Lost time: Perception of events timeline affected by the COVID pandemic.

The need to remember when a past event occurred, is often an everyday necessity. However, placing events in a timeline is seldom accurate and although to some extent modulated by event saliency, on average we are less accurate in remembering a timeline for events happening in the distant past compared to more recent events. 277 participants took part in an online study during May 2022 in which they were asked to state the year in which a number of events took place. The events' occurrences ranged from 2017 to 2021, with participants choosing one date from the 2016-2022 range. In addition, they completed 4 questionnaires aimed at quantifying their State Boredom; Depression, Anxiety & stress; resilience; and level of activity during the lockdown periods of the COVID pandemic. As expected, the findings showed more errors for distant events than those in 2020, but surprisingly we found a large error for estimating the timing of events that occurred in 2021 matching in the extent to those 3 to 4 years earlier. The findings show that participants were less able to recall the timeline of very recent events coinciding with COVID lockdowns. This increased error in perception of event timeline correlated positively with reported levels of depression & anxiety as well as physical and mental demands during the pandemic, but negatively correlated with measures of resilience. Although measures of boredom showed significant correlations with reported depression & anxiety and physical/mental load, they did not correlate with errors in the perception of the event timeline for 2021. The findings are consistent with poor perception of event timeline reported previously in prison inmates. It is likely that an accurate perception of an event timeline relies on a collection of life events such as birthdays, holidays, travels, etc., anchoring our experiences in the time domain, which was largely absent during COVID restrictions.

Influence of Bronchoscopic Interventions on Graft Function of Double Lung Transplant Recipients due to Cystic Fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: Healing of bronchial anastomoses may sometimes be complicated and require bronchoscopic intervention (BI). The main aim of the study was to assess whether patients who require BI present comparable lung function after reaching 1-year posttransplant survival to those who did not require any BI by means of spirometry and 6-minute walk test (6MWT). METHODS: This retrospective study included an analysis of 44 primary double lung transplant recipients who underwent transplant for end-stage respiratory failure in the course of cystic fibrosis transplanted in a single center between 2018 and 2021. Bronchoscopic intervention is defined as performing endoscopic bronchoplasty through balloon dilatation, cryoprobe, argon plasma, and/or laser treatment. Group 1 (25 patients who required at least 1 BI) presented similar spirometry parameters at qualification as group 2 (no BI). RESULTS: Statistically significant differences between the groups for the following parameters were reported: forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1 (%), Tiffeneau-Pinelli index (FEV1/forced vital capacity percentage of predicted value), oxygen saturation after conclusion of 6MWT (%) and oxygen saturation before 6MWT (%). In each case, the mean for the BI group in the first year was lower. All patients in this group received an average amount of 6.8 ± 4.9 bronchoscopic procedures during the first year (minimum = 1; maximum = 18). Strong negative correlations were observed between the number of balloons in the first year and the FEV1 (%) and FEV1/forced vital capacity percentage of predicted value indicators after the first year. CONCLUSIONS: Lung transplant recipients who underwent transplant because of cystic fibrosis and required at least 1 BI during the first posttransplant year presented inferior spirometry and 6MWT results in comparison with those who did not require any.

Effect of Bronchoscopic Interventions on Long-Term Lung Function Among Lung Transplant Recipients due to Cystic Fibrosis: A Single-Center Study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with end-stage lung disease owing to cystic fibrosis may require lung transplant, provided other therapeutic options were exhausted. During the posttransplant period, bronchial anastomoses' healing may sometimes be complicated and require bronchoscopic intervention (BI). The main aim of this study was to assess BI and its effect on long-term lung function among cystic fibrosis lung transplant recipients who have reached 2-year survival. METHODS: This retrospective study includes 22 patients with cystic fibrosis who underwent primary double lung transplant in a single center between 2018 and 2020 and have checked in for their 2-year follow-up visit. BI is defined as performing endoscopic bronchoplasty through balloon dilatation, cryoprobe, argon plasma, and/or laser treatment. RESULTS: All patients, who did not require BI during the first year, did not need bronchoplasty during the second posttransplant year as well. Results of forced expiratory volume in 1 second as percentage of predicted value and the 6-minute walk distance were similar at 2-year follow-up to those obtained at the end of 1 year for all patients. Significant time effects were observed for forced vital capacity (FVC) (weak effect), FVC as percentage of predicted value (weak effect), and forced expiratory volume in 1 second/FVC (moderate effect). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who had never had bronchoscopic intervention owing to airway stenosis, as well as those who did in the first posttransplant year, maintained forced expiratory volume in 1 second as percentage of predicted value at a comparable level at the second posttransplant year follow-up visit. The number of BIs significantly decreased among patients, who were undergoing such procedures during the first posttransplant year.

Outcome of Lung Transplantation as a Treatment of Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Single-Center Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Lung transplantation (LTx) is often the only therapeutic option for patients with end-stage COPD. The aim of the study was to establish whether patients with end-stage COPD benefited from lung transplantation and assess the pulmonary function by the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in the group of 69 patients (40 recipients, 18 patients currently waiting, and 11 patients who died while waiting for a lung graft) diagnosed with end-stage COPD, referred to the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases' Lung Transplant Ward, and qualified to be treated by means of lung transplantation between 2006 and 2018. The beginning of the observation for all 69 patients was a qualification date. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier estimation determined that graft recipients noted 50% probability of survival at approximately 5.5 years, whereas patients from the other group had such parameters at about 1.4 years. The average results FEV1 obtained at qualification were 23.69% for single lung transplantation (SLT); and 22.06% for double lung transplantation (DLT). Average patient acquired 158.07m in the 6MWT. One year after procedure the average values of FEV1 were SLT, 55.83%; DLT, 79.54%; and 430.7 m in the 6MWT overall. CONCLUSIONS: Qualified patients who underwent lung transplantation lived longer than those who did not undergo such a procedure. We observed a difference in SLT and DLT recipients.