Mental health in the virtual world:Challenges and opportunities in the metaverse era

Current rates of mental illness are worrisome.Mental illness mainly affects females and younger age groups.The use of the internet to deliver mental health care has been growing since 2020 and includes the implementation of novel mental health treatments using virtual reality,augmented reality,and artificial intelligence.A new three dimensional digital environment,known as the metaverse,has emerged as the next version of the Internet.Artificial intelligence,augmented reality,and virtual reality will create fully immersive,experiential,and interactive online environments in the metaverse.People will use a unique avatar to do anything they do in their“real”lives,including seeking and receiving mental health care.In this opinion review,we reflect on how the metaverse could reshape how we deliver mental health treatment,its opportunities,and its challenges.

Development of methods of male contraception: impact of the World Health Organization Task Force

Objective: To give an historical record of the research of the World Health Organization (WHO) Task Force to develop methods of male contraception; to examine the social, political, medical, pharmaceutical, funding, and other factors that influenced progress; and to suggest reasons why such methods are only now becoming available. Design: Review of basic and clinical research over 30 years. Setting: Task force of a multinational agency and collaborating agencies. Conclusion(s): Through the involvement of many international scientists, the WHO Task Force has uniquely contributed to the exploratory phases of the research in male contraception and by its multicenter contraceptive efficacy studies has accelerated progress towards the ideal hormonal method. Despite an adverse climate involving social and political attitudes, funding constraints, and pharmaceutical industry hesitations, WHO formed coalitions with governments and international agencies to sustain research with results that apply to men in culturally diverse populations and thereby to influence activities across the whole range of global reproductive health and family planning.

Resistance to clarithromycin and gastroenterologist's persistence roles in nomination for Helicobacter pylori as high priority pathogen by World Health Organization

Due to the increasing prevalence of clarithromycin resistance, future of management of Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infections need to be recognized. To now, clarithromycin was the best effective, well-tolerated and safe antibiotic used in treatment of the bacterium, but, increasing trend of resistance reduced efficacy of recommended regimens. Indeed, gastroenterologists are mostly unable to start appropriate therapyaccording to the sensitivity profile-due to the certain difficulties in routine H. pylori culture procedure and being time consuming method. This announcement by World Health Organization(WHO) was an onset to reconsider current challenging dilemma about H. pylori clarithromycin resistant isolates. Therefore, investigating of various factors affecting this nomination by WHO is highly welcomed. In fact, WHO enumerated more than 16 pathogens which seriously threats human life and public health, thus better management or effective guidelines are necessary. Here for the first time, we nominated this phenomenon as ‘‘gastroenterologist's persistence'' which should be equally investigated as antibiotic resistance. The ability of gastroenterologists to win the game against H. pylori infections is highly influenced by their collaboration with diagnostic laboratories to apply susceptibility patterns before any prescription. In conclusion, closer collaboration between two important partners(gastroenterologists and microbiologists) in management of H. pylori infection may hopefully trigger an era to remedy current crisis in clarithromycin resistance, a later gastric cancer can be practically preventable.

Simple approach for the histomolecular diagnosis of central nervous system gliomas based on 2021 World Health Organization Classification

The classification of central nervous system(CNS)glioma went through a sequence of developments,between 2006 and 2021,started with only histological approach then has been aided with a major emphasis on molecular signatures in the 4^(th) and 5^(th) editions of the World Health Organization(WHO).The recent reformation in the 5th edition of the WHO classification has focused more on the molecularly defined entities with better characterized natural histories as well as new tumor types and subtypes in the adult and pediatric populations.These new subclassified entities have been incorporated in the 5^(th) edition after the continuous exploration of new genomic,epigenomic and transcriptomic discovery.Indeed,the current guidelines of 2021 WHO classification of CNS tumors and European Association of Neuro-Oncology(EANO)exploited the molecular signatures in the diagnostic approach of CNS gliomas.Our current review presents a practical diagnostic approach for diffuse CNS gliomas and circumscribed astrocytomas using histomolecular criteria adopted by the recent WHO classification.We also describe the treatment strategies for these tumors based on EANO guidelines.

Mental health promotion for elderly populations in World Health Organization South-East Asia Region:Needs and resource gaps

The accelerated population growth of the elderly(individuals aged 60 years or more)across the globe has many indications,including changes in demography,health,the psycho-social milieu,and economic security.This transition has given rise to varied challenges;significant changes have been observed in regard to developing strategies for health care systems across the globe.The World Health Organization(WHO)is also engaging in initiatives and mediating processes.Furthermore,advocacy is being conducted regarding a shift toward the salutogenic model from the pathogenic model.The concept behind this move was to shift from disablement to enablement and from illness to wellness,with the notion of mental health promotion(MHP)being promoted.This article attempts to discuss the MHP of elderly individuals,with special reference to the need to disseminate knowledge and awareness in the community by utilizing the resources of the health sector available in the WHO South-East Asia Region countries.We have tried to present the current knowledge gap by exploring the existing infrastructure,human resources,and financial resources.There is much to do to promote the mental health of the elderly,but inadequate facilities are available.Based on available resources,a roadmap for MHP in elderly individuals is discussed.

World Flu Day: Protecting Health, Keeping away from Flu Troubles

November 1,2023 marks the 6th"World Flu Day".The theme is"Preventing Influenza,Protecting Health"in this year.According to data from the World Health Organization,influenza infects approximately 5%-10%of adults and 20%-30%of children worldwide each year,resulting in up to 5million severe cases and 650,000 deaths.A recent study showed that about 88,000 people in China died from respiratory diseases caused by influenza each year,accounting for 8.2%of total respiratory disease deaths,making influenza a serious threat to public health.

Assessment of Medicines Cold Chain Storage Conformity with the World Health Organization Requirements in Health Facilities in Tanzania

A descriptive study on assessment of medicines cold chain storage conformity with World Health Organization (WHO) requirements in public health facilities was carried out in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma regions. Storage conformity in selected health facilities was assessed by monitoring temperature using temperature data loggers mounted in the refrigerators for a period of 30 days. Results indicated almost half of the health facilities 48.5% visited, did not significantly (P = 0.031) comply with storage temperature (+2°C to +8°C) as per WHO requirement because all recorded Mean Kinetic temperature (MKT) > 8°C. In rural areas, 59.2% of visited health facilities adhered to the WHO recommended storage temperature while in urban areas only 31.6% complied. The study has established electricity failure in urban and lack of gas in rural areas coupled with absence of contingency plan as major challenges to WHO temperature conformity in storage of cold chain medicines in health facilities in Tanzania.

Assessing Barriers to Mental Healthcare Interventions for Deaf People in Ghana

While mental health issues are increasingly gaining attention in Ghana, little is known about the situation among deaf people. This study assessed the mental health care needs of deaf people in Ghana. A descriptive design, consisting of interviews and focus group discussions, was used to collect data from 97 participants. Findings indicated that participants had limited knowledge on mental health issues. Mental health stigma, inaccessible mental health information and exclusion from mental health programmes were the major barriers hindering access to mental health care services. This study bridges the knowledge gap and provides evidence for the implementation of deaf-friendly services.

The World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist Improves Post-Operative Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Background: The incidence of in-hospital adverse events is about 10%, with a majority of these related to surgery, and nearly half considered preventable events. In attempts to improve patient safety, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a checklist to be used at critical perioperative moments. This meta-analysis examines the impact of the WHO surgical safety checklist (SSC) on various patient outcomes. Methods: A comprehensive search of all published studies assessing the use of the WHO SSC in patients undergoing surgery was conducted. Studies using the WHO SSC in any surgical setting, with pre-implementation and post-implementation outcome data were included. The incidence of patient outcomes (total complications, surgical site infections, unplanned return to the operating room (OR) within 30 days, and overall mortality) and adherence to safety measures were analyzed. Results: 10 studies involving 51,125 patients (27,490 prior to implementation and 23,635 after implementation of the WHO SSC) were analyzed. The implementation of the WHO SSC significantly reduced the risk of total complications by 37.9%, surgical site infections by 45.5%, unplanned return to OR by 32.1%, and mortality by 15.3%. Increased adherence to safety measures including airway evaluation, use of pulse oximetry, prophylactic antibiotics when necessary, confirmation of patient name and surgical site, and sponge count was also observed. Conclusions: The use of the WHO SSC is associated with a significant reduction in post-operative complication rates and mortality. The WHO SSC is a valuable tool that should be universally implemented in all surgical centers and utilized in all surgical patients.

中国体育学术英文期刊的画像分析:以Journal of Sport and Health Science为例

Journal of Sport and Health Science《运动与健康科学》(英文版),简称JSHS,是我国内地地区第一本英文体育学术期刊,深入分析和全面认识JSHS的期刊画像特征,对我国体育学术英文期刊国际化发展实践和建设世界一流期刊均具有重要现实意义。采集Web of Science数据库中2012-2022年755篇JSHS论文,基于科学计量的方法,系统挖掘了JSHS在时间产出、作者合作、机构分布、刊文热点与趋势等特征,还从影响因子、即年指标、被引半衰期等指标,对标对表British Journal of Sports Medicine(简称BJSM,英国运动医学杂志)进行深入分析。研究发现:JSHS作为新创的体育科学期刊和我国建设世界一流期刊的代表,总体发展势头良好。年载文量稳步增长,期刊影响因子、论文影响力显著提升。论文高产机构来自上海体育学院、北卡罗莱纳大学、卡尔加里大学等,高产作者有Walter Herzog、刘宇、于冰、陈佩杰等,作者队伍越来越壮大,且呈团队合作趋势。JSHS在不断发展中形成6大主题群,包括儿童青少年运动与健康促进、老年人群运动与健康、运动表现分析、运动损伤、运动与疾病风险以及运动与认知功能。对标对表BJSM分析,JSHS在出版周期、年发文量、论文影响力等方面亟需提升。

The Next Era:Flourish of National Health Care & Medicine with the World Leading Artificial Intelligence

MODERN medical diagnosis and practice heavily rely on biological data and information from patients’ body.The progress of biomedical sensor,material and mathematical technology provided ever-increasing methods to gather data.While providing more choices and more comprehensive picture of patients’ conditions to doctors and practitioners,these progresses also require more labor efforts to read,analyze,and make decisions based on those data.It is very difficult for the medical human resources to grow at a speed that matches such need for diagnosis-related expert knowledge.The shortage of expertise has caused long waiting time for check report and fatal misjudged diagnosis in public health system,and it will compromise our ability to move towards a more precise,more personalized and more efficient future of medicine.

World Cities and International Organizations: Political Global-city Status of Chinese Cities

In this study, the authors use a political perspective to explore the relative global status of cities in China. Two questions are addressed. Firstly, by using international organizations as the subjects and quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution of their offices, the overall position of Chinese cities in the global distribution of international organizations is estimated. The results show that 22 Chi- nese cities are involved in international political affairs. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou dominate these activities and have high po- litical global-city status. Secondly, through qualitative analysis of Guangzhou City, the authors explore how its status as a center for intemational organizations has been shaped in recent years. The locational decision-making process is analyzed and the factors are demonstrated at both national and city scales. The definition of international organizations as used in this study refers not only to those supranational bodies that have the ability to manage relations across states （such as the European Union）, but also those in- ter-governmental organizations （IGOs）, international non-governmental organizations （INGOs） and diplomatic representatives and delegations that today also manage and regulate relations between and among states.

World health dilemmas: Orphan and rare diseases, orphan drugs and orphan patients

According to global annual estimates hunger/malnutrition is the major cause of death(36 of 62 million). Cardiovascular diseases and cancer(5.44 of 13.43 million) are the major causes of death in developed countries, while lower respiratory tract infections, human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, diarrhoeal disease, malaria and tuberculosis(10.88 of 27.12 million) are the major causes of death in developing countries with more than 70% of deaths occurring in children. The majority of approximately 800 million people with other rare diseases, including 100000 children born with thalassaemia annually receive no treatment. There are major ethical dilemmas in dealing with global health issues such as poverty and the treatment of orphan and rare diseases. Of approximately 50000 drugs about 10% are orphan drugs, with annual sales of the latter approaching 100 billion USD. In comparison, the annual revenue in 2009 from the top 12 pharmaceutical companies in Western countrieswas 445 billion USD and the top drug, atorvastatin, reached 100 billion USD. In the same year, the total government expenditure for health in the developing countries was 410 billion USD with only 6%-7% having been received as aid from developed countries. Drugs cost the National Health Service in the United Kingdom more than 20 billion USD or 10% of the annual health budget. Uncontrollable drug prices and marketing policies affect global health budgets, clinical practice, patient safety and survival. Fines of 5.3 billion USD were imposed on two pharmaceutical companies in the United States, the regulatory authority in France was replaced and clinicians were charged with bribery in order to overcome recent illegal practises affecting patient care. High expenditure for drug development is mainly related to marketing costs. However, only 2 million USD was spent developing the drug deferiprone(L1) for thalassaemia up to the stage of multicentre clinical trials. The criteria for drug development, price levels and use needs to be readdressed to improve drug safety and minimise costs. New global health policies based on cheaper drugs can help the treatment of many categories of orphan and rare diseases and millions of orphan patients in developing and developed countries.

The Impact of the World Trade Organization （WTO） Regime on Foreign Direct Investment （FDI） Flows to Vietnam： A Gravity Model Approach

Foreign direct investment （FDI） has taken an important role in Vietnam＇s development process since the launch of Renovation in 1986. After Vietnam＇s accession to the World Trade Organization （WTO）, a large amount of FDI capital flowed into the country, up to 143,950.3 million USD. Wherein, there was a switching of FDI capital from the manufacturing sector to the service one in tandem with a downward trend in the agriculture. Like the previous duration, Vietnam＇s FDI capital sources came mostly from Asia-Pacific region and European economies （net capital, technology exporters） probably caused by Vietnam＇s integration emphases on dynamic Asia-Pacific region. Geographical location of FDI was characterized by a concentration on the three main key economic regions： the Red River Delta （surrounding Ha Noi, Hai Phong, and Quang Ninh）, the Central region （surrounding Da Nang）, and the Southeast of the country （surrounding Ho Chi Minh City） owing to good infrastructure, abundance of skillful labor force, and large market size. By constructing a gravity model, using descriptive, quantitative methods and applying them to recent data set by Vietnam＇s authorities and the international organizations during the period from 1995 to 2011 of 18 Vietnam＇s major country partners, the author finds evidence broadly consistent with the prediction that the WTO has had a positive impact on FDI flows to Vietnam.

Pattern and Dimensions of Urban Health Hazards in the Third World:A Nigerian Example

The rapid expansion of urban systems,particularly in the third world also means a considerable challenge for the health of city residents.Owing to this expansion and a variant of social,economic and environmental forces,the city becomes a‘basket’of health hazards to which people and neighbourhoods are exposed to,albeit,differently.These hazards are various relating to housing,occupation,transport

Dietary supplemental coated essential oils and organic acids mixture improves growth performance and gut health along with reduces Salmonella load of broiler chickens infected with Salmonella Enteritidis

Background Reducing Salmonella infection in broiler chickens by using effective and safe alternatives to antibiotics is vital to provide safer poultry meat and minimize the emergence of drug-resistant Salmonella and the spread of salmonellosis to humans.This study was to first evaluate the protective efficacy of feeding coated essential oils and organic acids mixture(EOA)on broiler chickens infected with Salmonella Enteritidis(S.Enteritidis,SE),and then its action mechanism was further explored.Methods A total of 4801-day-old Arbor Acres male chickens were randomly assigned into five treatments with six replicates,including non-challenged control fed with basal diet(A),SE-challenged control(B),and SE-infected birds fed a basal diet with 300 mg/kg of EOA(BL),500 mg/kg of EOA(BM)and 800 mg/kg of EOA(BH),respectively.All birds on challenged groups were infected with Salmonella Enteritidis on d 13.Results Feeding EOA showed a reversed ability on negative effects caused by SE infection,as evidenced by decreasing the feed conversion rate(FCR)and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth(VH/CD)(P<0.05),obviously decreasing intestinal and internal organs Salmonella load along with increasing cecal butyric acid-producing bacteria abundance(P<0.05).Moreover,supplemental different levels of EOA notably up-regulated claudin-1(CLDN-1),occludin(OCLN),zonula occludens-1(ZO-1),mucin-2(MUC-2),fatty acid binding protein-2(FABP-2),nuclear factor kappa-light-chainenhancer of activated B cells(NF-κB),myeloid differential protein-88(MyD88)and interleukin-6(IL-6)mRNA levels in the ileum of the infected chickens after challenge,whereas down-regulated toll-like receptor-4(TLR-4)mRNA levels(P<0.05).Linear discriminant analysis combined effect size measurements analysis(LEfSe)showed that the relative abundance of g_Butyricicoccus,g_Anaerotruncus and g_unclassified_f_Bacillaceae significantly was enriched in infected birds given EOA.Also,phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states(PICRUSt)analysis showed that alpha-linolenic acid metabolism,fatty acid metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids were significantly enriched in the EOA group.Conclusion Our data suggest that the essential oils and organic acids mixture can be used as an effective strategy to ameliorate and alleviate Salmonella Enteritidis infection in broilers.

Psycho-medical aspects on migrants health of III? world pediatric surgical patients

The constantly expanding world wide mobility and globalization within the pediatric community puts new demands on pediatric surgical health care systems worldwide. Forcing carers to pay attention not only on their best surgical and medical performance like in the past. In contrary, they are forced to pay much more attention on psycho-medical aspects like finance, rehabilitation, socialization and integration, culture, management and logistics, health edu-cation and language skills. Then, according to our opinion these aspects should be considered as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-like syndrome and treated accordingly. Then handling this problem succesfully, would be essential for the future survival of any health care system.

ZTE Achieves Second Place in World Intellectual Property Organization Patent Table

March 18, 2014-ZTE Corporation achieved second place in the World Intellectual Pro ble of patent applicants, strengthening the company＇ s position as one of the world＇ s leading With 2309 filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty （PCT）, ZTE was second only to ZTE ranked number one. perty Organization＇s annual ta- technology innovators. Panasonic. In 2011 and 2012,

Analysis for Change in Health Sector Organization

Health sector organization is discussed in many countries of the world. Organization of sectors of the society is a complex issue. It may look difficult where to start and how to navigate through an analysis of health sector organization. The objective is to present an approach to analysis for change in health sector organization that can result in a broad information basis for choice of new organization. A process based framework to analysis for change in health sector organization was designed. The three major stages of the process are： solving problems by smaller change in organization, smaller or major change in organization and major change in organization. Major change in sector organization has the steps： change in sector organization type, number and bordering of geographic subunits, choice of accountability structure, network organization, internal health sector organization and plan for the change process. A new way for how to perform analysis for change in health sector organization is described. With the approach, improved overall information is likely to be achieved. It can be applied as a first step by countries considering new organization of the health sector. It should be followed up by selecting specific organizational alternatives for more detailed analysis. The described framework can help navigating through analysis for choice of future health sector organization.

THE 4th CONGRESS OF THE WORLD SOCIETY FOR BREAST HEALTH The Announcement&Call for Abstract

October 18-21, 2007 Tianjin, ChinaSponsored by World Society for Breast Health Chinese Medical Association Co-Sponsored by Department of Medicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Engineering Tianjin