Characteristics of COVID-19 Infection among -Nursing Home Residents – A Cross Sectional Study from Croatia

Given high risk of infection-related mortality due to impaired immunity, elderly patients are at increased risk with COVID-19. In its diagnostic procedure clinical laboratory medicine has a pivotal role. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical and laboratory specificities in Croatian population of nursing home residents affected by coronavirus. One hundred and six residents of nursing homes that were hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection, were included in this retrospective study. Clinical and laboratory findings at three time points were extracted from medical records. There were 86 females and 20 males, with median of age 84 (min-max: 47–97) years. Patients were divided into three groups: Survivors (S), patients who are still alive (N=65), In-Hospital Non-Survivors (IHNS), patients who died from coronavirus during hospitalization (N=31) and Out-of-Hospital Non-Survivors (OHNS), patients who recovered from infection but died during the period of three months of the follow-up (N=10). We have established differences between these three groups in laboratory findings (p<0.05). At the admission, survivors had lower values of lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate transaminase, sedimentation ratio, ferritin and C-reactive protein, OHNS were in the middle, and IHNS had the highest values. Leukocytes and absolute lymphocyte count were greater in OHNS group, and same between survivors and IHNS. After 7 days, we noticed increase in leukocyte and neutrophils count among IHNS. Assessing of complete blood count, differential blood count, reactants of acute infection and combination of their ratios might predict worse outcome in nursing home residents due to coronavirus infection

Incidencija tumora središnjega živčanog sustava u bolesnika hospitaliziranih u Kliničkom bolničkom centru Split od 1. siječnja 2004. do 31. prosinca 2013. godine

The aim was to evaluate the incidence and characteristics of central nervous system tumors in patients hospitalized at the Department of Neurology, Split University Hospital Centre, during a 10-year period. The study included data on 859 patients with the diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Diagnosis was based on the routine CNS neuroimaging methods (computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging). Access to patient medical records provided demographic and clinical data, continued by collection of data on potential lethal outcome of patients at the Registrar’s Office. The study was conducted at the Department of Neurology, Split University Hospital Centre, from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2013. There were 448 male and 411 female patients. Median age at the diagnosis was 65 (range, 18-95) years. Primary CNS tumors were diagnosed in 527 patients, including 30 primary recurrent tumors, whereas 328 patients had metastatic tumors; in 4 cases, it was impossible to determine whether the tumor was a primary one or metastasis based on CNS neuroimaging. The primary tumors proved to be more common than the metastatic ones (χ2-test, p<0.05). Multiple tumor transplants were more common than solitary (211 vs. 117; the conclusion was made at a 95% level of confidence; χ2-test, p<0.05). The majority of metastases originated from the lung (bronchus and pleura cancer; 46.41%; χ2-test, p<0.05; 95% CI). The most common localization of CNS tumors was supratentorial. Based on the double-logarithmic model, we proved with sta-tistical significance that there was an increase in the incidence of CNS tumors (p=0.001). The most common tumors studied were supratentorially localized meningiomas.Cilj je bio ispitati incidenciju i značajke tumora središnjega živčanog sustava (SŽS) u bolesnika hospitaliziranih u Klinici za neurologiju Kliničkoga bolničkog centra Split u desetogodišnjem razdoblju. U razdoblju od 1. siječnja 2004. do 31. prosinca 2013. godine u Klinici za neurologiju je bilo hospitalizirano 859 bolesnika s tumorima SŽS. Dijagnoza se temeljila na nalazima slikovnih dijagnostičkih metoda (kompjutorizirana tomografija/magnetska rezonancija mozga). Demografski i klinički podaci su prikupljeni iz povijesti bolesti bolesnika. S ciljem određivanja stope smrtnosti studija je nastavljena i ­prikupljanjem podatka iz Matične knjige umrlih. U promatranom razdoblju ukupno je bilo 448 muškaraca i 411 žena s ­tumorima SŽS. Prosječna dob postavljanja dijagnoze je bila 65 godina. Primarni tumori SŽS su dijagnosticirani u 527 ­bolesnika, uključivo 30 bolesnika s recidivirajućim primarnim tumorima, a 328 bolesnika je imalo metastatske tumore. U 4 bolesnika nije bilo moguće odrediti je li se radilo o primarnom tumoru ili metastazi na temelju neuroradioloških nalaza. Primarni tumori su bili češći od metastatskih (χ2-test, p<0,05). Multiple presadnice su bile češće od solitarnih (211 prema 117, 95% CI; χ2-test, p<0,05). Većina metastaza je bila podrijetlom iz tumora pluća (46,41%; χ2-test, p<0,05; 95% CI). Najčešći su bili supratentorijski lokalizirani tumori SŽS. Primjenom dvostruko-logaritamskog modela pokazali smo da postoji statistički začajan porast incidencije tumora SŽS u ispitivanom razdoblju. Od svih tumora SŽS najčešći su bili suptratentorijski meningeomi

Existential responsibility as the foundation of responsibility in socio-economic ethics

Purpose: On the one hand, the aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of responsibility in its rudimentary aspect. On the other, it reflects on the disquieting phenomena that occur in socio-economic practice which can be traced to various origins and which can lead to numerous deficiencies in public administration and business activities.Method: The study was carried out by analyzing the rudimentary aspects of responsibility from the ontological-ethical perspective.Results: It was established that individuals, who are a part of organizational structures, should not only recognize and fulfill various types of responsibility that result from a variety of tasks and goals but more importantly, they should acknowledge the existence of a core responsibility within the organization, which extends beyond legal acts and statutes. The complex nature of the issue of responsibility, as well as its ethical-social implications in the scope of ontological-existential debate, were recognized.Conclusions: The studies conducted show that responsibility plays a key role in defining modern management trends and socio-economic problems. The role of responsibility in business entities and public administration fulfilling tasks, goals and challenges is indisputable.Contribution to the discipline: The conducted analyses further clarify the nature and the basic function of responsibility both in the entity and in socio-economic relations

La volontà di vivere e la responsabilità dell’uomo nel pensiero di Etty Hillesum e di Viktor Frankl

The quest for and the discovery of the meaning of life, so basic to human existence, play a fundamental role in the process of self‑­discovery, that is, in the examination of our own identity, subjectivity and the “self”. Underlying this quest are not merely vague approximations to what man is, but clear fundamental dimensions of humanity: freedom and responsibility.Etty Hillesum and Victor Frankl, take different perspectives on the meaning of life of a person who experiences himself, the world, others and God in the face of war and extreme circumstances (Etty perished in Auschwitz, Frankl survived the concentration camps). However, they both point to the universal trait of the utmost engagement of the will and the assumption of responsibility for one’s life, despite the inevitability of death and the prevalent “cultural hibernation”.In both analyses, freedom appears as a response to reality, to the here and now. That response, as such, means taking responsibility for reality and its shape. Hence it an important question to ask would be what it means to take control of one’s destiny. Is it an obligation, a task, life’s demand, or perhaps just submission to what life may bring? Freedom, which is constantly threatened, must fight for itself. This happens owing to the will to live, which first evokes meaning and then the obligation of taking responsibility for oneself, for others, and even for God himself.Bauman Z., Nowoczesność i zagłada, Warszawa 1992.Bauman Z., Płynna nowoczesność, Kraków 2006.Bauman Z., Ponowoczesność jako źródło cierpień, Warszawa 2000.Bèriault Y., Etty Hillesum. Świadek Boga w otchłani zła, Warszawa 2011.Frankl V., Bóg ukryty. W poszukiwaniu ostatecznego sensu, Wyd. Czarna Owca, Warszawa 2015.Frankl V., Człowiek w poszukiwaniu sensu, Wyd. Czarna Owca, Warszawa 2015.Gadacz T., Kryzys „europejskiego człowieczeństwa” [La crisi dell’ “umanità europea”], http://www.iumw.pl/kryzys‑­europejskiego‑­czlowieczenstwa.html (13.07.2016).Grygiel S., Jestem, więc modlę się, Poznań 2011.Hillesum E., Myślące serce. Listy, Wyd. WAM, Kraków 2002.Hillesum E., Przerwane życie. Pamiętnik 1941–1943, Wyd. WAM, Kraków 2013.Szmyd J., Moralność w ponowoczesnym świecie – kryzys i nadzieja, “Res Humana” n. 2 (2008), http://www.kulturaswiecka.pl/node/125 (13.07.2016).Tylor Ch., Źródła podmiotowości. Narodziny tożsamości nowoczesnej, Warszawa 2012

Vi sono ragioni della libertà note al cuore e all’intelletto: il triplo sguardo sulla libertà espresso nei "Ritiri spirituali di Parigi" di Józef Tischner

In its analysis of human freedom, Józef Tischner’s philosophy poses fundamental questions about the essence of freedom, but also about the sense of preservation of freedom in one’s life. Freedom appears as a primary phenomenon, something that is part and parcel of human nature. Freedom as a structural element of human existence manifests itself perhaps most clearly in the sphere of human relations, which, immersed as they are in the eternal drama of good and evil, are played out in the space between salvation and damnation. The binary character of values, best seen in our use of freedom, keeps us for ever mindful of that unavoidable drama a man has to face, owing to his freedom, need not be helpless.Using such categories as election, space and health of the soul in his Rekolekcje Paryskie, Tischner approaches the definition of freedom through a succession of essential modifications which articulate some fundamental points concerning relations between people and man’s relations with God from an anthropological, axiological, ethical, social and theological perspective. Tischner proposes no definitive interpretation of freedom but, viewing the controversy over freedom as one of the most difficult problems in the philosophy of man, he tries to show what man’s inner freedom consists in and what achievements it makes man capable of

Podobny w inności i inny w podobieństwie – rzecz o spotkaniu innego w ujęciu Józefa Tischnera

Otherness is encountered, noticed and, as the case may be, analyzed in a relation, because it is in a relation that the identity of I and the identity of You is revealed, and our identity is basically rooted in the individual constitution of a specific I and a specific You. The aim of the present study is to probe the phenomenon of otherness (alterity), and through it the fundamental question of who is the other we encounter, and next to show the main ways of experiencing the encounter with the other, whichalways occurs in the sphere of good and evil. In Józef Tischner’s view the experience of the other is a fundamental one, in that it reveals much of our own self-experience. My encounter with the other also throws into relief myself as the other and the fact that his otherness is different from mine. In the beginning of this discovery of otherness, the gap between I and You appears to be unbridgeable. But Tischner believes that the sensation of separateness and even of “being alien” assumes a kind of similarity,with the proviso that the latter occurs on the plane of our mutual being foreach other. Tischner stresses otherness in similarity and similarity in otherness, both constituted and coexistent in the relation between I and You. Tischner’s idea involves a paradox: to open oneself to the alterity of the other, we have in a way to “bear” our own otherness and thereby to come to be “for the other”.Otherness is encountered, noticed and, as the case may be, analyzed in a relation, because it is in a relation that the identity of I and the identity of You is revealed, and our identity is basically rooted in the individual constitution of a specific I and a specific You. The aim of the present study is to probe the phenomenon of otherness (alterity), and through it the fundamental question of who is the other we encounter, and next to show the main ways of experiencing the encounter with the other, whichalways occurs in the sphere of good and evil. In Józef Tischner’s view the experience of the other is a fundamental one, in that it reveals much of our own self-experience. My encounter with the other also throws into relief myself as the other and the fact that his otherness is different from mine. In the beginning of this discovery of otherness, the gap between I and You appears to be unbridgeable. But Tischner believes that the sensation of separateness and even of “being alien” assumes a kind of similarity,with the proviso that the latter occurs on the plane of our mutual being foreach other. Tischner stresses otherness in similarity and similarity in otherness, both constituted and coexistent in the relation between I and You. Tischner’s idea involves a paradox: to open oneself to the alterity of the other, we have in a way to “bear” our own otherness and thereby to come to be “for the other”

Facial epiphany or mask illusion? About the struggle of man in terms of the Józef Tischner’s philosophy of drama

The aim of the article is to present human issues in the context of the face and the mask as its negative. This is to bring us closer to a better diagnosis of the human condition today and the changes that can be articulated on its basis. Both the face and the mask are multi-context, and any attempt to define them encounters a number of difficulties. In Józef Tischner’s philosophy of drama, the face is a condition for the essence of the meeting. On the other hand, the mask, as an appearance and falsification of the truth of the face, is placed in the ambiguous perspective of hiding, concealing, mystifying or obscuring or obscuring the image of the face. Thanks to the face, man is somehow “at home”, and in the bonds of the mask he is somewhat “out of place”, he is lying. The face is relational and the mask is reactionary. Inquiries about whether the face brings closer and reveals the naked being of a human intensified questions about the nature of the face itself and whether it is possible to reach the pure phenomenon of the face as such. Both the face and the mask reveal important moments in the characteristics of a human being as a dramatic being, in which questions about meaning, identity, freedom and responsibility, as well as what is “between” I and You, gain in intensity and imply new attempts to reveal who is a human.The aim of the article is to present human issues in the context of the face and the mask as its negative. This is to bring us closer to a better diagnosis of the human condition today and the changes that can be articulated on its basis. Both the face and the mask are multi-context, and any attempt to define them encounters a number of difficulties. In Józef Tischner’s philosophy of drama, the face is a condition for the essence of the meeting. On the other hand, the mask, as an appearance and falsification of the truth of the face, is placed in the ambiguous perspective of hiding, concealing, mystifying or obscuring or obscuring the image of the face. Thanks to the face, man is somehow “at home”, and in the bonds of the mask he is somewhat “out of place”, he is lying. The face is relational and the mask is reactionary. Inquiries about whether the face brings closer and reveals the naked being of a human intensified questions about the nature of the face itself and whether it is possible to reach the pure phenomenon of the face as such. Both the face and the mask reveal important moments in the characteristics of a human being as a dramatic being, in which questions about meaning, identity, freedom and responsibility, as well as what is “between” I and You, gain in intensity and imply new attempts to reveal who is a human

Assessment of patient safety perception nurses in health system of Bosnia and Herzegovina in COVID period: Descriptive and cross-sectional study

Introduction: Patient safety depends on a number of factors such as teamwork, working climate, employee satisfaction, work environment, stress awareness, management perception, and attitude. Nurses have a key role to play in protecting and supporting patients, and their assessment serves as a reliable predictor of overall hospital safety. A positive attitude toward patient safety is associated with a significant reduction in complications. The aim of the study was to analyze the perception of nurses about all aspects of patient safety in relation to the workplace and length of service. Methods: The research included 647 nurses employed in health care institutions at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of health care. A descriptive and cross-sectional study included nurses from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was conducted in the period from November to December 2021, during the COVID pandemic. A standardized questionnaire on the perception of patient safety was used – Safety Attitudes Questionnaire – SAQ. Results: The analysis of the examined factors in relation to the workplace of the respondents revealed a statistically significant difference in job satisfaction (p &lt; 0.001), as well as in the safety climate at work in relation to the workplace (p = 0.005), working conditions (p &lt; 0.001), and management perception (p &lt; 0.001). Stress levels showed significant differences regarding working position (p = 0.017), but also through the years of service (p = 0.012). Stress was significantly correlated with teamwork (r = 0.124; p = 0.003), showing that better teamwork will help with stress. Conclusion: The synthesis of concepts that includes patient safety and orientation toward patients should be implemented as a strategic quality orientation and set as a priority of every health care system