Does surgery improve quality of life in patients with ongoing- or recurrent diverticulitis; a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Recurrences or persistent symptoms after an initial episode of diverticulitis are common, yet surgical treatment is rarely performed. Current guidelines lack clear recommendations on whether or not to operate, even though recent studies suggest an improved quality of life following surgery. The aim of this study is therefore to compare quality of life in patients with recurrent or ongoing diverticulitis treated conservatively versus surgically, giving a more definitive answer to the question of whether or not to operate on these patients.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE and Cochrane. Only comparative studies reporting on quality of life were included. Statistical analysis included calculation of weighted mean differences and pooled odds ratios.

RESULTS

Five studies were included; two RCT's and three retrospective observational studies. Compared to conservative treatment, the SF-36 scores were higher in the surgically treated group at each follow-up moment but only the difference in SF-36 physical scores at six months follow-up was statistically significant (MD 6.02, 95%CI 2.62-9.42). GIQLI scores were also higher in the surgical group with a MD of 14.01 (95%CI 8.15-19.87) at six months follow-up and 7.42 (95%CI 1.23-12.85) at last available follow-up. Also, at last available follow-up, significantly fewer recurrences occurred in the surgery group (OR 0.10, 95%CI 0.05-0.23, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Although surgery for recurrent diverticulitis is not without risk, it might improve long-term quality of life in patients suffering from recurrent- or ongoing diverticulitis when compared to conservative treatment. Therefore, it should be considered in this patient group.

Assessment of Saudi Society's Awareness of the Hazards of Scented Candles and Air Fresheners

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Air fresheners and scented candles are dangerous for human health and the environment. They are associated with allergies and irritation for a weak respiratory system. This study was conducted to determine the extent of community awareness of the toxicity associated with scented candles and air fresheners. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> This study uses a questionnaire from March, 2023 to June, 2023. The study questionnaire, which was completed by 1667 participants, assesses the degree of knowledge, habits and diseases connected to scents and candles. Descriptive statistics, including percentages, were used. <b>Results:</b> It was discovered that, on average, 568 (34.1%) people are unaware that candles contain chemicals. As 1497 (89.8%) are prepared to replace them with natural and safer candles, while 163 (9.8%) consulted a doctor after exposure to candles because of respiratory allergies; 1093 (65.5%) do not care to check the ingredients before buying a candle and 854 (51.2%) are unaware that candles might cause long-term damage. <b>Conclusion:</b> A significant portion of participants were unaware of the dangers of scented candles and air fresheners. There is no link between respiratory allergies and the substances present in these candles, but it has been proven that most participants are ready to change and use natural alternatives.

Design and Content Validation using Expert Opinions of an Instrument Assessing the Lifestyle of Adults: The 'PONTE A 100' Questionnaire

Lifestyle, a major determinant of health status, comprises a number of habits and behaviours that form a part of daily life. People with healthy lifestyles have a better quality of life, suffer less disease, and have a longer life expectancy. This work reports the design and content validation of a questionnaire-the 'PONTE A 100' questionnaire-assessing the lifestyle of adults. This collects information across five dimensions-'Eating Habits', 'Physical Activity', 'Smoking and use of Alcohol and other Drugs', 'Emotional Wellbeing', and 'Safety and Non-intentional Injuries'-via the answering of a total 33 items. Psychometric validation of the instrument's content was obtained via expert opinions. This was performed by two rounds of assessment and involved 34 experts representing different health science disciplines (mean experience, 27.4 ± 9.4 years). At the end of each round, adjustments were made according to their recommendations. Agreement between the experts was examined using the Aiken V test. A final V value of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.90-1.00) was obtained for the questionnaire as a whole, highlighting the validity of its content. The questionnaire would therefore appear to be an appropriate instrument for assessing the lifestyle of adults.

Potential of Point-of-Care and At-Home Assessment of Immune Status via Rapid Cytokine Detection and Questionnaire-Based Anamnesis

Monitoring the immune system's status has emerged as an urgent demand in critical health conditions. The circulating cytokine levels in the blood reflect a thorough insight into the immune system status. Indeed, measuring one cytokine may deliver more information equivalent to detecting multiple diseases at a time. However, if the reported cytokine levels are interpreted with considering lifestyle and any comorbid health conditions for the individual, this will promote a more precise assessment of the immune status. Therefore, this study addresses the most recent advanced assays that deliver rapid, accurate measuring of the cytokine levels in human blood, focusing on add-on potentials for point-of-care (PoC) or personal at-home usage, and investigates existing health questionnaires as supportive assessment tools that collect all necessary information for the concrete analysis of the measured cytokine levels. We introduced a ten-dimensional featuring of cytokine measurement assays. We found 15 rapid cytokine assays with assay time less than 1 h; some could operate on unprocessed blood samples, while others are mature commercial products available in the market. In addition, we retrieved several health questionnaires that addressed various health conditions such as chronic diseases and psychological issues. Then, we present a machine learning-based solution to determine what makes the immune system fit. To this end, we discuss how to employ topic modeling for deriving the definition of immune fitness automatically from literature. Finally, we propose a prototype model to assess the fitness of the immune system through leveraging the derived definition of the immune fitness, the cytokine measurements delivered by a rapid PoC immunoassay, and the complementary information collected by the health questionnaire about other health factors. In conclusion, we discovered various advanced rapid cytokine detection technologies that are promising candidates for point-of-care or at-home usage; if paired with a health status questionnaire, the assessment of the immune system status becomes solid and we demonstrated potentials for promoting the assessment tool with data mining techniques.

Adverse health outcomes among workers of wood pellet production facilities

INTRODUCTION

Workers of pellet production facilities (WPPF) are exposed to high concentrations of wood dust and microbial pollutants. Such stimulation may lead to numerous allergic and toxic reactions, infections, and other non-specific syndromes.

OBJECTIVE

To check the influence of individual traits of workers and characteristic features / factors of their living and working environments on the probability of adverse outcomes' appearance.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The questionnaire study assessing adverse health effects resulting from individual exposure was conducted among 28 workers of 10 Polish WPPF. The logistic regression (for dichotomous variables) was used to determine the appearance probability (given as odds ratio) of adverse symptoms or diseases.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

WPPF workers may have an increased risk of developing work-related adverse health outcomes. Both the individual traits and environmental exposure factors significantly influence the probability of their occurrence.

High rate of transmission in a pulmonary tuberculosis outbreak in a primary school, north-eastern Italy, 2019

Italy is a low-incidence country for tuberculosis (TB). We describe a TB outbreak in a primary school in north-eastern Italy, involving 10 cases of active pulmonary disease and 42 cases of latent infection. The index case was detected in March 2019, while the primary case, an Italian-born schoolteacher, was likely infectious since January 2018. Administration of a pre-employment health questionnaire to school staff with sustained contact with children should be considered in low-incidence countries.