Background: Adolescents and young adults in residential care and correctional institutions face various challenges, leading to negative life outcomes. Implementation barriers within these institutions, such as limited financial and spatial resources, pose significant hurdles to providing necessary support. Web-based approaches address these challenges by offering cost-effective, accessible solutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: In 2008, an analysis investigating health impact assessment (HIA) practice found that only 6% of HIA-related peer-reviewed publications had a focus on low- and medium-developed countries, whereas 94% were conducted in countries with a high or very high development state. We aimed to update and deepen these observations.
Methods: We conducted a systematic review, searching PubMed and Web of Science for HIA-related papers published in the scientific literature from June 2007 to January 2023.
Background: Smoking cessation is challenging, despite making use of established smoking cessation therapies. Preclinical studies and one clinical pilot study suggest the antidiabetic drug glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue to modulate addictive behaviours and nicotine craving. Previously, we reported the short-term results of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death. Despite dedicated programmes, quit rates remain low due to barriers such as nicotine withdrawal syndrome or post-cessation weight gain. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogues reduce energy intake and body weight and seem to modulate addictive behaviour.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Quitting smoking is difficult due to barriers such as craving for cigarettes and post-cessation weight gain. Recent experimental data suggest a role of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in the pathophysiology of addiction in addition to appetite regulation and weight control. We hypothesized that a pharmacological intervention with the GLP-1 analogue dulaglutide during smoking cessation may improve abstinence rates and reduce post-cessation weight gain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims Of The Study: Long-term intensive care treatment confers a substantial physical, psychological and social burden on patients, their relatives and the treatment team. It is essential to know the outcome of patients with long-term treatment and to establish factors that possibly can predict mortality. Only few Swiss studies have previously addressed this issue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCascade screening for Tier 1 cancer genetic conditions is a significant public health intervention because it identifies untested relatives of individuals known to carry pathogenic variants associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) and Lynch syndrome (LS). The Swiss CASCADE is a family-based, open-ended cohort, including carriers of HBOC- and LS-associated pathogenic variants and their relatives. This paper describes rates of cascade screening in relatives from HBOC- and LS- harboring families, examines carriers' preferences for communication of testing results, and describes theory-based predictors of intention to invite relatives to a cascade screening program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the safety and acceptance "Vibwife", a new moving mattress to support mobilization of pregnant women during labor.
Design: The study was a prospective medical device clinical study without a control group. The study was designed in intervention phases, with safety evaluation by a safety review board after each intervention phase.
Background: Cough is a common reason for patients to visit general practices. So-called post-infectious cough is defined as lasting 3 to 8 weeks after an upper respiratory tract infection. It can be disabling in daily activities, with substantial impact on physical and psychosocial health, leading to impaired quality of life and increased health care costs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to compare the outcome of two different operative methods to correct pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) in children, i.e., excision and open wound care (OW) versus excision and primary transverse closure (PC) of the wound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncological studies have shown that patients consider small benefits sufficient to make adjuvant chemotherapy worthwhile. We sought to determine the minimal survival benefits that patients considered enough to legitimate allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and the factors associated with patient preferences. One hundred eighty-four patients having previously received allogeneic HCT at our centre were included and completed a questionnaire exploring patient expectations elicited by time trade-off scenarios as well as quality of life (QoL), symptoms of graft-versus host disease (GvHD) and sociodemographic characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated whether intravenous iron supplementation improves fatigue and general health in non-anemic repeat adult blood donors with iron deficiency (ferritin ≤ 50 µg/L). Of 1,487 potentially eligible participants, 203 were randomly assigned to a single intravenous dose of 800 mg iron-carboxymaltose and 202 to placebo; 393 participants completed the trial. At 6 to 8 weeks after intervention, self-rated mean fatigue scores (numeric rating scale from 1-10, primary outcome) were 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe recently conducted a large survey amongst parents of young children exploring attitudes concerning immunisation and the general immunisation status of the children and their parents in Switzerland. Since little is known about the immunisation status of fathers of young children, we present our findings here; data on mothers were previously published elsewhere. We performed standardised interviews with parents of children born on or after 1 January 2013, and hospitalised at the University of Basel Children’s Hospital, Switzerland, between January and June 2017.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Studies have suggested that arginine vasopressin (AVP) and its surrogate marker copeptin increase during exercise, independently of serum sodium and/or osmolality. In extreme cases, this can lead to runners-induced hyponatremia. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) increases during exercise and induces AVP in animal models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPublic Health Genomics
September 2019
Background: An international workshop on cancer predisposition cascade genetic screening for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) and Lynch syndrome (LS) took place in Switzerland, with leading researchers and clinicians in cascade screening and hereditary cancer from different disciplines. The purpose of the workshop was to enhance the implementation of cascade genetic screening in Switzerland. Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with cascade screening for HBOC and LS in Switzerland (CASCADE study); family implications and the need for family-based interventions; the need to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of cascade genetic screening; and interprofessional collaboration needed to lead this initiative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadiolabeled somatostatin (sst) receptor agonists are integral to the diagnosis of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), but detection rates, especially of liver metastases, remain limited even with PET/CT. Ga-OPS202 (Ga-NODAGA-JR11; NODAGA = 1,4,7-triazacyclononane,1-glutaric acid-4,7-acetic acid and JR11 = Cpa-c(dCys-Aph(Hor)-dAph(Cbm)-Lys-Thr-Cys)-dTyr-NH)), a novel radiolabeled sst receptor antagonist with a high affinity for the sst receptor, has the potential to perform better than sst receptor agonists. Here, we present the results of the phase II component of a phase I/II study that evaluated the sensitivity of Ga-OPS202, compared with the reference compound, Ga-DOTATOC (an sst receptor agonist), in PET imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Breast, colorectal, ovarian, and endometrial cancers constitute approximately 30% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in Switzerland, affecting more than 12,000 individuals annually. Hundreds of these patients are likely to carry germline pathogenic variants associated with hereditary breast ovarian cancer (HBOC) or Lynch syndrome (LS). Genetic services (counseling and testing) for hereditary susceptibility to cancer can prevent many cancer diagnoses and deaths through early identification and risk management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Medications are an effective intervention for managing and preventing health problems but their benefit can be undermined by non-adherence or adverse drug events (ADEs). Since these issues may be interconnected, efforts to improve non-adherence should also include reduction of ADEs. We have developed the ISTOP-ADE system (Information Systems-enabled Outreach for Preventing Adverse Drug Events), which enables timely monitoring and managing of ADEs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJapanese encephalitis (JE), a vector-borne viral disease, is endemic to large parts of Asia and the Pacific. An estimated 3 billion people are at risk, and JE has recently spread to new territories. Vaccination programs, increased living standards, and mechanization of agriculture are key factors in the decline in the incidence of this disease in Japan and South Korea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydroelectric projects offer opportunities for infrastructure development and economic growth; yet, if not well designed, implemented and operated, they have the potential to negatively affect the health and well-being of local and distant downstream communities. Remote rural populations are particularly vulnerable to the sudden influx of men, materials and money, and associated population mixing that accompany project construction phases. Two large-scale baseline health surveys, carried out in 2001/2002 in two communities that were affected by the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project in central Lao PDR, were analysed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLymphatic filariasis (LF) is a debilitating disease overwhelmingly caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, which is transmitted by various mosquito species. Here, we present a systematic literature review with the following objectives: (i) to establish global and regional estimates of populations at risk of LF with particular consideration of water resource development projects, and (ii) to assess the effects of water resource development and management on the frequency and transmission dynamics of the disease. We estimate that globally, 2 billion people are at risk of LF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJapanese encephalitis (JE) is a disease caused by an arbovirus that is spread by marsh birds, amplified by pigs, and mainly transmitted by the bite of infected Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquitoes. The estimated annual incidence and mortality rates are 30,000--50,000 and 10,000, respectively, and the estimated global burden of JE in 2002 was 709,000 disability-adjusted life years lost. Here, we discuss the contextual determinants of JE, and systematically examine studies assessing the relationship between irrigated rice agriculture and clinical parameters of JE.
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