The role of digital literacy in achieving health equity in the third millennium society: A literature review.

Healthcare in the third millennium is largely delivered through systems involving the use of the technological devices and services, foremost among them telemedicine. For the adequate delivery of digital medicine services, however, it is necessary for users to be digitally literate, that is, able to consciously make use of technology. In order to understand how relevant digital literacy is in determining the effectiveness of e-Health services, we performed a traditional literature review on 3 major databases by combining the terms "Digital Literacy" and "Computer Literacy" with the terms "Telemedicine" and "Telehealth". Starting from an initial library of 1,077 papers, we selected 38 articles. At the outcome of the search, we found that digital literacy is a pivotal element in conditioning the effectiveness of telemedicine and digital medicine services in general, however, with some limitations.

Telemedicine in the COVID-19 Era: A Narrative Review Based on Current Evidence.

During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have been encouraged to increase their use of telemedicine and to adopt telemedicine platforms for the majority of their clients who have chronic illnesses. Due to the outbreak itself, almost all countries worldwide were placed under emergency lockdowns. In this paper, we reviewed the literature regarding the use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequentially, we identified the adoption of telemedicine in various countries worldwide and evaluated their future steps in order to increase the adoption of e-health technologies. As a result of COVID-19, the e-health agenda, especially telemedicine, has been accelerated in several countries. COVID-19 is affecting individuals' daily lives and has created major difficulties in the management of healthcare facilities for both infected and non-infected patients. A large portion of the rapid increase in the use of telemedicine can be attributed to evidence from previous pandemics as well as progress made by the field in response to COVID-19, especially in industrialized countries. A lack of effective treatment, large numbers of unvaccinated individuals, as well as social distancing and lockdown measures suggest telemedicine is the safest and most appropriate way of working with patients and doctors. In spite of this willingness, a large number of barriers need to be overcome in order for the telemedicine system to function properly and effectively throughout countries. In order for telemedicine to be sustainable and beneficial beyond the pandemic, several technical, educational, infrastructure, legal, and economic issues must be addressed and solved.

Hypersensitivity reaction to hyaluronic acid dermal filler after the Pfizer vaccination against SARS-CoV-2.

The ongoing vaccination program in the control of novel coronavirus (COVID-19)is providing an opportunity to public health authorities to emerge from the current pandemic crisis.Covid vaccination which protects from getting Covid  may have some minor side effects and in rare cases was accompanied by severe or immediate reactions. The development of hyaluronic acid soft tissue filler delayed inflammatory reactions following COVID-19 vaccination was reported.  Treatments based on hyaluronic acid represent one of the most largely used practice of aesthetic medicine. In this we present a case of a 38-year-old female patient with a confirmed hypersensitivity reaction after having the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer, USA). This case indicates that an adequate patient knowledge prior to hyaluronic acid injections to avoid adverse effect of a delayed-type hypersensitivity response after COVID-19 vaccination is desirable.

Consequences of COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy: Medical Responsibilities and Governmental Measures.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the world causing more victims than the latest global epidemics such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2003, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012. Italy has been one of the most affected countries, and it had to deal with an already weak economic condition and cuts to public health services due to budgetary requirements from the last decade-something that made the situation even more dramatic. Deaths have exceeded 600.000 worldwide. During the emergency, regulatory measures were taken to counter the situation. This study highlights the main anti-COVID-19 government measures to support doctors and healthcare professionals, and it analyzes how to respond to the many requests complaining about neglectful healthcare professionals during the spread of the infection. For all those healthcare workers who died on duty, a compensation plan is assumed through a solidarity fund. The same solution cannot be granted to all patients, given the difficulty in assessing the responsibility of the doctor not only during an emergency but with insufficient instruments to cope with it as well.

Current pharmacological treatments for SARS-COV-2: A narrative review.

The novel coronavirus, later identified as SARS-CoV-2, originating from Wuhan in China in November 2019, quickly spread around the world becoming a pandemic. Despite the knowledge of previous coronaviruses, such as those responsible for the SARS and MERS-CoV epidemic, there is no drug or prophylaxis treatment to this day. The rapid succession of scientific findings on SARS-CoV-2 provides a significant number of potential drug targets. Nevertheless, at the same time, the high quantity of clinical data, generated by a large number of rapidly infected people, require accurate tests regarding effective medical treatments. Several in vitro and in vivo studies were rapidly initiated after the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19. Initial clinical studies revealed the promising potential of remdesivir that demonstrated a powerful and specific in vitro antiviral activity for COVID-19. Promising effects appear to be attributable to hydroxychloroquine. Remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine are being tested in ongoing randomized trials. In contrast, oseltamivir was not effective and corticosteroids are not currently recommended. However, few data from ongoing clinical trials are identifying low molecular weight heparins, innate immune system stimulating agents, and inflammatory modulating agents as potential effective agents. The authors assume that the current pandemic will determine the need for a systematic approach based on big data analysis for identifying effective drugs to defeat SARS-Cov-2. This work is aimed to be a general reference point and to provide an overview as comprehensive as possible regarding the main clinical trials in progress at the moment.

Diabetes and technology: A pilot study on the management of patients with insulin pumps during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The recent COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the treatment process through IT/technological supports, useful in the management of chronic patients such as those affected by type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). Specific routes for fragile patients such as those with micro-infusers have been created thanks to the application of "Diabetes Technology," which allows patients to monitor blood glucose quickly and easily. The present pilot study aimed to assess the quality of care provided to patients with micro-infusers in a delicate phase such as a pandemic lockdown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was used. In the first part, with prior written consent, patients with insulin pumps enrolled voluntarily. In the second part, the focus group discussion (FGD) was carried out with the voluntarily enrolled participants. The FGD data were organized and analyzed by the thematic areas. RESULTS: The number of patients with afferent insulin pumps at the center was 50 individuals. Among them, 20 patients voluntarily joined the first part of the study by completing the PACIC questionnaire, which gave an average result of 3.34 (min. 2.2 and max. 4.2). In the second part, the application of the focus group technique demonstrated that technology is decisive in the management of diabetic pathology, not only in the emergency phase. CONCLUSIONS: At the time of public health crises, alternative strategies such as Tele-Nursing or Telemedicine could be crucial for the management of patients with micro-infuser not only in critical moments, such as lockdown, but also in ordinary health management.