The evolution of opioid-related mortality and potential years of life lost in Spain from 2008 to 2017: differences between Spain and the United States.

Objective: To investigate the evolution of opioid-related mortality and potential years of life lost in Spanish general population from 2008 to 2017. To evaluate the differences between Spain and the US.Methods: A descriptive study using retrospective annual data from 2008 to 2017 in Spanish and US general population. Information on the population and opioid-related deaths stratified by age and sex was obtained from Spanish National Statistics Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER Multiple Cause of Death Database, according to the ICD-10 codes. Years of life lost, crude and standardized mortality rates are reported and compared with the results in US.Results: Crude rate of opioid-related deaths per 105 inhabitants has changed from 1.68 in 2008 to 2.25 in 2017 in Spain, with around 30,000 years of life lost per year. The most affected groups were middle-aged men and women over 65, and the main cause of death was accidental poisoning. The standardized rates per 105 inhabitants across the years were between 1.19 and 1.62 in Spain and between 11.17 and 20.68 in the US population.Conclusions: An opioid overuse crisis does not seem a likely scenario in Spain. However, it is a social problem that requires special health surveillance, particularly in middle-aged men and women over 65.

An Evolutive and Scientometric Research on Tissue Engineering Reviews.

Number of publications has been widely used as a measure of research output, especially academic and university research. Number of publications in tissue engineering (TE) has increased year by year since early 1990s. However, after an exponential growth phase, recently publications increase at lower rates, suggesting a consolidation process in which reviews become a relevant and high-evidence document type. The aim of this study is to perform a scientometric evaluation of published literature reviews on TE to assess the status of scientific evolution and confirm the consolidation of TE as a research area. Published reviews on TE from 1991 to 2018 were retrieved from Web of Science core collection and this corpus of knowledge was analyzed by growth rate, research area, source title, and citation. Our results revealed that TE can be considered a consolidating area as it leaves the forefront stage of a gompertzian growth curve model. Original research/review ratio is lineally decreasing during the past decade. The emergence of reviews serves to confirm and refute hypothesis and build up a more reliable theoretical framework as well as a guide for future educational approaches. Distribution assessment of categories and journals indicates the multidisciplinary profile of this area focused on the design and development of new tissues. Biomedical sciences become relevant productors of reviews as they need to support TE innovations with high evidence leading to a safer and more efficient treatment of current injuries and diseases. Impact statement Scientometric analysis of published reviews about tissue engineering (TE) suggests that TE can be considered a consolidating area as it leaves the forefront stage of a gompertzian growth curve model. Biomedical sciences become relevant productors of reviews as they need to support TE innovations with high evidence leading to a safer and more efficient treatment of current injuries and diseases.

Identification of Cognitive and Social Framework of Tissue Engineering by Science Mapping Analysis.

IMPACT STATEMENT: This study evaluates the cognitive structure and social behavior of tissue engineering (TE) based on a science mapping analysis. Understanding the terms and topics that play a key role in the development of TE can help administrative authorities to better plan funding. Moreover, a better knowledge of collaborative networks in TE and the identification of potential new opportunities for collaboration may enhance synergies in scientific activities to implement future approaches to therapy.

Measuring the Quality of Mobile Apps for the Management of Pain: Systematic Search and Evaluation Using the Mobile App Rating Scale.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is a major health issue requiring an approach that not only considers medication, but also many other factors included in the biopsychosocial model of pain. New technologies, such as mobile apps, are tools to address these factors, although in many cases they lack proven quality or are not based on scientific evidence, so it is necessary to review and measure their quality. OBJECTIVE: The aim is to evaluate and measure the quality of mobile apps for the management of pain using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). METHODS: This study included 18 pain-related mobile apps from the App Store and Play Store. The MARS was administered to measure their quality. We list the scores (of each section and the final score) of every app and we report the mean score (and standard deviation) for an overall vision of the quality of the pain-related apps. We compare the section scores between the groups defined according to the tertiles via analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Kruskal-Wallis test, depending on the normality of the distribution (Shapiro-Wilk test). RESULTS: The global quality ranged from 1.74 (worst app) to 4.35 (best app). Overall, the 18 apps obtained a mean score of 3.17 (SD 0.75). The best-rated sections were functionality (mean 3.92, SD 0.72), esthetics (mean 3.29, SD 1.05), and engagement (mean 2.87, SD 1.14), whereas the worst rated were app specific (mean 2.48, SD 1.00), information (mean 2.52, SD 0.82), and app subjective quality (mean 2.68, SD 1.22). The main differences between tertiles were found on app subjective quality, engagement, esthetics, and app specific. CONCLUSIONS: Current pain-related apps are of a certain quality mainly regarding their technical aspects, although they fail to offer information and have an impact on the user. Most apps are not based on scientific evidence, have not been rigorously tested, and the confidentiality of the information collected is not guaranteed. Future apps would need to improve these aspects and exploit the capabilities of current devices.

Global Tissue Engineering Trends: A Scientometric and Evolutive Study.

Tissue engineering (TE) is defined as a multidisciplinary scientific discipline with the main objective to develop artificial bioengineered living tissues to regenerate damaged or lost tissues. Since its appearance in 1988, TE has globally spread to improve current therapeutic approaches, entailing a revolution in clinical practice. The aim of this study is to analyze global research trends on TE publications to realize the scenario of TE research from 1991 to 2016 by using document retrieval from Web of Science database and bibliometric analysis. Document type, language, source title, authorship, countries and filiation centers, and citation count were evaluated in 31,859 documents. Obtained results suggest a great multidisciplinary role of TE due to a wide spectrum-up to 51-of scientific research areas identified in the corpus of literature, being predominant technological disciplines as Material Sciences or Engineering, followed by biological and biomedical areas, as Cell Biology, Biotechnology, or Biochemistry. Distribution of authorship, journals, and countries revealed a clear imbalance, in which a minority is responsible for a majority of documents. Such imbalance is notorious in authorship, where a 0.3% of authors are involved in half of the whole production.

mDurance: A Novel Mobile Health System to Support Trunk Endurance Assessment.

Low back pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition. This disorder constitutes one of the most common causes of disability worldwide, and as a result, it has a severe socioeconomic impact. Endurance tests are normally considered in low back pain rehabilitation practice to assess the muscle status. However, traditional procedures to evaluate these tests suffer from practical limitations, which potentially lead to inaccurate diagnoses. The use of digital technologies is considered here to facilitate the task of the expert and to increase the reliability and interpretability of the endurance tests. This work presents mDurance, a novel mobile health system aimed at supporting specialists in the functional assessment of trunk endurance by using wearable and mobile devices. The system employs a wearable inertial sensor to track the patient trunk posture, while portable electromyography sensors are used to seamlessly measure the electrical activity produced by the trunk muscles. The information registered by the sensors is processed and managed by a mobile application that facilitates the expert's normal routine, while reducing the impact of human errors and expediting the analysis of the test results. In order to show the potential of the mDurance system, a case study has been conducted. The results of this study prove the reliability of mDurance and further demonstrate that practitioners are certainly interested in the regular use of a system of this nature.