Integrating digital technology into daily life has made video games a primary form of entertainment for adolescents worldwide. Despite their benefits, excessive gaming has emerged as a significant public health issue, recognized as a gaming disorder by the World Health Organization in the ICD-11. This study aims to assess the prevalence of gaming disorders among adolescents through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic review and meta-analysis. A search was conducted across multiple databases until February 15, 2024. Observational studies that assessed the prevalence of gaming disorder were included. Nested Knowledge software was used for screening and data extraction. The quality assessment was performed using the Joanna Briggs Institute tool. Meta-analysis using a random effect model was used to synthesize prevalence rates. Statistical analyses were performed in R software version 4.3. The meta-analysis included 84 studies covering a diverse geographical scope totaling 641,763 individuals. The pooled prevalence of gaming disorder was 8.6 % (95 % CI: 6.9 %-10.8 %), (I² = 100 %). Subgroup analysis revealed varying prevalence rates by country, with China reporting the highest rate at 11.7 % (95 % CI: 8.6 %-15.7 %). Meta-regression analysis highlighted an increasing trend in the prevalence of gaming disorder over the years, underscoring the growing impact of digital technologies. A significant prevalence of gaming disorder among adolescents is observed. With an increasing trend, fostering healthy gaming habits, enhancing awareness, and implementing effective intervention programs are crucial. This emphasizes the importance of global efforts in combating the growing challenge of gaming disorder among adolescents.

Background: For healthcare delivery to be optimally effective, health systems must possess adequate levels and we must ensure a fair distribution of human resources aimed at healthcare facilities. We conducted a scoping review to map the current state of human resources for health (HRH) in India and the reasons behind its shortage. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in various electronic databases, from the earliest available date till February 2024. We applied a uniform analytical framework to all the primary research reports and adopted the “descriptive-analytical” method from the narrative paradigm. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted to arrange the retrieved data into categories based on related themes after creating a chart of HRH problems. Results: A total of 9675 articles were retrieved for this review. 88 full texts were included for the final data analysis. The shortage was addressed in 30.6% studies (n = 27) whereas 69.3% of studies (n = 61) addressed reasons for the shortage. The thematic analysis of data regarding reasons for the shortage yielded five kinds of HRH-related problems such as inadequate HRH production, job dissatisfaction, brain drain, regulatory issues, and lack of training, monitoring, and evaluation that were causing a scarcity of HRH in India. Conclusion: There has been a persistent shortage and inequitable distribution of human resources in India with the rural expert cadres experiencing the most severe shortage. The health department needs to establish a productive recruitment system if long-term solutions are to be achieved. It is important to address the slow and sporadic nature of the recruitment system and the issue of job insecurity among medical officers, which in turn affects their other employment benefits, such as salary, pension, and recognition for the years of service.

West Nile Virus (WNV), first identified in Uganda in 1937, remains a significant global health threat, adapting across diverse ecosystems and expanding geographically, particularly into temperate regions of Europe and North America. This review provides a comprehensive exploration of the latest insights and challenges in WNV management, focusing on epidemiological trends, molecular advancements, and public health implications. Recent data highlight WNV's expansion, driven by climate changes such as milder winters and longer warm seasons that increase mosquito activity and enable the virus to overwinter within mosquito populations. This facilitates year-round transmission and challenges current control strategies. Molecularly, advancements in genomic and proteomic technologies have deepened our understanding of WNV's replication and pathogenesis, identifying new therapeutic targets and improving diagnostic methods. However, the absence of an approved human vaccine leaves management dependent on supportive care, particularly for severe neurological cases. Effective vector control remains crucial, with innovative strategies including genetically modified mosquitoes and novel insecticides being pivotal. Furthermore, environmental factors like climate change and urbanization are altering vector behaviors and WNV transmission dynamics, necessitating adaptive public health strategies to manage these evolving threats. The review underscores the need for ongoing research, vaccine and therapeutic development, and enhanced public health infrastructures to better respond to WNV challenges. It stresses the critical role of integrating scientific research, public health policy, and community engagement to effectively address the persistent threat of WNV.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI)–driven serious games have been used in health care to offer a customizable and immersive experience. Summarizing the features of the current AI-driven serious games is very important to explore how they have been developed and used and their current state to plan on how to leverage them in the current and future health care needs. Objective: This study aimed to explore the features of AI-driven serious games in health care as reported by previous research. Methods: We conducted a scoping review to achieve the abovementioned objective. The most popular databases in the information technology and health fields (ie, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Embase, CINAHL, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar) were searched using keywords related to serious games and AI. Two reviewers independently performed the study selection process. Three reviewers independently extracted data from the included studies. A narrative approach was used for data synthesis. Results: The search process returned 1470 records. Of these 1470 records, 46 (31.29%) met all eligibility criteria. A total of 64 different serious games were found in the included studies. Motor impairment was the most common health condition targeted by these serious games. Serious games were used for rehabilitation in most of the studies. The most common genres of serious games were role-playing games, puzzle games, and platform games. Unity was the most prominent game engine used to develop serious games. PCs were the most common platform used to play serious games. The most common algorithm used in the included studies was support vector machine. The most common purposes of AI were the detection of disease and the evaluation of user performance. The size of the data set ranged from 36 to 795,600. The most common validation techniques used in the included studies were k-fold cross-validation and training-test split validation. Accuracy was the most commonly used metric for evaluating the performance of AI models. Conclusions: The last decade witnessed an increase in the development of AI-driven serious games for health care purposes, targeting various health conditions, and leveraging multiple AI algorithms; this rising trend is expected to continue for years to come. Although the evidence uncovered in this study shows promising applications of AI-driven serious games, larger and more rigorous, diverse, and robust studies may be needed to examine the efficacy and effectiveness of AI-driven serious games in different populations with different health conditions.

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of Apnex, Inspire, and ImThera hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) devices in changing the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). ology: A systematic search was conducted across the databases to collect baseline and postoperative outcome measures. Articles were then filtered and data from post-filtration was extracted. The efficacy of each device was assessed individually, and the reported outcomes were analyzed at short-term (≤ 1 year) and long-term (> 1 year) intervals. A total of 30 papers were included; 26 were single-arm studies encompassing 549 middle-aged overweight patients. Four RCTs included 273 participants. Results show that HGNS is an effective and safe treatment option. The Inspire device significantly improved, reducing the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by -20.14 events/h in the short term and -15.91 events/h in the long term. It also decreased the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) by -14.16 events/h (short term) and -12.95 events/h (long term). Patient-reported outcomes showed decreased Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores by -5.02 (short term) and -4.90 (long term) and improved Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ) scores by 3.58 (short term) and 3.28 (long term). The Apnex and the ImThera devices featured similar improvements but to a lesser extent. Hypoglossal nerve stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for patients with OSA, exhibiting high adherence and satisfaction rates. However, it is important to note the potential for refining selection criteria to include a wider spectrum of patients with OSA.