BOOK REVIEW

Heart to Heart is a computer-based decision aid for patients and providers that provides personalized, evidence-based information about coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and potential risk-reducing interventions. To develop Heart to Heart, the authors used Framingham risk equations and systematic reviews of risk-reducing interventions. The Web version was programmed using PHP: Hypertext Processor, a Web-based programming language, and has separate interfaces for providers and patients. The authors subsequently developed a modified version for personal digital assistants. Heart to Heart uses information about a patient's CHD risk factors (age, gender, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, diabetes, smoking, systolic blood pressure, and left ventricular hypertrophy) to calculate risk of total CHD events over 5 or 10 years. Patients and providers can then examine the effect of introducing one or more risk-reducing interventions (aspirin, lipid-lowering drug therapy, antihypertensive medication, or smoking cessation) on the patient's CHD risk. Future research will be directed to determining whether Heart to Heart can improve utilization of effective CHD risk-reducing interventions.     

Thawing day 3 embryos and culturing to day 5 may be a better method for frozen embryo transfer

Purpose

Does thawing cleavage embryos and culturing them for transfer as blastocysts improve pregnancy and perinatal outcomes compared to transferring thawed blastocysts?

Methods

Retrospective, observational cohort study performed at two assisted reproductive technology centers, 2014 to 2020. A total of 450 patients with 463 thawed embryo transfer cycles were divided into 2 groups according to the embryonic developmental stage at cryopreservation and transfer: 231 thawed blastocysts (day 5 group) and 232 thawed cleavage embryos that were cultured for 2 days and transferred as blastocysts (day 3–5 group). The two groups were compared for demographics, routine parameters of IVF treatment, pregnancy rates, and perinatal outcomes.

Results

Multivariable logistic regression analysis for ongoing pregnancy and delivery demonstrated that the day 3–5 group had a greater likelihood of achieving ongoing pregnancy and delivery compared to the day 5 group (OR 1.58, 95%CI 1.062–2.361, p?=?0.024). Perinatal outcomes were comparable between the three groups.

Conclusion

Our results support culturing post-thaw cleavage embryos for 2 days and transferring them as blastocysts to increase chances of ongoing pregnancy and delivery.

     

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes with Home Cooking: Current Evidence and Future Potential

Purpose of Review

Various dietary regimes have proven effective in preventing diabetes, yet its prevalence is growing. This review’s goals are to examine the relationship between home cooking and diabetes and to present the literature on home cooking education programs as a novel strategy to improve adherence to healthy nutrition, thus decreasing the risk of diabetes.

Recent Findings

Consumption of home-cooked food is linked to healthier nutrition and decreased risk of diabetes. Further, home cooking interventions have a short-term positive impact on nutritional intake of both children and adults, and on diabetes prevention. Well-designed randomized controlled studies are needed to rigorously evaluate the long-term impact of home cooking interventions on cooking behavior, dietary intake, diabetes, and healthcare costs.

Summary

Culinary education is an emerging field that aims to change nutrition education paradigms. Clinicians can empower patients to adopt home cooking by role modeling home cooking themselves, including home cooking content in their medical encounters, and through comprehensive lifestyle medicine interventions.

     

Effects of climate on admission rates of schizophrenia patients to psychiatric hospitals.

Data on admissions of schizophrenia- and schizoaffective disorder patients to Tel-Aviv's seven public psychiatric hospitals during 11 consecutive years were obtained along with relevant meteorological information. Mean monthly admission rates were significantly higher during the summer (for schizophrenia patients) and fall (for schizoaffective patients). Schizophrenia patients' mean monthly admission rates correlated with mean maximal monthly environmental temperature (R = 0.35, N = 132 months, P <0.001). The present study may indicate that persistent high environmental temperature may be a contributing factor for psychotic exacerbation in schizophrenia patients and their consequent admission to mental hospitals.