public health

From the employment of Pokémon GO! in public health to new advancements in tackling ALS and inducing partial recovery in paraplegic patients, there have been plenty of noteworthy news and evidence updates shared on the Among Doctors network. Let’s have a look at some of them:

• Pokemon GO! €”Pandemic or Prescription? The Public Health Perspective
  Pokémon GO! shows how an alternative way of thinking & and a new era of solutions are need to tackle old (or not-so-old) problems.
• NEK1 variants confer susceptibility to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  Two summers after the Ice Bucket Challenge, new research is crediting part of the $115 million raised to helping to identify NEK1 as a new ALS-related gene.
• Long-Term Training with a Brain-Machine Interface-Based Gait Protocol Induces Partial Neurological Recovery in Paraplegic Patients
  Following 12 months of training with this paradigm, all eight patients experienced neurological improvements in somatic sensation and regained voluntary motor control in key muscles.
• Guideline Update on Duration of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy for CAD
  This guideline-focused update on dual antiplatelet therapy for patients with coronary artery disease.
• Pioglitazone Prevents Diabetes in Insulin-Resistant Patients With Cerebrovascular Disease
  Pioglitazone is the first medication shown to prevent both progression to diabetes and major cardiovascular events as prespecified outcomes in a single trial.
• Florida investigation links four recent Zika cases to local mosquito-borne virus transmission
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been informed by the State of Florida that Zika virus infections in four people were likely caused by bites of local Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
• Physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis
  People who achieve total physical activity levels several times higher than the current recommended minimum level of 600 METs/week (as recommended by the WHO) have a significant reduction in the risk of the five diseases studied.
• Reasons for Trying E-cigarettes and Risk of Continued Use
  Regulatory strategies such as increasing cost or prohibiting e-cigarette use in certain places may be important for preventing continued use in youth.

Image credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 iphonedigital