-demographic backgrounds, indicating a gender disparity.
  • The research highlighted a complex relationship between eating disorders, dietary habits, lifestyle factors, and mental health, emphasizing the need for targeted public health interventions.
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  • Vitamin D is important for immune health and might affect the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT).
  • A review of studies found that HSCT patients often have low vitamin D levels (around 12.8 to 29.2 ng/mL) and that various supplementation methods exist, but results on vitamin D's impact on GvHD risk are mixed.
  • While some studies link low vitamin D to a higher risk of acute GvHD, a clearer connection was found with chronic GvHD, indicating that further research is needed to assess vitamin D's potential therapeutic benefits in HSCT patients.
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Aim: This study examines the prevalence of eating disorders, particularly anorexia and bulimia nervosa, among middle-aged Spaniards, noting their rising incidence in men as well as women. It explores how these disorders relate to sociodemographic factors and lifestyle habits.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2020 to November 2021 via online platforms.

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Understanding the housing needs of older adults is crucial for policy makers, service providers, and professional carers. Evidence about the factors that contribute to older adults' "sense of home" and their practical and policies implications are lacking. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 78 community-dwelling older adults to investigate which structural and organizational requirements and relational-affective environments could contribute to their experiencing a sense of home.

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Introduction: Dysphagia and malnutrition are major contributors to mortality in patients with acute stroke. An early assessment of nutritional status upon hospital admission is crucial to enhance clinical outcomes by reducing the associated high-risk complications. However, the fragmented nature of the existing literature makes it difficult to optimize clinical practices.

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Aim: To develop and psychometrically test an instrument to assess nurses' evidence-based knowledge and self-efficacy regarding insertion and management of venous access devices (short peripheral catheter (SPC), long peripheral catheter/midline (LPC) and PICC) and the management of totally implantable central venous catheter (Port) in adult patients.

Design: Multicenter cross-sectional observational study with questionnaire development and psychometric testing (validity and reliability).

Methods: An evidence-based instrument was developed including a 34-item knowledge section and an 81-item self-efficacy section including four device-specific parts.

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Article Synopsis
  • Habits are established patterns of behavior that significantly affect individual health, but there's a lack of tools that measure multiple health dimensions simultaneously, particularly in Spain.
  • This research aimed to identify existing assessment tools and develop a new one, the Nutritional and Social Health Habits Scale (NutSo-HH), through a rigorous methodological process including pilot testing and expert validation.
  • The NutSo-HH Scale is validated and reliable, featuring two main dimensions (nutritional habits and health habits) and providing a comprehensive way to evaluate health behaviors among Spanish young adults, ultimately aiding public health nutrition initiatives.
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Background: Recent enhancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have exponentially increased user adoption. These models are accessible on mobile devices and support multimodal interactions, including conversations, code generation, and patient image uploads, broadening their utility in providing healthcare professionals with real-time support for clinical decision-making. Nevertheless, many authors have highlighted serious risks that may arise from the adoption of LLMs, principally related to safety and alignment with ethical guidelines.

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Background: Plant-based diets are becoming more and more widespread among the Spanish population, progressively replacing the Mediterranean dietary pattern. Different studies have shown the motivations for adherence to these diets, and others have highlighted some health advantages and disadvantages.

Purpose Of The Study: Further studies are needed to define the socio-demographic determinants that influence the choice of a plant-based diet and to study the relationship that the choice of dietary pattern has on the health and lifestyle habits of the population.

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Systematic reviews represent a fundamental study design, providing the highest level of evidence across diverse research inquiries, encompassing both public health and clinical research and practice. However, for healthcare professionals, the process of selecting, synthesizing, and interpreting evidence can be challenging, and requires specialized skills. Therefore, it is imperative to explore innovative solutions aimed at simplifying and making the traditional systematic review process more accessible while ensuring the validity and reliability of results.

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Background: Nursing care dependency is a key, yet under-studied, nursing phenomenon. Patients in intensive care units are highly dependent on nursing care. Patients find dependency challenging, experiencing feelings of powerlessness and shame.

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In the landscape of modern medicine, the ability to accurately diagnose various clinical conditions is paramount. As new diagnostic tools continue to emerge, their accuracy must be rigorously assessed before clinical implementation. This paper introduces a systematic review protocol tailored for diagnostic accuracy studies, drawing inspiration from a review on dysphagia screening in post-stroke patients.

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A systematic review (SR) is a research method for synthesizing evidence on a specific topic. Among the various types of systematic reviews, there are SRs of guidelines (CPGs) and SRs of SRs. Traditionally, they are limited to just one type of secondary evidence.

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In the dynamic landscape of contemporary healthcare, the imperative for advancing the frontiers of knowledge and improving patient outcomes necessitates a paradigm shift towards a multidisciplinary approach. This background great enhances a nurse's ability to interface with technology and create technical solutions such as robots, patient care devices, or computer simulation for patient care needs and nursing care delivery. This study aims to describe, through a narrative review of evidence, a methodology to develop and manager Nursing-Engineering interdisciplinary project, clarify the key points and facilitate professionals who are not very familiar with this topic.

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Introduction: Biomarker testing is mandatory for the clinical management of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Myriads of technical platforms are now available for biomarker analysis with differences in terms of multiplexing capability, analytical sensitivity, and turnaround time (TAT). We evaluated the technical performance of the diagnostic workflows of 24 representative Italian institutions performing molecular tests on a series of artificial reference specimens built to mimic routine diagnostic samples.

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Aims: This study aims to (i) test the validity and reliability of the Care Dependency Scale (CDS) for patients with heart failure (HF) and (ii) test the validity and reliability of the proxy version of the CDS assessing informal caregivers' perception of the dependency level of individuals with HF.

Methods And Results: Secondary data analysis was conducted of transnational multicentre cross-sectional design study. A convenience sample comprised of HF patients-informal caregivers' dyads in three European countries.

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Background: Palliative care is defined as active and global care that provides holistic care integrating the body, mind and spirit of the dying person. A person's health deteriorates at the end of life and nurses facilitate patients to manage their personal body care. Knowing and considering the impact of disease on individuals' lives, how they adapt to cope with it, and the meaning they give to it, can help nurses.

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In the context of climate changes, characterized by an increase of short but intense rainfall events and rise of the average temperature, the fast population growth and consequent urbanization require the implementation of innovative solutions to mitigate pluvial floods and, at the same time, reduce the water demand. Among the different nature-based solutions, multilayer blue-green roofs have been widely recognized for their high capacity of reducing runoff generation from rooftops, and their additional storage layer enables to collect water, which could be reused for different purposes. However, the quality of the collected water in a multilayer blue-green roof and the influence that the additional storage layer has on it have not been analysed yet.

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Tailings and mine dumps are often pollutant sources that pose serious environmental threats to surrounding areas. The use of pioneer vascular plants to extract or stabilize metals is considered among the more effective mine tailing reclamation techniques. The study aimed at evaluating the phytoremediation potential of in abandoned mine-tailing (SW-Sardinia, Italy).

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Patients with cancer receiving infusional chemotherapy show negative symptoms such as worry about their survival, anxiety, anguish, depression, fear, magnified perception of the passage of time, and difficulty managing boredom. Patients also suffer various side effects produced by chemotherapy such as nausea, vomiting, pain, and fatigue, which, together with psychological distress, drastically reduce their quality of life and adherence to therapy with a corresponding reduction in the probability of the individual's survival. Virtual Reality is one of the most innovative and promising digital health interventions, capable of quickly and effectively producing a positive influence on the psychosomatic axis, improving patients' quality of life during chemotherapy.

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Objectives: This study aims to assess the effects of immersive Virtual Reality in people with cancer undergoing antiblastic therapy, on anxiety, fatigue and pain.

Data Sources: This is a randomized controlled three-arm trial. Seventy-four cancer patients were recruited from a regional hospital in Italy, and randomly allocated into three groups: a Virtual Reality group (n=25), a narrative medicine group (n=25) and a standard care group (n=24).

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Aim: To investigate the simultaneous effects of work-related stress and job satisfaction on cardiovascular nurses' quality of work life.

Background: Prior research has investigated nurses' work-related stress, job satisfaction, and quality of work life as separate aspects and not in specific nursing settings, such as cardiovascular wards. Cardiovascular care settings can be particularly stressful for nurses, who are often faced with distress, depression and patients and caregivers' physical and psychological exhaustion.

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The incidence rate of prostate cancer (PCa) in many Western countries is high, contributing greatly to the cancer disease bur-den. In most cases, patients progress to metastatic disease defined as castration-resistant prostate cancer after androgen deprivation (mCRPC) following primary treatment where the majority of patients receive first-line new-generation oral hormonal therapies (HT) such as Abiraterone Acetate (AA) and Enzalutamide (ENZ). Despite the importance of correct intake of these drugs, adherence in patients with mCRPC is still poorly investigated and managed with measures not specific to this population.

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Article Synopsis
  • - A scoping review examined the use of motivational interviewing to encourage self-care in older patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) and support their informal caregivers, searching across seven databases up to July 2022.
  • - Researchers found 12 studies reported in 15 articles that utilized motivational interviewing between 2012 and 2022; however, there was no research focusing on its use for informal caregivers.
  • - The findings indicate that motivational interviewing is underused in MCCs, primarily aimed at improving medication adherence, with a call for more detailed insights on its application and the inclusion of informal caregivers in future studies.
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