Annals of medicine
-
Drug misuse is a global problem. Markets that supply illegal drugs often span international borders. However, each country has different primary drugs of use, populations that are using and consequences of use. ⋯ Key MessagesWhile the primary approach to addressing drug use has focussed resources on law enforcement for over 100 years, many countries are adopting elements of a public health approach including prevention and treatment of the harms of drug use including substance use disorders. There is a growing global movement to make policy towards drugs and drug users more humane and evidence-based. Donor nation resources can be applied in a variety of combinations to improve care and outcomes for people who use drugs in low- and middle-income countries.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Weight loss via a low-carbohydrate diet improved the intestinal permeability marker, zonulin, in prostate cancer patients.
Accumulating evidence suggest that gut microbiota may impact urologic health including prostate cancer (PC), potentially via affecting intestinal permeability (IP). Studies have indicated that disrupted IP may be improved by healthy diets and weight loss. In the Carbohydrate and Prostate Study 2 (CAPS2) clinical trial, which showed that a low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) reduced weight significantly in men with PC and suggestively slowed PC disease progression, we explored the impact of LCD on an IP marker, zonulin and an inflammation marker, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). ⋯ Future studies are merited to examine further the potential association of IP with inflammation and to clarify if improvement in IP is associated with decreased PC progression. Trial registration: NCT01763944. KEY MESSAGESGut microbiota may impact urologic health including prostate cancer, potentially via affecting intestinal permeability.Weight loss significantly improved intestinal permeability in prostate cancer patients.Improvement in intestinal permeability was associated with slowed prostate cancer progression as indicated by the PSA doubling time.
-
Postural stability and gait are affected by an individual's emotional state. Physical therapy practice does not usually include an explicit assessment of the individual's emotional status. In contrast, complementary movement therapies often include the assessment of "grounding quality", which refers to the individual's physical and emotional stabilities. This study examined the correlation between conventional physical stability measures and grounding quality. ⋯ Although grounding quality and sway measures are somewhat correlated, they focus on different aspects of movement stability. A comprehensive assessment and holistic intervention strategies require incorporating multiple approaches to stability assessment. Further research is necessary to determine the contribution of combining these approaches among individuals with balance impairments.KEY MESSAGESGait stability measures were not correlated to "grounding quality" (a measure of emotional regulation and emotional awareness).Postural sway measures were found to be correlated to "grounding quality" items in the more demanding stance conditions.A comprehensive evaluation of an individual's stability may facilitate reliable and valid objective measurement instruments for both physical and emotional aspects of the movement.
-
Clinical practice guidelines emphasize the importance of the prevention and treatment of non-specific back pain through exercise therapy and health education. However, it has not yet been confirmed that the combination of exercise plus education is more effective than usual medical care. ⋯ Interventions combining exercise and education seem to have a greater preventive effect on non-specific back pain than usual medical care.Key messagesExercise therapy and health education combination prevent better non-specific back pain than usual care.Combining exercise with educational interventions has a higher improvement on disability and kinesophobia than usual care.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Relative fat mass assessment estimates changes in adiposity among female older adults with obesity after a 12-month exercise and diet intervention.
It is imperative to accurately estimate whole body fat percentage (%fat) to understand the deleterious nature of excess adiposity on cardiometabolic disease risk. Cost and accessibility often preclude the use of advanced imaging methods like dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Relative fat mass (RFM) is an emerging estimator of whole body %fat based on waist circumference, height, and biological sex. The purpose of this ancillary study was to examine the relationship between RFM and gold-standard measures of adiposity among community-dwelling older adults with obesity and to evaluate if changes in RFM reflect changes in %fat following a 12-month lifestyle intervention (clinicaltrials.gov #NCT00955903). ⋯ Results support the use of RFM as an estimate of whole body %fat where advanced imaging techniques are not feasible. Furthermore, results suggest that this index is sensitive to changes in fat mass over 12 months in female older adults with obesity. KEY MESSAGESRelative fat mass (RFM), an emerging estimator of whole body %fat based on waist circumference, height, and biological sex, was intentionally developed to be a simple estimate of adiposity that overcomes limitations of measures like body mass index.In the current study, results from correlations and agreement analyses support the use of RFM to estimate whole-body fat percentage in a community-dwelling older adult population with obesity when advanced methods, namely dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, are not feasible.Significant reductions in RFM were also observed over a 12-month period that was significantly correlated with changes in whole body fat percentage; thus, supporting the sensitivity of RFM to lifestyle changes.