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Patient safety culture in Italian nursing homes: staff perceptions and key dimensional factors
Get PDFLeadership support is crucial in shaping nursing home staff perceptions of patient safety and should be prioritized when implementing safety culture interventions. Variations across PSC dimensions compared to overall patient safety perceptions highlight the need to improve the maturity of safety culture in nursing homes
Distanced but United: An Educational Intervention to Foster Children's Self‐Efficacy in Complying with Safety Measures Against COVID‐19 and Reduce Anxiety
Get PDFDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools temporarily interrupted face-to-face activities, replacing them with distance learning. Children experienced prolonged physical isolation from their peers, teachers, and networks, which negatively affected their mental health. When schools re-opened, children were required to comply with containment rules against the spread of the virus whilst still suffering the psychological consequences of the pandemic. Whereas extensive research has examined the detrimental consequences of the lockdown, little attention has been devoted to children's experiences during the phases of progressive reduction of isolation. To fill this gap, we aimed to test the effectiveness of an intervention focused on facilitating primary school children's return to school by fostering their self-efficacy in complying with restrictive rules. Two hundred and twenty-one first- to fifth-graders filled out self-efficacy and anxiety measures before and after a story-based intervention paired with playful activities aimed at increasing children's comprehension and compliance with the anti-COVID-19 rules. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that the intervention provided children with confidence in being able to follow the rules through story reading and class activities. Consistent with hypotheses, self-efficacy increased over time as a function of the intervention, and this growth was associated with an anxiety reduction
La relazione tra la comprensione linguistica in età prescolare e la co-occorrenza di attività digitali, narrative e motorie con un genitore.
No full textIntroduzione
I risultati sull’impatto dell’uso di dispositivi digitali con un adulto sulle abilità linguistiche in età prescolare sono contrastanti, mentre è noto il ruolo positivo di attività adulto-bambino tradizionali, come la lettura, e motorie. Tuttavia, è poco esplorato il contributo congiunto di diverse tipologie di attività sullo sviluppo linguistico. Questo studio indaga la relazione tra la comprensione linguistica del bambino e la co-occorrenza di attività digitali, tradizionali e motorie col genitore.
Metodo
Hanno partecipato allo studio 120 bambini (38-77 mesi, M = 57.1, DS = 9.5; 73 F) e i loro genitori (Medu_mat = 16.1 anni, DS = 3.9). È stato calcolato un punteggio composito di comprensione sommando i punteggi Z ottenuti al PPVT-R per il vocabolario recettivo (Stella et al., 2000) e al TOR per la comprensione del testo orale (Levorato & Roch, 2007). I genitori hanno riportato la frequenza delle attività svolte col bambino: digitali (libri, video, giochi digitali), tradizionali (lettura, racconto, canto, gioco) e motorie (giochi motori, outdoor).
Risultati
L'analisi con il metodo k-means sulle frequenze delle attività ha identificato tre cluster: C1 (N = 47) “frequenti attività digitali e tradizionali”, C2 (N = 39) “scarsa frequenza di tutte le attività”, C3 (N = 34) “frequenti attività motorie e tradizionali”. L’ANOVA conferma le differenze significative tra cluster nella frequenza delle attività (p < .001). Il gruppo C3 mostra una frequenza maggiore di attività tradizionali (t = -8.11, p < .001) e motorie (t = -17.1, p < .001) rispetto a C2; C3 differisce da C1 per minore frequenza di pratiche digitali (t = 3.32, p < .003) e maggiore frequenza di pratiche motorie (t = -16.8, p < .001). Inoltre, emerge una differenza significativa tra gruppi nella comprensione linguistica (p < .045): il gruppo C3 ha punteggi in comprensione più elevati (t = -2.39, p < .048) rispetto a C2.
Discussione
I risultati confermano il ruolo positivo delle attività tradizionali con l’adulto per la comprensione linguistica in età prescolare, indipendentemente dall’istruzione materna. Inoltre, suggeriscono che la frequenza di pratiche digitali con l’adulto, se concomitante ad attività tradizionali favorevoli allo sviluppo del linguaggio, non rappresenta un fattore di rischio per la comprensione
Social determinants of dementia: A scoping review
Get PDFDementia risk is influenced by the social conditions in which people live. These social determinants of dementia (SDOD) are potential targets for prevention. We conducted a comprehensive scoping review to identify current evidence on SDOD in two stages: (1) review of systematic reviews on SDOD; and (2) review of primary literature to address identified gaps in the evidence base. Of the 3445 articles screened, 26 reviews and 74 primary studies were included. Evidence from reviews provide clear and consistent patterns for some SDOD (e.g., education, air pollution, socioeconomic status, ethnicity), while evidence for others is still emerging (e.g., housing quality/stability), or lacking entirely (e.g., incarceration). SDOD are important over the life course. Additional evidence is needed for understudied domains and to unravel the complex interactions between determinants, whilst education and air pollution stand out as key targets for public health interventions. HIGHLIGHTS: There is clear and consistent evidence for some social determinants of dementia (SDOD) across diverse domains. Evidence for other SDOD (e.g., housing, incarceration) is still emerging or lacking. Evidence for SDOD comes mainly from high-income countries. The complex intercorrelations between SDODs demand a nuanced analytical approach. Standardized measures and longer follow-up to study SDOD are recommended
Challenging the dogma: why reviewers should be allowed to use AI tools
No full textAs artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance rapidly, the central question is no longer whether it will be integrated into peer review, but rather how its use can be effectively managed and harnessed to ensure fairness to authors while enhancing the efficiency and value of the editorial process. Several practical considerations lead to a simple conclusion. AI should be permitted in peer-review, not clandestinely, but openly, under safeguards that protect confidentiality and preserve human judgment. A policy framework emphasizing confidentiality, transparency, and scope limits, remains valuable, but must be refined. A workable approach should include four key principles, i.e., secure infrastructure, flexible disclosure, human primacy, and parity with authors
Optimizing ancient DNA recovery from archaeological plant seeds
No full textPaleogenomics has recently expanded its applications, including studies on plant remains to trace evolution and domestication. However, recovering ancient DNA (aDNA) from archaeobotanical remains is challenging due to the highly fragmented nature of endogenous aDNA, low copy numbers and inhibitors that hinder further manipulation and analysis. In this study, we explored the application of a reagent optimized against soil inhibitors, typically used in sediment DNA extraction, coupled with an aDNA-specific silica binding step, to improve and maximize the recovery of processable aDNA. Ancient grape pips were used as starting material. The approach was evaluated in two archaeological contexts, assessing the suitability of extracts for downstream processing, including NGS library production and sequencing. In conclusion, we demonstrated the protocol was effective in recovering aDNA, achieving higher yields and more consistent performance across sites compared to previous extraction methods. It significantly improved the library production step, particularly in challenging sites. Finally, we have shown it successfully allowed to incorporate into sequencing libraries the highly fragmented and damaged endogenous aDNA from ancient samples, while preserving read yield, library complexity and other sequencing metrics. Future studies on historical and ancient plant remains will benefit from these advancements in high-quality aDNA recovery
Assessing the Reliability of Hysteroscopic Sampling Methods for Diagnosing Atypical Endometrial Hyperplasia
No full textBackground/Objectives: The diagnosis of atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) is associated with a high rate of concurrent endometrial cancer (EC). This occurrence can be particularly challenging in premenopausal women wishing to become pregnant, as they may be subjected to conservative treatment. The type of endometrial sampling may affect this outcome. Currently, the recommended type of endometrial sampling is under hysteroscopic guidance. There is scant literature regarding the reliability of hysteroscopically guided biopsy (HSC-bio) and hysteroscopic endometrial resection (HSC-res) on this topic. We aimed to assess the underestimation rate of EC in AEH, according to different hysteroscopic sampling methods. The secondary outcome was to evaluate the procedure performance in pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods: We conducted a multi-institutional retrospective study that included 536 women diagnosed with AEH who underwent hysterectomy between 2015 and 2020. Patients were divided into two groups based on the initial diagnostic approach for AEH: HSC-bio and HSC-res. The comparison was performed using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: 160/536 women (29.9%) showed EC at hysterectomy. Overall, the following rate of EC underestimation was found: HSC-bio = 32.1%, HSC-res = 24.2%, p = 0.07. After adjusting for baseline characteristics using logistic regression analysis, overall, there was no significant association of EC underestimation according to the type of sampling procedure. Interestingly, in premenopausal women, including 161 cases, the rate of EC underestimation in HSC-bio and HSC-res was 28.8% vs. 14.0%, respectively (p = 0.034). Conclusions: There were no significant differences in EC underestimation between the two hysteroscopic procedures in the entire cohort of women with AEH. Limited to the secondary objective, the significant findings in premenopausal women may be of particular clinical interest, as this population may undergo conservative treatment
Multimorbidity in dementia: Current perspectives and future challenges
Get PDFMultimorbidity-the co-occurrence of two or more chronic health conditions-affects > 86% of people with dementia. It is associated with cognitive and functional decline, reduced health-related quality of life, increased health-care use, and higher mortality. The relationship between multimorbidity and dementia is potentially bidirectional; conditions such as hypertension and diabetes increase the risk of developing dementia, and cognitive impairment can complicate their management. This complexity presents challenges in health care and research, affecting treatment decisions and often leading to the exclusion of these individuals from clinical trials. Understanding multimorbidity through long-term prospective studies is crucial to clarify its relationship with dementia. Investigating specific disease combinations, environmental and genetic factors, and their impacts on cognitive health will guide the development of effective prediction models and inclusive intervention strategies for diverse global populations across the life course. HIGHLIGHTS: Multimorbidity affects > 86% of individuals with dementia, worsening outcomes. The relationship between multimorbidity and dementia is potentially bidirectional. Chronic conditions hinder dementia management and clinical trial inclusion. Life-course multimorbidity research is key to dementia risk reduction strategies. Prospective studies are needed to improve prediction models and interventions
Advancing Neural Network Verification Through Hierarchical Safety Abstract Interpretation
No full textTraditional methods for formal verification (FV) of deep neural networks (DNNs) are constrained by a binary encoding of safety properties, where a model is classified as either safe or unsafe (robust or not robust). This binary encoding fails to capture the nuanced safety levels within a model, often resulting in either overly restrictive or too permissive requirements. In this paper, we introduce a novel problem formulation called ABSTRACT DNN-VERIFICATION, which verifies a hierarchical structure of unsafe outputs, providing a more granular analysis of the safety aspect for a given DNN. Crucially, by leveraging abstract interpretation and reasoning about output reachable sets, our approach enables assessing multiple safety levels during the FV process, requiring the same (in the worst case) or even potentially less computational effort than the traditional binary verification approach. Specifically, we demonstrate how this formulation allows rank adversarial inputs according to their abstract safety level violation, offering a more detailed evaluation of the model’s safety and robustness. Our contributions include a theoretical exploration of the relationship between our novel abstract safety formulation and existing approaches that employ abstract interpretation for robustness verification, complexity analysis of the novel problem introduced, and an empirical evaluation considering both a complex deep reinforcement learning task (based on Habitat 3.0) and standard DNN-Verification benchmarks