Study on the length of diagnostic time window of CUP-VISAR

Over- and under-estimation of COVID-19 deaths

European Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1007/s10654-021-00787-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

John P. A. Ioannidis

Keyword(s):

Indirect Effects ◽

Time Window ◽

Infection Prevalence ◽

Fatality Rate ◽

Excess Death ◽

Great Caution ◽

Diagnostic Time ◽

Testing Practices ◽

Population Mortality ◽

Epidemic Wave

AbstractThe ratio of COVID-19-attributable deaths versus “true” COVID-19 deaths depends on the synchronicity of the epidemic wave with population mortality; duration of test positivity, diagnostic time window, and testing practices close to and at death; infection prevalence; the extent of diagnosing without testing documentation; and the ratio of overall (all-cause) population mortality rate and infection fatality rate. A nomogram is offered to assess the potential extent of over- and under-counting in different situations. COVID-19 deaths were apparently under-counted early in the pandemic and continue to be under-counted in several countries, especially in Africa, while over-counting probably currently exists for several other countries, especially those with intensive testing and high sensitization and/or incentives for COVID-19 diagnoses. Death attribution in a syndemic like COVID-19 needs great caution. Finally, excess death estimates are subject to substantial annual variability and include also indirect effects of the pandemic and the effects of measures taken.

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Comparative effectiveness of pharmacological interventions to prevent postoperative delirium: a network meta-analysis

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91314-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sun-Kyung Park ◽

Taeyoon Lim ◽

Hyeyeon Cho ◽

Hyun-Kyu Yoon ◽

Ho-Jin Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Odds Ratio ◽

Atypical Antipsychotics ◽

Postoperative Delirium ◽

Randomized Trials ◽

Time Window ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Significant Heterogeneity ◽

Cochrane Central Register ◽

Pharmacological Interventions ◽

Diagnostic Time

AbstractMany pharmacologic agents were investigated for the effect to prevent delirium. We aimed to comprehensively compare the effect of the pharmacological interventions to prevent postoperative delirium. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized trials was performed using random effects model. PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Embase were searched on 20 January 2021. Randomized trials comparing the effect of a drug to prevent postoperative delirium with another drug or placebo in adult patients undergoing any kind of surgery were included. Primary outcome was the postoperative incidence of delirium. Eighty-six trials with 26,992 participants were included. Dexmedetomidine, haloperidol, and atypical antipsychotics significantly decreased the incidence of delirium than placebo [dexmedetomidine: odds ratio 0.51, 95% credible interval (CrI) 0.40–0.66, moderate quality of evidence (QOE); haloperidol: odds ratio 0.59, 95% CrI 0.37–0.95, moderate QOE; atypical antipsychotics: odds ratio 0.27, 95% CrI 0.14–0.51, moderate QOE]. Dexmedetomidine and atypical antipsychotics had the highest-ranking probabilities to be the best. However, significant heterogeneity regarding diagnostic time window as well as small study effects precludes firm conclusion.

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One-Year Prospective Study of Plasma Biomarkers From CNS in Patients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2021.643743 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Gerard Janez Brett Clarke ◽

Toril Skandsen ◽

Henrik Zetterberg ◽

Cathrine Elisabeth Einarsen ◽

Casper Feyling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ◽

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Time Window ◽

Brain Mri ◽

Demographic Variables ◽

Acidic Protein ◽

Observation Study ◽

Diagnostic Time

Objective: To investigate the longitudinal evolution of three blood biomarkers: neurofilament light (NFL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and tau, in out-patients and hospitalized patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) compared to controls, along with their associations—in patients—with clinical injury characteristics and demographic variables, and ability to discriminate patients with mTBI from controls.Methods: A longitudinal observation study including 207 patients with mTBI, 84 age and sex-matched community controls (CCs) and 52 trauma controls (TCs). Blood samples were collected at 5 timepoints: acute (<24 h), 72 h (24–72 h post-injury), 2 weeks, 3 and 12 months. Injury-related, clinical and demographic variables were obtained at inclusion and brain MRI within 72 h.Results: Plasma GFAP and tau were most elevated acutely and NFL at 2 weeks and 3 months. The group of patients with mTBI and concurrent other somatic injuries (mTBI+) had the highest elevation in all biomarkers across time points, and were more likely to be victims of traffic accidents and violence. All biomarkers were positively associated with traumatic intracranial findings on MRI obtained within 72 h. Glial fibrillary acidic protein and NFL levels were associated with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and presence of other somatic injuries. Acute GFAP concentrations showed the highest discriminability between patients and controls with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.92. Acute tau and 2-week NFL concentrations showed moderate discriminability (AUC = 0.70 and AUC = 0.75, respectively). Tau showed high discriminability between mTBI+ and TCs (AUC = 0.80).Conclusions: The association of plasma NFL with traumatic intracranial MRI findings, together with its later peak, could reflect ongoing secondary injury or repair mechanisms, allowing for a protracted diagnostic time window. Patients experiencing both mTBI and other injuries appear to be a subgroup with greater neural injury, differing from both the mTBI without other injuries and from both control groups. Acute GFAP concentrations showed the highest discriminability between patients and controls, were highly associated with intracranial traumatic injury, and showed the largest elevations compared to controls at the acute timepoint, suggesting it to be the most clinically useful plasma biomarker of primary CNS injury in mTBI.

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Use of Healthcare Services Two Years before Diagnosis in Danish Sarcoma Patients, 2000–2013

Sarcoma ◽

10.1155/2019/8108590 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mathias Rædkjær ◽

Katja Maretty-Kongstad ◽

Thomas Baad-Hansen ◽

Akmal Safwat ◽

Michael M. Petersen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

General Practice ◽

Diagnostic Imaging ◽

Incidence Rate ◽

Time Window ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Matched Cohort ◽

Rare Type ◽

Outpatient Visits ◽

Diagnostic Time ◽

Rate Ratios

Background. Sarcoma is a rare type of cancer with nonspecific symptoms and uncertain aetiology. Thus, timely diagnosis of sarcomas is a clinical challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of healthcare services 24 months preceding a sarcoma diagnosis compared to a matched cohort. Materials and Methods. The study was a retrospective, population-based, matched cohort registry-study. Patients with sarcoma in Denmark in 2000–2013 were identified in the Danish Sarcoma Registry (n = 2167) and matched 1 : 10 on gender, age, and listed general practice. Using a binomial regression model, incidence rate ratios were calculated for face-to-face contacts in general practice, inpatient and outpatient visits, surgery, paraclinical examinations, and diagnostic imaging. Analyses were stratified for sarcoma subtypes, grade, stage, gender, and presence of comorbidity. Results. The sarcoma patients had significantly increased incidence rate ratios in use of healthcare services compared to the matched cohort a year before their diagnoses. An increase in consultation rates was seen 11 months before diagnosis for inpatient visits, 9 months before diagnosis in general practice and outpatient visits, 8 months before diagnosis for paraclinical examinations, and 4 and 3 months before diagnosis for diagnostic imaging and surgery, respectively. There were no clinical significant differences in length of increased consultation rates between sarcoma type, stage, and grade. Sarcoma patients with comorbidity had persistently higher consultation rates compared to patients without comorbidity. Conclusions. The use of healthcare services among sarcoma patients increased several months before diagnosis in all healthcare sectors. The results reveal a diagnostic time window and a potential to refer, diagnose, and treat sarcoma patients in a timelier manner.

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Feel Thine Own Self – Mood Congruency Evaluation of Emotional State Adjectives

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000272 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽

Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽

Jan Kaiser

Keyword(s):

Mood Induction ◽

Semantic Analysis ◽

Emotional State ◽

Time Window ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Negativity Bias ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Semantic Access ◽

Current Mood ◽

Component Time

Abstract. The goal of the study was to explore event-related potential (ERP) differences during the processing of emotional adjectives that were evaluated as congruent or incongruent with the current mood. We hypothesized that the first effects of congruence evaluation would be evidenced during the earliest stages of semantic analysis. Sixty mood adjectives were presented separately for 1,000 ms each during two sessions of mood induction. After each presentation, participants evaluated to what extent the word described their mood. The results pointed to incongruence marking of adjective’s meaning with current mood during early attention orientation and semantic access stages (the P150 component time window). This was followed by enhanced processing of congruent words at later stages. As a secondary goal the study also explored word valence effects and their relation to congruence evaluation. In this regard, no significant effects were observed on the ERPs; however, a negativity bias (enhanced responses to negative adjectives) was noted on the behavioral data (RTs), which could correspond to the small differences traced on the late positive potential.

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Time Window from Visual Images to Visual Short-Term Memory: Consolidation or Integration?

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.51.1.45 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 45-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Yuhong Jiang

Keyword(s):

Short Term Memory ◽

Time Window ◽

Short Interval ◽

Visual Images ◽

Short Term ◽

Temporal Window ◽

Term Memory ◽

Visual Short Term Memory ◽

Probe Task ◽

Long Time

Abstract. When two dot arrays are briefly presented, separated by a short interval of time, visual short-term memory of the first array is disrupted if the interval between arrays is shorter than 1300-1500 ms ( Brockmole, Wang, & Irwin, 2002 ). Here we investigated whether such a time window was triggered by the necessity to integrate arrays. Using a probe task we removed the need for integration but retained the requirement to represent the images. We found that a long time window was needed for performance to reach asymptote even when integration across images was not required. Furthermore, such window was lengthened if subjects had to remember the locations of the second array, but not if they only conducted a visual search among it. We suggest that a temporal window is required for consolidation of the first array, which is vulnerable to disruption by subsequent images that also need to be memorized.

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