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Cureus Jun 2017Introduction This study aims to describe the results of a dementia awareness campaign in the Chinese American community. Methods The campaign consisted of a health...
Introduction This study aims to describe the results of a dementia awareness campaign in the Chinese American community. Methods The campaign consisted of a health fair, four dementia seminars, radio shows, television episodes, and a YouTube series. Descriptive statistics and qualitative data were obtained from various health communication channels. Results There were 156 and 313 participants in the health fair and dementia seminars, respectively. The participants in each component of the campaign also provided qualitative data on barriers and effective ways to disseminate awareness of dementia and brain health. Conclusion A dementia awareness campaign may be an effective way to reduce health disparities and dementia in the Chinese American community.
PubMed: 28856076
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.1411 -
Microbiology Spectrum Aug 2023The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi can cause a multitude of clinical manifestations because of its ability to disseminate into any organ system via...
The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi can cause a multitude of clinical manifestations because of its ability to disseminate into any organ system via migration through soft tissue, the lymphatic system, and the circulatory system. The latter is believed to constitute the predominant pathway for dissemination to distal sites from the inoculating tick bite. In spite of its importance, the hematogenous dissemination process remains largely uncharacterized, particularly due to difficulties studying this process in a living host and the lack of an system that recapitulates animal infection. In the current work, we provide the first information regarding the stage of the vascular transmigration pathway where three important adhesins function during invasion of mouse knee joint peripheral tissue from postcapillary venules. Using intravital imaging coupled with genetic experiments employing sequential double infection, we show a complex temporal choreography of P66, decorin binding proteins (DbpA/B), and outer surface protein C (OspC) at discrete steps along the pathway of vascular escape, underscoring the importance of B. burgdorferi adhesins in hematogenous dissemination in the mouse knee joint and the complexity of vascular transmigration by a disseminating pathogen. Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by a bite from an infected tick. Disease development involves a complex series of host-pathogen interactions as well as dissemination of the infecting organisms to sites distal to the original tick bite. The predominant pathway for this is believed to be hematogenous dissemination. The mechanism by which the spirochetes escape circulation is unknown. Here, using intravital microscopy, where the Lyme spirochete can be observed in a living mouse, we have studied the stage in the vascular escape process where each of three surface adhesins functions to facilitate escape of the spirochete from postcapillary venules to invade mouse knee joint peripheral tissue. A complex pattern of involvement at various locations in the multistage process is described using a unique experimental approach that is applicable to other disseminating pathogens.
Topics: Mice; Animals; Borrelia burgdorferi; Tick Bites; Adhesins, Bacterial; Lyme Disease; Borrelia burgdorferi Group
PubMed: 37255427
DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01254-23 -
Internet Interventions Mar 2021Emotional disorders (anxiety and depressive disorders) are a relevant public health concern associated with high prevalence, high costs, and important disability....
INTRODUCTION
Emotional disorders (anxiety and depressive disorders) are a relevant public health concern associated with high prevalence, high costs, and important disability. Therefore, research priorities include designing and testing cost-effective interventions to reach everyone in need. Internet-delivered interventions for emotional disorders are effective and can help to disseminate and implement evidence-based treatments. However, although these treatments are generally effective, not all patients benefit from this treatment format equally. Blended treatments are a new form of intervention that combines the strengths of face-to-face and Internet approaches. Nevertheless, research on blended interventions has focused primarily on individual therapy, and less attention has been paid to the potential of using this format in group psychotherapy. This study aims to analyze the feasibility of blended transdiagnostic group CBT for emotional disorders. The current article describes the study protocol for this trial.
METHOD AND ANALYSIS
A one-armed pilot trial will be conducted. Participants will be 30 adults suffering from DSM-5 anxiety and/or depressive disorders. The treatment consists of a blended transdiagnostic group intervention delivered during a period of 24 weeks. Groups of 6 to 10 patients will attend a total of eight 2-hour, face-to-face sessions, alternated with the use of an online platform where they will find the contents of the treatment protocol. The intervention has four core components: present-focused awareness, cognitive flexibility, identification and modification of behavioral and cognitive patterns of emotional avoidance, and interoceptive and situational exposure. These components are delivered in 16 modules. Assessments will be performed at baseline, during the treatment, at post-treatment, and at 3-month follow-up. Clinical and treatment acceptability outcomes will be included. Quantitative and qualitative data (participants' views about blended group psychotherapy) will be analyzed.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION
The trial has received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Universitat Jaume I (September 2019) and will be conducted in accordance with the study protocol, the Declaration of Helsinki, and good clinical practice. The results of this study will be disseminated by presentation at conferences and will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04008576. Registered 05 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04008576.
PubMed: 33520670
DOI: 10.1016/j.invent.2021.100363 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Sep 2023Social networks have become one of the main channels for obtaining health information. However, they have also become a source of health-related misinformation, which...
BACKGROUND
Social networks have become one of the main channels for obtaining health information. However, they have also become a source of health-related misinformation, which seriously threatens the public's physical and mental health. Governance of health-related misinformation can be implemented through topic identification of rumors on social networks. However, little attention has been paid to studying the types and routes of dissemination of health rumors on the internet, especially rumors regarding health-related information in Chinese social media.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to explore the types of health-related misinformation favored by WeChat public platform users and their prevalence trends and to analyze the modeling results of the text by using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model.
METHODS
We used a web crawler tool to capture health rumor-dispelling articles on WeChat rumor-dispelling public accounts. We collected information from health-debunking articles posted between January 1, 2016, and August 31, 2022. Following word segmentation of the collected text, a document topic generation model called Latent Dirichlet Allocation was used to identify and generalize the most common topics. The proportion distribution of the themes was calculated, and the negative impact of various health rumors in different periods was analyzed. Additionally, the prevalence of health rumors was analyzed by the number of health rumors generated at each time point.
RESULTS
We collected 9366 rumor-refuting articles from January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2022, from WeChat official accounts. Through topic modeling, we divided the health rumors into 8 topics, that is, rumors on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases (1284/9366, 13.71%), disease therapy and its effects (1037/9366, 11.07%), food safety (1243/9366, 13.27%), cancer and its causes (946/9366, 10.10%), regimen and disease (1540/9366, 16.44%), transmission (914/9366, 9.76%), healthy diet (1068/9366, 11.40%), and nutrition and health (1334/9366, 14.24%). Furthermore, we summarized the 8 topics under 4 themes, that is, public health, disease, diet and health, and spread of rumors.
CONCLUSIONS
Our study shows that topic modeling can provide analysis and insights into health rumor governance. The rumor development trends showed that most rumors were on public health, disease, and diet and health problems. Governments still need to implement relevant and comprehensive rumor management strategies based on the rumors prevalent in their countries and formulate appropriate policies. Apart from regulating the content disseminated on social media platforms, the national quality of health education should also be improved. Governance of social networks should be clearly implemented, as these rapidly developed platforms come with privacy issues. Both disseminators and receivers of information should ensure a realistic attitude and disseminate health information correctly. In addition, we recommend that sentiment analysis-related studies be conducted to verify the impact of health rumor-related topics.
Topics: Humans; Diet, Healthy; Government; Health Education; Communication; Social Media; China
PubMed: 37733396
DOI: 10.2196/45019 -
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research 2019The high prevalence of chronic pain conditions combined with an over-reliance on opioid prescriptions has resulted in an opioid epidemic and a desperate need for... (Review)
Review
The high prevalence of chronic pain conditions combined with an over-reliance on opioid prescriptions has resulted in an opioid epidemic and a desperate need for solutions. There is some debate about whether cannabis might play a role in addressing chronic pain conditions as well as the opioid epidemic. Recent surveys suggest that a large number of people are using cannabis as a treatment for pain and to reduce use of opioids, and cannabis-derived products demonstrate at least modest efficacy in the treatment of pain in randomized controlled trials. In addition, surveillance studies from countries that have approved the use of Sativex, which is a cannabis-based product, have demonstrated that a combination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol has low potential for harm, is well tolerated, and is helpful to patients. Given the number of people in the United States who are already using cannabis to manage pain and opioid use in state-regulated markets, it is imperative to conduct additional research in these areas, and to disseminate information on how to minimize harm and maximize any benefits of using cannabinoids to mitigate pain and reduce opioid use. The purpose of this article is to call attention to the fact that cannabis is being used in the management of chronic pain. Thus, this article also provides a set of guidelines on how to approach using cannabis to treat pain.
PubMed: 31579833
DOI: 10.1089/can.2018.0052 -
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2018is a common environmental saprophyte and human fungal pathogen that primarily causes disease in immunocompromised individuals. Similar to many environmentally acquired... (Review)
Review
is a common environmental saprophyte and human fungal pathogen that primarily causes disease in immunocompromised individuals. Similar to many environmentally acquired human fungal pathogens, initiates infection in the lungs. However, the main driver of mortality is invasive cryptococcosis leading to fungal meningitis. After gains a foothold in the lungs, a critical early step in invasion is transversal of the respiratory epithelium. In this review, we summarize current knowledge relating to pulmonary escape. We focus on fungal factors that allow to disseminate from the lungs via intracellular and extracellular routes.
PubMed: 29463005
DOI: 10.3390/jof4010025 -
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors :... Sep 2022The first clinical trial of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) was launched at the University of Washington in 1990. Since that...
The first clinical trial of the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) was launched at the University of Washington in 1990. Since that time, multiple trials have demonstrated the efficacy of BASICS and related approaches in a variety of young adult populations and this information has been widely disseminated. However, in practice BASICS implementation varies considerably, including formats and mediums (e.g., group, telehealth, written/electronic feedback alone) not studied in the original research. Even if delivered in an individual in-person format, implementation can stray substantially from the original design. Adaptations may be necessary to address campus resource constraints or other barriers to implementation but can have unknown impacts on intervention effectiveness. Thus, despite wide-scale efforts to disseminate and implement BASICS, challenges remain, and there are several critical research gaps that need to be addressed to support campuses in implementing BASICS successfully. The current manuscript reviews several ways in which BASICS has been adapted to address these challenges, and provides recommendations for best implementation practices as well as future research needed to improve implementation and effectiveness of BASICS going forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Mass Screening; Students; Telemedicine; Young Adult
PubMed: 34914406
DOI: 10.1037/adb0000794 -
Ophthalmology Sep 2020
Topics: Biomedical Research; COVID-19; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Humans; Information Dissemination; Intersectoral Collaboration; Ophthalmologists; Ophthalmology; Practice Patterns, Physicians'; SARS-CoV-2; Social Media
PubMed: 32502595
DOI: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.05.048 -
Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2023Physical and non-physical processes that occur in nature may influence biological processes, such as dissemination of infectious diseases. However, such processes may be...
INTRODUCTION
Physical and non-physical processes that occur in nature may influence biological processes, such as dissemination of infectious diseases. However, such processes may be hard to detect when they are complex systems. Because complexity is a dynamic and non-linear interaction among numerous elements and structural levels in which specific effects are not necessarily linked to any one specific element, cause-effect connections are rarely or poorly observed.
METHODS
To test this hypothesis, the complex and dynamic properties of geo-biological data were explored with high-resolution epidemiological data collected in the 2001 Uruguayan foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epizootic that mainly affected cattle. County-level data on cases, farm density, road density, river density, and the ratio of road (or river) length/county perimeter were analyzed with an open-ended procedure that identified geographical clustering in the first 11 epidemic weeks. Two questions were asked: (i) do geo-referenced epidemiologic data display complex properties? and (ii) can such properties facilitate or prevent disease dissemination?
RESULTS
Emergent patterns were detected when complex data structures were analyzed, which were not observed when variables were assessed individually. Complex properties-including data circularity-were demonstrated. The emergent patterns helped identify 11 counties as 'disseminators' or 'facilitators' (F) and 264 counties as 'barriers' (B) of epidemic spread. In the early epidemic phase, F and B counties differed in terms of road density and FMD case density. Focusing on non-biological, geographical data, a second analysis indicated that complex relationships may identify B-like counties even before epidemics occur.
DISCUSSION
Geographical barriers and/or promoters of disease dispersal may precede the introduction of emerging pathogens. If corroborated, the analysis of geo-referenced complexity may support anticipatory epidemiological policies.
PubMed: 37252396
DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1149460 -
Cancers Apr 2023Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) disseminates with high prevalence to the central nervous system (CNS) in a process resembling aspects of the CNS surveillance of... (Review)
Review
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) disseminates with high prevalence to the central nervous system (CNS) in a process resembling aspects of the CNS surveillance of normal immune cells as well as aspects of brain metastasis from solid cancers. Importantly, inside the CNS, the ALL blasts are typically confined within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-filled cavities of the subarachnoid space, which they use as a sanctuary protected from both chemotherapy and immune cells. At present, high cumulative doses of intrathecal chemotherapy are administered to patients, but this is associated with neurotoxicity and CNS relapse still occurs. Thus, it is imperative to identify markers and novel therapy targets specific to CNS ALL. Integrins represent a family of adhesion molecules involved in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, implicated in the adhesion and migration of metastatic cancer cells, normal immune cells, and leukemic blasts. The ability of integrins to also facilitate cell-adhesion mediated drug resistance, combined with recent discoveries of integrin-dependent routes of leukemic cells into the CNS, have sparked a renewed interest in integrins as markers and therapeutic targets in CNS leukemia. Here, we review the roles of integrins in CNS surveillance by normal lymphocytes, dissemination to the CNS by ALL cells, and brain metastasis from solid cancers. Furthermore, we discuss whether ALL dissemination to the CNS abides by known hallmarks of metastasis, and the potential roles of integrins in this context.
PubMed: 37173970
DOI: 10.3390/cancers15092504