Plos One
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Comparative Study
Scientific abstracts and plain language summaries in psychology: A comparison based on readability indices.
Findings from psychological research are usually difficult to interpret for non-experts. Yet, non-experts resort to psychological findings to inform their decisions (e.g., whether to seek a psychotherapeutic treatment or not). Thus, the communication of psychological research to non-expert audiences has received increasing attention over the last years. ⋯ There was only little evidence that this effect differed in magnitude between the included journals. In sum, this study shows that PLS may be an effective instrument for communicating psychological research to non-expert audiences. We discuss future research avenues to increase the quality of PLS and strengthen their role in science communication.
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The spread of COVID-19 implied a large and fast increase of demand for intensive care services. To face this increase in demand, health care systems need to adapt their response by increasing hospital beds, intensive care unit (ICU) capacity and by (re-)deploying doctors and other personnel. This paper proposes a forecast approach based on the Vector Error Correction model for the daily counts of hospitalized patients with symptoms and of patients in ICU, using publicly available data on the current COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, Switzerland and Spain. ⋯ The one-week-ahead forecasts are validated with out-of-sample data over successive weeks; they are found to provide timely and robust prediction of ICU capacity needs in Lombardy, the most-affected Italian region, starting from the sample of the first 2 weeks of data. The same methodology is successfully validated on other Italian regions, Switzerland and Spain. This approach may be used in other countries/regions/provinces to help adapt the health care system response to COVID-19 (or other similar disease); for this purpose, the open-source software code to produce the forecasts is provided with the paper.
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Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS; e-cigarettes), consisting of a battery, heating element and e-liquid, have evolved significantly with wide variation in design, components, operating powers, and chemical constituents. Generated aerosols have been reported to contain potentially toxic substances. We conducted a systematic review to assess what is known about the presence of toxicants in ENDS aerosols in order to inform how system design could mitigate risk. ⋯ Improved ENDS design can reduce toxicant levels. Additional research is needed to develop a framework for optimizing system characteristics to minimize exposure, especially with respect to heating power and e-liquids. Both manufacturers and regulatory agencies have roles in reducing toxicants and potential health risks from ENDS.
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COVID-19 has created an extraordinary global health crisis. However, with limited understanding of the effects of COVID-19 during pregnancy, clinicians and patients are forced to make uninformed decisions. ⋯ COVID-19-positive pregnant women present with fewer symptoms than the general population and may be RT-PCR negative despite having signs of viral pneumonia. The incidence of preterm births, low birth weight, C-section, NICU admission appear higher than the general population.
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Postoperative serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the objective quantitative indices integrating the effects of preoperative and intraoperative variables. Higher levels of CRP after gastrointestinal surgery are associated with major postoperative complications. To develop a model for predicting CRP levels on postoperative day (POD) 1 in surgical patients both with and without serious conditions and comorbidities, we modified the previous formula for prediction of CRP levels on POD1, and assessed the accuracy of our modified predictive formula for CRP levels. ⋯ CRP levels predicted using duration of surgery, mean NR, and preoperative CRP levels are likely identical to measured CRP levels on POD1, being associated with major complications after gastrointestinal surgery.