Evaluating Digital Rehabilitation Outcomes in Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions Across Non-Obesity, Obesity, and Severe Obesity.

Background: Obesity is a known risk factor and aggravator of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. The rising prevalence of obesity calls for scalable solutions to address MSK conditions in this population, given their complex clinical profile and barriers to accessing care.

Purpose: To evaluate the engagement and clinical outcomes of a fully remote digital care program in patients with MSK conditions, focusing on those with and without comorbid obesity.

Predicting Pain Response to a Remote Musculoskeletal Care Program for Low Back Pain Management: Development of a Prediction Tool.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) presents with diverse manifestations, necessitating personalized treatment approaches that recognize various phenotypes within the same diagnosis, which could be achieved through precision medicine. Although prediction strategies have been explored, including those employing artificial intelligence (AI), they still lack scalability and real-time capabilities. Digital care programs (DCPs) facilitate seamless data collection through the Internet of Things and cloud storage, creating an ideal environment for developing and implementing an AI predictive tool to assist clinicians in dynamically optimizing treatment.

Exploring the Importance of Race and Gender Concordance Between Patients and Physical Therapists in Digital Rehabilitation for Musculoskeletal Conditions: Observational, Longitudinal Study.

Background: Race/ethnicity and gender concordance between patients and providers is a potential strategy to improve health care interventions. In digital health, where human interactions occur both synchronously and asynchronously, the effect of concordance between patients and providers is unknown.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of race/ethnicity or gender concordance between patients and physical therapists (PTs) in engagement and the clinical outcomes following a digital care program (DCP) in patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

Applying AI to Safely and Effectively Scale Care to Address Chronic MSK Conditions.

: The rising prevalence of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions has not been balanced by a sufficient increase in healthcare providers. Scalability challenges are being addressed through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in some healthcare sectors, with this showing potential to also improve MSK care. Digital care programs (DCP) generate automatically collected data, thus making them ideal candidates for AI implementation into workflows, with the potential to unlock care scalability.

Transforming Veteran Rehabilitation Care: Learnings from a Remote Digital Approach for Musculoskeletal Pain.

While musculoskeletal pain (MSP) stands as the most prevalent health condition among Veterans, timely and high-quality care is often hindered due to access barriers. Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a healthier lifestyle among Veterans, aimed to assess innovative approaches to veteran care. This is a single-arm pilot study investigating the feasibility, clinical outcomes, engagement, and satisfaction of a remote multimodal digital care program among Veterans with MSP.

Recovering Work Productivity in a Population With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Unveiling the Value and Cost-Savings of a Digital Care Program.

Objective: To investigate potential savings obtained from restoring productivity in employees with chronic MSK pain through a digital care program (DCP).

Methods: Secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal study assessing cumulative savings overall or across several industry sectors by analyzing changes in Work Productivity and Activities Impairment (WPAI questionnaire).

Results: Employees from 50 U.

Associations between pain intensity, pain sensitivity, demographics, psychological factors, disability, physical activity, pain phenotype and COVID-19 history in low back pain: An observational study.

Background And Purpose: Knowledge of the factors affecting pain intensity and pain sensitivity can inform treatment targets and strategies aimed at personalizing the intervention, conceivably increasing its positive impact on patients. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between demographic factors (sex and age), body mass index (BMI), psychological factors (anxiety and depression, kinesiophobia and catastrophizing), self-reported physical activity, pain phenotype (symptoms of central sensitization, and nociceptive or neuropathic pain), history of COVID-19 and pain intensity and sensitivity in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (LBP).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional secondary analysis with 83 participants with chronic non-specific LBP recruited from the community between August 2021 and April 2022.

Pericytes modulate endothelial inflammatory response during bacterial infection.

Unlabelled: Pericytes are located around blood vessels, in close contact with endothelial cells. We discovered that pericytes dampen pro-inflammatory endothelial cell responses. Endothelial cells co-cultured with pericytes had markedly reduced expression of adhesion molecules (PECAM-1 and ICAM-1) and proinflammatory cytokines (CCL-2 and IL-6) in response to bacterial stimuli (, , or lipopolysaccharide).

Digital Care Program for Urinary Incontinence in Females: A Large-Scale, Prospective, Cohort Study.

Female urinary incontinence (UI) is highly prevalent in the US (>60%). Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) represents first-line care for UI; however, access and adherence challenges urge new care delivery models. This prospective cohort study investigates the feasibility and safety of a remote digital care program (DCP) combining education and PFMT with real-time biofeedback with an average duration of 10 weeks.

The potential of a multimodal digital care program in addressing healthcare inequities in musculoskeletal pain management.

Digital interventions have emerged as a solution for time and geographical barriers, however, their potential to target other social determinants of health is largely unexplored. In this post-hoc analysis, we report the impact of social deprivation on engagement and clinical outcomes after a completely remote multimodal musculoskeletal (MSK) digital care program managed by a culturally-sensitive clinical team. Patients were stratified in five categories according to their social deprivation index, and cross-referenced with their race/ethnicity, rurality and distance to healthcare facilities.

Comparing Digital to Conventional Physical Therapy for Chronic Shoulder Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Chronic shoulder pain (CSP) is a common condition with various etiologies, including rotator cuff disorders, adhesive capsulitis, shoulder instability, and shoulder arthritis. It is associated with substantial disability and psychological distress, resulting in poor productivity and quality of life. Physical therapy constitutes the mainstay treatment for CSP, but several barriers exist in accessing care.

Managing Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults Through a Digital Care Solution: Secondary Analysis of a Prospective Clinical Study.

Background: Aging is closely associated with an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions. Digital musculoskeletal care interventions emerged to deliver timely and proper rehabilitation; however, older adults frequently face specific barriers and concerns with digital care programs (DCPs).

Objective: This study aims to investigate whether known barriers and concerns of older adults impacted their participation in or engagement with a DCP or the observed clinical outcomes in comparison with younger individuals.

Pain intensity and pain sensitivity are not increased by a single session of high-intensity interval aerobic exercise in individuals with chronic low back pain: A randomized and controlled trial.

Background: Evidence on the acute impact of high-intensity interval aerobic exercise on pain is scarce. This type of exercise might be perceived as increasing pain intensity and pain sensitivity negatively impacting adherence. More evidence on the acute effects of high-intensity interval aerobic exercise in individuals with low back pain (LBP) is needed.

Randomized-controlled trial assessing a digital care program versus conventional physiotherapy for chronic low back pain.

Low back pain (LBP) is the world's leading cause of years lived with disability. Digital exercise-based interventions have shown great potential in the management of musculoskeletal conditions, promoting access and easing the economic burden. However, evidence of their effectiveness for chronic LBP (CLBP) management compared to in-person physiotherapy has yet to be unequivocally established.

Combining Chitosan Nanoparticles and Garlic Essential Oil as Additive Fillers to Produce Pectin-Based Nanocomposite Edible Films.

Edible films were produced by combining a pectin (PEC) matrix with chitosan nanopar-ticle (CSNP), polysorbate 80 (T80), and garlic essential oil (GEO) as an antimicrobial agent. CSNPs were analyzed for their size and stability, and the films, throughout their contact angle, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical and thermal properties, water vapor transmission rate, and antimicrobial activity. Four filming-forming suspensions were investigated: PGEO (control); PGEO@T80; PGEO@CSNP; PGEO@T80@CSNP.

Influence of Immobilization Strategies on the Antibacterial Properties of Antimicrobial Peptide-Chitosan Coatings.

It is key to fight bacterial adhesion to prevent biofilm establishment on biomaterials. Surface immobilization of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) is a promising strategy to avoid bacterial colonization. This work aimed to investigate whether the direct surface immobilization of Dhvar5, an AMP with head-to-tail amphipathicity, would improve the antimicrobial activity of chitosan ultrathin coatings.

Engagement and Utilization of a Complete Remote Digital Care Program for Musculoskeletal Pain Management in Urban and Rural Areas Across the United States: Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Background: Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions are the number one cause of disability worldwide. Digital care programs (DCPs) for MSK pain management have arisen as alternative care delivery models to circumvent challenges in accessibility of conventional therapy. Despite the potential of DCPs to reduce inequities in accessing care, the outcomes of such interventions in rural and urban populations have yet to be studied.

Sleep Disturbance in Musculoskeletal Conditions: Impact of a Digital Care Program.

Background: Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is highly prevalent worldwide, resulting in significant disability, and comorbid sleep disturbances. Digital therapy for MSK pain can provide significant improvements in care access, alongside pain and disability reductions. However, studies on the effect of such programs on sleep are lacking.

Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of a Remote Digital Musculoskeletal Program: An Ad Hoc Analysis from a Longitudinal Study with a Non-Participant Comparison Group.

Digital solutions have emerged as an alternative to conventional physiotherapy, particularly for chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) management; however, its long-term effects remain largely unexplored. This study focuses on patients reporting CMP, assessing 1-year clinical outcomes after a multimodal digital care program (DCP) versus non-participants, who enrolled in the program but never engaged in a single exercise session or partook of the educational content made available to them. In this longitudinal study ad-hoc analysis, pain and functionality outcomes at 1-year reassessment were studied, focusing on the odds of reaching minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and, overall average reduction in both outcomes.

Impact on productivity impairment of a digital care program for chronic low back pain: A prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability in the United States and the main reason for absenteeism. Successful management of chronic LBP (CLBP) is dependent on multimodal evidence-based interventions. Digital interventions (DI) may ease accessibility to such treatments, increasing adherence, while reducing healthcare-related costs.

Fear Avoidance Beliefs in Upper-Extremity Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions: Secondary Analysis of a Prospective Clinical Study on Digital Care Programs.

Background: Fear-avoidance beliefs (FAB) have been associated with poorer prognosis and decreased adherence to exercise-based treatments in musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. However, the impact of high FAB on adherence and outcomes in upper extremity MSK (UEMSK) pain is poorly explored, particularly through exercise-based digital care programs (DCP).

Objective: Assess the adherence levels, clinical outcomes and satisfaction in patients with UEMSK pain and elevated FAB after a fully remote multimodal DCP.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Outcomes of a 12-Week Digital Rehabilitation Program for Musculoskeletal Pain: Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Background: Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain disproportionately affects people from different ethnic backgrounds through higher burden and less access to care. Digital care programs (DCPs) can improve access and help reduce inequities. However, the outcomes of such programs based on race and ethnicity have yet to be studied.

Rumen ciliates (Alveolata, Ciliophora) associated with goats: checklist, geographic distribution, host specificity, phylogeny and molecular dating.

Although the diversity (~35 species) and worldwide distribution of goats (Ruminantia, Bovidae, Caprinae) are significant, studies on the diversity of symbiont ciliates in these mammals are scarce in comparison to other ruminants. The present work is a review and checklist of species based on taxonomic, morphologic, and ecologic studies of rumen ciliate protozoa in goats, presenting geographic distribution and hosts, as well as estimating the macroevolutionary relationships of the species observed in the studies. To that end, all of the available literature on databases was reviewed, the schematic drawings were made based on information present in the original description of the taxa, and the phylogenetic relationships were inferred based on Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses.