An Investigation of Misinformation Harms Related to Social Media during Two Humanitarian Crises.

During humanitarian crises, a large amount of information is circulated in a short period of time, either to withstand or respond to such crises. Such crises also give rise to misinformation that spreads within and outside the affected community. Such misinformation may result in information harms that can generate serious short term or long-term consequences. In the context of humanitarian crises, we propose a synthesis of misinformation harms and assess people's perception of harm based on their work experience in the crisis response arena or their direct exposure to crises.

Modeling EEG Data Distribution With a Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network to Predict RSVP Events.

Electroencephalography (EEG) data are difficult to obtain due to complex experimental setups and reduced comfort with prolonged wearing. This poses challenges to train powerful deep learning model with the limited EEG data. Being able to generate EEG data computationally could address this limitation. We propose a novel Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) to synthesize EEG data. This network addresses several modeling challenges of simulating time-series EEG data including frequency artifacts and training instability. We further extended this network to a class-conditioned variant that also includes a classification branch to perform event-related classification. We trained the proposed networks to generate one and 64-channel data resembling EEG signals routinely seen in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiment and demonstrated the validity of the generated samples. We also tested intra-subject cross-session classification performance for classifying the RSVP target events and showed that class-conditioned WGAN-GP can achieve improved event-classification performance over EEGNet.

Abdominal Compartment Syndrome as a Multidisciplinary Challenge. A Literature Review.

Abdominal Compartment Syndrome (ACS), despite recent advances in medical and surgical care, is a significant cause of mortality. The purpose of this review is to present the main diagnostic and therapeutic aspects from the anesthetical and surgical points of view. Intra-abdominal hypertension may be diagnosed by measuring intra-abdominal pressure and indirectly by imaging and radiological means. Early detection of ACS is a key element in the ACS therapy. Without treatment, more than 90% of cases lead to death and according with the last reports, despite all treatment measures, the mortality rate is reported as being between 25 and 75%. There are conflicting reports as to the importance of a conservative therapy approach, although such an approach is the central to treatment guidelines of the World Society of Abdominal Compartment Syndrome, Decompressive laparotomy, although a backup solution in ACS therapy, reduces mortality by 16-37%. The open abdomen management has several variants, but negative pressure wound therapy represents the gold standard of surgical treatment.

Influence of Ventilation Parameters on Intraabdominal Pressure.

INTRODUCTION: Intraabdominal pressure monitoring is not routinely performed because the procedure assumes some invasiveness and, like other invasive procedures, it needs to have a clear indication to be performed. The causes of IAH are various. Mechanically ventilated patients have numerous parameters set in order to be optimally ventilated and it is important to identify the ones with the biggest interference in abdominal pressure. Although it was stated that mechanical ventilation is a potential factor of high intraabdominal pressure the set parameters which may lead to this diagnostic are not clearly named. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relation between intraabdominal pressure and ventilator parameters in patients with mechanical ventilation and to determine the correlation between intraabdominal pressure and body mass index. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is an observational study which enrolled 16 invasive ventilated patients from which we obtained 61 record sheets. The following parameters were recorded twice daily: ventilator parameters, intraabdominal pressure, SpO2, Partial Oxygen pressure of arterial blood. We calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI) for each patient and the volume tidal/body weight ratio for every recorded data point. RESULTS: We observed a significant correlation between intraabdominal pressure (IAP) and the value of PEEP (p=0.0006). A significant statistical correlation was noted regarding the tidal volumes used for patient ventilation. The mean tidal volume was 5.18 ml/kg. Another significant correlation was noted between IAP and tidal volume per kilogram (p=0.0022). A positive correlation was found between BMI and IAP (p=0.0049), and another one related to the age of the enrolled patients. (p=0.0045). CONCLUSIONS: The use of positive end-expiratory pressures and high tidal volumes during mechanical ventilation may lead to the elevation of intraabdominal pressure, a possible way of reducing this risk would be using low values of PEEP and also low volumes for the setting of ventilation parameters. There is a close positive correlation between the intraabdominal pressure levels and body mass index.

A Fatal Case of Community Acquired Cupriavidus Pauculus Pneumonia.

INTRODUCTION: Cupriavidus pauculus is a rarely isolated non-fermentative, aerobic bacillus, which occasionally causes severe human infections, especially in immunocompromised patients. Strains have been isolated from various clinical and environmental sources. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year-old man was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with acute respiratory failure. The patient was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, pulmonary sepsis and underwent invasive mechanical ventilation. Examination revealed diminished bilateral vesicular breath sounds, fever, intense yellow tracheal secretions, a respiratory rate of 24/minute, a heart rate of 123/minute, and blood pressure of 75/55 mmHg. Vasoactive treatment was initiated. Investigations revealed elevated lactate and C-reactive protein levels. A chest X-ray showed bilateral infiltration. Parenteral ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone were administered. Tracheal aspirate culture and blood culture showed bacterial growth of Cupriavidus pauculus. Colistin was added to the treatment. There was a poor clinical response despite repeated blood culture showing negative results. The diagnosis of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) caused by C. pauculus was made. The patient died eleven days after admission. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical improvement cannot always be expected in spite of targeted antibiotic therapy. This pathogen should be considered responsible for infections that usually develop in immunocompromised patients.