Does Trust Associate with Political Regime?

Since trust correlates with economic development and in turn economic development associates with political regime, we conjecture that there may be a relationship between trust and political regime. Without looking for any casual inference, we investigate if trust aggregated on the country level correlates with the country's political regime. Specifically, we are interested whether trust correlates positively with the level of democracy in cross-sectional observations. We analyse data on trust from 76 countries using the Global Preference Survey and investigate the correlations with five separate democracy indices (Polity2, Economist Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, Freedom House, MaxRange and Unified Democracy Score). We do not find any significant association, with or without taking into account other factors (e.g., regional location, economic development, geographic conditions, culture) as well. Trust does not correlate with cornerstones of democracy either, measured by five components of the EIU index. A robustness check using an alternative measure of trust from the World Values Survey reaches the same results. The present study supersedes the working paper version (Khayouti et al., 2020).

Improved outcomes following the implementation of a decompensated cirrhosis discharge bundle

IntroductionMortality from liver disease is increasing and management of decompensated cirrhosis (DC) is inconsistent across the UK. Patients with DC have complex medical needs when discharged from hospital and early readmissions are common. Our aims were: (1) to develop a Decompensated Cirrhosis Discharge Bundle (DCDB) to optimise ongoing care and (2) evaluate the impact of the DCDB.MethodsA baseline review of the management of patients with DC was conducted in Newcastle in 2017. The DCCB was developed and implemented in 2018. Impact of the DCDB was evaluated in two cycles, first a paper version (November 2018–October 2019) and then an electronic version (November 2020–March 2021). Key clinical data were collected from the time of discharge.ResultsOverall, 192 patients (62% male; median age 55; median model for end-stage liver disease 17; 72% alcohol related) were reviewed in three cycles. At baseline, management was suboptimal, particularly ascites/diuretic management and provision of follow-up for alcohol misuse and 12% of patients had a potentially avoidable readmission within 30 days. After DCDB introduction, care improved across most domains, particularly electrolyte monitoring (p=0.012) and provision of community alcohol follow-up (p=0.026). Potentially preventable readmissions fell to 5% (p=0.055).ConclusionsUse of a care bundle for patients with DC can standardise care and improve patient management. If used more widely this could improve outcomes and reduce variability in care for patients with DC.

Blockchain and Self Sovereign Identity to Support Quality in the Food Supply Chain

This work presents how a digital identity management system can support food supply chains in guaranteeing the quality of the products marketed and the compliance of the several supply-chain’s nodes to standards and technical regulations. Specific goal of this work is to present a system that provides full visibility of process/food certifications, which nowadays are issued by accredited and approved certification bodies (issuers) and delivered and stored in paper version by the several participants (holders) of the supply chain. The system is designed and implemented by combining the latest most innovative and disruptive technologies in the market—Self Sovereign Identity system, Blockchain, and Inter Planetary File System. The crucial aspects that it aims to hit are the storage and access of food/process certifications, and the proper eligibility verification of these certifications exploiting the concepts of the Self Sovereign Identity-based models. The proposed system, realized by using standards that are WWW Consortium-compatible and the Ethereum Blockchain, ensures eligibility, transparency, and traceability of the certifications along a food supply chain, and could be an innovation model/idea that the companies that adopt the Open Innovation paradigm might want to pursue.

The Chinese version of the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ): Associations with personality traits and gender

Sensitivity to music reward varies across individuals. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) is an effective tool in the assessment of sensitivity to music reward. The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the BMRQ, including its internal consistency, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and measurement invariance across gender. In addition, the relationship between personality traits and sensitivity to music reward was explored. A total of 1,120 Chinese undergraduate students completed a pen-and-paper version of the BMRQ, either in individual sessions or in class groups. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the revised model of the BMRQ. In addition, good internal consistency reliability of the overall scale and criterion-related validity with the BIS/BAS scale were also supported in this study. Evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance supported its measurement invariance across gender. On this basis, women in our sample reported themselves more sensitive than men to music reward. Results also showed that the personality traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were the strongest contributors to music reward sensitivity, while Extraversion did not make a significant contribution. These findings may provide a reference point for therapists wishing to predict the efficacy of music therapy for individuals.

Design and Application of Health Education Apps based on Wechat for Self-management Among Patients: Observational Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Health Education Apps is more welcomed due to it`s efficiency ,intelligence, convenience .While, needs on health knowledge of patients have still not satisfied, education on traditional booklet-based and verbal is less efficiency and vivid , tendency of technology make this revolution to convert traditional ones. OBJECTIVE We aimed to design and test the effectiveness of a smart education Apps for self-management among patients. METHODS Firstly,a multidisciplinary research team worked together to design and conduct the research. With their help, we have redesigned it like some personalized changes for patients needs. Secondly,we choosed the questionnaire on the Comprehensive Service Platform for the Elderly self-designed by CHENYu to investigate. A purposive sample of 34 users have tested to evaluate users` satisfaction. RESULTS It have successfully applied in 22 wards among 23159 patients,sent 40440 chapters about information sent by smart-phone to patients during March 2019 to January 2021. The investigate data showed that 91.2% participants evaluated the evaluation effect of this one was good compared with the paper version.85.3% wanted to continue to receive medical education information after discharge from hospital.The top four most popular kinds of medical education information like to receive were drug administration, disease prevention, nursing, home care. The top four most popular kinds of user` suggestions were one-on-one online Q & A, continue to see every session, free Wifi.Satisfaction of Apps application was good. CONCLUSIONS This study suggested that this Apps was welcomed due to help patients increase the knowledge level of disease to do self-management better.

Diabetes Related Distress in Children with Type 1 Diabetes before and during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spring 2020

Our aim was to compere diabetes-related distress (DD) in young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and in their parents before and during the national COVID-19-related lockdown when schools operated on-line. Problems Areas in Diabetes-Child (PAID-Ch), Teen (PAID-T) and Parent (P-PAID-Ch, P-PAID-T) questionnaires in paper version were used to evaluate DD before COVID-19 pandemic (November 2019–February 2020) and during the lockdown (April 2020) the same surveys were performed by phone. We enrolled 76 patients (median age (Q1–Q3): 13.6 (11.8–15.2) years; 21 children, 55 adolescents; T1DM duration 3.7 (1.7–6.8) years). Initial PAID score was lower in teenage boys than in girls (34.0 (24.0–42.0) vs. 44.5 (40.0–50.5), p = 0.003). In teens PAID score decreased significantly during the lockdown (−3.0 (−11.0–3.0), p = 0.018), more in girls than boys (p = 0.028). In children (−3.0 (−14.0–7.0), p = 0.131) and parents PAID did not change (teens’ parents: 3.0 (−9.0–10.0), p = 0.376; children’s parents: −5.0 [−9.0–1.0], p = 0.227). In the studied group COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown was associated with decrease in DD in teens with T1DM, particularly in girls, while no significant change in DD was observed in children or parents. DD decrease in teens during the pandemic should attract attention to the potential “rebound” of DD related to return to regular on-site school routine.

Preface

The 12th Conference of PhD Students in Computer Science (CSCS) was organized by the Institute of Informatics of the University of Szeged (SZTE) and held in Szeged, Hungary, between June 24–26, 2020. The members of the Scientific Committee were the following representatives of the Hungarian doctoral schools in Computer Science: János Csirik (Co-Chair, SZTE), Lajos Rónyai (Co-Chair, SZTAKI, BME), Péter Baranyi (SZE), András Benczúr (ELTE), András Benczúr (SZTAKI), Hassan Charaf (BME), Tibor Csendes (SZTE), László Cser (BCE), Erzsébet Csuhaj-Varjú (ELTE), József Dombi (SZTE), István Fazekas (DE), Zoltán Fülöp (SZTE), Aurél Galántai (OE), Zoltán Gingl (SZTE), Tibor Gyimóthy (SZTE), Katalin Hangos (PE), Zoltán Horváth (ELTE), Márk Jelasity (SZTE), Zoltán Kása (Sapientia EMTE), László Kóczy (SZE), János Levendovszki (BME), Gyöngyvér Márton (Sapientia EMTE), Branko Milosavljevic (UNS), Valerie Novitzka (TUKE), László Nyúl (SZTE), Marius Otesteanu (UPT), Attila Pethő (DE), Vlado Stankovski (UNILJ), Tamás Szirányi (SZTAKI), Péter Szolgay (PPKE), János Sztrik (DE), János Tapolcai (BME), János Végh (ME), and Daniela Zaharie (UVT). The members of the Organizing Committee were: Attila Kertész, Balázs Bánhelyi, Tamás Gergely, Judit Jász, and Zoltán Kincses. There were more than 50 participants and 43 talks in several fields of computer science and its applications (11 sessions). The talks were going in sections in Graphs, Machine Learning, Security, Program Analysis, Healthcare, Simulation, Privacy, Computer Graphics I., Bugs, Computer Graphics II., and Distributed systems. The talks of the students were completed by 2 plenary talks of leading scientists: Tibor Gyimóthy (University of Szeged, Hungary), and Gábor Tardos (Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics, Hungary). The open-access scientific journal Acta Cybernetica offered PhD students to publish the paper version of their presentations after a careful selection and review process. Altogether 29 manuscripts were submitted for review, out of which 22 were accepted for publication in the present special issue of Acta Cybernetica. The full program of the conference, the collection of the abstracts and furtherinformation can be found at https://www.inf.u-szeged.hu/~cscs/. On the basis of our repeated positive experiences, the conference will be organized in the future, too. According to the present plans, the next meeting will be held around the end of June 2022 in Szeged.

Teaching of the chapter «diseses of the mucouse membrane of the oral cavity» under the conditions of distance learning

The pandemic around the world has made adjustments not only in our lives, but also in the educational process in particular. Prolonged quarantine caused by COVID-19 has forced teachers in most higher education institutions to go online. If other higher education institutions could conduct mixed forms of education, the specifics of medical universities, where most classes are held at medical bases of hospitals and clinics, left no choice and focused exclusively on distance education. It is very important that the performance of the department’s distance workload fully meets the planned workload of the departments, all the requirements of the educational process and quality preparation of fifth-year students for the licensing exam KROK 2 and certification of graduates. Relevant changes also affected the teaching of the section «Diseases of the oral mucosa» at the Faculty of Dentistry. According to the working curriculum and regulations on the educational process, classes are held according to the method of a single day and last 6 hours. The Microsoft Teems system was proposed for consideration by the university administration for practical classes and lectures. In addition to the actual online communication, this system provided many different features. In accordance with the decision of the meeting of the department, the following time schedule was approved. А lesson on consideration and discussion of a new topic begins. After that, practical work and a break are provided. Since this course is a final one, a lot of attention should be focused on preparing for the licensing exam. Upon completion of the discipline, students defend their medical history. Photos of the paper version are dumped by the teacher for verification on the university mailbox. Actually, the defense of the story takes place online with a short presentation of the works

The use of electronic PROMs provides same outcomes as paper version in a spine surgery registry. Results from a prospective cohort study

Background and Purpose Patient-Reported Measured Outcomes (PROMs) are essential to gain a full understanding of a patient’s condition, and in spine surgery, these questionnaires are of help when tailoring a surgical strategy. Electronic registries allow for a systematic collection and storage of PROMs, making them readily available for clinical and research purposes. This study aimed to investigate the reliability between the electronic and paper form of ODI (Oswestry Disability Index), SF-36 (Short Form Health Survey 36) and COMI-back (Core Outcome Measures Index for the back) questionnaires. Methods A prospective analysis was performed of ODI, SF-36 and COMI-back questionnaires collected in paper and electronic format in two patients’ groups: Pre-Operatively (PO) or at follow-up (FU). All patients, in both groups, completed the three questionnaires in paper and electronic form. The correlation between both methods was assessed with the Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC). Results The data from 100 non-consecutive, volunteer patients with a mean age of 55.6 ± 15.0 years were analysed. For all of the three PROMs, the reliability between paper and electronic questionnaires results was excellent (ICC: ODI = 0.96; COMI = 0.98; SF36-MCS = 0.98; SF36-PCS = 0.98. For all p < 0.001). Conclusions This study proved an excellent reliability between the electronic and paper versions of ODI, SF-36 and COMI-back questionnaires collected using a spine registry. This validation paves the way for stronger widespread use of electronic PROMs. They offer numerous advantages in terms of accessibility, storage, and data analysis compared to paper questionnaires.