Actual Health Research Articles

One Health Farming: Noninvasive monitoring reveals links between farm vertebrate richness and pathogen markers in outdoor hoofstock

Outdoor farming contributes to biodiversity conservation and enhances animal welfare, but also raises biosafety concerns due to livestock contact with potentially infected wildlife. Thus, there is a need to assess the balance between vertebrate species richness on farms, visits by wildlife species posing a biosafety risk, and pathogen circulation in open-air farming systems. We explored these links in a pilot study involving 15 open-air hoofstock farms (6 cattle, 5 small ruminant, and 4 pig farms), where we conducted interviews and risk point inspections and used two noninvasive tools: short-term camera trap (CT) deployment and environmental nucleic acid detection (ENAD). CTs were deployed to assess the richness of birds and mammals, as well as to determine the percentage of CTs detecting defined risk species. We also collected livestock feces and used sponges to sample surfaces for environmental DNA (eDNA), testing for nine pathogen markers. Total vertebrate richness ranged from 18 to 42 species, with waterholes significantly contributing to farm vertebrate richness, since 48.2 % of all wild vertebrates were detected at waterbodies, and 28.6 % were exclusively detected at waterholes. Pathogen markers detected at risk points correlated with those detected in livestock samples. Notably, the frequency of uidA marker detection correlated with the total number of pathogen markers detected per farm. Overall marker richness, an indicator of pathogen diversity, varied between farms, being higher in small ruminant farms compared to cattle or pig farms. At the farm level, wild vertebrate richness was negatively correlated with the richness of pathogen markers detected at risk points. Additionally, risk points with a higher probability of detecting more pathogen markers had lower vertebrate richness. Although CT-based assessments of vertebrate richness and ENAD-based pathogen marker detection are only indicators of actual biodiversity and farm health, respectively, our findings suggest that farmland vertebrate communities provide important ecosystem services and may help limit the circulation of multi-host pathogens.

From legislation to actual health service: evaluation of health provisions in the disability law of Ghana by adolescents with mobility and visual impairments and their families

BackgroundDespite Ghana’s Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) making provisions for access to healthcare services for adolescents with disabilities and their families, a corpus of literature has reported that persons with disabilities continue to face challenges in accessing healthcare services. However, the voices of adolescents with disabilities and their families are very scarce in such discourse. This study explored the experiences of adolescents with disabilities and their families in accessing healthcare services as per the provisions described in Ghana’s Act 715.MethodsThis study involved 45 participants, including 25 adolescents with disabilities and 20 family members from a municipality in Ghana. Employing a qualitative descriptive design, semi-structured interviews were conducted which was then analyzed thematically and interpreted using Critical Disability Theory.ResultsThe study identified two major categories of barriers to healthcare access: environmental (socio-economic difficulties, poor built environment, unavailability of rehabilitation services) and systemic (cultural beliefs, poor support at healthcare facilities and inadequate healthcare legislative provisions for families of children with disabilities). Despite legal provisions for free healthcare, participants faced significant financial barriers, with specialist services often not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme.ConclusionsThe study calls for policy adjustments to fully cover specialist care under Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, establishment of local-level health assessment and resource centers, educational campaigns to change cultural perceptions, and training of healthcare workers to promote quality access to healthcare.

The Role of Nutrition in Non-Communicable Diseases: Literature Review

Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and certain types of cancer, collectively referred to as NCDs, are a global concern and contribute to about 71% of the total global mortality. This paper focuses on examining nutrition in an attempt to understand how it influences these diseases since the consumption of certain foods is a modifiable risk factor. The results reveal that an increased concentration of fruits and vegetables, whole meal grains, and health-promoting fats can help reduce the vulnerability to NCDs, but a high diet of processed foods and sugar makes the problem worse. However, there is still a dearth of knowledge on the multifaceted processes regarding how particular diet patterns influence NCDs. This study synthesizes available literature on nutrition and NCDs concerning how dietary patterns and nutrient intakes influence the prevention and treatment of diseases. Conclusions are drawn from numerous investigations, stressing the positive effects of dietary modifications like Mediterranean and DASH diets on NCD risk and actual health status. This review contributes to the future development of nutrition and health as a quick reference for researchers about the specific effects of nutrition on health. However, some barriers have not yet been solved like the incidence of unhealthy dietary patterns. Subsequent research should closely examine factors that can be employed that would ensure the effective administration of both nutritional interventions as well as the formulation of improved public health policies that would ensure a change of habits and eating behaviors in a bid to reduce the effects of NCDs.

Populating HIA of tobacco policies with empirical evidence on behavioral response to price increases

Abstract Performing Health Impact Assessment of tobacco policies requires to have insights into how smokers will react to policy measures such as price increases. In the Netherlands, a series of 3 substantial price increases has been implemented in 2020 (10% increase), 2023 (10% increase) and 2024 (24% increase). We performed three consecutive studies comparing the ex-ante stated preferences about behavioural response to actual and hypothetical future price increases, and compared these stated preferences with actual behaviour changes 6 months after the increase in excise tax. Two of these possible behavioural reactions actually will impact smoking prevalence or smoking intensity, e.g. stopping altogether and decreasing the number of cigarettes smoked. Other behavioural responses are less favourable and will not impact health, such as buying more and cheaper tobacco abroad and smoking less expensive brands or transferring from cigarettes to roll-your-own or e-cigarettes. For the price increases of 2020 and 2023, we have observed a substantial number of about 10% of smokers quitting successfully and about one third attempting to quit smoking. (Attempting to) quit smoking was much more prevalent among those with a more pronounced intention to stop smoking at the ex-ante measurements. At the same time, cross-border shopping increased significantly as well, with a 10 percent-point growth in the absolute amount of all tobacco consumed originating from abroad following the 10 percent price increase of April 2023. This big increase in cross-border shopping appeared to be independent of distance to the border. We conclude that every significant price increase stimulates smokers to consider to stop smoking. However, unilateral price increases in one country will eventually also stimulate smokers to buy cross-border. Behavioural data as presented should inform HIA to make them more realistic with regard to actual behaviour changes and health impacts of smoking policies.

A spatial analysis of mental health-related calls for service in Atlantic City, New Jersey

ABSTRACT Objective Police officers often find themselves responding to calls that do not involve criminal behavior, but calls related to individuals experiencing emotional distress or mental illness that requires police response. This research aims to identify high-risk places of mental health calls for service (MHCFS) in an urban setting and compare place features of these locations by police response (locations where a CIT-trained officer is dispatched versus a non-trained officer dispatched). Data/Methods Our research uses Atlantic City Police Department’s calls for service data from 1 January 2019 through 30 December 2022, including the incidents of mental incompetence with location components. After removing the calls that were not coded as mental health, a total of 2229 incidents involving perceived mental illness were geocoded and compared. We used RTMDx software to generate risk terrain models for MHCFS in Atlantic City, NJ. Findings The RTM analysis yielded no association between places of interest and MHCFS for calls involving non-CIT-trained officers. Yet, we identified five high-risk activity spaces of MHCFS where officers with CIT training were involved. Grocery stores (RRV = 2.873), places of leisure (RRV = 2.764), Health & Wellness Facilities (RRV = 2.624), Eateries & Restaurants (RRV = 2.547), and Convenience & Variety Stores (RRV = 2.280) are the risk factors identified by the RTM analysis. Given the characteristics of places identified by risk-terrain modeling, we reason that the characteristics of these places indicate that individuals experiencing perceived or actual mental health problems hang out in spaces with ease of access and in spaces where they can stay relatively longer with minimal attention. Conclusion Our research suggests that there is an association between spatial factors and MHCFS that are responded to by CIT-trained officers. City officials should consider deploying additional resources and mental health staff to these places to address the issue of mental health in urban settings. Future research should consider testing whether the places we identified in our analysis are also high-risk places for MHCFS in other urban environments.

Cultural Persistence of Self-Assessed Health: A Study of First- and Second-Generation Migrants

ObjectivesWe measure the cultural persistence of health assessments; namely how individual assessments reflect the culture individuals are being brought up in by examining the association between first (and second) generation migrants' health assessments and those of their home country (of their parents). MeasureWe individual data records from over thirty host European countries and over ninety sending countries, as well as other controls for migration timing and legal citizenship status and leverage a wide range of sample countries to attenuate the presence of selection bias. ResultsOur estimates document evidence of cultural persistence of health self-assessments in a wide array of different specifications which vary with age and are thus likely to be caused by individual variation in self-reported health over the life course. However, the effect size is sensitive to the inclusion of country of residence fixed effects as well as the presence of selection on observables and other robustness checks. ConclusionThe interpretation of cross-country comparisons of self-reported health should consider that culture influences both actual health and health self-reports. Funding: No funding has been received for this project and authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

High mechanical, self-adhesive oxidized guar gum/chitosan hydrogel prepared at room temperature based on a nickel-urushiol catalytic system for wireless wearable sensors

Recently, sensors constructed on the basis of hydrogel are playing a major role in health detection such as motion detection and breathing monitoring. However, the common hydrogels have poor mechanical properties, insufficient adhesion and complex preparation processes, which hinder the further use of such sensors. In this paper, the conductive hydrogel (P(AA-UH)-OGG-CS/NiCl2) composed of acrylic acid (AA), oxidized guar gum (OGG) and chitosan (CS) was prepared at room temperature through the dynamic redox reaction of nickel chloride (NiCl2) and urushiol (UH). In detail, the reduction group (phenolic hydroxyl) of UH and Ni2+/Ni3+ pair form a semi-quinone/quinone redox dynamic cycle system, allowing the hydrogel to quickly gel at room temperature for 3 min. The catechol group in UH also promotes the hydrogel to have a superior adhesion strength of 25.23 kPa to pig skin and a strong repeated adhesion performance. In addition, the dynamic Schiff base bond created by the interaction of OGG and CS elevated the tensile stress of the hydrogel to 67.54 kPa. After the hydrogel is assembled into the sensor, it has high sensitivity and high stability to different strains, and has great application prospects in the field of actual human health monitoring.

Research about the relationship between the health, economic development and public health expenditure----Evidence: From 11 coastal cities in China

This paper firstly makes a statement on the necessity of this topic and the practical significance behind it. Then it combs through the relevant theories and literature on health capital, public health expenditure, health economics, and economic growth, and analyses the impact and effect of public health expenditure on health capital as well as economic growth in light of scholars' explorations and findings. By collecting relevant data in recent years in Beijing, China, the impact of public health expenditure on economic growth is explored using econometric methods with Beijing as the main research object. The explanatory variable is public health expenditure, the explanatory variables are health capital and economic growth situation in Beijing, and the rest of the control variables are environment, education, and social situation. According to the data relationship between the explanatory variables and the explanatory variables, the authors put forward different research hypotheses and establish different regression models respectively, so as to explore their correlation. The results of the study show that: Beijing government health expenditure has a great role in promoting health capital, and there is still much room for the government to improve it at present; public health expenditure has a significant positive impact on the economy of Beijing, indicating that increasing public health expenditure helps to promote economic growth, which provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for further improvement of public health policy. Finally, on the basis of empirical analysis, this paper puts forward policy recommendations to increase public health expenditure and improve health capital level in Beijing, so as to promote the economic growth of Beijing based on the correlation between the actual health expenditure, health capital and economic growth in Beijing.

Actual health problems caused by odors

Actual health problems caused by odors

Escalating costs of innovative medicines: perspective and proposals.

Public healthcare systems are challenged by the soaring costs of medications that require increasing resources, often at the expense of other investments. The increasing pharmaceutical budget poses a threat to the allocation of funds for essential preventive and primary healthcare services while also raising concerns about equitable access, particularly in models where patients bear part of the costs out of their own pockets. Proposals on how to ensure ongoing and long-term accessibility, efficiency, and financial stability are required. The escalating costs of medicines may be explained in part by the mismatch between the traditional value-based pricing and reimbursement frameworks and the type of clinical development of targeted therapies and precision medicine in clinical practice. New appraisal methods and managed access strategies should be adapted to therapies targeting small populations and addressing increased uncertainty. Fair pricing strategies, transparent healthcare investments based on problems and outcomes, regulatory reforms, international cooperation, and critically examining the drug acquisition model are potential solutions. Transitioning from an industry-driven pricing approach to a health-driven payment model can help align the cost of treatments with actual health outcomes, establishing a foundation for a healthcare system that addresses immediate challenges and fosters long-term well-being. Acknowledging the lack of a universally applicable solution, the practical implementation of interventions requires a reframing of the pricing and access system and adaption to the targeted therapeutic approaches. Balancing innovation with financial sustainability necessitates a collaborative, adaptive, and transparent approach, as well as transitioning toward health-driven payment models, moving the focus from the cost of medications to the well-being of populations worldwide.

Satisfaction-Behavior Paradox in Lifestyle Choices: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health Behaviors and Satisfaction Levels in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.

Lifestyle choices significantly affect health outcomes in Saudi Arabia, but the relationship between health behaviors and satisfaction is unclear. This study aimed to assess lifestyle choices and associated satisfaction levels among residents in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, with 3411 participants. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, and satisfaction data were collected using a questionnaire that was completed during interviews. Logistic regression analyses were implemented to examine the relationships between the study variables and factors related to weight, physical activity, and eating satisfaction. The study found that 38.3% of participants were inactive and 77% rarely ate fruits and vegetables. A total of 47.6% were overweight or obese. Weight (71.12%) and eating (71.59%) satisfaction were high despite these health concerns. The satisfaction-behavior paradox was especially evident in diet. Higher income, physical activity, and healthy eating habits were significantly associated with higher satisfaction (OR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.15-1.93, p = 0.003 for weight satisfaction, OR = 34.74, 95% CI: 25.42-48.35, p < 0.001 for physical activity satisfaction, and OR = 2.08, 95% CI: 1.67-2.61, p < 0.001 for fruit and vegetable consumption). Lifestyle behaviors and satisfaction in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, are complex. The satisfaction-behavior paradox, especially in diet, reveals a major gap between perceived and actual health. These findings highlight the need for targeted, culturally sensitive interventions that address behavioral change and perception alignment to improve regional public health.

Optimizing the health of the elderly through screening and health education

The increasing number of older adults in Indonesia demands more attention to efforts to optimize their health. The elderly are susceptible to various chronic and degenerative diseases that can reduce the quality of life. Therefore, a comprehensive approach through screening and health education is urgently needed to improve the health status of older adults. This community service aims to conduct health screenings and provide health education to older adults in certain areas. The methods used include basic health checks such as blood pressure, blood sugar, and body mass index (BMI), as well as counseling on healthy lifestyles, nutrition, and the importance of physical activity. The results of this activity show that many older adults are not aware of their actual health conditions. Through screening, several cases of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity were found that required further treatment. In addition, the health education provided is able to increase the knowledge and awareness of older adults regarding the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This community service concludes that the combination of screening and health education is effective in detecting health problems and increasing the awareness of the elderly about the importance of prevention and early treatment. Recommendations for similar programs in the future are to expand the reach of activities, strengthen collaboration with local health facilities, and develop more comprehensive educational materials

Current Status of Outcomes Reported by Patients With Stroke and an Analysis of Influencing Factors: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study.

Stroke is the leading cause of acquired disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Its rate of incidence, disability, mortality, and recurrence is high, and the patients experience various symptoms of discomfort, which not only affect their rehabilitation function but also reduce their ability to perform daily activities and their quality of life. Nowadays, with the improvement of China's medical standards, patients are increasingly attentive to their quality of life and health status. However, diagnostic techniques and effective treatments for patients with stroke are still limited but urgently required. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life during hospitalization using a stroke patient-reported outcomes (PROs) scale and additionally to recognize potential factors and risk indicators that may impact recurrent events, facilitating early intervention measures. This is a registry-based, retrospective observational cross-sectional study on patients with stroke. A convenient sampling method was used to select various indicators of patients. The Stroke-PRO scale was then used to assess patients' conditions across physical, psychological, social, and therapeutic domains. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to identify factors influencing stroke PROs, while correlation analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between these outcomes and blood lipid levels. The mean Stroke-PRO score in this study was 4.09 (SD 0.29) points. By multiple linear regression analysis, residence, occupation, physical exercise, Barthel index, Braden scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores at admission, and stroke type were the risk factors for reported outcomes of patients with stroke (P<.05). Correlation analysis showed that serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein were negatively correlated with Stroke-PRO scores in patients with stroke (P<.05), while high-density lipoprotein was positively correlated with patients with stroke (P<.05). The 95% CI was -0.31 to -0.03 for triglyceride, 0.17-0.44 for high-density lipoprotein, -0.29 to -0.01 for cholesterol, -0.30 to -0.02 for low-density lipoprotein, and -0.12 to 0.16 for blood glucose. Patients with stroke have a low level of health, and their reported outcomes need to be improved. Accordingly, nursing staff should pay attention to the quality of life and blood lipid indexes of patients with stroke, actively assess their actual health status, and take early intervention measures to promote their recovery.

Study on the impact of air pollution on residents' health expenditures in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area

The Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area (GHMA) has experienced economic development and rapid growth of transportation infrastructure in recent years. However, the economic advancement is also accompanied by serious atmospheric pollution, which threatens the health of the residents, thus, it is of great significance to explore the impact of atmospheric pollution on the health expenditures of residents in the GHMA. The article establishes a spatial econometric model to study the impact of atmospheric pollution on residents' health expenditure in the GHMA based on panel data from 2014 to 2021, using nine prefectures in the GHMA as research objects. The results show that: (1) Atmospheric pollution in the GHMA has an obvious spatial agglomeration phenomenon and spatial spillover effect, and the impact of atmospheric pollution on the health of the residents is still very serious; (2) PM2.5 emissions are positively and significantly related to the actual health care cost per person, and the rise in air pollution is the main reason for the rise in public health spending; (3) Other factors also have different impacts on residents' health expenditures. Based on the above research, the article puts forward corresponding policy recommendations.

Assessment of treatment needs, barriers, and self-perception regarding oral health among female university students: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundThe study aimed to compare the self-perceived oral health status measured through a self-administered questionnaire with clinically determined oral health status measured by decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) and community periodontal index of treatment need (CPITN) indices in university going females. In addition, access barriers to treatment related to oral healthcare were also determined.MethodsA 3-month analytical cross-sectional study was designed for consenting university going females (aged 18–22 years) in Islamabad, Pakistan. The self-perceived oral health was recorded through a questionnaire requesting information regarding socio-demographics, self-perception of oral health, frequency of dental visits and barriers to seeking oral health. Seven independent examiners performed intraoral clinical examination and assessed the oral health status using globally standardized oral health assessment indices (DMFT and CPITN).ResultsA total of 400 students were included in the final sample. The study revealed a significant disparity between self-perceived oral health and clinical assessment. Although perceived oral health was considered “good” by 80.0% of the respondents, clinical examination revealed moderate DMFT scores (mean 2.95 ± 1.41) and periodontal disease requiring treatment in 89.5% of the individuals. The most common barriers in seeking dental care were lack of knowledge, dental phobia, affordability issue and false self-perception.ConclusionThe present study demonstrated a notable discrepancy between self-perception of oral health and clinically assessed oral health. These results emphasize the importance of focused educational programs and community outreach programs, especially directed towards this demographic. Prioritizing such initiatives will help individuals to recognize their actual oral health condition thus encouraging positive oral health behaviors and outcomes.

Identifying Under- And Overutilization Patterns For Idaho Youth With Serious Emotional Disturbance.

Children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance represent 7-12percent of all youth in the United States. In 2017, the State of Idaho implemented the Youth Empowerment Service program, which allows youth with serious emotional disturbance who are younger than age eighteen living in households with income up to 300percent of the federal poverty level to qualify for Medicaid and receive intensive, community-based treatment. A uniquely detailed method was used to assess the need for services: the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths tool, a ninety-seven-indicator instrument administered by a clinician. We used these indicators and Idaho's 2018-22 administrative Medicaid claims data to study the association between children and adolescents' clinical needs complexity and their actual Medicaid behavioral and mental health service use. Our findings show that there was a substantial proportion of youth who were underusing Medicaid behavioral and mental health care services, and there were virtually no overusers. Our findings have implications for the appropriateness of Medicaid utilization management in behavioral health care and program efforts to maintain families with youth having serious emotional disturbance in the Youth Empowerment Service program.

Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Mobile Payments for Maternal Health: Regression Discontinuity Analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the unprecedented popularity of digital financial services for contactless payments and government cash transfer programs to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic. The effect of the pandemic on the use of digital financial services for health in low- and middle-income countries, however, is poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the effect of the first COVID-19 lockdown on the use of a mobile maternal health wallet, with a particular focus on delineating the age-dependent differential effects, and draw conclusions on the effect of lockdown measures on the use of digital health services. We analyzed 819,840 person-days of health wallet use data from 3416 women who used health care at 25 public sector primary care facilities and 4 hospitals in Antananarivo, Madagascar, between January 1 and August 27, 2020. We collected data on savings, payments, and voucher use at the point of care. To estimate the effects of the first COVID-19 lockdown in Madagascar, we used regression discontinuity analysis around the starting day of the first COVID-19 lockdown on March 23, 2020. We determined the bandwidth using a data-driven method for unbiased bandwidth selection and used modified Poisson regression for binary variables to estimate risk ratios as lockdown effect sizes. We recorded 3719 saving events, 1572 payment events, and 3144 use events of electronic vouchers. The first COVID-19 lockdown in Madagascar reduced mobile money savings by 58.5% (P<.001), payments by 45.8% (P<.001), and voucher use by 49.6% (P<.001). Voucher use recovered to the extrapolated prelockdown counterfactual after 214 days, while savings and payments did not cross the extrapolated prelockdown counterfactual. The recovery duration after the lockdown differed by age group. Women aged >30 years recovered substantially faster, returning to prelockdown rates after 34, 226, and 77 days for savings, payments, and voucher use, respectively. Younger women aged <25 years did not return to baseline values. The results remained robust in sensitivity analyses using ±20 days of the optimal bandwidth. The COVID-19 lockdown greatly reduced the use of mobile money in the health sector, affecting savings, payments, and voucher use. Savings were the most significantly reduced, implying that the lockdown affected women's expectations of future health care use. Declines in payments and voucher use indicated decreased actual health care use caused by the lockdown. These effects are crucial since many maternal and child health care services cannot be delayed, as the potential benefits will be lost or diminished. To mitigate the adverse impacts of lockdowns on maternal health service use, digital health services could be leveraged to provide access to telemedicine and enhance user communication with clear information on available health care access options and adherence to safety protocols.

Quality of life workers with hearing loss caused by exposure to industrial noise the of metalworking production

Introduction. Subjective assessment of the quality of life of workers exposed to occupational noise is an important aspect in the development of measures to prevent health problems in people with hearing impairment. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study of subjective assessment of the quality of life of two hundred twenty metalworking workers in “noise” occupations was carried out using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Results. Metalworking workers employed in conditions of exposure to industrial noise have been shown to rate their quality of life (QoL) as increased in almost all areas, except for the “environment” area. There has been established a decrease in estimated indicators of QoL depending on age, especially pronounced for the sphere of “physical health”. The lowest values of quality of life indicators are typical for elderly people and people with hearing impairment. Limitations. The studied indicators are subjective and may not reflect the actual health status of respondents. Conclusion. Subjective assessment of the quality of life of metalworking workers with hearing impairment caused by noise exposure showed the need for additional QOL studies with ranking of the interviewed persons according to the intensity of hearing damage.

Are functional foods used as self-medication? Subjective health, self-reported disease symptoms, current medical treatment and functional food choices

PurposeFunctional foods have been marketed as promoting health and reducing the risk of disease. While the market of functional foods is increasing across the globe, little is known about how actual and subjective health status are related to functional food choices and existing research evidence is inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to systematically explore the relationship between functional food choices and perception related dimensions vs medical dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe study used data collected from a large-scale mail survey in Japan (N = 8,368) and a representative Internet survey in Lithuania (N = 900). It used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed conceptual model.FindingsThe general results indicated that functional foods could be used to maintain one’s subjective health status – the frequency of using functional food products was positively related to consumers’ subjective health status (p = 0.04). However, if consumers were experiencing health-related issues (self-reported disease symptoms or current medical treatment), there was no systematic relationship between such experience and the usage of functional food products.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to systematically analyze the relationship between subjective health status, self-reported disease symptoms, current medical treatment and the frequency of using different functional food product groups. The findings indicated that it is important to simultaneously consider different underlying factors, such as specific to functional food targeted disease symptoms and specific food product groups, which contributed to a more thorough understanding of functional food consumption.

Metal(loid)s in urban soil from historical municipal solid waste landfill: Geochemistry, source apportionment, bioaccessibility testing and human health risks

Landfills, especially those poorly managed, can negatively affect the environment and human beings through chemical contamination of soils and waters. This study investigates the soils of a historical municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill situated in the heart of a residential zone in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, with an emphasis on metal (loid) contamination and its consequences. Regardless of the depth, many of the soils exhibited high metal (loid) concentrations, mainly Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, Sn and Zn (up to 24, 2620, 2420, 134, 811 and 6220 mg/kg, respectively), classifying them as extremely contaminated based on the geo-accumulation index (Igeo >5). The stable lead isotopic ratios of the landfill topsoil varied widely (1.1679–1.2074 for 206Pb/207Pb and 2.0573–2.1111 for 208Pb/206Pb) and indicated that Pb contained a natural component and an anthropogenic component, likely municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) ash and construction waste. Oral bioaccessibility of metal (loid)s in the topsoil was variable with Cd (73.2–106%) and Fe (0.98–2.10%) being the most and least bioaccessible, respectively. The variation of metal (loid) bioaccessibility among the soils could be explained by differences in their geochemical fractionation as shown by positive correlations of bioaccessibility values with the first two fractions of BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) sequential extraction for As, Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn and Zn. The results of geochemical fractionation coupled with the mineralogical characterisation of topsoil showed that the reservoir of bioaccessible metal (loid)s was calcite and Fe (hydr)oxides. Based on aqua regia metal (loid) concentrations, a non-carcinogenic risk was demonstrated for children (HI = 1.59) but no risk taking into account their bioaccessible concentrations (HI = 0.65). This study emphasises the need for detailed research of the geochemistry of wastes deposited in urban soils to assess the potentially hazardous sources and determine the actual bioaccessibility and human health risks of the accumulated metal (loid)s.