Chronic diseases are a major health problem and cause of death worldwide. Patients with chronic diseases should be managed by an interprofessional care team consisting of general practitioners, medical specialists, nurses, and pharmacists. However, the roles of pharmacists in this interprofessional care team have not been fully explored. This study, therefore, examined their roles as members of the interprofessional care team in managing patients with chronic diseases. A search in PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted for research articles that discussed pharmacists, interprofessional healthcare, and chronic diseases. From initial 420 identified articles, a total of 27 articles were included in this study. The interprofessional healthcare team should have a sense of tolerance and belonging among its members, which is reflected in five dimensions: partnership, coordination, cooperation, decision-making, and therapeutic outcomes. The five dimensions are closely related because they support each other in the success of the therapy. The presence of pharmacists in an interprofessional healthcare team has been proven to help facilitate access to primary care and improve patient outcomes. Pharmacists can assist in managing chronic disease conditions by providing drug information to patients and other healthcare providers and by acting as a consultant for treatment-related issues. The pharmacist’s role as part of an interprofessional care team reinforces the importance of a collaborative healthcare team in providing clinical services to patients with chronic diseases.

Muscle fibrosis, defined by the excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, is a key pathological process that hinders muscle regeneration following injury. Despite muscle’s inherent regenerative potential, severe or chronic injuries often result in fibrosis, which compromises muscle function and impedes healing. This review explores a range of therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the molecular pathways involved in muscle fibrosis, with a focus on the inhibition of myostatin and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), as well as the regulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). Some therapy modalities, including physiotherapy and exercise therapy, which are commonly used, have demonstrated the ability to regulate extracellular matrix (ECM) components and promote muscle repair. In addition, the use of TGF-β inhibitors, herbal plants, and other biochemically relevant compounds, holds promise in controlling fibrosis by targeting key signaling pathways that drive ECM accumulation as well as having anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Regenerative medicine, including therapies using stem cell, secretome, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP), have also been used as single or adjuvant treatment for muscle fibrosis, and represents a novel and minimally invasive approach. Although these therapeutic strategies show considerable promise, translating preclinical findings to clinical practice remains challenging owing to variability in patient responses and the complexity of human muscle injuries. In conclusion, a multifaceted approach targeting ECM regulation, either as single treatment or combined treatment, offers a promising avenue for the treatment of muscle fibrosis.

Introduction: Systemic sclerosis/scleroderma (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease with connective tissue, multi-organ, and multisystem involvement. The disease has three main characteristics, namely vasculopathy, fibrosis, and autoimmunity. The effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in aerobic exercise on other rheumatic diseases has been studied, for example in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The purpose of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of HIIT of aerobics exercise on improving the inspiratory muscle, quality of life and functional ability for systemic sclerosis subjects.Material and methods: The study was conducted on patients with confirmed systemic sclerosis who met the inclusion criteria. The research was carried out for 12 months in the outpatient clinic and gait laboratory of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.Results: After HIIT in aerobic exercise, we found significant changes in inspiratory muscle (SNIP values 45.67 [30.92] vs. 54.25 [22.71]), handgrip (13.14 [4.42] vs. 15.63 [4.08]), walking speed (184.70 [26.86] vs. 246.6 [12.30]), metabolic equivalent (3.53 [0.30] vs. 4.21 [1.25]) and Scleroderma-Specific Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index for all visual analog scale (VAS) domains except Disability Index. Exercise approaches are characterized by repeated cycles of exercise interrupted by rest. For a range of clinical conditions, HIIT in aerobic exercise is known to remedy blood vessel function.Conclusions: Our results suggest that HIIT in aerobic exercise has improved functional ability, respiratory muscle strength, and quality of life in SSc subjects. Training twice a week in a 12-week HIIT program is considered to be safe for this population. We have to consider internal and external factors that influenced the result. A larger sample and further exploration of the feasibility of combined exercise in SSc patients should be the focus for future research.

COVID-19 affected how healthcare workers interact with patients. Medical technology and robotics are developed in hospital settings to limit human contact. The aim of this review is to elucidate what kind of medical robotics is required for healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic. This review was obtained from electronic databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO, and Cochrane reviews were searched for articles using keywords such as “healthcare professional” OR “health worker” AND “COVID-19” AND “robot application” OR “robotics” OR “health technology” AND “needs assessment” OR “expectation” OR “perception” published during 2020 to 2021. Inclusion criteria were full-text articles related to assessment of healthcare workers’ need for medical robotics during COVID-19 pandemics. Exclusion criteria included abstracts, duplicate articles, blogs, news articles, promotional brochures, and conference proceedings. A total of 13,692 articles were identified through the search engines (PubMed 179, Cochrane Library 1300, EBSCO 13, Google Scholar 12,200). Five full-text articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Determining robotic functions is important to healthcare workers who will be user of such medical technology. This review divided robotic functions into medical, operational, movement, and social functions. Healthcare workers’ demands for robotics were also influenced by the types of robots, such as examination robots, robot-based sample test and medicine production, surgery and rehabilitation robots, disinfection and cleaning robots, delivery and logistic robot, telemedicine, and telepresence robots. Medical robotics is required for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The highest demands for medical robotics functions include cardiac measurements and oxygen saturation monitoring (medical functions); examination record delivery, video and image play, and medical information delivery (operational functions); and the ability to recognize and avoid obstacles (movement functions). Disinfection and cleaning robots were the type of robots with the highest demand among healthcare workers.

Physiologically aging causes the decreased of muscle mass, strength, and or limited activity known as sarcopenia in the elderly. The decrease in muscle capacity occurs in all elderly, active, or sedentary. Exercise for the elderly is considered not enough to prevent the decrease of function that will occur. Therefore, it is necessary to add strength training to the elderly, such as elastic band exercise. The effect of strength training in 12 weeks with elastic band strengthening exercise on muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance as sarcopenia parameters measured in this study. The interventional study design was conducted in elderly community-dwelling in Bandung city, West Java, from May to July 2016. Thirty elderly (60–81 years old) muscle mass measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), handgrip strength using hand dynamometer and walking distance as the parameter of physical performance, using 6-minute walking test. Significant differences found in hand muscle strength (p=0.007), walking distance (p=0.000) after elastic band strengthening exercise, but there were no significant changes in muscle mass (p=0.236) even though the muscle mass increased after 12 weeks of strengthening exercise. In conclusion, additional elastic band strength exercise for regular elderly exercise can increase muscle strength and physical performance. PENGARUH LATIHAN DENGAN PITA ELASTIK TERHADAP PARAMETER SARKOPENIA PADA USILA DI KOMUNITASPenuaan secara fisiologis menyebabkan penurunan massa, kekuatan otot dan/atau keterbatasan aktivitas pada usia lanjut (usila). Penurunan kemampuan otot ini terjadi pada semua usila, baik yang aktif maupun nonaktif sehingga senam usila yang ada dianggap tidak mencukupi untuk mencegah penurunan fungsi yang akan terjadi. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan penambahan latihan kekuatan pada usila seperti latihan kekuatan menggunakan pita elastik. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui pengaruh latihan kekuatan dengan pita elastik selama 12 minggu terhadap massa otot, kekuatan otot, dan performa fisik yang merupakan parameter sarkopenia pada usila. Desain penelitian intervensi dilakukan pada usila di komunitas Kota Bandung, Jawa Barat periode bulan Mei sampai Juli 2016. Sebanyak 30 partisipan (usia 60–81 tahun) diukur massa otot menggunakan bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) dan kekuatan otot menggunakan dinamometer tangan, serta uji jalan 6 menit untuk mengukur performa fisik. Perbedaan bermakna ditemukan pada kekuatan otot tangan (p=0,007) dan jarak tempuh jalan (p=0,000) setelah dilakukan latihan kekuatan dengan pita elastik, tetapi tidak didapatkan perbedaan bermakna pada massa otot tangan dan kaki (p=0,236) walaupun terjadi peningkatan massa otot setelah dilakukan latihan selama 12 minggu. Simpulan, penambahan latihan kekuatan dengan pita elastik pada program senam usila meningkatkan secara bermakna kekuatan otot dan performa fisik usila.

Sarcopenia and cognitive decline frequently co-occur in older adults, and growing evidence indicates that these conditions share a common biological substrate centred on the muscle-brain axis. In this narrative review we synthesise contemporary mechanistic and translational evidence on how skeletal muscle communicates with the ageing brain through myokines and exerkines - including irisin/FNDC5, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), cathepsin B, and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) - and how progressive sarcopenia disrupts this signalling to accelerate cognitive impairment. Database searches in PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science (2000-2026) identified 147 records, of which 68 primary studies and reviews were synthesised under three thematic pillars: (i) the molecular biology of the muscle-brain axis in ageing; (ii) shared pathophysiological mechanisms - mitochondrial dysfunction, neuromuscular junction (NMJ) instability, inflammaging and anabolic resistance - linking sarcopenia to cognitive decline; and (iii) preventive strategies that operate through this axis. Convergent preclinical and emerging human evidence supports the PGC-1α/FNDC5/BDNF pathway as a central mediator of exercise-induced neuroprotection, while chronic IL-6 elevation and IGF-1 decline emerge as bidirectional drivers of muscle and brain ageing. Multicomponent exercise, optimised protein/leucine intake, lecithin and probiotic interventions, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, and pharmacological modulation of AMPK/PGC-1α/SIRT1 signalling all show capacity to reshape the myokine secretome and preserve cognition, though evidence levels vary substantially across intervention categories. We highlight key knowledge gaps - including a translational gap between rodent and human evidence, the absence of validated myokine biomarker panels, and the need for standardised assay protocols - and outline an integrative model to guide future biogerontological research and preventive trials.