Editorial

Editoria

Design and Culture in the Making of Happiness

Design responds to the needs of individuals, being happiness and wellbeing the subject of an increasing number of studies, which gave rise to a new discipline, Positive Psychology. From these new approaches and concerns related to subjective well-being comes Positive Design, whose objective is to promote the well-being of individuals and communities in connection with a culture of innovation. The cultural routes made accessible through wayfinding systems, make it possible to put Heritage in dialogue, emphasize the culture, memory and history of communities, providing citizens with meaningful experiences that will have an impact both in the short and long run, thus becoming agents for the happiness of individuals. This article discusses the concept of Positive Design based on Positive Psychology, analyzes the evolution and importance of Heritage in the Culture of peoples and communities, questioning how the Wayfinding Systems developed for cultural promotion can integrate the practice of Positive Design and how this contributes to the subjective well-being of individuals

Pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19 and D-dimer diagnostic value : a retrospective study

Background D-dimer levels are significantly higher in COVID-19 patients with Pulmonary Thromboembolism (PTE) as compared to those without PTE, but its clinical utility is still uncertain. Purpose To determine the D-dimer performance for ruling out PTE in patients with COVID-19. We also assessed clinical and laboratory factors associated with the presence of PTE on CT Pulmonary Angiogram (CTPA). Methods Retrospective study involving all patients who presented at a tertiary care hospital from March 2020 to May 2021 with severe acute respiratory syndrome from COVID-19, who underwent CTPA and had D-dimer collected within 48 hours from CTPA. The D-dimer ability to classify patients with or without PTE according to CTPA was evaluated. Results A total of 697 patients [382 (54.8%) men; mean (SD) age, 59 (20.5) years] were included, of which 71.5% required intensive care admission, 32.4% had PTE, and 35.6% died during hospitalization. PTE was independently associated with mortality [42.5% vs. 32.3%; p = 0.038]. D-dimer levels were higher in patients with PTE [9.1 (3.9; 20) vs. 2.3 (1.2; 5.1); p < 0.001]. Using the D-dimer cutoff of 0.5 μg/mL or above, sensitivity was 98.2% and specificity 5.7%. The 0.3 μg/mL threshold was associated with 100% of sensitivity for the presence of PTE, with which 99.1% of patients had increased values. ROC curve AUC was 0.77, demonstrating moderate discriminative power of D-dimers to detect PTE. Conclusions D-dimer levels are higher among COVID-19 hospitalized patients with PTE as compared to those without PTE and have moderate discriminative power to detect PTE, but its use to exclude PTE in this population may have limited clinical utility

Development of an international standard set of outcome measures for patients with atrial fibrillation: a report of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) atrial fibrillation working group.

AIMS: As health systems around the world increasingly look to measure and improve the value of care that they provide to patients, being able to measure the outcomes that matter most to patients is vital. To support the shift towards value-based health care in atrial fibrillation (AF), the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) assembled an international Working Group (WG) of 30 volunteers, including health professionals and patient representatives to develop a standardized minimum set of outcomes for benchmarking care delivery in clinical settings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using an online-modified Delphi process, outcomes important to patients and health professionals were selected and categorized into (i) long-term consequences of disease outcomes, (ii) complications of treatment outcomes, and (iii) patient-reported outcomes. The WG identified demographic and clinical variables for use as case-mix risk adjusters. These included baseline demographics, comorbidities, cognitive function, date of diagnosis, disease duration, medications prescribed and AF procedures, as well as smoking, body mass index (BMI), alcohol intake, and physical activity. Where appropriate, and for ease of implementation, standardization of outcomes and case-mix variables was achieved using ICD codes. The standard set underwent an open review process in which over 80% of patients surveyed agreed with the outcomes captured by the standard set. CONCLUSION: Implementation of these consensus recommendations could help institutions to monitor, compare and improve the quality and delivery of chronic AF care. Their consistent definition and collection, using ICD codes where applicable, could also broaden the implementation of more patient-centric clinical outcomes research in AF

Subthreshold depression as a risk indicator for major depressive disorder: a systematic review of prospective studies.

Objective: In order to examine whether the incidence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is increased in subjects with subthreshold depression, or sD (clinically relevant depressive symptoms, without meeting criteria for a full-blown MDD), we conducted a review of prospective studies examining the incidence of MDD in subjects with sD. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted. For all studies, the relative risk of developing MDD was calculated, based on person-years. Results: Twenty studies (23 comparisons) were found, based on community samples, general medical patients and high-risk subjects. Most comparisons showed that subjects with sD had a consistently larger chance of developing MDD. The studies differed considerably in the definition of sD, the recency (occurrence of the last sD) and the in-/ exclusion of lifetime MDD. Conclusion: The incidence of MDD in subjects with sD is larger than in subjects without sD. Otherwise, the concept of sD is too broad to be used. In future studies, some consensus should be reached regarding the definition of sD

An international prospective cohort study evaluating major vascular complications among patients undergoing noncardiac surgery : the VISION Pilot Study

Objectives: Among patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, our objectives were to: (1) determine the feasibility of undertaking a large international cohort study; (2) estimate the current incidence of major perioperative vascular events; (3) compare the observed event rates to the expected event rates according to the Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI); and (4) provide an estimate of the proportion of myocardial infarctions without ischemic symptoms that may go undetected without perioperative troponin monitoring. Design: An international prospective cohort pilot study. Participants: Patients undergoing noncardiac surgery who were >45 years of age, receiving a general or regional anesthetic, and requiring hospital admission. Measurements: Patients had a Roche fourth-generation Elecsys troponin T measurement collected 6 to 12 hours postoperatively and on the first, second, and third days after surgery. Our primary outcome was major vascular events (a composite of vascular death [i.e., death from vascular causes], nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal cardiac arrest, and nonfatal stroke) at 30 days after surgery. Our definition for perioperative myocardial infarction included: (1) an elevated troponin T measurement with at least one of the following defining features: ischemic symptoms, development of pathologic Q waves, ischemic electrocardiogram changes, coronary artery intervention, or cardiac imaging evidence of myocardial infarction; or (2) autopsy findings of acute or healing myocardial infarction. Results: We recruited 432 patients across 5 hospitals in Canada, China, Italy, Colombia, and Brazil. During the first 30 days after surgery, 6.3% (99% confidence interval 3.9–10.0) of the patients suffered a major vascular event (10 vascular deaths, 16 nonfatal myocardial infarctions, and 1 nonfatal stroke). The observed event rate was increased 6-fold compared with the event rate expected from the RCRI. Of the 18 patients who suffered a myocardial infarction, 12 (66.7%) had no ischemic symptoms to suggest myocardial infarction. Conclusions: This study suggests that major perioperative vascular events are common, that the RCRI underestimates risk, and that monitoring troponins after surgery can assist physicians to avoid missing myocardial infarction. These results underscore the need for a large international prospective cohort study

COPD, diabetes, lymphopenia, and increased LDH cause higher mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

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Positive Clinical Neuroscience: Explorations in Positive Neurology

Disorders of the brain and its sensory organs have traditionally been associated with deficits in movement, perception, cognition, emotion, and behavior. It is increasingly evident, however, that positive phenomena may also occur in such conditions, with implications for the individual, science, medicine, and for society. This article provides a selective review of such positive phenomena – enhanced function after brain lesions, better-than-normal performance in people with sensory loss, creativity associated with neurological disease, and enhanced performance associated with aging. We propose that, akin to the well-established field of positive psychology and the emerging field of positive clinical psychology, the nascent fields of positive neurology and positive neuropsychology offer new avenues to understand brain-behavior relationships, with both theoretical and therapeutic implications