MEDICC Review continues documentation of Cuba's COVID-19 Prevention and Control Plan and its implementation, begun with our April issue (see https//mediccreview.org/cubas-covid-19-strategy-main-actions-through-april-23-2020). This time, we present two tables the first refers to measures taken to confront the epidemic, and the second, to the phased recovery process that is expected to lead to changes in many, if not all, sectors of Cuban society. In both cases, we have indicated the source of the information provided.In their MEDICC Review Perspective, Galindo-Santana and colleagues highlight the challenges presented by anti-vaccination groups, stressing that immunization is an essential cost-effective preventive measure that promotes population health.[1] In 2019, WHO identifi ed vaccine hesitancy, fragile and vulnerable settings and weak primary health care as 3 of 10 main global health threats. Close attention to these threats can detect potential areas of missed opportunities for immunization across populations and mitigate risk of preventable diseases.Four months after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, it has found a new epicenter the Americas. With over four million cases and nearly half a million deaths at this writing, the United States is providing the best example of a failed response to a crisis in which GDP is not proving the best predictor of success. Zero coordinat-ed national strategy combined with unnecessary delays in testing, confusing and often contradictory messaging, and politicization of even the most elementary measures to combat the virus have led some US states to surpass infection and death rates in even the most hard-hit countries. Brazil, where government fi nally resumed reporting, is second only to the USA, its authorities admitting 2.4 million cases and over 300,000 deaths thus far. And by all counts, as in many countries, numbers are vastly underestimated.
Among all diseases globally, mental illnesses are one of the major causes of burden. As many people are resistant to conventional evidence-based treatments, there is an unmet need for the implementation of novel mental health treatments. Efforts to increase the effectiveness and benefits of evidence-based psychotherapy in psychiatry have led to the emergence of virtual reality (VR)-based interventions. These interventions have shown a wide range of advantages over conventional psychotherapies. Currently, VR-based interventions have been developed mainly for anxiety-related disorders; however, they are also used for developmental disorders, severe mental disorders, and neurocognitive disorders.

This meta-review aims to summarize the current state of evidence on the efficacy of VR-based interventions for various psychiatric disorders by evaluating the quality of evidence provided by meta-analytical studies.

A systematic search was performed using the following electronic databases PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of.
VR provides unlimited opportunities by tailoring approaches to specific complex problems and individualizing the intervention. However, VR-based interventions have not shown superiority compared with usual evidence-based treatments. Future VR-based interventions should focus on developing innovative approaches for complex and treatment-resistant symptoms that are difficult to address with traditional treatments. Future research should also aim to gain a better understanding of the potential factors that may mediate VR outcomes to improve treatment.
Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in children and adolescents has adverse health effects. For adolescents of lower socioeconomic status (SES), exposure is widespread, evidenced in the measurement of urinary cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine. Direct intervention with exposed children has been proposed as a novel method, yet there is minimal evidence of its efficacy. Combining this approach with a mobile health (mHealth) intervention may be more time and cost-effective and feasible for adolescent populations.

In this pilot study, we assessed the feasibility and preliminary evidence of efficacy of a 30-day text message-based mHealth intervention targeted at reducing SHS exposure in adolescent populations of low SES.

For the study, 14 nonsmoking and nonvaping participants between the ages of 12-21 years exposed to SHS were enrolled. The intervention consisted of a daily text message sent to the participants over the course of a month. Text message types included facts and information about SHS, behavios accurately and reported that the messages were helpful.In many countries, private companies provide primary care services based predominantly on offering video consultations via smartphones. One example is Babylon GP at Hand (BGPaH), which offers video consultations to National Health Service patients, 24 hours a day, and has grown rapidly in London over the last 3 years. The development of this type of service has been controversial, particularly in the United Kingdom, but there has been little formal published evaluation of these services in any country. This paper outlines the main controversies about the use of privately provided video consultation services for primary care and shows how they are informed by the limited evaluations that have been conducted, particularly the evaluation of BGPaH. This paper describes the advantages of these services in terms of convenience, speed of access, the ability to consult without traveling or face-to-face patient-doctor contact, and the possibility of recruiting doctors who cannot work in conventional settings or do not live near the patients. It also highlights the concerns and uncertainties about quality and safety, demand, fragmentation of care, impact on other health services, efficiency, and equity. There are questions about whether private primary care services based on video consultations have a sustainable business model and whether they will undermine other health care providers. During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the use of video consulting has become more widespread within conventional primary care services, and this is likely to have lasting consequences for the future delivery of primary care. It is important to understand the extent to which lessons from the evaluation of BGPaH and other private services based on a video-first model are relevant to the use of video consulting within conventional general practices, and to consider the advantages and disadvantages of these developments, before video consultation-based services in primary care become more widely established.
Home-based cardiac rehabilitations (CRs) with digital technologies have been researched and implemented to replace, augment, and complement traditional center-based CR in recent years with considerable success. One problem that technology-enhanced home-based CR can potentially address is the gap between cardiac interventions and formal CR programs. In the Netherlands and some other countries (eg, Australia), patients after cardiac interventions stay at home for 3-4 weeks without much support from their physicians, and often engage in very little physical activity (PA). A home-based exercise program enabled by digital technologies may help patients to better prepare for the later center-based CR programs, potentially increasing the uptake rate of those programs.

In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we will evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based walking exercise program enhanced by self-tracking and mobile-based coaching (treatment condition), comparing it with a version of the same program without t larger clinical trial with the targeted population is feasible. We expect to complete the RCT by the end of 2021, and statistical analyses will follow.

Results of the RCT will help us to test the hypothesized benefits of self-tracking and mobile-based coaching for cardiac patients in home-based exercise programs during the discharge-rehabilitation gap. If the results are positive, cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed based on the insights of the study to inform the translation of the technology-enhanced program to clinical practice. We also note limitations of the trial in the discussion.

Registered at Netherlands Trial Register NL8040; https//www.trialregister.nl/trial/8040.

PRR1-10.2196/16737.
PRR1-10.2196/16737.
Visual representation of oneself is likely to affect movement patterns. Prior work in virtual dodgeball showed greater excursion of the ankles, knees, hips, spine, and shoulder occurs when presented in the first-person perspective compared to the third-person perspective. However, the mode of presentation differed between the two conditions such that a head-mounted display was used to present the avatar in the first-person perspective, but a 3D television (3DTV) display was used to present the avatar in the third-person. Thus, it is unknown whether changes in joint excursions are driven by the visual display (head-mounted display versus 3DTV) or avatar perspective during virtual gameplay.

This study aimed to determine the influence of avatar perspective on joint excursion in healthy individuals playing virtual dodgeball using a head-mounted display.

Participants (n=29, 15 male, 14 female) performed full-body movements to intercept launched virtual targets presented in a game of virtual dodgeball using alder (P=.001) joints while playing virtual dodgeball in the first versus third-person perspective. Aligning with the expectations, there was a significant effect of impact height on joint excursions.

As clinicians develop treatment strategies in virtual reality to shape motion in orthopedic populations, it is important to be aware that changes in avatar perspective can significantly influence motor behavior. These data are important for the development of virtual reality assessment and treatment tools that are becoming increasingly practical for home and clinic-based rehabilitation.
As clinicians develop treatment strategies in virtual reality to shape motion in orthopedic populations, it is important to be aware that changes in avatar perspective can significantly influence motor behavior. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/bay-11-7085.html These data are important for the development of virtual reality assessment and treatment tools that are becoming increasingly practical for home and clinic-based rehabilitation.
In effective diabetes management, it is important that providers and health care systems prioritize the delivery of patient-centered care and that they are respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences and barriers.

The objective of the study was to conduct focus group interviews to capture patients' and health care professionals' perceptions and attitudes regarding digital technology and to explore how the digital Diabetes Questionnaire can be used to support patient participation in diabetes care, as a basis for an implementation study.

A qualitative study was conducted with six focus group discussions with diabetes specialist nurses and medical doctors (n=29) and four focus group discussions with individuals with diabetes (n=23). A semistructured focus group interview guide was developed, including probing questions. The data were transcribed verbatim, and qualitative content analysis was performed using an inductive approach.

Two main categories were revealed by the qualitative analysis perceptions of digital technology and the digital questionnaire in diabetes management and care and perceptions of participation in diabetes care.