Search

The paper explores media representations of Xylella fastidiosa , the bacterium that causes severe plant diseases, using data from online sources in English which reported on the developments in the bacterium spreading and treatment from 2015 to 2020. Two directions of analysis are pursued, the quantitative and qualitative one. Quantitative analysis reveals that the bacterium and its effects are described via the terms belonging to the lexical fields of fear, diseases, change, the supernatural, hostility, destruction, killing and war, with the latter three being the most dominant statistically speaking. Further, qualitative analysis attests that some of these terms are used metaphorically as instantiations of the war metaphor, which is generally effective in communicating the severity of the X. fastidiosa induced diseases and mobilising the necessary support. Based on the results, it may be argued that the language used in the media for describing X. fastidiosa fits into the prevalent "catastrophe discourse", with the purpose of raising awareness of the gravity of the threat the bacterium poses, as well as justifying the severe measures undertaken to contain it., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41701-022-00129-4., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestOn behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Background: The important risk factors for atrial fibrillation (AF) in the general population are not always equally important in specific and relatively prevalent diseases., Objective: The main goal of this narrative review is to focus attention on the presence and the relationship of AF with several important diseases, such as cancer or sepsis, in order to: 1) stimulate further research in the field, and 2) draw attention to this relationship and search for AF in clinical practice., Methods: We searched PubMed, SCOPUS, Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Oxford Journals, Cambridge, SAGE, and Google Scholar for less-known comorbidities of AF. The search was limited to publications in English. No time limits were applied., Results: AF is widely represented in cardiovascular and other important diseases, even in those in which AF is rarely mentioned. In some specific clinical subsets of AF patients (e.g., patients with sepsis or cancer), the general risk factors for AF may not be so important. Patients with new-onset AF have a several-fold increase in relative risk of cancer, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) during the follow-up., Conclusion: AF presence, prognosis, and optimal therapeutic approach are insufficiently recognised in several prevalent diseases, including life-threatening ones. There is a need for a better search for AF in PTE, pulmonary oedema, aortic dissection, sepsis, cancer and several gastrointestinal diseases. Improved AF detection would influence treatment and improve outcomes., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)