ABSTRACT
Mindfulness witnessed a substantial popularity surge in the past decade, especially as digitally self-administered interventions became available at relatively low costs. Yet, it is uncertain whether they effectively help reduce stress. In a preregistered (OSF https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/UF4JZ ; retrospective registration at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06308744 ) multi-site study (nsites = 37, nparticipants = 2,239, 70.4% women, Mage = 22.4, s.d.age = 10.1, all fluent English speakers), we experimentally tested whether four single, standalone mindfulness exercises effectively reduced stress, using Bayesian mixed-effects models. All exercises proved to be more efficacious than the active control. We observed a mean difference of 0.27 (d = -0.56; 95% confidence interval, -0.43 to -0.69) between the control condition (M = 1.95, s.d. = 0.50) and the condition with the largest stress reduction (body scan: M = 1.68, s.d. = 0.46). Our findings suggest that mindfulness may be beneficial for reducing self-reported short-term stress for English speakers from higher-income countries.
ABSTRACT
Several vineyard techniques have been proposed to delay grape maturity in light of the advanced maturation driven by increasingly frequent water and heat stress events that are detrimental to grape quality. These studies differ in terms of their experimental conditions, and in the present work we have attempted to summarize previous observations in a quantitative, data-driven systematic review. A meta-analysis of quantitative data gathered across 43 relevant studies revealed the overall significance of the proposed treatments and evaluated the impact of different experimental conditions on the outcome of antitranspirants, delayed pruning and late source limitation. Antitranspirants were most effective when applied twice and closer to veraison, while di-1-p-menthene increased the ripening delay by about 1 °Brix compared to kaolin. Larger ripening delays were achieved with delayed pruning of low-yielding vines or by pruning at later stages of apical bud development. Late defoliation or shoot trimming delayed ripening in high-yielding vines and represent suitable solutions for late-harvested varieties, but became ineffective where the treatment decreased yield. This quantitative meta-analysis of 242 primary observations uncovers factors affecting the efficacy of vineyard practices to delay ripening, which should be carefully considered by grape growers attempting to achieve this outcome.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate risk factors for 3-years mortality after hospital discharge in all inpatients admitted to a general hospital in Milano, Italy. A total of 2580 consecutive patients admitted to Ospedale San Paolo, July 1 to December 31, 2012, for several classes of diseases (internal medicine, cancer, infectious diseases, trauma and surgery, pneumonia, and heart diseases) were studied. Age, total disease, type of admission, length of admission, age-adjusted Charlson index, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and full blood count were evaluated. Univariate Cox models were used to evaluate the association between variables and death. Of the 2580 consecutive patients (age 66.8 ± 19.36 years, mean ± SD), 920 died within 3 years after discharge. At univariate analysis, all investigated variables, except sex and lymphocytes, were associated with patient death. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that the age-adjusted Charlson index or age plus total diseases, type of admission, number of admissions, and PNI were significant risk factors in the whole sample and in some classes of disease. Results were superimposable when considering death from date of admission instead of date of discharge, meaning that in-hospital death was not relevant to the total death count (115 out of 902). Seriousness of baseline conditions represents the major risk factor for mortality in most classes of disease, and possibly influences other predictors, such as type of admission and length of stay. This suggests that the current model of hospital admission might be improved, for instance, through comprehensive care at home, instead of hospital admission, or before admission.
