Linguistic markers of processing the first months of the pandemic COVID-19: a psycholinguistic analysis of Italian university students' diaries.

A longitudinal psycholinguistic study was conducted with 107 students from different Italian universities that produced daily photo-diary entries for two weeks, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the first Italian lockdown period, imposed in view of the rapid dissemination of COVID -19. The task was to take a daily photo accompanied by a short description (text). The texts accompanying the photos were analysed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to analyze linguistic markers representing psychological processes related to the experience of the pandemic and the lockdown, identifying potential changes in psycholinguistic variables useful for understanding the psychological impact of such harsh and extended restricted living conditions on Italian students. LIWC categories related to negation, anger, cognitive mechanisms, tentative discourse, past, and future increased statistically significantly between the two time points, while word count, prepositions, communication, leisure, and home decreased statistically significantly. While male participants used more articles at both time points, females used more words related to anxiety, social processes, past, and present at T1 and more related to insight at T2. Participants who lived with their partner showed higher scores on negative emotions, affect, positive feelings, anger, optimism, and certainty. Participants from southern Italy tended to describe their experiences from a collective and social perspective rather than an individual perspective. By identifying, discussing, and comparing these phenomena with the broader literature, a spotlight is shed for the first time on the psycholinguistic analysis of students at the national level who faced the first COVID -19 lockdown in Italy.

Early post-surgical cognitive dysfunction is a risk factor for mortality among hip fracture hospitalized older persons.

This study investigates the relationship between cognitive dysfunction or delirium detected in the early post-surgical phase and the 1-year mortality among 514 hip fracture hospitalized older persons. Patients with early cognitive dysfunction or delirium experienced a 2-fold increased mortality risk. Early post-operative cognitive dysfunction and delirium are negative prognostic factors for mortality. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Premorbid cognitive impairment and dementia in older individuals negatively affect functional recovery after hip fracture. Additionally, post-operative delirium is an established risk factor for negative outcomes among hip fracture patients. While the majority of hip fracture patients experience minor post-surgical cognitive dysfunction, the prognostic value of this phenomenon is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between minor cognitive dysfunction or delirium detected in the early post-surgical phase and the 1-year mortality after index hip fracture. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We enrolled 514 patients with hip fracture (77.4 % women), aged 65 years or older (mean age 83.1 ± 7.3 years), who underwent surgical hip fracture repair. Patients were assessed daily from the second to the fourth post-operative day and at 3, 6, and 12 months thereafter. All participants underwent comprehensive assessment, including detection of delirium by using the confusion assessment method and evaluation of cognitive function by using mini-mental state examination (MMSE; score range 0 to 30, with lower scores indicating poorer performance). In the absence of delirium, post-surgical cognitive dysfunction was defined as having low performance on MMSE. Vital status of 1 year after the index fracture and date of death were gathered from local registries. RESULTS: The observed 1-year mortality rate was 14.8 %. Men were more likely to die than women within 1 year of the index fracture (p < 0.01). Compared to participants with better cognitive performance, those with MMSE < 24, as well as those with delirium in the post-operative phase, showed a significantly higher 1-year mortality rate (23.3 versus 17.9 and 8.1 %, respectively). Independent of age and sex, post-operative cognitive dysfunction as well as delirium was both associated with a 2-fold increased mortality risk. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of minor cognitive dysfunction in the early post-surgical phase is a negative prognostic factor for mortality among elderly hip fracture patients. The burden of minor cognitive dysfunction is likely superimposed on that of delirium in subgroups of frail patients.

Validity and reliability of the Italian Constipation Assessment Scale.

Constipation is a common problem among oncology patients and requires careful assessment. Use of validated instruments is important to improving its management. The aim of this study was to validate the Italian translation of the Constipation Assessment Scale (CAS). To test construct validity, patients and apparently healthy adults were asked to complete the CAS. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the median CAS of the patient group and that of the apparently healthy group. Test-retest reliability was very high (r=0.96; P=0.0001), and the internal consistency as assessed by Cronbach's alpha was 0.768. These findings suggest that the Italian CAS can be used in clinical practice to document the presence and severity of constipation in cancer patients. However, further studies should be conducted in a larger sample of patients to confirm the results.