Medication Adherence App for Food Pantry Clients With Diabetes: A Feasibility Study

Low-income food pantry clients are unable to adhere to the diet and physical activity recommendations of the American Diabetes Association. The aim of the study is to test the feasibility of using a mobile phone app to improve diabetes medication adherence. Clients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes were enrolled in a mobile phone app featuring 70 days of text message reminders and incentives. The app and the 4-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale evaluated medication adherence. Clinically significant medication adherence of 93% was achieved with use of the app. Phone app use is feasible among urban low-income clients to improve medication adherence.     

Transforming vaccine development

The urgency to develop vaccines against Covid-19 is putting pressure on the long and expensive development timelines that are normally required for development of lifesaving vaccines. There is a unique opportunity to take advantage of new technologies, the smart and flexible design of clinical trials, and evolving regulatory science to speed up vaccine development against Covid-19 and transform vaccine development altogether.     

Relationship between using cell phone and the risk of accident with motor vehicles: An analytical cross-sectional study

Purpose: Traffic accidents are one of the major health problems in the world, being the first cause of burden of illness and the second leading cause of death in Iran. The Sistan-Baluchestan province is one of the most accidental provinces of Iran with the highest rate of accidents-caused deaths. This study was conducted to determine the risk factors associated with traffic accidents in Zahedan through 2013 to 2016. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on 223 drivers from Zahedan who were traumatized by traffic accident and sent to Zahedan hospitals. The data were obtained through interviews taken by the trained interviewers via refereeing to the medical records and collected in the researcher-made checklist. Census was obtained from the study subjects. For data analysis, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square and logistic regression were used with the Stata software version 11.0. Results: In this study, 223 male subjects with the mean age of (32.54 ± 12.95) years, 39.8% single and 60.2% married, entered for investigation. Most accidents (38.8%) occurred between 12:00 to 17:59. While driving, 47.1% of the study subjects were using cell phones, 89.1% had manual use of mobile phones, 21.9% had a habit of sending short message service (SMS) and 23.4% had sent SMS within 10 min before the accident. The one way analysis of variance showed that the mean age of individuals with marital status, driving experience, education and accident with motorcycle were significantly different (p < 0.05). Also, the multivariate logistic regression test indicated a significant relationship of smoking, ethnicity, insurance and SMS typing while driving with motorcycle accident (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, SMS and smoking while driving had the highest risk among the variables studied in the motorcycle accidents. Therefore, effective education attempting to enhance people''s awareness about the consequences of using cell phone and smoking during driving to reduce traffic accidents seems necessary.     

Evaluating the use of cell phone messaging for community Ebola syndromic surveillance in high risked settings in Southern Sierra Leone

BackgroundMost underdeveloped countries do not meet core disease outbreak surveillance because of the lack of human resources, laboratory and infrastructural facilities. The use of cell phone technology for disease outbreak syndromic surveillance is a new phenomenon in Sierra Leone despite its successes in other developing countries like Sri Lanka. In this study we set to evaluate the effectiveness of using cell phone technology for Ebola hemorrhagic fever syndromic surveillance in a high risked community in Sierra Leone.ObjectivesThis study evaluated the effectiveness of using cell phone messaging (text and calls) for community Ebola hemorrhagic fever syndromic surveillance in high risked community in southern Sierra Leone.MethodAll cell phone syndromic surveillance data used for this study was reported as cell phone alert messages-texts and voice calls; by the Moyamba District Health Management Team for both Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect and mortalities. We conducted a longitudinal data analysis of the monthly cumulative confirmed Ebola hemorrhagic fever cases and mortalities collected by both the traditional sentinel and community cell phone syndromic surveillance from August 2014 to October 2014.ResultsA total of 129 and 49 Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect and confirmed cases respectively were recorded using the community Ebola syndromic surveillance cell phone alert system by the Moyamba District Health Management Team in October 2014. The average number of Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspects and confirmed cases for October 2014 were 4.16 (Std.dev 3.76) and 1.58 (Std.dev 1.43) respectively. Thirty-four percent (n=76) of the community Ebola syndromic surveillance cell phone alerts that were followed-up within 24 hours reported Ebola hemorrhagic fever suspect cases while 65.92% (n=147) reported mortality.ConclusionOur study suggests some form of underreporting by the traditional sentinel Ebola hemorrhagic fever disease surveillance system in Moyamba District southern Sierra Leone for August-September 2014. Cell phone messaging technology can be effectively use as a tool for community epidemic surveillance from peripheral health care facilities to higher levels.     

Evaluation of the Ability of Diet-Tracking Mobile Applications to Estimate Energy and Nutrient Intake in Japan

We evaluated the energy and nutrient intake estimates of popular Japanese diet-tracking mobile applications (apps). We identified five diet-tracking apps in the iTunes store during August 2020. A researcher entered the dietary data from a one-day paper-based dietary record (DR) previously obtained from apparently healthy free-living adults (15 males and 15 females; 22–65 years) into each app. The energy and nutrient intakes estimated by the apps were compared with those calculated using the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan based on the paper-based DR (reference method). The number of dietary variables available ranged from one (energy in Mogutan) to 17 (FiNC). Compared to the DR-based estimates, the median energy intake was significantly overestimated by MyFitnessPal, Asken, Calomiru, and Mogutan. Moreover, the intakes of many nutrients were overestimated by Asken and Calomiru and underestimated by MyFitnessPal. For energy intake, the Spearman correlation coefficient between the DR and the apps was lowest for Mogutan (0.76) and highest for FiNC (0.96). The median correlation coefficient for nutrient intakes was lower in MyFitnessPal (0.50) than in the other three apps (0.80 in Asken, 0.87 in FiNC, and 0.88 in Calomiru). These results suggest that intake calculations differ among apps. Further evaluation is needed in free-living settings, where users input their own food intake.     

移动协同办公在病区物资管理中的应用

目的利用智能手机软件辅助实现病区物资的移动智能化管理。方法将病区物资分类整理并制作成Excel工作表,通过智能手机和微信、WPS office手机软件功能进行工作表编辑、查询定时提醒、共享、权限设置,以实现病区物资移动智能化管理。结果通过该应用,病区建立了高效低耗的物资管理制度,物资管理缺陷率明显下降,实施前后差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论基于移动协同办公进行病区物资管理是可行的,获得院内临床护士一致认可,具有临床推广价值。     

Python爬虫技术在信息流行病学中的应用

Python网络爬虫技术是一种通过模拟用户的网络浏览行为以实现从网络中自动、大量提取信息的技术，是信息流行病学研究收集并整合多源异构信息数据的关键基础。Python网络爬虫可分为简单爬虫与大型爬虫，集数据采集与数据库构建于一体，语法简洁、灵活性高、学习成本低、维护成本低。它适用于信息流行病学的各种应用场景，通过对互联网中健康相关信息的分析，实现多种公共卫生监测、健康干预实施及效果评价、智慧寻医方略优化等目标。近年，我国政府开始鼓励对含互联网信息在内的多源大数据的整合利用，在此背景下，Python爬虫技术的应用场景势必会越来越多，相应的人才培养、技术革新建议纳入到公共卫生教育和科研体系之中。     

Prospective evolution of cardiac arrhythmia care: 2030 vision

Main innovations impacting the care of patients with cardiac rhythm disorders by 2030. AI: artificial intelligence.

     

Factors associated with texting and walking performance in children with ADHD: The role of age,environment, and symptom severity

BackgroundChildren with ADHD show deficits in executive function, as well as motor symptoms such as difficulties in gross and fine motor skills and gait stability. Texting while walking is becoming increasingly common and is a significant health risk among people of all ages.Research questionThe objective of this work was to compare texting and walking performance between children with ADHD and controls and between two environments (indoors and outdoors), and evaluate the role of age and symptom severity in dual-task performance.MethodsNineteen children with ADHD and 30 healthy children walked across an indoors corridor and an outdoors street, with and without texting on a mobile phone. Walking and texting performance were measured using inertial measurement units and a custom-made mobile app.ResultsNo between-group differences were found in texting or walking performance. Walking and texting were similar across environments. In both groups, older children had smaller dual-task performance deficits for both gait and texting speed. Children with ADHD who had more severe symptoms of hyperactivity had larger dual task costs for gait speed outdoors (r = 0.69, p = 0.002), and those with more motor symptoms typed faster under dual-task conditions indoors (r = 0.6, p = 0.007) but were less accurate (r = − 0.60, p = 0.009).SignificanceChildren with ADHD do not demonstrate deficits in dual-task performance of a texting and walking task indoors or outdoors. The relationship of age, hyperactivity and motor symptoms with texting and walking performance supports a more personalized approach for examination of dual-task performance in children with ADHD.