Search Results (2,668)

Rehabilitation in long-term conditions requires not only clinical capacity but also sustained patient engagement, yet retention is commonly reduced to crude completion metrics. This theory-informed conceptual mini-review used a purposive, non-systematic synthesis of literature identified from the authors’ existing knowledge base, targeted PubMed/MEDLINE searches last updated on 9 August 2026, and backward reference checking; the final article cites 76 sources. Retention is reframed as six related phases comprising referral and eligibility, uptake or initiation, early attendance, ongoing attendance or dose, completion or planned discharge, and post-program maintenance, while time to dropout is treated as a longitudinal metric. Across these phases, disengagement may reflect interactions among clinical severity, symptom interpretation, illness beliefs, distress, motivational climate, therapeutic relationships, social context, and structural access. Four author-generated hypotheses concern psychological flexibility and acceptance, illness coherence and rehabilitation self-efficacy, autonomy-supportive care and therapeutic alliance, and social support and peer belonging. Direct evidence is concentrated in selected rehabilitation settings, whereas several stage-specific and cross-condition pathways remain theoretical extrapolations. Rehabilitation resilience is therefore proposed as a provisional interaction between patient adaptive resources and responsive care systems, not as a validated trait or a synonym for observable retention. Structural barriers may prevent participation directly, and discontinuation may be appropriate when treatment is unsafe, ineffective, burdensome, or inconsistent with informed patient goals. The framework is intended to guide prospective, condition-specific testing rather than imply causal validation or scientific consensus. Full article

Background/Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the understandability and actionability of Arabic text generated by a large language model for commonly searched Arabic queries on dry mouth. Methods: Using Google Trends, the top 10 searches worldwide related to ‘oral dryness’ were entered in OpenAI’s Generative Pretrained Transformer 5.1. Generated texts were achieved independently. Assessments were performed using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) to evaluate the content, word choice, and style. Results: Causes, symptoms, and treatment of dry mouth were the most common dry-mouth-related queries. The highly temporal distribution of search interests among Arabic-speaking countries peaked between 2020 and 2021, then remained high throughout 2023, before declining in November 2025. The mean PEMAT understandability and actionability scores were 89% and 80%, respectively. It was notable that all generated responses lacked visual aids, which could have made the content difficult to understand and insufficient for acting on the information. Moreover, the formal Arabic form of ‘causes of dry mouth’ with a glottal stop yielded lower actionability scores (60%) than the informal Arabic form (80%). Conclusions: Clinicians could actively supplement clinic-based discussions with advice on using large language models to help patients recognise dry mouth symptoms and improve self-care. Also, they could improve their effective adoption by clearly explaining expectations, limitations, and language/cultural differences when adopting these models. Full article

Background/Objective: Bartonella henselae, the causative agent of cat-scratch disease (CSD), usually causes a self-limiting zoonotic infection. Osteomyelitis is a rare but increasingly recognized manifestation, particularly in children, and may closely mimic malignant or other infectious bone diseases. We present a case of multifocal pediatric Bartonella henselae osteomyelitis and discuss the associated diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in the context of the current literature. Case presentation: We report the case of a previously healthy 10-year-old girl who presented with a one-month history of fever, fatigue, limping, and progressive thigh and groin pain following cat-scratch exposure. During the course of the illness, she developed unilateral facial nerve palsy and Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome. Initial laboratory investigations demonstrated elevated inflammatory markers and reactive thrombocytosis. Serological testing for Bartonella henselae was positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies, whereas polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of both peripheral blood and the bone biopsy specimen was negative. Plain radiographs were unremarkable; however, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed multifocal lesions involving the right femoral diaphysis, right pubic bone, and left iliac wing, together with focal hepatic and splenic lesions suggestive of disseminated disease. Because of the radiological suspicion of malignancy, a femoral bone biopsy was performed and demonstrated osteomyelitis with necrosis and microabscess formation, without evidence of malignancy. Following targeted antimicrobial therapy, the patient showed rapid clinical and laboratory improvement, with progressive regression of the lesions on follow-up MRI. Conclusions: Bartonella henselae osteomyelitis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of multifocal bone lesions in children, particularly in patients with a history of cat exposure. Because the disease may closely mimic malignancy both clinically and radiologically, establishing the diagnosis requires careful integration of epidemiological, clinical, serological, radiological, molecular, and histopathological findings. Early recognition and appropriate antimicrobial treatment are associated with an excellent prognosis. Full article

Background: Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and epidemiological projections indicate that its incidence will continue to increase. Gastrointestinal cancers are among the most frequently diagnosed malignant neoplasms. Quality of life is a key component of oncology care and is significantly influenced by nutritional status and dietary habits. Methods: The study included 52 adult patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer. Data were collected using an anonymous questionnaire based on the QEB (Questionnaire of Eating Behaviour) and WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life—BREF) instruments, supplemented with questions regarding changes in dietary habits and the use of dietary counseling following diagnosis. Nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, and quality of life across four domains (physical, psychological, social, and environmental) were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and appropriate tests of statistical significance. Results: Cancers of the colon and rectum—reported either as unspecified colorectal cancer or as separately specified colon or rectal cancer—together accounted for the largest share of diagnoses (26 diagnoses, representing 44.8% of the 58 total reported diagnoses). Quality-of-life assessment revealed the lowest scores in the physical domain and the highest scores in the social domain. The youngest participants achieved the highest scores in the psychological domain, whereas the lowest scores across all domains were observed among individuals aged over 60 years. Following diagnosis, 63.5% of participants reported reviewing and modifying their dietary habits; however, the majority had not received dietary counseling. Women reported higher fruit and vegetable consumption than men, while higher educational attainment was associated with greater self-assessed nutritional knowledge. Conclusions: Among patients with gastrointestinal cancers surveyed in this study, the physical domain of quality of life had the lowest WHOQOL-BREF score. Most participants reported modifying their dietary habits after diagnosis, although most had not received formal dietary counseling. Higher educational attainment was associated with higher self-assessed nutritional knowledge. Given the small convenience sample and cross-sectional design, these findings should be considered exploratory. Full article

Diabetes mellitus continues to impose a substantial global health burden, underscoring the need for therapeutic systems capable of achieving precise, adaptive, and patient-friendly glycemic control. Conventional diabetes treatments, including repeated insulin injections and oral hypoglycemic agents, are often constrained by non-physiological drug release, poor adherence, systemic side effects, and the persistent risk of hypoglycemia. In this context, glucose-responsive nanomedicine has emerged as a promising platform for next-generation diabetes therapy by enabling self-regulated and glucose-triggered delivery of insulin and other antidiabetic agents. This review highlights recent advances in glucose-responsive nanomedicine, focusing on the principal sensing mechanisms, including glucose oxidase-based, phenylboronic acid-based, and lectin-mediated systems, as well as the nanoscale carriers engineered to support them, such as polymeric nanoparticles, nanogels, micelles, liposomes, and hybrid nanostructures. These smart platforms offer significant potential to improve drug stability, enhance targeting efficiency, reduce dosing frequency, and more closely mimic endogenous insulin secretion. The review further examines their emerging role in precision diabetes care, particularly in combination with continuous glucose monitoring technologies, wearable devices, and closed-loop therapeutic systems. Despite notable progress at the preclinical level, important barriers to clinical translation remain, including challenges related to biocompatibility, long-term safety, reproducibility, scalable manufacturing, and regulatory approval. Collectively, glucose-responsive nanomedicine represents a rapidly advancing and clinically relevant field with the potential to redefine diabetes management through intelligent and personalized therapeutic strategies. This review provides a focused overview of current developments, key translational challenges, and future directions toward clinical implementation. Full article

Background: Self-care and healthy dietary habits are fundamental components of heart failure (HF) management, yet the relationship between dietary quality and self-care remains insufficiently explored. This study investigated the association between dietary habits and self-care behaviors among patients with HF. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 137 adults with HF attending outpatient clinics in Greece. Self-care behaviors were assessed using the Hippocratic Heart Failure Self-Care Scale (HHFSCS), and dietary quality was evaluated using the validated Greek version of the Cardiovascular Diet Questionnaire-2 (CDQ-2). Associations between demographic characteristics, dietary measures, and self-care were examined using non-parametric tests and multivariable general linear models adjusted for demographic characteristics. Results: The mean HHFSCS score was 41.0 ± 11.3, indicating a moderate level of self-care. Higher scores were observed for medication adherence and appointment keeping, whereas lower scores were observed for exercise, smoking-related behaviors, alcohol-related behaviors, and symptom monitoring. The mean total CDQ-2 score was 8.57 ± 7.17. Overall dietary quality was not significantly associated with total self-care after adjustment for age, sex, marital status, educational level, and employment status (B = −0.102, 95% CI: −0.338 to 0.134, p = 0.394). Among the dietary components, only the saturated fatty acid (SFA) score remained significantly associated with total self-care after adjustment (p = 0.015), whereas fruit and vegetable and monounsaturated fatty acid scores were not significant. Employment status was also significantly associated with self-care (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Overall dietary quality was not significantly associated with total self-care in this sample of patients with HF. However, the observed association between the SFA component and self-care suggests that specific aspects of dietary behavior may warrant further investigation. Given the cross-sectional design and reliance on self-reported measures, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and do not establish directionality or causality. Prospective studies incorporating objective dietary and behavioral measures are needed to further clarify the relationship between dietary habits and self-care in HF. Full article

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health concern in Saudi Arabia, affecting approximately 18.3% of adults. Although over 95% of people in the Qassim region own smartphones, limited information exists regarding how and why patients with diabetes utilize digital health technologies. Objective: This study employed an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) incorporating trust, privacy concerns, and self-efficacy to investigate the factors influencing digital health technology adoption among patients with diabetes in Qassim Unaizah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2025 to January 2026 following institutional review board approval. The quantitative phase utilized a structured survey (n = 203) measuring TAM constructs via validated 5-point Likert scales. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and one-way ANOVA were performed. Qualitative themes were derived from open ended responses to contextualize quantitative findings. Results: Most participants were male (62.6%), with a mean age of 47.2 years (SD ± 13.1). Smartphone ownership was nearly universal (99.5%), and 82.8% used blood glucose tracking applications. All TAM constructs exhibited significant positive correlations with behavioural intention (p < 0.001): attitude (r = 0.450), perceived usefulness (r = 0.438), self-efficacy (r = 0.394), trust (r = 0.379), ease of use (r = 0.340), and privacy concern (r = 0.309). Mean scores indicated strong acceptance: perceived usefulness (4.31, SD ± 0.39), behavioural intention (4.21, SD ± 0.44), and attitude (4.17, SD ± 0.42). Daily usage was reported by 63.1% of participants, 81.8% expressed satisfaction, and 63.1% reported that digital tools greatly improved their diabetes management. Privacy concerns were notably low (mean 1.70, SD ± 0.89, reverse-coded; Cronbach’s α = 0.921). Supplementary qualitative content analysis of optional open-ended comments (n = 40 respondents) identified six recurring topics: clinical utility, digital literacy, trust, data security awareness, patient empowerment, and social support. Conclusions: Patients with diabetes in Qassim Unaizah demonstrate substantial digital health adoption, predominantly driven by perceived usefulness, positive attitudes, and self-efficacy. The extended TAM effectively explains adoption within this Saudi Arabian context. Findings support interventions emphasizing clinical benefits, user friendly design, and trust building to optimize digital health utilization in diabetes care. Full article

Background and Objectives: Wearable health technologies have become increasingly important in the remote management of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); however, their successful implementation depends not only on technical performance but also on patient usability and technology acceptance. This study aimed to evaluate the perceived usability and technology acceptance of a wearable monitoring system among patients with CVDs and to investigate whether demographic and clinical characteristics influenced these outcomes. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 60 patients with CVDs enrolled in a six-month wearable monitoring program at the Medical Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic of the Avram Iancu Clinical Hospital, Oradea, Romania. Participants used a Garmin vívosmart^® 5 fitness tracker to continuously monitor physiological and behavioral parameters. At the end of the monitoring period, perceived ease of use (PEU) was assessed using the System Usability Scale (SUS), while technology acceptance was evaluated using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-based questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Spearman’s rank correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results: The wearable monitoring system demonstrated high PEU, with a median SUS score of 82.5 (IQR = 23.1) and a mean score of 75.5 ± 17.6. Overall, 75.0% of participants rated the system as having good or excellent usability. The SUS questionnaire demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.730; McDonald’s ω = 0.741). Technology acceptance was generally favorable, with an overall median TAM-based score of 1.33 (IQR = 0.78). Age and comorbidity burden were not associated with PEU, and no participant characteristics independently predicted SUS scores. Although the overall regression model was not statistically significant, age showed a statistically significant association with the overall TAM-based score (β = 0.328, p = 0.037). Significant positive correlations were observed between PU, self-efficacy (SE), and reverse-scored technology anxiety (TA) measure (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with CVDs reported high PEU and favorable acceptance of wearable monitoring technology. While usability appeared independent of demographic and clinical characteristics, technology acceptance showed an exploratory association with age, although the overall regression model was not statistically significant. These findings support the integration of wearable monitoring systems into routine cardiovascular care and highlight the importance of patient-centered implementation strategies to promote long-term engagement. Full article

Background: Healthy lifestyle guidance is an important component of outpatient preventive care, yet evidence is limited on whether outpatients receive satisfactory guidance across multiple lifestyle domains. This study examined receipt of satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance and its associated factors among outpatients in China. Methods: This national multicenter cross-sectional study used data from the outpatient component of the fifth National Third-Party Evaluation of the Action Plan for Further Improving Healthcare Services. A total of 31,599 outpatients from 143 tertiary public hospitals across all 31 provincial-level administrative regions of mainland China were included. The primary outcome was receipt of satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance, defined as receiving at least one type of guidance and reporting satisfaction or high satisfaction. Mixed-effects logistic regression models with hospital-level random intercepts were used to identify associated factors. Results: Dietary guidance was the most frequently reported domain, followed by physical activity, weight management, and smoking cessation and alcohol reduction guidance. Overall, most outpatients were classified as having received satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance. In the fully adjusted model, male sex and hypertension were associated with higher odds of satisfactory guidance, whereas a greater number of chronic conditions and unclear physician type were associated with lower odds. Satisfaction with history taking and disease communication and perceived respect and comfort from healthcare professionals were strongly associated with satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance. However, these contemporaneously measured patient-reported indicators may reflect overlapping dimensions of patients’ overall outpatient care experience. Sensitivity analyses yielded broadly consistent findings. Conclusions: Satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance was common among outpatients in China’s tertiary public hospitals, but guidance was unevenly distributed across lifestyle domains. Patients’ evaluations of satisfactory healthy lifestyle guidance were closely associated with their broader communication and interpersonal care experiences. However, because these measures were self-reported and assessed contemporaneously, the observed associations should not be interpreted causally. Full article

Background: Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune enteropathy whose only established treatment is a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet (GFD). Beyond physical symptoms, the disease and its dietary management affect emotional, social, and economic functioning. Objectives: This study aimed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adult patients with celiac disease and to identify factors associated with their daily functioning and adherence to the GFD. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between February and March 2026 among 101 adults with a self-reported diagnosis of celiac disease made by a gastroenterologist, recruited through online support groups. Data were collected using an author-designed sociodemographic questionnaire, the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI), and the Celiac Dietary Adherence Test (CDAT). Analyses (Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests, repeated-measures ANOVA, Spearman correlations with false-discovery-rate correction, and multivariable linear and logistic regression with prespecified sensitivity analyses) were performed in R 4.5.2, with α = 0.05. Results: The most frequently reported difficulties were eating away from home, the high cost of the GFD, and limited product availability; the most common symptoms after inadvertent gluten exposure were abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue, diarrhea, and headache. HRQoL was lowest in the emotional and physical domains. Better dietary adherence was significantly correlated with higher HRQoL across the total score and all domains except the social domain, whose weak internal consistency in this sample (α = 0.57) precludes substantive interpretation (total GIQLI: ρ = −0.50; p < 0.001), and in the multiple regression, adherence remained the strongest independent correlate of HRQoL (β = −0.36; adjusted R² = 0.41). Longer time on the diet was independently associated with better adherence (adjusted OR = 0.55 per duration category; p = 0.017). In a small vocational education subgroup (n = 8), poorer adherence and lower HRQoL were observed relative to participants with higher education, though only the HRQoL difference survived correction for multiple testing (FDR-adjusted p = 0.011 vs. 0.060 for adherence); given the size of this subgroup, this comparison is exploratory and hypothesis-generating. Higher HRQoL was also associated with milder symptoms, better-rated medical care, greater product availability, and higher household income. Conclusions: In this sample, HRQoL scores were lowest in the emotional and physical domains; because the design was cross-sectional and included no comparison group, these data characterize the distribution of HRQoL within the sample and do not establish that celiac disease reduces HRQoL. Dietary adherence was the strongest correlate of patient functioning, alongside symptom burden, self-rated quality of medical care, and product availability. Because the design is cross-sectional, these associations do not establish direction, and whether comprehensive health education and psychological support improve outcomes requires prospective and interventional evaluation. Full article

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) leads to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), the most common preventable cause of neurodevelopmental impairment. The classical narrative attributes the clinical picture of FASD exclusively to direct ethanol-induced brain injury. In the present review, we argue that this perspective is incomplete and leads to diagnostic errors, most often to the misdiagnosis of ADHD in children who in fact have FASD. We propose that, alongside the direct neurotoxicity of ethanol, an important and clinically under-recognized complementary mechanism is gut–brain axis dysfunction: alcohol damages the enteric nervous system and enteric glial cells, induces dysbiosis with deep deficits of butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), damages the enterochromaffin cells responsible for 90% of peripheral serotonin production, and—through translocation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and activation of the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)—sustains a neuroinflammatory brain signature. This cascade—superimposed on direct ethanol neurotoxicity—may account for the high rates of depression, anxiety, self-injurious behavior, and suicide attempts observed in individuals with FASD and for the limited efficacy of traditional interventions focused solely on the central nervous system. The 2024 Polish Institute of Mother and Child (Okulicz-Kozaryn et al.) study showed that 50.3% of pregnant women consumed alcohol, and 11% did so regularly, against only 7% who admitted so in questionnaires. The real clinical picture of children with FASD is further complicated by three factors to which we devote separate sections in this paper: prenatal co-exposure to nicotine, cannabinoids, and opioids; the loss of vertical microbiota transmission and breastfeeding in children transferred to foster care (where the prevalence of FASD is 18.8% and in children’s homes in some regions reaches up to 80%); and the substantial over-representation of preterm and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants (in the Hasken et al. cohort, 18.4% of children with FASD were born preterm and 51.4% were born SGA). In the final section, we present a structured, staged protocol for nutritional and microbiological intervention grounded in a hierarchy of evidence: from interventions supported by randomized controlled trials (RCT-level; choline) through interventions supported by strong mechanistic rationale and RCTs in related populations (sodium butyrate, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, GOS/FOS prebiotics—galacto-oligosaccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides, and omega-3 fatty acids) to experimental interventions. The protocol also covers the window before 2 years of age: we argue that, given the over-representation of preterm and SGA infants among children with FASD, the analogy to preterm infants on parenteral nutrition and to post-institutional infants applies in substantial part to the same patients, which justifies extending the indications for choline and other nutritional interventions. The paper includes a compact table of dosing proposals for each age window (from pregnancy to school-age child) and provides clinicians with concrete answers: where to start, what to avoid, and what to monitor, with explicit signposting of regulatory limitations for individual substances in Poland and the European Union. Full article

Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory skin disease associated with a substantial psychological burden that may extend beyond visible lesions and objective disease severity. Psychological factors such as stress, coping strategies, quality-of-life impairment, self-esteem, psychiatric symptoms, and treatment adherence are associated with disease perception, self-reported exacerbation, and treatment-related outcomes. This narrative review examines psychological stress and proposed biological mechanisms, coping strategies, treatment adherence, quality of life, self-esteem, sleep disturbance, and psychiatric comorbidity in people with acne. Relevant literature was identified through MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO; the final literature search was conducted on 29 May 2026. Acne-specific studies were prioritized, with broader psychodermatology evidence used where acne-specific data were limited. The psychosocial burden of acne is individualized and only partly aligned with clinician-rated severity, supporting person-centered assessment. For each domain, the review outlines brief, commonly used screening instruments that may be feasible in routine dermatology. Incorporating psychological assessment and targeted supportive strategies into acne care may contribute to quality of life, adherence to therapy, and patient-centered care. The evidence is predominantly cross-sectional and derives from heterogeneous populations, instruments, and study designs, limiting causal inference. Full article

Background/Objectives: Highly effective cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapy has changed cystic fibrosis (CF) care, but Romanian patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data remain limited. This national cross-sectional mixed-methods survey aimed to describe patient- and parent-reported HRQoL in Romanian people with CF (pwCF) aged ≥6 years using age-appropriate Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire-Revised (CFQ-R) versions, with the respiratory domain as the primary outcome. Methods: The online survey was conducted between February and April 2026. Respondents provided demographic and clinical data, including genotype/F508del status, CFTR modulator status, percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (ppFEV₁) category, weight, height, and IV antibiotic-treated pulmonary exacerbations in the previous year. CFQ-R scores were summarized descriptively, and exploratory unadjusted associations were assessed using Mann–Whitney U tests and Spearman correlations. Open-ended responses were analyzed descriptively. Results: Of 67 responses, 61 were included: 43 participants aged 6–13 years and 18 aged ≥14 years. Most respondents were currently receiving CFTR modulators (52/61, 85.2%), predominantly elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor. Mean CFQ-R Respiratory scores were 74.5 ± 23.1 in parent-proxy questionnaires for children aged 6–13 years, 83.3 ± 11.8 in self-reported questionnaires for children aged 12–13 years, and 69.8 ± 27.4 among respondents aged ≥14 years. Respiratory scores were higher among currently treated respondents and those with at least one F508del variant, and lower among those reporting IV antibiotic-treated exacerbations. Treatment burden remained among the lower-scoring domains. Qualitative responses described perceived respiratory, nutritional, and functional improvements, alongside residual treatment burden, psychosocial challenges, and access-related expectations. Conclusions: This national Romanian mixed-methods survey provides descriptive, exploratory CFQ-R-based HRQoL data in the CFTR modulator era. The findings suggest more favorable respiratory HRQoL among currently treated respondents, while supporting continued multidimensional patient-reported outcome monitoring in Romanian CF care. Full article

Background: Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial disease that demands personalized and sustainable management approaches. Digital health technologies, such as artificial intelligence, wearable devices, mobile health apps, and virtual reality (VR), may support obesity care by providing enhanced behavioral monitoring, personalized feedback, and patient engagement. Objective: This critical narrative review discusses the current evidence on artificial intelligence, wearable technologies, and VR in the context of precision nutrition and obesity management and their possible clinical applications and limitations. Method: A critical narrative review was conducted using peer-reviewed literature published between 2019 and 2026 and identified through PubMed and Google Scholar. Search terms included combinations of “precision nutrition,” “personalized nutrition,” “obesity,” “weight management,” “metabolic health,” “digital health,” “artificial intelligence,” “machine learning,” “mobile health,” “wearable devices,” and “omics” using Boolean operators. Evidence from randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and key conceptual studies was critically synthesized due to substantial heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes. Result: Wearables and mobile applications can enable continuous self-monitoring of physical activity, dietary intake, sleep, and physiological measures. Artificial intelligence may improve dietary personalization, risk prediction, glycemic control, and adaptive feedback. VR offers an immersive way to tackle behavioral and cognitive mechanisms related to overeating such as cravings, food cue reactivity, and inhibitory control. However, the evidence is heterogeneous, with many studies limited by short follow-up periods, small samples, variable adherence, and insufficient clinical validation. Conclusions: Artificial intelligence, wearable technologies, and VR are promising tools for precision obesity management, but their long-term clinical effectiveness remains uncertain. Future research should prioritize adequately powered trials, longer follow-up, standardized outcomes, transparent algorithms, ethical data governance, and integration with multidisciplinary nutrition and obesity care. Full article

Background: Burn injuries impose substantial physical and psychological burden beyond acute wound care. Anxiety and depressive symptoms are frequent but often underrecognized among burn survivors. Routine patient-reported mental health assessment during hospitalization and after discharge remains limited, particularly in Latin American burn care settings. This study described the early trajectory of patient-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms from hospitalization to three-month follow-up among adult burn patients treated at Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia. Methods: We conducted an observational cohort study including adult patients admitted to the Burn Unit between April 2022 and July 2023. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed during hospitalization and at three months using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety and Depression Scales. Scores ≥50 were considered clinically relevant. Results: A total of 118 patients with complete paired assessments were included. Clinically relevant anxiety symptoms increased from 19% during hospitalization to 29% at three months, while depressive symptoms were present in 32% and 29%, respectively. Severe burns and low educational attainment were associated with higher odds of clinically relevant symptoms at follow-up. Conclusions: Patient-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms were frequent during early burn recovery, supporting routine PROM-based mental health assessment and timely psychological follow-up. Full article