Disease Prevention Research Research Articles

Public Health Initiatives of Wearable Sensors for Health Monitoring and Early Heart Disease Detection

The science of preserving and enhancing individual and community health is known as public health. In order to accomplish this task, healthy lifestyle promotion, disease and injury prevention research, and the detection, prevention, and management of infectious diseases are used. Early detection and treatment of health disease can improve the prognosis for the condition worldwide. However, the massive volume of data needed poses a problem to the current automatic algorithms for diagnosing health illness. This study presents a medical gadget that uses the Internet of Things to gather cardiac data from individuals both before and after of heart illness. Technology is developing at a quick pace, leading to the establishment of many methodologies and ongoing research into solutions for problems that arise in a variety of industries. Preprocessing techniques are employed to effectively classify collected health data because the human body generates enormous amounts of data all the time. Furthermore, the most important phase is accurately classifying health data, which is necessary for diagnosis. The Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) is among the greatest and most efficient methods for categorising medical data. The results of the simulation in experimental research demonstrate that following this advise improves classification accuracy.

Novel insights into the glucose metabolic alterations of freshwater snails: a pathway to molluscicide innovation and snail control strategies.

As ecosystem disruptors and intermediate hosts for various parasites, freshwater snails have significant socioeconomic impacts on human health, livestock production, and aquaculture. Although traditional molluscicides have been widely used to mitigate these effects, their environmental impact has encouraged research into alternative, biologically based strategies to create safer, more effective molluscicides and diminish the susceptibility of snails to parasites. This review focuses on alterations in glucose metabolism in snails under the multifaceted stressors of parasitic infections, drug exposure, and environmental changes and proposes a novel approach for snail management. Key enzymes within the glycolytic pathway, such as hexokinase and pyruvate kinase; tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle; and electron transport chains, such as succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase, are innovative targets for molluscicide development. These targets can affect both snails and parasites and provide an important direction for parasitic disease prevention research. For the first time, this review summarises the reverse TCA cycle and alternative oxidase pathway, which are unique metabolic bypasses in invertebrates that have emerged as suitable targets for the formulation of low-toxicity molluscicides. Additionally, it highlights the importance of other metabolic pathways, including lactate, alanine, glycogenolysis, and pentose phosphate pathways, in snail energy supply, antioxidant stress responses, and drug evasion mechanisms. By analysing the alterations in key metabolic enzymes and their products in stressed snails, this review deepens our understanding of glucose metabolic alterations in snails and provides valuable insights for identifying new pharmacological targets.

Therapeutic Potential of Fungal Polysaccharides in Gut Microbiota Regulation: Implications for Diabetes, Neurodegeneration, and Oncology.

This review evaluates the therapeutic effects of polysaccharides derived from mushroom species that have medicinal and edible properties. The fungal polysaccharides were recently studied, focusing on their modulation of the gut microbiota and their impact on various diseases. The study covers both clinical and preclinical studies, detailing the results and highlighting the significant influence of these polysaccharides on gut microbiota modulation. It discusses the potential health benefits derived from incorporating these polysaccharides into the diet for managing chronic diseases such as diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Furthermore, the review emphasizes the interaction between fungal polysaccharides and the gut microbiota, underscoring their role in modulating the gut microbial community. It presents a systematic analysis of the findings, demonstrating the substantial impact of fungal polysaccharides on gut microbiota composition and function, which may contribute to their therapeutic effects in various chronic conditions. We conclude that the modulation of the gut microbiota by these polysaccharides may play a crucial role in mediating their therapeutic effects, offering a promising avenue for further research and potential applications in disease prevention and treatment.

Spatial Identification and Distribution Pattern of the Complexity of Rural Poverty in China Using Multisource Spatial Data

Regional poverty is one of the most serious challenges facing the world today. Poverty, antipoverty, and poverty alleviation are the focus of the attention of scholars and the public. This paper takes China’s counties as the research unit, selects the influencing factors of poverty from natural and socio-economic factors, establishes an evaluation index system, simulates the natural poverty index and socio-economic poverty eradication index of each county, and clarifies the distribution characteristics of spatial poverty using GIS spatial analysis and BP artificial neural network. The results indicate that natural factors are the main cause of poverty in Chinese counties, with 710 counties having a high natural poverty index, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of counties in the country. The national county-level natural poverty index shows a clear strip distribution pattern along latitude and longitude, with a strip distribution from north to south and from west to east; socio-economic factors have played a certain role in poverty alleviation, with as many as 1521 counties with low socio-economic poverty alleviation indices, accounting for approximately 64% of the total number of counties in the country. The spatial distribution of the county-level socio-economic poverty alleviation index is relatively fragmented. Through spatial scanning statistics, a total of 44 county poverty pressure index risk clusters reached a statistical significance level, involving 243 counties and districts. In poverty reduction practice, the internal counties and districts of contiguous poverty-stricken areas should strengthen cooperation and exchange. In the process of poverty alleviation and development, targeted poverty alleviation and economic development should be carried out based on the poverty-dominant type and self-development ability of the county, in order to improve efficiency. Regions that are relatively prosperous and have taken the lead in poverty reduction should play a leading and exemplary role in strengthening the radiation power of regional central cities. The prominent feature of this study is the comprehensive utilization of multisource data and the use of new spatial analysis methods (flexible spatial scanning method is widely used in the field of infectious disease prevention and control research). By constructing a multidimensional poverty measurement system that includes natural and social factors, it distinguishes the differences between the factors that cause poverty and the factors that eliminate poverty in regional poverty. At the same time, the flexible spatial scanning detection method was used to detect the differentiation mechanism of poverty spatial patterns.

Collaboration for advancing chronic disease prevention research, practice, and policy.

Collaboration for advancing chronic disease prevention research, practice, and policy.

Supporting the next generation of prevention research leaders to conduct effective research-policy partnerships.

Successful research-policy partnerships rely on shared vision, dedicated investment, and mutual benefits. To ensure the ongoing value of chronic disease prevention research, and support research translation and impact, Australia needs funding, university, and policy systems that incentivise and support emerging leaders to drive effective partnerships.

Evaluating the effect of a 12-month youth advisory group on adolescent’s leadership skills and perceptions related to chronic disease prevention research: a mixed-methods study

BackgroundYouth Advisory Groups (YAGs) represent a promising method to engage adolescents in research of relevance to them and their peers. However, YAGs are rarely implemented or evaluated in chronic disease prevention research. The aims of this study were firstly, to evaluate the effect of participation in a 12-month YAG on adolescents’ leadership skills and perceptions related to chronic disease prevention research and secondly, to evaluate the process of establishing and facilitating a 12-month YAG and identify barriers and enablers to establishment and facilitation.MethodsThis study was a 12-month pre-post study. Eligible participants were adolescents (13-18-years) and current members of an established YAG. Data collection involved online surveys and semi-structured interviews at baseline, six-months and 12-months follow-up. Participatory outcomes such as self-efficacy, leadership skills, and collective participation were derived from Youth Participatory Action Research Principles (YPAR), and the Lansdown-UNICEF conceptual framework for measuring outcomes of adolescent participation. Process evaluation data were captured via meeting minutes, Slack metrics and researcher logs. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data was thematically analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach.ResultsThirteen (13/16) YAG youth advisors consented to participate in the evaluation study (mean age 16.0 years, SD 1.3; 62% (8/13) identified as female). Survey data assessing participatory outcomes found an increase in leadership and life skills scores over 12-months (+ 8.90 points). Semi-structured interview data collected over the 12-month term revealed three key themes namely: influence, empowerment, and contribution. Comparison of pre-post themes determined a positive trend at follow-ups, demonstrating improved participatory outcomes. Process indicators revealed that at 12-month follow-up the YAG was implemented as planned. Semi-structured interview data determined barriers to YAG facilitation included time and limited face-to-face components, while enablers to YAG facilitation included flexibility, accessible delivery methods, and a supportive adult facilitator.ConclusionThis study found that a YAG fostered positive participatory outcomes and unique opportunities for youth participants. A successful YAG based on YPAR principles requires researchers to ensure YAG establishment and facilitation is an iterative process. Taking into consideration important barriers and enablers to YAG facilitation ensures adolescent engagement in a YAG is both meaningful and impactful.

The Indigenous Connectedness Framework for Understanding the Causes, Consequences, and Solutions to Substance Misuse in Indigenous Children's Development.

Research in Indigenous communities continues to lead innovations in the adversity and resilience sciences. These innovations highlight the strengths of Indigenous communities and are an act of resistance against prevailing stereotypes that Indigenous communities are vulnerable and wholly restrained by health deficits. The aim of this Supplemental Issue on Substance Misuse and Disorder and American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Children's Development: Understanding Root Causes and Lifting up Solutions Grounded in Indigenous Community Strengths is to highlight the promising new approaches and perspectives implemented by a group of engaged researchers and their community partners, as they seek to move resilience science research forward. Case studies presented in this issue are from projects led by teams connected to the Native Children's Research Exchange (NCRE) conference, all of whom conduct health promotion and disease prevention research among American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. Sparked by several major exogenous shocks to the current landscape of the American milieu, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd (increased visibility of overt racism in the USA), and climate change, this article presents a model for conducting research with Indigenous Communities that acknowledges these forces while highlighting community strengths.

Harnessing citizen science in health promotion: perspectives of policy and practice stakeholders in Australia.

Citizen science is rapidly gaining momentum as a means of involving members of the public in research and decision-making in disease prevention and health promotion. However, citizen science projects have predominantly been led by academic researchers and there is limited understanding of how to support the application of citizen science approaches in policy and practice settings. This study aimed to understand the perceptions, motivations and early experiences of applying citizen science approaches in policy and practice settings. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with policy and practice stakeholders who were leading citizen science projects (project partners, n = 7), and their implementation partners (project implementers, n = 11). Participants viewed citizen science as an opportunity to access hard-to-reach data and to enhance engagement with community members to support policy and practice change. Barriers and facilitators of citizen science in policy and practice settings included navigating collaborative relationships, team capacity and resources available to deliver projects, recruitment and engagement of citizen scientists and ethical considerations in the design and implementation of citizen science projects. Findings support the feasibility and wider application of citizen science approaches in health promotion and are being used to inform the development of tools and resources to build capacity in these approaches in policy and practice settings.

Equitable and timely access to outpatient COVID-19 treatment: A review of centralized workflow implementation at an integrated health system

BackgroundDuring the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care entities had to adapt to rapidly changing research and best practices in disease prevention and treatment to maintain the delivery of high-quality patient care. Prompt interdisciplinary efforts amongst physician, pharmacist, nursing, and information technology teammates are needed to develop robust centralized strategies to allocate and administer COVID-19 therapies in the ambulatory setting. ObjectiveThe objective of this analysis is to demonstrate the impact of a system-wide, centralized workflow on referral times and treatment outcomes for COVID-19 infected patients in the ambulatory setting. MethodsUpon release of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19, a centralized approach for patient treatment referrals to the University of North Carolina Health Virtual Practice team was developed due to the limited supply. Collaboration with infectious disease colleagues played a pivotal role in the rapid application of therapeutic guidance and creation of treatment prioritization levels. ResultsFrom November 2020 through February 2022, the centralized workflow team facilitated the administration of over 17,000 COVID-19 treatment infusions. The median time from treatment referral to infusion was 2 days from a positive COVID-19 test result.From January through February 2022, 514 oral COVID-19 treatment courses were dispensed from the health system’s outpatient pharmacies. The median time from referral to treatment was 1 day from diagnosis. ConclusionGiven the ongoing strain and demand of COVID-19 on the health care system, a centralized, multidisciplinary team of experts allowed for efficient delivery of COVID-19 therapies through one provider touchpoint. The collaboration between outpatient pharmacies, infusion sites, and Virtual Practice culminated in a sustainable, centralized treatment approach that supported widespread reach, and equitable dose distribution, to the most vulnerable patient populations.

Addressing Complexity in Chronic Disease Prevention Research

There is wide agreement on the need for systems thinking to address complexity in chronic disease prevention but there is insufficient understanding of how such approaches are operationalised in prevention research. Ison and Straw propose that to address complexity, the right balance must be struck between ‘systemic’ and ‘systematic’ paradigms. We examined the nature and characteristics of this relationship in a series of six qualitative case studies of prevention research. Data comprised 29 semi-structured interviews with 16 participants, and online documents. The analysis combined inductive methods from grounded theory with a theoretically informed framework analysis. Systemic and systematic ways of working varied across each case as a whole, and within the dimensions of each case. Further, the interplay of systemic and systematic approaches was described along a dynamic continuum of variable proportions, with greater emphasis on systemic aspects balanced by less focus on the systematic, and vice versa. By expanding the boundaries for exploring prevention research, we gained empirical understanding of the potential and scope of systemic and systematic paradigms for addressing complexity in prevention research. There is inherent value in being more explicitly conscious and bilingual in both systemic and systematic paradigms so that their respective value and strengths may be utilised. Our findings propose a coherent theoretical frame to better understand existing approaches for addressing complexity in prevention research.

Protocol for a scoping review of health equity frameworks and models applied in empirical studies of chronic disease prevention and control

BackgroundChronic diseases, such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases, present the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This burden disproportionately affects historically marginalized populations. Health equity is rapidly gaining increased attention in public health, health services, and implementation research, though many health inequities persist. Health equity frameworks and models (FM) have been called upon to guide equity-focused chronic disease and implementation research. However, there is no clear synthesis of the health equity FM used in chronic disease research or how these are applied in empirical studies. This scoping review seeks to fill this gap by identifying and characterizing health equity FM applied in empirical studies along the chronic disease prevention and control continuum, describing how these FM are used, and exploring potential applications to the field of implementation science.MethodsWe follow established guidance for conducting scoping reviews, which includes six stages: (1) identify the research question; (2) identify relevant studies; (3) select studies for inclusion; (4) data extraction; (5) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results; and (6) consultation. This protocol presents the iterative, collaborative approach taken to conceptualize this study and develop the search strategy. We describe the criteria for inclusion in this review, methods for conducting two phases of screening (title and abstract, full text), data extraction procedures, and quality assurance approaches taken throughout the project.DiscussionThe findings from this review will inform health-equity focused chronic disease prevention and control research. FM identified through this review will be added to an existing website summarizing dissemination and implementation science frameworks, and we will offer case examples and recommendations for utilizing a health equity FM in empirical studies. Our search strategy and review methodology may serve as an example for scholars seeking to conduct reviews of health equity FM in other health disciplines.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Framework Registration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/SFVE6

Detection of Mannheimia haemolytica-Specific IgG, IgM and IgA in Sera and Their Relationship to Respiratory Disease in Cattle.

Mannheimia haemolytica is one of the major causes of bovine respiratory disease in cattle. The organism is the primary bacterium isolated from calves and young cattle affected with enzootic pneumonia. Novel indirect ELISAs were developed and evaluated to enable quantification of antibody responses to whole cell antigens using M. haemolytica A1 strain P1148. In this study, the ELISAs were initially developed using sera from both M. haemolytica-culture-free and clinically infected cattle, then the final prototypes were tested in the validation phase using a larger set of known-status M. haemolytica sera (n = 145) collected from feedlot cattle. The test showed good inter-assay and intra-assay repeatability. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were estimated at 91% and 87% for IgG at a cutoff of S/P ≥ 0.8. IgM diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 91% and 81% at a cutoff of sample to positive (S/P) ratio ≥ 0.8. IgA diagnostic sensitivity was 89% whereas specificity was 78% at a cutoff of S/P ≥ 0.2. ELISA results of all isotypes were related to the diagnosis of respiratory disease and isolation of M. haemolytica (p-value < 0.05). These data suggest that M. haemolytica ELISAs can be adapted to the detection and quantification of antibody in serum specimens and support the use of these tests for the disease surveillance and disease prevention research in feedlot cattle.

Is there an association between the lunar phases and hospital admission for different episode types in bipolar disorder? A retrospective study in northern China

ABSTRACT The effects of the moon on mental activities remain contentious. Few studies have investigated associations between lunar phases and different types of bipolar disorder (BD) episodes. In the current study, 7,452 patients with BD from three hospitals were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of episode types, and the effects of lunar phase were examined for each type. The cosinor analysis revealed moon-related rhythmicity in admissions for BD in a period of 14.75 days. There were fewer admissions around the new moon and the full moon. There was no significant difference between different groups in acrophase. There was possibly a temporal lag between the onset of BD and hospitalization. Thus, it is too early to draw firm conclusions about the impact of lunar phases on BD. Sleep might be a middle way from moon effect to admissions of BD. These results have implications for future disease prevention strategies and research.

Study on Knowledge and Perception towards COVID-19 Disease among 3rd Year Medical Students of Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh

This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge &amp; perception towards COVID-19 disease among 3rd year medical students of Sir Salimullah Medical College &amp; Mitford Hospital. This study was done in the period of September, 2021 to April, 2022. Our sample size was 152, and data was collected over the telephone with a semi-structured questionnaire. Most of the respondents (61.18%) were female, majority (86.18%) were Muslim. Among them most of the respondents 43(27.04%) were from Khulna division. From our study, we found that all of the students (100%) stated that they heard about covid, mild covid patients can recover at home &amp; hand hygiene, social distancing help in prevention of COVID. Among them most of the students (43.42%) heard about the ongoing pandemic from News &amp; Social Media. Among the respondents almost all of them (99.34%) knew about the incubation period of COVID-19, which is 2-14 days. Most of them (71.02%) knew about the symptoms of COVID-19 are Fever, Headache, Dry Cough, Sore Throat, Tiredness. It is considered that the findings of the study will serve as a useful basis for further research and planning in covid-19 disease prevention.

Nutrition, Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Health Implications: “Come Together”

Over the last few years, novel and important aspects of nutrition that are often overlooked in nutritional epidemiology, experimental research, and recommendations for health maintenance and disease prevention concerning the circadian rhythmicity of feeding, as well as the bidirectional interaction of nutrition with central and peripheral endogenous circadian clocks, and with other rhythmic behaviors including the sleep-wake cycle have received increasing attention from the research community [...].

Alterations in the nasopharyngeal microbiome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection status and disease severity.

ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing public health emergency has emphasized the need to study SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. The human microbiome has been shown to regulate the host immune system and may influence host susceptibility to viral infection, as well as disease severity. Several studies have assessed whether compositional alterations in the nasopharyngeal microbiota are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the results of these studies were varied, and many did not account for disease severity. This study aims to examine whether compositional differences in the nasopharyngeal microbiota are associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection status and disease severity.MethodsWe performed Nanopore full-length 16S rRNA sequencing on 194 nasopharyngeal swab specimens from hospitalized and community-dwelling SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected individuals. Sequence data analysis was performed using the BugSeq 16S analysis pipeline.ResultsWe found significant beta (PERMANOVA p < 0.05), but not alpha (Kruskal-Wallis p > 0.05) diversity differences in the nasopharyngeal microbiota among our study groups. We identified several differentially abundant taxa associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection status and disease severity using ALDEx2. Finally, we observed a trend towards higher abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in specimens from hospitalized SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.ConclusionsThis study identified several alterations in the nasopharyngeal microbiome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection status and disease severity. Understanding the role of the microbiome in infection susceptibility and severity may open new avenues of research for disease prevention and treatment.

AI for Health-Related Data Modeling

Data modeling of health-related data from Data Center (DC) has positive effects for health monitoring, disease prevention, and healthcare research. However, health-related data has the characteristics of huge, high-dimensional, and non-normalized, which are not beneficial to direct analysis, so data needs to be preprocessed before data modeling. This paper focuses on the features of health-related data, and outlier detection during data preprocessing is studied. Meanwhile, we propose an improved algorithm for health-related data based outlier detection. The experimental results reveal that the proposed outlier detection algorithm has a smaller running time, and more outliers are detected compared to three baselines. In addition, local importance based random forest feature selection algorithm is proposed to measure the importance of each feature. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can select optimal feature subset to apply health-related data.

Developing a Socioeconomic Status Index for Chronic Disease Prevention Research in Canada.

Capturing socioeconomic inequalities in relation to chronic disease is challenging since socioeconomic status (SES) encompasses many aspects. We constructed a comprehensive individual-level SES index based on a broad set of social and demographic indicators (gender, education, income adequacy, occupational prestige, employment status) and examined its relationship with smoking, a leading chronic disease risk factor. Analyses were based on baseline data from 17,371 participants of Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP), a prospective cohort of adults aged 35–69 years with no prior personal history of cancer. To construct the SES index, we used principal component analysis (PCA) and to illustrate its utility, we examined the association with smoking intensity and smoking history using multiple regression models, adjusted for age and gender. Two components were retained from PCA, which explained 61% of the variation. The SES index was best aligned with educational attainment and occupational prestige, and to a lesser extent, with income adequacy. In the multiple regression analysis, the SES index was negatively associated with smoking intensity (p < 0.001). Study findings highlight the potential of using individual-level SES indices constructed from a broad set of social and demographic indicators in epidemiological research.

Healthcare Research for Disease Prevention

The last couple of years have shown the world that there's really no individual health without public health, proving the fundamental importance of cross-sectoral health policies, a constant eye on disease prevention and a baseline preoccupation with tackling inequalities. Amongst the many important topics of research for developing and improving health systems there are seem most compelling in the current world.&#x0D; Antimicrobial resistance has been identified as a global health threat since 2013, potentially leading to the ineffectiveness of current antibiotic treatments. The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed antimicrobial drug research and development, while exacerbating the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, one of the leading causes of antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization has stressed an accent on the need to further understand the genetics and environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, especially gram-negative carbapenem resistant bacteria. According to Larsson et al (2018), research is urgently needed on the role of the environment, especially man-made environment, in the evolution of resistance. This topic only strengthens the long-requested need for assessing, monitoring and acting upon the environmental (natural and man-made) dimensions of societal health and wellbeing, a call for action that still remains largely unanswered in health promotion policies and the climate change debate.&#x0D; Speaking of man-made environments and the need to consider health in all policies, an area where research is slowly starting to build up, but is still much needed, is that health impacts assessment for transportation and mobility policies and urban planning. In line with Lozzi (2021), although the link between mobility and health policies has been clarified and the benefits established, there is still a need for an evidence-base of research capturing the multi-level effects of urban planning and mobility on health.