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Systematic Reviews Aug 2023More than 1.7 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide. Forty percent of the NTD-affected people live in Africa with the poorest, most... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
More than 1.7 billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) worldwide. Forty percent of the NTD-affected people live in Africa with the poorest, most vulnerable, and hard to reach geographical areas. The NTDs cause significant social and economic burden and deepen marginalization and stigmatization. The World Health Organization's current roadmap for NTD aims to prevent, control, eliminate, or eradicate 20 tropical diseases. Ethiopia experiences a high burden of these diseases, but current access to diagnostics, medicine, and/or care has been little explored to inform the country's NTD strategic plan. The overall purpose of the scoping review was to map and characterize the burden of NTDs and challenges in access to diagnostics, medicine, and/or care in Ethiopia.
METHODS
A systematic search of evidence was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar from January 2000 until May 2022, without restrictions of language or study design. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Review was followed for screening of studies. Key findings were extracted and narrated qualitatively.
RESULTS
The search resulted in 4532 articles, of which 105 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the scoping review under three themes: burden of NTDs, access to diagnostics, medicine and/or care, and key barriers. Although gains have been made in the prevention and control of NTDs in Ethiopia, the burden remains high, and progress in access to diagnostics, medicine/drugs, and/or care is very slow. Poverty, poor quality of life, and underfunding of NTD programs decelerate the process of NTD elimination program in the country.
CONCLUSIONS
The scoping review identified a considerable number of studies on the burden of NTDs in Ethiopia and strategies for diagnosis, treatment, and/or care; however, there is a paucity of evidence on the suitability and potential benefits of novel diagnostic technologies and medicines in the country. A regular review and analysis of such country-level evidence is important to inform the country NTDs roadmap and local implementation strategies.
Topics: Humans; Ethiopia; Quality of Life; Tropical Medicine; Global Health; Neglected Diseases; Health Services Accessibility
PubMed: 37580784
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-023-02302-5 -
Journal of the American Board of Family... 2022Female physicians earn less than their male counterparts, and many explanatory factors have been offered to account for these differences. An analysis of the 2019...
Female physicians earn less than their male counterparts, and many explanatory factors have been offered to account for these differences. An analysis of the 2019 American Board of Family Medicine New Graduate Survey Data demonstrates that women make 16% less than men, regardless of experience or hours worked.
Topics: Family Practice; Female; Humans; Income; Male; Salaries and Fringe Benefits; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States
PubMed: 35039406
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2022.01.210086 -
Malaria Journal Jun 2016The circulation of poor-quality medicines continues to undermine the fight against many life-threatening diseases. Anti-malarial medicines appear to have been... (Review)
Review
The circulation of poor-quality medicines continues to undermine the fight against many life-threatening diseases. Anti-malarial medicines appear to have been particularly compromised and present a major public health threat in malaria-endemic countries, negatively affecting individuals and their communities. Concerted collaborative efforts are required from global, regional and national organizations, involving the public and private sectors, to address the problem. While many initiatives are underway, a number of unmet needs deserve urgent and increased multisector attention. At the global level, there is a need for an international public health legal framework or treaty on poor-quality medicines, with statutes suitable for integration into national laws. In addition, increased international efforts are required to strengthen the governance of global supply chains and enhance cooperation between national medicine regulation authorities and law enforcement bodies. Increased investment is needed in innovative technologies that will enable healthcare teams to detect poor-quality medicines at all levels of the supply chain. At the regional level, a number of initiatives would be beneficial-key areas are standardization, simplification, and reciprocal recognition of registration processes and development of quality control capacity in regional centres of excellence that are better aligned with public health needs; improved surveillance methods and creation of a framework for compulsory and transparent reporting of poor-quality medicines; additional support for national medicine regulation authorities and other national partner authorities; and an increase in support for regional laboratories to boost their capabilities in detecting poor-quality medicines. It is vital that all stakeholders involved in efforts against poor-quality anti-malarial medicines extend and strengthen their actions in these critical areas and thus effectively support global health development and malaria elimination programmes.
Topics: Antimalarials; Counterfeit Drugs; Humans; International Cooperation; Malaria; Private Sector; Public Health; Quality Control
PubMed: 27251199
DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1357-8 -
Acta Ophthalmologica Jun 2017In 2013, the Danish Health and Medicines Authorities published a National Clinical Guideline on the treatment of age-related cataracts. The guideline provided... (Review)
Review
In 2013, the Danish Health and Medicines Authorities published a National Clinical Guideline on the treatment of age-related cataracts. The guideline provided evidence-based recommendations on the indication for cataract surgery, cataract surgery in patients with age-related macular degeneration, on the use of toric intraocular lenses (IOLs) to correct preoperative corneal astigmatism, the use of intracameral and topical antibiotics to prevent endophthalmitis, choice of anti-inflammatory medication to control postoperative inflammation and prevent cystoid macular oedema, the use of immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery and on the postoperative check-up of patients. A questionnaire was sent to all members of the Danish Ophthalmological Society before and after publication of the guideline. The responses showed that the guideline had changed practice patterns so that surgeons were more likely to prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory eye drops and to not prescribe topical antibiotic eye drops after the guideline was published. Other parameters, most notably the use of toric IOLs and use of postoperative examinations were more guided by reimbursement standards than by evidence-based medicine. Thus, evidence-based guidelines do change practice patterns unless they are counteracted by the reimbursement system.
Topics: Cataract Extraction; Evidence-Based Medicine; Humans; Ophthalmology; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Practice Patterns, Physicians'
PubMed: 27966271
DOI: 10.1111/aos.13314 -
Bulletin of the World Health... Oct 2021To ensure equitable access to medicines and vaccines, organizational efforts and purchase volumes have been pooled in joint procurements and negotiations for decades in...
To ensure equitable access to medicines and vaccines, organizational efforts and purchase volumes have been pooled in joint procurements and negotiations for decades in some regions of the world, as well as globally through supranational procurement mechanisms. In Europe, countries started to collaborate on procurement and negotiations recently when it became increasingly difficult to ensure access to high-priced medicines, even in high-income countries. Two European country collaborations (the Nordic Pharmaceutical Forum and the Baltic Procurement Initiative) have successfully concluded at least one joint tender process for medicines and vaccines and the Beneluxa Initiative has concluded its first successful joint price negotiation. This article describes the experiences of these country collaborations. Challenges observed included: legal barriers; institutional and organizational differences between health-care systems in member countries; and the risk that suppliers will be reluctant to cooperate with country collaborations. Although these collaborations helped improve access to medicines and vaccines for the countries involved, in situations such as a global health crisis, larger-scale, more-inclusive initiatives are needed. In the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative established a global procurement mechanism to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally. Despite differences in organization and scale, the European country collaborations and COVAX have some similarities: (i) their success depends on the increased purchasing power associated with pooled order volumes; (ii) expert knowledge and previous procurement experience is pooled; (iii) they perform other collaborative activities that go beyond procurement alone; and (iv) they actively involve external partners and stakeholders.
Topics: COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Global Health; Humans; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccines
PubMed: 34621089
DOI: 10.2471/BLT.21.285761 -
Scanning 2022Though artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in nuclear medicine for more than 50 years, more progress has been made in deep learning (DL) and machine learning... (Review)
Review
Though artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in nuclear medicine for more than 50 years, more progress has been made in deep learning (DL) and machine learning (ML), which have driven the development of new AI abilities in the field. ANNs are used in both deep learning and machine learning in nuclear medicine. Alternatively, if 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) is used, the inputs may be the actual images that are being analyzed, rather than a set of inputs. In nuclear medicine, artificial intelligence reimagines and reengineers the field's therapeutic and scientific capabilities. Understanding the concepts of 3D CNN and U-Net in the context of nuclear medicine provides for a deeper engagement with clinical and research applications, as well as the ability to troubleshoot problems when they emerge. Business analytics, risk assessment, quality assurance, and basic classifications are all examples of simple ML applications. General nuclear medicine, SPECT, PET, MRI, and CT may benefit from more advanced DL applications for classification, detection, localization, segmentation, quantification, and radiomic feature extraction utilizing 3D CNNs. An ANN may be used to analyze a small dataset at the same time as traditional statistical methods, as well as bigger datasets. Nuclear medicine's clinical and research practices have been largely unaffected by the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). Clinical and research landscapes have been fundamentally altered by the advent of 3D CNN and U-Net applications. Nuclear medicine professionals must now have at least an elementary understanding of AI principles such as neural networks (ANNs) and convolutional neural networks (CNNs).
Topics: Artificial Intelligence; Deep Learning; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neural Networks, Computer; Nuclear Medicine
PubMed: 35924105
DOI: 10.1155/2022/9640177 -
Cancer Treatment and Research 2019The development of high-throughput, data-intensive biomedical research assays and technologies has created a need for researchers to develop strategies for analyzing,...
The development of high-throughput, data-intensive biomedical research assays and technologies has created a need for researchers to develop strategies for analyzing, integrating, and interpreting the massive amounts of data they generate. Although a wide variety of statistical methods have been designed to accommodate 'big data,' experiences with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques suggest that they might be particularly appropriate. In addition, the results of the application of these assays reveal a great heterogeneity in the pathophysiologic factors and processes that contribute to disease, suggesting that there is a need to tailor, or 'personalize,' medicines to the nuanced and often unique features possessed by individual patients. Given how important data-intensive assays are to revealing appropriate intervention targets and strategies for treating an individual with a disease, AI can play an important role in the development of personalized medicines. We describe many areas where AI can play such a role and argue that AI's ability to advance personalized medicine will depend critically on not only the refinement of relevant assays, but also on ways of storing, aggregating, accessing, and ultimately integrating, the data they produce. We also point out the limitations of many AI techniques in developing personalized medicines as well as consider areas for further research.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence; Humans; Precision Medicine
PubMed: 31209850
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-16391-4_11 -
Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism Oct 2018The promise of personalized medicine to deliver "the right treatments at the right time to the right person" is the next frontier in healthcare. However, to implement... (Review)
Review
The promise of personalized medicine to deliver "the right treatments at the right time to the right person" is the next frontier in healthcare. However, to implement personalized medicine in chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a number of different aspects need to be taken into account. Better risk stratification and more precise options for treatment need to be developed and included in clinical practice guidelines. A patient's unique psychological, social and environmental situation also drive disease progression and outcomes. Appraising the cost effectiveness of precision medicines is necessary, not just as the cost of new therapies, but also the cost of diagnosis with novel methodologies and averted complications. As the prevalence of DKD grows worldwide to epidemic proportions, challenges such as global disparities in resources, access to healthcare and prevalence need to be addressed. This review considers these issues to achieve the short and longer-term goals of implementing personalized medicine in clinical practice.
Topics: Attitude to Health; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diabetic Nephropathies; Global Health; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Precision Medicine; Professional Practice; Systems Biology
PubMed: 30294955
DOI: 10.1111/dom.13412 -
Advances in Protein Chemistry and... 2016Expected benefits from new technology include more efficient patient selection for clinical trials, more cost-effective treatment pathways for patients and health... (Review)
Review
Expected benefits from new technology include more efficient patient selection for clinical trials, more cost-effective treatment pathways for patients and health services and a more profitable accelerated approach for drug developers. Regulatory authorities expect the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to accelerate their development of companion diagnostics and companion therapeutics toward the goal of safer and more effective personalized medicine, and expect health services to fund and prescribers to adopt these new therapeutic technologies. This review discusses the importance of a range of new approaches to developing new and reprofiled medicines to treat common and serious diseases, and rare diseases: new network pharmacology approaches, adaptive trial designs with enriched populations more likely to respond safely to treatment, as assessed by companion diagnostics for response and toxicity risk and use of "real world" data. Case studies are described of single and multiple protein drug targets in several important therapeutic areas. These case studies also illustrate the value and complexity of use of selective biomarkers of clinical response and risk of adverse drug effects, either singly or in combination.
Topics: Humans; Molecular Targeted Therapy; Precision Medicine
PubMed: 26827603
DOI: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2015.11.003 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2023The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of global concern on May 5, 2023. Post-COVID disorders are, however, becoming... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of global concern on May 5, 2023. Post-COVID disorders are, however, becoming more common. Hence, there lies a growing need to develop safe and effective treatment measures to manage post-COVID disorders. Investigating the use of TCM medicinal foods in the long-term therapy of post-COVID illnesses may be beneficial given contemporary research's emphasis on the development of medicinal foods.
SCOPE AND APPROACH
The use of medicinal foods for the long-term treatment of post-COVID disorders is highlighted in this review. Following a discussion of the history of the TCM "Medicine and Food Homology" theory, the pathophysiological effects of post-COVID disorders will be briefly reviewed. An analysis of TCM medicinal foods and their functions in treating post-COVID disorders will then be provided before offering some insight into potential directions for future research and application.
KEY FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
TCM medicinal foods can manage different aspects of post-COVID disorders. The use of medicinal foods in the long-term management of post-COVID illnesses may be a safe and efficient therapy choice because they are typically milder in nature than chronic drug use. These findings may also be applied in the long-term post-disease treatment of similar respiratory disorders.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Public Health; Food; Long-Term Care; World Health Organization
PubMed: 37720220
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1234307