scholarly journals Impact of Smoking and Smoking Cessation on Periodontal Health: A Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Khushboo Goel ◽  
Ranjita Shrestha Gorkhali ◽  
Shaili Pradhan ◽  
Sujaya Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Smoking Habit ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
The Body ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Periodontal Health ◽  
Periodontal Tissues ◽  
The Impact

Tobacco use persists as a chronic global public health concern. The deadly habit affects almost all organs of the body including the oral and periodontal structures. Smoking is established as one of the major preventable etiological risk factors for the initiation and progression of periodontitis. The habit dependence typically requires a continuous assessment and repeated intervention. Emerging evidence has suggested the benefit of smoking cessation on periodontal health that trends for greater probing depth reductions and a favorable response to treatment outcomes. The dental settings are now increasingly being recognized as a place to target patients to quit or even prevent the initiation of smoking habit. The dental practitioner and the periodontal specialist may, therefore play a pivotal role by the inclusion of smoking cessation programs in their daily practice and reduce the major risk involving oral tissues and the systemic health. This review addresses the impact of smoking on periodontal tissues, the effect of smoking cessation protocols to improve periodontal health and the role of professionals in cessation.

scholarly journals Normalisation and Stigmatisation of Obesity in UK Newspapers: a Visual Content Analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mr. Chris Patterson ◽  
Dr. Shona Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Obese Adults ◽  
Manifest Content ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
The Uk

Obesity represents a major and growing global public health concern. The mass media play an important role in shaping public understandings of health, and obesity attracts much media coverage. This study offers the first content analysis of photographs illustrating UK newspaper articles about obesity. The researchers studied 119 articles and images from five major national newspapers. Researchers coded the manifest content of each image and article and used a graphical scale to estimate the body size of each image subject. Data were analysed with regard to the concepts of the normalisation and stigmatisation of obesity. Articles’ descriptions of subjects’ body sizes were often found to differ from coders’ estimates, and subjects described as obese tended to represent the higher values of the obese BMI range, differing from the distribution of BMI values of obese adults in the UK. Researchers identified a tendency for image subjects described as overweight or obese to be depicted in stereotypical ways that could reinforce stigma. These findings are interpreted as illustrations of how newspaper portrayals of obesity may contribute to societal normalisation and the stigmatisation of obesity, two forces that threaten to harm obese individuals and undermine public health efforts to reverse trends in obesity.

scholarly journals Assessment of Physicians’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Smoking Cessation Management in the Gaza Strip

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Smoking Habit ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
The Impact

Background: Despite its negative effects, approximately 23% of Palestinians (≥ 18 years) smoke cigarettes. Studies have shown physicians to be an important channel for smoking cessation intervention. This investigation examines physicians’ smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in the Gaza strip (Palestinian Territories). Methods and Findings: A convenience sample of 154 physicians in medical and surgical units took part in this investigation (87.7% response rate). The data show that 37.8% of physicians in Gaza smoke, and most of them about 72% smoke in the hospital’s public spaces, thereby implicitly giving public approval for smoking. While 82.4% reported that they advise patients who smoke to stop, the majority (59%) also believe that their own smoking habits negatively influence the impact of that advice. Unfortunately, our survey showed that physicians’ knowledge levels towards smoking addiction and management were lower than expected (e.g. only 34% knew that nicotine dependence is a psychiatric disorder that necessitates treatment). The physicians in this study believed that the primary barriers to failure of their patients’ smoking cessation were the perceived lack of will (81.3%), and the strength of patients’ addiction (67.9%). Moreover, (61%) of physicians did not spend enough time to convince their patients to quit smoking. Conclusion: Smoking is common among Gaza-strip physicians, and unfortunately, most of them smoke in the hospital’s public spaces. Many obstacles face the smoking cessation program that some physicians linked it to patients, and others linked it to the health-care system. Furthermore, smokers in Gaza receive poor care regarding assessment, referral, and management of their smoking habit.

scholarly journals Impact of a Smoking Cessation Quitline in Vietnam: Evidence Base and Future Directions

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (14) ◽  
pp. 2538
Author(s):  
Chau Quy Ngo ◽  
Phuong Thu Phan ◽  
Giap Van Vu ◽  
Quyen Thi Le Pham ◽  
Hanh Thi Chu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Tobacco Consumption ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Quit Attempt ◽  
Early Action ◽  
The Impact

Smoking is considered the most critical modifiable factor with regard to lung cancer and remains a public health concern in many countries, including Vietnam, which is among those countries with the highest tobacco consumption rates in the world. This study has examined the impact of national telephone counselling for smoking cessation and has identified the factors associated with the impact of the quitline among male callers in Vietnam. A randomized cross-sectional survey of 469 smokers who sought smoking cessation services via the national quitline was performed from September 2015 to May 2016. The primary outcomes were measured by a self-reported quit rate at the time of assessment, 7 day point prevalence abstinence (PA), 6 month prolonged PA, service satisfaction, and level of motivation. Among the participants, 31.6% were abstinent, and 5.1% of participants successfully stopped smoking and did not need to seek quitline support. Most of the clients were satisfied with the quality of service (88.5%), felt more confident about quitting (74.3%), and took early action via their first quit attempt (81.7%); 18.3% reported a more than 7 day abstinence period at the time of survey. The primary reasons for smoking relapse were surrounding smoking environments (51.6%) and craving symptoms (44.1%). Future smoking cessation efforts should focus on improving the quality of quitline services, client satisfaction, and developing a tailored program and counseling targeting smokers with specific characteristics, especially ones experiencing chronic diseases.

Effects of Ascogregarina culicis (Eugregarinorida: Lecudinidae) on Mosquito Size and Dengue Virus Infection in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panpim Thongsripong ◽  
Dawn M Wesson
Keyword(s):  
Virus Infection ◽  
Aedes Aegypti ◽  
Dengue Virus ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Wing Length ◽  
The Body ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Dengue Virus Infection ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Dengue virus infection, transmitted via mosquito bites, poses a substantial risk to global public health. Studies suggest that the mosquito’s microbial community can profoundly influence vector-borne pathogen transmissions, including dengue virus. Ascogregarina culicis (Ross) of the phylum Apicomplexa is among the most common parasites of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus), the principal vector of dengue. Despite a high prevalence worldwide, including in the areas where dengue is endemic, the impact of A. culicis on Ae. aegypti vector competence for dengue virus is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of A. culicis infection on mosquito size and fitness, as measured by wing length, and the susceptibility to dengue virus infection in Ae. aegypti. Our results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in wing lengths between Ae. aegypti infected and not infected with A. culicis. Furthermore, A. culicis infection did not significantly affect dengue virus infection or disseminated infection rate. However, there was a significant association between shorter wings and higher dengue virus infection rate, whereby a 0.1-mm increase in wing length decreased the odds of the mosquito being infected by 32%. Thus, based on our result, A. culicis infection does not influence the body size and dengue virus infection in Ae. aegypti. This study helps to shed light on a common but neglected eukaryotic mosquito parasite.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Quarantine Reveals Grade-specific Behavioral Modification of Myopia: One-Million Chinese Schoolchildren Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liangde Xu ◽  
Yunlong Ma ◽  
Jian Yuan ◽  
Yaru Zhang ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Myopia ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Grade Group ◽  
Myopia Progression ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Normal Period ◽  
Prevention Methods ◽  
The Impact

SummaryBackgroundHigh prevalence of myopia of adolescent has been a global public health concern. Their risk factors and effective prevention methods for myopia across schoolchildren developmental stages are critically needed but remain uncertain due to the difficulty in implementing intervention measurements under normal life situation. We aimed to study the impact of the COVID-19 quarantine on myopia development among over one-million schoolchildren.MethodsWe designed the ongoing longitudinal project of Myopic Epidemiology and Intervention Study (MEIS) to biannually examine myopia among millions of schoolchildren for ten years in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. In the present study, we performed three examinations of myopia in 1,305 elementary and high schools for schoolchildren in June 2019, December 2019 and June 2020. We used the normal period (June-December 2019) and COVID-19 quarantine period (January-June 2020) for comparisons. Myopia was defined as an uncorrected visual acuity of 20/25 or less and a spherical equivalent refraction (SER) of -0.5 diopters (D) or less. High myopia was defined as an SER of -6.0 D or less.FindingsIn June 2019, 1,001,749 students aged 7-18 were eligible for examinations. In the 6-month and 12-month follow-up studies, there were 813,755 eligible students (81.2%) and 768,492 eligible students (76.7%), respectively. Among all students, we found that half-year myopia progression increased approximate 1.5 times from -0.263 D (95% CI, -0.262 to -0.264) during normal period to -0.39 D (95% CI, -0.389 to -0.391) during COVID-19 quarantine (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified grade rather than age was significantly associated with myopia (Hazard ratio [HR]: 1.10, 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.13; P < 0.001) and high myopia (HR: 1.40, 95% CI, 1.35 to 1.46; P < 0.001) after adjustment for other factors. The prevalence, progression, and incidence of myopia and high myopia could be categorized into two grade groups: I (grades 1-6) and II (grades 7-12). Specifically, COVID-19 quarantine for 6 months sufficiently increased risk of developing myopia (OR: 1.36, 95% CI, 1.33 to 1.40) or high myopia (OR: 1.30, 95% CI, 1.22 to 1.39) in Grade Group I, but decreased risk of developing myopia (OR: 0.45, 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.48) or high myopia (OR: 0.57, 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.59) in Grade Group II.InterpretationThe finding that behavioral modifications for six months during COVID-19 quarantine sufficiently and grade-specifically modify myopia development offers the largest human behavioral intervention data at the one million scale to identify the grade-specific causal factors and effective prevention methods for guiding the formulation of myopia prevention and control policies.FundingKey Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China; the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Scientific Research Foundation for Talents of Wenzhou Medical University; Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province.Research in contextEvidence before this studyMyopia is the most-common refractive error worldwide. Myopia with younger onset may result in developing high myopia, which is associated with sight-threatening ocular diseases such as maculopathy, retinal detachment, opticneuropathy, glaucoma, retinal atrophy, choroidal neovascularization. In light of the increasing prevalence of myopia and high myopia has been a global public health concern, the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on myopia development has gained substantial attention. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE databases for original articles reported between database inception and November 10, 2020, using the following search terms: (coronavirus OR COVID* OR SARS-COV-2 OR lockdown OR quarantine) AND (myopia OR short-sightedness OR refractive error). To date, there was no original study reported to uncover the influence of COVID-19 quarantine on myopia progression.Added value of this studyThis study provides the largest longitudinal intervention data on myopia progression in Chinese schoolchildren covering all grades of schoolchildren at one-million scale. COVID-19 quarantine model uncovers that behavioral modifications for six months may lead to significant increase of overall prevalence of myopia associated with their increased screen times and decreased outdoor activity times. Importantly, their effects on developing myopia or high myopia of students are grade-dependent, which were risk factors for elementary schools period but protective factors for high schools period partly due to reduced school education burden.Implications of all the available evidenceThis one-million schoolchildren myopia survey offers evidence that six months behavioral modifications sufficiently and grade-specifically change the progression of myopia and high myopia. In view of the increased use of electronic devices is an unavoidable trend, effective myopia prevention strategy according to grade among students is urgently needed. Since COVID-19 outbreak is still ongoing and spreading, international collaborate efforts are warranted to uncover the influence of COVID-19 on myopia progression to further substantiate these findings.

scholarly journals Preventing the Risk of Hospitalization for Respiratory Complications of Influenza among the Elderly: Is There a Better Influenza Vaccination Strategy? A Retrospective Population Study

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
Silvia Cocchio ◽  
Tolinda Gallo ◽  
Stefania Del Zotto ◽  
Elena Clagnan ◽  
Andrea Iob ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Vaccination ◽  
Vaccination Strategy ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Respiratory Complications ◽  
Effective Prevention ◽  
Vaccination Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Influenza and its complications are an important public health concern, and vaccination remains the most effective prevention measure. However, the efficacy of vaccination depends on several variables, including the type of strategy adopted. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of different influenza vaccination strategies in preventing hospitalizations for influenza and its related respiratory complications. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on data routinely collected by the health services for six consecutive influenza seasons, considering the population aged 65 years or more at the time of their vaccination and living in northeastern Italy. Our analysis concerns 987,266 individuals vaccinated against influenza during the study period. The sample was a mean 78.0 ± 7.7 years old, and 5681 individuals (0.58%) were hospitalized for potentially influenza-related reasons. The hospitalization rate tended to increase over the years, not-significantly peaking in the 2016–2017 flu season (0.8%). Our main findings revealed that hospitalizations related to seasonal respiratory diseases were reduced as the use of the enhanced vaccine increased (R2 = 0.5234; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed the significantly greater protective role of the enhanced vaccine over the conventional vaccination strategy, with adjusted Odds Ratio (adj OR) = 0.62 (95% CI: 0.59–0.66). A prior flu vaccination also had a protective role (adj OR: 0.752 (95% CI: 0.70–0.81)). Age, male sex, and H3N2 mismatch were directly associated with a higher risk of hospitalization for pneumonia. In the second part of our analysis, comparing MF59-adjuvanted trivalent inactivated vaccine (MF59-TIV) with conventional vaccines, we considered 479,397 individuals, of which 3176 (0.66%) were admitted to a hospital. The results show that using the former vaccine reduced the risk of hospitalization by 33% (adj OR: 0.67 (95% CI: 0.59–0.75)). This study contributes to the body of evidence of a greater efficacy of enhanced vaccines, and MF59-adjuvanted TIV in particular, over conventional vaccination strategies in the elderly.

scholarly journals Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery (GKS) for the treatment of meningiomas – a study of 550 cases

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-134
Author(s):  
Radu Perin ◽  
◽  
Rodica Stempurszki ◽  
Vasile Ciubotaru ◽  
Ligia Tataranu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Knife ◽  
Gamma Knife Radiosurgery ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Benign Tumors ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Remnant Tumor ◽  
Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery ◽  
The Impact

Introduction. Meningiomas are benign tumors which originate from the cells of the arachnoid granules. Meningiomas represent a special pathologic entity for neurosurgeons due to the fact that they can grow silently for a long time, and can affect important neural structures when they become symptomatic. The total resection of meningiomas is curative. For the meningiomas which are not surgically accessible and for reoccurrence. Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKS) is a very efficient solution. Materials and methods. The study below presents the experience of the authors regarding the use of GKS for the treatment of meningiomas. The authors focus on a population of 550 patients diagnosed and treated for meningiomas over a period of 10 years at the „Bagdasar-Arseni“ University Hospital in Bucharest. This study compares the impact of GKS when performed alone or in association with open microneurosurgery. The authors assessed patients with tumors ranging between 1 and 42 cm3 in volume. GKS is used successfully to treat meningiomas, both independently and in association with open microsurgery. Results. The major complications of the treatment are represented by lack of response to treatment (7% of patients) and transient cerebral edema (22% of patients). A disturbing phenomenon happens in a few meningiomas of the convexity, with malignant edema (<1%). Conclusion. Given the multiple advantages it has, GKS is right now the tip of the spear regarding the therapeutical methods available for meningiomas. These tumors usually are benign in nature; however, a small percentage are malignant. Often, meningiomas cause no symptoms and require no immediate treatment. But the growth of benign meningiomas can cause serious problems. In some cases, such growth can be fatal. Typically, symptomatic meningiomas are treated with either radiosurgery or conventional surgery. When the tumors met in daily practice are larger than the therapeutical resources of the devices used for GKS, an open microsurgical approach may be attempted followed by stereotactic irradiation of the remnant tumor.

scholarly journals The evolving burden of asthma and contemporary advances in management: Implications for clinical practice in Southern Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 059-070
Author(s):  
Andrew Kiboneka
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Asthma ◽  
World Health ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Common Disease ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Disease Heterogeneity ◽  
Public Health Burden ◽  
The World

Asthma is a rising significant global public health burden especially in the developing countries. The annual prevalence of severe asthma episodes is estimated from 1% to 21% for adults and over 20% for children aged 6–7 years. The prevalence of asthma varies widely around the world, ranging from 0.2% to 21.0% in adults and from 2.8% to 37.6% in 6- to 7-year-old children. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC) reports a significant increase in the global prevalence of asthmatic episodes among children. t was estimated that more than 339 million people had Asthma globally in 2016. It is a common disease among children. The common disease asthma is probably not a single disease, but rather a complex of multiple, separate syndromes that overlap. Most asthma-related deaths occur in low- and lower-middle income countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, there were 417,918 deaths due to asthma at the global level and 24.8 million DALYS attributable to Asthma in in 2016. The WHO has estimated that the economic costs associated with asthma have exceeded those of TB and HIV/AIDS combined, and the Global Initiative for Asthma Program forecasted the number of asthma patients to grow globally to greater than 400 million by the year 2025. Since its first description by Hippocrates, asthma remains a treatable yet incurable disease. It is now clear that asthma is a complex syndrome with variable severity, natural history and response to treatment In Namibia a prevalence of Asthma of 11.2 % has been reported in adult populations. The increase in asthmatic episodes, morbidity and mortality among populations in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia is a rising public health concern. The development of novel asthma phenotyping & endo typing plus better classification of patients using machine learning and big data have markedly improved asthma treatment outcomes in both children and Adults. Several research groups have developed cluster analyses of phenotypes in severe asthma. These clusters support the importance of disease heterogeneity in asthma and suggest differences in pathophysiologic mechanisms that define these clusters. Precision medicine is "an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person.

scholarly journals A retrospective observational study of the impact of Tigecycline in treating multidrug resistant pneumonia

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
John Paul ◽  
Cherish Paul
Keyword(s):  
Critically Ill ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
P Value ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Impact

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Few antimicrobials are currently active to treat extensively drug resistant (XDR) gram-negative bacilli infections. This represents a serious global public health concern. Critically ill patients face the brunt of majority of these infections. Tigecycline has coverage for a majority of these XDR infections (with the exception of <em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em>), but is not currently approved for hospital-acquired pneumonia. Nevertheless it is being commonly used for this indication though many meta-analysis have suggested an increased risk of death in patients receiving this antibiotic. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">In this retrospective analysis we compared the mortality rates between a Tigecycline based and a non Tigecycline based therapy for XDR infections in the critically ill over a period of 12 months. A total of 93 patients were included in the study.</span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Tigecycline group had significantly increased risk for in hospital mortality with an odds ratio of 6.0 and 95% CI of 1.37 to 26.12 with a p value of 0.01. But such a difference was not evident in 14 day mortality.  </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> <span lang="EN-IN">Initiation of Tigecycline for multidrug resistant, pneumonia needs to be re-thought. Only a small percentage of patients with pneumonia with <em>in-vitro</em> sensitivity having low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) would benefit from the drug. Even in this group the risk of increased mortality needs to be carefully considered before Initiation of therapy</span>.</p>

scholarly journals 302 - The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those living with and caring for someone with dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 23-23
Author(s):  
Clarissa Giebel ◽  
Marta Lenart ◽  
Ilaria Chirico ◽  
Katarzyna M. Lion
Keyword(s):  
Public Involvement ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Global Impact ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Impact

We are presenting four abstracts here for four inter-related talks into the global impact of the pandemic on dementia. Specifically, we will be presenting four talks from our international consortium (UK, India, Italy, Poland, Australia) highlighting how dementia has increased as a global public health concern during the pandemic with similar and different impacts across countries; the mental health impact on people with dementia and carers; the difficulties in using technology for social contact in dementia; as well as the impact on carers with relatives residing in institutional long-term care settings. Public involvement has been a key element of this study. The symposium will be hosted by Dr Clarissa Giebel, the PI of this international 5-country study, and talks will be presented by Dr Giebel, Marta Lenart, Dr Ilaria Chirico, and Dr Katarzyna Lion.

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