Energy harvesting generators are attractive as inexhaustible replacements for batteries in low-power wireless electronic devices and have received increasing research interest in recent years. Ambient motion is one of the main sources of energy for harvesting, and a wide range of motion-powered energy harvesters have been proposed or demonstrated, particularly at the microscale. This paper reviews the principles and state-of-art in motion-driven miniature energy harvesters and discusses trends, suitable applications, and possible future developments.

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Energy Harvesting From Human and Machine Motion for Wireless Electronic Devices

Chronic diseases are the largest cause of death in the world. In 2002,
the leading chronic diseases—cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic
respiratory disease, and diabetes—caused 29 million deaths worldwide.
Despite growing evidence of epidemiological and economic impact, the global
response to the problem remains inadequate. Stakeholders include governments,
the World Health Organization and other United Nations bodies, academic and
research groups, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. Lack
of financial support retards capacity development for prevention, treatment,
and research in most developing countries. Reasons for this include that up-to-date
evidence related to the nature of the burden of chronic diseases is not in
the hands of decision makers and strong beliefs persist that chronic diseases
afflict only the affluent and the elderly, that they arise solely from freely
acquired risks, and that their control is ineffective and too expensive and
should wait until infectious diseases are addressed. The influence of global
economic factors on chronic disease risks impedes progress, as does the orientation
of health systems toward acute care. We identify 3 policy levers to address
these impediments elevating chronic diseases on the health agenda of key policymakers,
providing them with better evidence about risk factor control, and persuading
them of the need for health systems change. A more concerted, strategic, and
multisectoral policy approach, underpinned by solid research, is essential
to help reverse the negative trends in the global incidence of chronic disease.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/articlepdf/198852/jsc40043.pdf

The global burden of chronic diseases: overcoming impediments to prevention and control.

Green exercise is activity in the presence of nature. Evidence shows it leads to positive short and long-term health outcomes. This multistudy analysis assessed the best regime of dose(s) of acute exposure to green exercise required to improve self-esteem and mood (indicators of mental health). The research used meta-analysis methodology to analyze 10 UK studies involving 1252 participants. Outcomes were identified through a priori subgroup analyses, and dose−responses were assessed for exercise intensity and exposure duration. Other subgroup analyses included gender, age group, starting health status, and type of habitat. The overall effect size for improved self-esteem was d = 0.46 (CI 0.34−0.59, p < 0.00001) and for mood d = 0.54 (CI 0.38−0.69, p < 0.00001). Dose responses for both intensity and duration showed large benefits from short engagements in green exercise, and then diminishing but still positive returns. Every green environment improved both self-esteem and mood; the presence of water genera...

What is the Best Dose of Nature and Green Exercise for Improving Mental Health? A Multi-Study Analysis

https://www.imop.gr/sites/default/files/frontistirio_1_mitropoulos.pdf

Patients using the Internet to obtain health information: how this affects the patient-health professional relationship.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking in pregnancy remains one of the few preventable factors associated with complications in pregnancy, low birthweight, preterm birth and has serious long-term health implications for women and babies. Smoking in pregnancy is decreasing in high-income countries and increasing in low- to middle-income countries and is strongly associated with poverty, low educational attainment, poor social support and psychological illness. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of smoking cessation interventions during pregnancy on smoking behaviour and perinatal health outcomes. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (June 2008), the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group's Trials Register (June 2008), EMBASE, PsycLIT, and CINAHL (all from January 2003 to June 2008). We contacted trial authors to locate additional unpublished data. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials where smoking cessation during pregnancy was a primary aim of the intervention. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Trials were identified and data extracted by one person and checked by a second. Subgroup analysis was conducted to assess the effect of risk of trial bias, intensity of the intervention and main intervention strategy used. MAIN RESULTS: Seventy-two trials are included. Fifty-six randomised controlled trials (over 20,000 pregnant women) and nine cluster-randomised trials (over 5000 pregnant women) provided data on smoking cessation outcomes.There was a significant reduction in smoking in late pregnancy following interventions (risk ratio (RR) 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93 to 0.96), an absolute difference of six in 100 women who stopped smoking during pregnancy. However, there is significant heterogeneity in the combined data (I(2) > 60%). In the trials with the lowest risk of bias, the interventions had less effect (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.99), and lower heterogeneity (I(2) = 36%). Eight trials of smoking relapse prevention (over 1000 women) showed no statistically significant reduction in relapse.Smoking cessation interventions reduced low birthweight (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.95) and preterm birth (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.98), and there was a 53.91g (95% CI 10.44 g to 95.38 g) increase in mean birthweight. There were no statistically significant differences in neonatal intensive care unit admissions, very low birthweight, stillbirths, perinatal or neonatal mortality but these analyses had very limited power. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy reduce the proportion of women who continue to smoke in late pregnancy, and reduce low birthweight and preterm birth. Smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy need to be implemented in all maternity care settings. Given the difficulty many pregnant women addicted to tobacco have quitting during pregnancy, population-based measures to reduce smoking and social inequalities should be supported.

/pdf/interventions-for-promoting-smoking-cessation-during-50h54dalgl.pdf

Interventions for promoting smoking cessation during pregnancy

The Wanless Report â?~Securing Our Future Health: Taking A Long-Term Viewâ?T - an independent review by Derek Wanless - is the first ever evidence-based assessment of the long-term resource requirements for the NHS
It concludes that in order to meet peopleâ?Ts expectations and to deliver the highest quality over the next 20 years, the UK will need to devote more resources to health care and that this must be matched by reform to ensure that these resources are used effectively

/pdf/securing-our-future-health-taking-a-long-term-view-29if93p6hp.pdf

Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View.

A servo-steering system for vehicles with a servo-motor assisting the manual force at the steering wheel which is controlled by way of a control slide valve in dependence on a transmitter element responding to the movements of the steering wheel; a reaction pressure derived from the load pressure and counteracting the manual force is rendered effective between the valve spool and a respective reaction piston supported against the valve housing; the reaction piston consists of a first piston part that is adapted to be supported fixedly at the valve spool and elastically at the valve housing, and of a second piston part movable relative to the first piston part, which is adapted to be supported against the valve housing by elastic means; after overcoming the elastic means for the second piston part, the latter is fixedly supported at the valve spool by the reaction pressure.

https://www.southampton.gov.uk/modernGov/documents/s19272/prevention-appx%201%20wanless%20summary.pdf

Securing Good Health for the Whole Population

The Wanless review Securing our Future Health, published by the Treasury in 2002, concluded that the United Kingdom would need to spend substantially more on health care and that fundamental reform would be needed to enable those resources to be used effectively. Five years on, the King's Fund has commissioned Sir Derek to undertake a retrospective review of NHS spending. Real spending on the NHS has increased by nearly 50 per cent in that time. This report looks at where that money has been spent, what it has achieved, whether government policy has promoted effective use of the resources, and what needs to happen next.

Derek Wanless

Papers

Securing Our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View.

Securing Good Health for the Whole Population

Our Future Health Secured?: A Review of NHS Funding and Performance