Classical and quantum ergodicity on orbifolds

We extend to orbifolds classical results on quantum ergodicity due to Shnirelman, Colin de Verdi\`ere and Zelditch, proving that, for any positive, first-order self-adjoint elliptic pseudodifferential operator P on a compact orbifold X with positive principal symbol p, ergodicity of the Hamiltonian flow of p implies quantum ergodicity for the operator P. We also prove ergodicity of the geodesic flow on a compact Riemannian orbifold of negative sectional curvature.Comment: 14 page

Integración de los principios de cuidados paliativos en cuidados intensivos

En la literatura científica se constata un reciente interés por integrar los principios de la medicina paliativa en el trabajo cotidiano de la unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI). El artículo revisa este planteamiento con la idea de fondo de que su aplicación pueda aportar luz en la resolución de ciertos problemas éticos presentes. Los pacientes con procesos avanzados y en situación de final de vida ingresados en cuidados intensivos se encuentran con un nivel de sufrimiento y vulnerabilidad que sólo una atención comprensiva y holística puede dar un alivio adecuado. Sin embargo, la realidad clínica del cuidado de estos pacientes en UCI, por el momento, está lejana a ese ideal. La mejora de la atención clínica en este sentido, especialmente en el fallecimiento, es el punto de interés que nos ocupa. Avanzar en este aspecto es complejo pero se hace necesario un esfuerzo. La propuesta es recurrir a la medicina paliativa como modelo de referencia en los cuidados del final de vida y en la atención holística, e introducir sus principios de tratamiento en la UCI. El objetivo del artículo es exponer una estrategia práctica para llevarlo a cabo y que pueda ser útil en la mejora de la atención clínica y ética de los pacientesRecent scientific literature has shown a growing interest to integrate palliative medicine principles into the daily workflow in the intensive care unit (ICU). This article reviews this trend with the goal that its application might provide more understanding in the resolution of some current ethical issues. Patients with an advanced disease process and at the end of life who are admitted in the intensive care unit are in such a profound level of suffering and vulnerability that only an holistic and comprehensive approach can provide adequate relief to them. Nevertheless, the reality of the clinical care of these patients in the ICU is far beyond that ideal. Our primary end point is the improvement in the clinical care provided, especially when the patient is dying. It is indeed very complex to make progress in this field, but an effort has to be made. The project is to turn to palliative medicine as a role model for end of life care and as an holistic approach, and introduce palliative medicine principles in the ICU. The goal of this article is to reveal a practical approach to accomplish this, and make it functional in order to improve our patients’ clinical and ethical car

Discapacidad vocal

En el momento actual disponemos de herramientas precisas para diagnosticar y valorar los trastornos de la voz. Esto nos permite desarrollar un plan de tratamiento dirigido a cada problema concreto. No obstante, es preciso establecer además del diagnóstico, la severidad de esa disfonía y en que medida influye este trastorno en la vida del paciente. Se revisan los conceptos de deficiencia, discapacidad y minusvalía en relación con los trastornos de la voz y de acuerdo con herramientas contrastadas y validadas para establecer el grado de afectación de la voz en cada trastorno concreto. Se revisan las escalas del GRABS, el índice de severidad de la disfonía (SDI) y el índice de disfunción vocal. El empleo de dichas herramientas así como de la utilización de la terminología aprobada recientemente por la OMS en la clasificación internacional del funcionamiento de la discapacidad y de la salud permitirán establecer grados de severidad de la disfonía y planificar tratamientos integrales más eficaces

El buen cuidado de pacientes que fallecen en unidades de cuidados intensivos en España. Un estudio basado en indicadores internacionales de calidad asistencial

Fundamento. Evaluar la calidad de la atención clínica de los pacientes fallecidos en unidades de cuidados intensivos (UCI) españolas a través de las historias clínicas. Metodología. Estudio de cohorte, observacional, retrospectivo, de pacientes que fallecieron en la UCI de una muestra de UCI españolas. El criterio de inclusión fue pacientes mayores de 18 años fallecidos en UCI tras ingreso mínimo de 24h. Se analizaron ingresos consecutivos, sin exclusiones. Se valoraron criterios de excelencia específicos para la UCI mediante los indicadores y medidas de calidad desarrollados por el Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Critical Care Workgroup. Resultados. Se incluyeron 282 pacientes de 15 UCI españolas. Se observó una mediana de 13% de cumplimiento de los indicadores. Casi todas las historias clínicas documentaron la capacidad de decisión del paciente (96%) y la comunicación con la familia (98%) pero solo el 50% contenían un plan u objetivo del cuidado. Sólo dos UCI tenían régimen abierto de visitas de familiares. Estaba mejor documentada la valoración de la disnea (48%) que la del dolor (28%). En trece UCI no había protocolos de retirada de medidas de soporte. En los indicadores de apoyo emocional y apoyo espiritual se observó un cumplimiento inferior al 10%. Conclusiones. La calidad del cuidado del final de vida en las UCI estudiadas puede mejorar. El estudio identifica déficits y señala recursos reales de la práctica clínica a partir de los cuales se puede diseñar un plan de mejora gradual adaptado a cada realidad hospitalaria. El análisis, poco costoso en su realización, coincide con la recomendación unánime de las sociedades profesionales de cuidados intensivos.Background. To assess the quality of clinical care given to patients who die in intensive care units (ICU) in Spain. Methodos. A retrospective observational cohort study of patients who died in the ICU based on a Spanish sample. Inclusion criteria were patients older than 18 years who died in ICU after a minimum stay of 24 hours. Consecutive admissions without exclusions were analyzed. Excellence criteria in intensive care were assessed by quality indicators and measures, related to end-of-life care, developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Critical Care Workgroup. Results. Two hundred and eighty-two patients from 15 Spanish ICU were included. A median of 13% was observed in the achievement of the indicators. Almost all clinical records assessed both the patients’ decision making capacity (96%) and their communication with families (98%), while a plan of care goals was achieved in only 50% of them. Only two ICU had open visiting policies. Distress assessment (48%) was better than that of pain assessment (28%). The absence of protocol for the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments was observed in thirteen ICU. The indicators of emotional and spiritual support were achieved in less than 10%. Conclusions. The quality of end-of-life care in the participating ICU needs to be improved. The study identifies shortcomings and indicates existing resources in clinical practice from which a gradual improvement plan, adapted to the situation in each hospital, can be designed. The analysis, inexpensive in its implementation, offers an opportunity for improvement, a goal recommended by most professional societies of intensive care medicine

Multiple health behaviour change primary care intervention for smoking cessation, physical activity and healthy diet in adults 45 to 75 years old (EIRA study): a hybrid effectiveness-implementation cluster randomised trial

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a) a Multiple Health Behaviour Change (MHBC) intervention on reducing smoking, increasing physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern in people aged 45–75 years compared to usual care; and b) an implementation strategy. Methods: A cluster randomised effectiveness-implementation hybrid trial-type 2 with two parallel groups was conducted in 25 Spanish Primary Health Care (PHC) centres (3062 participants): 12 centres (1481 participants) were randomised to the intervention and 13 (1581 participants) to the control group (usual care). The intervention was based on the Transtheoretical Model and focused on all target behaviours using individual, group and community approaches. PHC professionals made it during routine care. The implementation strategy was based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Data were analysed using generalised linear mixed models, accounting for clustering. A mixed-methods data analysis was used to evaluate implementation outcomes (adoption, acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility and fidelity) and determinants of implementation success. Results: 14.5% of participants in the intervention group and 8.9% in the usual care group showed a positive change in two or all the target behaviours. Intervention was more effective in promoting dietary behaviour change (31.9% vs 21.4%). The overall adoption rate by professionals was 48.7%. Early and final appropriateness were perceived by professionals as moderate. Early acceptability was high, whereas final acceptability was only moderate. Initial and final acceptability as perceived by the participants was high, and appropriateness moderate. Consent and recruitment rates were 82.0% and 65.5%, respectively, intervention uptake was 89.5% and completion rate 74.7%. The global value of the percentage of approaches with fidelity =50% was 16.7%. Eight CFIR constructs distinguished between high and low implementation, five corresponding to the Inner Setting domain. Conclusions: Compared to usual care, the EIRA intervention was more effective in promoting MHBC and dietary behaviour change. Implementation outcomes were satisfactory except for the fidelity to the planned intervention, which was low. The organisational and structural contexts of the centres proved to be significant determinants of implementation effectiveness. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03136211. Registered 2 May 2017, “retrospectively registered”. © 2021, The Author(s)

Heart Failure, Female Sex, and Atrial Fibrillation Are the Main Drivers of Human Atrial Cardiomyopathy: Results From the CATCH ME Consortium

Background: Atrial cardiomyopathy (atCM) is an emerging prognostic factor in cardiovascular disease. Fibrotic remodeling, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and capillary density are hallmarks of atCM. The contribution of etiological factors and atrial fibrillation (AF) to the development of differential atCM phenotypes has not been quantified. This study aimed to evaluate the association between histological features of atCM and the clinical phenotype. Methods and results: We examined left atrial (LA, n=95) and right atrial (RA, n=76) appendages from a European cohort of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Quantification of histological atCM features was performed following wheat germ agglutinin/CD31/vimentin staining. The contributions of AF, heart failure, sex, and age to histological characteristics were determined with multiple linear regression models. Persistent AF was associated with increased endomysial fibrosis (LA: +1.13±0.47 μm, P=0.038; RA: +0.94±0.38 μm, P=0.041), whereas total extracellular matrix content was not. Men had larger cardiomyocytes (LA: +1.92±0.72 μm, P<0.001), while women had more endomysial fibrosis (LA: +0.99±0.56 μm, P=0.003). Patients with heart failure showed more endomysial fibrosis (LA: +1.85±0.48 μm, P<0.001) and extracellular matrix content (LA: +3.07±1.29%, P=0.016), and a higher capillary density (LA: +0.13±0.06, P=0.007) and size (LA: +0.46±0.22 μm, P=0.044). Fuzzy k-means clustering of histological features identified 2 subtypes of atCM: 1 characterized by enhanced endomysial fibrosis (LA: +3.17 μm, P<0.001; RA: +2.86 μm, P<0.001), extracellular matrix content (LA: +3.53%, P<0.001; RA: +6.40%, P<0.001) and fibroblast density (LA: +4.38%, P<0.001), and 1 characterized by cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (LA: +1.16 μm, P=0.008; RA: +2.58 μm, P<0.001). Patients with fibrotic atCM were more frequently female (LA: odds ratio [OR], 1.33, P=0.002; RA: OR, 1.54, P=0.004), with persistent AF (LA: OR, 1.22, P=0.036) or heart failure (LA: OR, 1.62, P<0.001). Hypertrophic features were more common in men (LA: OR=1.33, P=0.002; RA: OR, 1.54, P=0.004). Conclusions: Fibrotic atCM is associated with female sex, persistent AF, and heart failure, while hypertrophic features are more common in men