JMIR Research Protocols

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a transitional phase between normal aging and dementia. While no pharmacological treatments have proven effective, nonpharmacological interventions, such as cognitive stimulation and psychosocial support, have shown promise. Integrating digital tools and socially assistive robotics may improve engagement, personalization, and access to care, contributing to the preservation of cognitive function and overall well-being in older adults.

Precise localization of the mandibular condyle is essential for extraoral therapeutic procedures such as low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in patients with skeletal class II malocclusion undergoing myofunctional appliance therapy. Conventional localization methods rely on palpation and visual estimation, which are operator dependent and may compromise reproducibility and treatment outcomes. To address this limitation, a spectacle-mounted extraoral condyle locating device (EOCLD) has been developed to facilitate accurate and consistent condylar targeting.

Chatbots have the potential to reduce barriers to preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), including lack of awareness, misconceptions, and stigma, by providing anonymous and continuous support. However, in the context of PrEP, chatbots are still nascent; they lack personalized informational expertise, peer experiential expertise, and human-like emotional support to facilitate future PrEP uptake. These personalized and relatable forms of support are crucial for increasing engagement, influencing health decisions, and fostering resilience and well-being.

Pain is a common symptom among older adults in nursing home settings, affecting 30% to 80% of residents living with dementia. Pain is not assessed; the underlying cause is not identified, and treatment is not initiated for a large percentage of residents. Untreated or overtreated pain can lower quality of life, negatively impact function, impair sleep, and increase behavioral and psychological symptoms associated with dementia.

Background noise is common in everyday environments; yet, its effects on attention vary according to task demands, individual characteristics, and properties of the noise itself. Previous research has largely focused on music, nonspeech noise, or intelligible speech, leaving the effects of paralinguistic components of human speech (eg, tone, pitch, and rhythm) difficult to disentangle from linguistic content.

Cardiac surgery patients are at particular risk of postoperative acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), with an estimated incidence of 5% to 10%. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), ischemia-reperfusion injury, and blood product transfusions are well-recognized contributing factors. Asymptomatic carriage of respiratory viruses has been hypothesized to prime the lungs and potentiate ARDS development when combined with the pulmonary insults of cardiac surgery. However, no study has directly assessed the relationship between preoperative asymptomatic viral carriage and postoperative ARDS.

Food systems strongly affect human and environmental health. Across Europe, they often generate negative public health and environmental outcomes and contribute to inequalities in access to healthy, sustainable food. Addressing these challenges requires understanding the complex dynamics of the interaction of individual behavior within food systems, which involves a combination of internal mechanisms and external influences.

Maintaining and improving motor function is essential in the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Stretching is traditionally used to prevent muscle tightness and contractures to improve movement patterns in children with CP. Fascial manipulation (FM) is an increasingly used manual therapy method for movement difficulties associated with CP. However, evidence for FM remains limited, and its benefits over conventional stretching are unclear. A pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) is warranted to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a definitive trial comparing FM with stretching. This study protocol describes a pilot randomized controlled feasibility trial comparing FM and stretching in children with CP to inform the design and conduct of a future definitive RCT.

Contraceptive care is complex, especially for individuals with health conditions (eg, diabetes, depression, and cardiovascular disease) who must consider how and to what extent their condition may be affected by contraception or vice versa. My Health, My Choice (MHMC) is a novel, web-based contraceptive decision support tool designed in English for patients with health conditions and is currently being tested in a cluster randomized controlled trial in the United States. MHMC is not available in Spanish, creating linguistic barriers to trial participation for those who prefer to read and learn in Spanish.

People with intellectual disabilities have a high prevalence of mental health problems, which are often underdiagnosed and treated late due to difficulties in assessment. The limited availability of validated instruments, communication barriers, and reliance on external informants hinder the early detection of symptoms and the monitoring of their progression.

Survivors of breast cancer frequently experience anxiety, stress, and depression during the follow-up and survivorship phases, when access to psychosocial support is often limited. Although psychological interventions have demonstrated effectiveness, their implementation in routine clinical practice remains challenging. Digital mental health interventions offer a promising alternative. However, many existing solutions show limited personalization, engagement, and long-term adherence, partly due to insufficient involvement of end users in their design.

In South Africa, the metastatic response rate for stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NB) to induction chemotherapy is lower than that of similar regimens in well-resourced settings. Augmenting current induction chemotherapy regimens with molecular radiotherapy, without increasing toxicity, is an attractive systemic treatment in radioisotope-avid tumors, especially in a resource-limited setting where stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy are unavailable and costly. Clinical trials of [Lu]Lutetium DOTATATE ([Lu]Lu-DOTATATE) have primarily focused on refractory or relapsed HR-NB, with disappointing results. This study evaluates the feasibility and dose-limiting toxicity grading of adding a single dose of [Lu]Lu-DOTATATE to induction chemotherapy in achieving metastatic remission rates.