Healthcare regulation

BACKGROUND AND AIM: It is essential that healthcare providers display ethical behavior toward their patients. Despite development of codes of ethics for clinical practice, the occurrence of unethical behaviors toward patients is alarmingly high. The present study was conducted to identify the barriers to ethical treatment of patients in clinical environments. METHODS: Through systematic narrative review, the present study investigated the barriers to ethical treatment of patients...

Chronic pain, a complex and debilitating condition, poses a significant challenge to both patients and healthcare providers worldwide. Conventional pharmacological interventions often prove inadequate in delivering satisfactory relief while carrying the risks of addiction and adverse reactions. In recent years, electric neuromodulation emerged as a promising alternative in chronic pain management. This method entails the precise administration of electrical stimulation to specific nerves or regions within the central nervous system to regulate pain signals...

Regulatory marketing authorisation is not enough to ensure patient access to new medicinal products. Health Technology Assessment bodies may require data on effectiveness, relative effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. Healthcare systems may require data on clinical utility, savings, and budget impact. Furthermore, the exact requirements of these bodies vary country by country and sometimes even region to region, resulting in a patchwork of different data requirements to achieve effective, reimbursed patient access to new therapies...

OBJECTIVES: To maintain continuity of care during the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual consultations (VC) became the mainstay of patient-healthcare practitioner interactions. The aim of this study was to explore the views of oncology and palliative care healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding the medium of VC. METHOD: A cross sectional mixed methodology observational study of oncology and palliative care HCPs, analysed via an inductive thematic approach. This was undertaken in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations...

BACKGROUND: Healthcare systems worldwide face escalating pharmaceutical expenditures despite interventions targeting pricing and generic substitution. Existing studies often overlook unwarranted volume increases in multisource markets due to differential physician perceptions of brand name and generics. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explain the outpacing of generic medicine use over brand name use in multisource markets and assess the regulatory role, specifically examining the impact of reference pricing on volume and intensity increases...

The world's elderly population is growing at a rapid pace. This has led to an increase in demand on the health and welfare systems due to age-related disorders, with musculoskeletal complaints driving the need for rehabilitation services. However, there are concerns about health services' ability to meet this demand. While chiropractic care is gaining recognition for its benefits in treating older adults with musculoskeletal disorders, there is limited scientific literature on chiropractors' role and experiences in this area...

There is a significant global upsurge in the number and proportion of older persons in the population. With this comes an increasing prevalence of age-related conditions which pose a major challenge to healthcare systems. The development of anti-ageing treatments may help meet this challenge by targeting the ageing process which is a common denominator to many health problems. Cannabis-like compounds (cannabinoids) are reported to improve quality of life and general well-being in human trials, and there is increasing preclinical research highlighting that they have anti-ageing activity...

Skin anti-aging treatments have become increasingly popular. Currently, the prevalent treatment method involves implanting skin tension regulation threads (skin lifting threads) under the skin, and radiofrequency treatments. In this study, inspired by the natural supercontraction of spider silk, we have modulated the molecular structure of silk fibroin fibers into an oriented configuration. This modification endows silk proteins with water-responsive self-contraction capabilities, leading to the development of innovative self-contracting silk-based skin tensioners (SSSTs)...

Multicellular organisms exhibit synergistic effects among their components, giving rise to emergent properties crucial for their genesis and overall functionality and survival. Morphogenesis, the formation of an organism's shape, involves and relies upon intricate and biunivocal interactions among cells and their environment, i.e., the extracellular matrix (ECM). Cells secrete their own ECM which, in turn regulates their morphogenetic program by controlling time and space presentation of matricellular signals...

OBJECTIVE/PROCESS: In June of 2022, the State of Maryland Board of Pharmacy issued regulations permitting pharmacist administration of maintenance injectable medications. Subsequently, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy created a laboratory to train student pharmacists based on these regulations on administering long-acting maintenance injections. This training included a review of regulations, reconstitution and administration of medications, and education for patients and caregivers on long-acting injectable medications...

In recent years, there has been a surge in the development of AI-based Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), particularly in visual specialties such as dermatology. In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulates AI-based SaMD to ensure its safe use. Proper labelling of these devices is crucial to ensure that healthcare professionals and the general public understand how to use them and interpret results accurately. However, guidelines for labelling AI-based SaMD in dermatology are lacking, which may result in products failing to provide essential information about algorithm development and performance metrics...

Research advances on effective methods to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer continue to emerge through clinical and genomic research. Most clinical trial and genomic research participants identify as White which limits the generalizability of research findings to non-White populations. With the development and access to technology, digital delivery of salient and tailored health education may provide innovative pathways to increase representation of African Americans (AA) and Hispanics in research. This project focused on the creation of a bioethical sensitive education video aimed at increasing participation in clinical trials and genomic research by bringing together experts from the community, healthcare, biomedical research, and public health...

Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is characterized by biopsychosocial determinants that collectively result in substantial burden at the individual, community, and healthcare system levels. A growing body of literature suggests that childhood adversity is longitudinally associated with the development and maintenance of various chronic pain conditions in adulthood. Little research has investigated the psychological processes that might underlie the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and cLBP...

A network of healthcare professionals specializing in transgender care was established in Croatia in 2011, and legal advancements were subsequently made in 2014. Both achievements made gender transition more transparent and thus more attainable in Croatia. This observational study was conducted to assess the number of transgender individuals initiating gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) in Croatia and describes trends in age and sex assigned at birth. Between 2011 and 2022, a total of 111 transgender individuals initiated GAHT...

AIM AND BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the potential synergistic interaction of virgin coconut oil (VCO) and virgin olive oil (VOO) mixture against Streptococcus sanguinis , Streptococcus mutans , and Lactobacillus casei in a single and mixture species through the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), antiadherence, and antibiofilm activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The broth microdilution technique was used to individually determine the MIC of both oils and an oil mixture (in the ratio of 1:1) in a 96-well microtiter plate...

•Examines AI's role in spinal health education.•Stresses multidisciplinary AI evaluations.•Advocates for stringent AI healthcare regulations.

BACKGROUND: The virtual care model can be used in all aspects of healthcare, such as prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of most medical and surgical conditions. The objective of this study was to identify the current barriers to implementing and consolidating the virtual healthcare model, of "telemedicine", in Latin American countries. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted through four databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Virtual Health, including articles in Spanish, Portuguese, and English...

BACKGROUND: In this study, we examined the ethical implications of Egypt's new clinical trial law, employing the ethical framework proposed by Emanuel et al. and comparing it to various national and supranational laws. This analysis is crucial as Egypt, considered a high-growth pharmaceutical market, has become an attractive location for clinical trials, offering insights into the ethical implementation of bioethical regulations in a large population country with a robust healthcare infrastructure and predominantly treatment-naïve patients...

Hydrogels containing chondrocytes have exhibited excellent potential in regenerating hyaline cartilage. However, chondrocytes are vulnerable to dedifferentiation during in vitro culture, leading to fibrosis and mechanical degradation of newly formed cartilage. We propose to modulate cartilage formation via the developed chondrocyte pericellular matrix (PCM) -like scaffolds for the first time, in which the S, M and L-sized scaffolds were fabricated by femtosecond laser maskless optical projection lithography of bovine serum albumin-glyceryl methacrylate hydrogel...

Chronic wounds constitute an increasingly prevalent global healthcare issue, characterized by recurring bacterial infections, pronounced oxidative stress, compromised functionality of immune cells, unrelenting inflammatory reactions, and deficits in angiogenesis. In response to these multifaceted challenges, the study introduced a stimulus-responsive glycopeptide hydrogel constructed by oxidized Bletilla striata polysaccharide (OBSP), gallic acid-grafted ε-Polylysine (PLY-GA), and paeoniflorin-loaded micelles (MIC@Pae), called OBPG&MP...