Mobile health

Chronic and acute illnesses sit uncomfortably with asylum claiming and refugee mobilities. The story of a Sierra Leonean, an athlete who feared Ebola and sought refuge in the UK, provides an opening to examine protection discourses that invoke fear, trauma, and crisis metaphors, to understand how asylum claims are performed, and how related petitions are adjudicated during public health emergencies of international concern. Ebola is revealed as a novel claim strategy, and thus a useful subject matter to investigate the shifting modalities of migrant agency, the unstable fabric of medical humanitarianism, and knowledge production in moments of exceptionality...

At present, it is recognized that screening for frailty in the elderly is a major public health issue. Frailty screening in emergency unit is essential to optimize the management of elderly patients in hospital. Ideally, the role of a mobile geriatric team seems essential, taking over the frailty screening carried out in the emergency department, in order to optimize intra-hospital management and consequently reduce further intra-hospital visits and possible risks of decompensation of geriatric syndromes.

The spread of antimicrobial resistance from human activity derived sources to natural habitats implicates wildlife as potential vectors of antimicrobial resistance transfer. Wild birds, including corvid species can disseminate mobile genetic resistance determinants through feces. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. isolates obtained from winter roosting sites of American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and common ravens (Corvus corax) in Canada...

Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading world's public health problems. Therefore, it is of a huge interest to develop new antidiabetic drugs. Apart from traditional therapy of diabetes, nowadays, importance is given to natural substances with antidiabetic potential. Fomes fomentarius is a mushroom widely used for different purposes, due to its range of already confirmed activities. Fomentariol is a constituent of Fomes fomentarius , responsible for its antidiabetic potential. In that respect, it is important to develop a method for isolation and quantification of fomentariol from fungal material, which will be simple and efficient...

Aims: Our aim was to investigate function, health status and satisfaction in patients treated with primary dual mobility (DM) total hip arthroplasty (THA) after displaced femoral neck fracture (FNF). Patients and methods: From 2005-2011, 414 consecutive FNF patients received Saturne DM THA. At a minimum of 1-year follow-up, 124 (95 women) were evaluated with Oxford Hip Score (OHS), Harris Hip Score (HHS), health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure (EQ-5D) and two functional tests: Timed Up and Go (TUG) and Sit to Stand 10 times (STS)...

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the QUIDS study is to develop a decision support tool for the management of women with symptoms and signs of preterm labour, based on a validated prognostic model using quantitative fetal fibronectin (fFN) concentration, in combination with clinical risk factors. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study will evaluate the Rapid fFN 10Q System (Hologic, Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA) which quantifies fFN in a vaginal swab. In QUIDS part 2, we will perform a prospective cohort study in at least eight UK consultant-led maternity units, in women with symptoms of preterm labour at 22+0  to 34+6 weeks gestation to externally validate a prognostic model developed in QUIDS part 1...

BACKGROUND: The postnatal period poses numerous challenges for new parents. Various educational programs are available to support new parents during this stressful period. However, the usefulness of educational programs must be evaluated to ascertain their credibility. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this descriptive, qualitative study was to explore the views of parents of newborns with regard to the content and delivery of a mobile health (mHealth) app-based postnatal educational program...

BACKGROUND: Digital health interventions in the form of smartphone apps aim to improve mental health and enable people access to support as and when needed without having to face the stigma they may experience in accessing services. If we are to evaluate mobile health (mHealth) apps and advance scientific understanding, we also need tools to help us understand in what ways mHealth interventions are effective or not. The concept of therapeutic alliance, a measure of the quality of the relationship between a health care provider and a service user, is a key factor in explaining the effects of mental health interventions...

BACKGROUND: With the growing population of older adults as a potential user group of mHealth, the need increases for mHealth interventions to address specific aging characteristics of older adults. The existence of aging barriers to computer use is widely acknowledged. Yet, usability studies show that mHealth still fails to be appropriately designed for older adults and their expectations. To enhance designs of mHealth aimed at older adult populations, it is essential to gain insight into aging barriers that impact the usability of mHealth as experienced by these adults...

BACKGROUND: In Cambodia, HIV prevalence is concentrated in key populations including among female entertainment workers (FEWs) who may engage in direct or indirect sex work. Reaching FEWs with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services has been difficult because of their hidden and stigmatized nature. Mobile-phone-based interventions may be an effective way to reach this population and connect them with the existing services. This article describes study design and implementation of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a mobile health intervention (the Mobile Link) aiming to improve SRH and related outcomes among FEWs in Cambodia...

OBJECTIVES: Due to the impact of climate change, mobile applications (apps) providing information about the external environment have the potential to improve the health of older people. The purpose of this research was to undertake a scoping review of the evidence on the usability, feasibility and effectiveness of mobile apps to encourage access to activities outside the home in older people. METHODS: A search of databases was undertaken with relevant keywords...

AIM: The aim of this study was to understand nurse ward managers perceived challenges in the rural healthcare setting in Uganda. BACKGROUND: The health workforce, essential medicines and equipment and political unrest are the main factors affecting the international community in addressing the hefty disease burden in World Health Organization African regions. Nurse ward managers have an important role to play to mitigate these factors in health facilities in these regions through leadership, supervision and support for staff...

Cardiovascular prevention research has increasingly focused on mobile health (mHealth) technologies and their efficacy in helping individuals adhere to heart-healthy recommendations, including daily physical activity levels. By including the use of mHealth technologies in the discussion of physical activity recommendations, clinicians empower patients to play an active daily role in modifying their cardiovascular risk factor profile. In this review, we critically evaluate the mHealth and physical activity literature to determine how these tools may lower cardiovascular risk while providing real-time tracking, feedback and motivation on physical activity levels...

Background: Higher socioeconomic status is known to decrease the risk for poor mental health overall. However, African American males of higher socioeconomic status (SES) are at an increased risk for having a major depressive episode (MDE). It is not known whether perceived discrimination (PD) explains this risk. The current study used nationally representative data to explore the role of PD in explaining the association between high-SES and having MDE among African American men. Methods: The National Survey of American Life (NSAL), 2003, included 4461 American adults including 1271 African American men...

A number of neurotransmitter systems have been implicated in contributing to the pathology of mood disorders, including those of dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation (REMSD) alters most of the neurotransmitters, which may have adverse behavioural changes and other health consequences like mania and other psychiatric disorders. The exact role of REMSD altered neurotransmitter levels and the manner in which emerging consequences lead to mania-like behaviour is poorly understood...

Description of certified peer specialists integration of peer philosophy into the delivery of a self-management intervention enhanced with mobile health. Qualitative examination of peer case notes that were routinely entered on a peer care management electronic dashboard. This study included consumers with serious mental illness (N = 8) with a mean age of 68.8 years (SD = 4.9). Certified peer specialists (N = 3) were all female and aged 55 years or older. Peers entered 146 case notes on the peer care management notes dashboard...

Bisphenol analogues, amphenicol antibiotics, and phthalate have widely aroused public concerns due to their adverse effects on human health. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method for determination of nine bisphenol analogues, three amphenicol antibiotics, and six phthalate metabolites in the urine based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry was developed and validated. The sample pretreatment condition on the base of mixed-mode anion-exchange (Oasis MAX) SPE was optimized to separate bisphenol analogues and amphenicol antibiotics from phthalate metabolites: the former were detected with a mobile phase of 0...

Objective: Newer technologies such as wearables, sensors, mobile telephony and computing offer opportunities to monitor vital physiological parameters and tackle healthcare problems, thereby improving access and quality of care. We describe the design, development and testing of a wearable sensor device for remote biomonitoring of body temperatures in mothers and newborns in southern India. Methods: Based on client needs and technological requirements, a wearable sensor device was designed and developed using principles of 'social innovation' design...

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps can offer users numerous benefits, representing a feasible and acceptable means of administering health interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is commonly used in the treatment of mental health conditions, where it has a strong evidence base, suggesting that it represents an effective method to elicit health behavior change. More importantly, CBT has proved to be effective in smoking cessation, in the context of smoking-related costs to the National Health Service (NHS) having been estimated to be as high as £2...

BACKGROUND: Behavioral science is now being integrated into diabetes self-management interventions. However, the challenge that presents itself is how to translate these knowledge resources during care so that primary care practitioners can use them to offer evidence-informed behavior change support and diabetes management recommendations to patients with diabetes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a computerized decision support platform called "Diabetes Web-Centric Information and Support Environment" (DWISE) that assists primary care practitioners in applying standardized behavior change strategies and clinical practice guidelines-based recommendations to an individual patient and empower the patient with the skills and knowledge required to self-manage their diabetes through planned, personalized, and pervasive behavior change strategies...