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The article explores the relationship between individual behaviors, personal health, and environmental sustainability. It argues that choices such as diet and transportation have an impact on both carbon footprints and health outcomes. The author suggests that adopting behaviors that promote personal health, such as walking or biking instead of driving and consuming plant-based diets, can also contribute to environmental preservation. The article addresses the disparities in carbon footprints and the disproportionate impact of climate change on economically disadvantaged populations. It calls for individuals and institutions to take action to reduce their carbon footprints and emphasizes the importance of addressing the health of the Earth's ecosystem. The text highlights the need for rigorous research in developing interventions to address the threat of climate change and its impact on human health and the environment. It also emphasizes the compatibility of health, happiness, and economic viability with environmental sustainability and calls for collective responsibility in working towards these goals. [Extracted from the article]

Background Testing for influenza in patients with acute lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is common and in some cases is performed for all patients with LRTI. A more selective approach to testing could be more efficient. Methods We used data from two prospective studies in the US primary and urgent care settings that enrolled patients with acute LRTI or influenza-like illness. Data were collected in the 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2022 flu seasons. All patients underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for influenza and the FluScore was calculated based on patient-reported symptoms at their initial visit. The probability of influenza in each risk group was reported, as well as stratum-specific likelihood ratios (SSLRs) for each risk level. Results The prevalence of influenza within risk groups varied based on overall differences in flu seasons and populations. However, the FluScore exhibited consistent performance across various seasons and populations based on the SSLRs. The FluScore had a consistent SSLR range of 0.20 to 0.23 for the low-risk group, 0.63 to 0.99 for the moderate-risk group, and 1.46 to 1.67 for the high-risk group. The diagnostic odds ratio based on the midpoints of these ranges was 7.25. Conclusions The FluScore could streamline patient categorization, identifying patients who could be exempted from testing, while identifying candidates for rapid influenza tests. This has the potential to be more efficient than a "one size fits all" test strategy, as it strategically targets the use of tests on patients most likely to benefit. It is potentially usable in a telehealth setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising greenhouse gas levels heat the earth's surface and alter climate patterns, posing unprecedented threats to planetary ecology and human health. At the same time, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease have reached epidemic proportions across the globe, caused in part by decreases in physical activity and by over-consumption of carbon-intensive foods. Thus, interventions that support active transportation (walking or cycling rather than driving) and healthier food choices (eating plant-based rather than meat-based diets) would yield health and sustainability "co-benefits." Emerging research suggests that mindfulness-based practices might be effective means toward these ends. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we have developed a mindfulness-based group program, Mindful Eco-Wellness: Steps Toward Healthier Living. Loosely based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, our curriculum teaches mindfulness practices in tandem with sustainability principles, following weekly themes of Air, Water, Food, Energy, Transportation, Consumption, Nature Experience, and Ethics. For example, the "Air" class offers participants practice in guided breath meditations while they learn about the benefits of clean air. The theme of "Food" is presented through mindful eating, accompanied by educational videos highlighting the consequences of food production and consumption. "Transportation" includes walking/movement meditations and highlights the health benefits of physical activity and detriments of fossil-fueled transportation. Pedagogical lessons on energy, ecological sustainability, and the ethics of planetary health are intertwined with mindful nature experience and metta (loving-kindness) meditation. Curricular materials, including teaching videos, are freely available online. Pilot testing in community settings (n = 30) and in group medical visits (n = 34) has demonstrated feasibility; pilot data suggests potential effectiveness. Rigorous evaluation and testing are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resistance to antibiotics is rising and threatens future antibiotic effectiveness. 'Antibiotic targeting' ensures patients who may benefit from antibiotics receive them, while being safely withheld from those who may not. Point-of-care tests may assist with antibiotic targeting by allowing primary care clinicians to establish if symptomatic patients have a viral, bacterial, combined, or no infection. However, because organisms can be harmlessly carried, it is important to know if the presence of the virus/bacteria is related to the illness for which the patient is being assessed. One way to do this is to look for associations with more severe/prolonged symptoms and test results. Previous research to answer this question for acute respiratory tract infections has given conflicting results with studies has not having enough participants to provide statistical confidence. Aim: To undertake a synthesis of IPD from both randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational cohort studies of respiratory tract infections (RTI) in order to investigate the prognostic value of microbiological data in addition to, or instead of, clinical symptoms and signs. Methods: A systematic search of Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Medline and Ovid Embase will be carried out for studies of acute respiratory infection in primary care settings. The outcomes of interest are duration of disease, severity of disease, repeated consultation with new/worsening illness and complications requiring hospitalisation. Authors of eligible studies will be contacted to provide anonymised individual participant data. The data will be harmonised and aggregated. Multilevel regression analysis will be conducted to determine key outcome measures for different potential pathogens and whether these offer any additional information on prognosis beyond clinical symptoms and signs. Trial registration: PROSPERO Registration number: CRD42023376769. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exercise and meditation improve health and well-being, potentially through decreasing systemic inflammation. In this study, healthy adults (N = 413) were randomized to 8 weeks of training in aerobic exercise, matched mindfulness-based stress reduction, or wait-list control. Three inflammation-related biomarkers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10) were assessed preintervention, directly postintervention, and 17 weeks later. Within-group analyses found that exercise participants had decreased serum interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10 postintervention and 17 weeks later, whereas C-reactive protein was lower in mindfulness-based stress-reduction participants 17 weeks postintervention only. Self-reported physical activity or amount of meditation practice did not predict biomarker changes. This study suggests that (a) training in aerobic exercise can lower interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10, a chemokine associated with interferon activity and illness, and (b) training in mindfulness meditation may have a delayed effect on C-reactive protein, an important inflammatory biomarker. The findings highlight the likelihood of multiple, distinct pathways underlying the health-promoting effects of these lifestyle interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wisconsin upper respiratory symptom survey (WURSS) is a validated English questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life and severity of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). We aimed to develop a Mandarin Chinese version of WURSS-24 (WURSS-24-C) and evaluate its reliability, validity and minimal important difference (MID). The WURSS-24-C was developed using the forward-backward translation procedure. People with URTIs' symptoms within 48 h of onset were recruited and asked to fill in the WURSS-24-C daily for up to 14 d. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to suggest domains. The 8-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-8) assessing general mental and physical health was used to assess validity. Reliability estimated by Cronbach's alpha and mean day-to-day change for those indicating minimal improvement as MID were evaluated. The WURSS-24-C was found to be acceptable, relevant, and easy to complete in cognitive debriefing interviews. A total number of 300 participants (age 28.4 ± 9.3, female 70%) were monitored for 2500 person-days. Four domains (activity and function, systemic symptoms, nasal symptoms and throat symptoms) of the WURSS-24-C were confirmed (comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.93). The reliability of this 4-domain-structure is good (Cronbach's alphas varied from 0.849 to 0.943). Convergent validity is moderate (Pearson correlation coefficients between daily WURSS-24-C and the SF-8 were −0.780 and −0.721, for the SF-8 physical and mental health, respectively). Estimates of MID for individual items varied from −0.41 to −1.14. The WURSS-24-C is a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing illness-specific quality-of-life health status in Chinese-speaking patients with URTIs. The Wisconsin upper respiratory symptom survey (WURSS) series are patient-oriented questionnaire instruments assessing the quality of life and severity of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). The WURSS-24 was translated into Mandarin Chinese using the forward-backward translation procedure, and evaluated its validity, reliability and minimal important difference (MID) in 300 Chinese participants with URTIs. The WURSS-24 Chinese version (WURSS-24-C) seems to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing illness-specific quality-of-life health status in Chinese patients with URTIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]