Extremism, displacement, and ongoing conflict have affected Palestinians and Israelis personally and collectively, endangering their health and lives. A theory circulating in public health publications posits that settler colonial determinants of health (SCDH) are the root cause of health inequities in the region. We argue that this assertion is misleading, ignores key facts, and exacerbates polarization, thus harming health. Public health is an evidence-based, scientific discipline based on hypotheses, research, and analysis. Throughout the scientific process, careful assessments of bias are essential. Knowledge is subsequently translated into policy and action. The SCDH theory rejects this approach as tainted by “colonialism.” We also argue that the SCDH concept, as applied to health disparities in Israel-Palestine, is an ideologically driven theory in search of evidence. Rather than developing testable hypotheses, the promoters of SCDH use selective evidence to support its relevance to health in the region. The theory collapses when examined against relevant facts related to regional history and the health status of Israelis and Palestinians. It invokes one-sided racism as a driver of health inequities in a context-inappropriate manner, and ignores many upstream determinants including actions of the Palestinian leadership, and their role as drivers of health. It denigrates peace-building and collaboration which are key to future health and wellbeing in the region, and which have a proven record in improving health outcomes. We call on public health professionals to distance themselves from unfounded rhetoric that polarizes the communities, and undermines the discipline’s scientific integrity, while contributing nothing to promote health in the region.
Coronary artery stenting is the treatment of choice for patients requiring coronary angioplasty. We describe the major advancements with this technology. There have been significant developments in the design of stents and adjunctive medical therapies. Newer-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) have almost negligible restenosis rates and, when combined with proper anti-platelet treatment and optimal deployment, a low risk of stent thrombosis. The introduction of newer-generation DES with thinner stent struts, novel durable or biodegradable polymer coatings, and new antiproliferative agents has further improved the safety profile of early-generation DES. In parallel the effectiveness has been kept, with a significant reduction in the risk of target lesion revascularization compared with the early-generation DES. However, to date, the development of completely bioresorbable vascular scaffolds has failed to achieve further clinical benefits and has been associated with increased thrombosis. Newer-generation DES—including both durable polymer as well as biodegradable polymer—have become the standard of care in all patient and lesion subsets, with excellent long-term results.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a first-line therapy for sudden cardiac arrest, while extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has traditionally been used as a means of countering circulatory failure. However, new advances dictate that CPR and ECMO could be complementary for support after cardiac arrest. This review details the emerging science, technology, and clinical application that are enabling the new paradigm of these iconic circulatory support modalities in the setting of cardiac arrest.
Failed surgical treatment of anterior shoulder instability should be treated according to clinical principles similar to primary stabilization by addressing risk factors related to the damaged static glenohumeral stabilizers (labrum, capsule and its components, and bony damage to the humeral head and scapular glenoid). In relatively rare conditions when failed primary surgery involves patients with functionally low demands, conservative treatment by strengthening dynamic muscular stabilizers might be considered; otherwise, surgical revision should be strongly considered aimed at improving quality of life. Although the overall failure rate following primary and revision surgery is expected to be below 4%, it is clear that revision surgery is technically demanding. Therefore, the initial recognition and correction of the exact pathology causing glenohumeral instability is crucial to avoid failure of primary surgery and to facilitate the success of the revision procedure, if necessary.
Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is a pandemic infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus. Infection can result in a wide range of clinical outcomes, from an asymptomatic condition to severe bilateral pneumonia and life-threatening conditions. Diagnosis is based on the combination of a history of exposure, clinical presentation, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays. In endemic areas, imaging tests including computed tomography (CT), chest X-ray (CXR), and ultrasound (US) have been included in the diagnostic workup. Multiple and peripheral areas of parenchymal injury is the hallmark of COVID-19 lung infection, seen as ground-glass opacification and consolidation on CT, as hazy opacities on CXR, and as multiple B-lines and subpleural consolidations on US. Of these modalities, CT has the best sensitivity and specificity, while CXR has moderate sensitivity and unknown specificity. Both CT and CXR involve ionizing radiation, increase the risk of cross-infection, and require a long sterilization time. Ultrasound is the only modality used by clinicians. Early reports have shown promising results, comparable to CT. With high availability, the lowest risk of cross-infection, and a rapid sterilization process, US may potentially become the primary imaging tool for COVID-19 pulmonary injury. Lung US training programs are needed to provide clinicians with the ability to better implement this technique.
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) epidemic started in late 2019, and was upgraded to a pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Well established epidemiological models have been used over the last few months in an attempt to predict how the virus would spread. The predictions were frightening, and the resulting panic caused many governments to impose lockdowns or other severe restrictions, with lasting effects. This short paper discusses another way of looking at the spread of COVID-19, by focusing on the daily rate of infection, defined as the daily rate of increase in the number of infected persons. It is shown that the daily rate is monotonically decreasing, after a short initial period, in all countries, and that the pattern is similar in all countries. This appears to be a universal phenomenon. Based on these calculations, the April 1, 2020 data for Western Europe were sufficient to predict the beginning of the end of COVID-19 in that region before the end of that month.
Diarrhea, an illness of both the developed and developing world, involves the burdensome characteristics of frequent bowel movements, loose stools, and abdominal discomfort. Diarrhea is a long-standing challenge in palliative care and can have a myriad of causes, making symptomatic treatment pertinent when illness evaluation is ongoing, when there is no definitive treatment approach, or when effective treatment cannot be attained. Symptomatic therapy is a common approach in palliative care settings. Bismuth is a suitable agent for symptomatic therapy and can be effectively employed for management of chronic diarrhea. The objective of this narrative review is to examine the role of bismuth in management of diarrheal symptoms. To explore this, PubMed (including Medline) and Embase were used to search the existing literature on bismuth and diarrhea published from 1980 to 2019. It was found that bismuth has potential utility for diarrheal relief in multiple settings, including microscopic colitis, traveler’s diarrhea, gastrointestinal infection, cancer, and chemotherapy. It also has great potential for use in palliative care patients, due to its minimal side effects. Overall, the antisecretory, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties of bismuth make it a suitable therapy for symptomatic treatment of diarrhea. The limited range of adverse side effects makes it an appealing option for patients with numerous comorbidities. Healthcare providers can explore bismuth as an adjunct therapy for diarrhea management in an array of conditions, especially in the palliative care setting.
In December 2019, the first cases of a new contagious disease were diagnosed in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China. Within a short period of time the outbreak developed exponentially into a pandemic that infected millions of people, with a global death toll of more than 500,000 during its first 6 months. Eventually, the novel disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the new virus was identified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Similar to all known pandemics throughout history, COVID-19 has been accompanied by a large degree of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and economic disaster worldwide. Despite multiple publications and increasing knowledge regarding the biological secrets of SARS-CoV-2, as of the writing of this paper, there is neither an approved vaccine nor medication to prevent infection or cure for this highly infectious disease. Past pandemics were caused by a wide range of microbes, primarily viruses, but also bacteria. Characteristically, a significant proportion of them originated in different animal species (zoonoses). Since an understanding of the microbial cause of these diseases was unveiled relatively late in human history, past pandemics were often attributed to strange causes including punishment from God, demonic activity, or volatile unspecified substances. Although a high case fatality ratio was common to all pandemic diseases, some striking clinical character¬istics of each disease allowed contemporaneous people to clinically diagnose the infection despite null microbiological information. In comparison to past pandemics, SARS-CoV-2 has tricky and complex mech¬anisms that have facilitated its rapid and catastrophic spread worldwide.
At the time of writing, in July 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has already inflicted dramatic international restrictions, including airports closing and limiting international travel. It has been suggested that re-opening of airports should involve and even rely on testing travelers for COVID-19. This paper discusses the methodology of estimating the detection and diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19 tests. It explains the clear distinction between the technical characteristics of the tests, the detection measures, and the diagnostic measures that have clinical and public health implications. It demonstrates the importance of the prevalence of COVID-19 in terms of determining the ability of a test to yield a diagnosis. We explain the methodology of evaluating diagnostic tests, using the predictive summary index (PSI), and the minimum number of tests that need to be performed in order to correctly diagnose one person, which is estimated by 1/PSI. In a population with low prevalence, even a high-sensitivity test may lead to a high percentage of false positive diagnoses, resulting in the need for multiple high-cost tests to achieve a correct diagnosis. Thus, basing a policy for opening airports on diagnostic testing, even with the best test for COVID-19, has some limits.
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy, the first Western country hit by the pandemic, seriously impacted the Italian healthcare system and social and economic environment. This perspective piece focuses on the main challenges faced by Italian hospital managements: hospital overcrowding; the need for urgent reorganization of the country’s healthcare systems; the lack of data regarding COVID-19 diagnostics, clinical course, and effective treatment; individual and collective consequences of the crisis; and the importance of disease containment measures and early treatment strategies.
