Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults

OBJETIVO: Desarrollar y validar un instrumento breve para evaluación de alfabetismo en salud en el idioma portugués. MÉTODOS: El instrumento desarrollado consiste de 50 itens que evalúan la capacidad del individuo de pronunciar y comprender términos médicos comunes. Las propiedades psicométricas se evaluaron en una muestra de 226 ancianos brasileños. La validez del constructo se estableció por la correlación con el número de años de escolaridad, relato de alfabetismo funcional y desempeño cognitivo global. La validez discriminatoria fue establecida por la exactitud del instrumento en la detección de alfabetismo en salud inadecuado, definido como la incapacidad de comprender correctamente prescripciones médicas estandarizadas. RESULTADOS: Las correlaciones con los criterios de constructo presentaron magnitud moderada a alta (coeficientes de Spearman = 0,63 a 0,76). El instrumento presentó también consistencia interna satisfactoria (Cronbach = 0,93) y buena confiabilidad examen-reexamen (coeficiente de correlación intra-clase = 0,95). El área bajo la curva característica de operación del receptor para detección de alfabetismo inadecuado fue 0,82. Una versión con 18 itens fue derivada y presentó propiedades psicométricas similares. CONCLUSIONES: El instrumento desarrollado presentó buena validez y consistencia en una muestra de ancianos brasileños y puede ser utilizado en ambientes clínicos o de investigación con la finalidad de detectar alfabetismo en salud inadecuado.OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a short health literacy assessment tool for Portuguese-speaking adults. METHODS: The Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults is an assessment tool which consists of 50 items that assess an individual's ability to correctly pronounce and understand common medical terms. We evaluated the instrument's psychometric properties in a convenience sample of 226 Brazilian older adults. Construct validity was assessed by correlating the tool scores with years of schooling, self-reported literacy, and global cognitive functioning. Discrimination validity was assessed by testing the tool's accuracy in detecting inadequate health literacy, defined as failure to fully understand standard medical prescriptions. RESULTS: Moderate to high correlations were found in the assessment of construct validity (Spearman's coefficients ranging from 0.63 to 0.76). The instrument showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.93) and adequate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.95). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for detection of inadequate health literacy was 0.82. A version consisting of 18 items was tested and showed similar psychometric properties. CONCLUSIONS: The instrument developed showed good validity and reliability in a sample of Brazilian older adults. It can be used in research and clinical settings for screening inadequate health literacy.OBJETIVO: Desenvolver e validar um instrumento breve para avaliação de alfabetismo em saúde na língua portuguesa. MÉTODOS: O instrumento desenvolvido consiste de 50 itens que avaliam a capacidade do indivíduo de pronunciar e compreender termos médicos comuns. As propriedades psicométricas foram avaliadas em uma amostra de 226 idosos brasileiros. A validade de construto foi estabelecida pela correlação com o número de anos de escolaridade, relato de alfabetismo funcional e desempenho cognitivo global. A validade discriminativa foi estabelecida pela acurácia do instrumento na detecção de alfabetismo em saúde inadequado, definido como a incapacidade de compreender corretamente prescrições médicas padronizadas. RESULTADOS: As correlações com os critérios de construto apresentaram magnitude moderada a alta (coeficientes de Spearman = 0,63 a 0,76). O instrumento apresentou ainda consistência interna satisfatória (Cronbach = 0,93) e boa confiabilidade teste-reteste (coeficiente de correlação intraclasse = 0,95). A área sob a curva característica de operação do receptor para detecção de alfabetismo inadequado foi 0,82. Uma versão com 18 itens foi derivada e apresentou propriedades psicométricas similares. CONCLUSÕES: O instrumento desenvolvido apresentou boa validade e consistência em uma amostra de idosos brasileiros e pode ser utilizado em ambientes clínicos ou de pesquisa com a finalidade de detectar alfabetismo em saúde inadequado

Comprehensive geriatric assessment predicts mortality and adverse outcomes in hospitalized older adults

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) provides detailed information on clinical, functional and cognitive aspects of older patients and is especially useful for assessing frail individuals. Although a large proportion of hospitalized older adults demonstrate a high level of complexity, CGA was not developed specifically for this setting. Our aim was to evaluate the application of a CGA model for the clinical characterization and prognostic prediction of hospitalized older adults.\ud \ud \ud Methods\ud This was a prospective observational study including 746 patients aged 60 years and over who were admitted to a geriatric ward of a university hospital between January 2009 and December 2011, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The proposed CGA was applied to evaluate all patients at admission. The primary outcome was in-hospital death, and the secondary outcomes were delirium, nosocomial infections, functional decline and length of stay. Multivariate binary logistic regression was performed to assess independent factors associated with these outcomes, including socio-demographic, clinical, functional, cognitive, and laboratory variables. Impairment in ten CGA components was particularly investigated: polypharmacy, activities of daily living (ADL) dependency, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) dependency, depression, dementia, delirium, urinary incontinence, falls, malnutrition, and poor social support.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud The studied patients were mostly women (67.4%), and the mean age was 80.5±7.9 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed the following independent factors associated with in-hospital death: IADL dependency (OR=4.02; CI=1.52-10.58; p=.005); ADL dependency (OR=2.39; CI=1.25-4.56; p=.008); malnutrition (OR=2.80; CI=1.63-4.83; p<.001); poor social support (OR=5.42; CI=2.93-11.36; p<.001); acute kidney injury (OR=3.05; CI=1.78-5.27; p<.001); and the presence of pressure ulcers (OR=2.29; CI=1.04-5.07; p=.041). ADL dependency was independently associated with both delirium incidence and nosocomial infections (respectively: OR=3.78; CI=2.30-6.20; p<.001 and OR=2.30; CI=1.49-3.49; p<.001). The number of impaired CGA components was also found to be associated with in-hospital death (p<.001), delirium incidence (p<.001) and nosocomial infections (p=.005). Additionally, IADL dependency, malnutrition and history of falls predicted longer hospitalizations. There were no significant changes in overall functional status during the hospital stay.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud CGA identified patients at higher risk of in-hospital death and adverse outcomes, of which those with functional dependence, malnutrition and poor social support were foremost

Liderazgo del capital intelectual en el marco organizacional

La investigación exploró la influencia de las Competencias Genéricas Transversales (CGT) sobre el fortalecimiento del Capital Intelectual (CI) en las organizaciones, desde la perspectiva y necesidades del liderazgo. Las CGT constituyen habilidades de las personas que son determinantes de los resultados organizacionales, mientras que el CI es el conjunto de activos intangibles que agregan valor a la organización. La consideración de ambas áreas del conocimiento permitió identificar las competencias que debía poseer un líder para desarrollar el CI como principal ventaja competitiva en las organizaciones.La bibliografía consultada permitió consensuar cuatro componentes del CI: el capital Humano, el capital Estructural, el capital Cliente y el capital Innovación. Sobre dichos componentes, las CGT con mayor influencia sobre el CI fueron las competencias que transfieren conocimientos y habilidades en la coordinación de acciones, la resolución de conflictos, el pensamiento sistémico y crítico, la toma efectiva de decisiones, el aprendizaje continuo y autónomo, las habilidades interpersonales —en particular las ligadas al uso del lenguaje—, la autogestión de las emociones, las habilidades en el manejo de las Tecnologías de la Información, el uso de un segundo idioma en la comunicación, la creatividad, la responsabilidad social y el conocimiento de la profesión. La Gestión del Conocimiento (conjunto de acciones de gestión orientadas a manejar las dinámicas del conocimiento para favorecer los fines institucionales), a pesar de no estar en la lista de CGT, fue identificada como una competencia determinante en el fortalecimiento del CI.El equipo de investigación desarrolló un “Cuestionario de Autoevaluación de Conciencia del CI” que puede servir, como primer paso, para aquellas empresas que no disponen de los conocimientos ni los recursos para la administración de su CI. Asimismo, como resultado del análisis correlacional entre las CGT y los componentes y dimensiones de CI, se elaboró una “Guía de Fortalecimiento del CI” para la implementación de estrategias de desarrollo del CI con base en las CGT.La exploración confirmó que el desarrollo de las CGT contribuye a fortalecer de un modo general el CI en prácticamente todos sus componentes. Consecuentemente, es posible concebir una agenda de acción para el liderazgo del CI, basada en el desarrollo de las CGT. Por último, se identificaron futuras líneas de investigación, como por ejemplo, la convergencia conceptual entre Capital Humano y Talento Humano, la influencia del CI en la formación y capacitación en CGT y la investigación empírica del cuestionario de autoevaluación de conciencia del CI y de la guía de fortalecimiento mencionados anteriormente

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages

Prognostic effects of delirium motor subtypes in hospitalized older adults: A prospective cohort study

<div><p>Objectives</p><p>To investigate the association between delirium motor subtypes and hospital mortality and 12-month mortality in hospitalized older adults.</p><p>Design</p><p>Prospective cohort study conducted from 2009 to 2015.</p><p>Setting</p><p>Geriatric ward of a university hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil.</p><p>Participants</p><p>We included 1,409 consecutive admissions of acutely ill patients aged 60 years and over. We excluded admissions for end-of-life care, with missing data on the main variables, length of stay shorter than 48 hours, or when consent to participate was not given.</p><p>Main outcomes and measures</p><p>Delirium was detected using the Confusion Assessment Method and categorized in hypoactive, hyperactive, or mixed delirium. Primary outcomes were time to death in the hospital, and time to death in 12 months (for the discharged sample). Comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed at admission and included socio-demographic, clinical, functional, cognitive, and laboratory variables. Further clinical data were documented upon death or discharge. Multivariate analyses used Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for possible confounders.</p><p>Results</p><p>We included 1,409 admissions, with a mean age of 80 years. The proportion of in-hospital deaths was 19%, with a cumulative mortality of 38% in 12 months. Delirium occurred in 47% of the admissions. Hypoactive delirium was the predominant motor subtype (53%), followed by mixed delirium (30%) and hyperactive delirium (17%). Hospital mortality rates were respectively 33%, 34% and 15%. We verified that hypoactive and mixed delirium were independently associated with hospital mortality, with respective hazard ratios of 2.43 (95%CI = 1.64–3.59) and 2.31 (95%CI = 1.53–3.50). Delirium motor subtypes were not independently predictive of 12-month mortality.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>One in three acutely ill hospitalized older adults who suffered hypoactive or mixed delirium died in the hospital. Clinicians should be aware that hypoactive symptoms of delirium, whether shown exclusively or in alternation with hyperactive symptoms, are indicative of a worse prognosis in this population.</p></div

Effects of delirium motor subtypes and covariates on 12-month mortality in acutely ill older adults; 2009–2015 (N = 1,144 discharges/ 976 patients).

<p>Effects of delirium motor subtypes and covariates on 12-month mortality in acutely ill older adults; 2009–2015 (N = 1,144 discharges/ 976 patients).</p