Population-nosological research biobank of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine: analysis of biosamples, principles of collecting and storing information

Aim. To analyze the structure of clinical data, as well as the principles of collecting and storing related data of the biobank of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine (hereinafter Biobank).Material and methods. The analysis was carried out using the documentation available in the Biobank, as well as the databases used in its work. The paper presents clinical data on biosamples available in the Biobank as of August 18, 2021.Results. At the time of analysis, the Biobank had 373547 samples collected from 54192 patients within 37 research projects. The article presents the analysis of data representation and quantitative assessment of the presence/absence of common diagnoses in clinical projects. Approaches to documenting clinical information associated with biological samples stored in the Biobank were assessed. The methods and tools used for standardization and automation of processes used in the Biobank were substantiated.Conclusion. The Biobank of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine is the largest research biobank in Russia, which meets all modern international requirements and is one of the key structures that improve the research quality and intensify their conduct both within the one center and in cooperation with other biobanks and scientific institutions. The collection and systematic storage of clinical abstracts of biological samples is an integral and most important part of the Biobank’s work.

COVID-19 patient cohort identification during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak through a tertiary hospital Electronic Health Record alert system (Preprint)

BACKGROUND On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic caused by the coronavirus with 118.629 identified cases and 4.292 confirmed deaths. Up to date, 252 million cases and 5 million deaths have been identified as caused by COVID-19. An epidemic situation is characterized by an overload of patients suffering a particular clinical condition and needing acute medical attention in a short period. Usually, the pathogen n causing the epidemic is either new or emergent, and the knowledge a priori is limited. Information is crucial for public health authorities to establish policies to prevent transmission. Thus, the cycle of knowledge acquisition must be efficient and as short as possible. An interdisciplinary team adapted the electronic health record alert systems for real-time data tool collection for clinical characterization and epidemiological surveillance. This system has been working from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first outbreak up to date OBJECTIVE To share the experience of handling COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients' circuits through an Electronic Health Record (EHR) alert system during the pandemic. This system allowed the creation of a COVID-19 hospitalized patient cohort, with implications in the hospital circuit management, patients risk stratification and secondary use for research projects in a period of high uncertainty. Additionally, its integration as an epidemiological surveillance tool favored the submission of updated information to public health authorities. METHODS Almost 30,000 alerts related to COVID-19 were activated in the EHR. Overall, the most frequent were “COVID-19 ruled out” (N = 12,438) followed by “COVID-19 Confirmed Case” (N = 8,999). Up to 13,106 patients (65.7%) were labeled with just one alert during their in-patient stay, while 6,857 (34.3%) received two or more labels. For the alert sequences, 96% were considered logical sequences, 3,1% as low-quality logic sequences, and less than 1% aberrant sequences. Although some temporal variations, all periods had a high rate of logical sequences achieving more than 95%. Preventive medicine professionals activated most COVID-19 alerts and acted as auditors for data quality. When possible, automatic alerts were in place, which became the most frequent. RESULTS Almost 30,000 alerts related to COVID-19 were activated in the EHR. Overall, the most frequent were “COVID-19 ruled out” (N = 12,438) followed by “COVID-19 Confirmed Case” (N = 8,999). Up to 13,106 patients (65.7%) were labeled with just one alert during their in-patient stay, while 6,857 (34.3%) received two or more labels. For the alert sequences, 96% were considered logical sequences, 3,1% as low-quality logic sequences, and less than 1% aberrant sequences. Although some temporal variations, all periods had a high rate of logical sequences achieving more than 95%. Preventive medicine professionals activated most COVID-19 alerts and acted as auditors for data quality. When possible, automatic alerts were in place, which became the most frequent. CONCLUSIONS The EHR integrated system favored in-hospital management of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was helpful for both the institution and the health system, representing an example of interlevel integration. The performance was adequate and robust, with insights at different levels: infection control, patient safety, research, and pandemic response. Preventive Medicine teams should maximize EHR solutions for epidemiological surveillance. CLINICALTRIAL Not required.

Digital Health Services through Patient Empowerment: Classification, Current State and Preliminary Impact Assessment by Health Pod Systems

Health pods are new systems such as small spaces equipped with medical devices where users can measure several biomedical parameters related to their health status and receive other medical services. Their impact on health over a life course could be relevant in defining healthy aging strategies and/or management of chronic diseases and the early detection of possible symptoms related to some common pathologies. The generated data have not only a personal value but even at a community/society level. Health pods also support educational and empowerment actions to enable the 5P medicine approach, and specifically prevention, health promotion, and public health policymaking. This paper aims at defining their taxonomy, conducting a market and typologies survey, and discussing their potential impact in preventive medicine, presenting data of a pilot test carried out placing two health pods in a superstore environment to validate the demand and the participation of people in a prevention campaign. A 57-day period was observed at two sites: the number of free accesses and administered tests was impressive for size and completeness. The test revealed a good picture of the general health status of the population, with satisfying AGE values in the cardiovascular check and stress index through an HRV analysis. The body composition test revealed a small number of overweight subjects, more in males than in females. This pilot confirmed the huge demand for personalized services for improving well-being, health status, and quality of life and the relevance of these solutions for their individual and societal impact in preventive medicine.

الطب النبوي الوقائي: دراسة تحليلية في الصحة الجنسية

This paper is concerned with the issues of the Prophet’s preventive or medicine guidance on sexual health. It aims to investigate the relevance of the Prophet’s preventive guidance on this topic by utilizing the saying of scholars - past and modern - with contemporary medical facts. This topic’s importance is shown through numerous existences of the Prophet’s hadiths on permissible and prohibited social interaction – aiming to protect people from the forbidden area in a sexual relationship. On the other hand, the modern era has witnessed the continuity of scientific debate between researchers and doctors on sexual health issues, showcasing this topic’s importance in contemporary medical discussion. The first part of this paper was to define the concept of Prophetic preventive medicine and sexual health, then extract the elements of preventive medicine in the hadiths related to sexual health. The paper showed the primacy of the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ over time, and Islam in general, in planning and adopting preventive measures related to sexual health.

Influence of sex, age and length of service on scientific productivity of medical research institution staff

Aim. To assess the influence of sex, age and length of service on scientific productivity (h-index in the RSCI, Scopus and Web of Science) of researchers of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine.Material and methods. The study sample was formed from the staff of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine and consisted of scientists of various ranks. The study included 147 people (women, 103; men, 44); Information was collected on their age, education, length of service, academic degree, the position held and author-level metrics — the h-index, obtained from three abstract and citation databases — RSCI, Scopus and Web of Science. All study participants were divided into groups by sex and age categories — young (≤39 years), middle-aged (men, 40-60 years; women, 40-55 years) and older (men >60 years old; women >55 years).Results. Analysis showed that 70,1% of the research team consists of women; 60% — young and middle-aged scientists, and 40% — older people. Among male researchers, compared with women, there are more doctors of science and high h-index values in the RSCI, Scopus and Web of Science. H-index value in the RSCI among male researchers is 47,3% due to the age and work duration at the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine, and among female researchers, 42,8% due to academic degree and length of service. The h-index in Scopus in men is influenced by age, in women — by the presence of an academic degree, which explain, respectively, 19,7 and 18,1% of its variability. H-index value in the Web of Science in men is associated with the work duration, while in women, with an academic degree and length of service, which explain, respectively, 24,4 and 21,1% of its variance.Conclusion. Women and young and middle-aged scientists prevail in research team pattern of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine. However, male researchers make a more significant contribution to scientific productivity, assessed by the h-index in the RSCI, Scopus and Web of Science. Age and length of service have the greatest influence on scientific productivity for male researchers, while for women — presence of academic degree and length of service. It is necessary to continue research on the study of individual, motivational and institutional factors affecting the scientific productivity.

Improving the Regulatory Framework in the Field of Preventive Medicine as a Factor of Public Health Safety

In 2020, within the framework of the RFBR grant «Legal and Criminological Problems of Preventive Medicine», the first stage of the study on criminological risks in the field of preventive medicine (hereinafter referred to as PM) was conducted and its results were published. It was found that corruption risks are the main threat to criminological security in the field of PM. This article presents the results of a new study, which is a continuation of the work under the designated RFBR grant. The anti-corruption expertise of a number of legal acts regulating relations in the field of PM showed that they create significant prerequisites for corruption during preventive medical examinations, and as a result, a decrease in the safety of public health. The analysis of the results of the discussion of draft departmental regulations on the official government website, as well as the results of a survey of medical professionals, lead to the same conclusion. An analysis of the totality of the results obtained in the course of the study suggests that the current model of organizing preventive medical examinations is largely the result of lobbying on the part of medical organizations that receive income from PM, including corruption lobbying. The authors come to the conclusion that the organization of preventive medical examinations should be put under effective public control, and adjustments should be made to the anti-corruption expertise of draft normative legal acts on preventive medical examinations: medical specialists should be involved in such expertise and preliminary sociological studies should be conducted to establish the acceptability of the projected legal regulation for the participants in the relations.

A Cross Section Assessment Study on the Awareness of COVID-19 during the Onset of the Pandemic among the Urban Population of Saudi Arabia

This study was aimed to seek out the awareness and knowledge about the covid-19 during the onset of the pandemic among the urban population of the Saudi arabia. This study was carried out for a period of three months from 01.04.2020 to 31.07.2020 and a sample of 1000 participants. The significant difference of P-value obtained by performing the Pearson Chi-Square test for all he questionnaires to analyse the study of assessment. This study was a small attempt for conducting such valuable studies in preventive medicine. Thus, this study suggests that the community's overall satisfactory report is well aware of the preventive measure procedures and well prepared to tackle the covid-19 pandemic.