López–Campos, Guillermo

Summary Background: Precision prevention involves using biological, behavioral, socioeconomic, and epidemiological data to improve health for a particular individual or group. With almost 63% of the global population using social media, these platforms show promise to deliver tailored messaging and personalized interventions to individuals. Objectives: To describe the personalization elements and behavior components used in a sample of precision prevention interventions delivered through social media. Methods: To identify examples of cases, a search was done on clinicaltrials.gov, searching for ‘other terms: prevention’ + ‘Intervention/Treatment: social media intervention’ + ‘study results: With results. The selected cases were described, personalization elements reported, and their adopted intervention components were coded according to the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework. Results: A total of four cases employing personalization in their interventions were identified. Three of these cases targeted women's health. The intervention period varied from two to eight months, with participant commitment ranging from active involvement on five out of seven days to monthly participation. The BCW interventions of persuasion and incentivization, were most frequently utilized, while education and coercion were used sparingly in the selected cases. Notably, none of the four cases reported the use of training, restrictions, or modeling. Conclusions: Social media has the potential to serve as a tool for digital phenotyping and contribute to the advancement of precision prevention. Challenges include the social media platform set-up and ensuring all ethical considerations are met.

The World Health Organization’s Operational Framework for Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Health Systems outlines 10 broad components for the development and maintenance of health systems that respond effectively to climate-related challenges. This work analyses the WHO framework from a participatory health informatics perspective and identifies specific initiatives involving non-professionals that align with the framework. Citizen and patient participation in the development of climate-resilient health systems is not only possible but also necessary to maximize climate resiliency at the community and global levels.

The application of digital interventions in healthcare beyond research has been translated in the development of software as a medical device. Along with corresponding regulations for medical devices, there is a need for assessing adverse events to conduct post-market surveillance and to appropriately label digital health interventions to ensure proper use and patient safety. To date unexpected consequences of digital health interventions are neglected or ignored, or at least remain undescribed in literature. This paper is intended to raise awareness across the research community about these upcoming challenges. We recommend that - together with developing a new research field of digitalovigilance - a systematic assessment and monitoring of adverse events and unexpected interactions be included in clinical trials, along with the reporting of such events and the conduct of meta-analyses on critical aspects.

Abstract Background Health care has evolved to support the involvement of individuals in decision making by, for example, using mobile apps and wearables that may help empower people to actively participate in their treatment and health monitoring. While the term “participatory health informatics” (PHI) has emerged in literature to describe these activities, along with the use of social media for health purposes, the scope of the research field of PHI is not yet well defined. Objective This article proposes a preliminary definition of PHI and defines the scope of the field. Methods We used an adapted Delphi study design to gain consensus from participants on a definition developed from a previous review of literature. From the literature we derived a set of attributes describing PHI as comprising 18 characteristics, 14 aims, and 4 relations. We invited researchers, health professionals, and health informaticians to score these characteristics and aims of PHI and their relations to other fields over three survey rounds. In the first round participants were able to offer additional attributes for voting. Results The first round had 44 participants, with 28 participants participating in all three rounds. These 28 participants were gender-balanced and comprised participants from industry, academia, and health sectors from all continents. Consensus was reached on 16 characteristics, 9 aims, and 6 related fields. Discussion The consensus reached on attributes of PHI describe PHI as a multidisciplinary field that uses information technology and delivers tools with a focus on individual-centered care. It studies various effects of the use of such tools and technology. Its aims address the individuals in the role of patients, but also the health of a society as a whole. There are relationships to the fields of health informatics, digital health, medical informatics, and consumer health informatics. Conclusion We have proposed a preliminary definition, aims, and relationships of PHI based on literature and expert consensus. These can begin to be used to support development of research priorities and outcomes measurements.

Objective: Preeclampsia is a cardiovascular complication characterised by the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria or other end-organ dysfunction. Currently there are no effective treatments for preeclampsia except delivery of the placenta and the baby, often pre-term. Administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has shown therapeutic potential in pre-clinical models of preeclampsia. In this study, we aimed to identify novel placental miRNAs in preeclampsia which could be targeted by MSCs or their extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs). Design and method: Human MSCs were isolated from abdominal fat tissue during caesarean section and cultured for 48 h. Human umbilical cord endothelial cells (HUVEC) were co-cultured with MSCs from pregnancies with or without preeclampsia (n = 3) up to 90 h and angiogenesis assessed using tubule formation assay in IncuCyteu live cell imaging system. Using separate patient samples, miRNA was isolated from placentae from women with and without preeclampsia (n = 2) and miRNA next generation sequencing (miRNAseq) performed. The expression of two miRNAs identified in miRNAseq (miRNA-183–5p and miRNA-203a-3p) were measured in HUVEC cells exposed to 24 h hypoxia (1%) or normoxia (21%) in the presence of MSC conditioned medium (MSC-CM) or MSC-EVs. Results: MSCs isolated from women with preeclampsia demonstrated impaired pro-angiogenic profile compared to MSCs derived from normotensive pregnancies measured by the network length (mm/m2) of HUVECs following 66 h, 72 h, 78 h, 84 h and 90 h of exposure to MSC-CM (n = 3, p = 0.001). The results of miRNAseq identified a number of aberrantly expressed miRNAs including mir-183–5p (logFC = -2.8, p = 0.001) and mir-203a-3p (logFC = -6.7, p = 0.001). Following exposure of HUVECs to hypoxia, mir-183–5p was significantly increased by approximately 8-fold (p = 0.001) whereas mir-203a-3p showed no change in expression. MSC-CM and MSC-EVs were both capable of ameliorating this increase in mir-183–5p as a result of hypoxia (p = 0.01, MSC-CM; p = 0.001, MSC-EVs). Conclusions: In patients with preeclampsia, MSCs show impaired angiogenic function, potentially leading to inappropriate placental development and angiogenesis in pregnancy. Administration of healthy MSCs or associated MSC-EVs could have a therapeutic potential in the treatment of preeclampsia and the mechanism could involve novel mir-183–5p as a treatment target.

Abstract Context Preeclampsia is a leading cardiovascular complication in pregnancy lacking effective diagnostic and treatment strategies. Objective To investigate the diagnostic and therapeutic target potential of the angiogenesis proteins, FK506-binding protein like (FKBPL) and CD44. Design and Intervention FKBPL and CD44 plasma concentration or placental expression were determined in women pre- or postdiagnosis of preeclampsia. Trophoblast and endothelial cell function was assessed following mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment and in the context of FKBPL signaling. Settings and Participants Human samples prediagnosis (15 and 20 weeks of gestation; n ≥ 57), or postdiagnosis (n = 18 for plasma; n = 4 for placenta) of preeclampsia were used to determine FKBPL and CD44 levels, compared to healthy controls. Trophoblast or endothelial cells were exposed to low/high oxygen, and treated with MSC-conditioned media (MSC-CM) or a FKBPL overexpression plasmid. Main Outcome Measures Preeclampsia risk stratification and diagnostic potential of FKBPL and CD44 were investigated. MSC treatment effects and FKBPL-CD44 signaling in trophoblast and endothelial cells were assessed. Results The CD44/FKBPL ratio was reduced in placenta and plasma following clinical diagnosis of preeclampsia. At 20 weeks of gestation, a high plasma CD44/FKBPL ratio was independently associated with the 2.3-fold increased risk of preeclampsia (odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-5.23, P = 0.04). In combination with high mean arterial blood pressure (>82.5 mmHg), the risk further increased to 3.9-fold (95% CI 1.30-11.84, P = 0.016). Both hypoxia and MSC-based therapy inhibited FKBPL-CD44 signaling, enhancing cell angiogenesis. Conclusions The FKBPL-CD44 pathway appears to have a central role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, showing promising utilities for early diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.