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Topic Review
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major health concern worldwide and is classified based on severity into mild, moderate, and severe. The mechanical injury in TBI leads to a metabolic and ionic imbalance, which eventually leads to excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a state of oxidative stress. To date, no drug has been approved by the food and drug administration (FDA) for the treatment of TBI. Nevertheless, it is thought that targeting the pathology mechanisms would alleviate the consequences of TBI. For that purpose, antioxidants have been considered as treatment options in TBI and were shown to have a neuroprotective effect. Of these, edaravone and mitoquinone seem to be promising. 
  • 1.5K
  • 21 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Health Effects of Enterolignans
Enterolignans are metabolites generated by the gut flora from lignans. The later can derive from lignin and are present in numerous fruits, vegetables and grains. Among the gut metabolites are Enterolactone and Enterodiol which exhibit slight estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities at nutritional levels of exposure. There is a great variability among humans for the synthesis of enterolignans since only specific gut bacteria can produce estrogenic enterolignans. Their health effects are essentially beneficial due to their low ingestion levels and their peculiar interactions with estrogen receptors.
  • 1.5K
  • 08 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Diet and DNA Methylation
Over the past decades, DNA methylation has been proposed as a molecular mechanism underlying the positive or negative effects of diet on human health. Despite the number of studies on this topic is rapidly increasing, the relationship between dietary factors, changes in DNA methylation and health outcomes remains unclear. In this entry, we summarize the literature from observational studies which examined the association of dietary factors (nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns) with DNA methylation markers among diseased or healthy people during the lifetime.
  • 1.5K
  • 23 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Adipose Tissue Macrophages in Obesity and Insulin Resistance
Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic that poses a severe threat to human health. Evidence suggests that many obesity comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, steatohepatitis, and cardiovascular diseases, are related to obesity-induced chronic low-grade inflammation. Macrophages are the primary immune cells involved in obesity-associated inflammation in both mice and humans. Intensive research has yielded tremendous progress in the understanding of the additional roles of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) beyond classical M1/M2 polarization in obesity and related comorbidities.
  • 1.5K
  • 01 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Impulse Control Disorder
Impulse-control disorder (ICD) is a class of psychiatric disorders characterized by impulsivity – failure to resist a temptation, an urge, an impulse, or the inability to not speak on a thought. Many psychiatric disorders feature impulsivity, including substance-related disorders, behavioral addictions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, conduct disorder and some mood disorders. The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) that was published in 2013 includes a new chapter (not in DSM-IV-TR) on Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders covering disorders "characterized by problems in emotional and behavioral self-control".Five behavioral stages characterize impulsivity: an impulse, growing tension, pleasure on acting, relief from the urge and finally guilt (which may or may not arise).
  • 1.5K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Nosocomial Infections
Nosocomial infections (NIs) pose an increasing threat to public health. The majority of NIs are bacterial, fungal, and viral infections; however, parasites also play a considerable role in NIs, particularly in our increasingly complex healthcare environment with a growing proportion of immunocompromised patients. Moreover, parasitic infections acquired via blood transfusion or organ transplantation are more likely to have severe or fatal disease outcomes compared with the normal route of infection. Many of these infections are preventable and most are treatable, but as the awareness for parasitic NIs is low, diagnosis and treatment are often delayed, resulting not only in higher health care costs but, importantly, also in prolonged courses of disease for the patients.
  • 1.5K
  • 06 Mar 2021
Topic Review
PPARα and Ocular Dieseases
Mounting evidence suggests that peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor alpha (PPARα) activation can be a  therapeutic target for various ocular diseases including diabetic retinopathy (DR). Here we describe functions of PPARα in the eye contributing to ocular homeostasis.
  • 1.5K
  • 24 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Pelvic Girdle Pain
Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) refers specifically to musculoskeletal pain localised to the pelvic ring and can be present at its anterior and/or posterior aspects. Causes such as trauma, infection and pregnancy have been well-established, while patients with hypermobile joints are at greater risk of developing PGP.
  • 1.5K
  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Military Sexual Trauma
As defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, military sexual trauma (MST) are experiences of sexual assault, or repeated threatening sexual harassment that occurred while a person was in the United States Armed Forces.
  • 1.5K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Diagnostic Network Optimization
Diagnostics services are an essential component of healthcare systems, advancing universal health coverage and ensuring global health security, but are often unavailable or under-resourced in low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries. Typically, diagnostics are delivered at various tiers of the laboratory network based on population needs, and resource and infrastructure constraints. A diagnostic network additionally incorporates screening and includes point-of-care testing that may occur outside of a laboratory in the community and clinic settings; it also emphasizes the importance of supportive network elements, including specimen referral systems, as being critical for the functioning of the diagnostic network. To date, design and planning of diagnostic networks in LMICs has largely been driven by infectious diseases such as TB and HIV, relying on manual methods and expert consensus, with a limited application of data analytics. Recently, there have been efforts to improve diagnostic network planning, including diagnostic network optimization (DNO). The DNO process involves the collection, mapping, and spatial analysis of baseline data; selection and development of scenarios to model and optimize; and lastly, implementing changes and measuring impact.
  • 1.5K
  • 18 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Clinical Trials Registry
A clinical trials registry is an official platform and catalog for registering a clinical trial. Some countries require clinical trials being conducted in that country to be registered; others do not require it, but often strongly encourage it. ClinicalTrials.gov, run by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) was the first online registry for clinical trials and is the largest and most widely used today. Clinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions (e.g., drugs, diagnostics, devices, therapy protocols). The goal of a clinical trials registry is to provide increased transparency and access to clinical trials, made available to the public. Clinical trials registries are often searchable (for example, trials can be searchable by disease/indication, drug, location, etc.). Trials are registered by the pharmaceutical, biotech or medical device company (Sponsor) or by the hospital or foundation which is sponsoring the study, or by another organization, such as a contract research organization (CRO) which is running the study. There has been a push from governments and international organizations, especially since 2005, to make clinical trial information more widely available and to standardize registries and processes of registering. The World Health Organization is working toward "achieving consensus on both the minimal and the optimal operating standards for trial registration".
  • 1.5K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Medcyclopaedia
This is a list of medical wikis, collaboratively-editable websites that focus on medical information. Many of the most popular medical wikis take the form of encyclopedias, with a separate article for each medical term. Some of these websites, such as WikiDoc and Radiopaedia, are editable by anyone, while others, such as Ganfyd, restrict editing access to professionals. The majority of them have content available only in English. The largest and most popular general encyclopedia, Wikipedia, also hosts a significant amount of health and medical information.
  • 1.5K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Autism and Working Memory
Autism is a variation of neural development diagnosed as impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. In this article, the word autism is used for referring to the whole range of variations on the autism spectrum, which is not uncommon. Working memory is the system that actively holds multiple pieces of transitory information in the mind, where they can be manipulated. This system has a limited capacity. Working memory is a part of the executive functions (EF), an umbrella term for cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes, for instance planning and attention.
  • 1.5K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Smallpox Virus Retention Controversy
The smallpox virus retention controversy is a debate that has been ongoing among international scientists and other officials since smallpox was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980. It centers on whether to finally and irreversibly destroy the two last remnants of the virus that causes smallpox, which reside in government laboratories in the United States and Russia . Advocates of final destruction maintain that there is no longer any valid rationale for retaining the samples, which represent a hazard, while opponents of it maintain that the samples are needed for further research as smallpox virus may still exist in the world outside of the two labs, and thus may re-emerge, particularly as a bio-weapon.
  • 1.5K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Therapeutic Approaches to Bacterial Infections
The quick spread of infectious diseases and their unpredictable consequences, in terms of human lives and economic losses, will require a change in our strategy, both at the clinical and the research level. Ultimately, we should be ready to fight against infectious diseases affecting a huge number of people in different parts of the world. This new scenario will require rapid, inexpensive diagnostic systems, applicable anywhere in the world and, preferably, without the need for specialized personnel. Also, treatments for these diseases must be versatile, easily scalable, cheap, and easy to apply. All this will only be possible with the joint support of governments, which will have to make the requirements for the approval of new therapies more flexible. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical sector must commit to prioritizing products of global interest over the most profitable ones. Extreme circumstances demand a vehement response, and any profit losses may well pay dividends going forward.
  • 1.5K
  • 05 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Sexological Testing
Sexuality can be inscribed in a multidimensional model comprising different aspects of human life: biology, reproduction, culture, entertainment, relationships and love. In the last decades, a growing interest towards sexuality and a greater quest to acknowledge a "right to sexuality" has occurred both in society and individuals. The consequence of this evolution has been a renewed and more explicit call for intervention from those who suffer, or think they suffer from alterations of their sexual and relational sphere. This has produced an increased attention of medicine and psychology towards sexual dysfunctions and the problems they cause in individuals and couples. Science has gradually adjusted already existing research tools, mostly used in other fields of clinical research, to the field of sexology, so completing and increasing the number of tools in the "toolkit" of various branches of sexological diagnosis. Psychological measurements cannot be considered as accurate as physical ones (weight, height, mass, etc.), as the former evaluate those aspects and variables pertaining to an "individual" whose individuality refers to his/her own psychological, personological and environmental constituents: emotions, expressiveness, senses, feelings and experiences which can greatly vary according to the subjects and change in the short period or depending on different settings, even in the same individual. What is expected of psychological measurements is "sufficient" accuracy and reliability, i.e. capability to express an indication or focus which clinicians can use as a "guideline" to rapidly and accurately deepen the aspects highlighted by the measurements and check them together with their patients. For this purpose, several statistical validation indexes of psychodiagnostic tests are provided: from standardization to various constructions of validity (internal, external, face, construct, convergent, content, discriminant, etc.). There are several sexual dysfunctions and each of them has a different cause. Therefore, the field of sexology provides different psychological evaluation devices in order to examine the various aspects of the discomfort, problem or dysfunction, regardless of whether they are individual or relational ones. The number of psychodiagnostic reactives is certainly wide and heterogeneous, nevertheless, the number of tests specifically meant for the field of sexology is quite limited. The following list (in alphabetical order) is not exhaustive but shows the best known and/or most used reactives in the field of sexological and relational psychodiagnosis.
  • 1.5K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
A pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (Including atypical autism) (PDD-NOS) is one of the four autistic disorders (AD) in the DSM-5 and also was one of the five disorders classified as a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in the DSM-IV According to the DSM-4, PDD-NOS is a diagnosis that is used for "severe or pervasive impairment in the development of reciprocal social interaction and/or verbal and nonverbal communication skills, or when stereotyped behavior, interests, and/or activities are present, but the criteria are not met for a specific PDD" or for several other disorders. PDD-NOS includes atypical autism, because the criteria for autistic disorder are not met, for instance because of late age of onset, atypical symptomatology, or subthreshold symptomatology, or all of these. Even though PDD-NOS is considered milder than typical autism, this is not always true. While some characteristics may be milder, others may be more severe.
  • 1.5K
  • 12 Dec 2022
Topic Review
People with Aphasia
People with Aphasia (PWA) are individuals who experience difficulties in one or more aspects of communication, such as the ability to speak, understand, read and write, due to acquired brain damage (e.g.stroke, dementia, brain tumour, traumatic brain injury).  
  • 1.5K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Cyclospora Cayetanensis
Cyclospora cayetanensis is a coccidian protozoan that causes cyclosporiasis, a severe gastroenteric disease, especially for immunocompromised patients, children, and the elderly. The parasite is considered as an emerging organism and a major contributor of gastroenteritis worldwide. Although the global prevalence of cyclosporiasis morbidity and mortality has not been assessed, global concern has arisen since diarrheal illness and gastroenteritis significantly affect both developing and industrialized countries. In the last two decades, an increasing number of foodborne outbreaks have been associated with the consumption of fresh produce that is difficult to clean thoroughly and is consumed without processing. Investigations of these outbreaks have revealed the necessity to increase the awareness in clinicians of this infection, since this protozoan is often ignored by surveillance systems, and to establish control measures to reduce contamination of fresh produce.
  • 1.5K
  • 01 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome
Paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PMIS), or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), is a systemic disease involving persistent fever, inflammation and organ dysfunction following exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. This syndrome appears somewhat similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare disease of unknown origin that affects young children, in which blood vessels become inflamed throughout the body. It can also show features of other serious paediatric inflammatory conditions, including toxic shock and macrophage activation syndromes. Older children tend to be affected. The first symptoms may be acute abdominal pain, diarrhoea or vomiting. Low blood pressure is common. Other possible symptoms include conjunctivitis, rashes, enlarged lymph nodes, swollen hands and feet, "strawberry tongue", sore throat, cough, fainting, irritability and confusion. Inflammation of the heart muscle is one of several forms of cardiac involvement. Coronary artery abnormalities (such as dilatation and aneurysms) can occur. A cytokine storm may take place, in which the innate immune system stages an excessive and uncontrolled inflammatory response. For the purposes of diagnosis and official reporting of cases, this emerging condition has been defined in three different ways (using various names), by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although the condition is thought to follow SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, antigen or antibody tests are not always positive. Exclusion of alternative causes, including bacterial and other infections, is essential for differential diagnosis. Some general clinical guidance has been provided by the RCPCH, the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Rheumatology, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Limited information exists regarding clinical course of this life-threatening disease, which has occasionally proved fatal. Failure of one or more organs can occur. Early recognition and prompt specialist attention are essential. Supportive care is key. Anti-inflammatory treatments have been used, with good responses being recorded for intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), with or without corticosteroids. Oxygen therapy may be needed, and some children require paediatric intensive care. Clusters of new cases have emerged 2–4 weeks after local peaks in viral transmission. It is thought that the disease may be driven by a delayed biological mechanism in certain predisposed children. The condition is considered rare. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has rated risk to children in Europe as being 'low' overall, based on a 'very low' likelihood of a child developing this 'high impact' disease. Initial reports regarded children in various parts of Europe and the U.S., and it is unclear to what extent the condition has gone unrecognized elsewhere.
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Nov 2022
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