Need and Importance of Nutrition Informatics in India: A Perspective

Nutrition informatics (NI) is the effective retrieval, organization, storage, and optimum use of information, data and knowledge for food-and-nutrition-related problem-solving and decision-making. There is a growing opportunity to facilitate technology-enabled behavioral change interventions to support NI research and practice. This paper highlights the changing landscape of food and nutrition practices in India to prepare a NI workforce that could provide some valuable tools to address the double burden of nutrition. Management and interpretation of data could help clarify the relationships and interrelationships of diet and disease in India on both national and regional levels. Individuals with expertise in food and nutrition may receive training in informatics to develop national informatics systems. NI professionals develop tools and techniques, manage various projects and conduct informatics research. These professionals should be well prepared to work in technological settings and communicate data and information effectively. Opportunities for training in NI are very limited in developing countries. Given the current progress in developing platforms and informatics infrastructure, India could serve as an example to other countries to promote NI to support achieving SDGs and other public health initiatives.

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Complaint-Oriented “Services”: Shelters as Tools for Criminalizing Homelessness

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716221996703 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 693 (1) ◽

pp. 264-283

Author(s):

Chris Herring

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

San Francisco ◽

Homeless People ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

This article argues that the expansion of shelter and welfare provisions for the homeless can lead to increased criminalization of homeless people in public spaces. First, I document how repression of people experiencing homelessness by the police in San Francisco neighborhoods increased immediately after the opening of new shelters. Second, I reveal how shelter beds are used as a privileged tool of the police to arrest, cite, and confiscate property of the unhoused, albeit in the guise of sanitary and public health initiatives. I conclude by considering how shelters increasingly function as complaint-oriented “services,” aimed at addressing the interests of residents, businesses, and politicians, rather than the needs of those unhoused.

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Experiences of New Zealand Haemodialysis Patients in Relation to Food and Nutrition Management: A Qualitative Study

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13072299 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 2299

Author(s):

Rachael M. McLean ◽

Zhengxiu Xie ◽

Vicky Nelson ◽

Vili Nosa ◽

Hla Thein ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Extended Family ◽

Culturally Appropriate ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Nutrition Management ◽

Healthcare Needs ◽

Food And Nutrition ◽

Major Disruption

People receiving haemodialysis have considerable and complex dietary and healthcare needs, including co-morbidities. A recent New Zealand study has shown that few patients on haemodialysis are able to meet nutritional requirements for haemodialysis. This study aims to describe the perspectives and experiences of dietary management among patients on haemodialysis in New Zealand. This exploratory qualitative study used in-depth semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants from different ethnic groups. Forty interviews were conducted, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive approach was taken using thematic analysis. Forty participants were interviewed. Participants spoke of major disruption to their lives as a result of their chronic kidney disease and being on haemodialysis, including loss of employment, financial challenges, loss of independence, social isolation and increased reliance on extended family. Most had received adequate dietary information, although some felt that more culturally appropriate support would have enabled a healthier diet. These findings show that further support to make the recommended dietary changes while on haemodialysis should focus on socio-cultural factors, in addition to the information already provided.

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Advancing precision public health using human genomics: examples from the field and future research opportunities

Genome Medicine ◽

10.1186/s13073-021-00911-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Megan C. Roberts ◽

Alison E. Fohner ◽

Latrice Landry ◽

Dana Lee Olstad ◽

Amelia K. Smit ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Precision Medicine ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Public Health Research ◽

Future Research ◽

Human Genomics ◽

Precision Public Health ◽

Genomics Research ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

AbstractPrecision public health is a relatively new field that integrates components of precision medicine, such as human genomics research, with public health concepts to help improve population health. Despite interest in advancing precision public health initiatives using human genomics research, current and future opportunities in this emerging field remain largely undescribed. To that end, we provide examples of promising opportunities and current applications of genomics research within precision public health and outline future directions within five major domains of public health: biostatistics, environmental health, epidemiology, health policy and health services, and social and behavioral science. To further extend applications of genomics within precision public health research, three key cross-cutting challenges will need to be addressed: developing policies that implement precision public health initiatives at multiple levels, improving data integration and developing more rigorous methodologies, and incorporating initiatives that address health equity. Realizing the potential to better integrate human genomics within precision public health will require transdisciplinary efforts that leverage the strengths of both precision medicine and public health.

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Evaluating the impact of public health initiatives on trends in fecal occult blood test participation in Ontario

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/1471-2407-14-537 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Gladys N Honein-AbouHaidar ◽

Linda Rabeneck ◽

Lawrence F Paszat ◽

Rinku Sutradhar ◽

Jill Tinmouth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Blood Test ◽

Fecal Occult Blood Test ◽

Occult Blood ◽

Fecal Occult Blood ◽

Occult Blood Test ◽

Fecal Occult ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

The Impact ◽

Public Health Initiatives

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Treatment-Seeking Rates and Associated Mediating Factors among Individuals with Depression

The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/070674370204700708 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 47 (7) ◽

pp. 660-665 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Kristin Bristow ◽

Scott Patten

Keyword(s):

Social Supports ◽

Treatment Seeking ◽

Service Access ◽

Inclusion Criteria ◽

Mediating Factors ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Adolescents And Adults ◽

Depressive Episodes ◽

Public Health Initiatives ◽

Structured Literature Review

Objective: To systematically review the literature with respect to treatment-seeking rates for depression and associated mediating factors. This review focuses on adolescents and adults of all ages. Methods: A structured literature review using Medline and PsychInfo databases revealed 38 relevant papers. Two trained reviewers independently and blindly assessed each study according to 4 inclusion criteria. A total of 17 papers met all 4 criteria. Results: Between 17.0% and 77.8% of individuals with depressive episodes or disorders sought treatment in these studies. We could explain the range in rates by diverse measures of depression, mediating factors that influence treatment-seeking, varied years in which the studies were done, and different time periods over which treatment-seeking was assessed. Conclusions: Treatment-seeking rates for major depression appear to have increased over the years. Age, race, social supports, and clinical and psychiatric factors seem to influence treatment-seeking rates most. Public health initiatives can use this information to facilitate service access and delivery.

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Effectiveness of a community-based Tai Chi program and implications for public health initiatives

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation ◽

10.1016/j.apmr.2004.10.020 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 86 (4) ◽

pp. 619-625 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Alice Y. Jones ◽

Elizabeth Dean ◽

Rhonda J. Scudds

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Tai Chi ◽

Community Based ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

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From Prussia to China: Japanese Colonial Medicine and Gotō Shinpei’s Combination of Medical Police and Local Self-Administration

Medical History ◽

10.1017/s0025727300005378 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 343-347 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Christos Lynteris

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Colonial Medicine ◽

Republican China ◽

Self Administration ◽

Japanese Colonialism ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Historical Investigation ◽

Key Issues ◽

Japanese Colonial ◽

Public Health Initiatives

Recent historical investigation into the rise of ‘biopolitical modernity’ in China has shed some surprising light. While it was long thought that British public health initiatives entered China via Hong Kong, the recent work of Ruth Rogaski, Philippe Chemouilli and others has established that it was actually early Japanese colonialism that played the crucial role. It was the Meiji Empire's hygiene reform projects in Taiwan and Manchuria that provided the model for Republican China. Curiously overlooked by medical historians has been one of the major early works of Japanese public health that directly inspired and guided this colonial medical enterprise. This was that of the Japanese health reformer and colonial officer, Gotō Shinpei (1857–1929), and it was undertaken in Munich as a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Max von Pettenkofer. In this article, I focus on the way in which Shinpei dealt in his thesis with the relations between centralisation and local self-administration as one of the key issues facing hygienic modernisation and colonial biopolitical control.

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