Articles: disease.
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Financial ties between health professionals and industry may unduly influence professional judgments and some researchers have suggested that widening disease definitions may be one driver of over-diagnosis, bringing potentially unnecessary labeling and harm. We aimed to identify guidelines in which disease definitions were changed, to assess whether any proposed changes would increase the numbers of individuals considered to have the disease, whether potential harms of expanding disease definitions were investigated, and the extent of members' industry ties. ⋯ For the common conditions studied, a majority of panels proposed changes to disease definitions that increased the number of individuals considered to have the disease, none reported rigorous assessment of potential harms of that widening, and most had a majority of members disclosing financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
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Biography Historical Article
Homage to Rita Levi-Montalcini, the queen of modern neuroscience.
The first cell growth factor, nerve growth factor (NGF), was discovered by Rita Levi-Montalcini (RLM) in the early 1950s. Originally identified as neurite outgrowth-stimulating factor, later studies revealed that non-neuronal cells, including immune cells, endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes, pancreatic beta cells, prostate epithelial and adipose tissue cells, were also targets for and/or sources of NGF. Nerve growth factor is well recognised as mediating multiple biological phenomena, ranging from the neurotrophic through immunotrophic and epitheliotrophic to metabotrophic effects. ⋯ Recent studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potentials of NGF in these conditions, including ocular and cutaneous diseases. NGF TrkA receptor antagonists emerged as novel drugs for pain, prostate and breast cancer, melanoma and urinary bladder syndromes. Here, we briefly describe the 'unpredictable' ideogenesis of the discovery of NGF, a eureka in the neuroscience.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jun 2013
ReviewMobile health applications for the most prevalent conditions by the World Health Organization: review and analysis.
New possibilities for mHealth have arisen by means of the latest advances in mobile communications and technologies. With more than 1 billion smartphones and 100 million tablets around the world, these devices can be a valuable tool in health care management. Every aid for health care is welcome and necessary as shown by the more than 50 million estimated deaths caused by illnesses or health conditions in 2008. Some of these conditions have additional importance depending on their prevalence. ⋯ Distribution of work on mobile applications is not equal for the eight most prevalent conditions. Whereas some conditions such as diabetes and depression have an overwhelming number of apps and research, there is a lack of apps related to other conditions, such as anemia, hearing loss, or low vision, which must be filled.
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The purpose of this research is to study the content of support provided by nurses who were employed in a regional intractable disease consultation project. ⋯ The distinctive features of regional intractable disease consultations conducted by nurses are support from the combined viewpoints of medical care and everyday life, specialized support based on the features of the patient's disease, and coordination with close support persons. In education for nurses who are to be employed in this field, it is necessary to develop competence in responding to the specialized support needs of intractable diseases and coordination of support persons.