In the author's opinion, many global problems that face humanity - in the fields of education, medicine, management etc can be tackled more effectively if the cyclic nature of self-reproducing systems – including living beings – is taken into account. Summarizing the main physiological findings of the last decades on "adaptation reactions", one can very roughly say that the way of action which is effective in the sense of productive activity of people happens at the same time to be healthy, and it gives the participants of the process the feeling of happiness. The present paper represents a very short overview of the contemporary concepts of the adaptation reactions based on the fundamental understanding of their cyclic nature due to general properties of self-reproducing systems. One interesting feature of self-reproduction cycles is its first "phase of orientation" which was not discussed in detail in the past but plays a key role in the whole cycle.

Background: Strengthening adherence to self-care behaviors in patients with periodontal disease (PD) and reducing plaque index is crucial for improving PD treatment. We evaluated the effectiveness of a theory of planned behavior (TPB)-based health education intervention involving planning strategy on self-care behaviors in patients with PD. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted; 158 and 139 patients comprised the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG), respectively. Both groups received a leaflet, and the EG also received a planning intervention, which was a brief one-on-one counseling session with a planning sheet. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Between-group comparisons of TPB measures revealed significant differences in all domains when controlling for baseline covariates. The EG exhibited significantly higher levels of action and coping planning than the CG at 2-week follow-up (effect size (ES) = 5.54 and 5.57, respectively) and 6-week follow-up (ES = 5.66 and 5.66, respectively). Between-group differences in changes of brushing behaviors increased significantly. More frequent use of dental floss was observed in the EG than in the CG at 2-week and 6-week follow-ups (24.7% and 22.8%, respectively). Conclusions: The intervention involving planning strategy effectively promoted adherence to self-care behaviors in patients with PD.

Organizations can play a significant role in the advancement of Sustainable Development, and companies with Quality, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (QEOHS) certified management systems address the three Sustainability Dimensions (economic, environmental and social). This research aims to map the present level of engagement of those companies in contributing and reporting to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of The United Nations 2030 Agenda. The content of companies reports (available in web sites, by 31 December 2017) of a total of 235 Portuguese organizations with QEOHS certified management systems, was analyzed. The results show a moderate reporting of SDGs by those companies, with the top five being SDG 12 - Responsible consumption and production (23.8%), SDG 13 – Climate action (22.1%), SDG 09 - Industry, innovation, and infrastructure (21.3%), SDG 08 - Decent work and economic growth (20.0%) and SDG 17 - Partnerships for the goals (19.6%). The results of the statistical tests indicate that the communication of SDGs is more prominent in organizations (QEOHS) with higher business volume, that are members of the United Nations Global Compact Network Portugal, and that disclose their sustainability reports on their web site. This study can be useful for decision-makers that aim to support organizations to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Background: After serious epidemics of chikungunya (CHIKV) and Zika (ZIKV) in the Americas, dengue (DENV) have reemerged in most countries. We analyzed the incidence, incidence rates, and evolution of DENV cases in Honduras from 2015-2018 and the ongoing 2019 epidemic. Methods: Using epidemiological weeks (EW) surveillance data on the DENV in Honduras, we estimated incidence rates (cases/100,000 population), and developed maps at national, departmental, and municipal levels. Results: From 1 January 2016 to 21 July 2019, a total of 109,557 cases of DENV were reported, 28,603 in 2019, for an incidence rate of 312.32 cases/100,000 pop this year; 0.13% laboratory-confirmed. The highest peak was reached on the EW 28°, 2019 (5,299 cases; 57.89 cases/100,000 pop). The department with the highest number of cases and incidence rate was Cortes (8,404 cases, 479.68 cases/100,000 pop in 2019). Discussion: The pattern and evolution of DENV epidemic in 2019 in Honduras has been similar to that which occurred for in 2015. As previously reported, this epidemic involved the north and central areas of the country predominantly, reaching municipality incidences there >1,000 cases/100,000 pop (1%). Studies using geographical information systems linked with clinical disease characteristics are necessary to attain accurate epidemiological data for public health systems. Such information is also useful for assessment of risk for travelers who visit specific areas in a destination country.

The Yezidis who represent a religious minority living in Northern Iraq were particularly affected of the persecution by ISIS that gained power after 2013. This paper gives an overview of the events and the mental health consequences as well as associated influences on affected female Yezidis. Based on systematic literature search the aspects “Persecution by ISIS and actual situation of the Yezidi community”, “Gender-specific aspects of the persecution and its consequences”, “Mental health of the affected women” and “Cultural-historical and religious context” are worked out. Research indicates a high burden of health strain and mental health problems in the surviving Yezidi women, especially PTSD and depression. Concerning transgenerational trauma, the recent genocide revive past experiences in the history of the community. Like the narrow cultural and religious rules of the community, this can be both a resource and a burden. The actual extent of the attacks is neither predictable for the affected individuals nor for the community, consequences could also be passed on descendants. Long-term care and support of the affected persons, their descendants and the Yezidi community seems indispensable.

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has significantly affected Latin America in 2015–2017. Most studies have been reported from Brazil and Colombia, and only a few from Central America. For these reasons we analyzed the incidence, incidence rates and evolution of cases in Honduras from 2016–2017. Methods: Using epidemiological weeks (EW) surveillance data on the ZIKV epidemics in Honduras, we estimated incidence rates (cases/100,000 population), and developed maps at national, departmental and municipal levels. Results: From 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017, a total of 32,607 cases of ZIKV were reported (98.5% in 2016 for an incidence rate of 36.85 cases/100,000 pop; 1% confirmed by RT-PCR). The highest peak was reached on the EW 6°, 2016 (2,559 cases; 29.34 cases/100,000 pop). The department with the highest number of cases and incidence rate was Cortés (13,128 cases, 791.08 cases/100,000 pop in 2016). Discussion: The pattern and evolution of ZIKV infection in Honduras has been similar to that which occurred for chikungunya in 2015. As previously reported, infection with chikungunya involved predominantly the central and capital area of the country, reaching incidences there >750 cases/100,000 pop. Studies using geographical information systems linked with clinical disease characteristics are necessary to attain accurate epidemiological data for public health systems. Such information is also useful for assessment of risk for travelers who visit specific areas in a destination country.

Classification of electromyographic signals has a wide range of applications, from clinical diagnosis of different muscular diseases to biomedical engineering, where their use as input control of prosthetic devices has become a hot topic of research. Challenge of classifying this signals relies on the accuracy of the proposed algorithm and the possibility of its implementation on hardware. This paper consider the problem of electromyography signal classification, solved with the proposed signal processing and feature extraction stages, with focus lying on the signal model and time domain characteristics for better classification accuracy. The proposal considers a simple preprocessing technique that produces signals suitable for feature extraction, and the Burg reflection coefficients to form learning and classification patterns. These coefficients yield a competitive classification rate compared to used time domain features. Sometimes, the feature extraction from electromyographic signals showed that procedure can omit less useful traits for machine learning models. Using feature selection algorithms provides a higher classification performance with as fewer traits as possible. Algorithms achieved a high classification rate up to 100% with low pattern dimensionality, with other kinds of uncorrelated attributes for hand movement identification.

Taking four of the United Nations Development Goals as reference, this overview describes the need to see from a systemic perspective, the food certifications programs along the food chain in Mexico as today food certifications are voluntary. Using secondary data, the main objectives were: a) there is a fall short in food safety policies and those federal agencies responsible for food safety, to guarantee safe food along the whole domestic food chain, especially in that for low income players; b) the amount of the Mexican Federal Budget Expenses devoted to safety food issues is really low, considering the health, well- being, and food security consequences; and c) due the structural heterogeneity of the Mexican food market, there is a lack of coordination in food regulations along all agents of the food supply chain, bringing to alternate informal markets that put at risk peoples´ health, increasing poverty and inequalities. According to this exercise, only 0.7- 8.7% of producers, 12.5% of supermarkets as well as 42.8% of restaurants would have some type of certifications. Public policies must attend this issue in order to improve food safety and security for the whole population, reducing inequalities, poverty and ensuring them a healthy live.

This paper reports the findings from a pilot study designed to explore the barriers, facilitators and similarities with the delivery and implementation of two distinct models of Advance Care Planning (ACP) documentation for older adults in their last year of life used by health care professionals in their clinical practice. PACe (Proactive Anticipatory Care Plan): a GP led model and PEACE (Proactive Elderly Persons’ Advisory CarE): a nurse led model with community geriatrician oversight were used by participants in their clinical practice. Telephone interviews were conducted with general practitioners (GPs) to explore their views of using the PACe tool. Hospital admission avoidance matrons took part in face to face interviews and care staff employed in private residential care homes took part in individual telephone interviews to explore their views of using the PEACE tool. GPs and admission avoidance matrons were employed by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and all study participants were recruited from the South East of England where data collection took place in 2015. Nine telephone interviews and two face-to-face interviews (one joint and one individual) were conducted with twelve participants. The data was analysed thematically. Participants highlighted the similarity of both tools in providing focus to ACP discussions to inform individual end-of-life care preferences. The importance of relationships was a pivotal theme-established, trusting inter-professional relationships to enable multidisciplinary teamwork and a prior relationship with the older person (or their proxy in the case of cognitive impairment) to enable conversations of this nature. Using both tools enabled participants to think critically and reflect on their own practice was another theme identified. Notwithstanding participants’ views to improve the layout of both tools, using a paper-based approach to deliver streamlined ACP and end-of-life care was a theme to emerge as a barrier which focused on the problems with access to paper-based documentation, accuracy and care co-ordination in the context of multidisciplinary team working. The value of technology in overcoming this barrier and underpin ACP as a means to help simplify service provision, promote integrated professional practice and provide seamless care was put forward as the solution.

Limited observational studies have described the relationship between sleep duration and overall diet. The present study investigated the association between sleep duration at weekdays and empirically derived dietary patterns in a nationally representative sample of UK adults, aged 19-64 years old, participating in the 2008-2012 UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme. Survey members completed between three to four days of dietary records. Sleep duration at weekdays was categorised into tertiles to reflect short, normal and long sleep duration. Social jetlag was calculated as the difference between sleep duration at weekends and weekdays. The association between sleep duration/ social jetlag and dietary patterns, derived by principal components analysis, was assessed regressing diet on sleep whilst accounting for the complex survey design and adjusting for relevant confounders. Survey members in the highest tertile of sleep duration had on average 0.45 (95% CI -0.78, -0.12) lower healthy dietary pattern score compared to middle tertile (p =0.007). There was an inverted u-shaped association between social jetlag and a healthy dietary pattern, such that when sleep at weekends exceeded weekday sleep by 1h 45min, scores for indicating a healthy dietary pattern declined (p =0.005). In conclusion, long sleep duration at weekdays and an increased social jetlag are associated with a lower healthy dietary pattern score. Further research is required to address factors influencing dietary patterns in long sleepers.

The workplace is an ideal setting for health promotion. The regular medical examination of workers enables us to screen for numerous diseases, spread good practices and correct lifestyles, and obtain a favourable risk/benefit ratio. The continuous monitoring of the level of workers' wellbeing using a holistic approach that goes beyond the simple prevention of occupational risks enables us to promptly identify problems in work organization and the company climate. Problems of this kind can be adequately managed by using a participatory approach. In this study participatory ergonomics groups were used to improve occupational life in a small company. After intervention we observed a reduction in levels of perceived occupational stress measured with the effort / reward imbalance model, and an improvement in psychological wellbeing assessed by means of the Goldberg anxiety / depression scale. Although the limited size of the sample calls for a cautious evaluation of this study, the GEP© strategy proved to be a useful tool due to its cost-effectiveness.

The stability assessment of aged tunnel linings were mainly evaluated based on the visual inspection, and the Tunnel-lining Crack Index (TCI) is one of the most widely used tunnel lining health assessment indexes in Japan. However, the intersection and distribution of cracks, which can influence the stability of tunnel lining greatly, were not considered in the TCI. A new method was proposed for the health assessment of tunnel lining, which evaluate the lining states according to the fractal dimension of cracks. Based on the machine vision-based method, the crack image can be extracted efficiently. The fractal dimension of lining cracks in one span can be obtained in a few minutes. A series of comparative tests and field tests were conducted to evaluate the validity of this new method. The comparative tests confirmed that fractal dimension can characterize the density, width, and distribution of cracks. The results also certificated that the influence of crack width is larger than the crack density. The intersection of cracks, which will increase the risk of lining collapse, can also increase the fractal dimension, whereas the TCI keep constant. The fractal dimensions of tunnel lining cracks were obtained according to the digital inspection test of Hidake Tunnel in Japan for all the 65 spans. Moreover, the TCI was obtained through statistical methods. The correlation between fractal dimension and TCI of tunnel lining was studied. The significance of the new evaluation index is that it can identify some unusual spans of tunnel lining and provide a basis for further internal testing. As a complement to the conventional visual inspection method, the fractal dimension of the cracks is a promising health assessment index.

Suicidal behaviour remains difficult to predict and prevent, even for experienced mental health care professionals. The known distal risk factors for suicidal behaviour are not sufficiently specific to fully understand the complex dynamic processes that precede a suicide attempt. Real-time mobile monitoring data can be used to analyse proximal risk mechanisms within the suicidal process. At the same time smartphone-based safety planning and self-monitoring may enhance a patient’s self-management skills thereby increasing their capacity to respond to a suicidal crisis and to become more aware of crisis symptoms. The current paper describes the theoretical and conceptual rationale for the CASPAR study which applies an innovative approach to the study of suicidal processes. It uses basic science approaches to inform the implementation of an innovative suicide prevention intervention. We aim to develop and implement mobile safety plan in conjunction with real-time monitoring in order to both directly implement suicide prevention interventions and to study the ongoing dynamics of individual suicidal behaviour by applying network analysis.

Suboptimal nutrition is a leading cause of cardiometabolic disease and mortality. Biological sex is a variable that can play a role in individual response to nutritional factors and may modulate the impact of nutrition on disease. This narrative review explores the intricate interplay between sex, nutrition, and health outcomes, and the consequent importance of considering sex in nutrition research, dietary recommendations, and disease management. We examine the impact of sex on how various dietary patterns, including the Mediterranean diet, macronutrient content and quality, Western diet, and energy restriction associate with or affect metabolic health and disease risk. Understanding how sex influences the response to the diet can inform precision nutrition interventions and approaches for disease prevention and management.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter CRPD) has provided a radical imperative for the reform of mental health and capacity legislation around the world. The interpretation of the CRPD has been controversial, ranging from complete abolition of detention, forcible treatment and substitute decision making, to acceptance that elements of these measures need to be retained but based on non-discriminatory criteria, additional safe-guards and a comprehensive shift towards supported decision-making. While the potential ef-fects of the CRPD on mental health social work and social work generally are considerable given their shared commitment towards social justice, to date there has been no review of research evi-dence exploring their relationship. In addressing this knowledge gap, this study held a prelimi-nary discussion with practitioners and academics at the European Association of Social Work Mental Health Special Interest Group in Amsterdam 2022, followed by a scoping literature re-view on the question: What impact, if any, has the CRPD had on social work practice? The review produced four main findings: impact on legislation; positive impact on practice; limited impact on practice; and impact on social work education and research. In sum, while there were some positive indications of social work and mental health social work practice being influenced by the CRPD, these were scant. Barriers to change included tendencies among some social workers to practise substitute decision-making, in part related to resourcing and policy contexts, and under-standings of disability aligned to individualised/medical rather than social perspectives. The results indicate that legal reform on its own is insufficient to impact social work practice, and that realising the potential of the CRPD will necessitate good quality training, as well as improv-ing social workers’ knowledge of the human rights of people with mental impairment.

Water stable proteins may offer a new field of applications in smart materials for buildings and infrastructures where hydraulic reactions are involved. In this study, cement mortars modified through water-soluble silk fibroin (SF) are proposed. Water-soluble SF obtained by redissolving SF films in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) showed the formation of a gel with β-sheet features of silk II. Electrical measurements on SF indicate that calcium ions are primarily involved in the conductivity mechanism. By exploiting the water solubility properties of silk II and Ca2+ ion transport phenomena and its trapping effect over water molecules, SF provides piezoresistive and piezocapacitive properties to cement mortars, thus enabling self-sensing of mechanical strain which is quite attractive in structural health monitoring applications. SF/cement-based composite introduces the capacitive gauge factor that surpasses the traditional resistive gauge factor reported in the literature by threefold. Cyclic voltammetry measurements demonstrated SF cement mortars possess memcapacitive behavior for positive potentials around +5 V, attributed to an interfacial charge build-up modulated by the SF concentration and the working electrode. Electrical square-biphasic excitation combined with cyclic compressive loads revealed memristive behavior during the unloading stages. These findings along with the availability and the sustainability of SF pave the way for the design of novel multifunctional materials, particularly for applications in masonry and concrete structures.

Attaining sustained soil fertility is essential for guaranteeing global food security and environmental well-being. Traditional farming methods that depend extensively on synthetic fertilizers have resulted in soil deterioration and environmental contamination. Biological fertilizers fortified with micronutrients have emerged as viable alternatives. This analysis examines many types of biological fertilizers and their contribution to improving soil fertility via micronutrient enhancement. Multiple sources of micronutrient-enriched biological fertilizers, such as microbial inoculants, compost, and organic amendments, are evaluated for their effectiveness in enhancing plant growth, increasing nutrient availability, and boosting soil health. Moreover, the effects of these fertilizers on agricultural productivity, soil microbial populations, and ecological sustainability are examined. Green manuring is a reasonable and ecofriendly scientific approach to enhancing robust and sustainable food production in agricultural systems. The integration of green manure improves soil quality by augmenting its chemical, physical, and biological properties, including the availability of organic matter, potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus, while also enhancing soil structure by reducing erosion and improving water retention capacity. Green manure serves as a natural fertilizer, releasing nutrients into the soil during decomposition, so enhancing nutrient content and fostering plant growth and development. The results highlight the potential of biological fertilizers as sustainable solutions for improving soil fertility and decreasing reliance on synthetic inputs, hence promoting long-term agricultural output and ecosystem resilience.

Longitudinal research into the impact of Covid-19 on university student mental health beyond the pandemic is lacking. This study aims to address the gap in the literature by tracking the mental health of university students over a two-year period, spanning the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. A two-year longitudinal study surveyed a sample of university students (n=302) three times between May 2020 and May 2022. Students’ psychological distress, generalised anxiety, flourishing, and personal wellbeing were assessed at each time point. It was found that students’ psychological distress levels spiked during the first year of the pandemic, but reverted back to baseline levels at two-year follow-up. While generalised anxiety gradually improved, both their psychological distress and generalised anxiety remained considerably worse than pre-pandemic norms. Students’ flourishing scores remained very low, while their life satisfaction and state happiness improved slightly between May 2021 and May 2022. These findings clearly demonstrate that students’ mental health is still in crisis, even after the Covid-19 pandemic. More needs to be done to support students beyond the pandemic generally, including this particularly unique cohort of students who endured unprecedented challenges for prolonged periods, and are now transitioning into the working world. Practical implications and recommendations are discussed.

Air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), poses a significant threat to public health, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas like Lagos State. Despite the severity of the issue, there is a lack of comprehensive data on PM2.5 levels and the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Lagos. This study leverages data from AirQo, an innovative air quality monitoring network using low-cost sensors, to provide a detailed assessment of PM2.5 concentrations and AQI across eight locations in Lagos State, Nigeria. This approach offers real-time, continuous monitoring, filling a critical data gap in the region's air quality management efforts. This study uses AirQo data to assess the concentration levels and spatial distribution of PM2.5 and AQI across the selected eight locations. Data on PM2.5 concentrations were obtained from AirQo sensors deployed across the eight strategic locations in Lagos. The spatial distribution of PM2.5 levels and AQI were analyzed, and the results were compared with national and international air quality standards. The findings revealed that PM2.5 levels (minimum – 6.28 µg/m3 (Ikeja) and maximum - 204.68 µg/m3 (Banana Island) in many areas of Lagos exceed annual WHO and national air quality guidelines, indicating significant health risks. The spatial analysis identified pollution hotspots, particularly in densely populated and industrial regions. The data suggested vehicular emissions and industrial activities as major contributors to high PM2.5 levels. This study underscores the severe air quality issues in Lagos State, emphasizing the need for immediate and targeted interventions to mitigate PM2.5 pollution. The use of AirQo sensors proved effective in providing accurate and timely data for air quality assessment. It is recommended that Lagos State implements stricter emission controls, promotes cleaner technologies, and enhances public transportation systems to reduce traffic-related pollution. Additionally, expanding the air quality monitoring network and incorporating more environmental data will provide a more comprehensive understanding of air pollution impacts, thereby facilitating better policy and public health decisions.

Flavonoids are secondary plant metabolites involved in biological activity that are present in plentiful proportions in many plant origin foods and beverages. Owing to their chemical difference and qualities that make them beneficial for human health, they have received a lot of focus in research. This review therefore presents an account on the chemical structure of flavonoids, food sources and their metabolism with emphasis on bioavailability. And they also examine their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, cardiovascular protective, neuroprotective, and antimicrobial properties and reveal related molecular processes. In addition, it overviews the clinical data concerning their possible use in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. Some of the problems that attend current flavonoid research are also dealt with; such issues as variation in the bioactivity of flavonoids and scarcity of clinical studies. This review is designed to present current state of knowledge and to provoke further research concerning the further potential of flavonoids in enhancing human health.

Work disparities experienced by nurses in long-term care (LTC) can impact the retention, well-being, and health of this workforce. Despite the significant impact disparities experienced by nurses have on the workforce and LTC sector, a review of the available literature on work disparities has not been conducted on work disparities experienced by nurses in LTC. Consequently, this scoping review aimed to explore the nature and extent of research on meso-level work disparities experienced by nurses in LTC and how such disparities are linked with nurse health and well-being. Five databases were searched: MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), and CINAHL (EBSCO host). Of the 5,652 articles retrieved, 16 studies published between 1997 and 2024 met the inclusion criteria. The average number of work disparities within each study was 3.06 (minimum = 1, maximum = 6, SD = 1.62). Types of work disparities across the 16 studies were work opportunities (n = 19), work treatment (n = 18), job security (n = 8), and work compensation (n = 8). Only four articles investigated the association of a work disparity with a variable of health and well-being. Future research on how macro-level disparities intersect with meso-level work disparities may inform a contextual understanding of how disparities transpire in the work of nurses in LTC. Studies are required to address the gaps in knowledge regarding how work disparities negatively influence the health of nurses to inform better retention, well-being, and health of nurses in LTC.

Background: The Second Victim Phenomenon (SVP) significantly impacts the well-being of healthcare professionals and patient safety. While SVP has been explored in various healthcare settings, there is limited data on its prevalence and associated factors among nurses in Austria. This study investigates the prevalence, symptomatology, and preferred support measures for SVP among Austrian nurses. Methods: A nationwide, cross-sectional, anonymous online survey was conducted using the SeViD questionnaire (Second Victims in German-speaking Countries), which includes the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10). Statistical analyses included binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression using the bootstrapping, bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) method based on 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: 928 participants responded to the questionnaire. Among the respondents, 81.58% (744/912) identified as Second Victims (SVs). The primary cause of becoming a SV was aggressive behavior from patients or relatives. Females reported a higher symptom load than males, and higher agreeableness was linked to increased symptom severity. Notably, 92.47% of SVs who sought help preferred support from colleagues, and the most pronounced desire among participants was to process the event for better understanding. Conclusions: The prevalence of SVP among Austrian nurses is alarmingly high, with aggressive behavior identified as a significant trigger. The findings emphasize the necessity for tailored support strategies, including peer support and systematic organizational interventions to mitigate the impact of SVP on nurses and to improve overall patient care. Further research should focus on developing and implementing effective prevention and intervention programs for healthcare professionals in similar settings.

Indigenous Peoples in Canada are disproportionately affected by chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV prevalence in Indigenous Peoples is estimated at approximately five to 10-fold higher than it is in non-Indigenous persons, while the reported rate of newly diagnosed HCV cases in First Nations communities was six times the respective rate in the general Canadian population in 2022. This review explores the reasons underlying the disproportionate burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Indigenous Peoples, including significant over-representation of Indigenous Peoples in the major risk categories for HCV acquisition, such as substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness or inadequate shelter, and disruption of family/social supports. The impact of these risk factors is aggravated by many access barriers to healthcare services despite the availability of universal healthcare system and free curative antiviral therapies. These stem from the legacy of colonialism, discrimination and disenfranchisement, and are exacerbated by racism in the justice and healthcare systems, stigmatization and victimization. Recent recognition of historical harms and early steps towards nation-to-nation reconciliation along with support for culturally safe, wholistic and Indigenous People-led wellness programs instill hope that elimination strategies to eradicate HCV infection in Indigenous populations will be successful in Canada.

Introduction: The Fontan procedure, a palliative surgery for univentricular heart physiology, of-ten reduces exercise capacity and quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on improving outcomes in Fontan patients to inform evidence-based care. Methods: Fontan patients aged 8-30 participated in a structured CR program for at least three months. The program included weekly aerobic and resistance training sessions, with educational and nutritional guidance. Baseline and post-CR assessments included cardiac function, fitness, daily activity, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Results: The cohort included ten Fontan patients, of whom six had a right systemic ventricle. CR significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness, as seen in VO2 max (from 27.92 ± 5.15 to 34.69 ± 1.14 mL/kg/min, p = 0.0089) and per cent predicted VO2 (from 0.67 ± 0.18 to 0.90 ± 0.02, p = 0.005). VCO2 increased by +8.68 ± 8.59 mL/kg/min, but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.05). Most haemodynamic and ventila-tory parameters showed no significant improvement. All the SF-36 questionnaire domains showed significant HRQOL gains (p < 0.001). High adherence (85-93%), no adverse events, and reduced NT-proBNP levels supported the program's safety. Conclusion: This study's findings have im-portant implications for the care of Fontan patients. CR significantly improved exercise capacity and HRQOL in Fontan patients across various anatomies, particularly in the right systemic ven-tricle. Integrating physical conditioning into standard care could reduce long-term morbidity and mortality; however, further research is needed to refine the protocols and confirm sustained ben-efits.

Background: The Government of Bangladesh is currently providing COVID-19 vaccines free of cost, but for a massive population, the free vaccination program’s sustainability is challenging. In this regard, assessing willingness to pay can help to explore vaccine pricing, subsidizing strategy, and vaccine demand. The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of willingness to pay (WTP) for the COVID-19 vaccine and its associated factors to ensure the sustainability of the vaccination program. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was adopted to collect data from 1497 respondents through online and face-to-face interviews. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and point-biserial correlation for descriptive statistical analysis, and multiple logistic regression analysis was also used to identify the factors associated with the dependent variable in the study. Results: The prevalence of WTP towards a COVID-19 vaccine was 50.9 %, and mean and median WTP were respectively 754.55 BDT (US$ 8.93), 300 BDT (US$ 3.55). WTP of other religions was significantly higher than Muslims (aOR=1.5, P=0.037). WTP was also higher among Graduate (aOR=2.2, P=0.007), Masters & MPhil/PhD (aOR=2, P=0.030), higher family income group (aOR=1, P=0.039) and respondents with higher knowledge about the vaccine (aOR=1.1, P=0.003), behavioral practice (aOR=1.1, P< 0.001), higher subjective norms (aOR=1.2, P=0.009), higher anticipated regret (aOR=1.2, P=0.005) and higher perceived benefits from the vaccine (aOR=1.1, P=0.029). On the contrary, WTP is lower among respondents who had a higher negative attitude toward vaccines (aOR= 0.9, P<0.001) and higher behavioral control (aOR=0.9, P=0.006). The participants who had experienced severe morbidity and who belonged to a higher income group, they have highly tended to WTP's highest amount of money for the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: The study found that nearly half of the respondents were not interested in paying for the COVID-19 vaccine. It emphasizes higher education, proper knowledge dissemination about the COVID-19 vaccine, positive behavioral practice, reducing negative attitudes towards it, and higher household income to increase WTP for the COVID-19 vaccine. Health promotion materials should be developed to improve COVID-19 vaccine knowledge and reduce negative attitudes regarding vaccines. A subsidized scheme for lower-income groups should be initiated to minimize the catastrophic income challenge regarding WTP for the COVID-19 vaccine.

This research paper is divided into two aspects: first part describes the modelling techniques which are referred for handling infectious diseases in public health domain, second part describes the modelling techniques which are referred for building epidemiology cases in public health domain. To illustrate further, first part helps in understanding various modeling ordinary differential equations have been defined to develop the definition, described to know the terminologies involved in developing the equations and henceforth established to understand the end-to-end process. Second part helps in understanding various aspects of epidemiology in public health domain and how they help in addressing the public health domain policy-making.

The mosquito-borne zoonotic nematode parasites, Dirofilaria immitis and Dirofilaria repens, primarily affect dogs. In recent years, their distribution has expanded due to various factors influencing vector-borne pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the comparative prevalence of infection in dogs and humans within a hyperenzootic region of Europe and to estimate the proportional relationship between infection prevalence in dogs and humans, in the concept of “One Health”. To this end, 604 blood samples from dogs and 625 serum samples from humans living in the Thrace region of northeastern Greece were collected. Dog samples were examined using Kott’s test for Dirofilaria spp. microfilariae and a commercial serological test for D. immitis antigen. Human sera were analysed by western blot for both parasites. The overall prevalence of infection in dogs was 177 (29.3%), with 173 (28.6%) testing positive for D. immitis and 7 (1.3%) for D. repens, including 6 (1%) cases of mixed infection. Specific IgG antibodies were detected in 42 (6.7%) human samples, with 24 (3.8%) positive for D. immitis and 18 (2.9%) for D. repens. The infection proportion in humans was 23.4% of the corresponding canine infection, indicating a high risk of human infection in this hyperenzootic region.

This investigation is part of a topical situation where wireless equipment is gradually being used for energy transfer, particularly for autonomous systems and the use of decarbonized en-ergies. A characteristic example of decarbonized autonomous use is linked to the substitution of thermal engine vehicles by electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with energy storage batteries. This response was considered in an ecological context of reducing air pollution and defending plane-tary biodiversity, which are currently vital. These EVs ultimately operate thanks to the wireless charging of their batteries when stationary or running. By changing long-established means of transport that have become a threat to biodiversity, it is necessary to ensure that innovative re-placement solutions protect this biodiversity. In addition, the construction of wireless power transfer (WPT) battery chargers for these EVs must offer an optimal ecology of clean energy saving. In such a context, the two concepts of One Health (OH) and Responsible Attitude (RA) will find their place in the design and control of WPT tools in EVs. This contribution aims to il-lustrate and analyze the roles of the green and non-wasteful OH and RA approaches in the de-sign and control of WPT embedded in EVs for the smart city (SC) environment. In the paper, WPT tools are first introduced. The design and control of EV battery charging tools are then examined. The biological effects on living tissues due to the electromagnetic field (EMF) radia-tion of WPT are analyzed. The phenomena and equations governing the design of WPT and the effects of EMF radiation are then exposed. The OH and RA approaches in the SC context are af-terward analyzed. The protection against the unsafe effects of WPT tools in the SC environment is consequently explored. The analyses followed in the paper are supported by examples of lit-erature.

Currently, there is a marked increase in the importance of the environmental and cultural ecosystem services of the forest. Among the social benefits, protection of human health and improvement of human well-being come to the fore. Forests, both reserve and commercial, benefit human health. However, people often have negative attitudes toward forest management activities, especially near urban areas, and prefer forest management that results in a forest that is close to natural. Second-growth forest and clear-cutting are the most visible manifestations of ongoing forest management in forests. The purpose of this study was to compare the benefits derived from exposure to second-growth forest, clear-cutting and mature forest stands. Fifty-five students of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW (WULS-SGGW) participated in the study. The study was conducted in October 2023 in a forest within the city of Otwock, within the range of the Warsaw metropolitan area. Participants were exposed for 15 minutes to selected plots: second- growth forest, clear-cutting area and mature forest stand. Before the experiment (PRE-Test control trial) and after each of the exposures four psychological questionnaires were administered: the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS), the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS) and Profile of Mood States (POMS). The results indicate that not all analyzed features of the forest landscape have a regenerative effect on people. Exposure to a commercial forest, only in the case of a mature stand, yielded the most benefits in terms of mood improvement. In contrast, exposure to clear-cutting area resulted in a decrease in positive feelings and an increase in negative feelings, leading to a complete disturbance of mood, an increase in tension, depression and a decrease in feelings of vigor. Clear-cutting area has significantly worse restorative properties compared to mature forest stands and second-growth forest. This observation is relevant to forest management within city limits and in the suburban zone of large cities. Not only is clear-cutting area not accepted by people visiting forests for recreational purposes, but it leads to a detraction from the health benefits provided by forests.

In China, preschool teachers have a significant influence on the development of young children aged 3-6. It is imperative to understand their mental health and the factors associated with it to inform policies, optimize their mental well-being, and support their job performance. This study aimed to investigate the factors contributing to anxiety symptoms among preschool teachers. A sample of 393 Chinese preschool teachers (279 females, 114 males) aged 21-56 completed online questionnaires collecting their socio-demographic and work-related information and assessing anxiety symptoms, interpersonal difficulties, personality traits, perceived stress, resilience, and inner strength. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analyses identified significant predictors of anxiety symptoms. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms among the studied cohort was found to be 12.2%. Statistically significant factors positively correlated with anxiety symptoms included objective work-related stress (B=0.149, p<.001), interpersonal difficulties (B=0.921, p<.001), perceived stress (B=0.108, p=.001), and neuroticism (B=0.071, p=.002). The findings highlight the urgent need for measures to reduce work-related stress and anxiety. However, when negative mental health predictors were included, the effect of positive psychological factors became nullified. Positive mental health might have a moderating role in such a negative mental health outcome as anxiety. Therefore, further research is required to understand the impact of positive mental health factors more clearly.

Nitrates can cause severe ecological imbalances in aquatic ecosystems, with considerable consequences for human health. Therefore, monitoring this inorganic form of nitrogen becomes essential for any water quality management structure. This research aimed at developing a novel Nitrate Portable Measurement System (NPMS) for monitoring nitrate concentrations in water samples. NPMS is a reagent-free ultraviolet system developed using low-cost electronic components. Its operation principle is based on Beer-Lambert law for measuring Nitrate concentrations in water samples through light absorption in the spectral range 295-315 nm. The system is equipped with ready to use ultraviolet sensor, Light Emission Diode (LED), op-amp, microcontroller, liquid crystal display, quartz cuvette, temperature sensor, and battery. All the components are assembled in a 3D-printed enclosure box which allows a very compact self-contained equipment, with high portability, enabling field and near real time measurements. The proposed methodology and the developed instrument were used to analyse multiple nitrate standard solutions. The performance was evaluated in comparison with the Nicolet Evolution 300, a classical UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the retrieved measurements by both instruments within the investigated spectral band and for concentrations above 5 mg NO3- /l.

This study explored the effectiveness of a virtual music therapy program, based on positive psychotherapy principles, for college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-four undergraduate students with partial PTSD were initially assigned to either an experimental group or a control group, with 11 participants in each group by the study's end. The experimental group underwent 15 video sessions of the therapy program, completing one session per weekday over three weeks. The program involved worksheets targeting goals aligned with positive psychology, such as positive affect, life meaning, personal strengths, gratitude, hope, and happiness. Activities included writing music autobiographies, creating and analyzing song lyrics, and exploring various music pieces. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured using the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and the Korean Version of Positive Psychological Capital (K-PPC) before, immediately after, and three weeks post-program. The experimental group showed significant improvements in stress, anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, resilience, and the K-PPC total score compared to the control group. These improvements were maintained at the three-week follow-up. The findings suggest that positive psychology-based virtual music therapy can significantly enhance the mental health of highly stressed college students, especially during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To investigate whether the relationships between acute care occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT) utilization and community discharge are moderated by functional or physical performance at discharge among individuals hospitalized with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Setting: 14 acute care hospitals in the state of Colorado. Participants: We studied 5,599 adults hospitalized with TBI between June 2018 and April 2021. Design: In a secondary analysis of de-identified electronic health record (EHR) data, multivariable moderation logistic regression models were performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for the likelihood of community discharge among patients who utilized OT/PT services. Main Measures: Functional (activities of daily living [ADL]) and physical (mobility) performance at discharge, OT and PT utilization, and community discharge status. Results: Overall, 67% of patients discharged to the community. The mean age of the sample was 55 years (SD = 20 years). Most participants were male (64%) and non-Hispanic white (72%). Mean hospital length of stay was 6 days (SD = 6 days). Both OT and PT utilization (OT: OR= 1.21, 95% CI [1.11, 1.33]; PT: OR= 1.22, 95% CI [1.14, 1.30]) and discharge ADL and mobility scores (ADL: OR= 1.34, 95% CI [1.30, 1.39]; mobility: OR= 1.38, 95% CI [1.33, 1.42]) were significantly and positively associated with community discharge. The OT and PT utilization-by-discharge ADL and mobility interaction terms yielded slightly negative, but statistically significant moderation effects in both models (ORs= 0.99, 95% CIs [0.98, 1.00]); indicating the magnitude of the OT and PT utilization effect diminished as ADL and mobility scores increased. Several sociodemographic characteristics and clinical factors were also independently associated with community discharge in both models (p-values

Monitoring the integrity of aeronautical structures is fundamental for safety. Structural Health Monitoring Systems (SHMS) perform real-time monitoring functions, but their performances must be carefully assessed. In this work the damage detection performances of a strain-based SHMS, were evaluated on a composite helicopter rotor blade root. The SHMS monitored the bonding between the central core and the surrounding antitorsional layer. A damage detection algorithm was trained through Finite Element analyses performed on the component. The effects of the loads variability and of damages were decoupled by including a load recognition step in the algorithm. Load recognition was accomplished in different ways: version#1 adopted an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) trained on blades in pristine condition; version#2 was trained also on damaged blades; version#3 adopted a calibration matrix method. Anomaly detection, damage assessment, and localization were performed by using an ANN. Results showed a higher load identification and anomaly detection accuracy for version#1 and version#2 compared to version#3. Gaussian noise reduced anomaly detection and damage assessment performances, and reduced damage localization accuracy for bigger damages. The damage detection performance were obtained for a fibre optic based-SHMS, including the trade-off between probability of detection and false alarm rate for different damage sizes.

The aim of this article is to present the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland in 2020-2022, the formation of ad hoc health and anti-crisis policies, an assessment of crisis management and the perceived impact of the pandemic and anti-crisis measures.The paper draws on literature, official reports on the pandemic, data from Eurostat and other information from state institutions and public organisations.Particular attention was paid to the analysis and evaluation of the objectives, instruments and effects of the policies pursued by the state in a coordinated manner, i.e. the anti-pandemic policy and the anti-crisis policy. The anti-pandemic policy in Poland has failed to protect the country from significant personal losses and negative impacts on the health of the population and demographic processes.The anti-crisis policy of the state carried out with the mobilisation of businesses and disciplined society, in the form of anti-crisis shields supplemented and adjusted on an ongoing basis, allowed Poland to avoid a deep crisis and economic recession. Attention was drawn to the need to coordinate the management of health and economic crises nationally and internationally, and to the need to have a medium-term anti-crisis state strategy and a system for the early detection of crisis symptoms.

The accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of mental health disorders such as depression remain challenging owing to the complex underlying causes and varied symptomatology. Traditional information extraction methods struggle to adapt to evolving diagnostic criteria such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) and to contextualize rich patient data effectively. This study proposes a novel approach for enhancing information extraction from mental health data by integrating medical knowledge graphs and large language models (LLMs). Our method leverages the structured organization of knowledge graphs specifically designed for the rich domain of mental health combined with the powerful predictive capabilities and zero-shot learning abilities of LLMs. This research enhances the quality of knowledge graphs through entity linking and demonstrates superiority over traditional information extraction techniques, making a significant contribution to the field of mental health. It enables a more fine-grained analysis of the data and the development of new applications. Our approach redefines the manner in which mental health data are extracted and utilized. By integrating these insights with existing healthcare applications, the groundwork is laid for the development of real-time patient monitoring systems. The performance evaluation of this knowledge graph highlights its effectiveness and reliability, indicating significant advancements in automating medical data processing and depression management.

There is a need for strategic healthcare workforce planning to address shortages and ensure universal health coverage, aiming to optimize work-force per population ratio, distribution, and competencies. Amidst rising demands exacerbated by aging populations and events like the COVID-19 pandemic, strategic workforce planning becomes crucial for addressing healthcare inequalities by forecasting needs, bridging skill gaps, and adapting to changing demographics and care models. Israel has invested in strategic planning to tackle healthcare workforce challenges; however, globally there is insufficient planning informed by health labor market analysis, which hinders efforts to address healthcare inequalities. The paper reviews national policies in Israel, Australia, Germany, and Norway, ex-amining statistics and government publications to highlight strategic plan-ning considerations and address challenges in healthcare workforce plan-ning. This paper focuses both on the critical role of physicians in healthcare systems, and on the changing borders between healthcare professions and different national contexts which demand more context dependent strategic workforce planning. We highlight common themes among national policies, including the need for data collection, increasing the capacity of domestic training programs, and the need to address geographic maldistribution of physicians. Ultimately, we aim to guide policy in the development of a re-silient and sustainable healthcare workforce capable of meeting diverse community needs and promoting equity in healthcare services.

The study aimed to evaluate for the first time the degree of contamination of soil and crops with major and trace elements (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, F, Na, Mg, Si, P, Cl, Fe, Al) in agricultural lands situated in the Lower Danube Basin, Galati and Braila counties (SE Romania), impacted by the steel industry. Soil samples from two depths (0–5 cm and 5–30 cm), as well as leaves and seeds of wheat, corn, and sunflower, were collected from 11 different sites. Along with elemental and mineralogical analysis, performed by HR-CS AAS, PIGE, SEM-EDX and ATR-FTIR, the soil pH, texture, organic matter, electric conductivity and CaCO3 content were investigated. The results showed that the levels of Cr (83.270–383.100 mg kg-1), Cu (17.110–68.151 mg kg-1), Ni (30.157–55.656 mg kg-1), and F (319–544 mg kg-1) in soil exceeded the Romanian regulations for sensitive use of the land. The pollution indices (Igeo, EF, PI, PERI) indicate that the soil is moderate to highly contaminated with Cr, Ni and Cu, while CSI and mERMQ indices suggested a relatively low risk for metal contamination. The concentrations of elements in plant tissues and bioaccumulation factors (BFs) show the soil-plant relation and health risk, but also the elemental selectivity of vegetal compartments. Thus, the results showed that wheat plants tend to exclude the bioaccumulation of certain elements in their tissues, while for Zn and Cu, the bioaccumulation pattern is different. In the case of corn, most BFs were below 1, indicating limited phytoaccumulation capacity. However, exceptions were observed for Cd, Zn, and Cu. Sunflower BFs indicate higher bioconcentration of Cu, Cd, and Zn in both the leaves and seeds compared to other elements. Chromium (Cr) contributes to non-carcinogenic dermal contact and ingestion hazards, with children being more susceptible to the adverse effects of this contaminant.

Despite significant prevention efforts, the numbers of physically inactive individuals, chronic illnesses, exhaustion syndromes and sick leaves are increasing. A still unresolved problem with exercise promotion is the low participation of sedentary persons. This collective term covers heterogeneous subgroups. Their engagement with movement campaigns and resistance to change are influenced by numerous factors. Our aim was to analyse survey data on health, performance, lifestyle habits and the approachability to physical activity campaigns obtained from the Germany-wide ActIv survey. From 2,888 study participants aged 50-60 years, 668 persons were categorised into the subgroups "never-athletes", "sports-dropouts", "always-athletes" and "sports-beginners". Large and significant group differences were found for BMI, assessment of quality of life, health and fitness, risk factors and health problems. 42.5% of "never-athletes" and 32.5% of "sports-dropouts" did not state any barriers to sport. There are substantial disparities between the non-athlete groups in terms of their motivation to exercise. In contrast, there are comparatively minor differences in motivation between "sports-dropouts" and "sports-beginners", whose health and fitness are the primary motivators for sport. Our analyses suggest that (i) negative health and performance trends cannot be compensated by appeals for voluntary participation in exercise programmes and (ii) powerful incentive systems are required.

This study investigated a novel probiotic-enriched ice cream containing fermented white kidney bean homogenate to explore its potential health benefits. We assessed the viability of various probiotic strains during ice cream production and storage, focusing on their potential to reach the gut, and evaluated the overall antioxidant activity using DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and TPC assays. The incorporation of fermented white bean homogenate significantly increased antioxidant capacity compared to the control group. Notably, strains like L. rhamnosus GG and L. plantarum 299v demonstrated the most pronounced effects on antioxidant activity, suggesting potential synergistic benefits between probiotics and bioactive compounds in fermented white beans. Although all probiotic strains experienced decreased viability during storage, certain strains, particularly L. plantarum 299v and L. casei DN-114001, showed promising survival rates even after 6 months. These results suggest the potential for developing probiotic ice cream containing viable bacteria capable of reaching the gut and contributing to a healthy gut microbiota. This could potentially improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and boost the immune system. Overall, this study highlights the potential of probiotic-enriched ice cream with fermented white kidney bean homogenate to combine the established benefits of probiotics for gut health with the enjoyment of consuming ice cream.

Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) encompasses the comprehensive evaluation of an indi-vidual's health and well-being across multiple dimensions. Mindfulness, recognized as a scientifi-cally supported strategy for anxiety management, plays a role in enhancing both physical and mental health. The Gut-Brain Axis (GBA) serves as the bidirectional communication link between the gastrointestinal system and the central nervous system. This study aims to explore the associa-tion between Mindfulness and factors influencing the GBA in both healthy individuals and those with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). A cross-sectional investigation involved 338 adults, in-cluding 50 IBD patients, utilizing validated Greek scales for Mindfulness (MAAS-15), Mediterra-nean Diet (14-MEDAS), and HRQoL (EQ-5D-5L). The questionnaire gathered demographic, an-thropometric, and lifestyle data. Among healthy participants, EQ-5D-5L showed a moderate cor-relation with the MAAS-15 scale (r=0.389, p

Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are highly contagious respiratory viruses of birds, lead-ing to significant morbidity and mortality globally and causing substantial economic losses to the poultry industry. Since their first isolation in 2013, the Asian-origin H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAI) of clade 2.3.4.4b have undergone unprecedented evolution and re-assortment of internal gene segments and have spread to Asia, Europe, Africa, and America, caus-ing outbreaks in all the poultry categories. Novel epidemiological and pathobiological character-istics, distinct from other clades, are specific of clade 2.3.4.4b viruses. Wild waterfowl, the natu-ral reservoir of AIVs, are frequently found infected with clade 2.3.4.4b viruses, which can also cause high morbidity and mortality in these birds. The sustained clade 2.3.4.4b virus circulation in waterfowl has also led to virus infection in other wild bird species, with implications for the conservation of endangered species. Furthermore, clade 2.3.4.4b viruses have been isolated in var-ious wild and domestic mammals worldwide, and critical mutations related to virus adaptation to mammalian species have been identified, raising concerns about virus spillover to humans. The main clinical signs, and anatomopathological findings associated to clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in birds and non-human mammals are hereby summarized.

The focus of this article is the evaluation of the quality and the degree of community engagement in an expert-based, public-health communicative intervention for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). In 2023 the Canadian Alcohol Use Disorder Society collaborated with a grass-roots community health group, a regional health authority, and an academic participatory researcher to organize a working group to mount a social-marketing campaign to increase community support for AUD medical treatment in family-practice settings in a rural community in British Columbia. The partnership working group conducted a series of activities in the school system, the town council, and the community. This article covers the formative evaluation and the summative evaluation of the working group's effectiveness. The formative evaluation ("lessons learned" and "recommendations") consists of consensus evaluations of the quality of each activity using a variety of data sources. The formative evaluation followed improvement science methods and used consensus meetings to provide and reflect on formal and informal feedback. Formative results reflect the consensus of the participants in the working group and they record the reactions in the community. The summative evaluation measures evidence of community engagement found in transcribed text from meeting minutes. The summative evaluation used theory-based frameworks and text data visualization to assess the engagement dynamics of the working group. The summative evaluation helps to put the formative evaluation into perspective as communicative action. The summative evaluation validates the formative evaluation by revealing the communicative dynamics of engagement which resulted in the community’s increased capacity to understand and support Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment options. The working group and the entire intervention was seen by the participants and the public as a success and capable of replication. In a small community, it instilled new understandings and attitudes, bringing an emerging awareness of medication as an optional health mitigation strategy for Alcohol Use Disorder. Our study furthers this overall assessment by using theoretical constructs and analysis of communicative records to trace engagement characteristics of interest to researchers, societies, and community groups contemplating similar interventions in the future. The study also validates the effectiveness of communicative analysis as a measure of social-marketing for expert-based public health interventions.

The gastrointestinal tract is colonized by trillions of different microorganisms, named the gut microbiota, which is key to degrade undigested food such as dietary fibers. The fermentation of these food components leads to the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) acetate, propionate, and butyrate, which exploit several beneficial roles for the host’s health. Their production and absorption happen in different ways in the human intestine and depend on the type of dietary fiber reaching the gut and the microorganisms involved in the fermentation. The supplementation of SCFAs, mostly butyrate, in treating gastrointestinal, metabolic, cardiovascular, and gut-brain-related diseases has been reported in the medical literature. This review aims to give an overview of the production and absorption dynamics of acetate, propionate, and butyrate in the human gut, with a final focus on the role played by these SCFAs on gastrointestinal and metabolic health and the present therapeutic implications.

Non-exhaust road transport emissions in cities contribute to poor air quality and create health impacts. This paper presents a new study of the emitted particles due to the tyres-road wear ‘TRWP’ in real driving and gives their emission factors EF. The most frequently observed particles were &lt;1 µm; followed by particles size between [1µm, 4µm] for urban, suburban and highway areas. These particle sizes are well-known to have a higher degree of toxicity. An overall analysis of all the measured pollutants gave EF equal to 30 10+12 #/km and 35 10+12 #/km, respectively for urban and sub-urban areas; and 5 10+12 #/km on highway. The analysis of the 19 most emitted pollutants, taken individually, showed that their EFs ranged from 0.003 to 18.142 10+12#/km. The obtained EF are above the value of the Euro standard for vehicles, but are below the values for vehicles unequipped with a particle filter. Significant test analysis confirmed that inertia of chemical pollutants is homogeneous. EF assessment of the PM10 and PM2.5 emitted is equal to 1.45 mg/km and 0.35 mg/km respectively. These results should contribute to the emergence of future regulations of non-exhaust emissions and should help to analyse the exposure-impact relationship to TRWP.

Spatial planners are nowadays strongly interested in the benefits of greenspace for the health of urban residents. However, concrete and context-specific guidance on effective greening strategies is still lacking. We present a novel, model-based approach to support the development of such strategies. The approach is quantitative and spatially-explicit, and accounts for multiple health benefits as well as burdens. In this study, we applied the approach to the city of Maastricht (The Netherlands), and conducted an integrated, city-scale assessment of the health benefits and burdens of four urban greenspace designs. These included: ‘No greenspace’, ‘Current greenspace’, ‘Green parking lots and squares’, and ‘Optimized greenspace locations’. For each greenspace design, indicator values were calculated for five health determinants: heat stress, air pollution, perceived unsafety, unattractive views, and tick-bite risk. To assess the health contribution of urban greenspace in a given design, these indicator values were compared with the values in the ‘No greenspace’ design. The study produced clear, quantitative conclusions about the health benefits and burdens of the urban greenspace designs for the case of Maastricht, but also generated novel, more general insights relevant to planning of urban greenspace for health. These insights concern the importance of translating health policy objectives into specific target values or thresholds, and the importance of ‘smart’ choices in greenspace type and location that can effectively reduce trade-offs between health benefits and burdens. Priorities for future research, addressing limitations of the presented approach, concern a further expansion of the range of health benefits and burdens covered by the model, and the development of a common metric for the entire range of health benefits and burdens allowing optimization of greenspace design to maximize its overall net health benefit.

The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with non-adherence to tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment among contacts with latent TB infection of new cases of pulmonary TB cases reported in Catalonia in 2019-2021. All contacts aged 18 years or older with a latent TB infection who received a TB preventive treatment were included in the study. The Chi square test and the odds ratios (OR) were used to assess the association between non-adherence to TB preventive treatment and the study variables, considering a p < 0.05 as statistically significant. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to detect the in-dependent factors associated with TB preventive treatment non-adherence, considering a p < 0.05 as statistically significant. The percentage of non-adherence to TB preventive treatment found in this study was 23.7%. A multivariable logistic regression analysis determined that the following factors were significantly associated with TB preventive treatment non-adherence among adult contacts: “exposure at school or workplace” (aOR = 3.34), “exposure to an index case without laboratory confirmation of TB” (aOR = 2.07), “immigrant contact” (aOR = 1.81), “male gender” (aOR = 1.75) and “exposure duration <6 hours per week or sporadic exposure” (aOR = 1.60). By contrast, the factor “short-term TB preventive treatment regimen” (aOR = 0.38) was significantly associated with a lower treatment non-adherence. Adherence to TB preventive treatment should be improved among adult contacts of TB pulmonary cases with latent TB infection by recommending short-term treatment regimens and by developing health education activities, with a greater focus on contacts with factors associated with treatment non-adherence.

The work presented in this paper makes multiple scientific contributions related to the investigation of the global fear associated with COVID-19 by performing a comprehensive analysis of a dataset comprising survey responses of participants from 40 countries. First, the results of subjectivity analysis of responses where participants indicated their biggest concern related to COVID-19 showed that the average subjectivity in responses by the age group of 41-50 decreased from April 2020 to June 2020, the average subjectivity in responses by the age group of 71-80 drastically increased from May 2020, and the age group of 11-20 indicated the least level of subjectivity in their responses between June 2020 to August 2020. Second, subjectivity analysis also revealed the percentage of highly opinionated, neutral opinionated, and least opinionated responses per age-group where the analyzed age groups were 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, and 81-90. For instance, the percentage of highly opinionated, neutral opinionated, and least opinionated responses by the age group of 11-20 were 17.92%, 16.24%, and 65.84%, respectively. Third, data analysis of responses from different age groups showed that the highest percentage of responses indicating that they were very worried about COVID-19 came from individuals in the age group of 21-30. Fourth, data analysis of the survey responses also revealed that in the context of taking precautions to prevent contracting COVID-19, the percentage of individuals in the age group of 31-40 taking precautions was higher as compared to the percentages of individuals from the age groups of 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, and 81-90. Finally, a deep learning model was developed to detect if the survey respondents were seeing or planning to see a psychologist or psychiatrist for any mental health issues related to COVID-19. The deep learning model used the responses to multiple questions in the context of fear, preparedness, and response related to COVID-19 from the dataset and achieved an overall performance accuracy of 91.62% after 500 epochs.

Formula feeding, as an alternative to breastfeeding, offers benefits such as convenience and consistent nutrition. Among the drawbacks of formula feeding, however, is potential dilution or concentration errors in the of formula during preparation that may lead to infant health issues. The present study aimed to investigate the accuracy of caregiver measurements as they prepared infant formula under multiple conditions, compared with manufacturer specifications. A diverse sample of caregivers (N = 84) participated in this cross-over experimental study. Participants hand-scooped infant formula powder and poured water to prepare 4oz and 7oz feedings, using both a standardized set of infant formula products and participants’ own products. Linear mixed effects models were used to estimate fixed effects of target amount (4oz versus 7oz) and products (participant versus researcher) on mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of measurement. Across all conditions MAPE was significantly greater for measuring powder than for water (9.0% vs. 4.4%; p&lt;0.001) with a combined powder and water MAPE at 13.0%. Greater measurement error was associated with the odd-sized 7oz preparation and participants’ own products. We observed considerable variability and substantial error during infant formula preparation, particularly for hand-scooping of powder, which tended toward higher values than the theoretical gold standard.

Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss (Apiaceae), popularly known as parsley, is a ubiquitous aromatic herb used for culinary and medicinal purposes worldwide. Besides the richness in nutrients, sev-eral bioactive secondary metabolites, especially the flavone apigenin and its glycosides, have been described in the species. Parsley has already been shown to have several health-promoting activi-ties, such as antithrombotic, antihypertensive, and hypolipidemic. The multiple studies conducted in animal models so far suggest the species is a potential source of cardioprotective agents. This review provides up to date information and perspectives on the potential of parsley and its bioac-tive compounds for the development of nutraceutical products and drugs for the promotion of cardiovascular health. It includes not only a discussion on reported bioactivities, but also the knowledge of supplements and food additives developed as innovative parsley-based products.

This study examines the impact of chainsaw chain type and tree species on the concen-tration of inhalable wood dust generated during motor-manual harvesting in forested areas. The chainsaw chain is a critical component, contributing not only to productivity but also to the oper-ator's health and safety. Wood dust creation during harvesting operations poses significant risks and necessitates careful attention due to its potential health effects. We investigated the effects by conducting real-world measurements of inhalable dust within the operator's breathing zone during forestry work. Two different chain types were evaluated: the commonly used 3/8" pitch chain (conventional chain) and the 0.325" pitch chain. Additionally, measurements were taken for three tree species: beech, oak, and pine (including both live and standing dead trees after a fire). Results showed that, overall, using the conventional 3/8" chain type yielded the highest concentration of wood dust for all three tree species. Notably, the highest wood dust concentration was observed in the burned Pinus brutia cluster, also with the 3/8" chain pitch. These findings emphasize the im-portance of understanding how chain type and tree species contribute to wood dust levels and provide valuable insights for enhancing operator health and safety during motor-manual har-vesting operations

Urban Green Space (UGS) has important impacts on human health, but an integrated participatory approach to UGS design for improved residents’ health was lacking to date. The aim of our study was to develop and evaluate such a novel approach to address this gap. The approach was developed following guiding principles from the literature, and tested with groups of children and elderly as participants in two neighborhoods of Maastricht (The Netherlands) with a low score on economic and health indicators. Novel aspects of the approach are the inclusion of both positive and negative health effects, the combination of participant self-assessment and model-based assessment of the health effects of UGS designs, and the use of maps to visualize UGS designs and health effects. The participant-generated UGS designs resulted in a considerable self-assessed increase in use of the UGS for meeting, stress reduction or leisure-based physical activity, as compared to the current situation. The model-assessed positive and negative health effects of the participant-generated UGS designs were limited. The major strength of the developed approach is that it combines active participation of residents in UGS (re)design with assessment of the health effects of these UGS designs. Whereas in other participatory approaches to UGS design it often remains unclear whether the resulting designs represent an improvement in terms of health, our combination of computer model-based assessment and a participatory process produced clear outcomes regarding the health benefits and use of UGS designs.

The rising prevalence of autism internationally has been accompanied with an increased appreciation of the poorer mental health experienced by people with this condition and also of their family care-givers. In particular higher incidences of anxiety and depression are reported in high income nations and these conditions are likely to be under-recognised and under-reported in lower resourced regions or countries. Mainstream mental health services seem to be ill-equipped to respond adequately to the needs of autistic persons and their care-givers. This scoping review of 30 recently published literature reviews covering over 1,000 journal articles, summarises the insights and strategies that have been shown to promote the mental health and emotional wellbeing of autistic persons. In particular, a focus on family-centred, community-based supports is needed that aim to enhance social communication, extend social connections and promote an individual’s self-esteem, self-determination and social motivation. These low-cost interventions are especially pertinent in low resourced settings but they can be used internationally to prevent mental illness and assist in the treatment of anxiety and depression in autistic persons and their family carers. The priority is to focus on primary care responses with cross-sectoral working rather than investing in high-cost psychiatric provision.

Objective: The objective of our study was to explore the potential benefits of combining moderate alcohol consumption with regular vigorous physical activity on HDL-cholesterol levels and its potential positive impact on cardiovascular health. Material and method: The study comprised two groups: group A (102 patients) who consumed 1 gram of alcohol per day, specifically red wine, and increased their exercise levels in addition to their standard medical treatment, and group B (108 patients) who adhered only to their standard medical treatment. The patients were monitored for a year, during which various clinical parameters were observed. Results:Our study showed that moderate alcohol consumption, particularly red wine, along with increased physical activity levels, was associated with enhancements in exercise tolerance and elevated levels of HDL-cholesterol. Our findings suggest the efficacy of the intervention in improving lipid profiles, with the group that consumed alcohol as part of their treatment scheme, generally experiencing more pronounced positive effects. Statistically significant differences between groups in terms of angina evolution, AMI recurrence, or arrhythmias evolution were not found. However, there were important differences in terms of EF improvement and quality of life, with the alcohol consuming group displaying greater improvements in both aspects. Conclusions:In conclusion, our study emphasizes the potential benefits of combining moderate alcohol consumption, specifically red wine, with increased physical activity levels for improving exercise tolerance and enhancing HDL-cholesterol levels. However, further research and clinical trials are essential to fully understand the mechanisms and optimize the integration of these lifestyle elements for improved cardiovascular health outcomes.

Objective: The objective of our study was to explore the potential benefits of combining moderate alcohol consumption with regular vigorous physical activity on HDL-cholesterol levels and its potential positive impact on cardiovascular health. Material and method: The study comprised two groups: group A (102 patients) who consumed 1 gram of alcohol per day, specifically red wine, and increased their exercise levels in addition to their standard medical treatment, and group B (108 patients) who adhered only to their standard medical treatment. The patients were monitored for a year, during which various clinical parameters were observed. Results:Our study showed that moderate alcohol consumption, particularly red wine, along with increased physical activity levels, was associated with enhancements in exercise tolerance and elevated levels of HDL-cholesterol. Our findings suggest the efficacy of the intervention in improving lipid profiles, with the group that consumed alcohol as part of their treatment scheme, generally experiencing more pronounced positive effects. Statistically significant differences between groups in terms of angina evolution, AMI recurrence, or arrhythmias evolution were not found. However, there were important differences in terms of EF improvement and quality of life, with the alcohol consuming group displaying greater improvements in both aspects. Conclusions:In conclusion, our study emphasizes the potential benefits of combining moderate alcohol consumption, specifically red wine, with increased physical activity levels for improving exercise tolerance and enhancing HDL-cholesterol levels. However, further research and clinical trials are essential to fully understand the mechanisms and optimize the integration of these lifestyle elements for improved cardiovascular health outcomes.

The United States is plagued with the highest rates of preventable metabolic diseases it has ever seen, and while poor nutrition is increasingly recognized as a critical contributing factor, good nutrition has been shown to be a potent factor in prevention and management of these illnesses. Notably, nutrition is inextricably intertwined with farming practices and the stewardship of our environment – particularly its soil. In this proposal, we propose a method to expose medical students to basic agricultural and environmental knowledge regarding the production of food, as well as educate them in practical nutrition education within the interactive, case-based, and longitudinal preclinical curriculum at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (CWRU SOM). We propose a two-part approach; first: integrating relevant topics in nutrition, culinary medicine, and farming practices into the preclinical blocks through Official Learning Objectives, and second: an optional 8-week, zero credit elective for students interested in pursuing a deeper understanding of these topics. Through these interventions, we believe courses like this will support a generation of physicians able to understand health from soil to plate with a consideration for the environment in addition to exemplifying healthful lifestyles themselves. We believe these kinds of future physicians will be the most effective in treating (and ideally reversing) the chronic disease epidemic.

People with Intellectual Disability (ID) encounter several problems in their daily living regarding their needs, activities, interrelationships, and communication. On this concept, an interactive platform is proposed, aiming to provide personalized recommendations for information and entertainment, including creative and educational activities, tailored to the special users’ needs of this population. Furthermore, the proposed platform integrates capabilities of automatic recognition of health related emergencies, such as fever, oxygen saturation decline and tachycardia, as well as location tracking and detection of wandering behavior based on smartwatch/smartphone sensors, while providing automated assistance and appropriate alerts and notifications to the caregivers.

This paper examines the importance of choice of cooking fuels in wellbeing, analysing relationships between the proportion of population with primary reliance on different types of fuels for cooking (predictor variable), and key wellbeing indices (outcome variables) - Personal Health, Social Life, Civic Engagement, Life Evaluation, Negative Experience. By combining two global datasets from Gallup and WHO, the study adds to current evidence by taking a global perspective. Controlling for demographic factors such as income per capita, age, education level, employment, etc., regression modelling of these relationships show that clean cooking fuels are influential in all of the key wellbeing indices with the exception of the Life Evaluation Index. Among the key wellbeing indices, Personal Health and Negative Experience Indices are the most strongly influenced by choice of clean cooking fuels. By adding access to electricity as an additional predictor variable, the analysis highlights the potential for integrating eCooking into national electrification plans as part of sustainable energy transitions, given that health outcomes (Personal health and Negative experience indices) appear to be as closely linked to choice of cooking fuels as to access to electricity.

Ultrasonic-guided lamb wave approach is an effective non-destructive testing (NDT) method used for detecting localized mechanical damage, corrosion, and welding defects experienced in metallic pipelines. Signal processing of the guided waves is often challenged due to the complexity of operational conditions and environments in the pipelines. Machine learning approaches in recent years, including convolutional neural networks (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM), have exhibited their advantages to overcome these challenges for signal process and data classification of complex systems, thus great potential for damage detection of critical oil/gas pipeline structures. In this study, a CNN-LSTM hybrid model is utilized for decoding ultrasonic guided waves for damage detection of metallic pipelines, and twenty-nine features are extracted as input to classify different types of defects from metallic pipes. The prediction capacity of the CNN-LSTM model is assessed by comparing it to the CNN and LSTM. The results demonstrate that the CNN-LSTM hybrid model exhibits much higher accuracy, with 94.8%, as compared to those of CNN and LSTM. Interestingly, the results also reveal that predetermined features, including time-, frequency-, and time-frequency domains, could significantly improve the robustness of the deep learning approaches, even though the deep learning approaches are often believed they include automated feature extraction, without the hand-crafted steps as the shallow learning do. Furthermore, the CNN-LSTM model displays higher performance when the noise level is relatively low (e.g., SNR=9 or higher), as compared to the other two models, but its prediction drops gradually with the increase of the noise.

This study examines the psychological repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on a medical team in an Israeli general hospital. The research explores the professional quality of life, burnout symptoms, secondary traumatic stress, and mindfulness among team members across three distinct phases of the pandemic. Analysis was conducted for different subgroups based on job roles and seniority, allowing for an evaluation of the phase-specific effects on the ProQOL (Professional Quality of Life) and mindfulness. Results align with established crisis trajectories, encompassing honeymoon/heroic phases, inventory, disillusionment, and recovery. The findings demonstrate a negative correlation between compassion satisfaction and burnout, as well as between mindfulness and burnout/secondary traumatic stress. Remarkably, male doctors exhibit a more pronounced negative impact on mindfulness compared to their female counterparts, primarily comprising healthcare workers. Temporal analysis reveals significant differences in compassion satisfaction and mindfulness, with baseline measurements being notably higher. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the vulnerability of male doctors, emphasizing the crucial role of hospital management in conveying the message and implementing effective measures to support professional quality of life. These findings underscore the necessity of prioritizing the well-being of medical professionals, particularly male doctors who face unique challenges in seeking assistance.

Public Health Officers' (PHO) experiences in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic can be based on whether the PHO is passive or active. Therefore, the study’s objectives are to identify the types of experiences and analyse the predictors of proactive practical experiences in solving COVID-19 among PHOs in the upper southern region of Thailand. Methods: An explanatory mixed-methods approach was used to collect data, through questionnaires and online in-depth interviews. The study was conducted from August 4, 2020, to August 3, 2021. Results: The results included 60 PHOs from 60 PCUs in 6 provinces, with 41 (68.3%) females and an average age of 35.57 years (SD = 11.61). The PHOs’ knowledge, understanding, and participation experience aspects were mostly proactive rather than passive. Factors that significantly predicted proactive practical experiences included sex (ORadj = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.04–2.21), age (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48), married status (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48), education level (ORadj = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.02–2.20), and position for work (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48). Conclusions: PHOs’ knowledge, understanding, opinion, and participation experiences were significant predictors of practical experience. Primary health care systems should promote proactive experiences in all four aspects to increase proactive practical experiences.

This paper proposes an AI-based approach to overcome the limitations of the SHM system in measuring global stress with limited sensors. Feature elements are selected based on correlation analysis among finite elements and used as stress-measured points. An ANN is used to establish the solution relationship between the feature and correlation elements. The proposed method is applied to the connector structure of an offshore platform, and an optimal ANN is established to optimize accuracy by considering factors like the number of sensors, neural network framework, and convergence criteria. The accuracy of the ANN is verified through a real-scale model test, demonstrating 93.6% accuracy. This technology represents a significant advancement, enhancing the practicality of the structural health monitoring (SHM) system from “point monitoring" to “field monitoring".

Promoting diet and physical activity is important for women with recent gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and their partners to reduce the risk of future type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study aimed to understand how motivation for changing diet and physical activity behaviors among women with recent GDM and their partners was experienced after participation in the Danish Face-it intervention. Fourteen couple interviews were conducted. Data analysis followed reflexive thematic analysis. Guided by self-determination theory and interdependence theory, we identified four themes affecting couples’ motivation for health behavior change: 1) The need for relatedness after delivery, 2) Promoting competence and autonomy for health behavior change, 3) Individual and mutual preferences for health behaviors, and 4) The health threat of future T2D as a cue to action. We found that the couples in general perceived the Face-it intervention as useful and motivating. Using couple interviews increased our understanding of how the women and partners influenced each other’s perspectives after a GDM-affected pregnancy and thus how targeting couples as opposed to women alone may motivate health behavior change.

Older adults in low-and middle-income countries experience a disproportionate burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Unintentional injuries are among the major NCDs, and falls are the second leading cause of these injuries and deaths worldwide, including in Thailand. We aimed to culturally adapt the CDC’s Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) for Thai older adults and explore the feasibility, appropriateness, and acceptability of using STEADI in primary care via trained community health workers (CHWs) and care managers (CMs). STEADI takes a coordinated care approach that consists of three steps: screening, assessing, and intervening. In Step a, CHWs screened fall risk in 20 community-dwelling older adults using three key questions and found that all of them had fall risk, then CHWs screened with a Stay Independent questionnaire (range 0-14) and found that 100% have high fall risk (total scores 9.7± 2.4). In Step b, CMs assessed balance, vision, footwear, postural hypotension, medications, and CHWs assessed home hazards. They found that 50% had poor balance, 70% took 4+ medications,75% fell on the walkway, and 70% had no bathroom modifications. In Step c, individual participants received fall prevention interventions to mitigate their specific fall risk factors. CHWs and CMs indicated high acceptability (19.20±.1.31 of 20 total), appropriateness (18.80± 1.79 of 20 total), and feasibility (18.60±1.67 of 20 total) of the Thai-STEADI intervention. Our study showed that the community-based multifactorial Thai-STEADI delivered by CHWs and CMs is feasible and acceptable to prevent falls in older adults with limited access to health care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online media were the most widely used source of scientific information. Often, they are also the only ones on science-related topics. Research has shown that much of the information available on the Internet about the health crisis lacked scientific rigor and that misinformation about health issues can pose a threat to public health. In turn, millions of Catholics were found to be demonstrating against vaccination against COVID-19 based on "false" and misleading religious arguments. This research analyses publications about the vaccine in Catholic online media with the aim of understanding the presence of information (and misinformation) in this community. An algorithm designed for each media outlet collected COVID-19 vaccine-related publications from 109 Catholic media outlets in five languages. In total, 970 publications were analysed for journalistic genres, types of headlines and sources of information. The results show that most publications are informative and most of their headlines are neutral. However, opinion articles have mostly negative headlines. Also, a higher percentage of the opinion authors come from the religious sphere and most of the sources cited are religious. Finally, 35% of the publications relate the vaccine to the framing issue of abortion.

Background: The infant mortality rate (IMR) is an important reflection of the well-being of infants and the overall health of the population. This study aims to examine the macroeconomic (ME), sociodemographic (SD), and health status and resources (HSR) effects on IMR, as well as how they may interact with each other. Methods: A retrospective time-series study using yearly data for Oman from 1980 to 2022. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to develop the exploratory model of the determinants of IMR. Results: The model indicates that HSR determinants directly but negatively affect IMR (= -0.617, p&lt;0.001). SD directly and positively affects IMR (= 0.447, p&lt;0.001). ME only indirectly affects IMR (=-0.854, p&lt;0.001). ME determinants also exert some direct influences on both HSR (= 0.722, p&lt;0.001) and SD (= -0.916, p&lt;0.001) determinants. Conclusions: These findings indicate that an integrated policy that addresses socioeconomic and health-related factors and the overall ME environment is necessary for the health and well-being of the children and the population overall in Oman.

COVID-19 pandemic-related pressures on primary care may have driven inappropriate continuation of antibiotic prescriptions. Yet prescribing modality (repeat/non-repeat) has not previously been investigated in a pandemic context. Using the OpenSAFELY-TPP analytics platform, we analysed repeat/non-repeat prescribing frequency in monthly patient cohorts between Jan 2020–2022. In-depth analysis was conducted on Jan 2020 (“pre-pandemic”) and Jan 2021 (“pandemic”) cohorts. Per-patient prescribing and clinical conditions were determined by searching primary care record data using clinical code lists. Repeat prescribing was defined as >=3 prescriptions in a 6 month lookback period. Associations between demographics (e.g. age, sex, geography) and repeat/non-repeat prescribing were explored using unadjusted risk ratios. Antibiotic prescribing declined from May 2020; non-repeat prescribing declined more strongly than repeat prescribing (maximum declines -26% vs -11%, respectively). In the pandemic cohort, older patients were at higher risk of prescribing (especially repeat prescribing). The most common clinical conditions for repeat prescribing were COPD comorbidity and urinary tract infection. Comorbidities were more common among repeat vs non-repeat prescribed patients. In the pandemic cohort, vs pre-pandemic, repeat and non-repeat prescribing for comorbidities generally declined less compared with shorter-term conditions (infections, including COPD exacerbation/lower respiratory tract infection). Our findings inform ongoing development of stewardship interventions in England..

Relatives play an important role in mental health service users’ care. Interventions directed either at service users or their relatives may influence the other person as well. The project Activa’t per la salut mental (Get active for mental health) consisted of a series of four interventions addressed at people diagnosed with mental disorders and their relatives to help them in their recovery process, increasing their agency and quality of life. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the interaction of the participation of service users on their relatives’ outcomes and vice versa. The impact of the project was evaluated within an RCT. The treatment group had access to all the circuit interventions while the control group received treatment as usual and could only access one of the interventions. All participants were evaluated at baseline, six months, and twelve months after the end of the first intervention. Service users were evaluated with the Stages of recovery questionnaire, and relatives with the Family Burden Interview Schedule II and the Duke-UNC-11 questionnaires. The interaction between service users and their relatives was analysed by means of correlational analyses within the intervention group. Service users baseline characteristics influenced in the level of participation of relatives and vice versa. The results also indicated an interaction between service users’ recovery score changes on the change of care burden of relatives. Service users’ participation levels interacted with the decrease of relatives’ burden. These results can be extremely helpful in fostering interactive benefits in future projects addressing the wellbeing of mental health service users and their relatives. Future studies could use specific designs to explore the directionality of the causality of these effects.

This work investigates how integrated polyimide inlays with applied sensor bodies influence the guided ultrasonic wave propagation in narrow glass fiber-reinforced polymer specimens. Preliminary numerical simulations indicate that in a damping-free specimen, the inlays show reflections for the S0-mode propagation. Hence, an air-coupled ultrasonic technique and a 3D laser Doppler vibrometer measurement are used to measure different parts of the propagating waves’ displacement field after burst excitation at different frequencies. No significant reflections on the inlay can be seen in the experiments. However, it is shown that the reflections from the strip specimen’s narrow width cause periodical reflections that superimpose with the excited wave fronts. A continuous wavelet transformation in the time-frequency domain filters discontinuities from the measurement signal and is used for reconstruction of the time signals. The reconstructed signals are used in a spatial continuous wavelet transformation to identify the occurring wavelengths and hence to prove the assumption of reflections from the narrow edges. Since the amplitude of the reflections identified in the numerical data at the polyimide inlays are an order of magnitude smaller than the excited wave packages, it is concluded that material damping of the epoxy resin matrix extincts possible reflections from the inlays.

The aim of this study was to investigate the spatio-temporal association between socio-economic deprivation and the incidence of COVID-19 and how this association changes through the seasons and due to the existence of restrictive public health measures. A retrospective observational study was conducted among COVID-19 cases that occurred in the Apulia region from 29 February 2020 to 31 December 2021, dividing the period into four phases with different levels of restrictions. A generalized estimating equations model was applied to test the independent effect of deprivation on the incidence rate of COVID-19, taking into account age, sex, and regional incidence rate as possible confounding effects and covariates such as season and levels of restrictions as possible modifying effects. The highest incidence rate was in areas with a Very High deprivation Index (DI) in winter (107.2 for 100,000 ab. ± 7.5), while in autumn, the highest Rate Ratio (RR) was estimated between Very High vs. Low DI (3.83, p<.001). During total lockdown, no RR between areas with different levels of DI was significant, while during soft lockdown, areas with Very High DI were more at risk than all other areas. The effects of social inequalities on incidence rate of COVID-19 change in as-sociation with the seasons and restrictions on public health. Disadvantaged areas showed a higher incidence rate of COVID-19 in the cold seasons and in the phases of soft lockdown.

Structural health monitoring of lightweight constructions made of composite materials can be performed using guided ultrasonic waves. If modern fiber metal laminates are used, this requires integrated sensors that can record the inner displacement oscillations caused by the propagating guided ultrasonic waves. Therefore, we have developed a robust MEMS vibrometer that can be integrated with structural and functional compliance. This vibrometer is directly sensitive to the high-frequency displacements from structure-borne ultrasound when excited between its first and second natural frequency. The vibrometer is mostly realized by processes earlier developed for a pressure sensor but with additional femtosecond laser ablation and wafer bonding. The piezoresistive transducer made from silicon is encapsulated between top and bottom glass lids. The natural frequencies are experimentally determined using an optical micro vibrometer setup. The vibrometer functionality and usability for structural health monitoring are demonstrated on a customized test rig by recording application-relevant guided ultrasonic wave packages with a central frequency of 100 kHz at a distance of 200 mm from the exciting ultrasound transducer.

Background: Media coverage of Lyme disease (LD) has led to an increase in consultations for presumed LD in Europe. However, LD is confirmed in only 10-20% of patients, with a significant number remaining in a diagnostic dead-end. Objectives: To reach a deeper understanding of how patients themselves contribute to the diagnostic process. To describe the genesis of the LD hypothesis in care pathways. Methods: In 2019, 30 patients from a prospective cohort consulting in the infectious diseases department at University Hospital in Marseille for presumed LD were recruited for semi-structured interviews. The inclusion criteria were : suffering from subjective symptoms for 6 months, no clinical or paraclinical argument suggesting current LD. The patients’ medical trajectories were collected using a biographical approach. Results: The diagnosis of Lyme disease was primarily triggered by identification with personal testimonies found on the internet. Most of patients were leading their own diagnostic investigation. The majority of participants were convinced they had LD despite the lack of medical evidence and the scepticism of their referring GP. Conclusion: GPs should first systematically explore patients’ etiologic representations in order to improve adherence to the diagnosis especially in the management of medically unexplained symptoms. Long COVID-19 syndrome challenge offers an opportunity to promote active patient involvement in diagnosis.

Background. We aimed to assess the validity of the Mat-O-Covid Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) on SARS-CoV2 using compensation data from the French National Health Insurance compensation system for occupational-related COVID-19. Methods. Deidentified compensation data for occupational COVID-19 in France were obtained between August 2020 and August 2021. The acceptance was considered as the reference. Mat-O-Covid is an expert based French JEM on workplace exposure to SARS-CoV2. Bivariate and multivariate models were used to study the association between the exposure assessed by Mat-O-Covid and the reference, as well as the Area Under Curves (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios. Results. In the 1140 cases included, there was a close association between the Mat-O-Covid index and the reference (p&lt;0.0001). The overall predictivity was good, with an AUC of 0.78 and an optimal threshold at 13 per thousand. Using Youden’s J statistic resulted in 0.67 sensitivity and 0.87 specificity. Both positive and negative likelihood ratios were significant: respectively 4.9 [2.4-6.4] and 0.4 [0.3-0.4]. Discussion. It was possible to assess Mat-O-Covid’s validity using data from the national compensation system for occupational COVID-19. Though further studies are needed, Mat-O-Covid exposure assessment appears to be accurate enough to be used in research.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the EQ-5D-Y-3L (Y-3L) and the expanded five level version, the EQ-5D-Y-5L (Y-5L). Methods: Children/adolescents with an acute or chronic health condition and from the general population completed the Y-5L and Y-3L self-report questionnaires. Performance of the Y-5L and Y-3L was determined by comparing feasibility, redistribution of dimension responses, discriminatory power, validity, and test-retest reliability. Results. Five hundred and fifty children/adolescents completed baseline measures and 173 completed repeat measures. The ceiling effect decreased by 15% from the Y-3L to Y-5L. Informativity of dimensions improved by 0.094 on the Y-5L. There was a range of 4-9% inconsistent responses moving from the Y-3L to Y-5L. Convergent validity of the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Y-3L, Y-5L dimensions was similar, weak to moderate (r_s range: 0.18 – 0.38) but similar and strong on paired Y-3L and Y-5L dimensions: Kendall Tau B (range 0.69 – 0.80) and Gamma (range 0.92 – 0.98). The Y-5L and Y-3L showed moderate to substantial agreement for test-retest reliability across dimensions and VAS scores in stable chronic health conditions and fair agreement for the general population. Conclusion: The EQ-5D-Y-5L is a valid, reliable extension of the Y-3L for children/adolescents across health conditions and healthy children/adolescents. The expanded levels reduced the ceiling effect. The relative informativity of report across dimensions increased on the Y-5L compared to the Y-3L with retention of the evenness of reporting. The convergent validity and test-retest reliability of the Y-5L was comparable to the Y-3L.

BackgroundIt is unclear what underpins the large global variations in the prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance in gram-negative bacteria. We tested the hypothesis that different intensities in the use of quinolones for food-animals plays a role. MethodsWe used Spearman’s correlation to assess if the country-level prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance in human infections with Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was correlated with the use of quinolones for food producing animals. Linear regression was used to assess the relative contributions of country-level quinolone consumption for food-animals and humans on fluoroquinolone resistance in these 4 species. ResultsThe prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance in each species was positively associated with quinolone use for food-producing animals (E. coli [ρ=0.55; P<0.001], K. pneumoniae [ρ=0.58; P<0.001]; A. baumanii [ρ=0.54; P=0.004]; P. aeruginosa [ρ=0.48; P=0.008]). Linear regression revealed that both quinolone consumption in humans and food animals were independently associated with fluoroquinolone resistance in E. coli and A. baumanii. ConclusionsReducing quinolone use in food-producing animals may help retard the spread of fluoroquinolone resistance in various gram negative bacterial species.

Deepfake technologies are known for the creation of forged celebrity pornography, face and voice swaps, and other fake media content. Despite the negative connotations the technology bears, the underlying machine learning algorithms have a huge potential that could be applied to not just digital media, but also to medicine, biology, affective science, and agriculture, just to name a few. Due to the ability to generate big datasets based on real data distributions, deepfake could also be used to positively impact non-human animals such as livestock. Generated data using Generative Adversarial Networks, one of the algorithms that deepfake is based on, could be used to train models to accurately identify and monitor animal health and emotions. Through data augmentation, using digital twins, and maybe even displaying digital conspecifics where social interactions are enhanced, deepfake technologies have the potential to increase animal health, emotionality, sociality, animal-human and animal-computer interactions and thereby animal welfare, productivity, and sustainability of the farming industry.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often require frequent hospitalization due to worsening symptoms. Preventing prolonged hospital stay and readmission becomes a challenge for healthcare professionals treating patients with COPD. Although the integration of health and social care supports greater collaboration and enhanced patient care, organizational structure and poor leadership may hinder the implementation of patient-oriented goals. This paper presents a case of a 64-year-old chronic smoker with severe COPD who was to be discharged on long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT). It further highlights the healthcare decisions made to ensure the patient’s safety at home and further provides a long-lasting solution to the existing medical and social needs. The goal was accomplished through a discharge plan that reflects multidisciplinary working, efficient leadership, and change management using Havelock’s theory. While COPD is characterized by frequent exacerbation and hospital readmission, it was emphasized that most failed discharges could be attributed to bureaucratic organizational workflow which might not be in the patient’s best interest. It was further demonstrated that healthcare professionals are likely to miss the window of opportunity to apply innovative and long-lasting solutions to the patient’s health condition in an attempt to remedy the immediate symptoms of COPD

This study aimed to assess the differences in the importance and performance of health awareness in Korean middle school students according to the types of online physical education classes they attended during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. Overall, 583 participants were selected using a convenience sampling method; the data were obtained through an online survey using Google forms. Frequency analysis, reliability analysis, independent sample t-test, and importance-performance analysis were performed. First, the differences between importance and performance were found to be the most for sleep and physical activity management, and the least for disease and hygiene management. In addition, both the groups demonstrated higher importance and performance for hygiene and disease management. There were significant differences in the importance and performance of all the sub-factors. Second, hygiene, disease management, and mental health management were found in quadrant I in both the groups, while physical activity, sleep, and dietary habit management were in quadrant III. No factors were in quadrant II and IV.

The Covid-19 pandemic has severely tested the mental health of frontline health care workers. A repeated cross-sectional study can provide information on how their mental health evolved during the various phases of the pandemic. The intensivists of a COVID-19 hub hospital in Rome were investigated with a baseline survey during the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020 and were contacted again in December 2020, during the second wave. 152 of the 205 eligible workers responded to an online questionnaire designed to measure procedural justice, occupational stress (effort/reward imbalance), sleep quality, anxiety, depression, burnout, job satisfaction, happiness, and turnover intention. Workers reported a further increase in workload and compassion fatigue, which had already risen during the first wave, and a marked reduction in the time devoted to meditation and mental activities. A low level of confidence in the adequacy of safety procedures and the need to work in isolation, together with an increased workload and lack of time for meditation were the most significant predictors of occupational stress in a stepwise linear regression model. Occupational stress was, in turn, a significant predictor of insomnia, anxiety, low job satisfaction, burnout, and intention to leave the hospital. The number of workers manifesting symptoms of depression increased significantly to exceed 60%. Action to prevent occupational risks and enhance individual resilience cannot be postponed.

Parent education programs, offered via family-school partnerships, offer an effective means for promoting the mental health and educational functioning of children and adolescents at a whole-of-school level. However, these programs often have low uptake. This study aimed to identify strategies for increasing the uptake of parent education programs within preschool and school settings. A three-round Delphi procedure was employed to obtain expert consensus on strategies that are important and feasible in educational settings. First, thirty experts rated statements identified from the literature and a stakeholder forum. Next, experts re-appraised statements, including new statements generated from the first round. Ninety statements were endorsed by ≥ 80% of the experts. Primary themes include strategies for program selection, strategies for increasing the accessibility of programs and the understanding of educational staff on parent engagement and child mental health, strategies for program development, promotion, and delivery, as well as strategies for increasing parent and community engagement. This study offers a set of consensus strategies for improving the uptake of parent education programs within family-school partnership.

Let us all take a moment to talk, once again, about this new coronavirus pandemic that the world has been facing since November 2019 and about its global response. After a short period marked by the pandemic underestimation risk by most governments, the Western world went nuts and overreacted, most probably so as not to be accused of inaction. In many cases, the overall benefits of the chosen policies were not sufficiently questioned, which resulted in many side effects on global health .The medical motto “primum non nocere”, a moral principle everyone should at least consider following, was evidently not taken into account. It has been overlooked, and the virus has become an obsession, to the extent that nearly everything else, even the most valuable things in life, is still now under appreciated if not simply ignored. This review highlighted facts against this simplistic, one-dimensional view.

Objective: To highlight opportunities for future nutrition intervention research within early childhood and education care (ECEC) settings, with a focus on generating evidence that has applicability to real-world policy and practice. Methods: An overview of opportunities to progress the field was developed by authors using a collaborative writing approach and informed by recent research in the field. The group developed a list of recommendations aligned with the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. Pairs of authors drafted individual sections of the manuscript, which was then reviewed by a separate pair. The first and senior author consolidated all sections of the manuscript and sought critical input on draft iterations of the manuscript. Results: Interventions that employ digital platforms (Reach) in ECEC settings, as well as research in the family day care setting (Effectiveness) were identified as areas of opportunities. Research understanding the determinants of and effective strategies for dissemination (Adoption), implementation of nutrition programs, in addition to de-implementation (Implementation) of inappropriate nutrition practices, is warranted. For maintenance, there is a need to better understand sustainability and sustainment of interventions, in addition to undertaking policy-relevant research. Conclusions: The ECEC setting is prime for innovative and practical nutrition intervention research.

Mental health and emotional responses to the effects of COVID-19 lockdown in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are of serious public health concern and may negatively affect the mental health status of people. Hence, this study assessed the prevalence of mental health symptoms as well as emotional reactions among sub-Saharan Africans (SSAs) and associated factors among SSAs during the COVID-19 lockdown period. This was a web-based cross-sectional, a study on mental health and emotional features from 2005 respondents in seven SSA countries. This study was conducted between April 27 and May 17, 2020 corresponding to the lockdown period in most SSA countries. Respondents aged 18 years and above and the self-reported symptoms were feeling anxious, being worried, angry, bored and frustrated. These were the main outcomes and were treated as dichotomous variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the factors associated with these symptoms. We found that over half (52.2%) of the participants reported any of the mental health symptoms in SSA and the prevalence of feeling bored was 70.5% followed by feeling anxious (59.1%), being worried (57.5%), frustrated (51.5%) and angry (22.3%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multivariate analysis revealed that males, those aged >28 years, Central and Southern Africans, those who were not married, the unemployed, those living with more than six persons in a household, had higher odds of mental health and emotional symptoms. Similarly, people who perceived low risk of contracting the infection, and those who thought the pandemic would not continue after the lockdown had higher odds of mental health and emotional symptoms. Health care workers had lower odds for feeling angry than non-healthcare workers. During COVID-19 lockdown periods in SSA, about one in two participants reported mental health and emotional symptoms. Public health measures can be effectively used to identify target groups for prevention and treatment of mental health and emotional symptoms. Such interventions should be an integral component of SSA governments’ response and recovery strategies of any future pandemic.

Background Research on the mental health of students in health disciplines mainly focuses on psychological distress and nursing and medical students. This study aimed to investigate the psychological well-being and distress and related factors among undergraduate students training in eight different health-related tracks in Geneva, Switzerland. Methods This cross-sectional study used established self-filled scales for anxiety, depression, stress, psychological well-being, and study satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. Results In October 2019, out of 2835 invited students, 915 (32%) completed the survey. Lower academic satisfaction scores were strongly associated with depression (β=-.26, p<.001), anxiety (β=-.27, p<.001), and stress (β=-.70, p<.001), while higher scores with psychological well-being (β=.70, p<.001). Being female was strongly associated with anxiety and stress but not with depression or psychological well-being. Increased age was associated with enhanced psychological well-being. The nature of the academic training had a lesser impact on mental health and the academic year none. Conclusion Academic satisfaction strongly predicts depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being. Training institutions should address the underlying factors that can improve students’ satisfaction with their studies while ensuring that they have access to psychosocial services that help them cope with mental distress and enhance their psychological well-being.

Probiotics make up a large and growing segment of the commercial market of dietary supplements and are touted as offering a variety of human health benefits. Some of the purported positive impacts of probiotics include, but are not limited to, stabilization of the gut microbiota, prevention of gastrointestinal disorders and modulation of the host immune system. Current research suggests that the immunomodulatory effects of probiotics are strain specific and vary in mode of action. Here, we examined the immunomodulatory properties of Bacillus subtilis strain DE111 in a healthy human population. In a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled four-week intervention, we examined peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) at basal levels pre- and post-treatment as well as in response to stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We observed an anti-inflammatory effect of B. subtilis, manifested as a decrease in immune cell populations within the basal state along with an increase in anti-inflammatory immune cells in response to LPS stimulation. Overall gastrointestinal health, microbiota, and circulating and fecal markers of inflammation and gut barrier function were largely unaffected by DE111 treatment. These data suggest that the novel probiotic B. subtilis DE111 may have clinical applications in modulating immune homeostasis via anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

Smoking is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases and remains a significant public health challenge in many lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC) including Namibia. The purpose of the study was to estimate the prevalence of smoking and its associated risk factors among HCWs and non-HCWs in Zambezi region. An exploratory cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and October 2020 among residents of the eight (8) constituencies of Zambezi region. Four hundred and sixty-one (461) respondents who had been residents of the selected constituencies for over five years and aged between 17-60 years were selected for the study. The main outcome measure was current cigarette smoking status. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. We stratified data analysis by individual being health workers or non-health workers. A bivariate Pearson Chi-square test was used to determine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and the smoking status. Statistically significant variables in the bivariate analysis were used as predictors in the univariate and multivariate models. The response rate of potential participants was 95% (n=434). The mean (±SD) age of participant’s was 32.5 (± 11.34 years). Significant relationships were observed between smoking status and area of residency (constituency), gender, age category, level of education, age of onset of smoking and the daily smoking frequency. The majority of smokers (n=108) were none-HCWs with males being the majority (n=62). Age (p=0.001), education levels (p=0.001) and area of residency (p=0.022) were highly associated with smoking among none-HCW while marital status was associated with smoking among HCWs (p=0.013). In the final multivariate model, the odds of smoking among female non-HCWs were significantly lower (OR: 0.386; 95% CI: 0.228 – 0.655). Furthermore, the odds of smoking among this same group were lower among those who had secondary level education (OR: 0.178; 95% CI: 0.0659 – 0.483), post-secondary (OR: 0.117, 95% CI: 0.0412 – 0.330) and first stage tertiary (OR: 0.306: 95% CI: 0.106 – 0.881) compared to those who had primary school education. In conclusion, smoking prevalence among none HCWs and HCWs working in Zambezi included in the study was similar to that of the general Namibian population but higher than other neighboring countries within SADC. The results showed a need for the establishment of specific smoking related strategies that target HCWs to address smoking use parallel to the running of none HCWs which would ultimately decrease the smoking prevalence and improve health.

Tourism is the main economic sector in the Balearic Islands (Spain) and hotel housekeepers (HHs) are a large occupational group, in which stress is becoming a major issue. This study aims at exploring in-depth factors perceived as stressors by HHs and key-informants, and their effects on work-life balance (WLB). A qualitative design with phenomenological approach was used, conducting six focus groups with 34 HHs and 10 individual interviews with key-informants. Results were analyzed adopting the job demands-resources model and a gender perspective. High demands –e.g work overload, time pressure, physical burden...-, lack of enough resources and little control –derived from role conflict, unexpected events...- were the most important factors explaining HHs’ stress. Additionally, this imbalance was perceived as leading to health problems –mainly musculoskeletal disorders-. Working schedule was mentioned as a facilitator to WLB, whereas an imbalance between job demands and resources led to work-home conflict –preventing them from enjoying leisure time-. Multiple roles at work and at home increased their stress. HHs experienced their job as invisible and unrecognised. Regarding practical implications, our recommendations for hotel organization include reducing workload and increasing resources, which would improve the job demands-resource balance, diminish negative mental and physical outcomes and improve WLB.

A workplace sleep health promotion program was implemented in an Italian police unit from 2016 to 2017. Of the 242 police officers in the unit, 218 (90%) agreed to take part in the program. A crossover trial was made in which the police officers were divided into two groups that performed sleep health promotion activities in the first and second year, respectively. The first group of officers showed significant sleep improvements at the end of the first year, while the second group had similar or worse parameters than at baseline. At follow-up, a significant improvement in the quantity and quality of sleep was reported in both groups. Sleep improvements at follow-up were associated with a marked reduction in the frequency of accidents at work and near-misses. All sleep parameters showed a significant association with injuries and near-misses in univariate logistic regression analyses. Before the intervention, sleepiness was the best predictor of injuries (aOR 1.220; CI95% 1.044-1.426) and near-misses (aOR 1.382; CI95% 1.182-1.615). At follow-up, when sleep conditions had improved, insomnia symptoms were the most significant predictors of work accidents (aOR 13.358; CI95% 2.353-75.818). Sleep health promotion can be useful in police officers.

The World Health Organization’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is a user-friendly web-based tool to assess health impacts of active travel. HEAT, developed over 10 years ago, has been used by researchers, planners and policymakers alike in appraisals of walking and cycling policies of both national and more local scales. HEAT has undergone regular upgrades adopting the latest scientific evidence. This article presents the most recent upgrades of the tool. Health impacts of walking and/or cycling in a specified population are quantified in terms of premature deaths avoided (or caused). In addition to the calculation of benefits from physical activity, HEAT was recently expanded to include assessments of the burden associated with air pollution exposure and crash risks while walking or cycling. Further, impacts on carbon emissions from mode shift to active travel modes can now be assessed. Monetization of impacts using Value of Statistical Life and Social Costs of Carbon now uses country-specific values. As active travel inherently results in often substantial health benefits as well as not always negligible risks, assessments of active travel behaviour or policies are incomplete without considering health implications. The recent developments of HEAT make it easier than ever to obtain ballpark estimates of health impacts and carbon emissions related to walking and cycling.

This systematic review investigates the failure rate and marginal bone loss (MBL) of dental implants placed in Solid-organ transplant (SOT) patients compared to healthy controls. Three databases (PubMed, Web of Sciences and the Cochrane Library) were searched up to June 2020 (PROSPERO CRD42019124896). Case-control and cohort studies reporting data failure rate and marginal bone loss (MBL) of dental implants placed in SOT patients were included. The risk of bias of observational studies was assessed through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Four case-control studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, all of low risk of bias. Meta-analyses revealed consistently lower implant failure rate than control populations at patient and implant levels. SOT patients had a significant difference of -18% (p-value <0.001) of MLB towards healthy patients. SOT status poses no serious threat to implant survival. Overall, this group of patients presented lower levels of dental implant failure rate and marginal bone loss compared to otherwise healthy patients. Further intervention trials with wider sample size and longer follow-ups are necessary to confirm these summary results.

Children and young people (CYP) with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) may be particularly vulnerable to adverse mental health effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional U.K parent-reported study from 2nd April-2nd June 2020, using the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire. CYP with NDDs (n=371) compared to neurotypical controls, had a higher prevalence of emotional symptoms (42% vs 15%), conduct problems (28% vs 9%), and lower prosocial behaviours (54% vs 22%). Those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed inflated conduct, and those with autism spectrum disorder exhibited decreased prosocial behaviours. Females with ASD had higher emotional symptoms compared to males.

The objective of the study was to report the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) following road traffic accidents (RTAs) among children. A community-based survey using EuroQol five-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) in Hindi was used to collected data from community. The survey included 2620 households from urban and rural areas of Ujjain, India. From these households 229 children aged 5–18 years with a history of RTA in the last 1 year were identified, with 27%, 63%, and 10% children reporting mild, moderate, and severe injury based on length of hospitalization. Motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians constituted most RTAs. Helmet use was low (12%). EQ-5D-5L revealed that the most severe and extreme problem was pain and discomfort, whereas the least severe problem was usual activity and self-care. The most common (65%) injuries were either abrasion or fracture and dislocation. EQ-5D-5L severity index was maximum (mean 72) for lower extremity injuries. The results of the present study highlight the ability and requirement for quality of life measurement using EQ-5D-5L among children post-RTA.

The epidemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have affected all the regions of the world, nevertheless, in some countries there is a lack of studies on its main clinical and epidemiological features. We analyzed the incidence, incidence rates, and evolution of COVID-19 cases in Honduras from February 18-April 24, 2020.Methods: Using daily epidemiological data from surveillance about COVID-19 in Honduras, we calculated the rates of incidence (cases/100,000 population), and developed at national, departmental, and municipal levels GIS-based maps.Results: February 18 - April 24, 2020, a sum of 3,169 suspected COVID-19 cases have been assessed by RT-PCR, 533 (16.8%) of them were positive, for an incidence rate of 5.73 cases/100,000 pop. The highest peak was reached on March 31 (48 cases). The department with the highest number of cases and incidence rate was Cortes (383 cases, 71.9% of the total, 21.45 cases/100,000 pop). Discussion: The pattern and evolution of COVID-19 epidemic in Honduras has been particularly focused in the major urban areas, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, the capital city. Studies using geographical information systems linked with clinical disease characteristics are necessary to attain accurate epidemiological data for public health systems. Such information is also useful for assessment of the evolution of the pandemic and monitoring interventions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has great adverse impacts on personal life, the U.S. economy, and the world economy. Freezing all human activities is not a sustainable measure. Thus we want to develop a public intervention framework that allows people to resume personal and economic activities. In this article, we examined transmission routes, disease severity, personal vulnerability, available treatments, and person-person interactions to establish a general public intervention framework. We divide people into risk groups, non-risk group and group that may serve as viral transmitters, explore interactions between individual persons within each group and between different groups, and propose interaction behavior modifications to mitigate viral exposures. For the non-risk groups, we identified preventive measures that can help them avoid the most serious exposures and infections that pose higher death risks. The invention measures for the vulnerable groups include prior-exposure measures, heightened protective measures, interaction behavior changes, post-exposure remedial measures, and multiple factors treatments to reduce death and disability risks. The multiple interventions and two-ways defensive behavior modifications are expected to result in reduced rate of detectable infections and lowered disease severity for the vulnerable groups. In this framework, most human activities and economic activities can continue as normal. With time passing, the population acquires population immunity against the COVID-19 virus. Implementation of this intervention framework requires considerable resources and governmental effects while the multiple factors treatment protocol requires the support of health care professionals.

Objectives: To explore the effect of breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) treatment on quality of sleep and other aspects of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with cancer pain. Methods: In an observational, multicenter, cohort study, cancer patients from palliative care units, oncology departments, and pain clinics and affected by BTcP were included. Enrolled patients were assessed at the four visits: T0 (baseline), T7, T14, and T28. Well-controlled chronic background pain during the whole study period was mandatory. BTcP was treated through transmucosal fentanyl. Three questionnaires were used to measure the HRQoL: EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS). Results: In 154 patients, the HRQoL showed a significant improvement for all physical and emotional characteristics in the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL, except for nausea and vomiting (Linear p-value = 0.1) and dyspnoea (Linear p-value =0.05). The ESAS and PSQI questionnaires confirmed these positive results (p<0.0001 and p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: This prospective investigation by an Italian expert group, has confirmed that careful management of BTcP induces a paramount improvement on the HRQoL. Because in cancer patients there is a high prevalence of BTcP and this severe acute pain has deleterious consequences, this information can have an important clinical significance

It is of merit to study the appropriate amount of fiber to add to free-range chickens feed to improve the microbial diversity and gut health in times of plant fiber deprivation. OptiCell is a useful source of fiber as a type of eubiotic lignocellulose, and its positive effects on the growth performance and laying performance of chickens has already been proven. However, few researchers have researched the effects of adding OptiCell on the gut microbiota of chickens. In this research we added three different levels of OptiCell (0%, 2% and 4%) to the feed of caged and free-range Bian chickens from September to November, aiming to observe the effects of adding OptiCell and different feeding modes on the gut microbial diversity and gut health of chickens, and aiming to determine an appropriate amount of OptiCell. The results showed that adding OptiCell could increase the thickness of the cecum mucus layer and the abundance of Akkermansia and Faecalibacterium in caged chickens, and 4% OptiCell was optimum. In addition, adding OptiCell increased the microbial diversity and the abundance of the butyrate-producing bacteria Faecalibacterium and Roseburia of fee-range chickens. The α-diversity and the length of the small intestine with 2% OptiCell in free-range chickens were better than with 2% OptiCell in caged chickens. In addition, compared with caged chickens, the free-range chickens had longer small intestine and lower GLP-1. Taken together, an appropriate amount of OptiCell benefitted the microbial diversity and health of chickens; it was necessary to add dietary fiber to the feed of free-range chickens when plant fibers was lacking, and 2% OptiCell was found to be optimum.

Nowadays, mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) have experimented a remarkable development of studies among childhood and adolescent interventions. For this reason, dispositional mindfulness (DM) measures for children and adolescents have been developed to determine the effectiveness of MBI at this age stage. However, little is known about how key elements of DM (f. e., cognitive de/fusion or experiential avoidance that both conform psychological inflexibility) are involved in the mechanisms of the children and adolescents’ mental health outcomes. This research examined the mediating effect of cognitive fusion between DM and anxiety and other negative emotional states in a sample of 318 Spanish primary-school students (aged between 8 and 16 years, M=11.24, SD=2.19, 50.8% males). Participants completed the AFQ-Y, which is a measure of psychological inflexibility that encompasses cognitive defusion and experiential avoidance; CAMM (DM for children and adolescents), PANAS-N (positive and negative affect measure for children, the Spanish version of PANASC), and STAIC (an anxiety measure for children). The study accomplished ethical standards. As MBI relevant literature has suggested, cognitive defusion was a significant mediator between DM and symptoms of both negative emotions and anxiety in children and adolescents. However, experiential avoidance did not show any significant mediating relationship. Probably, it is needed improvement of the assessment of experiential avoidance. MBI programs for children and adolescents may include more activities for reducing the effects of the cognitive defusion on their emotional distress.

Objective: The private healthcare providers (PHCP) are believed to improve access to healthcare services in Public-Private Mix (PPM) projects, as they are considered first point of contact for healthcare. The purpose of this study was to know the satisfaction level of TB patients. Design: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was carried out during November and December 2017 for 572 under-treatment patients registered with PHCPs in the PPM project. Lot quality assurance sampling technique was used to randomly select 19 districts from sample frame of 75 districts. In each selected district, data collector retrieved TB register of 8 months (Jan – Aug 2017) and systematically selected patients by fixed periodic interval. SPSS (version 24.0) was used to analyze the data. Results: Study included 53% (n=301) of males and 47% (n=271) of females, with mean age of 38 years (SD, ±18). Almost half of the participants were illiterate (51%, n=289) and 64% (n=365) were non-earning members of the family. In practice, most of the participants visit private providers (71%, n=407), including private hospital/clinic (44%) and traditional practitioners (27%; n=153). 55% of participants visited the current doctor because of clinic’s proximity to residence. 82% of the participants (n=469) were satisfied with the TB care services and 85% (n=488) said that they would recommend this clinic to others. Conclusion: PHCPs are preferred providers for individuals, which is consistent with findings of other studies. Though they are satisfied with TB care and services, interventions should be introduced to reduce the financial burden on the patient. Partnering PHCP is a way forward to ensure universal health coverage, health system strengthening and better health outcomes of the population.

Currently the majority of studies on vision-based measurement has been conducted under ideal environments so that an adequate measurement performance and accuracy is ensured. However, vision-based systems may face some adverse influencing factors such as illumination change and fog interference, which can affect the measurement accuracy. This paper develops a robust vision-based displacement measurement method which can handle the two common and important adverse factors given above and achieve sensitivity at the subpixel level. The proposed method leverages the advantage of high-resolution imaging incorporating spatial and temporal context aspects. To validate the feasibility, stability and robustness of the proposed method, a series of experiments was conducted on a two-span three-lane bridge in the laboratory. The illumination change and fog interference are simulated experimentally in the laboratory. The results of the proposed method are compared to conventional displacement sensor data and current vision-based method results. It is demonstrated that the proposed method gives better measurement results than the current ones under illumination change and fog interference.

Age-in-place can reduce the progress of dementia syndrome and improve the quality of life of the sufferers and their families. This work proposes an innovative information home support system to be established at the houses of people suffering from dementia. The main innovation of the system are its transparent character that overcomes the need for training of the sufferer, as well as the exploitation of a well-known technique for dementia, namely music therapy. It addresses the need of people suffering from dementia as well as their familiars to be recognized by them and have better interaction and collaboration. The system offers a ubiquitous recognition system, just by using smart devices like smart-phones or smart-wristbands. When a familiar person is detected in the house, then a sound file is reproduced on smart speakers placed in the house, in order to trigger the memory, based on the principles of music therapy. The system reproduced the appropriate time at 100% of the cases and the benefits of music therapy are evident daily. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first system of its kind ever reported in the literature.