PeerJ
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The Internet is widely used as a source of information by people searching for medical or healthcare information. However, information found on the Internet has several drawbacks, and the ability to consume accurate health information on the Internet (eHealth literacy) is increasingly important. This study's goal was to clarify the extent to which eHealth literacy is improved after e-learning in a randomized controlled trial. ⋯ eHealth literacy improved after the e-learning, as evidenced by the change to the eHEALS scores and increased skill for evaluating retrieved search results. There was no significant effect of e-learning, which did not include content on healthy eating, on the Healthy Eating Literacy Scale scores. This indicates that scores did not increase much due to effects other than e-learning, as is sometimes seen with the Hawthorne effect. Although it was statistically significant, the effect size was small. Therefore, future research is necessary to verify the clinical implications. In sum, this study suggests that e-learning is an effective way to improve eHealth literacy.
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Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) are the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive medications in higher-risk surgical patients. However, there is no clinical consensus on their use in the perioperative period, in part, due to an inconsistent evidence-base. To help inform the design of a large multi-centre randomized controlled trial (ISRCTN17251494), we undertook a questionnaire-based survey exploring variability in ACEi/ARB prescribing in perioperative practice. ⋯ This survey highlights many inconsistencies amongst clinicians' practice in perioperative ACE-i/ARB management. Studies designed to reveal an enhanced understanding of perioperative mechanisms at play, coupled with randomised controlled trials, are required to rationally inform the clinical management of ACE-i/ARBs in patients most at risk of postoperative morbidity.
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To assess and compare the predictive ability of three risk evaluation systems (SinoSCORE, EuroSCORE II and the STS risk evaluation system) in patients aged ≥70, and who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in East China. ⋯ The performance of the three risk evaluation systems was not ideal in the entire cohort. In the elderly group, SinoSCORE appeared to achieve better predictive efficiency than EuroSCORE II and the STS risk evaluation system.
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Postnatal bonding constitutes a major process during the postpartum period, and there is evidence that bonding difficulties have negative consequences for parents' mental health and the child's development. However, the conceptualization of postnatal bonding presents inconsistencies, as well as problems in having instruments that encompasses the father figure. The objective was to adapt the maternal postnatal attachment scale (MPAS) and the paternal postnatal attachment scale (PPAS) to Spanish, to evaluate its validity and reliability and to analyze the construct dimensionality of both questionnaires from a gender perspective. ⋯ A new version of the instrument was generated, with good psychometric properties, adequate for use both with mothers and with fathers. This scale helps evaluate postnatal maternal and paternal bonding, allowing to study it from within the family system, a necessary step forward to advance perinatal mental health.
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Patients with chronic orofacial pain due to temporomandibular disorders (TMD) display alterations in somatosensory processing at the jaw, such as amplified perception of tactile stimuli, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated one possible explanation, namely hypervigilance, and tested if TMD patients with unilateral pain showed increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw. ⋯ The hypothesis that TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain preferentially attend to somatosensory information at the painful side of the jaw was not statistically supported, although lack of power could not be ruled out as a reason for this. The findings are discussed within recent theories of pain-related attention.