Interactive Journal of Medical Research

In comparison to the general population, prison inmates are at a higher risk for drug abuse and psychiatric, as well as infectious, diseases. Although intramural health care has to be equivalent to extramural services, prison inmates have less access to primary and secondary care. Furthermore, not every prison is constantly staffed with a physician. Since transportation to the nearest extramural medical facility is often resource-intensive, video consultations may offer cost-effective health care for prison inmates.

Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a common neurological condition, with disease progression that is both variable and difficult to predict. Here, we present a case of DCM in a gentleman in his late 60s with significant radiological disease progression without consequent change in clinical symptoms. The case serves as a reminder of an enduring medical aphorism that clinical history and examination should be prioritized above more complex data, such as imaging investigations. In addition, the case also highlights that guidelines should be contextualized within individual clinical circumstances.

Spontaneous pneumothorax is one of the most common conditions encountered in thoracic surgery. This condition can be treated conservatively or surgically based on indications and guidelines. Traditional surgical management includes pleurodesis (mechanical or chemical) in addition to bullectomy if the bullae can be identified. Mechanical pleurodesis is usually performed by surgical pleurectomy or pleural abrasion. In this case report, we present a case of a young patient with spontaneous pneumothorax who needed a surgical intervention. We performed a new, innovative surgical technique for surgical pleurectomy where we used carbon dioxide for dissection of the parietal pleura (capnodissection). This technique may provide similar efficiency to the traditional procedure but with less risk of bleeding and complications.

Quality and accuracy of online scientific data are crucial, given that the internet and social media serve nowadays as primary sources of medical knowledge.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to behavioral exacerbations in people with dementia. Increased hospitalizations and lack of bed availability in specialized dementia wards at a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore resulted in lodging people with dementia in the High Dependency Psychiatric Unit (HDPCU). Customizations to create a dementia-friendly environment at the HDPCU included: (1) environmental modifications to facilitate orientation and engender familiarity; (2) person-centered care to promote attachment, inclusion, identity, occupation, and comfort; (3) risk management for delirium; and (4) training core competencies. Such practical solutions can also be implemented elsewhere to help overcome resource constraints and repurpose services to accommodate increasing populations of people living with dementia.

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The advent of digital health technologies has transformed the landscape of health care, influencing the dynamics of the physician-patient relationship. Although these technologies offer potential benefits, they also introduce challenges and complexities that require ethical consideration.

Students’ mental health crisis was recognized before the COVID-19 pandemic. Mindfulness virtual community (MVC), an 8-week web-based mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy program, has proven to be an effective web-based program to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Predicting the success of MVC before a student enrolls in the program is essential to advise students accordingly.

The collection of sexual orientation in routine data, generated either from contacts with health services or in infrastructure data resources designed and collected for policy and research, has improved substantially in the United Kingdom in the last decade. Inclusive measures of gender and transgender status are now also beginning to be collected. This viewpoint considers current data collections, and their strengths and limitations, including accessing data, sample size, measures of sexual orientation and gender, measures of health outcomes, and longitudinal follow-up. The available data are considered within both sociopolitical and biomedical models of health for individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or of other identities including nonbinary (LGBTQ+). Although most individual data sets have some methodological limitations, when put together, there is now a real depth of routine data for LGBTQ+ health research. This paper aims to provide a framework for how these data can be used to improve health and health care outcomes. Four practical analysis approaches are introduced—descriptive epidemiology, risk prediction, intervention development, and impact evaluation—and are discussed as frameworks for translating data into research with the potential to improve health.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered considerable attention in the context of sepsis research, particularly in personalized diagnosis and treatment. Conducting a bibliometric analysis of existing publications can offer a broad overview of the field and identify current research trends and future research directions.

Oral health is a determinant of overall well-being and quality of life. Individual behaviors, such as oral hygiene and dietary habits, play a central role in oral health. Motivation is a crucial factor in promoting behavior change, and gamification offers a means to boost health-related knowledge and encourage positive health behaviors.

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies can be used for disease-specific self-management, and these technologies are experiencing rapid growth in the health care industry. They use mobile devices, specifically smartphone apps, to enhance and support medical and public health practices. In chronic disease management, the use of apps in the realm of mHealth holds the potential to improve health outcomes. This is also true for mHealth apps on osteoporosis, but the usage and patients’ experiences with these apps are underexplored.