Recovery of dialysis patients with COVID-19 : health outcomes 3 months after diagnosis in ERACODA

Background. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related short-term mortality is high in dialysis patients, but longer-term outcomes are largely unknown. We therefore assessed patient recovery in a large cohort of dialysis patients 3 months after their COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods. We analyzed data on dialysis patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021 from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA). The outcomes studied were patient survival, residence and functional and mental health status (estimated by their treating physician) 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Complete follow-up data were available for 854 surviving patients. Patient characteristics associated with recovery were analyzed using logistic regression. Results. In 2449 hemodialysis patients (mean ± SD age 67.5 ± 14.4 years, 62% male), survival probabilities at 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis were 90% for nonhospitalized patients (n = 1087), 73% for patients admitted to the hospital but not to an intensive care unit (ICU) (n = 1165) and 40% for those admitted to an ICU (n = 197). Patient survival hardly decreased between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. At 3 months, 87% functioned at their pre-existent functional and 94% at their pre-existent mental level. Only few of the surviving patients were still admitted to the hospital (0.8-6.3%) or a nursing home (∼5%). A higher age and frailty score at presentation and ICU admission were associated with worse functional outcome. Conclusions. Mortality between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis was low and the majority of patients who survived COVID-19 recovered to their pre-existent functional and mental health level at 3 months after diagnosis

Fragebogen zur psychischen Verarbeitung einer Organtransplantation: Deutsche Validierung des Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ)

Fragestellung: In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird untersucht, (a) ob die deutsche Version des Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ-D), welcher die psychische Verarbeitung einer Organtransplantation erfasst und Hinweise zur Indikation psychosozialer Interventionen liefert, die gleiche faktorielle Struktur wie die englische Originalversion aufweist und (b) ob die Skalenkennwerte sowie die Korrelationen mit den Skalen des SF-36 (Fragebogen zum physischen und psychischen Gesundheitszustand) vergleichbar sind. Methode: Der ins Deutsche übersetzte Fragebogen TxEQ wurde von einer Stichprobe von 370 herz-, lungen-, leber- und nierentransplantierten Patienten ausgefüllt und einer Faktoren- sowie Itemanalyse unterzogen. Zudem wurde zur Prüfung der Validität der Lebensqualitäts-Fragebogen SF-36 eingesetzt. Ergebnisse: Der TxEQ-D hat die gleiche faktorielle Struktur wie die englische Originalversion und vergleichbare psychometrische Eigenschaften. Die höchsten Korrelationen mit den 10 Skalen des SF-36 weist der Faktor »Sorge um das Transplantat« auf, die niedrigsten der Faktor »Adherence«. Schlussfolgerungen: Der TxEQ-D ist ein für die psychosomatische Forschung und psychotherapeutische Praxis geeignetes Screeningintrument zur Erkennung von Patienten mit einer problematischen psychischen Verarbeitung einer Organtransplantation, die zusätzlich zur somatischen Nachbehandlung professionelle psychosoziale Unterstützung erhalten sollten. = Objectives: The present study investigates a) whether the German version of the Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ-D), which measures the emotional response to an organ transplantation, has the same factorial structure as the English original version and b) whether the psychometric properties as well as the correlations with the scales of the SF-36 are comparable. Methods: The questionnaire TxEQ was translated into German and filled out by 370 heart, lung, liver and kidney transplant patients. Subsequently, factor and item analyses were conducted. The SF-36 was used to test validity. Results: The TxEQ-D has the same factorial structure as the English version as well as comparable psychometric properties. The TxEQ-D factor “worry about transplant” shows the highest correlations with the 10 scales of the SF-36, the lowest correlations with the 10 scales of the SF-36 scales are found for the factor “adherence”. Conclusions: The TxEQ-D is a useful screening instrument in psychosomatic research and in the psychotherapy practice to detect patients with problematic emotional responses to an organ transplantation

Sharing the Cost of Multicast Transmissions in Wireless Networks

We investigate the problem of sharing the cost of a multicast transmission in a wireless network where each node (radio station) of the network corresponds to a (set of) user(s) potentially interested in receiving the transmission. As in the model considered by Feigenbaum et al [2001], users may act selfishly and report a false "level of interest" in receiving the transmission trying to be charged less by the system. We consider the issue of designing so called truthful mechanisms for the problem of maximizing the net worth (i.e., the overall "happiness" of the users minus the cost of the transmission) for the case of wireless networks. Intuitively, truthful mechanism guarantee that no user has an incentive in reporting a false valuation of the transmission