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Heliyon Apr 2024The Metaverse, underpinned by its technical infrastructure, heavily relies on user engagement and behavior for successful integration into educational settings.... (Review)
Review
The Metaverse, underpinned by its technical infrastructure, heavily relies on user engagement and behavior for successful integration into educational settings. Understanding its driving factors is essential for such a platform to transition from theory to practice, especially in educational settings. However, these factors remain elusive due to inconsistencies in infrastructure and environments. Therefore, this systematic review aims to fill this void by presenting an integrative view on Metaverse adoption in education. This is achieved via three primary dimensions: establishing a taxonomy of the factors influencing Metaverse adoption in education, proposing a framework for Metaverse adoption, and suggesting future research trajectories in this domain. The review systematically classifies the influential factors into four distinct categories: psychological and motivational factors, quality factors, social factors, and inhibiting factors. The proposed framework provides a structured approach for future studies investigating the Metaverse adoption in educational settings. The proposed framework also emphasizes that educational institutions should not only consider the technical prerequisites but also the social, psychological, and motivational aspects of the Metaverse. The study also pinpoints several critical research agendas to enhance our understanding of Metaverse adoption in education. The insights from this review are invaluable for educational institutions, policymakers, developers, and researchers, significantly enriching the emerging field of Metaverse adoption.
PubMed: 38576548
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28602 -
Psychological Medicine Dec 2023People with bipolar disorder (BD) often present emotion dysregulation (ED), a pattern of emotional expression interfering with goal-directed behavior. ED is a... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
People with bipolar disorder (BD) often present emotion dysregulation (ED), a pattern of emotional expression interfering with goal-directed behavior. ED is a transdiagnostic construct, and it is unclear whether it manifests itself similarly in other conditions, such as major depressive disorder (MDD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD), or has specific features in BD. The present systematic review and meta-analysis explored ED and adopted emotion regulation (ER) strategies in BD compared with other psychiatric conditions. PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases were systematically searched from inception to April 28th, 2022. Studies implementing validated instruments assessing ED or ER strategies in BD and other psychiatric disorders were reviewed, and meta-analyses were conducted. Twenty-nine studies yielding multiple comparisons were included. BD was compared to MDD in 20 studies ( = 2451), to BPD in six studies ( = 1001), to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in three studies ( = 232), to anxiety disorders in two studies ( = 320), to schizophrenia in one study ( = 223), and to post-traumatic stress disorder in one study ( = 31). BD patients did not differ from MDD patients in adopting most adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies. However, small-to-moderate differences in positive rumination and risk-taking behaviors were observed. In contrast, patients with BPD presented an overall higher degree of ED and more maladaptive ER strategies. There were insufficient data for a meta-analytic comparison with other psychiatric disorders. The present report further supports the idea that ED is a transdiagnostic construct spanning a continuum across different psychiatric disorders, outlining specific clinical features that could represent potential therapeutic targets.
Topics: Humans; Bipolar Disorder; Depressive Disorder, Major; Emotional Regulation; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Borderline Personality Disorder; Emotions
PubMed: 37842774
DOI: 10.1017/S003329172300243X -
Journal of the American Academy of... May 2024Cannabis legalization is gaining traction in the United States, with 24 states having legalized recreational cannabis sales and 38 states having legalized medical...
Cannabis legalization is gaining traction in the United States, with 24 states having legalized recreational cannabis sales and 38 states having legalized medical cannabis sales. A possible unintended consequence of such widespread legalization is the effect that such policy change will have on youth (adolescents and young adults), whose neurodevelopment may be disrupted by cannabis use. Indeed, cannabis use in youth can lead to significant adverse psychosocial and health outcomes. Specifically, a major concern is that youth cannabis use may increase in the setting of legalization because of greater availability and acceptability. This concern has prompted studies of youth cannabis use patterns in states that have legalized recreational cannabis (RCL), have legalized medical cannabis (MCL), and have legalized neither (NL). Prior publications have had limited post-legalization data because of recreational cannabis legalization occurring only very recently and in a small number of states. The most recent meta-analysis exploring impacts of legalization on youth cannabis use only studies with data from 2016 and prior (only 4 years since the first states legalized recreational cannabis). Since then, 7 states have adopted MCL and 15 states have adopted RCL, prompting the need for an updated review of the literature. Pawar et al. conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis assessing associations between state-level cannabis laws and past-month cannabis use among US youth using studies published up to 2023, providing a timely and important evaluation of the impacts of cannabis legalization on youth cannabis use.
PubMed: 38759882
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2024.05.005 -
NPJ Digital Medicine Sep 2023The rapid advancement of telehealth technologies has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, especially in developing countries and resource-limited... (Review)
Review
The rapid advancement of telehealth technologies has the potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, especially in developing countries and resource-limited settings. Telehealth played a vital role during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting numerous healthcare services. We conducted a systematic review to gain insights into the characteristics, barriers, and successful experiences in implementing telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, a representative of the developing countries. We also provide insights for other developing countries that face similar challenges to developing and using telehealth during or after the pandemic. This systematic review was conducted through searching five prominent databases including PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. We included studies clearly defining any use of telehealth services in all aspects of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. We mapped the barriers, successful experiences, and recommendations based on the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). A total of 32 studies met the inclusion criteria. Successfully implementing and adopting telehealth in China during the pandemic necessitates strategic planning across aspects at society level (increasing public awareness and devising appropriate insurance policies), organizational level (training health care professionals, improving workflows, and decentralizing tasks), and technological level (strategic technological infrastructure development and designing inclusive telehealth systems). WeChat, a widely used social networking platform, was the most common platform used for telehealth services. China's practices in addressing the barriers may provide implications and evidence for other developing countries or low-and middle- income countries (LMICs) to implement and adopt telehealth systems.
PubMed: 37723237
DOI: 10.1038/s41746-023-00908-6 -
JVS-vascular Science 2023Restenosis is a significant complication of revascularization treatments in coronary and peripheral arteries, sometimes necessitating repeated intervention. Establishing... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
Restenosis is a significant complication of revascularization treatments in coronary and peripheral arteries, sometimes necessitating repeated intervention. Establishing when restenosis will happen is extremely difficult due to the interplay of multiple variables and factors. Standard clinical and Doppler ultrasound scans surveillance follow-ups are the only tools clinicians can rely on to monitor intervention outcomes. However, implementing efficient surveillance programs is hindered by health care system limitations, patients' comorbidities, and compliance. Predictive models classifying patients according to their risk of developing restenosis over a specific period will allow the development of tailored surveillance, prevention programs, and efficient clinical workflows. This review aims to: (1) summarize the state-of-the-art in predictive models for restenosis in coronary and peripheral arteries; (2) compare their performance in terms of predictive power; and (3) provide an outlook for potentially improved predictive models.
METHODS
We carried out a comprehensive literature review by accessing the PubMed/MEDLINE database according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The search strategy consisted of a combination of keywords and included studies focusing on predictive models of restenosis published between January 1993 and April 2023. One author independently screened titles and abstracts and checked for eligibility. The rest of the authors independently confirmed and discussed in case of any disagreement. The search of published literature identified 22 studies providing two perspectives-clinical and biomechanical engineering-on restenosis and comprising distinct methodologies, predictors, and study designs. We compared predictive models' performance on discrimination and calibration aspects. We reported the performance of models simulating reocclusion progression, evaluated by comparison with clinical images.
RESULTS
Clinical perspective studies consider only routinely collected patient information as restenosis predictors. Our review reveals that clinical models adopting traditional statistics (n = 14) exhibit only modest predictive power. The latter improves when machine learning algorithms (n = 4) are employed. The logistic regression models of the biomechanical engineering perspective (n = 2) show enhanced predictive power when hemodynamic descriptors linked to restenosis are fused with a limited set of clinical risk factors. Biomechanical engineering studies simulating restenosis progression (n = 2) are able to capture its evolution but are computationally expensive and lack risk scoring for individual patients at specific follow-ups.
CONCLUSIONS
Restenosis predictive models, based solely on routine clinical risk factors and using classical statistics, inadequately predict the occurrence of restenosis. Risk stratification models with increased predictive power can be potentially built by adopting machine learning techniques and incorporating critical information regarding vessel hemodynamics arising from biomechanical engineering analyses.
PubMed: 38023962
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvssci.2023.100128 -
Cureus Mar 2024COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease 2019, is an extremely contagious viral sickness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).... (Review)
Review
COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease 2019, is an extremely contagious viral sickness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). After the first cases of this primarily respiratory viral illness were recorded in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 rapidly disseminated across the globe. Consequently, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a global pandemic. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, coupled with subsequent lockdowns and social distancing measures, profoundly disrupted traditional healthcare delivery systems. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine emerged as a pivotal solution for delivering healthcare services while minimizing exposure to the virus. This study aims to assess patient and provider satisfaction with telemedicine during this unprecedented period. A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed and Google Scholar using specific MeSH terms and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Literature Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to summarize patient and provider satisfaction concerning telemedicine using all the facts, evidence, and published literature. The analysis showed that although providers were generally satisfied with telemedicine, they were less satisfied than patients due to technical issues and difficulties transmitting documents. Patients reported high satisfaction with telemedicine, citing convenience and cost savings as major benefits. However, a lack of provider compensation was identified as a potential barrier to adoption. Most providers believed that telemedicine was only necessary in emergencies while a few recognized its potential for routine care. The study concludes that telemedicine has the potential to improve healthcare access and efficiency, but more research is needed to address technical and reimbursement issues and to determine the appropriate scope of telemedicine use. Overall, the findings of this study can inform future healthcare policies and regulations to ensure that telemedicine is used effectively and to the satisfaction of both patients and providers.
PubMed: 38628988
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.56308 -
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Nov 2023After the National Mental Health Survey in 2016, multiple individual studies showed inconsistencies in the prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in India. We... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
After the National Mental Health Survey in 2016, multiple individual studies showed inconsistencies in the prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in India. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate an up-to-date pooled estimate of the prevalence of depression, alcohol use disorder (AUD), anxiety disorder (AD), intellectual disability, suicidal attempt/death, autism, and bipolar disorder (BD) in India.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a systematic bibliographic search in Pub Med, Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx), and Google Scholar, along with a manual search for peer-reviewed epidemiological studies reporting the prevalence of depression, AUD, AD, MR, suicidal attempt/death, autism, and BD in India from January 1980 till March 2022. Adopting a random-effects model, we performed the meta-analysis using "MetaXL" software.
RESULTS
A total of 79 studies were included: depression ( = 28), AUD ( = 14), AD ( = 12), intellectual disability ( = 8), suicidal attempt/death ( = 7), autism ( = 6) and BD ( = 4). The pooled prevalence of depression and AUD was 12.4% (95% CI 9.4-15.9) ( < 0.001, I = 100%) and 21.5% (95% CI 14.1-30.0) ( < 0.001, I = 100%), respectively. AD, intellectual disability and suicidal attempt/death showed a prevalence of 11.6% (95% CI 8.1-15.7) ( < 0.001, I = 99%), 1% (95% CI 0.5-1.6) ( < 0.001, I = 98%) and 0.5% (95% CI 0.3-0.8) ( < 0.001, I = 100%), respectively. The meta-analysis in autism and BD showed pooled prevalence of 0.3% (95% CI 0.1-0.6) ( < 0.001, I = 96%) and 0.3% (95% CI 0.2-0.4) ( < 0.001, I = 78%), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed an increased prevalence of AD in the urban [24.3% (95% CI 3.7-52.9)] and younger [16.7% (95% CI 5.1-32.7)] population. The prevalence of depression and AD increased during the last two decades on decadal prevalence analysis.
DISCUSSION
The findings could be used for appropriate policy measures and guiding subsequent national mental health surveys.
PubMed: 38249146
DOI: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_539_22 -
Clinical Ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) 2023Recent advances in telemedicine have led to increased use of digital ophthalmoscopes (DO) in clinical settings. This review aims to assess commercially available DOs,... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Recent advances in telemedicine have led to increased use of digital ophthalmoscopes (DO) in clinical settings. This review aims to assess commercially available DOs, including smartphone (SP), desktop, and handheld ophthalmoscopes, and evaluate their applications.
METHODS
A literature review was performed by searching PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), Web of Science (webofknowledge.com), and Science Direct (sciencedirect.com). All English-language papers that resulted from the search terms "digital ophthalmoscope", "screening tool", "glaucoma screening", "diabetic retinopathy screening", "cataract screening", and "papilledema screening" were reviewed. Studies that contained randomized clinical trials with human participants between January 2010 and December 2020 were included. The Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews (ROBIS) tool was used to assess the methodological quality of each included paper.
RESULTS
Of the 1307 studies identified, 35 met inclusion and exclusion criteria. The ROBIS tool determined that 29/35 studies (82.8%) had a low risk of bias, 3/35 (8.5%) had a moderate risk of bias, and 3/35 (8.5%) had a high risk of bias.
CONCLUSION
The continued adoption of DOs remains uncertain because of concerns about the image quality for non-mydriatic eyes and the confidence in data captured from the device. Likewise, there is a lack of guidelines for the use of DOs, which makes it difficult for providers to determine the best device for their practice and to ensure appropriate use. Even so, DOs continue to gain acceptance as technology and practice integration improve, especially in underserved areas with limited access to ophthalmologists.
PubMed: 37822326
DOI: 10.2147/OPTH.S423845 -
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental... Oct 2023This review systematically gathers and provides an analysis of pollutants levels emitted from wildfire (WF) and their impact on short-term health effects of affected... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
This review systematically gathers and provides an analysis of pollutants levels emitted from wildfire (WF) and their impact on short-term health effects of affected populations. The available literature was searched according to Population, Exposure, Comparator, Outcome, and Study design (PECOS) database defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a meta-analysis was conducted whenever possible. Data obtained through PECOS characterized information from the USA, Europe, Australia, and some Asian countries; South American countries were seldom characterized, and no data were available for Africa and Russia. Extremely high levels of pollutants, mostly of fine fraction of particulate matter (PM) and ozone, were associated with intense WF emissions in North America, Oceania, and Asia and reported to exceed several-fold the WHO guidelines. Adverse health outcomes include emergency department visits and hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory diseases as well as mortality. Despite the heterogeneity among exposure and health assessment methods, all-cause mortality, and specific-cause mortality were significantly associated with WF emissions in most of the reports. Globally, a significant association was found for all-cause respiratory outcomes including asthma, but mixed results were noted for cardiovascular-related effects. For the latter, estimates were only significant several days after WF emissions, suggesting a more delayed impact on the heart. Different research gaps are presented, including the need for the application of standardized protocols for assessment of both exposure and adverse health risks. Mitigation actions also need to be strengthened, including dedicated efforts to communicate with the affected populations, to engage them for adoption of protective behaviors and measures.
Topics: Humans; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Wildfires; Particulate Matter; Environmental Pollutants
PubMed: 37469022
DOI: 10.1080/10937404.2023.2236548 -
The International Journal of Behavioral... Apr 2024Healthy lifestyle behaviors (LBs) have been widely recommended for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite a large number of studies... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Lifestyle behaviors and risk of cardiovascular disease and prognosis among individuals with cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 71 prospective cohort studies.
BACKGROUND
Healthy lifestyle behaviors (LBs) have been widely recommended for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite a large number of studies exploring the association between combined LBs and CVD, a notable gap exists in integration of relevant literatures. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to analyze the correlation between combined LBs and the occurrence of CVD, as well as to estimate the risk of various health complications in individuals already diagnosed with CVD.
METHODS
Articles published up to February 10, 2023 were sourced through PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science. Eligible prospective cohort studies that reported the relations of combined LBs with pre-determined outcomes were included. Summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using either a fixed or random-effects model. Subgroup analysis, meta-regression, publication bias, and sensitivity analysis were as well performed.
RESULTS
In the general population, individuals with the healthiest combination of LBs exhibited a significant risk reduction of 58% for CVD and 55% for CVD mortality. For individuals diagnosed with CVD, adherence to the healthiest combination of LBs corresponded to a significant risk reduction of 62% for CVD recurrence and 67% for all-cause mortality, when compared to those with the least-healthy combination of LBs. In the analysis of dose-response relationship, for each increment of 1 healthy LB, there was a corresponding decrease in risk of 17% for CVD and 19% for CVD mortality within the general population. Similarly, among individuals diagnosed with CVD, each additional healthy LB was associated with a risk reduction of 27% for CVD recurrence and 27% for all-cause mortality.
CONCLUSIONS
Adopting healthy LBs is associated with substantial risk reduction in CVD, CVD mortality, and adverse outcomes among individuals diagnosed with CVD. Rather than focusing solely on individual healthy LB, it is advisable to advocate for the adoption of multiple LBs for the prevention and management of CVD.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
PROSPERO: CRD42023431731.
Topics: Humans; Cardiovascular Diseases; Prospective Studies; Prognosis; Life Style; Healthy Lifestyle; Health Behavior; Exercise; Risk Factors; Risk Reduction Behavior
PubMed: 38650004
DOI: 10.1186/s12966-024-01586-7