1,719 research outputs found
Personalized health care: the hope beyond the hype
No full textPersonalised healthcare can be defined as a customisation of the medical provision that accommodates
individual differences in all stages in the process, from prevention, to diagnosis and treatment, to
post-treatment follow-up. While the term personalized medicine has a broader meaning, and it comes
from the explosion of information arising from genome sequencing, the term personalised healthcare
refers more to the potential for customization in the provision of healthcare to the citizen
Why is personalized medicine relevant to public health?
No full textAdvances in genomics promise a new era of personalized medicine in health care. A major promise of the ‘omics’ research is that of delivering new information that can transform health care through earlier diagnosis, more effective prevention programs and a higher precision in the treatment of disease. Almost 10 years after the definition of the term public health genomics (PHG) as ‘the responsible and effective translation of genome-based knowledge and technologies into public policy and health services for the benefit of population health’, we are still facing the dilemma of how to implement genomics medicine into public health practice
Credibility of observational studies: why public health researchers should care?
No full textCredibility of observational studie
Electronic cigarettes: scarce data and divergent legislations. The need for evidence-based health policies and research funding
No full textElectronic cigarettes: scarce data and divergent legislations. The need for evidence-based health policies and research fundin
D.H. Lawrence, La Volpe, traduzione e cura di Stefania Michelucci, edizione bilingue
No full textIt is the bilingual and critical edition of D.H. Lawrence's The Fox in the series, Elsinore, Collana di Classici Inglesi, edited and translated by Stefania Michelucci
The volume consists of a long introduction to the text, pp 11-37, of a biographical article on the author and his work (l'autore e l'opera), pp. 39-45), of a note to the text (pp. 47-48) (English and Italian, page to page, pp. 49-227) of explicatory notes (pp. 229-243) and of a biographical section (pp. 245-252)
Electronic cigarettes: scarce data and divergent legislations. The need for evidence-based health policies and research funding
No full textIn the last semester, e-cigarettes were the subject of editorials in The
Lancet, BMJ and JAMA; of special issues in several scientific
journals and the cover story of a number of periodicals for the
general public including the Harvard Public Health Magazine.
Definitively a hot topic, with drastically opposing views: on one
side, the supporters (including Public Health England) claim that
‘e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than tobacco’ and
welcome e-cigarettes as a pathway to the reduction or cessation of
tobacco use. On the other side, the opponents (including World
Health Organization) warn on the presence of carcinogens into
cartridges and a potential role as a gateway to regular cigarettes,
especially among the teens...
Genetic prediction of common complex disorders assessed by next generation sequencing and genome wide analysis
No full textInsight into the biological make-up of complex disorders can improve their diagnosis, lead to the discovery of new targets for therapy, increase awareness of genome-environment interactions in health and disease, and open the door to predictive medicine. More than 1 600 genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been published, and have identified hundreds of polymorphisms associated with more than 250 common diseases or traits. However, for most of the genomic variants identified so far only inconclusive associations with complex diseases have been reported and for
many of them their predictive value reaches the same level as the traditional risk. The limited
value of these results is probably due to regulatory elements in 2-3% of the encoding genome, whose function has only recently been partially decrypted. Nevertheless, genomic sequencing is an attractive tool for personalized medicine. During the last few years several commercial ventures have begun marketing GWASs directly to consumers for medical, genealogic, and even recreational
purposes. Although these tests show promise for the future, consumers should be aware of the unreliability of most of their results at the present time. The development of methods integrating clinical and genetic data together with a better understanding of the heritability of complex diseases will be necessary in the endeavour to progress towards a personalized medicine. In order to achieve maximum benefits from GWASs while keeping the disadvantages to a minimum, guidelines will be necessary to manage the technical advances and to meet the challenges involved in the clinical application of whole genomic sequencing
New challenges of public health: Bringing the future of personalised healthcare into focus
No full textThe greater personalization of healthcare represents a driver of innovation for research, and for the healthcare systems and industries as a whole. Still policy-makers, healthcare professionals, citizens and private companies need to take some steps to realize the potential for such a radical shift. In this paper, we illustrate the challenges, the benefits and consequences that might accompany the implementation of personalized healthcare, and the steps that policy-makers and practitioners would need to take to realise its potential. Six main prerequisites for radical change in healthcare are presented, that include achieving better genetic literacy for professionals and for the public; engaging citizen in the discourse; improved governance, consent and trust in healthcare; feeding and harnessing the data-knowledge cycle for better health; adopting and adapting the Health Technology Assessment framework for the evaluation of the new technologies; and retaining humanity and community in health and care. Some of these concepts originate from a discussion on the future of health and healthcare, looking at least 15-20 years into the future, that we had at the end of 2016 at Ickworth with an international group of experts, under the aegis of the PHG Foundation
Personalized PREvention of Chronic DIseases (PRECeDI): a Marie Curie RISE project
No full textThe Personalized pREvention of Chronic DIseases consortium (PRECeDI) has been funded within the Horizon2020 Marie Curie RISE call, and it aims to provide high-quality, multidisciplinary knowledge through training and research in Personalized Medicine (PM), with specific reference to prevention of chronic diseases. There is a large consensus that PM is a driver of innovation for research and health care, and also for the health care system and industry as a whole. In order to harness the potential of this new concept, the PRECeDI consortium provides a cohesive framework for training staff from academic and non-academic (NA) institutions on research topics related to PM, with specific reference to the prevention of chronic diseases where there is a lack of substantial evidence, though the potential is huge. The acquisition of skills from staff will come from dedicated secondments aimed at training on research topics not available at the home institutions, and attendance to courses, workshops, seminars, conferences. The goal of secondment is to enable staff to make informed decisions for appropriately serve health care systems, new biotech industries and policy makers at the dawn of the post-genomic era. PRECeDI is a multidisciplinary group of institutions working on different facets of PM, from basic research, to economic evaluations, health service organization, and ethical, social, and policy issues
Oral contraceptives, human papillomavirus and cervical cancer
No full textOncogenic human papillomavirus is the key determinant of cervical cancer, but other risk factors interact with it to define individual risk. Among these, there is oral contraceptive (OC) use. A quantitative review of the link between OCs and cervical cancer was performed. Long-term (>5 year) current or recent OC use has been related to an about two-fold excess risk of cervical cancer. Such an excess risk, however, levels off after stopping use, and approaches unity 10 or more years after stopping. The public health implications of OC use for cervical cancer are limited. In any case, such implications are greater in middle-income and low-income countries, as well as in central and eastern Europe and Latin America, where cervical cancer screening and control remain inadequate
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