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Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine for Self-Care in Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain: A Scoping Review
Get PDFBackground: Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) is a promising and increasingly popular approach in managing chronic neck and shoulder pain. Despite recognized benefits for pain relief and well-being, how TCAM facilitates self-care practices is poorly understood. This scoping review maps the existing evidence on TCAM-based self-care strategies for adults with chronic neck and shoulder pain to identify which domains of self-care are addressed and which are overlooked. Methods: We searched five academic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cinahl Complete (EBSCOhost), and Public Health Database (ProQuest). Articles published over a 20-year period that examined the use of TCAM for adults with chronic neck and shoulder pain were included. An analytical framework based on Riegel’s three core components of self-care (maintenance, monitoring, and management) was used to structure and synthesize the findings from included studies. Results: Thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. Most research focused on just one or two self-care components, primarily self-care maintenance (e.g., physical activities and treatment adherence) and self-care management (e.g., pain control). However, critical dimensions, such as psychological well-being, social support, work–life balance, and cultural context, were frequently overlooked. Conclusions: To enhance the quality of life for adults with chronic neck and shoulder pain, future TCAM research must adopt a more holistic self-care approach that extends beyond physical symptoms. Our findings highlight the need for integrated research, policy, and clinical services that address the full spectrum of self-care in chronic pain management.Full Tex
Systematic review of available data and gaps on the prevalence of adults who require forensic mental health care in Australia
No full textThis systematic review aimed to identify the prevalence of justice-involved adults requiring mental health care in Australia. Sources providing estimates of diagnosed mental illness and psychological distress within prisons and courts/watch-houses, and service referral and/or utilisation data from bed-based and community forensic mental health services were sought. Within prisons, the prevalence of mental illness was high, ranging from 38–58.4% (n = 7 estimates). Estimates of very high psychological distress (n = 5) were variable by gender and highest for First Nations females (39%). One prevalence estimate of mental illness in watch-houses was located (51.3%). Bed-based service demand rates varied from 0.58 to 12.36 admissions per 100,000 adult population (n = 13). Community-based service demand rates ranged from 2.99 to 99.51 people per 100,000 adult population (n = 4). Estimates had substantial heterogeneity. Issues with data availability were identified and recommendations for improvement made. This information contributes to the development of a needs-based model for planning forensic mental health services in Australia.No Full Tex
Private Social Media for Work in Hospitality: Impacts on Employee Digital Well-Being and the Promise of Positive Psychology Interventions
No full textPrivate social media increasingly blurs work-life boundaries for Chinese hospitality employees. To examine how the use of private social media for work affects the digital well-being of hospitality employees, we employed the DREAMA model (detachment-recovery, engagement, affiliation, meaning, achievement) to investigate this issue through semistructured interviews and focus group discussions. Our analysis reveals four distinct usage scenarios in which private social media affects employee well-being, involving enhanced communication efficiency and social connectivity, alongside significant stress from boundary erosion and constant availability expectations. We developed targeted positive psychology interventions addressing boundary management, digital detachment practices, and employee digital rights protection. Our findings contribute a novel conceptual framework for understanding employee digital well-being while offering practical strategies and policy recommendations to support best practices that preserve both operational efficiency and employee digital well-being.No Full Tex
Teacher Perceptions of Anxiety in Autistic Vs. Non-Autistic Vignettes
No full textLittle is known about anxiety in autistic children from a teacher’s perspective. Given the barrier that anxiety may represent to school functioning in autistic children, it is essential that anxiety be accurately recognised and responded to. This preliminary study investigated teacher ratings (N = 45) of anxiety severity and their response to anxiety (i.e. the provision of referrals) as presented in written vignettes representing autistic and non-autistic children matched on anxiety severity. Results were analysed using Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests. Teachers rated vignettes of autistic children as having significantly higher anxiety than vignettes of non-autistic children. While teachers were more likely to refer an autistic child with mild anxiety for mental health support than a non-autistic child, teachers were no more likely to refer on autistic children with moderate and high levels of anxiety than non-autistic children (as depicted by vignettes). Findings highlight differences in teacher recognition of and response to anxiety in vignettes of autistic children and provide avenues for future research in this area.No Full Tex
In vitro assessment of a combination therapy of abametapir and flavesone as a novel topical single-dose scabies treatment
No full textScabies is a highly contagious skin disease with an estimated global annual prevalence of 400 million. The World Health Organisation listed scabies as a neglected tropical disease in 2017, requesting to improve diagnosis, surveillance, and treatments.Full Tex
Enhancing Sensitivity in Multitarget Biomolecule Detection via Engineered Reduced Graphene Oxide Sensors
No full textThe selection and immobilization of biorecognition elements (BEs) are critical factors that have attracted significant attention in biosensor development. The compact size of certain BEs, such as aptamers, provides a distinct advantage for field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors by ensuring that binding events occur within the Debye length (a few nanometers). However, the immobilization strategy is a key determinant of the sensor performance. Recent studies indicate that an excessively dense aptamer layer can restrict the necessary conformational changes upon target binding, thereby reducing the sensitivity. In diagnostics, simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers is essential for the creation of comprehensive diagnostic profiles. This capability enables the early detection and monitoring of complex diseases linked to neurological, metabolic, and oncological pathways. Building on this concept, we have developed a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-modified extended-gate FET (rGO-EGFET) platform for the multitarget detection of small biomolecules, including serotonin and glucose. To enhance the sensing performance, the surface properties of the rGO were modulated via UV/O3 treatment. This approach effectively controlled the density of the two distinct bioreceptors immobilized on the surface. For serotonin detection, this provided sufficient spacing for conformational flexibility of the aptamer, while for glucose, it modulated the arrangement of the pyrene-based BEs. The obtained sensor array exhibited excellent selectivity toward the target analytes and maintained stable operation across physiologically relevant concentration ranges. The limits of detection were determined to be 48.2 pM for serotonin, 2.4 pM for glucose, and 17 mV/pH, confirming the high sensitivity of the platform for small-biomolecule detection. These results highlight the potential of interface-engineered rGO-EGFETs as versatile and high-performance wearable biosensing platforms, extending the applicability of rGO-based FETs into challenging domains such as neurotransmitter monitoring.No Full Tex
Lipidomic alterations in oysters caused by environmentally relevant exposure to microplastics and estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals
No full textThere is a ubiquitous co-occurrence of microplastics (MPs) and estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EEDCs) in aquatic environments. Their combined presence may induce sub-lethal stress in aquatic organisms, like molluscs, which may adapt to the stress through adjusting the lipidome. This study explored the individual and combined effects of polyethylene microplastics (PE-MPs) and a mixture of EEDCs at environmentally realistic concentrations on the lipidome of the Sydney rock oyster (Saccostrea glomerata). After seven days exposure, lipids were measured in the digestive glands and gonads using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. Permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed the lipidome of oysters exhibited treatment differences with interactions between sex and tissue type. Subsequent post-hoc analysis revealed the male digestive gland to be significantly more responsive than the other tissues tested. An increase in cholesterols and aldehydes in all treatments compared to controls was ascribed to an adaptive response to transient oxidative stress in oysters, which was alleviated by increased food intake. There was a significantly greater effect of the EEDCs mixture than PE-MPs in oysters. The combined oxidative stress of PE-MPs and EEDCs from co-exposure did not exceed the individual effects of PE-MPs and EEDCs, which may relate to low exposure concentrations of PE-MPs, selective rejection of MPs in pseudofeces, or poor vector role of smooth surfaced PE-MPs.Full Tex
Estimating the Potential Impact of the 2024 UK Salt Reduction Targets on Cardiovascular Health Outcomes and Health Care Costs in Adults: A Modeling Study
No full textBACKGROUND: Excessive sodium intake is responsible for 3 million deaths a year globally. The UK is one of 64 countries to have a salt reduction program to help reduce the population's sodium intake. It is a voluntary scheme with 108 category-specific salt content targets for the grocery and out-of-home sectors. This study aimed to estimate the potential impact of the 2024 targets on cardiovascular outcomes and health care costs for UK adults. METHODS: Long-term health modeling was based on the adult population in England. Changes in salt intake (g/d), whether the targets were met, were estimated using consumption data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2018/19. Impact on ischemic heart disease and stroke, quality-adjusted life years, and health care costs were estimated using PRIMEtime, a proportional multistate life table model. RESULTS: If the salt reduction targets set for 2024 had been met, then salt intake would have reduced from 6.06 g/d (95% CI, 5.18-6.31) to 4.94 g/d (4.73-5.15), a reduction of 1.12 g/d (1.05-1.20). This would lead to 103 000 (UI, 41 000-161 000) fewer cases of ischemic heart disease and 25 000 (10 000-39 000) fewer cases of stroke over 20 years. A modeled 243 000 (94 000-383 000) quality-adjusted life years would be saved with a net saving of £1.00 billion (£0.35-1.73 billion) to the National Health Service over the remaining lifetime of the adult population. CONCLUSIONS: Reformulation of products to meet the targets could result in substantial reductions in cardiovascular disease without changes in dietary behaviors. Policymakers should consider options to strengthen salt reduction policies, including effective systems for monitoring and enforcement.Full Tex
Cardioprotection Through Mitochondrial Modulation: A Systematic Review of Pharmacological Interventions in Animal Models of I/R Injury
No full textPURPOSE: Myocardial reperfusion following ischaemia paradoxically exacerbates mitochondrial and thus cardiac dysfunction. Although various treatment strategies have been utilised to prevent irreversible myocardial injury, translation to positive clinical trial outcomes has been unsuccessful. This systematic review aimed to evaluate pharmacological interventions in animal models of ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R), with emphasis on cardiac and cell death outcomes and direct assessment of mitochondrial bioenergetics. METHODS: Search terms were entered into PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science. Screening, data extraction and quality assessment of papers were conducted according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria selected for this study. Eighteen papers from a total of 1571 studies were included. These studies investigated 15 drugs of interest in animals subjected to either in vivo or ex vivo I/R. Mitochondrial function parameters were assessed by measuring either mitochondrial respiration and/or enzyme activity, with 4 of these also assessing electron transport chain protein expression. RESULTS: Pharmaceuticals preserved mitochondrial respiratory capacity by directly targeting the electron transport chain complexes or indirectly via proteins involved in canonical cardioprotective pathways. This led to improved post-ischaemic cardiac function and reductions in markers of cellular injury and myocardial infarction. CONCLUSION: Multi-targeted manipulation of components of mitochondrial signalling and function evidently reduces I/R injury. Quality assessment of most papers revealed an unclear risk of bias due to inadequate reporting of study parameters. Clear and consistent reporting of study outcomes, specifically mitochondrial bioenergetics across all experimental stages, is essential to enhance the translational potential of mitoprotective compounds in the clinical treatment of I/R.Full Tex
Fatigue assessment of double-sided rib-to-deck welds considering the weld profile effect: Experimental and numerical investigations
No full textIn this study, fatigue tests and corresponding FE simulations were performed on six rib-to-deck welded specimens to examine the influence of the actual weld profile. Fatigue crack initiation and propagation behaviors, including single, dual, triple, and combined internal-external cracks, were analyzed, and crack growth curves under constant and variable amplitude loading were obtained. The weld profile was captured using the replica method and mathematically modeled to support accurate FE simulation. A simplified approach was adopted to simulate the actual weld that a single representative profile along the weld was considered. Comparative analyses between models with ideal and actual weld profiles show that the nominal stress-based fatigue assessment is insensitive to the weld geometry. However, the stress concentration at internal and external weld toe was affected by the variations between the ideal and actual weld profiles: the peak values of the stresses at internal and external weld toes have decreased by 10.28 % and 31.96 %, respectively. The hot-spot stresses (σ2-HSS and σ3-HSS) at the internal weld toe is insensitive to the variation of weld profile; however, the σ2-HSS and σ3-HSS decrease notably when considering the actual weld profile, with concentration factors reduced from 1.123 to 1.106 and from 1.134 to 1.105. It is recommended to model ideal weld profiles for conservative results, with correction factors (0.985 and 0.974) applied when higher accuracy is desired.No Full Tex