Ilayda Firlar, Mine Altunbek, Colleen McCarthy
et al.
Chronic wounds severely affect 1–2% of the population in developed countries. It has been reported that nearly 6.5 million people in the United States suffer from at least one chronic wound in their lifetime. The treatment of chronic wounds is critical for maintaining the physical and mental well-being of patients and improving their quality of life. There are a host of methods for the treatment of chronic wounds, including debridement, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, ultrasound, and electromagnetic therapies, negative pressure wound therapy, skin grafts, and hydrogel dressings. Among these, hydrogel dressings represent a promising and viable choice because their tunable functional properties, such as biodegradability, adhesivity, and antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and pre-angiogenic bioactivities, can accelerate the healing of chronic wounds. This review summarizes the types of chronic wounds, phases of the healing process, and key therapeutic approaches. Hydrogel-based dressings are reviewed for their multifunctional properties and their advantages for the treatment of chronic wounds. Examples of commercially available hydrogel dressings are also provided to demonstrate their effectiveness over other types of wound dressings for chronic wound healing.
Chronic wounds have become a significant threat to people's physical and mental health and have increased the burden of social medical care. Intelligent wound dressing (IWD) with wound condition monitoring and closed‐loop on‐demand drug therapy can shorten the healing process and alleviate patient suffering. However, single‐function wound dressings cannot meet the current needs of chronic wound treatment. Here, a wearable IWD consisting of wound exudate management, sensor monitoring, closed‐loop therapy, and flexible circuit modules is reported, which can achieve effective synergy between wound exudate management and on‐demand wound therapy. The dressing is attached to the wound site, and the wound exudate is spontaneously pumped into the microfluidic channel for storage. Meanwhile, the IWD can detect the state of the wound through the temperature and humidity sensor, and use this as feedback to control the liquid metal (LM) heater through a smartphone, thereby realizing the on‐demand drug release from the hydrogel. In a mouse model of infected wounds, IWD accelerates wound healing by reducing inflammatory responses, promoting angiogenesis and collagen deposition.
Md. Rizwanul Karim, Md. Faruq Alam, Niaz Mohammad Khan
et al.
Background Mental health service utilisation (MHSU) in Bangladesh remains limited due to cultural, social and structural barriers, including stigma, reliance on traditional healing practices, concerns about medication and restricted access to care. This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally appropriate tool to assess barriers to MHSU and to examine sociodemographic, clinical and psychosocial factors associated with these barriers.Methods Data were drawn from the National Mental Health Survey of Bangladesh (August 2019–May 2020), a multicentre, community-based study using stratified cluster random sampling across 496 primary sampling units (PSUs). A total of 7238 adults were included. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the Barriers to Mental Health Service Utilization Scale (BMHSUS). Binary logistic regression identified predictors of perceived barriers.Results Confirmatory factor analysis validated a four-factor, eight-item BMHSUS with strong psychometric properties. Overall, nearly three-quarters of participants reported at least one barrier to mental health service utilisation, with social concerns (47%) and perceived stigma (39%) emerging as the most prevalent obstacles. Females had significantly lower odds of reporting barriers than males (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.49; 95% CI 0.38 to 0.61), and urban residents were less likely than rural residents to report barriers (AOR=0.84; 95% CI 0.75 to 0.94). Individuals with depressive (AOR=1.48; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.90) and anxiety disorders (AOR=1.75; 95% CI 1.28 to 2.39) were more likely to experience barriers. Higher stigma-related scores for relationship disruption, anxiety and hygiene concerns were associated with increased barriers, whereas favourable beliefs about treatability and recovery reduced the odds (AOR=0.89; 95% CI 0.88 to 0.90).Conclusions The BMHSUS is a reliable and culturally valid tool for assessing barriers to MHSU in Bangladesh. Addressing stigma, geographic inequities and disorder-specific vulnerabilities is essential to improving access to mental health services and informing evidence-based policy and intervention strategies.
Wound healing is a complex and dynamic physiological process consisting of a series of cellular and molecular events that initiate immediately after a tissue lesion, to reconstruct the skin layer. It is indubitable that patients with chronic wounds, severely infected wounds, or any metabolic disorder of the wound microenvironment always endure severe pain and discomfort that affect their quality of life. It is essential to treat chronic wounds for conserving the physical as well as mental well-being of affected patients and for convalescing to improve their quality of life. For supporting and augmenting the healing process, the selection of pertinent wound dressing is essential. A substantial reduction in healing duration, disability, associated cost, and risk of recurrent infections can be achieved via engineering wound dressings. Hydrogels play a leading role in the path of engineering ideal wound dressings. Hydrogels, comprising water to a large extent, providing a moist environment, being comfortable to patients, and having biocompatible and biodegradable properties, have found their success as suitable wound dressings in the market. The exploitation of hydrogels is increasing perpetually after substantiation of their broader therapeutic actions owing to their resemblance to dermal tissues, their capability to stimulate partial skin regeneration, and their ability to incorporate therapeutic moieties promoting wound healing. This review entails properties of hydrogel supporting wound healing, types of hydrogels, cross-linking mechanisms, design considerations, and formulation strategies of hydrogel engineering. Various categories of hydrogel wound dressing fabricated recently are discussed based on their gel network composition, degradability, and physical and chemical cross-linking mechanisms, which provide an outlook regarding the importance of tailoring the physicochemical properties of hydrogels. The examples of marketed hydrogel wound dressings are also incorporated along with the future perspectives and challenges associated with them.
Background: The increased number of quarry activities in Ogu State Nigeria without the commensurate provision of safety resources is an issue of great concern to public health. This study examines the occupational health and safety risks related to quarrying activities among workers.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey research design was used, The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire developed by the researchers which were: The Knowledge of Occupational Safety and Health-Hazards Questionnaire (KOSHQ) (r = 0.75) and Relationship between Occupational Hazards and Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire (ROHPWQ) (r = 0.84). Descriptive statistics of percentage/frequency were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the participants while Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses
Results: The findings of the study showed that there was a strong, positive, and significant relationship between knowledge of occupational safety, health hazards, and the health of quarry workers (r = 0.940, p-value < 0.05); also, there was a very strong, positive, and significant relationship between occupational hazards and psychological well-being of quarry workers (r = 0.911, p-value < 0.05). a very strong, positive, and significant relationship was observed between knowledge of occupational safety, health hazards, and the health of quarry workers (r = 0.940, p-value < 0.05), there also exists a very strong, positive and significant relationship between occupational hazards and psychological well-being of quarry workers with (r = 0.911, p-value < 0.05).
Conclusion: The study concluded that the level of awareness about occupational hazards was The study, recommends that employers provide more training.
Communities. Classes. Races, Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
This paper takes the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) as a sample to assess the long-term impacts of domestic violence experienced in childhood on individuals. First, from the four dimensions of injury from violence, negligent care, emotional abuse and witness to domestic violence, an indicator system for quantifying domestic violence is constructed. Second, the simultaneous equation of self-evaluation health and life satisfaction is estimated by the seemingly unrelated regression model. Starting with education, health and life satisfaction, the long-term impact of domestic violence experiences on individuals is quantitatively assessed, providing empirical evidence for preventing and curing domestic violence and healing trauma. The empirical research shows the following: (1) An experience of domestic violence significantly reduces educational achievements. Compared with the three dimensions of injury from violence, negligent care and witnessing domestic violence, emotional abuse has the greatest negative impact on educational achievements. (2) Domestic violence significantly reduces the self-assessed health level and life satisfaction and increases the subjective mental health risk. Based on the complexity and concealment of domestic violence, combined with empirical research conclusions, this paper proposes countermeasures to prevent and control domestic violence.
S.-M. Björkstedt, H. Koponen, H. Kautiainen
et al.
Background: Recent studies focusing on young women have reported an association between low household income and mental disorders. This study aimed to evaluate whether an association exists between maternal income and socioeconomic status and preconception mental disorders. Methods: This is an observational register-based study comprising of 6189 Finnish women, who delivered a singleton between 2009 and 2015. Pregnancy data was obtained from The Finnish Medical Birth register, maternal income from Finnish Tax Administration and educational attainment from Statistics of Finland. Obtained from the Care Register for Health Care was data on maternal psychiatric diagnosis one year before conception. Results: Of the study participants, 3.1% had a diagnosis of CMD (common mental disorders) one year before conception. Women with CMD were younger, more often lived alone, smoked and had less educational attainment than women without mental disorders (for all p<0.001). Annual income was €4619 less in women with preconception CMD diagnosis than women without mental disorders (age and educational attainment adjusted p<0.001). Limitations: All participants were Finnish; thus, the generalization of the study observations is limited. Conclusions: Low maternal income and low socioeconomic status are associated with preconception mental disorders.
Background: Relations of body weight with depressive symptomatology are complex and incompletely understood. Obesity and depression are clearly linked, but weight loss has correlated with both lower and higher depressive symptomatology in past research. The current study aimed to clarify associations of body weight changes and weight loss methods with depressive symptomatology in a United States national sample. Methods: Community-sampled adults (N = 16794) who were overweight or obese completed measures of weight changes, weight loss intentions, and weight loss methods used over the past year, plus current depressive symptomatology, as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in years 2009–2018. Depression symptom severity and clinically-significant depression were modeled with linear and logistic regression, respectively. Results: Both weight gains and losses correlated with greater depressive symptomatology, among adults who tried to lose weight and among those who did not. When adults tried to lose weight, some weight loss methods were associated with lower depressive symptomatology (e.g., exercise, joining a weight loss program) but others (e.g., skipping meals/fasting, using non-prescription weight loss medications) correlated with greater depressive symptomatology. Limitations: Findings from this cross-sectional observational dataset suggested but could not establish causal connections of weight changes and weight loss methods with depressive symptomatology. Further longitudinal and experimental research is needed to clarify mechanisms and test causality. Conclusions: For overweight or obese adults, both weight gains and losses, including intentional weight losses, are potentially depressogenic. However, adults’ choices of weight loss methods could moderate relations of weight loss with depressive symptomatology.
Tasneem Elghazali Bakhiet, Suad Mohammed Ali, Aisha Motwakil Bakhiet
Background: People with chronic terminal illnesses are at increased risk for experiencing anxiety and depression. Evidence from experimental studies suggest psychological stress can increase a tumour's ability to grow and metastasize, worsening the prognosis. Prevalence rate of cancer in Sudan is 5000 to 7000 per year. Cancer management focuses more on physical treatment rather than comprehensive care. With the great taboo placed on mental illness among Sudanese, many patients with cancer are predicted to be suffering in silence. Aim: To identify the prevalence of depression and anxiety and related sociodemographic factors among patients undergoing chemotherapy at Burj Alamal Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional, hospital based study was conducted among patients undergoing chemotherapy at Burj Alamal Hospital. Two hundred and fifty-five patients were recruited through random sampling. An interview-administered questionnaire containing sociodemographic data and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), translated and validated into the local Arabic language, was employed. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: The prevalence of depression and anxiety was 41.2% and 26.7%, respectively. Depression was significantly associated with duration of cancer (p = 0.031) and anxiety (p = 0.000). Anxiety was significantly associated with number of chemotherapy sessions (p = 0.045) and depression. No significant associations were found with sociodemographic data. Limitations: Due to the lack of accessibility to patient's records, the patient's cancer staging and concomitant use of radiotherapy was not considered. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety is frequent among patients undergoing chemotherapy and can be influenced by duration of cancer diagnosis and number of chemotherapy sessions respectively.