| 1. |
- Kassebaum, Nicholas J., et al.
(author)
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Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 315 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE), 1990-2015 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
- 2016
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In: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 388:10053, s. 1603-1658
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Healthy life expectancy (HALE) and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) provide summary measures of health across geographies and time that can inform assessments of epidemiological patterns and health system performance, help to prioritise investments in research and development, and monitor progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We aimed to provide updated HALE and DALYs for geographies worldwide and evaluate how disease burden changes with development. Methods We used results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015) for all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, and non-fatal disease burden to derive HALE and DALYs by sex for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015. We calculated DALYs by summing years of life lost (YLLs) and years of life lived with disability (YLDs) for each geography, age group, sex, and year. We estimated HALE using the Sullivan method, which draws from age-specific death rates and YLDs per capita. We then assessed how observed levels of DALYs and HALE differed from expected trends calculated with the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator constructed from measures of income per capita, average years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Findings Total global DALYs remained largely unchanged from 1990 to 2015, with decreases in communicable, neonatal, maternal, and nutritional (Group 1) disease DALYs off set by increased DALYs due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Much of this epidemiological transition was caused by changes in population growth and ageing, but it was accelerated by widespread improvements in SDI that also correlated strongly with the increasing importance of NCDs. Both total DALYs and age-standardised DALY rates due to most Group 1 causes significantly decreased by 2015, and although total burden climbed for the majority of NCDs, age-standardised DALY rates due to NCDs declined. Nonetheless, age-standardised DALY rates due to several high-burden NCDs (including osteoarthritis, drug use disorders, depression, diabetes, congenital birth defects, and skin, oral, and sense organ diseases) either increased or remained unchanged, leading to increases in their relative ranking in many geographies. From 2005 to 2015, HALE at birth increased by an average of 2.9 years (95% uncertainty interval 2.9-3.0) for men and 3.5 years (3.4-3.7) for women, while HALE at age 65 years improved by 0.85 years (0.78-0.92) and 1.2 years (1.1-1.3), respectively. Rising SDI was associated with consistently higher HALE and a somewhat smaller proportion of life spent with functional health loss; however, rising SDI was related to increases in total disability. Many countries and territories in central America and eastern sub-Saharan Africa had increasingly lower rates of disease burden than expected given their SDI. At the same time, a subset of geographies recorded a growing gap between observed and expected levels of DALYs, a trend driven mainly by rising burden due to war, interpersonal violence, and various NCDs. Interpretation Health is improving globally, but this means more populations are spending more time with functional health loss, an absolute expansion of morbidity. The proportion of life spent in ill health decreases somewhat with increasing SDI, a relative compression of morbidity, which supports continued efforts to elevate personal income, improve education, and limit fertility. Our analysis of DALYs and HALE and their relationship to SDI represents a robust framework on which to benchmark geography-specific health performance and SDG progress. Country-specific drivers of disease burden, particularly for causes with higher-than-expected DALYs, should inform financial and research investments, prevention efforts, health policies, and health system improvement initiatives for all countries along the development continuum.
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| 2. |
- Adelani, David, et al.
(author)
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A Few Thousand Translations Go A Long Way! Leveraging Pre-trained Models for African News Translation
- 2022
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In: NAACL 2022. - Stroudsburg : Association for Computational Linguistics. - 9781955917711 ; , s. 3053-3070
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent advances in the pre-training of language models leverage large-scale datasets to create multilingual models. However, low-resource languages are mostly left out in these datasets. This is primarily because many widely spoken languages are not well represented on the web and therefore excluded from the large-scale crawls used to create datasets. Furthermore, downstream users of these models are restricted to the selection of languages originally chosen for pre-training. This work investigates how to optimally leverage existing pre-trained models to create low-resource translation systems for 16 African languages. We focus on two questions: 1) How can pre-trained models be used for languages not included in the initial pre-training? and 2) How can the resulting translation models effectively transfer to new domains? To answer these questions, we create a new African news corpus covering 16 languages, of which eight languages are not part of any existing evaluation dataset. We demonstrate that the most effective strategy for transferring both to additional languages and to additional domains is to fine-tune large pre-trained models on small quantities of high-quality translation data.
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| 3. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 4. |
- Jalde, Francesca Campoccia, et al.
(author)
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Standardized Unloading of Respiratory Muscles during Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist : A Randomized Crossover Pilot Study
- 2018
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In: Anesthesiology. - 0003-3022 .- 1528-1175. ; 129:4, s. 769-777
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Currently, there is no standardized method to set the support level in neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA). The primary aim was to explore the feasibility of titrating NAVA to specific diaphragm unloading targets, based on the neuroventilatory efficiency (NVE) index. The secondary outcome was to investigate the effect of reduced diaphragm unloading on distribution of lung ventilation. Methods: This is a randomized crossover study between pressure support and NAVA at different diaphragm unloading at a single neurointensive care unit. Ten adult patients who had started weaning from mechanical ventilation completed the study. Two unloading targets were used: 40 and 60%. The NVE index was used to guide the titration of the assist in NAVA. Electrical impedance tomography data, blood-gas samples, and ventilatory parameters were collected. Results: The median unloading was 43% (interquartile range 32, 60) for 40% unloading target and 60% (interquartile range 47, 69) for 60% unloading target. NAVA with 40% unloading led to more dorsal ventilation (center of ventilation at 55% [51, 56]) compared with pressure support (52% [49, 56]; P = 0.019). No differences were found in oxygenation, CO2, and respiratory parameters. The electrical activity of the diaphragm was higher during NAVA with 40% unloading than in pressure support. Conclusions: In this pilot study, NAVA could be titrated to different diaphragm unloading levels based on the NVE index. Less unloading was associated with greater diaphragm activity and improved ventilation of the dependent lung regions.
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| 5. |
- Sackey, Peter, et al.
(author)
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Short- and long-term follow-up of intensive care unit patients after sedation with isoflurane and midazolam : A pilot study
- 2008
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In: Critical Care Medicine. - 0090-3493 .- 1530-0293. ; 36:3, s. 801-806
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To compare memories from the intensive care unit (ICU) and short- and long-term psychological morbidity in patients after sedation with intravenous midazolam or inhaled isoflurane. DESIGN: Prospective long-term follow-up after randomized controlled trial. SETTING: General ICU at Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Stockholm. PATIENTS: Forty patients in need of sedation during ventilator treatment. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomized to receive isoflurane or midazolam for goal-directed sedation until extubation or for a maximum of 96 hrs. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: For short-term follow-up, doctors', nurses', and physiotherapists' notes from the 4 days following exposure to the study drugs were reviewed for words indicating adequate or pathologic cognitive and psychological recovery. For long-term follow-up, all 6-month survivors received questionnaires including the ICU Memory Tool (ICU-MT), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), and Well-Being Index. Additionally, several screening questions for previous posttraumatic stress symptoms were included. In the short term follow-up, no significant differences were found between groups. In the long-term follow-up, a trend toward fewer hallucinations/delusions after isoflurane sedation than after midazolam (two of ten isoflurane patients vs. five of seven midazolam patients) was found (p = .06). None of the five solely isoflurane-sedated patients reported hallucinations/delusions from the ICU. There was no difference in groups in long-term psychological morbidity as measured with HADS and IES. Memories of negative feelings in the ICU (ICU-MT) were associated with high HADS and IES scores (Fisher's exact test, p = .02 and p = .01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Sedation of ICU patients with isoflurane may result in fewer delusional memories or hallucinations from the ICU compared with more commonly used intravenous sedation. Memories of negative feelings from the ICU were associated with symptoms of depression or anxiety or symptoms indicating posttraumatic stress disorder. Further study of memory and cognitive/psychological recovery after prolonged isoflurane sedation beyond 96 hrs is warranted.
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| 6. |
- Berggren, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Healthcare workers' experiences of patient safety in the intensive care unit during the COVID-19 pandemic : A multicentre qualitative study
- 2023
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In: Journal of Clinical Nursing. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0962-1067 .- 1365-2702. ; 32:19-20, s. 7372-7381
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- AimTo describe healthcare workers' experiences of preconditions and patient safety risks in intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic. BackgroundHealthcare workers' ability to adapt to changing conditions is crucial to promote patient safety. During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers' capacity to maintain safe care was challenged and a more in-depth understanding on frontline experiences of patient safety is needed. DesignA qualitative descriptive design. MethodsIndividual interviews were conducted with 29 healthcare workers (nurses, physicians, nurse assistants and physiotherapists) from three Swedish hospitals directly involved in intensive care of COVID-19 patients. Data were analysed with inductive content analysis. Reporting followed the COREQ checklist. ResultsThree categories were identified. Hazardous changes in working conditions describes patient safety challenges associated with the extreme workload with high stress level. Imperative adaptations induced by changed preconditions for patient safety which include descriptions of safety risks following adaptations related to temporary intensive care facilities, handling shortage of medical equipment and deviations from routines. Safety risks triggered by reorganisation of care describe how the diluted skill-mix and team disruptions exposed patients to safety risks, and that safety performance mostly relied on individual healthcare worker's responsibility. ConclusionsThe study suggests that healthcare workers experienced an increase in patient safety risks during the COVID-19 pandemic mainly because the extremely high workload, imperative adaptations, and reorganisation of care regarding skill-mix and teamwork. Patient safety performance relied on the individuals' adaptability and responsibility rather than on system-based safety. Relevance to Clinical PracticeThis study provides insights on how healthcare workers' experiences can be used as a source of information for recognition of patient safety risks. To improve detection of safety risks during future crises, guidelines on how to approach safety from a system perspective must include healthcare workers' perceptions on safety risks. Patient and Public ContributionNone in the conceptualisation or design of the study.
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| 7. |
- Brück, Emily, et al.
(author)
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Lack of clinically relevant correlation between subjective and objective cognitive function in ICU survivors : a prospective 12-month follow-up study
- 2019
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In: Critical Care. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1364-8535 .- 1466-609X. ; 23
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundCognitive impairment and psychological distress are common in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Early identification of affected individuals is important, so intervention and treatment can be utilized at an early stage. Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) is commonly used to screen for subjective cognitive function, but it is unclear whether CFQ scores correlate to objective cognitive function in this population.MethodsBetween 2014 and 2018, 100 ICU survivors aged 18–70 years from the general ICU at the Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, were included in the study. Out of these, 58 patients completed follow-up at 3 months after ICU discharge, 51 at 6 months, and 45 at 12 months. Follow-up included objective cognitive function testing using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) and subjective cognitive function testing with the self-rating Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), as well as psychological self-rating with the Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Scale-10 (PTSS-10) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).ResultsThe prevalence of cognitive impairment as measured by four selected CANTAB tests was 34% at 3 months after discharge, 18% at 6 months, and 16% at 12 months. There was a lack of significant correlation between CANTAB scores and CFQ scores at 3 months (r = − 0.134–0.207, p > 0.05), at 6 months (r = − 0.106–0.257, p > 0.05), and at 12 months after discharge (r = − 0.070–0.109, p > 0.05). Correlations between CFQ and PTSS-10 scores and HADS scores, respectively, were significant over the follow-up period (r = 0.372–0.710, p ≤ 0.001–0.023). In contrast, CANTAB test scores showed a weak correlation with PTSS-10 and HADS scores, respectively, at 3 months only (r = − 0.319–0.348, p = 0.008–0.015).ConclusionWe found no clinically relevant correlation between subjective and objective cognitive function in this cohort of ICU survivors, while subjective cognitive function correlated significantly with psychological symptoms throughout the follow-up period. Treatment and evaluation of ICU survivors’ recovery need to consider both subjective and objective aspects of cognitive impairment, and subjective reports must be interpreted with caution as an indicator of objective cognitive function.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Engström, Joakim, 1983-
(author)
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Patient safety in the Intensive Care Unit : With special reference to Airway management and Nursing procedures
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The overall aim of the present thesis was to study aspects of patient safety in critically ill patients with special focus on airway management, respiratory complications and nursing procedures. Study I describes a method called pharyngeal oxygen administration during intubation in an experimental acute lung injury model. The study showed that pharyngeal oxygenation prevented or considerably increased the time to life-threatening hypoxemia at shunt fractions by at least up to 25% and that this technique could be implemented in airway algorithms for the intubation of hypoxemic patients. In study II, we investigated short-term disconnection of the expiratory circuit from the ventilator during filter exchange in critically ill patients. We demonstrated that when using pressure modes in the ventilator, there was no indication of any significant deterioration in the patient's lung function. A bench test suggests that this result is explained by auto-triggering with high inspiratory flows during the filter exchange, maintaining the airway pressure. Study III was a clinical observational study of critically ill patients in which adverse events were studied in connection with routine nursing procedures. We found that adverse events were common, not well documented, and potentially harmful, indicating that it is important to weigh the risks and benefits of routine nursing when caring for unstable, critically ill patients. In study IV, we conducted a retrospective database study in patients with pelvis fractures treated in the intensive care unit. We found that the incidence of respiratory failure was high, that the procedure involved in surgical stabilization affected the respiratory status in patients with lung contusion, and that the mortality was low and probably not influenced by the respiratory condition. In conclusion, the results obtained in the present thesis have increase our knowledge in important areas in the most severely ill patients and have underlined the need for improvements in the field of patient safety.
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| 10. |
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