Comprehensive Geriatric Hospital at Home: Adaptation to Referral and Case-Mix Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: To describe the evolution of a Hospital at Home (HAH) based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), including its adaptability to changing case-mixes and pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Observational study of consecutive admissions to a combined step-up (admissions from home) and step-down (hospital discharge) HAH during 3 periods: prepandemic (2018‒February 2020) vs pandemic (March‒December 2020, and January‒December 2021).

Setting And Participants: Participants were all consecutive patients admitted to a CGA-based HAH, located in Barcelona, Spain.

Cortical macro and microstructural correlates of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease are as common and as disabling as its well-known motor symptoms. Even though several neural substrates for these symptoms have been suggested, to which extent these symptoms reflect cortical neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease remains to be fully elucidated.

Methods: In a representative sample of 44 Parkinson's disease patients, the data about the following symptoms was recorded: cognitive performance, apathy, depression and anxiety.

Hesitation about coronavirus vaccines in healthcare professionals and general population in Spain.

Background: This study attempts to provide a picture of the hesitancy to vaccination against COVID-19 in Spain during the 2021 spring-autumn vaccination campaign, both in the general population and in healthcare professionals.

Methods: The participants were recruited using social media such as Facebook and Twitter, in addition to the cooperation of health personnel contacted with the collaboration of medical scientific societies. A cross-sectional study was carried out that included the response of an online questionnaire.

Spelling problems after early oral language difficulties.

Recent research has stated that early oral language acquisition difficulties are related to reading and writing difficulties. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience difficulties with several dimensions of language. In this study we focus on the specific difficulties of children with DLD in spelling.

Effect of supplementation with leucine alone, with other nutrients or with physical exercise in older people with sarcopenia: a systematic review.

Background: Older adults are at a greater risk of developing sarcopenia as a result of reduced mobility, malnutrition, dietary changes and certain diseases. There are no systematic reviews in the literature analysing the effects of supplementation with leucine alone or as part of a supplement, and with or without physical exercise in older people with sarcopenia. We aimed to systematically review the evidence in intervention studies on the effects of supplementation with leucine, either alone, combined with other supplements, or combined with other supplements and physical exercise in older people with sarcopenia.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown in a biomedical research campus: A gender perspective analysis.

From March to September 2020, researchers working at a biomedical scientific campus in Spain faced two lockdowns and various mobility restrictions that affected their social and professional lifestyles. The working group "Women in Science," which acts as an independent observatory of scientific gender inequalities on campus launched an online survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on scientific activity, domestic and caregiving tasks, and psychological status. The survey revealed differences in scientific performance by gender: while male researchers participated in a larger number of scientific activities for career development, female researchers performed more invisible scientific tasks, including peer review or outreach activities.

Paradoxical suboptimal vitamin D levels in a Mediterranean area: a population-based study.

Policies in sunny countries, such as those in the Mediterranean area, do not promote vitamin D supplementation despite some studies might suggest the high prevalence of sub-optimal levels. The objective was to determine the vitamin D levels by 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) of a Mediterranean population and their characteristics. This population-based study included a database of public health system from all individuals living in Catalonia > 18 years who had some measure of 25(OH)D between January 2018 and April 2021.

High incidence of PTSD diagnosis and trauma-related symptoms in a trauma exposed bipolar I and II sample.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an established comorbidity in Bipolar Disorder (BD), but little is known about the characteristics of psychological trauma beyond a PTSD diagnosis and differences in trauma symptoms between BD-I and BD-II.

Objective: (1) To present characteristics of a trauma-exposed BD sample; (2) to investigate prevalence and trauma symptom profile across BD-I and BD-II; (3) to assess the impact of a lifetime PTSD diagnosis vs. a history of trauma on BD course; and (4) to research the impacts of sexual and physical abuse.

Application of biostimulant products and biological control agents in sustainable viticulture: A review.

Current and continuing climate change in the Anthropocene epoch requires sustainable agricultural practices. Additionally, due to changing consumer preferences, organic approaches to cultivation are gaining popularity. The global market for organic grapes, grape products, and wine is growing.

Global Emergency System Based on WPAN and LPWAN Hybrid Networks.

There are multiple methods of communication for the transmission of every type of alarm. In the case of emergency systems, they are usually controlled by private companies that work as bridges between the source and the receiver of an emergency. Furthermore, it is necessary to use an independent communication system for each building, requiring human vigilance, leading to an increase in infrastructure and service costs as well as response time.

[Socio-labor conditions and psychological burnout in workers during the pandemic. A comparative study].

Background: The pandemic derived from COVID-19 has caused a great impact in all the contexts in wich the human being operates, including the labor context. Multiple studies have shown the influence that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on both public and private organizations. From this derives the importance of assessings the real work context of the Mexican population in times of pandemic and the factors that are related to the appearance of psychological exhaustion.

Geriatric syndromes and functions in older adults with COVID-19 hospitalized in sub-acute care: a multicenter study.

Objective: Alternatives to conventional acute hospitalizations have been particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known on the management and outcomes of COVID-19 in older patient admitted to non-acute settings. The main aim of this study was to determine the effect of geriatrics syndromes on functional outcomes in older COVID-19 patients cared in sub-acute units.

Advances in Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation.

Locating devices in indoor environments has become a key issue for many emerging location-based applications and intelligent spaces in different fields [...

The Role of Endoscopic Ultrasound in the Interventional Management of Mediastinal Collections: A Narrative Review.

The numerous causes underlying mediastinal lesions require different diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, including conservative, minimally invasive, and surgical interventions. Solid lesions of a malignant nature, mostly located in the anterior mediastinum, are properly treated with surgical resection either with or without adjuvant schemes. In contrast, a surveillance program is usually recommended with solid benign tumors, depending on their size and related symptomatology.

The Usability of ICTs in People with Visual Disabilities: A Challenge in Spain.

The use of ICTs provides autonomy, equity, and social inclusion to people with visual disabilities. The National Organization of the Spanish Blind (ONCE) offers its 70,462 legally-blind people the necessary resources for the usability of ICTs. Still, most individuals with visual disabilities do not have a similar support system.

Factors associated with patient empowerment in Spanish adults with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to identify factors associated with patient empowerment in people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Canary Islands (Spain).

Methods: Secondary cross-sectional analysis was carried out of data obtained in the INDICA study: A 24-month cluster randomized-controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions supported by new technology decision tools for T2DM patients. Sociodemographic variables, clinical data (years since diagnosis, glycated haemoglobin level, creatine, triglycerides, waist hip index, body mass index and number of comorbidities), diabetes knowledge (DIATEK), affective outcomes (Beck Depression Inventory-II, the State subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and The Diabetes Distress Scale) and diabetes-related quality of life (The Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of life) were assessed as potential correlates of patient empowerment, assessed using the Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form.

The role of attentional control over interference in minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease are associated with connectivity changes in attentional networks and increased risk of structured hallucinations. However, the clinical translation of these abnormalities in attention processes is not well-defined, and commonly used neuropsychological tests are not able to detect significant deficits in Parkinson's disease patients with isolated minor hallucinations.

Objectives: To analyze the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease during an attentional task assessing response inhibition and interference control.

Proposing Necessary but Not Sufficient Conditions Analysis as a Complement of Traditional Effect Size Measures with an Illustrative Example.

Even though classic effect size measures (e.g., Pearson's r, Cohen's d) are widely applied in social sciences, the threshold used to interpret them is somewhat arbitrary.

Consensus-building around the conceptualisation and implementation of sustainable healthy diets: a foundation for policymakers.

Background: Healthy and sustainable diets need to be adopted to reduce the negative impact of food consumption on human and planetary health. Food systems account for a third of greenhouse gas emissions. "Dietary Patterns for Health and Sustainability" is a World Health Organization (WHO) project that aims to build consensus among international food, health, and sustainability experts and policymakers on how to conceptualise healthy and sustainable diets and on the actions and policies that could be implemented in the WHO European Region to promote these diets.

The Effects of Cannabidiol and δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in Social Cognition: A Naturalistic Controlled Study.

Social cognition abilities such as empathy and the Theory of Mind (ToM) have been shown to be impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions such as psychotic, autistic, and bipolar disorders. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) seems to play a role in social behavior and emotional processing while it also seems to play a role in those neuropsychiatric conditions showing social cognition impairments. Main plant cannabinoids delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) modulate the ECS and, due to their opposite effects, have been proposed as both cause and treatment for neuropsychiatric-related disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Green gentrification in European and North American cities.

Although urban greening is universally recognized as an essential part of sustainable and climate-responsive cities, a growing literature on green gentrification argues that new green infrastructure, and greenspace in particular, can contribute to gentrification, thus creating social and racial inequalities in access to the benefits of greenspace and further environmental and climate injustice. In response to limited quantitative evidence documenting the temporal relationship between new greenspaces and gentrification across entire cities, let alone across various international contexts, we employ a spatially weighted Bayesian model to test the green gentrification hypothesis across 28 cities in 9 countries in North America and Europe. Here we show a strong positive and relevant relationship for at least one decade between greening in the 1990s-2000s and gentrification that occurred between 2000-2016 in 17 of the 28 cities.

Social media in the learning ecologies of communications students: Identifying profiles from students' perspective.

Social media can be a support during the initial training of communication professionals, although most studies on social media and learning have mainly focused on other professional groups. The purpose of this article is to explore how communication students learn and their use of social media platforms, in order to identify the role of social media in supporting communication students' learning. Data was collected using a questionnaire sent to communication students of the UOC and analyzed using a clustering technique, to identify student profiles based on how they organize their learning and their use of social media platforms.

Neurocognitive Profile of the Post-COVID Condition in Adults in Catalonia-A Mixed Method Prospective Cohort and Nested Case-Control Study: Study Protocol.

The diagnosis of the post-COVID condition is usually achieved by excluding other diseases; however, cognitive changes are often found in the post-COVID disorder. Therefore, monitoring and treating the recovery from the post-COVID condition is necessary to establish biomarkers to guide the diagnosis of symptoms, including cognitive impairment. Our study employs a prospected cohort and nested case-control design with mixed methods, including statistical analyses, interviews, and focus groups.

Correlates to psychological distress in frail older community-dwellers undergoing lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: This study identifies correlates of the lockdown's psychological distress in frail older community-dwellers (Catalonia, Spain).

Methods: Participants from a community frailty intervention program, with a comprehensive geriatric assessment within the 12-months pre-lockdown and COVID-19 free during the first pandemic wave (March-May 2020), underwent a phone assessment past the lockdown to assess COVID-19-related emotional distress (DME) as well as other sociodemograhic, clinical and psychosocial factors.

Results: Of the 94 frail older adults (age = 82,34 ± 6,12 years; 68,1% women; 38,3% living alone), 84,9% were at risk of experiencing moderate-to-high psychological distress, according to the backward stepwise logistic regression model obtained (χ2 = 47,007, p < 0,001, Nagelkerke R = 0,528), based on the following factors: absence of depressive symptoms before lockdown (OR = 0,12, p = 0,014, 95%CI[0,023-0,647]), not carrying out leisure activities during lockdown (OR = 0,257, p = 0,023, 95%CI[0,079-0,832]) and currently experiencing high malaise due to COVID-19 situation (OR = 1,504, p < 0,001, 95%CI[1,241-1,822]).