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Topic Review

Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier. There are two hormones that an individual produces during a stressful situation, these are well known as adrenaline and cortisol. Stimuli that alter an organism's environment are responded to by multiple systems in the body. In humans and most mammals, the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are the two major systems that respond to stress. The sympathoadrenal medullary (SAM) axis may activate the fight-or-flight response through the sympathetic nervous system, which dedicates energy to more relevant bodily systems to acute adaptation to stress, while the parasympathetic nervous system returadrenaliney to homeostasis. The second major physiological stress-response center, the HPA axis, regulates the release of cortisol, which influences many bodily functions such as metabolic, psychological and immunological functions. The SAM and HPA axes are regulated by several brain regions, including the limbic system, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, and stria terminalis. Through these mechanisms, stress can alter memory functions, reward, immune function, metabolism and susceptibility to diseases. Disease risk is particularly pertinent to mental illnesses, whereby chronic or severe stress remains a common risk factor for several mental illnesses. One system suggests there are five types of stress labeled "acute time-limited stressors", "brief naturalistic stressors", "stressful event sequences", "chronic stressors", and "distant stressors". An acute time-limited stressor involves a short-term challenge, while a brief natural stressor involves an event that is normal but nevertheless challenging. A stressful event sequence is a stressor that occurs, and then continues to yield stress into the immediate future. A chronic stressor involves exposure to a long-term stressor, and a distant stressor is a stressor that is not immediate.

3.1K
28 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. It employs an array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing". The practices of naturopaths, the practitioners of naturopathic medicine, vary widely and are difficult to generalize. Treatments range from outright quackery, like homeopathy, to widely accepted practices like psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine (EBM), although some practitioners may use techniques supported by EBM. Naturopathic practitioners commonly recommend against following modern medical practices, including but not limited to medical testing, drugs, vaccinations, and surgery. Instead, naturopathic practice relies on unscientific notions, often leading naturopaths to diagnoses and treatments that have no factual merit. Naturopathy is considered by the medical profession to be ineffective and harmful, raising ethical issues about its practice. In addition to condemnations and criticism from the medical community, such as the American Cancer Society, naturopaths have repeatedly been denounced as and accused of being charlatans and practicing quackery. Naturopaths are known for their frequent campaigning for legal recognition in the United States . It is illegal in two U.S. states and tightly regulated in many others. Some states have lax regulations, however, and may allow naturopaths to perform minor surgery or even prescribe drugs. While some schools exist for naturopaths, and some jurisdictions allow such practitioners to call themselves doctors, the lack of accreditation and scientific medical training means they lack the competency of true medical doctors.

3.0K
24 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Coping (Psychology)

In psychology, coping means to invest own conscious effort, to solve personal and interpersonal problems, in order to try to master, minimize or tolerate stress and conflict. The psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping skills. The term coping generally refers to adaptive (constructive) coping strategies. That is strategies which reduce stress. In contrast, other coping strategies may be coined as maladaptive, if they increase stress. Maladaptive coping is therefore also described, when looking at the outcome, as non-coping. Furthermore, the term coping generally refers to reactive coping, i.e. the coping response which follows the stressor. This differs from proactive coping, in which a coping response aims to neutralize a future stressor. Subconscious or non-conscious strategies (e.g. defense mechanisms) are generally excluded from the area of coping. The effectiveness of the coping effort depends on the type of stress, the individual, and the circumstances. Coping responses are partly controlled by personality (habitual traits), but also partly by the social environment, particularly the nature of the stressful environment.

3.0K
17 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Death Anxiety (Psychology)

Death anxiety is anxiety caused by thoughts of one's own death; it is also referred to as thanatophobia (fear of death). Death anxiety is different from necrophobia, the latter is the fear of others who are dead or dying, whereas the former concerns one's own death or dying. Popular psychotherapist Robert Langs proposed 3 different causes of death anxiety: Predatory, predator, and existential. In addition to his research, many theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Ernest Becker, and others have contemplated death and death anxiety and how it relates to human psychology. Death anxiety has been found to affect people of differing demographic groups as well; such as men versus women, young versus old, etc. Additionally, there is anxiety caused by death-recent thought-content, which might be classified within a clinical setting by a psychiatrist as morbid and/or abnormal. This classification pre-necessitates a degree of anxiety which is persistent and interferes with everyday functioning. Lower ego integrity, more physical problems and more psychological problems are predictive of higher levels of death anxiety in elderly people perceiving themselves close to death. Death anxiety can cause extreme timidness with a person's attitude towards discussing anything to do with death. Findings from one systematic review demonstrated that death anxiety features across several mental health conditions. One meta-analysis of psychological interventions targeting death anxiety showed that death anxiety can be reduced using cognitive behavior therapy.

3.0K
20 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Point-Of-Care or Point-Of-Need Diagnostic Tests

In the recent years, the progress of international trade and travel has led to an increased risk of emerging infections. Around 75 percent of the pathogens causing these infections are of animal origin. Point-of-care tests (POCT) and point-of-need tests (PONT) have been established in order to directly provide accurate and rapid diagnostics at field level, the patient bed-side or at the site of outbreaks. These assays can help physicians and decision makers to take the right action without delay. Typically, POCT and PONT rely on genomic identification of pathogens or track their immunological fingerprint. Recently, protocols for metagenomic diagnostics in the field have been developed.

2.9K
20 Apr 2021

Topic Review

Virtual Reality for Rehabilitation

Virtual reality (VR) is a trending, widely accessible, contemporary technology of increasing utility to biomedical and health applications. VR is the technological experience that allows for a full immersion in virtual spaces with which you can interact via specific wearable or using only your hand. A key feature of all VR applications is interaction. VR ranges from non-immersive to fully immersive, depending on the degree to which the user is isolated from the physical surroundings when interacting with the virtual environment. Non-immersive virtual reality allows for interacting with the environment through mouse or joystick; immersive virtual reality, instead, uses tools that are connected to the human body in order to perform the same motor task. Despite the growing evidence of the positive effects of VR in rehabilitation of functional and cognitive abilities, some systems still raised concerns regarding their acceptability with complex clinical populations, as, for example, the older people. In particular, during trials with immersive systems, few adverse events have been described by participants, including headache and dizziness. Finally, little is known about the perceived effect of the exposure at multisensory input during a complex activity, such as treadmill walking with VR in patients during post-stroke rehabilitation to improve balance and gait ability.

2.9K
30 Jul 2020

Topic Review

Ibrexafungerp is a first-in-class IV/oral triterpenoid antifungal agent. Similar in mechanism of action to echinocandins, ibrexafungerp inhibits (1→3)-β-D-glucan synthase, a key component of the fungal cell wall, resulting in fungicidal activity against Candida spp. Ibrexafungerp demonstrates broad in vitro activity against Candida spp.,Aspergillus spp., dimorphic fungi Pneumocystis and other emerging yeasts and mold pathogens including azole and echinocandin-resistant isolates. It is currently in late clinical development for treatment and prevention of vulvovaginal candidiasis. Other ongoing trials include treatment of serious fungal infections, including, invasive candidiasis, Candida auris infections, invasive aspergillosis and refractory fungal disease in patients not responding to or who are intolerant to standard of care .

2.7K
17 Mar 2021

Topic Review

Implant–Abutment Connections

Different implant–abutment connections have been developed to reduce mechanical and biological failure. The most frequent complications are loss of preload, screw loosening, abutment or implant fracture, deformations at the different interfaces, and bacterial microleakage. To review the evidence indicating whether the implant–abutment connection type is significant regarding the following issues: (1) maintenance of the preload in static and dynamic in vitro studies; (2) assessment of possible deformations at the implant–abutment interfaces, after repeated application of the tightening torque; (3) evaluation of the sealing capability of different implant connections against microleakage.

2.7K
08 Dec 2020

Topic Review

In the field of psychology, the term grandiosity refers to an unrealistic sense of superiority, characterized by a sustained view of one's self as better than others, which is expressed by disdainfully criticising them, overinflating one's own capability and belittling them as inferior; and refers to a sense of personal uniqueness, the belief that few other people have anything in common with oneself, and that one can only be understood by a few, very special people. The personality trait of grandiosity is principally associated with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), but also is a feature in the occurrence and expression of antisocial personality disorder, and the manic and hypomanic episodes of bipolar disorder.

2.7K
25 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Data Ownership in Healthcare

This section briefly discusses this issue of data ownership in the light of recent privacy laws. These laws have a very large impact on the topic of data sharing. It shows that these privacy laws provide rights to the patient, but they do not necessarily make clear who is the owner of the data. They only provide a legal framework for the handling of the data.

2.7K
05 Feb 2021

Topic Review

Mindfulness is the psychological process of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment which one develops through the practice of meditation and through other training. Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions and mental phenomena. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926– ), Herbert Benson (1935– ), Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944– ), and Richard J. Davidson (1951– ). Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of psychological conditions. Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce depression, to reduce stress, anxiety, and in the treatment of drug addiction. Programs based on mindfulness models have been adopted within schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments, and mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance, helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during the perinatal period. Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children. Research studies have shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness (see below) and psychological health. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including moderate benefits to those with psychosis. Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to a variety of mental disorders, and that mindfulness-based interventions can reduce both rumination and worry. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems. There is also evidence that suggest engaging in mindfulness meditation may influence physical health. For example, the psychological habit of repeatedly dwelling on stressful thoughts (i.e., rumination) appears to intensify the physiological effects of the stressor (as a result of the continual activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) with the potential to lead to physical health related clinical manifestations. Studies indicate that mindfulness meditation, which brings about reductions in rumination, may alter these biological clinical pathways. Further, research indicates that mindfulness may favourably influence the immune system as well as inflammation,Cite error: Closing missing for tag

2.7K
12 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Multi-Drug Resistance

Multidrug-resistance is a long debated term. Since 1980 it was used to imply the resistance of a microorganism to multiple pharmaceutical agents, without the number or types of antimicrobials being specified.Currently, the most widely accepted definition of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria include a lack of susceptibility in three or more antimicrobial categories active against the isolated microorganism.

2.7K
27 Aug 2020

Topic Review

Acrylic Bone Cements

Acrylic bone cements (ABC) are widely used in orthopedics for joint fixation, antibiotic release, and bone defect filling, among others. Most of the commercial ABCs available today consist of two components, one solid, based mainly on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and one liquid, based on methyl methacrylate (MMA), which are mixed and, through the polymerization reaction of the monomer, transformed into a hardened cement paste.

2.7K
22 Dec 2020

Topic Review

Invasive Seaweeds

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an “invasive alien species” is an exotic species that establishes itself in a natural or semi-natural ecosystem or habitat, becoming an agent of change and a threat to diversity native biological. Therefore, invasive species are those capable of successfully reproducing and forming self-sufficient populations in an ecosystem that is not theirs. When this happens, we say that they have "naturalized", which can have disastrous consequences for native (native) species. Some invasive alien species are unable to survive and reproduce on their own, so they end up disappearing from the ecosystem and do not endanger native biodiversity. In this case, they are not considered invasive species, only introduced.

2.6K
25 Nov 2020

Topic Review

Blood typing is a medical laboratory test used to identify the antigens on a person's red blood cells, which determine their blood type. Routine blood typing involves determining the ABO and RhD (Rh factor) type, and is performed before blood transfusions to ensure that the donor blood is compatible. It is also used to help diagnose hemolytic disease of the newborn, a condition caused by incompatibility between the blood types of a mother and her baby. ABO typing involves both identification of ABO antigens on red blood cells (forward grouping) and identification of ABO antibodies in the plasma (reverse grouping). Other blood group antigens, such as RhC/c and E/e or Kell, may be tested for in special situations. Blood typing is usually performed using serologic methods, which use reagents containing antibodies, called antisera, to identify blood group antigens. Serologic methods rely on the ability of antibodies to cause red blood cells to clump together when they bind to antigens on the cell surface, a phenomenon called agglutination. A number of serologic methods are available, ranging from manual blood typing using test tubes or slides to fully automated systems. Blood types can also be determined through genetic testing, which is used when conditions that interfere with serologic testing are present or when a high degree of accuracy in antigen identification is required. A number of conditions can cause false or inconclusive results in blood typing. When these issues affect ABO typing, they are called ABO discrepancies. ABO discrepancies must be investigated and resolved before the person's blood type is reported. There are different procedures for resolving ABO discrepancies depending on the underlying causes. Other sources of error in blood typing include the "weak D" phenomenon, in which people who are positive for the RhD antigen show weak or negative reactions when tested for RhD, and the presence of Immunoglobulin G antibodies on red blood cells, which interferes with typing for some blood group antigens.

2.6K
25 Oct 2022

Topic Review

Euro Health Consumer Index

Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) is a comparison of European health care systems based on waiting times, results, and generosity. The information is presented as a graphic index. EHCI was produced 2005–2009 and 2012–2016 by Health Consumer Powerhouse. The 2014 ranking included 37 countries measured by 48 indicators. It claims to measure the "consumer friendliness" of healthcare systems. It does not claim to measure which European state has the best healthcare system, but it does produce specialist Indexes on Diabetes, Cardiac Care, HIV, Headache and Hepatitis. In 2006 France was the champion with 768 points out of 1000. In the 2015 results the same performance would have given the 13th position among 35 countries because of the widespread improvements in standards. While no bias in favour of any health system was alleged, the index was criticised in the British Medical Journal by Martin McKee and others from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies in February 2016. Points they made included: A survey by the Centre for Population Change in 2019 produced results consistent with the index.

2.6K
09 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Immigrant Paradox

The immigrant paradox is that recent immigrants often outperform more established immigrants and non-immigrants on a number of health-, education-, and conduct- or crime-related outcomes, despite the numerous barriers they face to successful social integration. According to the UN, the number of first-generation immigrants worldwide is 244 million. These large-scale population changes worldwide have led many scholars, across fields, to study the acculturation and adjustment of immigrants to their new homes. Specifically, researchers have examined immigrant experiences as they pertain to educational attainment, mental and physical health, and conduct/crime. Researchers have tried to understand why later generations seem to perform less well than their forebears. They have found that it can be explained by non-optimal methodology and differences in the way generations are modified by the host culture.

2.6K
29 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Timeline of Cholera

This is a timeline of cholera, a disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

2.5K
30 Nov 2022

Topic Review

Diabetic Wound Healing

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common endocrine disease characterized by a state of hyperglycemia (higher level of glucose in the blood than usual). DM and its complications can lead to diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). DFU is associated with impaired wound healing, due to inappropriate cellular and cytokines response, infection, poor vascularization, and neuropathy. Effective therapeutic strategies for the management of impaired wound could be attained through a better insight of molecular mechanism and pathophysiology of diabetic wound healing. Nanotherapeutics-based agents engineered within 1–100 nm levels, which include nanoparticles and nanoscaffolds, are recent promising treatment strategies for accelerating diabetic wound healing. Nanoparticles are smaller in size and have high surface area to volume ratio that increases the likelihood of biological interaction and penetration at wound site. They are ideal for topical delivery of drugs in a sustained manner, eliciting cell-to-cell interactions, cell proliferation, vascularization, cell signaling, and elaboration of biomolecules necessary for effective wound healing. Furthermore, nanoparticles have the ability to deliver one or more therapeutic drug molecules, such as growth factors, nucleic acids, antibiotics, and antioxidants, which can be released in a sustained manner within the target tissue. This review focuses on recent approaches in the development of nanoparticle-based therapeutics for enhancing diabetic wound healing.

2.5K
13 Jul 2020

Topic Review

Reduced Affect Display

Reduced affect display, sometimes referred to as emotional blunting, is a condition of reduced emotional reactivity in an individual. It manifests as a failure to express feelings (affect display) either verbally or nonverbally, especially when talking about issues that would normally be expected to engage the emotions. Expressive gestures are rare and there is little animation in facial expression or vocal inflection. Reduced affect can be symptomatic of autism, schizophrenia, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, depersonalization disorder, schizoid personality disorder or brain damage. It may also be a side effect of certain medications (e.g., antipsychotics and antidepressants). Reduced affect should be distinguished from apathy and anhedonia, which explicitly refer to a lack of emotion, whereas reduced affect is a lack of emotional expression (affect display) regardless of whether emotion (underlying affect) is actually reduced or not.

2.4K
17 Nov 2022

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