Societal awareness on neonatal hyperbilirubinemia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Early recognition of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is essential for prevention of bilirubin neurotoxicity and its long-term sequelae. High rates of home delivery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as early discharge post-delivery (within 24hours) make community surveillance for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia highly important. Here, we performed a literature review to estimate the level of societal awareness of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. We searched several databases for studies assessing the knowledge and awareness of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. We retrieved 211 citations from 206 databases with five being in the grey literature. 52 selected articles were further reviewed. Data from these studies were then analyzed using Stata software (Statacorp® LLC Texas USA). We found that the pooled estimate of societal awareness of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia was 67% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 60, 74). There however was a publication bias (Begg test: P ≤ 0.01; Egger P = 0.06). Studies that scored or graded knowledge reported lower estimates [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = -0.17; 95% CI: -0.32–0.02; P = 0.03]. Hospital location was an important determinant of awareness of complications [aOR = 0.30; 95% CI: 0.30–0.57; P = 0.03]. We therefore concluded that there is a significant need to improve societal awareness of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.     

How Picky Eating Becomes an Illness—Marketing Nutrient-Enriched Formula Milk in a Chinese Society

The essential adaptive food selection behavior of young children has become increasingly medicalized as a kind of disease—the “picky-eating” syndrome in Hong Kong. The researcher used the multiple case studies approach with data collected from in-depth interviews and advertisements to examine the process of the medicalization of picky-eating disorder, which demonstrates how an essential adaptive human behavior can be redefined by the market and medical system as a deviant, abnormal behavior that needs to be eliminated and how the resulting health risks can be resolved by modern medicine produced by this pharmaceutical nexus.     

TGF-B3 Dependent Modification of Radiosensitivity in Reporter Cells Exposed to Serum From Whole-Body Low Dose-Rate Irradiated Mice

Prior findings in vitro of a TGF-β3 dependent mechanism induced by low dose-rate irradiation and resulting in increased radioresistance and removal of low dose hyper-radiosensitivity (HRS) was tested in an in vivo model. DBA/2 mice were given whole-body irradiation for 1 h at low dose-rates (LDR) of 0.3 or 0.03 Gy/h. Serum was harvested and added to RPMI (4% mouse serum and 6% bovine serum).This medium was transferred to reporter cells (T-47D breast cancer cells or T98G glioblastoma cells). The response to subsequent challenge irradiation of the reporter cells was measured by the colony assay. While serum from unirradiated control mice had no effect on the radiosensitivity in the reporter cells, serum from mice given 0.3 Gy/h or 0.03 Gy/h for 1 h removed HRS and also increased survival in response to doses up to 5 Gy. The effect lasted for at least 15 months after irradiation. TGF-β3 neutralizer added to the medium containing mouse serum inhibited the effect. Serum from mice given irradiation of 0.3 Gy/h for 1 h and subsequently treated with iNOS inhibitor 1400W did not affect radiosensitivity in reporter cells; neither did serum from the unirradiated progeny of mice given 1h LDR whole-body irradiation.