JMIR Research Protocols

Manual wheelchairs promote independence among older adult users. However, the user’s level of disability, strength, and stamina, and the environmental conditions in which the wheelchair is used, may limit the functionality of manual wheelchairs and their impact on independence and active aging. The use of power-assist add-ons may mitigate these limitations and allow an individual to age in place.

A healthful diet in early childhood is essential for healthy growth and disease prevention. Parents influence children’s diets through supportive (eg, structure and autonomy support) and unsupportive (eg, coercive control and indulgence) food parenting practices. Historically, much of this work has focused on parents’ “usual” feeding behaviors using survey methods. However, recent studies using ecological momentary assessment methods have allowed assessment of food parenting behaviors in “real time.” This work has revealed that the practices used by parents to feed children vary across contexts and are influenced by factors such as stress or time constraints. Research is needed to understand the dynamic nature of food parenting and its impact on children’s diets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for targeted interventions to address health care disparities among specific health care professionals and mitigate the impact of the virus. In response, we developed a comprehensive statewide educational program protocol focused on subject areas of health equity, cultural sensitivity, infection prevention and control (IPC), and quality improvement (QI).

Only a few trials target high school-aged teens with vaping interventions, typically focusing on prevention rather than cessation, with content limited to vaping harms and refusal skills. Given the co-occurrence and increasing incidence of vaping and mental health issues in teens, both must be simultaneously addressed by vaping interventions.

Racism arrived in Australia with colonization and its intentionally oppressive policies and actions toward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. To a large extent, colonial and biomedical agendas are maintained by Australia’s health system that underlies much of the racialized health inequities in the country. Dentistry significantly lags behind medicine and other health care areas in the uptake of antiracism, with the dental accreditation body only acknowledging racism as a determinant of oral health in 2022.

Jaw bone density can be altered due to various factors including aging, bone pathologies, hormonal levels, medications affecting bone density, and undue stress posed by parafunctional and adverse habits. Of these factors, chronic areca nut chewing, which creates a heavy load on jaw bones, is a commonly encountered adverse habit in patients. Digital panoramic radiography (OPG) indices are an easy and cost-effective method to evaluate jaw bone density. Index values can also be used as a screening tool for osteoporosis.

Community-based behavior change interventions are a common approach to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH). Yet, published evaluations of how these interventions work in district-wide approaches are rare.

Tinnitus, a common and troublesome symptom of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL), is the perception of sound without any external or internal sound source. The etiology of ISSNHL accompanied by tinnitus remains unclear. Tinnitus often occurs alongside or before hearing loss and can severely impact patients’ quality of life, leading to psychological stress and emotional distress. Current treatments primarily focus on improving hearing loss while neglecting tinnitus treatment. Electroacupuncture (EA), a technique widely applied in China for tinnitus management, may become a promising intervention by addressing both auditory and psychological symptoms.

Over the past 2 decades, the gut microbiota has emerged as a key player in human health, being involved in many different clinical contexts. Yet, many aspects of the relationship with its host are poorly documented. One obstacle is the substantial variability in wet-laboratory procedures and data processing implemented during gut microbiota studies, which poses a challenge of comparability and potential meta-analysis.

Patients with ischemic stroke are at high risk of recurrence, making preventive care an important factor. Current antiplatelet therapy for recurrence prevention treatment has several limitations. Recent retrospective observational studies suggested that HH333, an herbal prescription, has an inhibitory effect on stroke recurrence in small-vessel diseases.

The treatment of endometriosis includes analgesics, hormone therapy, and surgery. Even after surgical removal of endometriotic lesions, the risk of recurrence remains high once the normal menstrual cycle resumes. Therefore, long-term hormone therapy is essential to prevent recurrence. Among hormonal treatments, low-dose estrogen progestin preparations are not recommended for patients older than 40 years due to the increased risk of thrombotic side effects. In contrast, dienogest does not carry a thrombotic risk, making it a suitable option for older patients. Although dienogest requires long-term administration until menopause in patients with endometriosis, data on its long-term efficacy and potential adverse effects remain limited. In particular, comparative studies assessing the safety and effectiveness of long-term use of dienogest at different doses (1 mg/day vs 2 mg/day) have not been conducted, highlighting the need for further investigation.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a common ocular condition with diverse and heterogeneous symptoms. Current treatment standards of DED include the post facto management of associated symptoms through topical eye drops. However, there is a need for predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory medicine. The DryEyeRhythm mobile health app enables real-time data collection on environmental, lifestyle, host, and digital factors in a patient’s daily environment. Combining these data with genetic information from biobanks could enhance our understanding of individual variations and facilitate the development of personalized treatment strategies for DED.