The Internet, given its availability and affordability, is increasingly being used for different purposes, including health-related purposes. In this context, the Internet serves as a medium for people to interact frequently with the health care professionals, access health information online, and form and participate in online support groups. Yet, the extant literature has focused mostly on the use ...

The key objective of this study was to assess changes in the oral microbiome in relation to acute stress. Saliva samples were collected to analyze stress hormones and bacterial transcriptomic profiles. The participants underwent a socially evaluative cold pressor task (SECPT), reliably activating the HPA axis and eliciting pain and physiological responses in the participants, respectively (Skoluda ...

Objectives Treatment of oral mucositis (OM) is challenging. In order to develop and test useful treatment approaches, the development of reliable, reproducible and simpler methods than are currently available for assessment of OM is important. A Patient-Reported Oral Mucositis Symptom (PROMS) scale was assessed in patients with head and neck cancer to determine if the patient-reported OM experience, ...

Survival prediction models may serve as decision-support tools for clinicians who have to assign the right treatment to each patient, in a manner whereby harmful over- or undertreatment is avoided as much as possible. Current models differ regarding their components, the overall number of components and the weighting of individual components. Some of the components are easy to assess, such as age ...

Our research focused on assessing lipoprotein subfractions using the Lipoprint LDL® and HDL® system and evaluating metrics associated with HDL function. We examined data from four intervention trials involving high-risk patients of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The interventions included lifestyle changes followed by bariatric surgery for morbidly obese patients, statin and ezetimibe ...

<i>Background:</i> Many clinical studies including mental health interventions do not use a health state utility instrument, which is essential for producing quality-adjusted life years. In the absence of such utility instrument, mapping algorithms can be applied to estimate utilities from a disease-specific instrument.<p> <p><i>Aims:</i> We aim to develop mapping algorithms from two widely used ...

In the field of behavioral neuroscience, it is essential to use the appropriate animal models for the topic of investigation. Using the wrong model can result in false interpretation of the results. In this review we will discuss the animal models used to study sexual behavior, with a focus on rats. We will discuss the potentials and pitfalls of the different paradigms and try to make recommendations ...

Background and Purpose: To investigate how much the method of observation agrees with a standardised review of evidence of clinical examination, for the assessment of clinical otoscopic competence. <br> Methods: 65 medical students took part in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) station using patients with real pathology. Examiners assessed otoscopic competency in tympanic membrane ...

In this article we explore the experiences and practices of care in the context of assisted living facilities (ALFs) in rural areas from the perspectives of family members, health care professionals, and senior citizen interest group representatives. Specifically, we focus on the potential for ALFs to safeguard and unify the health care policy ambitions of equity, quality, and aging in place. Focus ...

Adult height and sitting height may reflect genetic and environmental factors, including early life nutrition, physical and social environments. Previous studies have reported divergent associations for height and chronic disease mortality, with positive associations observed for cancer mortality but inverse associations for circulatory disease mortality. Sitting height might be more strongly ...