Suchergebnisse

Obesity is a global epidemic. It is responsible for increased patient morbidity and mortality. Significant related pathologies including diabetes mellitus compound the overall risks. Obesity is a significant financial burden. This includes direct and indirect medical costs, amounting to millions of euros each year. Multiple European studies have outlined a steady incline in obesity prevalence rates. Tackling obesity is no easy task. Policy makers aiming to reduce obesity rates should adopt an evidence-based approach. This entails adopting both micro- and macro-interventions tweaked to each country's individual requirements. The ideal way forward would be to tackle obesity from the individual, population-wide and food industry angles. The key towards a successful intervention is for each country to carry out well-planned health examination studies, in an attempt to pin point local risk factors. Having a correct individualized picture, each country can move forward and draw policies and interventional procedures. The aim should be to primarily improve the quality of life. Second, the country's capital expenditure is also reduced. ; peer-reviewed

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus in Malta has been an established major health problem for years. It has been linked with cultural, geographical, historical, genetic as well and a change from a Mediterranean diet to a Westernized diet. This diabetes burden has lead to establishment of diabetes clinics both in the central general hospital, as well as in the community. Over the past 50 years, there have been two major epidemiological diabetes studies conducted to evaluate diabetes in the Maltese population. Diabetes in Malta: To date, there is no established national diabetes plan or diabetes register in Malta, although there has been the formation of a governmental diabetes focus group. The time is right for an updated prevalence study to look at the current Maltese generation and their changing determinants including diabetes risk factors and genetics, followed by the development of preventative strategies and policies. Conclusion: Over the years, diabetes burden has increased and become a public health and national financial concern. It is of utmost importance to address this national disease. An updated prevalence study would provide the evidence-based backbone for the development of diabetes preventive strategies and policies. The combination of which will enable the Maltese health services to be improved and better equipped to come to grips with this epidemic. ; peer-reviewed

Tobacco is a major preventable cause of premature morbidity and mortality. Health professionals are uniquely positioned to provide targeted interventions and should be empowered to provide cessation counselling that influence patient smoking. A cross-sectional national survey was administered to all third year students in four disciplines at the University of Malta. The Global Health Professional Student Survey (GHPSS) questionnaire was distributed to collect standardised demographic, smoking prevalence, behavioural, and attitudinal data. 81.9% completed the questionnaire (n = 173/211). A positive significant association between tobacco smoke exposure at home and current smoking status was identified. Non-smokers regarded anti-tobacco policies more favourably than smokers, being more likely to agree with banning of tobacco sales to adolescents (OR 3.6; 95% CI: 2.5–5.3; p ≤ 0.001); and with a smoking ban in all public places (OR 8.9; 95% CI: 6.1–13.1; p ≤ 0.001). Non-smokers favoured a role for health professionals in promoting smoking cessation (OR 5.1; 95% CI: 3.1–8.5; p ≤ 0.001). Knowledge of antidepressants as tools for smoking cessation was also associated with a perceived role for skilled health professionals in cessation counselling (OR 4.9; 95% CI: 1.8–13.3; p = 0.002). Smoking negatively influences beliefs and attitudes of students toward tobacco control. There is a need to adopt a standard undergraduate curriculum containing comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation training to improve their effectiveness as role models. ; This work was supported by the World Health Organization (Grant: NCE: EU ICP FFC 100 XK 08). ; peer-reviewed

A main reverse osmosis (RO) limitation is the operational costs (including energy filtration costs), which are significantly affected by energy costs and the expense of membrane maintenance. Both costs are affected by influent characteristics, including feedwater temperatures (T), electrical conductivity (EC), and recovery set points. A fuzzy logic advanced control system optimizes the RO operational costs considering feedwater EC and T as input values, and the RO recovery setpoint as a control action. Verification results show that, once calibrated, the simulation of the control system can save more than one million euros per year in large RO facilities (>30.000m3·day-1). Which represents a reduction of 0.11€·m-3 of influent treated water ; The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the RegiReu project (COMRDI16-1-0062) from the Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ). Albert Galizia would also like to thank the AGAUR for his predoctoral grant (2021 FI_B 00069). Hèctor Monclús gratefully acknowledges the Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship (RYC2019-026434-I). LEQUIA and ICRA have been recognized as consolidated research groups by the Catalan Government; codes 2017-SGR-1552 and 2017-SGR-1318, respectively. Gaetan Blandin has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union (FP7/2007-2013) under the REA grant agreement n°600388 (TECNIOspring programme), and from the Catalan Government's Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIO)