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Topic Review
Strategies for the Appropriateness of Medication Use
The evidence on the effectiveness of strategies and tools to promote and improve medication appropriateness and their sustainability largely derives from local and heterogeneous experiences with contrasting results. As a general framework, three main steps should be considered in implementing measures to improve the appropriateness of medications: prescription, acceptance by the patient, and continuous monitoring of adherence and the risk-benefit profile. Each step needs efforts from specific actors (physicians, patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals) and dedicated supporting tools. Moreover, how to support the appropriateness also strictly depends on the particular care setting (hospital, ambulatory or primary care, nursing home, long-term care) and available economic resources. 
  • 338
  • 23 Sep 2022
Topic Review
One Health, Food-Borne Zoonoses and EU Green Policies
Zoonotic agents are pathogens with an unrestricted host spectrum. In nature, their survival occurs in reservoir animal species, which generally do not present clinical symptoms and, therefore, are difficult to identify. Promiscuity between farmed animals and wildlife increases the risk of transmission of pathogens and their consequent adaptation to new host species, including human beings. Therefore, promiscuity increases the risk of emergence of new zoonoses. According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), zoonoses represent 60% of human infectious diseases and 75% of the emerging ones; 80% of pathogens of animal origin have strong potential as bioterrorism agents. Deforestation and destruction of natural areas produce promiscuity, pushing wild species to invade new areas and to arrive in anthropic environments. In high-income countries, domesticated animals are as much a potential reservoir of high-risk zoonoses as the wildlife animals in equatorial rainforests or wet markets.
  • 528
  • 22 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Household Food Dynamics during COVID-19
Home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by dramatic changes in household food dynamics that can significantly influence health. Overall, families enjoyed more time together around food, including planning meals, cooking, and eating together. Eating more diverse foods and balanced home-cooked meals (e.g., fresh fruit and vegetables) was combined with overeating and increased snacking (e.g., high-calorie snacks, desserts, and sweets), as parents became more permissive towards food; however, food insecurity increased among families with the lowest income. Adoption of meal planning skills and online shopping behavior emerged alongside behaviors aimed at self-sufficiency, such as bulk purchasing and stockpiling of non-perishable processed foods. These results are an important first step in recognizing how this pandemic may be affecting the family food environment, including low-income families.
  • 431
  • 22 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Treatment of Halitosis
Halitosis, or bad breath, is an oral health problem characterized by an unpleasant malodor emanating from the oral cavity. This condition can have different origins and causes a negative burden in social interactions, communication and quality of life, and can in uncommon cases be indicative of underlying non-oral non-communicable diseases.
  • 314
  • 21 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Hypersensitivity Reactions to Food Additives
Food additives (FAs) are commonly used in prosscessed foods, but hypersensitivity reactions to food additives (HFA) appears to be a rare phenomenon. Identification of the FA responsible for hypersensitivity and its treatment is difficult. Diagnosis is a challenge for the clinician and for the patient. A food diary is a helpful diagnostic tool. It allows diet therapy to be monitored based on the partial or complete elimination of products containing a harmful additive. An elimination diet must not be deficient, and symptomatic pharmacotherapy may be necessary if its application is ineffective.
  • 429
  • 21 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Quantum Dot-Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay
Point-of-care testing (POCT) technology has exhibited an outstanding capability for the detection of several disease biomarkers owing to the fact that such techniques are fast, easy to perform, efficient, and low cost. The lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is one such strategy for POCT. LFIA is a well-established platform and a potent assay for fast and inexpensive testing, as this technology is instrumentation independent and allows the visualisation of test results by the naked eye. In order to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of the LFIAs, as well as to allow the quantitation of results, fluorescence immunochromatographic assays have been developed by utilising fluorescent reporters. Fluorescence immunochromatographic assays have advantages over conventional approaches in regard to sensitivity as it produces a higher intensity band on the test and control lines. One such promising fluorescent reporter is quantum dots (QDs). QDs are tiny semiconducting nanocrystals with diameters ranging from 2 to 10 nanometers. QDs have unique electronic characteristics that are intermediate between those of bulk semiconductors and discrete molecules, which is due in part to their high surface-to-volume ratios. The most visible result is fluorescence, in which the nanocrystals emit distinct colours determined by particle size.
  • 1.8K
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
VR Serious Games and Negative Schizophrenia Symptoms
Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects 1 in every 300 people worldwide. VR is an interesting tool that has started to be used in remediation therapies. Although it is typically used as an exposure technique for specific phobias, VR has been applied, with encouraging results, to the study and treatment of schizophrenia. It can offer the potential for a significant therapeutic benefit, since patients are more willing to enter challenging situations and experiment with alternative ways of responding.
  • 682
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Association between Smoking and Obstructive Sleep Apnea
The connection between smoking and Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is not yet clear. There are studies that have confirmed the effect of smoking on sleep disordered breathing, whereas others did not. Nicotine affects sleep, as smokers have prolonged total sleep and REM latency, reduced sleep efficiency, total sleep time, and slow wave sleep. Smoking cessation has been related with impaired sleep. 
  • 629
  • 14 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Application of Standardized Regression Coefficient in Meta-Analysis
The β coefficient is the estimate resulting from an analysis carried out on variables that have been standardized so that their standard deviations (and variances) are equal to one. Therefore, the standardized coefficient refers to how many standard deviations the response or outcome variable will change per a standard deviation increase in the explanatory or predictor variable. Thus, the standardized coefficient β can be regarded as an attempt to make regression coefficients more comparable, and can be used as an effect-size estimate when the exposure levels in original studies are measured in different units of measurement.
  • 6.8K
  • 14 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Metabolic Disease in the Offspring
Obesity incidence is rising worldwide, including women of reproductive age, contributing to increased gestations in which Maternal Obesity (MO) occurs. Offspring born to obese mothers present an increased predisposition to develop metabolic (e.g., obesity, diabetes) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The developmental programming of the metabolic dysfunction in MO offspring can initiate in utero. The different availability of metabolic substrates, namely glucose, can modulate cellular growth, proliferation, and differentiation, resulting in different levels of tissue maturation and function.
  • 428
  • 14 Sep 2022
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