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Jan 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-7785.jarh-21-3702
Marks RayCorresponding author
Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Background Older adults with hip joint osteoarthritis, a major cause of chronic progressively disabling highly painful functional experiences, may require a surgical joint replacement procedure known as total joint arthroplasty surgery. Objective This review aimed to address the question of whether there an association between hip joint arthroplasty infection rates and prevailing pre or preoperative vitamin D levels that warrants consideration in efforts to prevent or minimize infection related hip arthroplasty complications among older adults particularly during the current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Methods PUBMED, SCOPUS, and WEB OF SCIENCE articles related to the topic and published between January 2016-2021 were searched, examined, and summarized. Results Older adults with hip joint osteoarthritis and low vitamin D serum levels who undergo total hip joint arthroplasty surgery may be at higher risk for post-operative infections than those with adequate vitamin D serum levels. Conclusion More research to verify whether efforts to screen for, and maximize vitamin D levels, before and after surgery, as indicated, may be helpful in the context of minimizing total hip joint arthroplasty surgery infection susceptibility and severity among older vitamin D deficient severely disabled hip osteoarthritis cases.
Jun 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-20-3426
Cheng KangCorresponding author
Basic Medicine, Medical School, Qingdao Binhai University, Qingdao, P.R. China
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 400 thousand and infected more than 7 million people in the whole world as of 06/10/2020. Many open systems, such as educations, transportations, entertainments, sports or foods, have been completely or partially locked down in many regions of the world to prevent COVID-19 spreading. Therefore, how to reopen all of the open systems after the shutdown has become a world urgent issue. Evidences of COIVD-19 have showed: person-to-person transmission occurs among close contacts; virus droplets (or aerosols) play an important role in the transmission; people can prevent COVID-19 by measures of mask-wearing or maintaining social distancing. However, how these measures work to prevent COVID-19 is still not clear in a perspective of biomedical Infophysics. In this study, (1) we think the transmission of infection can be accomplished by real or virtual person; (2) we define a virtual person as ghost airflow, a term we coin to describe virus droplets (or aerosols) that are initially generated by human carriers and remain in the air to be transmitted. These ghost airflows are as dangerous as the real virus carriers particularly in enclosed (confined) environments; (3) we propose biomedical infophysical models (BMIPM) of filtering the ghost airflows by mask-wearing and maintaining social distancing, to help people to understand the filtering mechanisms and willingly follow the guidelines of preventing covid-19, and therefore to successfully reopen all of the open systems after the shutdowns (lockdowns) and (or) to avoid the shutdowns (lockdowns) in future epidemics or pandemics. Significantly, we compare the prevention efficiencies of COVID-19 between people who are accustomed and not accustomed to masks based on the published WHO, CDC or NHC pandemic data. The compared results support our models in this investigation. Coronaviruses easily survive and have high toxicity, in dirty, wet and cold environments, and the air pollution is linked with higher COVID-19 death rates. The dingy environments and air-conditioning, freezing systems sufficiently provide such necessary dirty, wet and cold conditions and polluted airflows to exacerbate the mortality rate of COVID-19. Therefore, we strongly suggest: to use air conditioners as less as possible, to turn the wind levels as low as possible and to clean (disinfecting) the air-conditioning systems (filters and channels) and environments as frequent as possible.
Oct 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-3951
kaur BaljinderCorresponding author
Dept of Pediatrics, Government Medical College, Rajindra Hospital, Patiala..
This article has been retracted on July 20, 2022. VIEW THE RETRACTION NOTICE (https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-25-5866) In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, now named as SARS-CoV-2, caused a series of acute atypical respiratory diseases in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The disease caused by this virus was termed COVID-19. The virus is transmittable between humans and has caused pandemic worldwide. The number of death tolls continues to rise and a large number of countries have been forced to do social distancing and lockdown. In humans, COVIDs mostly cause respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. Clinical manifestations range from a common cold to more severe disease such as bronchitis, pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ failure and even death. Preliminary evidence suggests children are just as likely as adults to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 but are less likely to be symptomatic or develop severe symptoms. in our study , we consider the symptomatology , complications and mortality patterns of this disease in children.
Apr 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2474-7785.jarh-21-3815
Marks RayCorresponding author
Department of Health and Behavior Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Background Aging, a commonly accepted time period of declining heath has been shown to vary in terms of its impact on function and independence. Aims This mini review examines the current impact of COVID-19 on the goal of ‘successful aging’, a conceptual model and outcome variable deemed desirable, but hard to attain. Methods Peer reviewed articles published between March 1 2020 and April 15 2021 focusing on ‘successful aging’ and COVID-19 secondary impacts, as located in the PUBMED data base were specifically sought. Results Despite a lack of consensus on the concept of ‘successful aging, and whether this can be achieved or not, ample evidence points to a severe secondary impact on efforts to age as successfully as possible by older adults, especially those isolated in the community as a result of lockdowns. Conclusion Pursuing more efforts to counter predictable harmful cognitive as well as physical impacts of lockdowns, resource and movement restrictions is urgently needed.
Apr 2021 DOI 10.14302/issn.2379-7835.ijn-21-3780
Khamis Al-AlawyCorresponding author
Mohammad Bin Rashid School of Government, Dubai, UAE
Obesity is a common and preventable Non-Communicable Disease that is of great importance. Population-based interventions are recognised to have a profound effect on improving health outcomes. One of these approaches includes the adoption of the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax. Objectives There were three objectives, 1) explore the associations between gender, age, nationality, and change in SSB consumption, 2) explore SSB consumption during Covid-19 lockdown, and 3) inform policy decision making. Methods A cross-sectional survey in the United Arab Emirates. We performed descriptive analysis and chi-square for independence to test the difference between the expected and the observed frequencies in one or more categories. Results Since the introduction of SSB tax, change in SSB consumption by gender, age or nationality was not statistically significant. Further analysis of the proportion of sugar intake per day was statistically significant (P-value <0.001) by nationality. There was no statistically significant change in SSB consumption by age, gender, or nationality during the Covid-19 lockdown. Further analysis within the group that reported change in SSB consumption suggests a majority (80.5%) reported a reduction in SSB consumption. Conclusions Change in SSB consumption by gender, age or nationality was not statistically significant since the introduction of SSB tax, or during Covid-19 lock-down; thus, we accept the Null Hypothesis. Imposing a levy on frequently consumed SSB or revisiting levy by the gram, volume, or type of added sugar (or in combination) may prove to be more effective in reducing SSB consumption. Further research is needed to determine the extent other demographic factors influence SSB consumption as well as the enablers and barriers associated with SSB consumption.
Sep 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2693-1176.ijgh-20-3545
Ezinna E EnwerejiCorresponding author
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria
Public health professionals working in rural communities are aware of the health disparities which result from lack of physicians, limited services, and income during the pandemic. Also they are aware that some populations are more vulnerable than others. People in the rural areas are experiencing problems on their physical, social and economic life styles because the pandemic is exacerbating some inequities. Individuals especially women and children in the rural areas are facing barriers in accessing health care services due to lack of resources and availability of health care providers in the communities. With COVID-19, women are less likely to seek services, including sexual and reproductive health services. Such services may be postponed to limit exposure to COVID-19 infection. This is particularly disturbing because in addition to the women maintaining their own health, they are also responsible for taking care of the mental, emotional and physical health needs of their families as well as all domestic responsibilities. As such, women in rural settings face special challenges as a result of these significant roles they play. Therefore, the impacts of COVID-19 are exacerbated on women by virtue of their sex and the roles they play in the family. This is a qualitative study that reviewed the reports of the 36 health care professionals under the aegis of members of COVID-19 committee working in partnership with state government to control, prevent and cushion the effects of COVID-19 in the society. This study is therefore, a summary of the observations of the COVID-19 committee members made up of 10(27.8%) females and 26(72.2%) males. The study focused on exploring how individual lifestyles in the rural areas have been affected in the face of COVID- 19 pandemic by identifying the vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems which can amplify the impacts of the pandemic. Findings showed that preventive measures like lockdown and social distancing rules, wearing of face mask, hand washing with soap, and environmental cleanliness were not observed. The study noted that health seeking behaviours, sexual and marital life including income, education, employment and social interactions were all negatively affected. Most hospitals were battered and health care professionals boycotted the hospitals for fear of being infected. It was found that lack of health workers in the hospitals caused a good number of individuals to engage in self-medications. Also most pregnant women delivered their babies at home and few with traditional birth attendants. Some of the women who had deliveries at home experienced complications during and after delivery. Unfortunately, the report showed that governments’ financial supports to these women and their family members were insignificant as the government was more concerned with mitigating the spread of COVID-19 than assisting women to have safe deliveries. Therefore, the vulnerable groups especially women, children, and the elderly who experienced threats to their safety and wellbeing as a result of the services that were disrupted during the pandemic, should be assisted so as not to lose their lives to preventable diseases.
May 2020 DOI 10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-20-3355
Kader Mohiuddin AbdulCorresponding author
Secretary and Treasurer, Dr. M. Nasirullah Memorial Trust, Tejgaon, Dhaka 1215, Bangladesh
Telemedicine and telehealth technologies are especially effective during epidemic outbreaks, when health authorities recommend implementing social distance systems. Currently, coronavirus COVID-19 has affected 210 countries around the world, killed more than 200,000 and infected more than 3 million, according to worldometer, April 26, 2020. Home-care is especially important in these situations because hospitals are not seemingly safe during pandemic outbreaks. Also, the chance to get out of the home during the lockdown period is limited. Telephone-based measures improve efficiency by linking appropriate information and feedback. It can also help provide education at distance on various health issues and topics. In addition to increasing access to healthcare, telemedicine is a fruitful and proactive way to provide a variety of benefits to patients seeking healthcare; diagnose and monitor critical and chronic health conditions; improve healthcare quality and reduce costs. The article reveals scope of pharmacy professionals in telemedicine sector during epidemic outbreaks.