WHO's Service Availability and Readiness Assessment of primary health care services of commune health centers in a rural district of Northern Vietnam

The objective of this study was to assess the availability and readiness of the primary health care (PHC) services of commune health centers (CHCs) in Quoc Oai, a rural district of Northern Vietnam based on the World Health Organization's Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. The study was done in 2 steps. First, the heads of the 21 CHCs of Quoc Oai district were interviewed using SARA, a quantitative survey, and the responses were then validated by direct observations of each facility. The results showed that although the average number of health staffs in each CHC met the national standards (at least 5 staffs per CHC), its allocation within each CHC was not properly met because some CHCs had only 2 health staffs. Several health equipment and facilities were not fully available in many CHCs, and although the majority of the PHC services were available at the CHCs, their readiness remained limited. Several significant correlates between the availability of health care workers and the availability of the facilities and the PHC services were observed, suggesting that they depend upon and affect one another in the health system. Using the SARA‐based inventory, the study helps health managers and policy makers to prioritize efforts and allocate resources more appropriately. To be effective, attention should be given to how to make facilities, services, and human resources for health ready for PHC activities—more investment and support from the system (from higher to lower level) and the government.     

基于WHO-FICs作业治疗改善脑卒中上肢功能效果的系统综述

目的 基于世界卫生组织国际分类家族(WHO-FICs)构建作业治疗改善脑卒中上肢功能的PICO架构,并分析主要作业疗法改善脑卒中患者上肢功能的效果。方法 运用WHO-FICs框架,检索Web of Science、PubMed、CNKI、SinoMed等数据库,收集建库至2022年10月关于作业治疗干预脑卒中上肢功能的相关文献,并进行系统综述。结果 最终纳入10项随机对照试验,382例参与者(≥18岁),来自6个国家,主要来源于康复医学、物理和康复医学、神经科学、生物工程医学、作业治疗等研究领域,发表年限集中于2013年以后。纳入文献物理治疗证据数据库(PEDro)量表评分平均7.5分。基于WHO-FICs框架,纳入文献中涉及的疾病类型涵盖脑出血(8B00)、缺血性脑卒中(8B11)、蛛网膜下腔出血(8B01)、肌张力和异常反射(MB47)、偏瘫(MB53)。主要功能障碍包括关节活动功能(b710)、关节稳定性功能(b715)、肌肉力量功能(b730)、肌张力功能(b735)、运动反射功能(b750)、随意运动控制功能(b760)、不随意运动功能(b765)。主要活动受限和参与局限包括...     

Short-term effects of electronic and tobacco cigarettes on exhaled nitric oxide

The objective of this study was to compare the short-term respiratory effects due to the inhalation of electronic and conventional tobacco cigarette-generated mainstream aerosols through the measurement of the exhaled nitric oxide (eNO). To this purpose, twenty-five smokers were asked to smoke a conventional cigarette and to vape an electronic cigarette (with and without nicotine), and an electronic cigarette without liquid (control session).     

Locust bean gum safety in neonates and young infants: An integrated review of the toxicological database and clinical evidence

Locust bean gum (LBG) is a galactomannan polysaccharide used as thickener in infant formulas with the therapeutic aim to treat uncomplicated gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Since its use in young infants below 12 weeks of age is not explicitly covered by the current scientific concept of the derivation of health based guidance values, the present integrated safety review aimed to compile all the relevant preclinical toxicological studies and to combine them with substantial evidence gathered from the clinical paediatric use as part of the weight of evidence supporting the safety in young infants below 12 weeks of age. LBG was demonstrated to have very low toxicity in preclinical studies mainly resulting from its indigestible nature leading to negligible systemic bioavailability and only possibly influencing tolerance. A standard therapeutic level of 0.5 g/100 mL in thickened infant formula is shown to confer a sufficiently protective Margin of Safety. LBG was not associated with any adverse toxic or nutritional effects in healthy term infants, while there are limited case-reports of possible adverse effects in preterms receiving the thickener inappropriately. Altogether, it can be concluded that LBG is safe for its intended therapeutic use in term-born infants to treat uncomplicated regurgitation from birth onwards.