Blockchain Applications for Healthcare Data Management.

Objectives: This pilot study aimed to provide an overview of the potential for blockchain technology in the healthcare system. The review covers technological topics from storing medical records in blockchains through patient personal data ownership and mobile apps for patient outreach.

Methods: We performed a preliminary survey to fill the gap that exists between purely technically focused manuscripts about blockchains, on the one hand, and the literature that is mostly concerned with marketing discussions about their expected economic impact on the other hand.

Medical Internet of Things and Big Data in Healthcare.

Objectives: A number of technologies can reduce overall costs for the prevention or management of chronic illnesses. These include devices that constantly monitor health indicators, devices that auto-administer therapies, or devices that track real-time health data when a patient self-administers a therapy. Because they have increased access to high-speed Internet and smartphones, many patients have started to use mobile applications (apps) to manage various health needs.

Systems approaches to computational modeling of the oral microbiome.

Current microbiome research has generated tremendous amounts of data providing snapshots of molecular activity in a variety of organisms, environments, and cell types. However, turning this knowledge into whole system level of understanding on pathways and processes has proven to be a challenging task. In this review we highlight the applicability of bioinformatics and visualization techniques to large collections of data in order to better understand the information that contains related diet-oral microbiome-host mucosal transcriptome interactions.

Advantages of bariatric medicine for individualized prevention and treatments: multidisciplinary approach in body culture and prevention of obesity and diabetes.

Bariatric surgery is a component of the multimodal treatment of obesity, which consists of multidisciplinary evaluation and diagnosis, conservative and surgical treatments, and lifelong follow-up care. The current guideline extends the BMI-based spectrum of indications that was previously proposed (BMI greater than 40 kg/m(2), or greater than 35 kg/m(2) with secondary diseases) by eliminating age limits, as well as most of the contraindications. A prerequisite for surgery is that a structured, conservative weight-loss program has failed or is considered to be futile.

The human gutome: nutrigenomics of the host-microbiome interactions.

Demonstrating the importance of the gut microbiota in human health and well-being represents a major transformational task in both medical and nutritional research. Owing to the high-throughput -omics methodologies, the complexity, evolution with age, and individual nature of the gut microflora have been more thoroughly investigated. The balance between this complex community of gut bacteria, food nutrients, and intestinal genomic and physiological milieu is increasingly recognized as a major contributor to human health and disease.

Current healthcare in Bulgaria: time for predictive diagnostics and preventive medicine.

Since 1990 Bulgaria gradually moved from monopolistic to market regulated economy and healthcare. In 2007 the country became member of the European Union and started to adopt EU legislations. However, significant gaps between the average European and Bulgarian level of social, health and economic efficiency remain to be narrowed.