Role of Rapid Digital Manufacture in Planning and Implementation of Complex Medical Treatments

Author(s):  
Andrew M. Christensen ◽  
Stephen M. Humphries
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3601
Author(s):  
Goren Saenz-Pipaon ◽  
Esther Martinez-Aguilar ◽  
Josune Orbe ◽  
Arantxa González Miqueo ◽  
Leopoldo Fernandez-Alonso ◽  
...  

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) of the lower extremities is a chronic illness predominantly of atherosclerotic aetiology, associated to traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. It is one of the most prevalent CV conditions worldwide in subjects >65 years, estimated to increase greatly with the aging of the population, becoming a severe socioeconomic problem in the future. The narrowing and thrombotic occlusion of the lower limb arteries impairs the walking function as the disease progresses, increasing the risk of CV events (myocardial infarction and stroke), amputation and death. Despite its poor prognosis, PAD patients are scarcely identified until the disease is advanced, highlighting the need for reliable biomarkers for PAD patient stratification, that might also contribute to define more personalized medical treatments. In this review, we will discuss the usefulness of inflammatory molecules, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and cardiac damage markers, as well as novel components of the liquid biopsy, extracellular vesicles (EVs), and non-coding RNAs for lower limb PAD identification, stratification, and outcome assessment. We will also explore the potential of machine learning methods to build prediction models to refine PAD assessment. In this line, the usefulness of multimarker approaches to evaluate this complex multifactorial disease will be also discussed.


Epilepsia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilie Johannessen Landmark ◽  
Heidrun Potschka ◽  
Stéphane Auvin ◽  
Jo M. Wilmshurst ◽  
Svein I. Johannessen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Philippa Reid

Receiving a cancer diagnosis and undergoing the subsequent treatment challenges coping and equilibrium for children and adolescents and their families. This chapter describes how music therapists work with children, adolescents, and family members in cancer care contexts. A range of musical experiences can provide adjunct support to medical treatments to support coping, reduce distress, and provide comfort. The music therapist works as a member of the interdisciplinary team to provide opportunities fornormaland fun musical experiences to support the experience of hospitalization, as well as offering comfort and support for children in pain or distress. Research evidence supports the role of the music therapist in providing effective services with children and adolescents in cancer care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin E. Tiede ◽  
Felicia Ripke ◽  
Nicole Degen ◽  
Wolfgang Gaissmaier

Background. Informed medical decisions require understanding the benefits and risks of treatments. This entails comparing treatment outcomes to a control group. The incremental risk format has been recommended as it directly visualizes the differences between treatment and control group in 1 graph, whereas they have to be calculated from 2 separate graphs in the total risk format. We investigated when the incremental risk format aids understanding. Methods. In 2 experiments, participants received information about medical treatments, either as incremental or total risk format. We assessed verbatim knowledge (precise quantitative knowledge), gist knowledge (knowledge of essential meaning), and evaluations of the formats. Study 1 ( N = 99) consisted of only 1 trial with medical information and also assessed recall. Study 2 ( N = 222) assessed learning across multiple trials and also varied the presence of feedback and the number of treatment options. Results. In study 1, the incremental risk format (v. total risk format) led to worse knowledge, recall, and evaluations. In study 2, participants learned to understand the incremental risk format over time, resulting in comparable verbatim knowledge and evaluations as in the total risk format, as well as in even better gist knowledge. Feedback and number of treatment options did not moderate the effect of risk format. Limitations. The studies were conducted with nonpatient samples, and study 2 employed hypothetical treatments. Conclusions. The incremental risk format was initially less understandable than the total risk format. After a short learning period, however, the incremental risk format resulted in better gist knowledge and was comparable otherwise, which suggests that participants had to get used to that format. This has important implications for the study of new formats.


Author(s):  
Dussart Claude ◽  
Boulliat Caroline ◽  
Camal Isabelle ◽  
Bourgeois Denis ◽  
Carrouel Florence

This study aims to evaluate the potential role of pillboxes used for the preparation and delivery of individual daily medical treatments in the drug circuit of the Military Instruction Hospital (France) as reservoirs of bacterial contaminants. Samples were obtained from 32 pillboxes after decontamination (T1), after preparation in the pharmacy (T2), after use in two different medical units (T3), and again after usual mechanical washing (T4). Qualitative (identification and antibiotic susceptibility) and quantitative (contamination rate and number of colony forming units—CFUs) bacteriological tests were performed. Susceptible and resistant strains of environmental saprophytes were identified. The pillbox contamination rate was relatively low at T1 (13%). It was significantly increased at T2 (63%, p = 0.001 vs. T1), again at T3 (88%, p < 0.05 vs. T2, p < 0.001 vs. T1), and finally decreased dramatically at T4 (31%, p < 0.001 vs. T3, p > 0.05 vs. T1). The number of CFUs was significantly increased at T2 compared with that of T1 (36.7 ± 13.4 and 5.36 ± 3.64, respectively, p < 0.001) and again at T3 (84.4 ± 19.4, p < 0.001 vs. T1 and T2) and was significantly reduced at T4 (7.0 ± 2.0 vs. T3, p < 0.001) to a level that was not significantly different from that at T1. So, the use of pillboxes to deliver individual medications to patients in the hospital is a potential risk factor for bacterial cross-contamination.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Robertson

The Church of Divine Revelation and the Radiant Healing Center, in St. Catharines, Ontario, proposed that mystical realities shaped bodily and mental wellness. Receiving diagnoses and medical treatments from perceived disembodied beings, congregants in the 1920s and 1930s evoked the mystical origins of alternative medicine by envisioning health as a process through which spirit, mind and body coalesced. Female participants therefore were enabled to reject the label of pathology and heal themselves through the power of their minds. Uneasy with the label of paranormal or supernormal, members viewed their interactions as fulfilling rather than violating natural laws. In the process, spirits personified what Jeffrey Kripal has called “the sacred in transit” as they moved fluidly from the metaphysical to the physical. Crossing modern boundaries between faith and secular medicine, these St. Catharines spiritualists and the phantoms they envisioned reconceived the role of spirit as intervening in physical and mental processes.


Author(s):  
Aline El Zakhem ◽  
May Annie Chalhoub ◽  
Maya Bassil

With the growing spread of COVID-19 worldwide, the appeal to alternative and nutritional therapies in conjunction with medical therapies has been heightened. This article aims to review studies assessing the roles of Chinese traditional medicine and nutrition in upper respiratory infections, including COVID-19. Various Chinese herbal protocols have been shown to fight respiratory infections, with several having been tested on the novel coronavirus. Additionally, promising findings have been reported when medical treatments were complemented with nutritional interventions. Supplementation with vitamins C and D, Zinc and Selenium are discussed, in addition to certain phytochemicals and food that also possess immunoregulatory and antiviral properties. Further clinical studies are needed to establish these alternative treatments as part of the management of emerging respiratory infections.


Author(s):  
Alex John London

The term “equipoise” refers to a state of uncertainty about the relative merits of a set of interventions, such as medical treatments for a particular disease or alternative policies for promoting economic, educational, or public health outcomes. This chapter discusses the role of equipoise in ensuring that research generates scientifically sound and socially valuable information while respecting the rights and welfare of the individuals whose interests are impacted by the conduct of the research. Alternative formulations of equipoise are distinguished, as are alternative ethical frameworks that provide a rationale for, and give content to, this appeal to uncertainty. It is argued that equipoise can be grounded in a general framework that applies to all research with humans that reconciles the imperative to produce socially valuable information with respect for the status of both participants and community members as free and equal persons.


2009 ◽  
Vol 05 (01) ◽  
pp. 51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire E Higham ◽  
Peter J Trainer ◽  
◽  

The two- to three-fold increased mortality associated with active acromegaly can be significantly decreased and even normalised with effective treatment to reduce growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) levels to within normal limits. This article addresses the advances in surgical techniques, new approaches in radiotherapy and the choice of medical treatments that make it possible to achieve biochemical remission and improve signs and symptoms of disease in almost every patient with acromegaly. The literature is reviewed with regard to the relative merits of each treatment method, recent controversies such as the role of radiotherapy and primary octreotide therapy are discussed and a treatment algorithm is proposed to provide a guide to management.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (31) ◽  
pp. 6401-6410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-Kun (Aden) Wu ◽  
Jiashing Yu

Current medical treatments of myocardial infarction (MI) face a serious shortcoming in that they cannot reverse the detrimental effects of ischemia induced necrosis.


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