However, the role of specific bacteria groups in the development/progression or prevention/regression of HPV-associated pathologies is not well understood. In this review we summarize the current knowledge concerning changes in vaginal microbiome and cervical disease. We discuss the potential functional interplay between specific bacterial groups and HPV infection outcomes.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective surgical treatment for movement disorders. Early versions of implantable systems delivered stimulation with constant voltage (CV); however, advances in available and newer platforms have permitted programming in constant current (CC). From a treatment management perspective, there are theoretical advantages of CC stimulation. In this case series, we present clinical evidence supporting the maintenance of current regardless of changes to impedance.

This case series included 3 patients with Parkinson’s disease status post-bilateral subthalamic nucleus DBS. Patients in this series self-reported intermittent diplopia with pressure applied to the scalp. Patients were subsequently examined and converted from CV to CC and re-examined. Impedances were checked prior to and after conversion from CV to CC as well as while applying pressure to the scalp that induced the adverse effects.

Across patients, we observed that compression of the scalp overlying the connector, while patients were maintained in CV, consistently and objectively induced unilateral adduction of an eye. In addition, during scalp compression, while in CV, impedance was reduced, which would increase current delivery. Converting the patients to CC stimulation without changing other stimulation parameters eliminated diplopia and objective findings of eye deviation with compression of the scalp overlying the hardware despite changes in impedance.

In this case series, we provide clinical support for the principal differences between CV and CC stimulation.

In this case series, we provide clinical support for the principal differences between CV and CC stimulation.Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are broadly used to support people’s daily needs. Individuals addicted to psychoactive drugs sometimes present social exclusion as well as, limitations to the usage of ICT such as Internet, devices and applications. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a pilot study related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies by Drug Addicts. A survey was conducted on 204 users of psychoactive substances. According to the results, the majority of the drug addicts seem to use ICT on a daily basis, showing their preference on Smartphones compared to other devices. The Internet access and the usage of Social Media and Communication Networks by addicted individuals is quite high, probably because they are willing to reintegrate into the society through Social Networks. Age is often related to the usage of ICT on Drug Addicts.An Electronic Health Insurance Record (EHIR) could give all the information needed to the insured citizens, informing them about the history of benefits and the health expenses. The aim of this work is to evaluate a Digital Health Insurance Record system as well as to explore the benefits of using this system, both for society and for each citizen individually. A quantitative survey was carried out using a questionnaire shared among 180 people in Greece in 2019. The questionnaire consisted of 25 closed-ended questions, 3 of which related to demographics and the remaining 22 related to the use and benefits of use of the EHIR system. Most of all people who took part in this study believe that EHIR can contribute positively giving both social benefits and benefits for the patients. An important finding of the study is the concern expressed by respondents about the security of the system in the management of sensitive personal data. Based on citizens‘ opinions a Digital Health Insurance Record can provide a lot of benefits to citizens and to the society as well as to the national health insurance system.Physical activity is a vital part of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). However, heart-healthy physical activity levels in people with cardiovascular disease drop significantly after CR. This exploratory study employs qualitative and survey methods within a co-creation approach. The aim is to understand the mechanisms of healthy behavior and habit formation in order to create a novel evidence-based (post-)rehabilitation approach that employs digital means to sustain long-term physical activity levels in people with cardiovascular disease.This paper presents the design and the users‘ perceptions of a Digital Allergy Card for recording, sharing and tracing information on drug allergies.Self-management for prevention and care will play a significant role in the transition to apply person-centered care. Interoperability requirements, an overarching care plan, integration of social determinants, and the focus on prevention are important ingredients in the vision on its implementation.In this paper we describe the Master Study in Telemedicine and E-health at the University of Tromsø, Norway. The study enrolled its first students in 2005 and was closed in 2018. We describe and discuss the background of the programme, its development and accomplishments and why it was closed. Hopefully, this narrative will be of use to other programmes focusing on e-health.During COVID-19 pandemic, mobile technology is seen as potential tool for epidemic control and citizens‘ empowerment. Based on literature, we explore, which are the currently known types of the mobile apps and what implications do the apps have for patient empowerment. There is a need for evidence and an assessment framework to ensure that COVID-19 apps deliver on their promises.Information management and the usability of health information systems (HIS) are important for the development of HIS in occupational health services. User participation in the HIS development process has been shown to contribute to the success of an HIS. The purpose of this study was to analyze how user participation in HIS development affected evaluation of the success of HIS. The success was assessed on the basis of the DeLone and McLean Information Systems (IS) Success Model. The study was conducted within occupational health services and the data (n=210) was analyzed with quantitative methods. The results showed that users participating in the HIS development process assessed the success of the HIS as better than those that had not taken part in the development. This difference could be seen in all seven dimensions of the DeLone and McLean IS success model but was statistically significant only for System Quality and Intention to Use. The results also showed that the users that had participated in the HIS development process also used the HIS more often and more extensively than those that had not participated in the development. The results indicate that user participation in the development process positively influences their assessment of the HIS and increases their active use of the IS. However, more research is needed to determine the long-term effects of using participatory design in HIS development.Metadata is often used for different tasks in the field of medical informatics semantic description of data, quality validation, data integration, or information retrieval. Metadata definitions are captured and curated in time-consuming tasks and stored in metadata repositories that manage and preserve the metadata. Due to technical and legal restrictions, metadata is rarely as easily accessible and interoperable as it is necessary for modern information systems. In a previous study, a uniform interface based on the widely used ISO/IEC 11179 and the Facebook data retrieval language GraphQL was introduced as a solution to these technical obstacles. In the meantime, the ISO standard 21526 has been published, a recent version designed with a strong focus on health informatics. While it is conceptually oriented on the metamodel in ISO 11179, a number of extensions but also restructurings have been introduced. In this study, the authors investigated the difference between ISO 11179 and ISO 21526 and extended the unified metadata query interface to be future-proof and in particular, to support the semantic extensions of ISO 21526.User-centred design involves end-users or user groups during all the parts of the development process. The research project Chronic Pain aims to develop a shared decision making application for patients and physicians, addressing individually adapted pain treatment. The project employs a user-centred design process, and in middle of it, Covid-19 pandemic social distancing restrictions were imposed. This paper presents how the user-centred design process together with a patient organisation was transformed to a digital approach and the experiences from performing a remote co-creation user workshop. The digital approximation had a satisfactory result and the main contribution lies in the sharing of recommendations for how to practically apply a remote user-centred design methodology.Although the consequences of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have been widely discussed, the violations have not been described in medical literature. In this study, we focus our analyses on the data breach notifications, in France, defined in the article 4 of GDPR as „a breach of security resulting, accidentally or unlawfully, in the destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed, or unauthorized access to such data.“ Among 3,824 data breach notifications reported between May 2018 and February 2020, 244 (6.4%) is related to the health sector. Loss of confidentiality is the most important breach (80.7%) in this sector, followed by the loss of availability (27.5%). Malicious cause occurred in 58.2% of them. We hypothesized a phenomenon of underreported data breach incidents in health due to a mismatch between cybersecurity and data privacy issues.This paper presents the early outcomes of the educational cooperation between two European academic associations, namely the European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI) and European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM). Two webinars were organized in December 2019 and June 2020 to explore areas where mutual education would be beneficial for interdisciplinary cooperation to advance the digitization of emergency departments for the benefit of patients, health professionals and the health system as a whole. Preliminary findings from the analysis of these two webinars are presented and the steps for further cooperation are outlined.SMART-MEDS is a gamification-based mobile application to improve medication adherence. In its first version, it relied on storytelling to bolster user engagement. The feedback collected from users after one month testing revealed that although they appreciated the proposed story, they did not find it compelling enough. On the positive side they really appreciated to learn about their medications and disease through a dedicated quiz. read more In this paper, we present a new version of the app redesigned based on the collected feedback. We have based ourselves on the theories of gamification and self-efficiency to propose new mechanics such as mini-games, and interactive dialogues with a chatbot. Everything is wrapped up inside a new story that takes us on a journey through Switzerland. We also tried to reinforce the app educational aspects by integrating documentation directly inside the new mechanics. This new app seems to address all the issues raised during the first user tests, and will be tested in the near future.