Introduction. In recent years, the role of vitamin D for the immune system has been explored. In light of the global burden of COVID-19, this literature overview aims to understand whether vitamin D can be a useful integrative option for COVID-19 prevention.

Methods. A PubMed-based overview of reviews (date of search: December 7th, 2020).

Results. After database search, 305 articles were found, and 15 reviews were included in this study. From a mechanistic perspective, vitamin D may inactivate some viral compounds, reduce proinflammatory cytokines (NF-kB, IL-6, TNF), modulate ACE-2 and MMP-9 concentrations, diminish the risk of endothelial dysfunction and bradykinin storm. In a meta-analysis, a positive association between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity was observed, and other researchers suggested that this association may also involve an increased risk of infection. A preventive role was hypothesized even for diabetic, obese, or pediatric subjects. However, in most reviews, the evidence base was considered insufficient to draw definitive conclusions. In a broad meta-analysis, it was reported that an administration of daily doses of 400-1000 IU vitamin D for up to 12 months was significantly associated with some degree of protection against acute respiratory infections. Some studies indicated that vitamin D serum concentrations of 20–30 ng/mL reduced the risk of acute respiratory infections, while others pointed out that higher levels (up to 40-60 ng/mL) may be preferable for this purpose.

Discussion. In conclusion, vitamin D supplementation may be useful for COVID-19, especially in individuals with low levels of this micronutrient. In fact, vitamin D deficiency is associated with a worse disease severity, and possibly with an increased risk of infection. Considering its high tolerability and low costs, further large clinical studies are advised to ascertain whether a standardized supplementation may be a valuable clinical strategy to apply on a large scale.

The global pandemic produced by COVID-19 has caused serious consequences for people's physical health. In addition, the governments of the most affected countries have carried out containment measures to prevent the spread of the virus. These quarantine measures have caused the growing of mental health problems.

The present work aims to carry out a descriptive analysis of the main psychiatric pathologies that have been admitted to a hospitalization unit in 2019 and 2020. Besides, the differences between both years in duration of hospital stay, gender and age of the people admitted, or type of pathology will be tested.

The results showed that in 2019 there were 251 admissions with an average duration of 19.29 days (SD = 33.95). In 2020, 230 admissions with a duration of 12.07 (SD = 16.49). The test t for independent samples was significant (t = 2.92; p < .000). On the other hand, there were no differences in the number of women or men admitted. Regarding the type of pathology, significantly more schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional spectrum disorders were detected in 2020 than in 2019 (χ² = 7.98, p < .05).

We conclude this research with a detailed analysis of the acute pathologies diagnosed in 2019 and 2020. The main limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

PURPOSE: Obtaining accurate facts related to sexual health can be a challenging task, due to variation in available resources. Search engines and social media outlets offer effortless communication about virtually any topic of interest. Aptitude in basic reproductive health information is essential, especially in female populations. Urban female populations often contain numerous members of marginalized groups. Our study aims to evaluate sexual health knowledge (SHK) in an urban female population, and determine how the prevalence of high-tech communications, as well as face to face connections, influences SHK values.

METHODS: A 50 item survey, capturing sociodemographics, extent and form of social interactions (electronic and in-person), and SHK, was created to evaluate correlates of sexual and reproductive health. Of the 50-item survey, 18 questions were knowledge-based inquiries, with one correct response. One point was administered for correct answers, for a maximum score of 18. The survey was administered to agreeing adult patients in two ambulatory, urban primary care settings. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS and statistical analysis included: Pearson correlation (r), t and Chi-squared tests. Statistical significance was established at p <0.05.

RESULTS: Of 287 total female patients, 85.7% African-American, 66.2% having incomes < $50,000 USD; with values for mean age of 55.3 ± 14.8, years of schooling of 14.2 ± 2.5. and 10.4 ± 3.4 for SHK, on a scale of 0-18. SHK deficits were indicated among the group. Number of technological communications (p < 0.001) and sum of weekly face to face exchanges (p > 0.050), both were positively correlated with SHK score.

CONCUSION: Our data exposes gaps of SHK, due to frequency and form of communications across age groups. Further research efforts, to enhance the equity of delivering a digital SHK curriculum, are in progress.

We investigated the associations between the incidence rates of the five most common cancer types and five air pollutants in 317 Japanese municipalities in 2017. We obtained the concentrations of the five air pollutants, i.e., sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitric oxide (NO), nitric dioxide (NO₂), photochemical oxidants (O_x), and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) from Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies and calculated the yearly mean of each. We identified patients of both genders with the five most common cancers in Japan's National Cancer Registry, which covers all of the cancer patients in the country. For the males, we included prostate, stomach, colon, lung, and liver cancers. For the females, we included breast, colon, lung, stomach, and uterine cancers. We calculated the Spearman rank correlation coefficients between 25 pairs of air-pollutant concentrations and the age-standardized incidence rate of the cancer types for each gender. We used a Poisson regression to examine the dose-response relationships. We identified 11 positive correlation coefficients at the Bonferroni-corrected alpha level for the five pollutants for the five cancers in both genders. We observed positive dose-response relationships between NO₂ and colon cancer and PM_2.5 and lung cancer for both genders. We also observed dose-response relationships between SO₂ and PM_2.5 and liver cancer for the males, and between NO and lung cancer and NO₂ and breast cancer for the females. As an example of a dose-response relationship, with the first quartile of PM_2.5 concentrations as the reference, the relative risks for lung cancer among the males were 1.01 (95%CI: 0.97–1.06) in the second quartile, 1.05 (95%CI: 1.00–1.10) in the third quartile, and 1.12 (95%CI: 1.07–1.17) in the fourth quartile. We did not observe significant associations with prostate, stomach, and uterine cancer. Our findings support the concept that exposure to air pollutants increases cancer incidence rates.

Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, posing a serious threat to women’s health. We investigated the different types of exercise( aerobic exercise (AE), resistance exercise (RE), and combined aerobic and resistance exercise (CO)) to increase the quality of life (QoL) in breast cancer patients. Meta-analysis was used to estimate the effect sizes, and subgroup analyses were conducted based on types of exercise. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration tool, and funnel plots were employed to evaluate publication bias. The inclusion criteria were met by 28 studies (31 trials), comprising 2038 patients for exercise (n = 1039) and control (n = 999). Meta-analysis showed exercise intervention enhanced QoL (0.44; 95% CI: 0.26–0.62) in patients with breast cancer. Subgroup analysis revealed improved QoL was greater with exercise intervention after adjuvant treatment (0.84; 95% CI: 0.46–1.21) than during adjuvant treatment (0.15; 95% CI: −0.01–0.30). CO (0.97; 95% CI: 0.33–1.61) was better than AE (0.42; 95% CI: 0.17–0.67) and RE (0.13; 95% CI: −0.05–0.31) in increasing QoL in patients. Values between subgroups were statistically significant for both timing of exercise (p = 0.0009) and type of exercise (p = 0.01). In conclusion, exercise intervention has a positive impact on the QoL of breast cancer patients. The enhancement in QoL was more pronounced in patients who exercised after adjuvant breast cancer treatment than during treatment. The most appropriate type of exercise to improve QoL is probably combined with AE and RE.

Research has demonstrated that cannabis use is linked with a greater risk of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), particularly in young people. As many use cannabis for the alleviation of pain, it is important to examine the impact that PLEs have on pain. This is because current literature finds that psychotic and schizophrenic disorders impact pain experience, and PLEs are subclinical positive symptoms of psychosis. There is limited research on the impact of PLEs on pain experience, particularly in cannabis users, and thus the current study aims to address this gap in the literature. The study also examines whether childhood trauma and mental health problems contribute to the heightened risk of pain in cannabis users, and whether these relationships are moderated by PLEs. The current study was a cross-sectional design using baseline data from the ‘Keep It Real’ randomised controlled trial (N = 2630). Participants completed questionnaire measures of cannabis use, PLEs, self-reported pain, childhood trauma, anxiety, and depression. Logistic regression analyses revealed that young cannabis users experiencing more PLEs reported significantly higher pain. Additionally, experiencing a history of childhood trauma and depression were also found to result in higher pain in these cannabis users. Moderation analyses revealed that PLEs moderated the relationship between depression and pain; however, in contrast to our predictions, PLEs did not moderate the relationship between childhood trauma history and pain. Anxiety did not significantly predict higher pain. The results of the current study have important implications for the use and legalisation of THC medically and the social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of pain and cannabis use. We propose recommendations for mitigating the risk of PLEs associated with cannabis use in chronic pain patients medically prescribed THC for its analgesic effects and suggestions for future research.

Obesity has an increasing trend worldwide. Body mass index (BMI) is a common method of judging obesity, but the research of judging the appropriate bodyweight of Chinese children aged 3 to 6 years is still lacking. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a safe, accurate, reliable and inexpensive method for screening the overweight and obesity. In this study, preschool boys( n= 392)and girls(n= 309) aged 3 to 6 years, recruited from kindergartens in Zhejiang province of China, completed a survey of BMI and BIA measured by InBodyJ20. Pearson correlation analysis of the correlation between BMI and BIA, and linear regression method analysis of BMI and BIA. The linear relationship between rates and construct a regression equation, using the Kappa coefficient to test the consistency of BMI and body fat rate. The BMI of boys and girls decreased from 19.2±4.9 and 18.1±2.4 at the age of 3 to 14.1±3.3 and 15.1±3.3 at the age of 6，and showed a downward trend as the age increased. Analyzing the correlation between BMI and body fat percentage, it is 0.533 for boys and 0.539 for girls. The Kappa coefficient test results of BMI and body fat percentage showed that Kappa value=0.339(P<0.05), indicating that the diagnostic results of BMI and body fat percentage were consistent, but the consistency was general.

The spread of Covid-19 is closely linked to water and sanitation since cleaning hands can reduce its transmission and help people stay healthy. Unfortunately, about 800 million people cannot access to a safe and sufficient water supply. Dietary shifts could contribute to address the global water crisis since our food choices have a relevant role on human water impact. In this project, we calculated the water footprint index of five different dietary patterns (vegan diet, flexitarian diet, Mediterranean diet, diet for training, and Western diet) aimed to identify the diet with the lowest water impact. We also assessed its level of acceptability with the aim of understanding how and if people can change their eating habits.

An accredited dietitian estimated a weekly food plan (2200 kcal per day) for each dietary pattern. Two methods were used to calculate the index: the water footprint calculator (m³ per year), and evaluating tables related to the water consumption of foods and beverages (l/capita/day). Additionally, we administered a modified version of the 17-item “Food Acceptability Questionnaire (FAQ)” that it was translated, adapted, and administered to a convenience sample of N=126 subjects (mean age = 26 years; females = 62,7%).

The lowest water impact diet was 100% plant-based diet (WF=354 m³ per year; 2089 l/capita/day) and data collected suggested that its acceptability is at an intermediate level.

We concluded that the adherence to a vegan diet could favor the reduction of water consumption (WF=740 m³ per year; 1691 l/capita/day) and could help to save relevant amount of water that is valuable for human health.

Abstract: Background: Influenza vaccination has been postulated to mitigate COVID-19 severity and may be an effective prevention measure to mitigate the pandemic. The aim of this ecological study was to assess the area-level relationship between cumulative death rate for COVID-19 and historic influenza vaccination uptake in the New York City population. Methods: Predictors of COVID-19 death included self-reported flu vaccination in 2018, as well as four CDC-defined risk factors of severe COVID-19 infection available at the ecological level, which were diabetes, asthma, BMI 30-100 (mg/k²) and hypertension. We used publicly available data from the NYC Department of Health Coronavirus repository and survey data from the Community Health Survey . COVID-19 death rate according to modified zip code tabulation areas (MODZCTA) was the outcome for multilinear analysis. Results: At univariate analysis, the rate of COVID-19 deaths deceased by 5.869 units for every one-unit increase in flu vaccination uptake for each zip-code area (p < .0001). In the multilinear model, predictors accounted for 23% of the variability in the COVID-19 death rate (p < .0001). After adjustment for all available risk factors, influenza vaccination and diabetes prevalence were significant predictors of COVID-19 deaths (B_adj = -4.217, p = 0.0024; B_adj = 8.867, p = 0.0051 for vaccination and diabetes, respectively). Conclusions: Differences in COVID-19 mortality have been documented across New York City. Modified zip codes with a higher prevalence of influenza vaccination had lower rates of COVID-19 mortality, inciting the need to further explore the relationship between influenza vaccination uptake and COVID-19 mortality at the individual level.

The purpose of this study was to check whether the overcommitment, included in the Theoretical Model of Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI), moderated the relationship between the ERI and the organizational identification in a sample of Spanish health professionals. Furthermore, we also wanted to check if this effect varied depending on the professional category (doctors vs. nurses) and age. A sample of 623 subjects participated in the study, 164 were doctors and 459 were nursing professionals. Both samples answered a set of questions related to the imbalance between effort and received rewards (ERI), the overcommitment (intrinsic component of the ERI model), and the organizational identification. The results revealed that the effect of effort-reward imbalance on organizational identification was statistically significant in professionals with medium-high overcommitment (β = 0.22, p < 0.01; β = 0.39, p < 0.01). In the case of people with low overcommitment, this effect was not significant. These results suggest that when an imbalance between the efforts and rewards received in the organization occurred, the most overcommitment healthcare professionals identify more with the organization than those who are less committed. In addition, the relationship to age is negative and significant only for the group of nurses (β = -0.012, p < 0.01). More specifically, older nurses, were less identified with the organization. Despite the limitations, this study can contribute to a better understanding of the moderating role of overcommitment and its indirect effects on organizational identification, depending on chronological age, as well as guide possible interventions in the light of these influences.