Characterizing healthcare utilization patterns in a Danish population with headache: results from the nationwide headache in Denmark (HINDER) panel

INTRODUCTION: Worldwide, far from all of those who would benefit make use of headache services, largely because of clinical, social, and political barriers to access. Identifying the factors contributing to low healthcare utilization can generate evidence to guide health policy. Our purpose here is better to characterize healthcare utilization patterns in Denmark. METHODS: The Headache in Denmark (HINDER) study is a nationwide cross-sectional survey of people with headache, conducted using SurveyXact (Rambøll Group A/S, Copenhagen). Healthcare utilization was assessed in a study sample generated by population screening and recruitment. Data collection occurred over two weeks, from September 23rd until October 4th, 2021. The questions enquired into disease characteristics, management, burden, medication intake and healthcare utilization. RESULTS: The number of participants included in the HINDER panel was 4,431, with 2,990 (67.5%: 2,522 [84.3%] female, 468 [15.7%] male; mean age 40.9 ± 11.6 years) completing the survey. One quarter of participants (27.7%) disagreed or strongly disagreed that they were able to manage their headache attacks. Most participants (81.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that their headache was a burden in their everyday lives. The most reported acute medications, by 87.2% of participants, were simple analgesics; of note, 8.6% reported using opioids for their headache. One quarter of participants (24.4%) had never consulted a medical doctor for their headache; one in six (16.5%: more than two thirds of the 24.4%) had never done so despite agreeing or strongly agreeing that their headache was a burden in their everyday lives. Two thirds (65.3%) of participants overall, and almost three quarters (72.4%) of those with weekly headache, had tried one or more complementary or alternative therapies outside conventional medical care. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are indicative of inadequate delivery of headache care in a country that provides free and universal coverage for all its residents. The implications are twofold. First, it is not sufficient merely to make services available: public education and increased awareness are necessary to encourage uptake by those who would benefit. Second, educational interventions in both pre- and postgraduate settings are necessary, but a prerequisite for these is a resetting of policy priorities, properly to reflect the very high population ill-health burden of headache

Release of Lungworm Larvae from Snails in the Environment: Potential for Alternative Transmission Pathways

Background: Gastropod-borne parasites may cause debilitating clinical conditions in animals and humans following the consumption of infected intermediate or paratenic hosts. However, the ingestion of fresh vegetables contaminated by snail mucus and/or water has also been proposed as a source of the infection for some zoonotic metastrongyloids (e.g., Angiostrongylus cantonensis). In the meantime, the feline lungworms Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Troglostrongylus brevior are increasingly spreading among cat populations, along with their gastropod intermediate hosts. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of alternative transmission pathways for A. abstrusus and T. brevior L3 via the mucus of infected Helix aspersa snails and the water where gastropods died. In addition, the histological examination of snail specimens provided information on the larval localization and inflammatory reactions in the intermediate host. Methodology/Principal Findings: Twenty-four specimens of H. aspersa received ~500 L1 of A. abstrusus and T. brevior, and were assigned to six study groups. Snails were subjected to different mechanical and chemical stimuli throughout 20 days in order to elicit the production of mucus. At the end of the study, gastropods were submerged in tap water and the sediment was observed for lungworm larvae for three consecutive days. Finally, snails were artificially digested and recovered larvae were counted and morphologically and molecularly identified. The anatomical localization of A. abstrusus and T. brevior larvae within snail tissues was investigated by histology. L3 were detected in the snail mucus (i.e., 37 A. abstrusus and 19 T. brevior) and in the sediment of submerged specimens (172 A. abstrusus and 39 T. brevior). Following the artificial digestion of H. aspersa snails, a mean number of 127.8 A. abstrusus and 60.3 T. brevior larvae were recovered. The number of snail sections positive for A. abstrusus was higher than those for T. brevior. Conclusions: Results of this study indicate that A. abstrusus and T. brevior infective L3 are shed in the mucus of H. aspersa or in water where infected gastropods had died submerged. Both elimination pathways may represent alternative route(s) of environmental contamination and source of the infection for these nematodes under field conditions and may significantly affect the epidemiology of feline lungworms. Considering that snails may act as intermediate hosts for other metastrongyloid species, the environmental contamination by mucus-released larvae is discussed in a broader context

Investigating the impact of poverty on colonization and infection with drug-resistant organisms in humans: a systematic review

Background Poverty increases the risk of contracting infectious diseases and therefore exposure to antibiotics. Yet there is lacking evidence on the relationship between income and non-income dimensions of poverty and antimicrobial resistance. Investigating such relationship would strengthen antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Methods A systematic review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Ovid, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, PsychINFO, EBSCO, HMIC, and Web of Science databases were searched in October 2016. Prospective and retrospective studies reporting on income or non-income dimensions of poverty and their influence on colonisation or infection with antimicrobial-resistant organisms were retrieved. Study quality was assessed with the Integrated quality criteria for review of multiple study designs (ICROMS) tool. Results Nineteen articles were reviewed. Crowding and homelessness were associated with antimicrobial resistance in community and hospital patients. In high-income countries, low income was associated with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii resistance and a seven-fold higher infection rate. In low-income countries the findings on this relation were contradictory. Lack of education was linked to resistant S. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Two papers explored the relation between water and sanitation and antimicrobial resistance in low-income settings. Conclusions Despite methodological limitations, the results suggest that addressing social determinants of poverty worldwide remains a crucial yet neglected step towards preventing antimicrobial resistance

Immune Dysregulation and Self-Reactivity in Schizophrenia: Do Some Cases of Schizophrenia Have an Autoimmune Basis?

Schizophrenia affects 1% of the world's population, but its cause remains obscure. Numerous theories have been proposed regarding the cause of schizophrenia, ranging from developmental or neurodegenerative processes or neurotransmitter abnormalities to infectious or autoimmune processes. In this review, findings suggestive of immune dysregulation and reactivity to self in patients with schizophrenia are examined with reference to criteria for defining whether or not a human disease is autoimmune in origin. Associations with other autoimmune diseases and particular MHC haplotypes, increased serum levels of autoantibodies, and in vivo and in vitro replication of some of the functional and ultrastructural abnormalities of schizophrenia by transfer of autoantibodies from the sera of patients with schizophrenia suggest that, in some patients at least, autoimmune mechanisms could play a role in the development of disease. Recent findings regarding specific autoimmune responses directed against neurotransmitter receptors in the brain in patients with schizophrenia will also be reviewed

Multi-Phase Sputtered TiO2-Induced Current–Voltage Distortion in Sb2Se3 Solar Cells

Despite the recent success of CdS/Sb2Se3 heterojunction devices, cadmium toxicity, parasitic absorption from the relatively narrow CdS band gap (2.4 eV) and multiple reports of inter-diffusion at the interface forming Cd(S,Se) and Sb2(S,Se)3 phases, present significant limitations to this device architecture. Among the options for alternative partner layers in antimony chalcogenide solar cells, the wide band gap, non-toxic titanium dioxide (TiO2) has demonstrated the most promise. It is generally accepted that the anatase phase of the polymorphic TiO2 is preferred, although there is currently an absence of analysis with regard to phase influence on device performance. This work reports approaches to distinguish between TiO2 phases using both surface and bulk characterization methods. A device fabricated with a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtered rutile-TiO2 window layer (FTO/TiO2/Sb2Se3/P3HT/Au) achieved an efficiency of 6.88% and near-record short–circuit current density (Jsc) of 32.44 mA cm−2, which is comparable to established solution based TiO2 fabrication methods that produced a highly anatase-TiO2 partner layer and a 6.91% efficiency device. The sputtered method introduces reproducibility challenges via the enhancement of interfacial charge barriers in multi-phase TiO2 films with a rutile surface and anatase bulk. This is shown to introduce severe S-shaped current–voltage (J–V) distortion and a drastic fill–factor (FF reduction in these devices

Combined In Silico, In Vivo, and In Vitro Studies Shed Insights into the Acute Inflammatory Response in Middle-Aged Mice

We combined in silico, in vivo, and in vitro studies to gain insights into age-dependent changes in acute inflammation in response to bacterial endotoxin (LPS). Time-course cytokine, chemokine, and NO2-/NO3- data from "middle-aged" (6-8 months old) C57BL/6 mice were used to re-parameterize a mechanistic mathematical model of acute inflammation originally calibrated for "young" (2-3 months old) mice. These studies suggested that macrophages from middle-aged mice are more susceptible to cell death, as well as producing higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, vs. macrophages from young mice. In support of the in silico-derived hypotheses, resident peritoneal cells from endotoxemic middle-aged mice exhibited reduced viability and produced elevated levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and KC/CXCL1 as compared to cells from young mice. Our studies demonstrate the utility of a combined in silico, in vivo, and in vitro approach to the study of acute inflammation in shock states, and suggest hypotheses with regard to the changes in the cytokine milieu that accompany aging. © 2013 Namas et al

Differences in External and Internal Cortical Strain with Prosthesis in the Femur

The contact between a femoral stem prosthesis and the internal surface of the cortical bone with the stress in the interface is of crucial importance with respect to loosening. However, there are no reports of strain patterns at this site, and the main aim of the current study was to investigate differences of internal and external cortical strain in the proximal femur after insertion of a stem prosthesis. The external cortical strain of a human cadaveric femur was measured with strain gauges before and after implantation of a stem prosthesis. By use of optical fibres embedded longitudinally in the endosteal cortex, deformations at the implant–internal cortex interface could also be measured. The main external deformation during loading of the intact femur occurred as compression of the medial cortex; both at the proximal and distal levels. The direction of the principal strain on the medial and lateral aspects was close to the longitudinal axis of the bone. After resection of the femoral neck and insertion of a stem prosthesis, the changes in external strain values were greatest medially at the proximal level, where the magnitude of deformation in compression was reduced to about half the values measured on the intact specimen. Otherwise, there were rather small changes in external principal strain. However, by comparing vertical strain in the external and internal cortex of the proximal femur, there were great differences in values and patterns at all positions. The transcortical differences in strain varied from compression on one side to distraction on the other and vice versa in some of the positions with a correlation coefficient of 0.07. Our results show that differences exist between the external and internal cortical strain when loading a stem prosthesis. Hence, strain at the internal cortex does not correspond and can not be deducted from measured strain at the external cortex