The Music Attentiveness Screening Assessment, Revised (MASA-R): A Study of Technical Adequacy

YKL-40 levels are associated with disease severity and prognosis of viral pneumonia, but not available in bacterial pneumonia in children

Background

Viral pneumonia is the main type of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children. YKL-40, a chitinase-like protein, is regarded as a biomarker of the degree of inflammation.

Methods

Children who were diagnosed with CAP, including viral pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, and dual infection, were included in the cohort study. The pathogenic diagnosis depended on PCR and immunoassay test. YKL-40 levels were examined twice by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA).

Results

Serum YKL-40 levels were higher in patients with pneumonia than in healthy controls. The admission levels of YKL-40 in serum and Bronchoalveolar lavage (BALFs) indicated a positive correlation with the serum levels of C-reactive protein and other inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α). The disease severity have no correlation with the admission serum levels of YKL-40. Meanwhile, reductions in YKL-40 levels from initial admission levels to day 5 post-admission were correlated with disease severity. The multiple logistic analysis indicated the decreased extent of serum YKL-40 level as an independent prognostic predictor of severe cases in patients with viral pneumonia.

Conclusions

Reductions in serum YKL-40 levels on day 5 after receiving therapy is a possible prognostic biomarker for children with viral pneumonia.

The Music Therapy Session Assessment Scale (MT-SAS): Validation of a new tool for music therapy process evaluation

BACKGROUND

Music therapy (MT) interventions are aimed at creating and developing a relationship between patient and therapist. However, there is a lack of validated observational instruments to consistently evaluate the MT process.

AIM

The purpose of this study was the validation of Music Therapy Session Assessment Scale (MT-SAS), designed to assess the relationship between therapist and patient during active MT sessions.

METHODS

Videotapes of a single 30-min session per patient were considered. A pilot study on the videotapes of 10 patients was carried out to help refine the items, define the scoring system and improve inter-rater reliability among the five raters. Then, a validation study on 100 patients with different clinical conditions was carried out. The Italian MT-SAS was used throughout the process, although we also provide an English translation.

RESULTS

The final scale consisted of 7 binary items accounting for eye contact, countenance, and nonverbal and sound-music communication. In the pilot study, raters were found to share an acceptable level of agreement in their assessments. Explorative factorial analysis disclosed a single homogeneous factor including 6 items (thus supporting an ordinal total score), with only the item about eye contact being unrelated to the others. Moreover, the existence of 2 different archetypal profiles of attuned and disattuned behaviours was highlighted through multiple correspondence analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

As suggested by the consistent results of 2 different analyses, MT-SAS is a reliable tool that globally evaluates sonorous-musical and nonverbal behaviours related to emotional attunement and empathetic relationship between patient and therapist during active MT sessions.