Common Topics Research Articles

Inequities in Public Scholarship during the Pandemic

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, commentators in broadly accessible media have offered a surfeit of predictions about the future of higher education. Due to the absence of accountability mechanisms, however, the accuracy of these claims has been heretofore unknown. Research shows that op-eds and other forms of public scholarship influence public policy, heightening the significance of predictions. This paper asks who makes predictions about higher education, in what venues they issue them, on what topics they make predictions, and how accurate they are. It answers these questions by drawing from an original data set of 91 distinct predictions issued by 22 unique authors in 31 separate texts across a 19-month time span from March 2020 to October 2021. It finds that predictions most often appeared in op-eds written by senior academic white men in higher education trade journals. More than half of predictions could not be evaluated a year or more after they were first issued. Still, predictions with determinable outcomes tended to bear out accurately. Enrollment patterns and teaching modalities were the most common topics. Women and people of color were significantly under-represented among predictors. The paper concludes with suggestions for improving equity and performance.

Longitudinal policy surveillance of state obesity legislation in California, 1999–2020

BackgroundObesity rates among children and adults continue to accelerate in the U.S., particularly among marginalized and low-income populations. Obesity prevention and reduction policies can significantly impact population health by improving environmental conditions and increasing access to health-promoting resources. Limited research has been conducted to examine state obesity policy change over time. The primary aim of this study is to examine legislative approaches used to prevent and reduce obesity in the state of California (U.S.).MethodsWe used quantitative policy surveillance methods to develop a state database of obesity-related legislation (bills, resolutions) introduced in California’s legislature between 1999 and 2020. Descriptive statistics were used to examine trends of introduced and enacted policy by legislative and policy characteristics. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in characteristics between enacted and non-enacted legislation. Legislative session and policy characteristics found to be associated with enactment were used to predict adoption in a logistic regression.ResultsA total of 284 obesity-related bills and resolutions were introduced in California’s legislature between 1999 and 2020 with a peak of 43 in 2005–2006. On average, 25.8 bills and resolutions were introduced each 2-year legislative cycle. Findings indicate that (a) children and schools were the most frequently specified population and setting; (b) the most common policy topics were nutrition (45%) and physical activity (33%); and (c) only 15% of legislation mentioned race/ethnicity. Overall, 24.9% of bills were enacted compared to 82.1% of resolutions adopted. Legislation to raise awareness about obesity had 5.4 times the odds of being passed compared to other topics. Yet this difference was not statistically significant in a sensitivity analysis when we excluded resolutions.ConclusionsThis database can be leveraged to advance our knowledge of effective and equitable policy instruments to prevent and reduce obesity. Results reveal important policy elements that may impact legislative success, including policy topic, and contribute to a nascent evidence base for public health law research, legal epidemiology, and practice. Future work should investigate the role of policy effectiveness research and evidence on legislative policymaking.

Current State of Professionalism Curriculum in Oral Health Education.

The aim of this study was to systematically review the relevant literature on teaching professionalism in dental curricula and report the relevant data from a survey of members of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) on the topic. We conducted a systematic review of the literature and a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire regarding teaching and assessment of professionalism in dental schools, members of the ADEE. The literature review identified 33 articles related to professionalism in dental curricula. The survey sent to the membership of the Association for Dental Education in Europe yielded responses from 27 European dental schools and four schools outside Europe. Various study designs were identified in the review, and the main themes discussed included teaching/pedagogy, ethics/humanities, core domains and assessment of professionalism. Twenty schools reported having specific courses dedicated to professionalism, while the format varied, including entire modules, separate learning outcomes or unit structures. Ethics, communication, law/legal framework/deontology, teamworking and management/leadership were among the common topics taught under the banner of professionalism. Many schools reported increases or no changes in hours, staffing, themes/topics covered and weight in the curriculum for professionalism over the last decade. The paper provides valuable insights into the current state of professionalism education in dental curricula and offers directions for enhancing its effectiveness and relevance in preparing future dental professionals. Collaborative efforts among dental educators and institutions can contribute to the continuous improvement of professionalism education and practice in dentistry.

Improved MnO2 based electrode performance arising from step by step heat treatment during electrodeposition of MnO2 for determination of paracetamol, 4-aminophenol, and 4-nitrophenol

The design of electrochemical sensors is crucial considering important factors such as efficiency, low cost, biocompatibility, and availability. Manganese oxides are readily available, low-cost, and biocompatible materials, but their low conductivity limits their efficiency as sensors. Today, morphology engineering of manganese oxide has been one of the most common research topics, because manganese oxides’ electrochemical properties are highly dependent on their morphologies. In this study, a method for reducing the charge transfer resistance (Rct) of MnO2-based electrodes was established by the cyclic voltammetry technique accompanied by step-by-step heat treatment to electrodeposition MnO2 nanofilm, which remarkably improved the Rct. Next, the sensing performance of MnO2/FTO for two separate measurements was examined, one for the simultaneous measurement of paracetamol (PAR) and 4-aminophenol (4-APh), and the other for the measurement of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Under the optimum conditions, the linear ranges of 4-APh, PAR, and 4-NP, were 0.8 to 22.0 µM, 2.0 to 55.0 µM, and 0.1–250 µM, with limits of detection (LOD) of 0.19 µM, 0.60 µM, and 0.01 µM, respectively. It also was unaffected by a 200-fold excess of interferences. In addition, the designed sensor was successfully applied to the analysis of real samples.

Content and design of respectful maternity care training packages for health workers in sub-Saharan Africa: Scoping review.

Training health workers might facilitate respectful maternity care (RMC); however, the content and design of RMC training remain unclear. To explore the content and design of RMC training packages for health workers in sub-Saharan Africa. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Complete, Web of Science Core Collections, SCOPUS, and grey literature sources (including websites of RMC-focused key organizations and Ministries of Health) were searched for journal papers, reports, and training guides from January 2006 up to August 2022. There were no restrictions on study designs, language, or health-worker cadre. Two reviewers independently screened results. Key data, including training content and methods used, were extracted and summarized. Thirty-two citations from 26 studies/programs were identified (24 journal papers, 5 manuals/guides, 2 reports and 1 PhD thesis), with 27 citations from 22 studies informing the review findings. About half of all conducted studies were from East Africa. The most common topics in RMC trainings were communication, privacy and confidentiality, and human resources. Most trainings were multicomponent and appear to be largely in-service training. Health workers providing direct care to women, compared with non-clinical staff such as receptionists and cleaners, were the only recipients of training in most studies (81.8%). Two broad categories of training methods/tools were identified: workshop-based and action-based. Over 90% of the studies assessed impact of the training, with a majority focused on impacts on maternal health and care; however, half of the latter studies did not appear to have feedback mechanisms in place for implementing change. The content and design of RMC training in sub-Saharan Africa are multifaceted, suggesting the complexity of implementing/promoting RMC. Some progress has been made; however, missed opportunities in training remain with respect to study populations, training topics, cadres, and feedback mechanisms.

Chinese Public Attitudes and Opinions on Health Policies During Public Health Emergencies: Sentiment and Topic Analysis.

By the end of 2021, the new wave of COVID-19 sparked by the Omicron variant spread rapidly due to its highly contagious nature, affecting more than 170 countries worldwide. Nucleic acid testing became the gold standard for diagnosing novel coronavirus infections. As of July 2022, numerous cities and regions in China have implemented regular nucleic acid testing policies, which have had a significant impact on socioeconomics and people's lives. This policy has garnered widespread attention on social media platforms. This study took the newly issued regular nucleic acid testing policy during the COVID-19 pandemic as an example to explore the sentiment responses and fluctuations of netizens toward new policies during public health emergencies. It aimed to propose strategies for managing public opinion on the internet and provide recommendations for policy making and public opinion control. We collected blog posts related to nucleic acid testing on Weibo from April 1, 2022, to July 31, 2022. We used the topic modeling technique latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to identify the most common topics posted by users. We used Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to calculate the sentiment score of each post. We used an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to examine the relationship between sentiment scores and changes over time. We compared the differences in sentiment scores across various topics, as well as the changes in sentiment before and after the announcement of the nucleic acid price reduction policy (May 22) and the lifting of the lockdown policy in Shanghai (June 1). We collected a total of 463,566 Weibo posts, with an average of 3799.72 (SD 1296.06) posts published daily. The LDA topic extraction identified 8 topics, with the most numerous being the Shanghai outbreak, nucleic acid testing price, and transportation. The average sentiment score of the posts was 0.64 (SD 0.31), indicating a predominance of positive sentiment. For all topics, posts with positive sentiment consistently outnumbered those with negative sentiment (χ27=24,844.4, P<.001). The sentiment scores of posts related to "nucleic acid testing price" decreased after May 22 compared with before (t120=3.882, P<.001). Similarly, the sentiment scores of posts related to the "Shanghai outbreak" decreased after June 1 compared with before (t120=11.943, P<.001). During public health emergencies, the topics of public concern were diverse. Public sentiment toward the regular nucleic acid testing policy was generally positive, but fluctuations occurred following the announcement of key policies. To understand the primary concerns of the public, the government needs to monitor social media posts by citizens. By promptly sharing information on media platforms and engaging in effective communication, the government can bridge the information gap between the public and government agencies, fostering a positive public opinion environment.

Social media users’ perspectives of spinal cord stimulation: an analysis of data sourced from social media

ObjectivesTo identify Reddit users’ viewpoints and inquiries about spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for chronic back pain using Reddit databases.MethodsWe performed a qualitative analysis of public, anonymous threads and comments from...

58 A hospital paediatrics education curriculum: Quality improvement for inpatient paediatric learner education on CTU

Abstract Background Paediatric learners experience the bulk of their inpatient medicine on the wards. While bedside teaching is invaluable, ward learning can be impacted by seasonal exposure, clinical homogeneity, and volume. Locally our learners requested more formal ward teaching to encourage dialogue around common topics perhaps not encountered on rotation. We queried whether having a database of interactive guideline-based educational experiences would minimize barriers (eg. time, resources) to providing formal inpatient learner education. Objectives We sought to enhance general paediatrics ward teaching by developing a curriculum of guideline-based interactive educational content on common inpatient paediatric topics. Design/Methods This study was conducted at a Canadian tertiary care paediatric hospital with a range of learners (MSI3, MSI4, paediatric residents (R1-R4)) over 12 months. 1) Needs Assessment: We surveyed residents, hospitalist fellows, and CTU physicians regarding a) perceived need for a curriculum, b) content (top 5 CPS guidelines and top 5 non-CPS topics), c) teaching modality, d) need for handouts, and e) curriculum structure. 2) Curriculum generation: Curriculum was developed according to needs assessment results. 3) Quality improvement: Learners were surveyed after each session with four Likert scale questions (5=strongly agree) regarding teaching quality, clinical translatability, enhanced knowledge/understanding, and improved clinical confidence. Results 1) Needs assessment: Needs assessment (N=25) unanimously supported a structured curriculum. Eleven CPS statements and twelve non-CPS guideline-based topics were identified for content. Three preferred teaching formats were highlighted, and handouts were important to 88% of respondents. The curriculum was favoured to be 50-75% standardized. 2) Curriculum generation: We developed a curriculum of 13 topics with different delivery modalities (e.g. case-based powerpoints, whiteboard talks, Jeopardy, simulation). All were guideline-based, interactive, and had fill-in-the-blank learner handouts. The curriculum was standardized with 4/6 CTU teaching sessions per block being derived from the curriculum bank, and the remainder being at educator discretion (e.g. curriculum bank, interesting case). 3) Quality improvement: Likert scales (5=strongly agree) were positive from all learners (MSI3-R4; N=52), with scores of 4.9+/-0.2 for teaching quality, translatability to practice, and improved understanding, and 4.8+/-0.3 for improved clinical confidence. Conclusion Here we present an interactive and guideline-based paediatric inpatient learner education curriculum whose development, from content to delivery modality, was directed by community needs. We are now seeking funding to prepare for national distribution (e.g. peer-review, licensure), and intend to publish on platform where the curriculum would be downloadable for use by all educators (i.e. senior residents, staff).

Neurointerventional surveys between 2000 and 2023: a systematic review

BackgroundSurveys are increasingly used in neurointervention to gauge physicians’ and patients’ attitudes, practice patterns, and ‘real-world’ treatment strategies, particularly in conditions for which few, or no evidence-based, recommendations exist. While...

The Urban Health Themes and Urban Factors Associated with Health: A Brief Review

The current situation is of a population shift from rural to urban areas and is the acceleration of urban growth. In this perspective, comprehending how urbanization has affected human health is critical. Hence, the aim of a synthesized review is the current understanding of urban health themes and urban factors associated with health. The most common topics of concern that emerge from the urban health literature can be summarized in three principal themes: social environment, physical environment, and provision of health and social services. Additionally, the results from our review aim to serve as a springboard for a thorough investigation of urban factors associated with health and their causes to improve predictions of the global health burden, influence health system planning and policy, and direct urban design.

Findings from a public engagement programme for school children aged 13-15 years about endocrinology.

To investigate the utility and effectiveness of a school outreach programme in areas of lower socioeconomic status to improve understanding of common endocrine topics and the medical profession. Two secondary school outreach sessions were conducted in July 2022. Students were invited to attend lectures delivered by medical professionals and engage in poster-making sessions using the knowledge they had gained throughout the day. Participants completed anonymised pre- and post-session surveys. Outcomes were identified using Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model. Self-reported perceptions and beliefs (Kirkpatrick's level 2a) were compared using chi-square tests. Thematic analysis of team-led poster presentations was performed. Of the 254 participants included, the response rates of pre- and post-session questionnaires were 75.6% and 56.2%, respectively. The outreach day increased students' understanding of obesity and diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and Health Technology. The most well-received activities from the outreach day were voted to be the poster challenge (43.4%) and poster presentation (14.7%). Following the session, there was a trend towards an increased understanding of medical careers and interest in pursuing a medical career, although these did not reach statistical significance. Outreach programmes could be a practical and effective approach to engaging prospective medical applicants from areas of lower socioeconomic status. Further studies are required to expand outreach programmes and investigate the efficacy of school engagement programmes.

Use of the Patient Portal to Discuss Medications Among People with Dementia and Their Care Partners.

People with dementia (PWD) often use potentially inappropriate medications (PIM), exposing them to harm. Patient portals are a promising platform for delivering deprescribing educational interventions to reduce PIM use, yet little is known about how PWD and their care partners use patient portals to communicate with clinicians about medications. To characterize the content of patient portal messages relating to medications among PWD, care partners, and clinicians, to inform development of a portal-based intervention to reduce use of PIM among PWD. Descriptive analysis of data from the electronic health record and qualitative analysis of patient portal messages. Adults 65 and older, categorized as having dementia based on EHR algorithm, who received care in an academic health system from 2017 to 2022. Electronic health record data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative coding identified topics raised in portal messages. A total of 399 message threads from 159 unique patients were analyzed. Patients were on average 78.4 years old (SD 8.0). Most (65%) were female, White (76%), and non-Hispanic/Latinx (96%); 15% had a registered proxy portal user. The most common topics raised in portal messages were logistics (42%), concerns about adverse effects/treatment burden (25%), asking for new medications (23%), and openness to stopping medications (21%). Qualitative analysis revealed three main themes related to deprescribing: (1) Opportunities to deprescribe, (2) challenges to deprescribing, and (3) medication-related counseling in the portal. PWD and their care partners frequently raise medication concerns in the portal, suggesting it is a promising platform for delivering deprescribing interventions for this population. Future research should identify characteristics of portal-based interventions that would best support deprescribing for PWD and develop pragmatic workflows.

Text mining approach in chicken meat welfare

The aim of the study was to analyze the aspects affecting broiler welfare with the use of Text Mining technique. This approach converts text into numerical data and analyzes word frequency distributions, enabling the extraction of useful information and the identification of relationships between elements. Text mining has limitations, i.e. ambiguity and context sensitivity, making it difficult to capture nuanced meanings. The search was carried out with Scopus using the term "Welfare" with the keywords "Chicken", "Broiler", "Broiler chicken", and "Chicken meat", to create a database of abstracts. Text Mining and Topic Analysis were performed on the abstracts (1228 documents) using the Software R 4.3.1., analyzing also the weight of bigram and trigram. Publications on broiler welfare are present in the bibliography since 1990's, but in the last 10 years, for the interest of public opinion, the numbers of publications significantly increased (76.5% of all documents published). USA, Brazil, and Europe-27 published 60% of the documents found. The works were published in a high number of journals, but 37% of them are published in only 4 journals (Poultry Science, Animals, Applied Animal Behavior Science and Animal Welfare). Text Mining analysis identified key terms related to the slaughter phase, housing management, and environmental conditions such as light quality and quantity. Moreover, a high correlation was found between some terms, underlying the importance of the effects of rearing, slaughter phases and litter management on broiler welfare. Most of the countries focused their research on some specific topics identified by Topic Analysis, mainly genetic selection, feeding, stocking density, slaughter, and consumer perceptions. Poultry Science published the highest number of papers (18%) and the topics more investigated were growing performance, transport and slaughter, and litter management. In conclusion, the high number of publications on chicken welfare underlines the importance of broiler welfare both in Europe and in other countries, even if it is difficult to identify common research topics among the geographic areas and the evolution over the time.

What Content in Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Development is Present in Swedish Preschools?

This article shares what Swedish preschool teachers are working with in the field of early childhood education for sustainable development (ESD) as e, merged in talks with their children, aged two to five years. The tasks carried out as the basis for the present analyses were informal child talks about a topic related to sustainability that the teachers and children had worked with in practice. The teachers themselves chose what content to talk about. The 200 teachers participated in the Swedish research and development programme Sustainable Preschool. The aim of the present study was to make visible the content of teacher-child talks about sustainable development in early childhood education. The research question is: What content areas do teachers communicate about with children 2-5 years of age related to ESD? The teacher-child talks were initiated by the teachers, but through the use of interpretative content analysis the children’s voices were also made visible. The main result is narratives about the content, the most common topics being recycling, growing plants, and animals, areas which have long been common topics in Swedish preschools. For many preschools, however, the talks show an integration of transformative and transactional perspectives in how the content was handled together with the children. ESD in early education in Sweden is no longer dominated by the environmental dimension, as earlier content studies have shown; a new common content relates to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7 regarding sustainable lifestyles and human rights and sustainability is a long process, founded in empowerment, action competence, and changed policy.

Health and Health Care Use of American Indian/Alaska Native Women Veterans: A Scoping Review

BackgroundAmerican Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women serve in the U.S. military, use Veterans Health Administration (VA) health care, and reside in rural areas at the highest rates compared with other women veterans. However, little is known about their unique health care needs, access, and health care use. ObjectiveWe assessed the existing literature on the health and health care use of U.S. AI/AN women veterans. MethodsOnline databases were searched to identify studies. Study characteristics extracted included health care topic, study design, overall sample size and number of AI/AN women veterans, and funding source. We screened 1,508 publications for inclusion; 28 publications were ultimately retained. ResultsHealth care access and use were the most common health care research topics (39%), followed by mental health (36%) and physical health (25%). Few studies considered the impact of rurality. Most studies found significant differences between AI/AN women veterans and other women veterans or AI/AN men veterans. Publication dates ranged from 1998 to 2023, with 71% published after 2010. The majority of studies (75%) were secondary analyses of extant health care data. More than three-quarters of studies (82%) were funded federally (e.g., VA). Many studies were based on VA administrative data, resulting in a gap in knowledge regarding AI/AN women veterans who are not eligible for, or choose not to use, VA health care. ConclusionResearch to inform the health and health care of AI/AN women veterans is limited, especially in terms of known AI/AN and women veterans' prevalent health concerns (e.g., diabetes, hypertension), women's health and reproduction, and how AI/AN women veterans access, use, and confront barriers to health care. Moreover, there is scarce research specific to cultural, tribal, and regional factors that likely affect access and use of particular health care systems or that can affect perspectives on illness that impact long-term treatment adherence and patient outcomes.

A Scoping Review of Obstetrics and Gynecology Curricula in Primary Care Residency Programs.

While Women's Health (WH) is a priority for primary care, (Family Medicine (FM), Internal Medicine (IM), Pediatrics (Peds), and combined Medicine/Pediatrics (Med/Peds)), residency curricula remain heterogeneous with deficits in graduates' WH expertise and skills. The overall objective of this study was to assess the quality of WH curricula at primary care residency programs in the United States (US), with a focus on topics in obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN). PubMed®, ERIC, The Cochrane Library, MedEdPORTAL, and professional organization websites were systematically searched in 2019 and updated in 2021. Included studies described OBGYN educational curricula in US primary care residency programs. Following abstract screening and full-text review, data from eligible studies was abstracted and quality assessed using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). A total of 109 studies met the inclusion criteria. Over a quarter of studies were interdepartmental or interdisciplinary. The most common single-department studies were IM (38%) and FM (26%). Twenty (25%) studies addressed comprehensive OBGYN curricula; the most common individual topics were cervical and breast cancer screening (31%) and contraception (16%). Most studies utilized multiple instructional modalities, most commonly didactics (54%), clinical experiences (41%), and/or simulation (21%). Most studies included self-reported outcomes by residents (70%), with few (11%) reporting higher-level assessments (i.e., patient, or clinical outcomes). Most studies were single-group pre- and post-test (42%) with few randomized controlled trials (4%). The mean MERSQI score for studies with sufficient data (90%) was 9.8 (range 3 to 15.5). OBGYN educational curricula for primary care trainees in the US was varied with gaps in represented residents, content, assessments, and study quality.

Utilizing natural language processing to analyze student narrative reflections for medical curriculum improvement.

Medical curricula improvement is an ongoing process to keep material relevant and improve the student's learning experience to better prepare them for patient care. Many programs utilize end-of-year evaluations, but these frequently have low response rates and lack actionable feedback. We hypothesized that student reflections written during a fourth year Sub-Internship could be used retrospectively to mine additional information as feedback for future curriculum adjustments. However, reflections contain a large amount of narrative content that would require a cumbersome and essentially infeasible manual review process for busy medical education faculty. We developed a Natural Language Processing (NLP) pipeline to automatically identify common themes and topics present in the set of reflective writings that could be used to improve the curriculum. The dataset contains required responses to a faculty issued question submitted between August 2016 and July 2018 about challenges experienced during the medical students fourth year Sub-Internship. Eleven distinct topics were identified, with several being subsequently addressed in future iterations of the curriculum. Utilizing NLP on reflective writings was able to identify areas of curriculum improvement, and the NLP results provided a quick and easy way to explore the main themes and challenges expressed by students.

Design transparency of high-school chemistry teachers’ guides: a comparative study

ABSTRACT The influence of teachers' guides (TGs) as an essential curriculum resource supporting instruction, professional development, and reflection among teachers has been well studied. However, there is scarce research on the design transparency of TGs whereby the intentions of curriculum designers are made explicit and accessible. To fill this gap, we conducted a comparative study of high-school chemistry TGs across four common topics in China and Korea to analyse the categories, frequencies and depth of supports found within them, specifically in terms of their (i) design rationales, (ii) storyline and (iii) other transparency supports. The results showed that their TGs exhibited more similarities than differences and placed the highest emphasis on explaining teaching methods which accounted for around half of their content. Another emphasis was on communicating rationales with the highest proportion of support devoted to explaining course objectives and the purpose of an activity. Nonetheless, storyline design transparency supports (especially concerning interdisciplinary connections) were severely lacking. These results hold implications for the development of more effective TGs for chemistry instruction in terms of explicitly stating rationales behind pedagogy and activities (i.e. “the why”), pointing out learning difficulties and use of representations by students, interdisciplinary teaching and implementing differentiated instruction among other supports.

Endometriosis Online Communities: How Machine Learning Can Help Physicians Understand What Patients Are Discussing Online

Study ObjectiveUse machine learning to characterize the content of endometriosis online community posts and comments. DesignRetrospective Descriptive Study. SettingEndometriosis online health communities (OHCs) on the platform Reddit. ParticipantsUsers of the endometriosis OHCs r/Endo and r/endometriosis. InterventionsMachine learning was used to analyze thousands of posts made to endometriosis OHCs. Content of posts and comments was interpreted using topic modeling, persona identification, and intent labeling. Measurements included baseline characteristics of users, posts, and comments to the OHCs. Machine-learning techniques; topic modeling, intent labeling, and persona identification were used to identify the most common topics of conversation, the intents behind the posts, and the subjects of people discussed in posts. System performance was assessed via accuracy at F1-score. ResultsA total of 34 715 posts and 353 162 comments responding to posts were evaluated. The topics most likely to be a subject of a post were menstruation (8%), sharing symptoms (8%), medical appointments (8%), medical story (9%), and empathy (7%). The majority of posts were written with the intent of seeking information about endometriosis (49%) or seeking the experiences of others with endometriosis (29%). Users expressed a strong preference for surgeons performing excision rather than ablation of endometriosis. ConclusionEndometriosis OHCs are mostly used to learn about symptoms of endometriosis and share one's medical experiences. Posts and comments from users highlight the need for more empathy in the clinical care of endometriosis and easier access for patients to high-quality information about endometriosis.

Global Research on Pandemics or Epidemics and Mental Health: A Natural Language Processing Study.

The global research on pandemics or epidemics and mental health has been growing exponentially recently, which cannot be integrated through traditional systematic review. Our study aims to systematically synthesize the evidence using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. Multiple databases were searched using titles, abstracts, and keywords. We systematically identified relevant literature published prior to Dec 31, 2023, using NLP techniques such as text classification, topic modelling and geoparsing methods. Relevant articles were categorized by content, date, and geographic location, outputting evidence heat maps, geographical maps, and narrative synthesis of trends in related publications. Our NLP analysis identified 77,915 studies in the area of pandemics or epidemics and mental health published before Dec 31, 2023. The Covid pandemic was the most common, followed by SARS and HIV/AIDS; Anxiety and stress were the most frequently studied mental health outcomes; Social support and healthcare were the most common way of coping. Geographically, the evidence base was dominated by studies from high-income countries, with scant evidence from low-income counties. Co-occurrence of pandemics or epidemics and fear, depression, stress was common. Anxiety was one of the three most common topics in all continents except North America. Our findings suggest the importance and feasibility of using NLP to comprehensively map pandemics or epidemics and mental health in the age of big literature. The review identifies clear themes for future clinical and public health research, and is critical for designing evidence-based approaches to reduce the negative mental health impacts of pandemics or epidemics.