Preventive Health

Outbreaks of viral diseases seriously jeopardize people's health and cause huge economic losses. At the same time, virology provides a new perspective for biology, molecular biology and cancer research, and it is important to study the discovered viruses with potential applications. Therefore, the development of immediate and rapid viral detection methods for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases as well as the study of viruses has attracted extensive attention from scientists. With the continuous progress of science and technology, especially in the field of bioanalysis, a series of new detection techniques have been applied to the on-site rapid detection of viruses, which has become a powerful approach for human beings to fight against viruses...

Chronic, non-communicable diseases present a major barrier to living a long and healthy life. In many cases, early diagnosis can facilitate prevention, monitoring, and treatment efforts, improving patient outcomes. There is therefore a critical need to make screening techniques as accessible, unintimidating, and cost-effective as possible. The association between ocular biomarkers and systemic health and disease (oculomics) presents an attractive opportunity for detection of systemic diseases, as ophthalmic techniques are often relatively low-cost, fast, and non-invasive...

Health and risk of disease are determined by exposure to the physical, socio-economic, and political environment and to this has been added exposure to the digital environment. Our increasingly digital lives have major implications for people's health and its monitoring, as well as for prevention and care. Digital health, which encompasses the use of health applications, connected devices and artificial intelligence medical tools, is transforming medical and healthcare practices. Used properly, it could facilitate patient-centered, inter-professional and data-driven care...

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac surgery is a frequent surgical procedure and may present a high risk of complications. Among the prophylactic strategies studied to decrease the rates of negative outcomes, respiratory care seems to reduce pulmonary complications. Incentive spirometry (IS) is a low-cost, respiratory exercise technique, used for the prevention and treatment of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC). The aim of this review was to evaluate whether IS is superior to respiratory care, mobilization exercises, and noninvasive ventilation on PPC, and clinical outcomes...

Bovine mastitis is a frequent infection in lactating cattle, causing great economic losses. Staphylococcus aureus represents the main etiological agent, which causes recurrent and persistent intramammary infections because conventional antibiotics are ineffective against it. Mastoparan-like peptides are multifunctional molecules with broad antimicrobial potential, constituting an attractive alternative. Nevertheless, their toxicity to host cells has hindered their therapeutic application. Previously, our group engineered three mastoparan-L analogs, namely mastoparan-MO, mastoparan-R1, and [I5 , R8 ] MP, to improve cell selectivity and potential...

INTRODUCTION: Neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke represent a substantial health burden to the world's ageing population. Cerebrovascular dysfunction is a key contributor to these conditions, affecting an individual's risk profile, age of onset, and severity of neurological disease. Recent data shows that early-life events, such as maternal health during pregnancy, birth weight and exposure to environmental toxins can 'prime' the vascular system for later changes...

In this study, the genetic differences and clinical impact of the carbapenemase-encoding genes among the community and healthcare-acquired infections were assessed. This retrospective, multicenter cohort study was conducted in Colombia and included patients infected with carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative rods between 2017 and 2021. Carbapenem resistance was identified by Vitek, and carbapenemase-encoding genes were identified by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to classify the alleles and sequence types (STs)...

Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes and mobile colistin resistance (MCR) genes in Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) have been widely identified, which is considered a global threat to public health. In the present study, we conducted an analysis of MCR genes ( mcr-1 , mcr-2 , mcr-3 , mcr-4 , and mcr-5 ) and PMQR genes [ qnrA , qnrB , qnrC , qnrD , qnrE1 , qnrVC , qnrS , aac(6')-Ib-cr , qepA , and oqxAB ] in E. coli from China, 1993-2019. From the 3,663 E. coli isolates examined, 1,613 (44.0%) tested positive for PMQR genes, either individually or in combination...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some individuals to experience vicarious traumatization (VT), an adverse psychological reaction to those who are primarily traumatized, which may negatively impact one's mental health and well-being and has been demonstrated to vary with personal trauma history. The neural mechanism of VT and how past trauma history affects current VT remain largely unknown. This study aimed to identify neurobiological markers that track individual differences in VT and reveal the neural link between childhood cumulative trauma (CCT) and VT...

BACKGROUND: Women with BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants (PVs) have a choice of preventive options. To help these women decide for themselves, we developed and implemented a decision coaching (DC) program and evaluated it for congruence between the participants' desired and actual roles in decision-making. METHODS: Healthy BRCA1/2 PV carriers (from 25 to 60 years of age) were recruited at six centers in Germany. Those returning baseline T1-questionnaires were randomly assigned to the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG)...

OBJECTIVES: Surgeons are exposed to high levels of physical stress while working in the operating room. In industry, so-called exoskeletons are used to support the back and shoulder area. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effects of an upper body exoskeleton on postoperative physical complaints of surgeons. METHODS: Surgeons from a university hospital in the fields of orthopaedics, trauma- and visceral surgery performed two operations of the same type and planned length on two different days...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the functional clinical profile of elderly people linked to primary health care, using the Functional Clinical Vulnerability Index (IVCF-20) and to spatialize those with the greatest functional decline by primary health care units in the municipality of Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais (MG), in the year 2022. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with secondary data from the Municipal Health Department of Uberlândia-MG. The variables were compared using Student's t-test, Mann Whitney test, Pearson's chi-square, and multinomial logistic regression to obtain the independent effect of each variable...

In the contemporary era, heightened emphasis on health and safety has emerged as a paramount concern among individuals with food. The concepts of "natural" and "green" have progressively asserted dominance in the food consumption market. Consequently, through continuous exploration and development, an escalating array of natural bioactive ingredients is finding application in both nutrition delivery and the broader food industry. Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a polyphenolic compound widely distributed in various plants in nature, has garnered significant attention...

AIMS: To explore adult inpatients' perceptions, understanding and preferences regarding the term 'malnutrition' and to identify the terms that adult inpatients report are used by themselves and health workers to describe malnutrition. DESIGN: This qualitative study was conducted using data collected for a separate qualitative study that investigated factors that influence the dietary intake of long-stay, acute adult inpatients. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of current inpatients...

We used Poisson's linear regression to examine the association between racial bullying (RB) and the initiation of alcohol and tobacco uses after nine months. Two cluster randomized controlled trials were conducted in 2019 with fifth (girls: 50.0%; 10 years old: 82.0%; White: 36.8%; Black: 58.7%; Others: 4.5%) and seventh graders (girls: 49.5%; 12 years old: 78.1%; White: 33.2%; Black: 60.4%; Others: 6.4%) from 30 public schools in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil. We restricted our analyzes on two subsets of students in each grade: those who reported no lifetime alcohol use at baseline and those who reported no lifetime baseline tobacco use...

Adult vaccination coverage remains low, despite vaccine recommendations, improved access, and reimbursement. Low vaccination coverage and an aging population at higher risk from vaccine-preventable diseases lead to preventable disability and deaths, straining healthcare systems. An Advisory Board meeting was, therefore, held to identify non-structural barriers to adult vaccination and discuss potential solutions to increase uptake. Many non-structural factors can influence vaccine uptake, such as heterogeneity in the population, (fear of) vaccine shortages, incentives, or mandates for vaccination, understanding of disease burden and personal risks, time and opportunity for healthcare providers (HCPs) to discuss and deliver vaccines during general practice or hospital visits, trust in the health system, and education...

Microplastic pollution is a central issue of great concern in the current environmental field. Microplastic pollution in marine environmental media is widely reported, but the characteristics of microplastic pollution in deep sediments are rarely reported. Based on this, three sampling points were set up on the muddy coast near the Haizhou Bay, a typical aquaculture sea area, to analyze the characteristics of microplastic pollution in sediment column samples. The study showed that the abundance of microplastics in the sediments of the study area was(0...

Taking a city in Guangdong Province as the research area, the concentration and spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals in the surface soil were studied to clarify the situation of soil heavy metal pollution and priority control factors, providing basic data for the prevention and control of soil heavy metal pollution in the city. The content characteristics of heavy metals in 221 soil samples in the city were analyzed, and the potential health risk assessment and source analysis were carried out through the Monte Carlo model, the potential health risk assessment (HRA) model, and the PMF receptor model...

The objective of this study was to explore the effects of different amounts of biochar on the migration process and characteristics of NO3 - -N in loessial soil. In this study, six groups of mixed soil samples with biochar and loessial soil mass ratios of 0% (T0), 1% (T1), 2% (T2), 3% (T3), 4% (T4), and 5% (T5) were used as research objects. NO3 - -N was used as the tracer. Through the indoor soil column solute transport simulation tests, the effects of different biochar application amounts on the NO3 - -N transport process in loessial soil were simulated and studied...

Soil organic matter is an important indicator of soil fertility, and it is necessary to improve the accuracy of regional organic matter spatial distribution prediction. In this study, we analyzed the organic matter content of 1 690 soil surface layers (0-20 cm) and collected data on the natural environment and human activities in the Weining Plain of the Yellow River Basin. The SOM spatial distribution prediction model was established with 1 348 points using classical statistics, deterministic interpolation, geostatistical interpolation, and machine learning, respectively, and 342 sample points data were used as the test set to test and analyze the prediction accuracy of different models...