JMIR Research Protocols

Heart failure (HF) imposes a substantial clinical and economic burden in China. Although N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is widely used in the diagnostic pathway for HF, conventional thresholds are largely derived from Western populations and may not be fully applicable to Chinese adults.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder in children, often leading to long-term motor impairments. Rehabilitation robotics has emerged as a promising approach in pediatric neurorehabilitation, offering precise and repetitive motor training. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive neuromodulation technique, has shown potential in modulating cortical excitability and improving motor function in children with CP.

Proficiency in interpersonal communication and social skills is fundamental for health sciences students, but public speaking anxiety and communication apprehension frequently compromise academic performance, emotional well-being, and the acquisition of essential competencies. The postpandemic educational environment has exacerbated student stress, highlighting the urgent need for reliable assessment tools for social anxiety in this population.

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a key biomedical HIV prevention strategy that relies heavily on adherence for optimal effectiveness. In China, most PrEP users purchase their medication online, making it challenging to monitor and support adherence effectively.

Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by motor symptoms as well as progressive cognitive decline leading to long-term functional impairment and diminished quality of life. Mild cognitive impairment in PD (PD-MCI) is a risk factor for developing PD-related dementia. PD-MCI provides a window to assess interventions that can improve cognition. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) shows promise as an effective treatment to improve cognitive performance.

Diseases during childhood and adolescence such as cancer or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can have an impact on brain development and place children and adolescents at increased risk for cognitive long-term problems. Most cognitive trainings currently available have limited efficacy and show limited transfer to nontrained tasks and everyday functioning. We developed a novel intervention (Mio-Training) aiming to increase metacognitive abilities at the intersection between exercise psychology and cognitive science to strengthen the cognitive development of pediatric patients with atypical brain development in the long term.

Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) is a common complication and major cause of morbidity among people with diabetes mellitus. There has been growing acceptance of primarily nonsurgical (conservative) management of DFO based on antibiotics alone. However, the most appropriate duration of antibiotic therapy for DFO remains controversial. Current guidelines recommend antibiotic duration of up to 6 weeks for DFO. Although there has been growing interest in a shorter duration of antibiotic therapy, in absence of sufficient evidence, the extent to which the duration of antibiotic therapy can be shortened remains debatable. Determination of the optimal duration of antibiotic therapy would improve the outcomes of treatment of DFO while limiting side effects.

Despite active national initiatives, the low prevalence of modern contraception in Pakistan remains unchanged, leading to high rates of unintended pregnancies and poor maternal and neonatal outcomes. Conventional directive counseling does not sufficiently cater to women’s needs, whereas structured client-centered strategies like GATHER (greet, ask, tell, help, explain, return) and the balanced counseling strategy (BCS) may improve outcomes. Existing literature assessing the comparative effectiveness of these strategies in the Pakistani population lacks evidence.

Although the overall number of cervical cancer cases is declining worldwide, the incidence of this type of cancer is increasing in regions with low human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cancer screening rates. In such regions, screening pregnant women can help improve the overall screening rate. Worldwide, cervical cancer screening is shifting from cervical cytology to HPV testing, which reduces the incidence of cervical cancer and, when negative, allows for longer screening intervals. Although HPV-based screening has been shown to be at least as effective as cytology screening for lesion detection in the general population, its performance during pregnancy remains poorly characterized due to the exclusion of pregnant women in previous clinical trials.

Due to climate change, the population and health care systems face an increasing burden of weather-related health risks. Emergency departments (EDs) are one of the first points of contact for acute and emergency care and insights into population health. Previous research has demonstrated that climate change-based weather phenomena have an impact on ED usage and morbidity. However, research shows inconsistent results for some weather phenomena and disease groups, and no corresponding evidence is yet available for Germany.

South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world; in KwaZulu-Natal Province, over 40.8% of adults aged 15 years and older are living with HIV. Despite this, South Africa is home to only 3% of the world’s health care workers. Nurses constitute the largest group of providers in South Africa and experience high levels of burnout, which can contribute to negative patient outcomes for people living with HIV, including reduced treatment adherence. Nurse-centered interventions that offset these effects are urgently needed.

Preterm birth (PTB), or birth before 37 weeks of gestation, remains a significant public health issue in the United States, particularly in Detroit, Michigan. Growing evidence suggests that volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aromatic or chlorinated organic compounds that vaporize readily, may influence PTB risk. However, much of this prior work is limited by indirect VOC exposure estimates (eg, assignment based on maternal residential address), single-point or cumulative exposure estimates during pregnancy, or limited consideration of potential mechanistic factors.