Broadcast health: Leveraging YouTube for community health education.

OBJECTIVE: In community health, there is great demand but limited time for the delivery of staff and patient education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, evolving needs necessitated that health education be provided in an accurate and timely manner. This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of a YouTube channel designed to disseminate health education to a wide audience of public health workers and patient populations. METHODS: This project, divided into three phases, originated within shelter-based care, providing education to shelter staff (Phase 1) and overtime has evolved to provide education within the Community Health Worker Hub at a major teaching hospital for community health workers (Phase 2) and the populations they serve (Phase 3). Further, during phase 3, the project developer used an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to increase the reach of the YouTube channel. RESULTS: Over a span of 21 months, 18 unique videos have garnered 489 views. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and educators can leverage technology platforms for health education delivery, increasing the reach of their work while meeting the demands of the profession. While the quality of some information on YouTube may be poor, patients and students turn to this platform for health education. It is imperative that public health nurses embrace this medium, rather than push against it. By creating high-quality content, educating students and patients about DISCERN and PEMAT tools, and guiding patients to credible sources, public health nurses may ameliorate the standards of health education on YouTube.

Investigating functional changes in the brain to intermittently induced auditory illusions and its relevance to chronic tinnitus.

Several studies have demonstrated the neural correlates of chronic tinnitus. However, we still do not understand what happens in the acute phase. Past studies have established Zwicker tone (ZT) illusions as a good human model for acute tinnitus. ZT illusions are perceived following the presentation of a notched noise stimulus, that is, broadband noise with a narrow band-stop filter (notch). In the current study, we compared the neural correlates of the reliable perception of a ZT illusion to that which is not. We observed changes in evoked and total theta power in wide-spread regions of the brain particularly in the temporal-parietal junction, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (pgACC/vmPFC), parahippocampus during perception of the ZT illusion. Furthermore, we observe that increased theta power significantly predicts a gradual positive change in the intensity of the ZT illusion. Such changes may suggest a malfunction of the sensory gating system that enables habituation to redundant stimuli and suppresses hyperactivity. It could also suggest a successful retrieval of the memory of the missing frequencies, resulting in their conscious perception indicating the role of higher-order processing in the mechanism of action of ZT illusions. To establish a more concrete relationship between ZT illusion and chronic tinnitus, future longitudinal studies following up a much larger sample of participants who reliably perceive a ZT illusion to see if they develop tinnitus at a later stage is essential. This could inform us if the ZT illusion may be a precursor to chronic tinnitus.

Role of Cellular Magnesium in Human Diseases.

Magnesium is required for many of the major organs to function and plays a crucial role in human and mammalian physiology. Magnesium is essential for the structure of bones and teeth, acts as a cofactor for more than 300 enzymes in the body, including binding to ATP for kinase reactions, and affects permeability of excitable membranes and neuromuscular transmission. Despite these essential roles, much is still unknown about magnesium physiology and homeostasis. Currently, nutritionists believe that the general population intakes insufficient magnesium daily through the diet. The effects of magnesium deficiency are, for the most part undetected, and simple, widespread assessments of magnesium intake remain unavailable for humans. Many of the patients admitted to hospitals or medical care facilities are unaware of their low magnesium levels. Moreover, because magnesium is predominantly an intracellular cation (>99%), serum magnesium levels remain a poor predictor of tissue magnesium content and availability. This review will discuss the effects of magnesium deficiency in various pathologies affecting the human population. The underlying causes for magnesium depletion in major physiological systems will be examined along with the involved signaling pathways and the main roles of magnesium homeostasis. Where possible (e.g. alcoholism), the implications of administering supplemental magnesium will be discussed. Ultimately, this review will advocate for the necessity of identifying easy and reproducible methods to assess serum and cellular magnesium levels and to identify magnesium deficiency in order to alleviate related pathological conditions.

Paediatricots: Utilisation of an Australian list serve to support occupational therapists working with children.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The development of list serves has enabled occupational therapists working in a range of practice settings and geographical locations to share information and provide each other with professional support. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the nature of communications occurring on the Paediatricots list serve, and determine whether topics and issues raised were congruent with current practice trends for therapists working with children. METHODS: A content analysis was undertaken of all archived Paediatricots emails sent between 1 June 2003 and 31 May 2004, using the previous Yahoo paediatricots group. The group is now maintained by the NSW Department of Health. RESULTS: A total of 2104 postings were made to Paediatricots during the 12-month period. These postings addressed a wide range of issues; however, the majority were of a clinical nature related to day-to-day practice. The focus of these communications was mainly on the performance components of children's skills, with less emphasis on task demands, environmental factors and practice approaches. CONCLUSIONS: The variety of issues raised, coupled with high membership levels and reciprocity rates, suggests that Paediatricots is providing a valuable professional resource for occupational therapists. Members appear to predominantly utilise the list serve to address day-to-day practice issues, particularly concerning performance components impacting on children's occupations. The facility also served to support organisational and professional development needs.