This study examines the effects of gain-loss framing, messaging modality, peer influence, and individual factors such as social norms and self-efficacy on the attitudes and intentions to reduce sedentary behaviors among university students, specifically through (a) taking breaks and (b) taking 10,000 steps daily. We conducted a two-week health campaign field experiment on Instagram in January 2022, delivering ten posts with tailored messages to 284 university students in Singapore (valid N = 249). The participants were predominantly female (70.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To pilot a digital health technologies ecosystem known as project SingaporeWALK (earables and pps for ommunity iving and nowledge) that build capacity in older adults, senior center managers, health coaches, and caregivers in using health technologies (eg, wearables, apps, exergames) collaboratively in a gamified way for active aging.
Materials And Methods: The SingaporeWALK ecosystem was set up through 3 initiatives: (1) co-developing technologies with stakeholders; (2) raising digital literacy and capacity building; and (3) cultivating community and intergenerational bonding for active aging through gamified technology use.
Results: Significant improvements in older adults' self-reported physical and mental health post-intervention were observed.
Introduction: Metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) has demonstrated safety in its usage in the adolescent population and can aid in curbing the rising obesity epidemic. However, long-term data surrounding durability of MBS in this population is limited. This study aims to examine both short and long-term outcomes of MBS in adolescents, as well as identify patient characteristics and demographics that may impact operative safety and durability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Anaphylaxis was the first serious adverse event (AE) of special interest surfaced in Singapore following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Individuals who developed physician-diagnosed severe allergic reactions to the mRNA vaccines would be medically ineligible for mRNA vaccines and offered non-mRNA alternatives. This paper describes anaphylaxis reports received by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and presents a review of individuals who received heterologous COVID-19 vaccination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: People with disabilities face significant healthcare disparities due to barriers to accessing care, negative attitudes of providers, and lack of education on disabilities for healthcare professionals. Physicians report discomfort when interacting with patients with disabilities, adding to the disparity, warranting research on medical school education.
Objective: Two educational interventions were structured: (1) a brief 2-h intervention in the mandatory curriculum and (2) a 9-week elective course which included interactions with individuals with disabilities through workshops and partner programs.
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread public health and financial crisis. The rapid vaccine development generated extensive discussions in both mainstream and social media, sparking optimism in the global financial markets. This study aims to explore the key themes from mainstream media's coverage of COVID-19 vaccines on Facebook and examine how public interactions and responses on Facebook to mainstream media's posts are associated with daily stock prices and trade volume of major vaccine manufacturers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study assesses the impact of single-player and multiplayer exergaming modes on improving exercise intentions, reduction of fear of falling, and emotional well-being among older adults, primarily from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds-a group often underrepresented in exergame research. We engaged 48 participants, primarily from low-SES communities in Singapore for a 4-week community-based exergaming intervention. Participants were divided into four groups as follows: (1) conventional exercise alone, (2) exergames alone, (3) exergames with a health coach, and (4) exergames with a peer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFargue that to gain a more accurate and complete understanding of how social media influence vaccine sentiments and vaccination, gaining a better understanding of communication inequalities and data absenteeism is critical
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth apps and wearables are touted to improve physical health and mental well-being. However, it is unclear from existing research the extent to which these health technologies are efficacious in improving physical and mental well-being at a population level, particularly for the underserved groups from the perspective of health equity and social determinants. Also, it is unclear if the relationship between health apps and wearables use and physical and mental well-being differs across individualistic, collectivistic, and a mix of individual-collectivistic cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Digital health technologies have the potential to improve health outcomes for older adults, especially for those recovering from stroke. However, there are challenges to developing these technologies, such as data absenteeism (where older adults' views are often underrepresented in research and development) and technology chauvinism (the belief that sophisticated technology alone is the panacea to addressing health problems), which hinder their effectiveness.
Objective: In this study, we aimed to address these challenges by developing a wearable glove integrated with culturally relevant exergames to motivate older adults to exercise and, for those recovering from stroke, to adhere to rehabilitation.
Background: Contact tracing technology has been adopted in many countries to aid in identifying, evaluating, and handling individuals who have had contact with those infected with COVID-19. Singapore was among the countries that actively implemented the government-led contact tracing program known as TraceTogether. Despite the benefits the contact tracing program could provide to individuals and the community, privacy issues were a significant barrier to individuals' acceptance of the program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Postoperative constipation after bariatric surgery is a common complaint, decreasing patient quality of life. No literature exists examining the efficacy of a preoperative bowel regimen in reducing postoperative constipation in this cohort. This study aims explore the efficacy of a well-established bowel regimen, polyethylene glycol (PEG), in reducing constipation frequency and severity after bariatric surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study employs a modified cognitive mediation model to investigate the role of health valuation and fear in shaping media attention, factual knowledge, and perceived familiarity with COVID-19 contact tracing apps. Data were collected from a national survey of 906 Singaporeans, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the results. Findings indicated that both fear of COVID-19 and health valuation were positively associated with newspapers, television, and social media attention, with health valuation demonstrating a stronger association with each media type.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe advancement of health apps and wearables has garnered substantial academic attention, particularly in examining why individuals decide to use or not use them. In response to the extensive body of research on this topic, we conducted a scoping review of 61 articles published from 2007 to 2022, aiming to examine the dominant theoretical frameworks and antecedents of health apps and wearables use. The findings demonstrated that the dominant theoretical frameworks within this domain were rooted in the human-computer interaction theories, notably the Technology Acceptance Model and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRGLS4326 is a short oligonucleotide inhibitor of microRNA-17 (miR-17) that preferentially distributes to the kidney and displaces miR-17 from translationally active polysomes. Here, we present pharmacokinetics and absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion properties of RGLS4326 from mice and monkeys. RGLS4326 was absorbed rapidly after subcutaneous administration, distributed extensively to the kidney and liver, with preferential distribution to the kidney, and cleared rapidly from plasma by tissue uptake and renal excretion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Previous studies on online smoking cessation communities (OSCCs) have shown how such networks contribute to members' health outcomes from behavior influence and social support perspectives. However, these studies rarely considered the incentive function of OSCCs. One of the ways OSCCs motivate smoking cessation behaviors is through digital incentives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examines the proliferation of COVID-19 misinformation through Plandemic-a pseudo-documentary of COVID-19 conspiracy theories-on social media and examines how factors such as (a) themes of misinformation, (b) types of misinformation, (c) sources of misinformation, (d) emotions of misinformation, and (e) fact-checking labels amplify or attenuate online misinformation during the early days of the pandemic. Using CrowdTangle, a Facebook API, we collected a total of 5732 publicly available Facebook pages posts containing Plandemic-related keywords from January 1 to December 19, 2020. A random sample of 600 posts was subsequently coded, and the data were analyzed using negative binomial regression to examine factors associated with amplification and attenuation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common comorbidity associated with obesity, particularly in patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 50 kg/m. We aim to study real-world T2DM long-term remission in patients with BMI ≥ 50 kg/m following Roux-En-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) or sleeve gastrectomy (SG).
Methods: This was a retrospective study of the electronic medical records of all patients with BMI ≥ 50 kg/m, T2DM, and have undergone RYGB or SG at three tertiary referral centers in the United States.
Background: Understanding older people's health-seeking behavior (HSB) is crucial for uncovering their health needs and priorities and developing appropriate policies to address them and avert their disease progression. Technologies play an active role in our daily lives and have been incorporated into health activities to support the older population and facilitate their HSB. However, previous studies of HSB have mainly focused on behaviors during illness, and there are limited studies on how technologies have been used in older people's health-seeking activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrawing upon the social amplification of risk (SARF) and the issue-attention cycle framework, we examined the amplification of COVID-19 risk-related tweets through (a) topics: key interests of discussion; (b) temperament: emotions of tweets; (c) topography (i.e., location); and (d) temporality (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Human Behav
January 2023
Despite widespread concerns that misinformation is rampant on social media, little systematic and empirical research has been conducted on whether and how news consumption via social media affects people's accurate knowledge about COVID-19. Against this background, this study examines the causal effects of social media use on COVID-19 knowledge (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), among the most common human genetic conditions and a frequent etiology of kidney failure, is primarily caused by heterozygous PKD1 mutations. Kidney cyst formation occurs when PKD1 dosage falls below a critical threshold. However, no framework exists to harness the remaining allele or reverse PKD1 decline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, distorted information about the COVID-19 vaccination is widely disseminated through social media. The present study examined the association between perceived information distortion about COVID-19 vaccination on social media, individuals' functional and critical literacy, and addictive social media use (SMU), as well as the moderating roles of functional and critical literacy in the association between perceived information distortion and addictive SMU among social media users in Hong Kong. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 411 Chinese citizens from June to August 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol
July 2022
The primary objectives of this study were to investigate the suitability of a 6-probe cocktail (caffeine, tolbutamide, omeprazole, dextromethorphan, midazolam, and digoxin) to be used as a tool for assessing the activity of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters, and examine differences in the way drugs are handled among groups with different genetic regulation of these processes. This was a single-center, open-label, phase I clinical study involving 20 young, healthy Chinese volunteers (equal gender distribution). The subjects were administered a single, oral dose of the 6-probe cocktail and serum samples were collected to assess the disposition of the different probe substrates and produced metabolites.
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