-
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2020Over the past decade, the use of commercial video games and serious games has developed in child and adolescent psychiatry. These games may become relevant alternatives...
BACKGROUND
Over the past decade, the use of commercial video games and serious games has developed in child and adolescent psychiatry. These games may become relevant alternatives or adjuncts to traditional psychotherapy, providing that their effectiveness is properly established. The purpose of this literature review was to evaluate the effectiveness of serious games and commercial video games in the treatment or prevention of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.
METHODS
Medline's database was used to search articles published between January 2012 and July 2019. The following keywords were used for this search: "Video games" OR "Active video game" OR "serious gaming" OR "Serious game" OR "Exergame" AND "Child mental disorder" OR "Adolescent" OR "Child" AND "Therapy" OR "Prevention". Only comparative studies which targeted interventions on children and adolescents suffering from psychiatric disorders were included.
RESULTS
Twenty-two studies, focusing on a wide range of psychiatric conditions, met our inclusion criteria's: 14 evaluated serious games and 8 commercial games. All studies were randomized controlled trials but only two studies compared the intervention game to psychotherapeutic gold standard; other studies used a no-intervention control group or an alternative game as the control group. Eighteen studies reported significant improvements on the symptoms and test scores targeted.
CONCLUSION
Serious games and commercially available video games can be an effective trajectory for psychotherapy in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies which assess the sustained effects of these games, and standards for proper evaluation of their effectiveness are missing.
PubMed: 32116851
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00036 -
Yearbook of Medical Informatics Aug 2018To summarize the recent literature and research and present a selection of the best papers published in 2017 in the field of Health Information Management (HIM) and... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To summarize the recent literature and research and present a selection of the best papers published in 2017 in the field of Health Information Management (HIM) and Health Informatics.
METHODS
A systematic review of the literature was performed by the two HIM section editors of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook with the help of a medical librarian. We searched bibliographic databases for HIM-related papers using both MeSH descriptors and keywords in titles and abstracts. A shortlist of 15 candidate best papers was first selected by section editors before being peer-reviewed by independent external reviewers.
RESULTS
Health Information Exchange was a major theme within candidate best papers. The four papers ultimately selected as 'Best Papers' represent themes that include health information exchange, governance and policy issues, results of health information exchange, and methods of integrating information from multiple sources. Other articles within the candidate best papers include these themes as well as those focusing on authentication and de-identification and usability of information systems.
CONCLUSIONS
The papers discussed in the HIM section of IMIA Yearbook reflect the overall theme of the 2018 edition of the Yearbook, i.e., the tension between privacy and access to information. While most of the papers focused on health information exchange, which reflects the "access" side of the equation, most of the others addressed privacy issues. This synopsis discusses these key issues at the intersection of HIM and informatics.
Topics: Confidentiality; Data Anonymization; Health Information Exchange; Health Information Management; Health Policy; Health Records, Personal; Humans
PubMed: 30157507
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1667072 -
Praxis Der Kinderpsychologie Und... Jan 2017Coercive Measures in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry To keep the use of coercive measures in child and adolescent psychiatry low or reduce them completely, there needs... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study Review
Coercive Measures in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry To keep the use of coercive measures in child and adolescent psychiatry low or reduce them completely, there needs to be a specific knowledge of the starting point. The study provides an overview of the current situation using a systematic literature review of published studies from the European and the outer European regions between 2005 and 2015. In summary only twelve publications addressed the topic, differentiated in four studies from inner and eight studies from outer European countries. In the studies from Europe, girls in their late adolescence experienced coercive measures more often, whereas the outer European studies identified more boys in early school age. Regarding the diagnoses of the respective patients, no distinct trend could be identified, as coercive measures were applied with a range of different diagnoses. In the European studies, coercive measures were more often used with children and adolescents fitting in the ICD-10-category F9. Results point to a lack of empirical studies concerning coercive measures in the context of child and adolescent psychiatry. Besides, clinical practice between the countries varies tremendously, resulting in difficulties comparing the findings. One possibility to address these issues might be a central register for every kind of coercive measure, as it was introduced in Baden-Württemberg lately and is currently in development for North Rhine-Westphalia.
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Psychiatry; Age Factors; Child; Child Psychiatry; Coercion; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Europe; Humans; Mental Disorders; Sex Factors
PubMed: 28042761
DOI: 10.13109/prkk.2017.66.1.26 -
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology &... Jul 2023Common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders account for 40% of the global burden of disease. In most psychiatric... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders account for 40% of the global burden of disease. In most psychiatric disorders, both diagnosis and monitoring can be challenging, frequently requiring long-term investigation and follow-up. The discovery of better methods to facilitate accurate and fast diagnosis and monitoring of psychiatric disorders is therefore crucial. Circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) are among these new tools. CNAs (DNA or RNA) can be found circulating in body biofluids, and can be isolated from biological samples such as plasma. They can serve as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognoses. They appear to be promising for disorders (such as psychiatric disorders) that involve organs or structures that are difficult to assess. This review presents an accurate assessment of the current literature about the use of plasma and serum cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as biomarkers for several aspects of psychiatric disorders: diagnosis, prognosis, treatment response, and monitor disease progression. For each psychiatric disorder, we examine the effect sizes to give insights on the efficacy of CNAs as biomarkers. The global effect size for plasma nuclear and mitochondrial cfDNA studies was generally moderate for psychiatric disorders. In addition, we discuss future applications of CNAs and particularly cfDNA as non-invasive biomarkers for these diseases.
Topics: Humans; Cell-Free Nucleic Acids; Biomarkers; Prognosis; DNA; Psychiatry
PubMed: 37068545
DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110770 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022Recently, the number of vehicles equipped with wireless connections has increased considerably. The impact of that growth in areas such as telecommunications,... (Review)
Review
Recently, the number of vehicles equipped with wireless connections has increased considerably. The impact of that growth in areas such as telecommunications, infotainment, and automatic driving is enormous. More and more drivers want to be part of a vehicular network, despite the implications or risks that, for instance, the openness of wireless communications, its dynamic topology, and its considerable size may bring. Undoubtedly, this trend is because of the benefits the vehicular network can offer. Generally, a vehicular network has two modes of communication (V2I and V2V). The advantage of V2I over V2V is roadside units' high computational and transmission power, which assures the functioning of early warning and driving guidance services. This paper aims to discover the principal vulnerabilities and challenges in V2I communications, the tools and methods to mitigate those vulnerabilities, the evaluation metrics to measure the effectiveness of those tools and methods, and based on those metrics, the methods or tools that provide the best results. Researchers have identified the non-resistance to attacks, the regular updating and exposure of keys, and the high dependence on certification authorities as main vulnerabilities. Thus, the authors found schemes resistant to attacks, authentication schemes, privacy protection models, and intrusion detection and prevention systems. Of the solutions for providing security analyzed in this review, the authors determined that most of them use metrics such as computational cost and communication overhead to measure their performance. Additionally, they determined that the solutions that use emerging technologies such as fog/edge/cloud computing present better results than the rest. Finally, they established that the principal challenge in V2I communication is to protect and dispose of a safe and reliable communication channel to avoid adversaries taking control of the medium.
Topics: Computer Security; Confidentiality; Cloud Computing; Computer Communication Networks; Communication
PubMed: 36501828
DOI: 10.3390/s22239123 -
Journal of Medicine and Life 2021Cloud computing is among the most beneficial solutions to digital problems. Security is one of the focal issues in cloud computing technology, and this study aims at... (Review)
Review
Cloud computing is among the most beneficial solutions to digital problems. Security is one of the focal issues in cloud computing technology, and this study aims at investigating security issues of cloud computing and their probable solutions. A systematic review was performed using Scopus, Pubmed, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases. Once the title and abstract were evaluated, the quality of studies was assessed in order to choose the most relevant according to exclusion and inclusion criteria. Then, the full texts of studies selected were read thoroughly to extract the necessary results. According to the review, data security, availability, and integrity, as well as information confidentiality and network security, were the major challenges in cloud security. Further, data encryption, authentication, and classification, besides application programming interfaces (API), were security solutions to cloud infrastructure. Data encryption could be applied to store and retrieve data from the cloud in order to provide secure communication. Besides, several central challenges, which make the cloud security engineering process problematic, have been considered in this study.
Topics: Cloud Computing; Computer Security; Confidentiality; Delivery of Health Care; Humans; Software
PubMed: 34621367
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2021-0100 -
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Dec 2023Depression is one of the most common co-morbidities during pregnancy; with severe symptoms, antidepressants are sometimes recommended. Social determinants are often... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Depression is one of the most common co-morbidities during pregnancy; with severe symptoms, antidepressants are sometimes recommended. Social determinants are often linked with antidepressant use in the general population, and it is not known if this is the case for pregnant populations. Our objective was to determine if social determinants are associated with prenatal antidepressant intake via a systematic review and meta-analysis.
METHODS
A systematic search of five databases was conducted to identify publications from inception to October 2022 that reported associations with prenatal antidepressant intake (use/continuation) and one or more social determinants: education, race, immigration status, relationship, income, or employment. Eligible studies were included in random effects meta-analyses.
RESULTS
A total of 23 articles describing 22 studies were included. Education was significantly and positively associated with prenatal antidepressant continuation and heterogeneity was moderate. (Odds ratio = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.89; p < 0.00001; I = 53%). Meta-analyses of antidepressant use and education, race, and relationship status, and antidepressant continuation and income were not significant with high levels of heterogeneity.
DISCUSSION
While most social determinants in this review were not linked with prenatal antidepressant intake, lower maternal education level does seem to be associated with lower rates of prenatal antidepressant continuation.
CONCLUSIONS
Education appears to be linked with prenatal antidepressant intake. The low number of included studies precludes conclusive evidence for other social determinants.
PubMed: 38145902
DOI: 10.1111/acps.13647 -
BMC Health Services Research Mar 2018Over the last quarter century, there has been an emergence of evidence-based research directed toward the development, implementation, and assessment of youth-friendly... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Over the last quarter century, there has been an emergence of evidence-based research directed toward the development, implementation, and assessment of youth-friendly health services (YFHS) to improve the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services for young people. Despite these research efforts, evidence supporting the effectiveness of YFHS is limited, which may be attributed to a lack of consensus on how to define and measure youth-friendliness to track progress and evaluate outcomes. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess how youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services are measured worldwide.
METHODS
We conducted a systematic review of studies measuring youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services at health facilities published between January 2000 and June 2015 using PubMed, Web of Science, and POPLINE databases. Additional studies were identified by reviewing references of selected articles. Studies were screened to identify measurements and indicators that have been used to measure YFHS.
RESULTS
Our review identified 20 studies from an initial search of more than 11,000 records, including six from high-income countries and 14 from low-and middle-income countries. The review identified 115 indicators used for measuring youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services. Our review found a lack of consistency in the tools and indicators used to measure YFHS. The three most frequently assessed domains were accessibility, staff characteristics and competency, and confidentiality and privacy. The majority of the indicators were not specific to young people's needs and often reflected basic standards of care.
CONCLUSIONS
This review shows the need for standardization and prioritization of indicators for the evaluation of YFHS. The results can be used to identify a core set of indicators that can be incorporated into a framework for assessing youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services. There is a need to further distinguish between those variables that may have greatest impact on the use of services by young people, such as respect and privacy, those that impact the quality of services offered, and those that have limited relevance. Conducting more rigorous studies using a refined set of indicators is critical to measure and compare the impact and effectiveness of YFHS efforts.
Topics: Adolescent; Adolescent Health Services; Clinical Competence; Confidentiality; Health Services Accessibility; Health Services Research; Humans; Professional-Patient Relations; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reproductive Health Services
PubMed: 29587727
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-018-2982-4 -
NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine Jun 2021Primary Care Providers (PCPs) often deal with patients on daily clinical practice without knowing anything about their smoking status and willingness to quit. The aim of... (Review)
Review
Primary Care Providers (PCPs) often deal with patients on daily clinical practice without knowing anything about their smoking status and willingness to quit. The aim of this metasynthesis is to explore the PCPs and patients who are smokers perspectives regarding the issue of smoking cessation within primary care settings. It relies on the model of meta-ethnography and follows thematic synthesis procedures. Twenty-two studies are included, reporting on the view of 580 participants. Three main themes emerge: (i) What lacks, (ii) Some expectations but no request, and (iii) How to address the issue and induce patients' motivation. Our results reveal a global feeling of a lack of legitimacy among PCPs when it comes to addressing the issue of tobacco and smoking cessation with their patients, even though they have developed creative strategies based on what is at the core of their practice, that is proximity, continuity, long-term and trustworthy relationship.
Topics: Humans; Motivation; Primary Health Care; Smokers; Smoking; Smoking Cessation
PubMed: 34075057
DOI: 10.1038/s41533-021-00245-9 -
Journal of Neural Transmission (Vienna,... Mar 2023The origins of the male preponderance in autism incidence remain unclear. The idea that perinatal factors associated with sex differentiation (e.g., steroid hormone... (Review)
Review
The origins of the male preponderance in autism incidence remain unclear. The idea that perinatal factors associated with sex differentiation (e.g., steroid hormone pathways) may increase the possibility of the emergence of autism is complementary to the hypothesis that female individuals are intrinsically less likely to develop autism. Empirical evidence for the mechanistic roles of in utero steroid hormones in autism etiology is accumulating but inconsistent. We conducted a systematic review using rigorous criteria for the measurements of steroids and vitamin D exposure, to summarize the potential contributing roles of prenatal and early postnatal steroids and vitamin D alterations to the emergence of autism. We searched PubMed, PsychInfo, Scopus, and included 22 studies for qualitative synthesis. Among them, six studies examined the association of autism diagnoses in offspring and levels of steroids and precursor steroid hormones in the fetal environment, eight studies examined the associations between autism and maternal and fetal blood vitamin D levels during pregnancy and at birth, and eight studies examined the associations between offspring autism diagnoses and maternal hyperandrogenemia diagnosed before pregnancy. We identified promising and complex results regarding the relations between steroid metabolism and autism. The interpretation of findings was limited by the mostly observational study designs, insufficient investigation of the effects of offspring sex, confounders and their cumulative effects on the development of the child, and unclear impact of the timing of steroids exposure and their effects on fetal neurodevelopment.
Topics: Child; Pregnancy; Infant, Newborn; Male; Humans; Female; Vitamin D; Autistic Disorder; Incidence; Family; Hormones; Observational Studies as Topic
PubMed: 36752873
DOI: 10.1007/s00702-022-02582-6