System komunikacji alternatywnej i wspomagającej wraz ze stosowanymi znakami oraz wykorzystanie urządzenia sterowanego za pomocą oczu w Polsce

Patients who do not communicate verbally or speak in an understandable way are a serious problem in providing appropriate care to patients due to a lack of understanding of their needs. Therefore, it is important that nursing staff have the knowledge and skills of alternative and assistive communication to communicate with patients with speech disorders. The purpose of article is to present the current state of knowledge of the alternative and augmentative communication with special consideration the signs used in Poland with a practicular emphasis laid to the revelant description of the eye tracking device. The literature has been reviewed, including also in this relation topics: alternative and augmentative communication, examples of signs used in alternative communication in Poland and communication and eye tracking. Not everyone has the ability to communicate verbally with the environment. In relation to this problem the solution is the alternative and augmentative communication which uses signs and devices to enable the patient to communicate with other people. (JNNN 2020;9(1):39–45)Pacjenci nie komunikujący się werbalnie lub mówiący w sposób niezrozumiały stanowią istotny problem w zapewnieniu właściwej opieki chorych w wyniku braku zrozumienia ich potrzeb. Z tego względu istotne jest posiadanie przez personel pielęgniarski wiedzy i umiejętności w zakresie komunikacji alternatywnej i wspomagającej by porozumieć się z pacjentami z zaburzeniami mowy. Celem pracy jest przedstawienie dotychczasowego stanu wiedzy na temat systemu komunikacji alternatywnej i wspomagającej ze szczególnym uwzgędnieniem wykorzystywanych znaków w Polsce oraz opis urządzenia sterowanego za pomocą oczu. Dokonano przeglądu literatury w zakresie tematów: komunikacja alternatywna i wspomagająca, przykłady znaków stosowanych w komunikacji alternatywnej w Polsce oraz komunikacja za pomocą oczu. Nie każdy człowiek posiada zdolność do komunikowania się werbalnie z otoczeniem. W odniesieniu do tego problemu rozwiązaniem jest komunikacja alternatywna i wspomagająca, która stosuje między innymi znaki oraz urządzenia, dające pacjentowi możliwość komunikowania się z ludźmi. (PNN 2020;9(1):39–45

Ostry zespół wieńcowy indukowany stresem — trudności diagnostyczne w rozpoznaniu zespołu tako-tsubo

Kardiomiopatia tako-tsubo jest formą przemijających zaburzeń kurczliwości lewej komorycechującą się akinezą koniuszka z hiperkinezą segmentów podstawnych. Charakterystycznącechą tako-tsubo jest związek czasowy z silnym stresem emocjonalnym lub fizycznym. Kardiomiopatiastresowa występuje u około 1–2% chorych ze wstępnym rozpoznaniem zawału serca,ze zdecydowaną przewagą u kobiet w wieku 60–80 lat. W pracy przedstawiono 3 przypadkipacjentek hospitalizowanych z podejrzeniem ostrego zespołu wieńcowego, u których na podstawiedalszych badań (koronarografii, badania echokardiograficznego i badań laboratoryjnych)ostatecznie rozpoznano kardiomiopatię tako-tsubo

Kidney Dysfunction and Its Progression in Patients Hospitalized Duo to COVID-19: Contribution to the Clinical Course and Outcomes

The disease caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) can affect almost all organs of the human body, including kidneys. We conducted a one-center study to comprehensively analyze the effects of kidney involvement on the course and outcomes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, depending on the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at admission. Out of the 1958 patients, 1342 (68.54%) had eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (group A) and 616 (31.46%) had eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (group B). Group B was additionally divided into subgroups B1, B2, and B3 based on eGFR. We found that mortality rates during hospitalization, as well as after 90 and 180 days, were much higher in group B than group A. The highest mortality was observed in the B2 subgroup with eGFR of 15–29. The mortality of B patients was associated with comorbidities, respiratory dysfunction, immunological impairment, and more frequent development of AKI. AKI had a negative impact on patients’ survival, regardless of the initial renal function. At discharge, 7.4% of patients had serum creatinine levels 30% higher, or more, as compared to admission. The disease course and outcomes in COVID-19 patients are associated with baseline eGFR; however, AKI during hospitalization is a more significant predictor of poor prognosis regardless of the initial renal function

Establishment and Characterization of the Novel High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Cell Line OVPA8

High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most frequent histological type of ovarian cancer and the one with worst prognosis. Unfortunately, the majority of established ovarian cancer cell lines which are used in the research have unclear histological origin and probably do not represent HGSOC. Thus, new and reliable models of HGSOC are needed. Ascitic fluid from a patient with recurrent HGSOC was used to establish a stable cancer cell line. Cells were characterized by cytogenetic karyotyping and short tandem repeat (STR) profiling. New generation sequencing was applied to test for hot-spot mutations in 50 cancer-associated genes and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was used to check for TP53 status. Cells were analyzed for expression of several marker genes/proteins by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and immunocytochemistry (ICC). Functional tests were performed to compare OVPA8 cells with five commercially available and frequently used ovarian cancer cell lines: SKOV3, A2780, OVCAR3, ES2, and OAW42. Our newly-established OVPA8 cell line shows morphologic and genetic features consistent with HGSOC, such as epithelial morphology, multiple chromosomal aberrations, TP53 mutation, BRCA1 mutation, and loss of one copy of BRCA2. The OVPA8 line has a stable STR profile. Cells are positive for EpCAM, CK19, and CD44; they have relatively low plating efficiency/ability to form spheroids, a low migration rate, and intermediate invasiveness in matrigel, as compared to other ovarian cancer lines. OVPA8 is sensitive to paclitaxel and resistant to cisplatin. We also tested two FGFR inhibitors; OVPA8 cells were resistant to AZD4547 (AstraZeneca, London, UK), but sensitive to the new inhibitor CPL304-110-01 (Celon Pharma, Łomianki/Kiełpin, Poland). We have established and characterized a novel cell line, OVPA8, which can be a valuable preclinical model for studies on high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Usefulness of the C2HEST Score in Predicting the Clinical Outcomes of COVID-19 in Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Cohorts

Background: Diabetes mellitus is among the most frequent comorbidities worsening COVID-19 outcome. Nevertheless, there are no data regarding the optimal risk stratification of patients with diabetes and COVID-19. Since individual C2HEST components reflect the comorbidities, we assumed that the score could predict COVID-19 outcomes. Material and Methods: A total of 2184 medical records of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at the medical university center were analyzed, including 473 diabetic patients and 1666 patients without any glucose or metabolic abnormalities. The variables of patients’ baseline characteristics were retrieved to calculate the C2HEST score and subsequently the diabetic and non-diabetic subjects were assigned to the following categories: low-, medium- or high-risk. The measured outcomes included: in-hospital mortality; 3-month and 6-month all-cause mortality; non-fatal end of hospitalization (discharged home/sudden-deterioration/rehabilitation) and adverse in-hospital clinical events. Results: A total of 194 deaths (41%) were reported in the diabetic cohort, including 115 in-hospital deaths (24.3%). The 3-month and 6-month in-hospital mortality was highest in the high-risk C2HEST stratum. The C2HEST score revealed to be more sensitive in non-diabetic-group. The estimated six-month survival probability for high-risk subjects reached 0.4 in both cohorts whereas for the low-risk group, the six-month survival probability was 0.7 in the diabetic vs. 0.85 in the non-diabetic group—levels which were maintained during whole observation period. In both cohorts, receiver operating characteristics revealed that C2HEST predicts the following: cardiogenic shock; acute heart failure; myocardial injury; and in-hospital acute kidney injury. Conclusions: We demonstrated the usefulness and performance of the C2HEST score in predicting the adverse COVID-19 outcomes in hospitalized diabetic subjects