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Antifungals and Drug Resistance
Antifungal drugs prevent topical or invasive fungal infections (mycoses) either by stopping growth of fungi (termed fungistatic) or by killing the fungal cells (termed fungicidal). Antibiotics also prevent bacterial infections through either bacteriostatic or bactericidal mechanisms. These microorganisms successfully develop resistance against conventional drugs that are designed to kill or stop them from multiplying. When a fungus no longer responds to antifungal drug treatments and continues to grow, this is known as antifungal drug resistance. Bacteria have an amazing capacity to become resistant to antibiotic action as well, and the effectiveness of the scarce antifungal arsenal is jeopardised by this antibiotic resistance, which poses a severe threat to public health.
  • 1.5K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Peptides and Antibiotics
Antimicrobial peptides constitute one of the most promising alternatives to antibiotics since they could be used to treat bacterial infections, especially those caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens. Many antimicrobial peptides, with various activity spectra and mechanisms of actions, have been described. 
  • 659
  • 23 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Antioxidants and Male Fertility
Spermatozoa are physiologically exposed to reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a pivotal role on several sperm functions through activation of different intracellular mechanisms involved in physiological functions such as sperm capacitation associated-events. However, ROS overproduction depletes sperm antioxidant system, which leads to a condition of oxidative stress (OS). Subfertile and infertile men are known to present higher amount of ROS in the reproductive tract which causes sperm DNA damage and results in lower fertility and pregnancy rates. Thus, there is a growing number of couples seeking fertility treatment and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) due to OS-related problems in the male partner. Interestingly, although ART can be successfully used, it is also related with an increase in ROS production. This has led to a debate if antioxidants should be proposed as part of a fertility treatment in an attempt to decrease non-physiological elevated levels of ROS. However, the rationale behind oral antioxidants intake and positive effects on male reproduction outcome is only supported by few studies. 
  • 444
  • 16 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Art Therapy
Art therapy (not to be confused with arts therapy, which includes other creative therapies such as drama therapy and music therapy) is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. There are three main ways that art therapy is employed. The first one is called analytic art therapy. Analytic art therapy is based on the theories that come from analytical psychology, and in more cases, psychoanalysis. Analytic art therapy focuses on the client, the therapist, and the ideas that are transferred between the both of them through art. Another way that art therapy is utilized is art psychotherapy. This approach focuses more on the psychotherapist and their analysis of their clients artwork verbally. The last way art therapy is looked at is through the lens of art as therapy. Some art therapists practicing art as therapy believe that analyzing the client’s artwork verbally is not essential, therefore they stress the creation process of the art instead. In all of these different approaches to art therapy, the art therapist's client goes on the journey to delve into their inner thoughts and emotions by the use of paint, paper and pen, clay, sand, or maybe even fabric. Art therapy can be used to help people improve cognitive and sensory motor function, self-esteem, self awareness, emotional resilience. It may also aide in resolving conflicts and reduce distress. Current art therapy includes a vast number of other approaches such as person-centered, cognitive, behavior, Gestalt, narrative, Adlerian, and family. The tenets of art therapy involve humanism, creativity, reconciling emotional conflicts, fostering self-awareness, and personal growth.
  • 1.3K
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence into Clinical Practice
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the field of medicine and healthcare by providing innovative solutions to complex problems. One of the most important benefits of AI in clinical practice is its ability to investigate extensive volumes of data with efficiency and precision. This has led to the development of various applications that have improved patient outcomes and reduced the workload of healthcare professionals. AI can support doctors in making more accurate diagnoses and developing personalized treatment plans. 
  • 86
  • 10 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Assertive Community Treatment
Assertive community treatment (ACT) is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT teams serve individuals with the most serious forms of mental illness, predominantly but not exclusively the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. ACT service recipients may also have diagnostic profiles that include features typically found in other DSM-5 categories (for example, bipolar, depressive, anxiety, and personality disorders, among others). Many have histories of frequent psychiatric hospitalization, substance abuse, victimization and trauma, arrests and incarceration, homelessness, and additional significant challenges. The symptoms and complications of their mental illnesses have led to serious functioning difficulties in several areas of life, often including work, social relationships, residential independence, money management, and physical health and wellness. By the time they start receiving ACT services, they are likely to have experienced failure, discrimination, and stigmatization, and their hope for the future is likely to be quite low.
  • 465
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Assessment of Gastrointestinal Autonomic Dysfunction
The autonomic nervous system delicately regulates the function of several target organs, including the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, nerve lesions or other nerve pathologies may cause autonomic dysfunction (AD). Some of the most common causes of AD are diabetes mellitus and α-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson’s disease. Widespread dysmotility throughout the gastrointestinal tract is a common finding in AD, but no commercially available method exists for direct verification of enteric dysfunction. Thus, assessing segmental enteric physiological function is recommended to aid diagnostics and guide treatment.
  • 1.9K
  • 24 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Attachment Therapy
Attachment therapy (also called "the Evergreen model," "holding time," "rage-reduction," "compression therapy," "rebirthing," "corrective attachment therapy," and Coercive Restraint Therapy) is a pseudoscientific child mental health intervention intended to treat attachment disorders. It is found primarily in the United States, and much of it is centered in about a dozen clinics in Evergreen, Colorado, where Foster Cline, one of the founders, established his clinic in the 1970s. The practice has resulted in adverse outcomes for children, including at least six documented child fatalities. Since the 1990s there have been a number of prosecutions for deaths or serious maltreatment of children at the hands of "attachment therapists" or parents following their instructions. Two of the most well-known cases are those of Candace Newmaker in 2000 and the Gravelles in 2003. Following the associated publicity, some advocates of attachment therapy began to alter views and practices to be less potentially dangerous to children. This change may have been hastened by the publication of a Task Force Report on the subject in January 2006, commissioned by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) which was largely critical of attachment therapy. In April 2007, ATTACh, an organization originally set up by attachment therapists, formally adopted a White Paper stating its unequivocal opposition to the use of coercive practices in therapy and parenting, promoting instead newer techniques of attunement, sensitivity and regulation. Attachment therapy is primarily based on Robert Zaslow's rage-reduction therapy from the 1960s and '70s and on psychoanalytic theories about suppressed rage, catharsis, regression, breaking down of resistance and defence mechanisms. Zaslow, Tinbergen, Martha Welch and other early proponents used it as a treatment for autism, based on the now discredited belief that autism was the result of failures in the attachment relationship with the mother. This form of treatment differs significantly from evidence-based attachment-based therapies, talking psychotherapies such as attachment-based psychotherapy and relational psychoanalysis.
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
BCG Vaccination
BCG vaccine has been used for 100 years to prevent tuberculosis. Not all countries, including the United States, adopted the initial World Health Organization recommendation to use BCG. Moreover, many Western countries that had routinely used BCG have discontinued its use.
  • 313
  • 28 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Behcet’s Disease
Behcet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory disorder characterized by a range of manifestations, such as recurrent oral ulcers, genital ulcers, arthritis, vasculitis, and skin lesions. The age of onset of BD is usually 30–40 years. 
  • 369
  • 28 Apr 2021
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