ABSTRACT
Background: A balanced approach toward sun exposure and protection is needed by young people. Excessive sun exposure increases their risk for skin cancers such as melanoma, whereas some exposure is necessary for vitamin D and healthy bones. We have developed a new iOS smartphone app—Sun Safe—through a co-design process, which aims to support healthy and balanced decision-making by young teenagers (aged 12-13 years). Objective: The aim of this study was to test the capacity of Sun Safe to improve sun health knowledge and behaviors of young teenagers in 3 pilot intervention studies completed in 2020. Methods: Young teenagers (aged 12-13 years;N=57) were recruited through the web or through a local school via an open-access website and given access to Sun Safe (29/57, 51%) or a placebo (SunDial) app (28/57, 49%). Participants completed sun health questionnaires and knowledge quizzes before and after the 6-week intervention (either on the web or in class) and rated the quality of the app they used via a survey. Results: Of the 57 participants, 51 (89%) participants (26, 51% for placebo arm and 25, 49% for the Sun Safe arm) completed these studies, with most (>50%) reporting that they used a smartphone to access their designated app either “once a fortnight” or “once/twice in total.” Improved sun health knowledge—particularly about the UV Index—was observed in participants who were given access to Sun Safe compared with those who used the placebo (−6.2 [percentage correct] difference in predicted means, 95% CI –12.4 to –0.03;P=.049;2-way ANOVA). Unexpectedly, there were significantly more sunburn events in the Sun Safe group (relative risk 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-1.8;P=.02;Fisher exact test), although no differences in time spent outdoors or sun-protective behaviors were reported. COVID-19 pandemic–related community-wide shutdowns during April 2020 (when schools were closed) reduced the time spent outdoors by >100 minutes per day (–105 minutes per day difference in predicted means, 95% CI –150 to –59 minutes per day;P=.002;paired 2-tailed Student t test). Sun Safe was well-rated by participants, particularly for information (mean 4.2, SD 0.6 out of 5). Conclusions: Access to the Sun Safe app increased sun health knowledge among young teenagers in these pilot intervention studies. Further investigations with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these observations and further test the effects of Sun Safe on sun-protective behaviors.
ABSTRACT
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in high fatality rates, especially for patients who suffer from underlying health issues. One of the more serious symptoms exhibited from patients suffering from an acute COVID-19 infection is breathing difficulties and shortness of breath, which is largely due to the excessive fluid (cellular leakage and cytokine storm) and mucoid debris that have filled lung alveoli, and reduced the surfactant tension resulting in heavy and stiff lungs. In this paper, we propose the use of micro-bubbles filled with exosomes that can be released upon exposure to ultrasound signals as possible rescue therapy in deteriorating COVID-19 patients. Recent studies have shown that exosomes can be used to repair and treat lung damage for patients who have suffered from viral infection. We have conducted simulations to show the efficacy of the ultrasound signals that will penetrate through layers of tissues reaching the alveoli that contain the micro-bubbles. Our results have shown that ultrasound signals with low frequencies are required to oscillate and rupture the polymer-based micro-bubbles. Our proposed system can be used for patients who require immediate rescue treatments for lung damage, as well as for recovered patients who may suffer from viral relapse infection, where the micro-bubbles will remain dormant for a temporary therapeutic window until they are exposed to the ultrasound signals.