From pharmaceuticals to nutraceuticals: bridging disease prevention and management

Introduction: Nutraceuticals, up today, do not have a specific definition distinct from those of other food-derived categories, e.g. food supplements, herbal products, pre and probiotics, functional foods, etc. They have, however, a pharmacological beneficial effect on health. Many studies have been recently addressed to assess their safety, efficacy, and regulation since they are getting growing attention by market and research, with the aim to clear the difference between them and other market available food-derived products that claim beneficial effect on health.

Areas covered: The understanding of the potential mechanisms of action of pharmaceutically active substances contained in nutraceuticals that may improve health and reduce the risk of pathological conditions while enhancing overall well-being is the challenge for nutraceuticals to be considered as a preventive and therapeutic efficient tool in facing some diseases.

Expert commentary: It is of utmost importance to have a proper and unequivocal definition of nutraceuticals and a shared regulation. Nevertheless, there is a lack of clear information and, often, the claimed health benefits may not be properly substantiated by safety and by efficacy in vivo data, which can induce false expectations and miss the target for a product to be effective, as claimed.     

Multi-segment spine range of motion in dancers with and without recent low back pain

BackgroundAltered spine kinematics are a common in people with LBP. This may be especially true for populations such as dancers, who are required to perform repetitive movements of the spine, although this remains unclear.Research questionDo dancers with recent LBP display altered spine kinematics compared to their asymptomatic counterparts?MethodsA cross-sectional study of multi-segment spine kinematics was performed. Forty-seven pre-professional and professional female dancers either with LBP in the past two months (n = 26) or no LBP in the past 12 months (n = 21) participated. Range of motion (ROM) during standing side bending, seated rotation, and walking gait were compared.ResultsFemale dancers with LBP displayed reduced upper lumbar transverse plane ROM in seated rotation (Effect Size (ES)= −0.61, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): −1.20, 0.02, p = 0.04), as well as reduced lower lumbar transverse plane ROM (ES=−0.65, 95% CI: −1.24, −0.06, p = 0.03) in gait. However, there was increased lower thoracic transverse plane ROM (ES = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.04, 1.21, p = 0.04) during gait. No differences in the frontal plane were observed.SignificanceAltered transverse plane spine kinematics were evident in dancers with recent LBP for select segments and tasks. This may reflect a protective movement strategy. However, as the effect sizes of observed differences were moderate, and the total number of differences between groups was small, collectively, it seems only subtle differences in spine kinematics differentiate dancers with LBP to dancers without.     

The FAST in screening for at-risk drinking among middle-aged women

Objective: There is a need for brief methods to screen for at-risk drinking. The FAST is a two-stepped structured questionnaire. In the FAST-1, one question categorizes into three groups: low-risk drinking, potential at-risk drinking or at-risk drinking. In the FAST-2, those with potential at-risk drinking are asked three additional questions. The aim was to study its effectiveness in screening for at-risk drinking among women and to define an optimal cut-off score.

Method: The FAST was validated against the Timeline Followback (TLFB) utilizing data from a health check of a group of 40-year old women (response rate 69.2%; n = 907/1311). The TLFB-based definition of at-risk drinking was consuming ≥140 grams of alcohol weekly (6.1% reported at-risk drinking).

Results and conclusions: Of all women, 54.5% could be correctly classified either as having low-risk or at-risk drinking with the FAST-1. The optimal cut-off score was ≥2 (sensitivity 0.82, specificity 0.86) which is lower than has previously been reported. Only those with a FAST-1 score of one needed further evaluation with the FAST-2. A FAST-2 score of ≥1 resulted in a positive screen for at-risk drinking. The FAST seems to be a valid and feasible method in screening for at-risk drinking among middle-aged women.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下社区医院人员防控知识强化测评模式效果评价

目的 对社区医院人员防控知识强化测评模式的实施效果进行评价。方法 通过第三方数据收集平台,在规定时间内、实名制进行疫情防控知识问卷考核,以各岗位合格分数为标准,确认能否上岗,防控知识反复强化,题库动态更新,使各岗位人员保持高度认知的实战状态。结果 首次测试,医院全体人员新型冠状病毒肺炎防控知识平均分为78.37,100%的人知晓用过的一次性帽子和口罩的处理;只有23.27%的知晓医疗机构预检点或分诊台物品的消毒频次。强化测评模式实施1周后,医院全体人员新型冠状病毒肺炎防控知识平均分上升至93.84。上岗情况中,培训3 d上岗人数由48人上升至78人,培训第10天为149人,上岗率也由30.19%上升至第3天的49.05%,以及培训第10天的93.71%。结论 强制社区医院人员学习新型冠状病毒肺炎防控知识效果明显,整体水平短期内迅速提升,并保持高度认知,该强化测评模式对一线社区医院人员防控能力的提升有实际应用价值。     

中西医不同角度对儿童新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)的认识

2019年12月以来,以湖北省武汉市为中心陆续发现了多例新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)患者。人群普遍易感,儿童亦有感染病例出现,感染波及新生儿、婴幼儿,并且已出现儿童重症病例。儿童感染病例引起了社会高度重视。目前COVID-19病理机制尚不清楚,治疗亦缺乏特效药,这些问题都给疫情防控和临床救治带来极大困难。尝试从中西医不同角度认识儿童COVID-19,分析儿童COVID-19病因、流行特点、病情发展特点及治疗措施,同时从中医角度探讨儿童COVID-19病因病机、辨证及治疗方法,能更好地通过中西医结合对此次儿童COVID-19进行深入了解,理解其病理之基础,分析目前疫情发展之趋势,并在此基础上寻找安全有效的防治措施,以期对临床更好地防治儿童COVID-19提供参考。     

Barriers and facilitators for the implementation of the integrated public policy for alcohol,drug, tobacco,and gambling prevention: a qualitative study

Abstract

In the field of alcohol, drug, tobacco, and gambling studies, empirical research on the barriers and facilitators for public prevention policies has been scarce. Public policy studies show that the implementers of different organizational positions impact on policy implementation. In this paper, the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of an integrated national policy for addiction prevention, as seen from the positions of managers, prevention specialists, and frontline workers, are analyzed on the basis of qualitative interview data. The results indicate that the managers were structurally oriented in their thinking and emphasized local structures as facilitators. All the groups saw prevention as underfunded and undervalued. The specialists were most focused on the official structures and regarded the functioning of the structures as a key facilitator. The frontline workers underlined that their position was a facilitator in itself, offering a unique viewpoint to the localities and to the lives of their clients. A key finding is also the normalcy of gambling that both the specialist and frontline workers regarded as a major barrier. The results show that studying the policy implementation context is important: it makes it possible to understand social and cultural factors that can function as barriers or facilitators.     

腹腔镜肝切除术中副损伤预防及处理

随着腹腔镜肝切除术在国内开展，腹腔镜肝切除术的手术适应证和手术范围在逐渐扩大，外科医生在手术操作过程中的意外和手术风险也逐渐提高。腹腔镜肝切除术中副损伤主要包括胆管损伤、术中出血、膈肌损伤、气体栓塞等。当在术中发生意外损伤时，应立即正确辨别出损伤类型，并迅速采取对应的处理策略，及时处理损伤，避免造成更严重的后果。同时，在术中合理使用吲哚菁绿（ICG）荧光染色及实时超声等辅助技术，可减少术中副损伤的发生。     

中医药分期防治新型冠状病毒肺炎的药性功效分析

新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2019,COVID-19)疫情严峻复杂,探讨中医药防治COVID-19处方的用药规律及特点具有重要意义。该研究收集2020年1月1日至2月18日国家卫生健康委员会,7个省市卫生健康委员会、国家中医管理局发布的和《新型冠状病毒肺炎中医诊疗手册》收录的中医药防治COVID-19诊疗方案以及3位国医大师、4位知名中医药专家所拟的方药,按照纳入、排除标准进行筛选,应用EpiData 3.0软件,建立"防治新型冠状病毒肺炎中医处方库""防治新型冠状病毒肺炎常用中药库",共收集有效中药处方93首,组成药物共计157味。应用SPSS 18.0软件进行数据分析,结果发现:①药性寒、温居多,其中性寒69味,占43.95%;性温57味,占36.31%;性热较少,仅占1.27%;②味苦、辛、甘药物较多,不同时期药味有异,初期以辛味居多,中期、重症期以苦味为主,恢复期多用甘味药;③归经以入肺、胃、心者多,入肺经最多,占24.55%;初、中期多入肺胃,重症期则入心肾;④口服药物多无毒,仅6味药物具有毒性,分别是苦杏仁、绵马贯众、重楼、细辛、半夏、炮附片;⑤以具有解表、化湿、清热、补虚、化痰止咳平喘5类功效的药物居多,初期解表与清热并重,各占18.81%;中期化痰止咳平喘药物使用多,占29.61%;重症期清热使用最多,占33.33%;恢复期补虚使用最多,占36.47%。中药防治COVID-19的药性特点和功效分布与中医对其病因、病位、病机的认识紧密相关,临证辨治尤需注重分期用药及因地制宜。