BACKGROUND: Periodontal health plays a key role as a shared reference point for evaluating periodontal diseases and identifying significant treatment outcomes. Providing adequate instruction and enhancing the motivation of patients to maintain proper oral hygiene are crucial factors for successful periodontal treatment, with self-performed regular oral hygiene identified as a critical factor in improving the outcomes of treatment for periodontal diseases. Recently, mobile health (mHealth) solutions, especially mobile apps, have emerged as valuable tools for self-management in chronic diseases such as periodontal disease, providing essential health education and monitoring capabilities. However, the use of mHealth apps for periodontal health is complex owing to various interacting components such as patient behavior, socioeconomic status, and adherence to oral hygiene practices. Existing literature has indicated positive effects of mHealth on oral health behaviors, knowledge, attitude, practice, plaque index score, and gingivitis reduction. However, there has been no systematic review of mobile apps specifically targeting patients with periodontal disease. Understanding the design and impact of mHealth apps is crucial for creating high-quality apps.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of existing mobile apps in promoting periodontal health.
METHODS: A comprehensive search strategy will be performed in multiple electronic databases (PubMed, EBSCOhost, CINAHL Plus, Dentistry & Oral Sciences, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) with the following keywords in the title/abstract: \"mobile application,\" \"mobile health,\" \"mHealth,\" \"telemedicine,\" \"periodontal health,\" \"periodontitis,\" and \"text message.\" Only randomized controlled trials will be included that assessed the following outcomes to measure periodontal health improvement: gingival index, bleeding index, periodontal pocket depth, and clinical attachment loss. Covidence will be used for data collection, and a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart will be used to describe the selection process of the included, identified, and excluded studies. The Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis approach will be used for meta-analysis of the extracted data from the included studies.
RESULTS: This review will not require ethical approval since no primary data will be included. As of July 2024, a total of 83 articles retrieved from various databases have been imported to Covidence with 13 articles deemed eligible for inclusion in the review. The review is currently ongoing and is expected to be complete by the end of 2024 with the results published in early 2025.
CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis will contribute to developing mobile apps with enhanced criteria to improve periodontal clinical outcomes. The review emphasizes the importance of mHealth and preventing periodontal disease, which can set the stage for informed global health care strategies.
BACKGROUND: PROSPERO CRD42022340827; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=340827.
UNASSIGNED: DERR1-10.2196/50479.

Acne scarring is a frequent complication of acne. Scars negatively impact psychosocial and physical well-being. Optimal treatments significantly improve the appearance, quality of life, and self-esteem of people with scarring. A wide range of interventions have been proposed for acne scars. This narrative review aimed to focus on facial atrophic scarring interventions. The management of acne scarring includes various types of resurfacing (chemical peels, lasers, and dermabrasion); the use of injectable fillers; and surgical methods, such as needling, punch excision, punch elevation, or subcision. Since the scarred tissue has impaired regeneration abilities, the future implementation of stem or progenitor regenerative medical techniques is likely to add considerable value. There are limited randomized controlled trials that aimed to determine which treatment options should be considered the gold standard. Combining interventions would likely produce more benefit compared to the implementation of a single method.

Tai Chi is a mindfulness-body practice that has physiological and psychosocial benefits and can be integrated into the prevention and rehabilitation of various medical conditions; however, the effectiveness of Tai Chi in the treatment of depression remains unclear. This review aimed to determine the effects of Tai Chi exercise on mental and physical well-being in patients with depressive symptoms. We searched databases for English language publications that appeared during January 2000-2022. The included trials were RCTs that involved people with depression with no other medical conditions, and included both adolescent and adult samples. A meta-analysis was performed using a random effects model and the heterogeneity was estimated using I2 statistics. The quality of each trial was assessed according to the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. The eight trials were divided into two comparisons: (1) a combination of Tai Chi and antidepressants versus standard antidepressants; (2) Tai Chi versus no intervention. The Tai Chi intervention showed improvements in mental and physical well-being as evidenced by the reductions in depression and anxiety and improved quality of life (QOL) of the patients with depressive symptoms. Further well-controlled RCTs are recommended with a precision trial design and larger sample sizes.

BACKGROUND: No review to date has evaluated the association between physical fitness and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in healthy children and adolescents. The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to examine the relationship between both cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular fitness (MF) and HRQoL in healthy subjects under 18 years of age and to describe the dimensions of HRQoL in which these relationships are more robust.
METHODS: The Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, SCIELO, SPORTDiscus and PEDro databases were systematically searched to collect observational studies that examined the relationship between CRF and HRQoL and between MF and HRQoL in participants under 18 years of age without any diagnosed medical condition. Pooled effect sizes (ES) were estimated for the associations between both CRF and MF and the various HRQoL dimensions.
RESULTS: The pooled ES (95% CI) estimates for the relationship between CRF and HRQoL were as follows: 0.19 (0.10 to 0.27) for physical well-being, 0.19 (0.07 to 0.32) for psychological well-being, 0.20 (- 0.14 to 0.55) for perceived health status, 0.10 (0.00 to 0.20) for self-perception/self-esteem, 0.07 (- 0.05 to 0.19) for quality of family relationship, 0.14 (0.04 to 0.25) for quality of peer relationship, 0.17 (0.04 to 0.29) for everyday functioning at school and 0.20 (0.12 to 0.28) for total HRQoL score. The pooled ES (95% CI) estimates for the relationship between MF and HRQoL were: 0.25 (0.12 to 0.37) for physical well-being, 0.11 (0.04 to 0.17) for psychological well-being, 0.08 (0.01 to 0.15) for quality of family relationship, 0.14 (0.03 to 0.25) for quality of peer relationship, and 0.09 (0.03 to 0.14) for total HRQoL score.
CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that both CRF and MF are positively associated with HRQoL, mainly in physical, psychological and peer relationships. Moreover, CRF is positively associated with school dimensions and MF is positively associated with family relationships. Trail registration Protocol PROSPERO registration number: CRD42015025823.

The Australian constitution makes no mention of native animals. Responsibility for animal welfare is largely retained by the states and territories via a fragmented, complex, contradictory, inconsistent system of regulatory management. Given that most jurisdictions have expressly made the possession of wildlife unlawful, the action of taking and possessing an animal, to rehabilitate it, defies the regulatory process. In most jurisdictions, it is illegal to microchip, band, or mark an animal, meaning that no reliable method is available to monitor an animal. Each year, a minimum of 50,000 rehabilitated native animals are released back to the wild, with little post-release monitoring. Where required, the assessments of behavioural and health requirements to confirm suitability for release may be undertaken by people with either negligible or questionable qualifications. Whilst it can be appropriate to rehabilitate and release injured native animals back to the wild, there may be moral, ethical, and practical reasons for not releasing hand-reared orphan native animals. This article examines the evolution, and explains the consequences, of decentralised regulation on wildlife carers and rehabilitating animals. It recommends that the practice of placing hand-reared native animals into the wild, and the regulatory framework that provides for it, should be reviewed.