About 90,000 preterm infants or babies with birth defects are born in Italy every year, nearly 250 per day. These congenital conditions and their outcomes represent the most important burden of disease affecting the health status and the quality of life during infancy, childhood and beyond. In many cases they are fostered by the presence of maternal and/or paternal preconception risk factors wh...

In the last decade novel sensing technologies enabled development of applications that help individuals with chronic diseases monitor their health and activities. These applications often generate large volumes of data that need to be processed and analyzed. At the same time, many of these applications target non-professionals and individuals of advanced age and low educational level. These use...

Differences in the effectiveness of diverse healthcare providers to promote health behavior change and successful diabetes self-care have received little attention. Because training in naturopathic medicine (NM) emphasizes a patient-centered approach, health promotion, and routine use of clinical counseling on wellness and prevention, naturopathic physicians (NDs) may be particularly well-prepa...

background since 1986, the world health organization (who) has been motivating health sectors to promote clinical and curative services (who, 1986). some emergency departments (eds) have partially achieved this through providing patient health information, screening and early intervention programs, injury prevention, and asthma education. a significant organizational shift is required for eds t...

Evidence for integrative therapies (IT) in children with hematological malignancies is slowly evolving. The ideal model of integrative pediatric oncology would offer IT modalities that are deemed safe and effective in conjunction with effective conventional medical treatments. Because of potential interactions, herbs and other dietary supplements should be used with caution, especially during a...

The health cost crisis has spawned a thriving cost-control industry that offers an ever-growing number of “solutions.” The authors of this article encourage employers to go back to the basics in evaluating these offerings, including their wellness policies and programs. This article describes the many ways different employers do wellness, the evidence base for wellness, how employers should tar...

More than 80% of African Americans in Oregon reside in the Portland metropolitan area; African Americans comprise 1.7% of the state's population. Although relatively small, the African American population in the state experiences substantial health disparities. The African American Health Coalition, Inc was developed to implement initiatives that would reduce these disparities and to promote in...

Community health workers (CHWs) have gained increased visibility in the United States. We discuss how to strengthen the roles of CHWs to enable them to become collaborative leaders in dramatically changing health care from "sickness care" systems to systems that provide comprehensive care for individuals and families and supports community and tribal wellness. We recommend drawing on the full s...

in both developing and developed countries, health ministries closely examine use of so-called nudges to promote population health and welfare. cass sunstein and richard thaler, who developed the concept, define a nudge as “any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. ...