Quality assessment of mHealth apps: a scoping review.

Introduction: The number of mHealth apps has increased rapidly during recent years. Literature suggests a number of problems and barriers to the adoption of mHealth apps, including issues such as validity, usability, as well as data privacy and security. Continuous quality assessment and assurance systems might help to overcome these barriers.

Corrigendum: Integration of digital health applications into the German healthcare system: development of "The DiGA-Care Path".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/frhs.2024.

Problems and Barriers Related to the Use of mHealth Apps From the Perspective of Patients: Focus Group and Interview Study.

Background: Since fall 2020, mobile health (mHealth) apps have become an integral part of the German health care system. The belief that mHealth apps have the potential to make the health care system more efficient, close gaps in care, and improve the economic outcomes related to health is unwavering and already partially confirmed. Nevertheless, problems and barriers in the context of mHealth apps usually remain unconsidered.

Integration of digital health applications into the German healthcare system: development of "The DiGA-Care Path".

Introduction: Since 2019 people who have insured in the German statutory health insurance are entitled to use certified apps called the Digitale Gesundheitsanwendungen [Digital Health Applications (DiGAs)]. The prerequisite for this is that an app certified as DiGA and suitable for their diagnosis exists. The DiGA can then either be prescribed by a physician or psychotherapist or requested by the patient from the statutory health insurance fund.

Competence-based catalog of learning objectives for the subject area of quality management in medical studies - position paper of the working group Quality Management in Education, Training and Continuing Education of the Society for Quality Management in Health Care (GQMG).

Background: Traditionally, direct medical competences are taught in medical studies, whereas leadership and quality management competences are hardly taught, although graduates are already confronted with management tasks at the beginning of their clinical work. With the upcoming amendment of the Medical Licensing Regulations, this topic area will probably be addressed and must be adequately taught by the faculties. The learning objectives in the area of quality management listed in the current working version of the German National Catalogue of Learning Objectives in Medicine (NKLM) 2.

Methylated Septin9 identified patients with colorectal carcinoma and showed higher sensitivity than conventional biomarkers in detecting tumor.

Introduction: It is worth noting the limitations in sensitivity of the existing biomarkers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen (CA 19-9) in detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). In our study, we address the performance of the liquid biopsy biomarker "methylated septin 9" (mSEPT9) in the detection and disease surveillance of CRC.

Materials And Methods: The monocentric prospective survey encompassed 120 patients diagnosed with CRC who underwent planned curative resection between December 2018 and December 2020.

Problems and Barriers Related to the Use of Digital Health Applications: Scoping Review.

Background: The digitization of health care led to a steady increase in the adoption and use of mobile health (mHealth) apps. Germany is the first country in the world to cover the costs of mHealth apps through statutory health insurance. Although the benefits of mHealth apps are discussed in detail, aspects of problems and barriers are rarely studied.

Synovex ONE Grower improves growth performance for at least 200 days in growing beef steers and heifers fed in confinement for slaughter.

Growth-promoting implants are broadly used in the feedlot industry to improve growth performance and to increase production efficiencies. With cattle being fed longer and to heavier weights, there is demand for extended-release implants that payout for at least 200 d. Our objective was to evaluate feedlot growth of Synovex ONE Grower, a moderate potency (150 mg trenbolone acetate [TBA] and 21 mg estradiol benzoate [EB]), extended-release, growth-promoting implant for 200 d.

Quality Assessment of Digital Health Applications: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

Background: All over the world, development and usage of mobile health (mHealth) apps is increasing. While apps offer numerous opportunities to improve health care, there are associated problems that differ significantly from those of traditional health care services. Further investigations on the quality of mHealth apps are needed to address these problems.

Problems and Barriers Related to the Use of Digital Health Applications: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

Background: The use of mobile health (mHealth) apps is increasing rapidly worldwide. More and more institutions and organizations develop regulations and guidelines to enable an evidence-based and safe use. In Germany, mHealth apps fulfilling predefined criteria (Digitale Gesundheitsanwendungen [DiGA]) can be prescribed and are reimbursable by the German statutory health insurance scheme.

Differentiation of physical and chemical cross-linking in gelatin methacryloyl hydrogels.

Gelatin methacryloyl (GM) hydrogels have been investigated for almost 20 years, especially for biomedical applications. Recently, strengthening effects of a sequential cross-linking procedure, whereby GM hydrogel precursor solutions are cooled before chemical cross-linking, were reported. It was hypothesized that physical and enhanced chemical cross-linking of the GM hydrogels contribute to the observed strengthening effects.

Publisher Correction: The choice of biopolymer is crucial to trigger angiogenesis with vascular endothelial growth factor releasing coatings.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-020-06463-w.

The choice of biopolymer is crucial to trigger angiogenesis with vascular endothelial growth factor releasing coatings.

Bio-based coatings and release systems for pro-angiogenic growth factors are of interest to overcome insufficient vascularization and bio-integration of implants. This study compares different biopolymer-based coatings on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membranes in terms of coating homogeneity and stability, coating thickness in the swollen state, endothelial cell adhesion, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release and pro-angiogenic properties. Coatings consisted of carbodiimide cross-linked gelatin type A (GelA), type B (GelB) or albumin (Alb), and heparin (Hep), or they consisted of radically cross-linked gelatin methacryloyl-acetyl (GM5A5) and heparin methacrylate (HepM5).

Advanced gelatin-based vascularization bioinks for extrusion-based bioprinting of vascularized bone equivalents.

Bone tissue is highly vascularized. The crosstalk of vascular and osteogenic cells is not only responsible for the formation of the strongly divergent tissue types but also for their physiological maintenance and repair. Extrusion-based bioprinting presents a promising fabrication method for bone replacement.

Advanced formulation of methacryl- and acetyl-modified biomolecules to achieve independent control of swelling and stiffness in printable hydrogels.

Biobased hydrogels are considered to mimic native extracellular matrix due to their high water content and are considered as adequate matrices for cell encapsulation. However, the equilibrium degree of swelling (EDS) and stiffness of simple hydrogel formulations are typically confined: Increasing polymer concentration results in increasing stiffness and simultaneously decreasing EDS. The aim of this contribution was to decouple this standard correlation between polymer content, stiffness and EDS as well as the assembly of hydrogels with graded composition of hydrogels by layer-wise printing.

Physical Interactions Strengthen Chemical Gelatin Methacryloyl Gels.

Chemically cross-linkable gelatin methacryloyl (GM) derivatives are getting increasing attention regarding biomedical applications. Thus, thorough investigations are needed to achieve full understanding and control of the physico-chemical behavior of these promising biomaterials. We previously introduced gelatin methacryloyl acetyl (GMA) derivatives, which can be used to control physical network formation (solution viscosity, sol-gel transition) independently from chemical cross-linking by variation of the methacryloyl-to-acetyl ratio.

Beyond the Modification Degree: Impact of Raw Material on Physicochemical Properties of Gelatin Type A and Type B Methacryloyls.

Gelatin methacryloyl (acetyl) (GM(A)) is increasingly investigated for various applications in life sciences and medicine, for example, drug release or tissue engineering. Gelatin type A and type B are utilized for G M(A) and G M(A) preparation, but the impact of gelatin raw material on modification reaction and resulting polymer properties is rather unknown so far. Therefore, the degrees of modification (DMA) and physicochemical properties of five G M(A) and G M(A) derivatives are compared: The degrees of methacryloylation (0.

A versatile perfusion bioreactor and endothelializable photo cross-linked tubes of gelatin methacryloyl as promising tools in tissue engineering.

Size and function of bioartificial tissue models are still limited due to the lack of blood vessels and dynamic perfusion for nutrient supply. In this study, we evaluated the use of cytocompatible methacryl-modified gelatin for the fabrication of a hydrogel-based tube by dip-coating and subsequent photo-initiated cross-linking. The wall thickness of the tubes and the diameter were tuned by the degree of gelatin methacryl-modification and the number of dipping cycles.

New Approaches to Respiratory Assist: Bioengineering an Ambulatory, Miniaturized Bioartificial Lung.

Although state-of-the-art treatments of respiratory failure clearly have made some progress in terms of survival in patients suffering from severe respiratory system disorders, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), they failed to significantly improve the quality of life in patients with acute or chronic lung failure, including severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or ARDS as well. Limitations of standard treatment modalities, which largely rely on conventional mechanical ventilation, emphasize the urgent, unmet clinical need for developing novel (bio)artificial respiratory assist devices that provide extracorporeal gas exchange with a focus on direct extracorporeal CO2 removal from the blood. In this review, we discuss some of the novel concepts and critical prerequisites for such respiratory lung assist devices that can be used with an adequate safety profile, in the intensive care setting, as well as for long-term domiciliary therapy in patients with chronic ventilatory failure.

Improved vasculogenesis and bone matrix formation through coculture of endothelial cells and stem cells in tissue-specific methacryloyl gelatin-based hydrogels.

The coculture of osteogenic and angiogenic cells and the resulting paracrine signaling via soluble factors are supposed to be crucial for successfully engineering vascularized bone tissue equivalents. In this study, a coculture system combining primary human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and primary human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) within two types of hydrogels based on methacryloyl-modified gelatin (GM) as three-dimensional scaffolds was examined for its support of tissue specific cell functions. HDMECs, together with hASCs as supporting cells, were encapsulated in soft GM gels and were indirectly cocultured with hASCs encapsulated in stiffer GM hydrogels additionally containing methacrylate-modified hyaluronic acid and hydroxyapatite particles.

Photoinduced Cleavage and Hydrolysis of o-Nitrobenzyl Linker and Covalent Linker Immobilization in Gelatin Methacryloyl Hydrogels.

Light-induced release systems can be triggered remotely and are of interest for many controlled release applications due to the possibility for spatio-temporal release control. In this study a biotin-functionalized photocleavable macromer is incorporated with an o-nitrobenzyl moiety into gelatin methacryloyl(-acetyl) hydrogels via radical cross-linking. Stronger immobilization of streptavidin-coupled horseradish peroxidase occurs in linker-functionalized hydrogels compared to pure gelatin methacryloyl(-acetyl) hydrogels, and a controlled release of the streptavidin conjugate upon UV-irradiation is possible.

Interactions of methacryloylated gelatin and heparin modulate physico-chemical properties of hydrogels and release of vascular endothelial growth factor.

Gelatin hydrogels are used as tissue engineering scaffolds and systems for controlled release due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility. In this study gelatin methacryloyl(-acetyl) (GM/A) with various degrees of methacryloylation (DM) and methacryl-modified heparin (HepM) were cross-linked radically via thermal-redox initiation. Investigation of gel yields (79.

Quantification of Substitution of Gelatin Methacryloyl: Best Practice and Current Pitfalls.

Cross-linkable gelatin methacryloyl (GM) is widely used for the generation of artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) in tissue engineering. However, the quantification of modified groups in GM is still an unsolved issue, although this is the key factor for tailoring the physicochemical material properties. In this contribution, H-C-HSQC NMR spectra are used to gain detailed structural information on GMs and of 2-fold modified gelatin containing methacryloyl and acetyl groups (GMAs).

Bone matrix production in hydroxyapatite-modified hydrogels suitable for bone bioprinting.

Though bioprinting is a forward-looking approach in bone tissue engineering, the development of bioinks which are on the one hand processable with the chosen printing technique, and on the other hand possess the relevant mechanical as well as osteoconductive features remains a challenge. In the present study, polymer solutions based on methacrylated gelatin and methacrylated hyaluronic acid modified with hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles (5 wt%) were prepared. Encapsulation of primary human adipose-derived stem cells in the HAp-containing gels and culture for 28 d resulted in a storage moduli significantly increased to 126% ± 9.

Controlled Release of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor from Heparin-Functionalized Gelatin Type A and Albumin Hydrogels.

Bio-based release systems for pro-angiogenic growth factors are of interest, to overcome insufficient vascularization and bio-integration of implants. In this study, we investigated heparin-functionalized hydrogels based on gelatin type A or albumin as storage and release systems for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The hydrogels were crosslinked using carbodiimide chemistry in presence of heparin.