Ajuntament de L’Hospitalet

Background/Objectives: Patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are confronted with complex clinical situations that impact their physical condition and psychological well-being. Psycho-emotional disorders such as pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress are highly prevalent in this context, significantly affecting both the patient's experience and the quality of care provided. Effective communication can help manage patients' psycho-emotional states and prevent post-ICU disorders. To evaluate the effectiveness of the CONECTEM communicative intervention in improving the psycho-emotional well-being of critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit, regarding pain, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Methods: A quasi-experimental study employed a pre-post-test design with both a control group and an intervention group. The study was conducted in two ICUs in a tertiary Hospital in Spain. A total of 111 critically ill patients and 180 nurse-patient interactions were included according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Interactions were classified according to the level of the patient's consciousness into three groups: G1 (Glasgow 15), G2 (Glasgow 14-9), and G3 (Glasgow < 9). Depending on the patient's communication difficulties, nurses selected one of three communication strategies of the CONECTEM intervention (AAC low teach, pictograms, magnetic board, and musicotherapy). Pain was assessed using the VAS or BPS scale, anxiety using the STAI, and symptoms of PTSD using the IES-R. The RASS scale was utilized to evaluate the degree of sedation and agitation in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Data analysis was performed using repeated ANOVA measures for the pre-post-test, as well as Pearson's correlation test and Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests. Results: The results showed pre-post differences consistent with pain after the intervention in patients with Glasgow scores of 15 (p < 0.001) and 14-9 (p < 0.001) and in anxiety (p = 0.010), reducing this symptom by 50% pre-test vs. 26.7% post-test. Patients in the intervention group with levels of consciousness (Glasgow 15-9) tended to decrease their post-traumatic stress symptoms, with reductions in the mean IES scale patients with a Glasgow score of 15 [24.7 (±15.20) vs. 22.5 (±14.11)] and for patients with a Glasgow score of 14-9 [(Glasgow 14-9) [30.2 (±13.56) 27.9 (±11.14)], though this was not significant. Given that patients with a Glasgow score below 9 were deeply sedated (RASS-4), no pre-post-test differences were observed in relation to agitation levels. Conclusions: The CONECTEM communication intervention outcomes differed between pre- and post-intervention assessments in patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15-9 regarding pain. These findings are consistent with a potential benefit of the CONECTEM communication intervention, although further studies using designs that allow for stronger causal inference are needed to assess its impact on the psycho-emotional well-being of critically ill patients.

BackgroundMultiple international studies report on the use of diaries in intensive care units focusing on benefits for patients, families, and occasionally professionals. Most studies use quantitative methods and have limitations such as small sample sizes and short follow-ups. Therefore, further research with larger samples and a longer follow-up period, employing a mixed-methods approach is suggested. This protocol aims to assess the efficacy of the use of intensive care unit diaries for patients and families and explore professionals’ experiences and satisfaction.Method/DesignMixed-method study: a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative phase. Phase 1: Randomised, parallel, non-blinded, multicentre clinical trial, with an experimental group (diary) and a control group (no diary), to identify the efficacy of the diary in improving quality of life and preventing post-traumatic stress and anxiety/depression in patients and family. Measurement tools include the SF-36 Health Questionnaire, EIE-R scale, and HADS scale, administered 2-, 6- and 12-months post-discharge. Each group comprises 120 cases. Data analysis will use IBM-SPSS (v.24) To evaluate the satisfaction of professionals a survey will be carried out. Phase 2: Hermeneutic phenomenological study with theoretical sampling. Size of 38–72 patients/family members until theoretical data saturation is reached. Data collection from in-depth interviews and field diary 6 months after discharge. Phenomenological analysis according to Smith. Guba and Lincoln’s rigour criteria.DiscussionThis research will provide knowledge regarding the benefits and limitations of the use of diaries, based on quantitative and qualitative data, and will promote reflection on their implementation, considering patients, family, and professionals. This study will provide new knowledge about the satisfaction of professionals with diary implementation. This multicentre study will provide valuable information on the contribution of diaries in clinical practice and their impact on patient recovery and the experiences of families and professionals. If the efficacy of the diary is confirmed, it will mark a significant advancement in the care of critically ill patients, contributing to the expansion of their use.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05288140. First Published March 21, 2022. Version 1.

Background/Objectives: Anemia is a multifactorial condition influenced by nutritional deficiencies, chronic diseases, and inflammatory processes. These factors not only contribute to anemia but may also exacerbate oral conditions such as Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) by impairing epithelial integrity and immune function. By synthesizing published studies, this review seeks to clarify whether anemia is associated with OLP and to highlight biological mechanisms common to both conditions that could be relevant for future therapeutic development. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across the selected electronic databases: Medline/Pubmed, Scopus, and Cochrane. Methodological quality and potential bias of the included studies were evaluated using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS), while the overall certainty of the evidence was appraised according to the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. Forest plots were generated using the Cochrane RevMan software to evaluate and visually summarize the results of the included studies. Results: Application of the search strategy resulted in the identification of 549 articles; after applying exclusion and inclusion criteria, 11 papers were selected. The prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency, and folic acid deficiency was significantly increased in the study population (p < 0.05); whereas hemoglobin deficiency was observed exclusively in women with statistical significance (p < 0.00001), driven by a single large study. Conclusions: Patients with OLP show a higher prevalence of anemia and deficiencies in key hematologic micronutrients such as vitamin B12, folic acid, and iron. Routine laboratory evaluation is recommended to detect and manage these systemic alterations. In addition to corticosteroid therapy, micronutrient supplementation may serve as a useful complementary treatment approach.

Somatic next-generation sequencing (NGS) panels are widely used in precision oncology to detect clinically actionable genomic alterations. However, interpreting diverse DNA and RNA alterations remains challenging because of the complexity of tumor-only data and the limitations of current pipelines, which are often proprietary, noncustomizable, or lack visual reports to support clinical interpretation. We present ClinBioNGS, an open-source, panel-agnostic bioinformatics pipeline for the comprehensive analysis of somatic NGS cancer panels in both clinical and translational settings. ClinBioNGS is a modular, fully containerized workflow implemented in Nextflow. It supports integrated analysis of DNA and RNA data, including multicaller small variant detection, copy number alteration (CNA) profiling, gene fusion and splice variant identification, and evaluation of complex genomic biomarkers such as tumor mutational burden and microsatellite instability. Variants are annotated and prioritized using established clinical frameworks. The results are compiled in a self-contained interactive HTML report with dynamic tables and informative visualizations to facilitate clinical interpretation. Validation included SEQC2 reference data sets across six commercial panels, and benchmarking was performed on 2,024 clinical tumor samples analyzed with three commercial platforms. ClinBioNGS achieved high accuracy in SEQC2 validation, with precision (0.987-1.000), recall (0.920-0.997), and F1 scores (0.956-0.999) across diverse panels. In a clinical benchmarking with real-world data, the pipeline demonstrated high concordance with commercial solutions for small variants (97%), CNAs (89%), and RNA alterations (94%), while also identifying additional high-confidence alterations missed by vendor pipelines. ClinBioNGS provides a robust, flexible, and transparent solution for standardized analysis of somatic NGS cancer panels. It supports reproducible, clinically oriented interpretation of genomic data and is freely available for noncommercial research-use only at GitHub.

Level of Education (LoE) is widely used as an indicator of cognitive reserve and is associated with risk of dementia. The aim of the present study was to know the influence of the LoE on cognitive function (CF) in patients with Parkinson´s disease (PD). Controls and PD patients from the Spanish cohort COPPADIS with a disease duration from symptoms onset ≤ 5years, who were recruited from January/2016 to November/2017 (baseline visit; V0) and evaluated at 2 (V2), 4 (V4) and 5 (V5) years of follow-up were included. Regarding LoE, patients were classified as with primary, secondary and university education. CF was assessed using the Parkinson´s Disease Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS). General linear model (GLM) repeated measure was used to test for changes in the CF. A p value ≤ 0.005 was considered significant. Three hundred and ninety-nine PD patients (61.9 ± 8.9years old; 58.4% males) and 207 controls (61 ± 8.3years old; 49.8% males) were included. From V0 to V5, significant differences were observed in PD patients in global and fronto-subcortical (p < 0.0001 in all visits) between LoE groups but not in posterior-cortical (p > 0.05 in all visits) CF. LoE was associated with the change from V0 to V5 in the PD-CRS total score and fronto-subcortical sub-score (p < 0.0001) in PD patients but not in controls. After adjustment for many covariates, primary education was not a predictor of PD dementia (PD-CRS < 65) at V5 (OR = 3.31; p = 0.194). Cognitive function in Parkinson's disease is influenced by the level of education.

BackgroundProcessed meat (PM) consumption is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). It has been hypothesized that nitrosyl-heme, formed by the addition of nitrites during meat processing, may enhance the carcinogenic effects of PMs. This study aims to investigate the association between nitrosyl-heme intake and CRC risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition(EPIC) study.MethodsThis prospective study included 367,463 participants(70.3% women) from seven countries from the EPIC-study. Dietary data were collected via baseline questionnaires, and nitrosyl-heme exposure was estimated using biochemical data from 52 Spanish PMs, extrapolated to country-specific items. Sex-specific multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios(HRs) and 95% confidence intervals(CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.ResultsOver a 15-year median follow-up, 5,115 incident CRC cases were identified. Comparing the highest vs. the lowest sex-specific tertile of nitrosyl-heme intake we found no significant association with CRC risk (HRT3vsT1:1.01;95%CI:0.93–1.09). Subgroup analyses by tumor subtype and interactions with lifestyle factors also showed no associations.ConclusionsThis study offers insights into nitrosyl-heme exposure in European populations but found no link to CRC risk. Further research is needed to understand nitrosyl-heme's role in CRC.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12937-025-01266-7.

Seagrass meadows play a key role in the global carbon cycle through storing carbon in their biomass and soils. However, the lack of global assessments of carbon stocks in seagrass biomass and net primary production (NPP) limits our understanding of their role in the carbon cycle. Here, we provide global estimates of biomass carbon stocks and NPP encompassing seagrasses with different life-history strategies, across bioregions and 66 countries. Seagrass meadows show up to 800-fold differences in biomass across different life-history strategies and bioregions (mean ± SE; 1551 ± 40 kg C ha−1), whereas seagrass NPP (5833 ± 557 kg C ha−1 yr−1) ranks among the highest within photosynthetic ecosystems. We estimate seagrass biomass carbon stocks at 24–40 Tg C and NPP at 83–137 Tg C yr−1 within 160,387 to 266,500 km2 of global seagrass extent. This study showcases the role of seagrasses in the global carbon cycle and provides the basis for their inclusion in carbon crediting schemes towards implementing conservation actions for climate change mitigation.