The guided use of an e-health tool to strengthen health literacy. A pilot study in a multicultural diabetes population in a primary care clinic in Brussels.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate whether the use of an e-health tool, guided by a healthcare provider, can improve health literacy (HL) in primary care.

Methods: We set up a longitudinal prospective cohort study in a primary care clinic in Brussels. Diabetes patients were invited to participate in two study consultations with a trained healthcare provider, in which an e-health tool was introduced.

Biomolecular Markers within the Core Axis of Aging and Particulate Air Pollution Exposure in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Telomere length and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content are markers of aging and aging-related diseases. There is inconclusive evidence concerning the mechanistic effects of airborne particulate matter (PM) exposure on biomolecular markers of aging.

Objective: The present study examines the association between short- and long-term PM exposure with telomere length and mtDNA content in the elderly and investigates to what extent this association is mediated by expression of genes playing a role in the telomere-mitochondrial axis of aging.

Molecular responses in the telomere-mitochondrial axis of ageing in the elderly: a candidate gene approach.

Experimental evidence shows that telomere shortening induces mitochondrial damage but so far studies in humans are scarce. Here, we investigated the association between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content in elderly and explored possible intermediate mechanisms by determining the gene expression profile of candidate genes in the telomere-mitochondrial axis of ageing. Among 166 non-smoking elderly, LTL, leukocyte mtDNA content and expression of candidate genes: sirtuin1 (SIRT1), tumor protein p53 (TP53), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ-coactivator1α (PGC-1α), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ-coactivator1β (PGC-1β), nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) and nuclear factor, erythroid 2 like 2 (NRF2), using a quantitave real time polymerase chain assay (qPCR).

The Intego database: background, methods and basic results of a Flemish general practice-based continuous morbidity registration project.

Background: Intego is the only operational computerized morbidity registration network in Belgium based on general practice data. Intego collects data from over 90 general practitioners. All the information is routinely collected in the electronic health record during daily practice.

Host and environmental predictors of exhaled breath temperature in the elderly.

Background: Exhaled breath temperature has been suggested as a new method to detect and monitor pathological processes in the respiratory system. The putative mechanism of this approach is based upon changes in the blood flow. So far potential factors that influence breath temperature have not been studied in the general population.

The association between urinary kidney injury molecule 1 and urinary cadmium in elderly during long-term, low-dose cadmium exposure: a pilot study.

Background: Urinary kidney injury molecule 1 is a recently discovered early biomarker for renal damage that has been proven to be correlated to urinary cadmium in rats. However, so far the association between urinary cadmium and kidney injury molecule 1 in humans after long-term, low-dose cadmium exposure has not been studied.

Methods: We collected urine and blood samples from 153 non-smoking men and women aged 60+, living in an area with moderate cadmium pollution from a non-ferrous metal plant for a significant period.

Unhealthy European health policy.

The European Union claims that the defense of its welfare state is one of today's most important challenges. This article analyzes whether the European governments and the European Union really pursue a policy that strengthens their health and social security systems, or one that is in itself a threat to health and social security. After a summary of the origin and evolution of the European health systems, the authors pinpoint underlying reasons for reform and demonstrate how, since the 1990s, the European Union has built a strict financial and political straitjacket, forcing these systems to carry out privatization and cutbacks.