International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 17, Issue 8

Volunteering in non-Western countries, such as South Africa, is subject to poor infrastructure, lack of resources, poverty-stricken conditions and often conducted by volunteers from lower socio-economic spheres of society. Sustaining the well-being o...

Given the growing number of older people, society as a whole should ideally provide a higher quality of life (QoL) for its ageing citizens through the concept of personalised ageing. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are subject to con...

The impact of formal care (co-paid by long term care (LTC) insurance) on informal care is critical to the improvement and promotion of public policy. We conducted an interview-based survey to examine how the use of formal care impacts the use of info...

This study aims to examine whether humanity of care and environmental comfort played a role in moderating the relationship between waiting time and patient satisfaction in an emergency department (ED). The study used a cross-sectional and non-randomi...

Background: Early diagnosis of occlusal caries is of paramount importance for a minimally invasive approach in dentistry. The aim of the present in vivo clinical prospective study was to compare the diagnostic outcomes of visual subjective evaluation...

In this study, we investigated health-relevant job characteristics of social workers in ambulatory youth welfare services, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Based on a systematic literature review, expert workshops, and focus group disc...

The ‘mobbing’ phenomenon is regarded as the actions or behaviour referring to an employee or directed against an employee, comprising persistent and drawn-out harassment or intimidation of that employee. This phenomenon causes substantial...

When an emergency event occurs, it is critical to respond in the shortest possible time. Therefore, the rationality and effectiveness of emergency decisions are the key links in emergency management. In this paper, with aims to investigate the proble...

This study was aimed at assessing the spatial and temporal distribution of surface water quality variables of the Xin’anjiang River (Huangshan). For this purpose, 960 water samples were collected monthly along the Xin’anjiang River from 2...

The current systematic review evaluated the effects of different pre-cooling techniques on sports performance in highly-trained athletes under high temperature conditions. PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CENTRAL, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus datab...

Superblocks are currently being introduced in Barcelona to respond to the city’s scarcity of green spaces and high levels of air pollution, traffic injuries, and sedentariness. The aim is to calm the streets by reducing the number of square met...

Background: There are few published studies concerning occupational exposure to glyphosate (GLY), and these are limited to spraying, horticulture and other agricultural aspects. Therefore, the concentration of glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethy...

In this study, the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was administered to a valid sample of 81 Taiwanese bakery workers to explore their discomfort or symptoms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and identify the risk factors. Wrist pos...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the primary stress factors female professors at online universities are exposed to. The technique used for the prospective and exploratory analysis was the Delphi method. Two rounds of consultations were done with...

Health is increasingly subject to the complex interplay between the built environment, population composition, and the structured inequity in access to health-related resources across communities. The primary objective of this paper was to examine ca...

Deficiencies in iron and vitamin D are frequently observed in athletes. Therefore, we examined whether different baseline vitamin D₃ levels have any impact on post-exercise serum hepcidin, IL-6 and iron responses in ultra-marathon runners. In this ra...

In view of the urgent need for intelligent rehabilitation equipment for some disabled people, an intelligent, upper limb rehabilitation training robot is designed by applying the theories of artificial intelligence, information, control, human-machin...

With the development and deepening of the process of global integration, global health is gaining increasing attention. An increasing number of studies have examined global health from diverse perspectives to promote the realization of global public...

Residential radon exposure and cigarette smoking are the two most important risk factors for lung cancer. The combined effects thereof were evaluated in a multi-center matched case-control study in South Korea. A total of 1038 participants were inclu...

Although toxic Cd (cadmium) and Cr (chromium) in the aquatic environment are mainly from natural sources, human activities have increased their concentrations. Several studies have reported higher concentrations of Cd and Cr in the aquatic environmen...

An aerosol study was carried out in a test room measuring particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10, 4, 2.5 and 1 µm (PM₁₀, PM₄, PM_2.5, PM₁) before and during the use of electronic alternatives to tobacco cigarettes (...

The chemical features of atmospheric dustfall and topsoil in the same region could reflect the processes of the migration, transport, and diffusion of pollutants in the atmospheric-soil system. Samples of atmospheric dustfall and topsoil were collect...

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of four types of re-warm-up (R-WU) activity, namely rest in normoxia (RN) at FiO₂ = 20.9%, rest in hypoxia (RH) at FiO₂ = 15%, activity (4 × 5 jumps/15 s) in normoxia (AN) and activity in hypoxia...

Previous studies suggest that green and blue spaces may promote several health outcomes including birth outcomes. However, no synthesis of previous work has specifically asked policy-relevant questions of how much and what type is needed in every nei...

The purpose of this article is to empirically find the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) relationship between income and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and to analyze the influence of population aging on such emissions. We utilize Korean regional pan...

Water temperature is an important factor in aquatic environments. Dam construction, especially the construction of multiple dams in rivers, can greatly affect the downstream water temperature. Several dams, including Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xian...

Background: This study intends to summarize the causes, clinical examination, and treatments of scapular dyskinesis (SD) and to briefly investigate whether alteration can be managed by a precision rehabilitation protocol planned on the basis of featu...

Breast cancer survivors need to undergo adjuvant endocrine therapy after completion of curative treatments to prevent disease recurrence. These individuals often experience symptoms which are detrimental to their quality of life (QOL). Implementation...

Any piece of information is a selection from a set of possibilities. In this paper, this set is called a “domain”. Digital information consists of number sequences, which are selections from a domain. At present, these number sequences ar...

The severity of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is diagnosed with polysomnography (PSG), during which patients are monitored by over 20 physiological sensors overnight. These sensors often bother patients and may affect patients’ sleep and OSA....

The aim is to report a case of spontaneous uterine rupture in the first trimester of pregnancy and to review the literature on the topic. Methods: A literature search was performed using PubMed and Scopus. Relevant English articles were identified wi...

The traditional structure of families is undergoing profound changes, causing the so-called “crisis of family care.” This study describes the experiences and emotions of the family member who hires migrant caregivers for the older people....

Although social presence plays an essential role under general conditions, its role becomes significant for societal protection during the quarantine period in epidemic outbreak. In this study, we attempted to identify the role of E-government and CO...

Background: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a sustainable and effective method for improving Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF) in adolescents. HIIT is proven to produce equal or greater improvements in CRF when compared to moderate intensity...

The widespread dissemination of policy information is necessary for the success of the public policy, but the distribution of information among vulnerable groups has received little attention. We examined a public policy that focuses on the poorest p...

Background: Health impact assessment (HIA) has scarcely been developed in Spain, in comparison with other European countries. Moreover, little is known about the effectiveness of HIA, taking into account direct impacts—changes on the decision-m...

Background: Burnout is known to have detrimental effects on healthcare staff with regard to both personal and occupational matters. The association between burnout symptoms and work satisfaction in endoscopy nursing staff in Germany has not been stud...

Ambient particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution, aggravates ocular discomfort and inflammation, similarly to dry eye disease (DED) or allergies. However, the mechanism(s) by which PM induces the ocular inflammatory response is unk...

Multiple studies have investigated the positive effects of human–animal interactions and showed that animal-assisted activities can be successfully used to better human physical and mental health. Equine-assisted activities have also raised con...

To date there have been no studies examining whether patients want emergency department (ED) therapy dog programs. This patient-oriented study examined the opinions of patients about whether they would want to be visited by a therapy dog in the Royal...

Because of heavy workloads, non-transferable responsibilities, and shift systems, healthcare staff are prone to ill-health presenteeism. Based on social information processing theory, this study explored the influence of the psychosocial safety clima...

Digital health is uniquely positioned to enhance the way we detect and manage infectious diseases. This commentary explores the potential of implementing digital technologies that can be used at different stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, including da...

Chronic exposure to lead is neurotoxic to the human peripheral sensory system. Variant vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes and polymorphisms of metallothioneins (MTs) are associated with different outcomes following lead toxicity. However, no evidence of...

Indebtedness is associated with poor health outcomes, and problem gambling may contribute to indebtedness through consumer credits related to gambling expenses. The assessment of consumers’ applications for loans may be an opportunity to detect...

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is a potential direct cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) among infants. Disparities in SHS exposure and SIDS deaths may be due to inconsistent communication among practitioners about SHS/SIDS risks. In order to assess...

Background: Despite the fact that tobacco use during pregnancy produces adverse perinatal effects, some women continue to smoke. Health literacy (HL) is essential for health outcomes in adults. However, little is known about HL in pregnant women or p...

Background: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) place a considerable burden on medical costs and add to an increased number of inpatient days in Taiwan. Continuity of care (COC) has not been investigated in this population thus far. Materials and Metho...

Over the last few decades, different interventions were shown to be effective in changing cognitive performance in preschoolers from poor homes undertaking tasks with executive demands. However, this evidence also showed that not all children include...

Background: Emergency treatments determined by emergency physicians may affect mortality and patient satisfaction. This paper attempts to examine the impact of patient characteristics, health status, the accredited level of hospitals, and triaged lev...

The most common requirement for informal caregivers is to experience a respite or temporary break from their caregiving routine. Some initiatives have been undertaken to provide respite care through volunteer providers. We report on a qualitative stu...