Conectar
To explore how neonatal nurse leaders sustain human-centred care while implementing digital technologies in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).
Qualitative descriptive multi-site study across four NICUs in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia (November 2024–May 2025), reported in accordance with COREQ.
Purposive maximum-variation sampling recruited 24 neonatal nurse leaders across leadership levels, hospital types and digital maturity stages. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Arabic or English, transcribed, translated as needed and thematically analysed in NVivo 14 using a hybrid inductive–deductive approach. Directed content analysis of key organisational documents enabled triangulation. Trustworthiness was supported through member checking, peer debriefing, audit trail, external review and double coding of a subset of transcripts.
Four interrelated strategies were identified: (1) embedding a values-based human-centred vision; (2) selecting and customising digital tools to strengthen, not replace, nurse–family connection; (3) redesigning workflows (e.g., device-free openings, protected presence time, family-inclusive portals) to preserve presence and partnership; and (4) fostering team capability and psychological safety for digital–human integration.
Human-centred care in digital NICUs is intentionally led and structurally engineered. The study offers a practice-ready framework that translates values into reproducible routines within complex sociotechnical systems.
The framework supports nurse leaders in aligning digital transformation with family-centred care, protecting nurse–family presence, and enhancing safety, trust and partnership for high-risk neonates.
Addresses risks of relational erosion in digital and AI-enabled NICUs and provides transferable nurse-led strategies to sustain ethical, family-centred practice.
COREQ-compliant qualitative study.
No Patient or Public Contribution.
Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of rare genetic skin disorders characterised by skin and mucosal fragility, leading to painful blisters and erosions. Among its subtypes, the severe form of EB simplex (EBS-sev, OMIM 131760) is associated with widespread blistering from birth, mucosal involvement and increased neonatal mortality due to infections. EBS is primarily caused by dominant mutations in the KRT5 or KRT14 genes.
There is currently no curative treatment for EBS; management is symptomatic and multidisciplinary. Our recent data indicate that EBS-sev is associated with an inflammatory profile involving elevated levels of Th17-polarising cytokines (TGF-β, IL-6, IL-21), suggesting a role for the Th17 immune response in disease pathogenesis.
EBULO is an open-label, multicentre phase 2 study, over a 20-week period, to evaluate the oral daily intake of apremilast (dosage depending on the age and the weight of patients) based on a challenge/dechallenge/rechallenge design. Patients are evaluated during five on-site visits, and apremilast is administered for 16 weeks during two treatment periods, with a 4-week treatment interruption in between. The primary outcome will be to assess the efficacy of apremilast in the treatment of patients with EBS-sev evaluated by counting the number of new blisters, a method specifically developed for this protocol to overcome the lack of reliable assessment tools in EBS-sev. The secondary outcome will include assessing the safety and tolerability of apremilast treatment through the description of the specific events occurring during the treatment periods of the study.
The French Ethical Review Authority has approved the EBULO trial protocol. Results will be published in international peer-reviewed journals and summaries will be provided to funders and participants of the trial.
by Víctor Martín, Mehdi Ben Brahim, Ariadna Hernaiz-Sánchez, Hussain Yassin, Alejandro Sal-de-Rellán
Changes of direction are one of the most repeated actions during football matches, which is why the inclusion of these actions in the training of the football player must be a fundamental aspect. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of 6-week a loaded change of direction (COD) movements training on speed, jump, COD speed, and repeated sprint ability (RSA) in soccer players. Twenty-eight male soccer players (age: 19.12 ± 0.75 years; height: 1.75 ± 0.06 m; body mass: 72.78 ± 4.87 kg; systematic practice: 8.62 ± 1.33 years) were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG, n = 14) or a control group (CG, n = 14). The research was conducted during a training camp. During the intervention period, the EG performed two weekly sessions of loaded change of direction training, while the CG performed FIFA 11 prevention program. EG significantly improved the performance of 5-m, CMJ, SJ, Illinois and the percentage of decrement (%Dec and %Dec-COD). However, CG only showed significant improvements in CMJ and SJ. Between-groups analysis revealed differences in favor of the EG in 5-m, CMJ, SJ. The main results show that the effect of loaded COD movements training using a weighted vest on the physical performance of soccer players is significantly greater compared to the FIFA 11 prevention program. This study shows that including an additional load in COD exercises is a good method to increase performance on key variables for soccer players.Chronic caregiving stress accelerates biological aging, reflecting disease risk and mortality; however, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Epigenetic clocks, which can be estimated from levels of DNA methylation in a subset of cytosine-phosphate-guanine loci in the genome, have been proposed as a promising biological age estimator. The objectives of this scoping review are to systematically scope the literature on the effects of stress on biological ageing measured by epigenetic clocks in family caregivers of patients diagnosed with cancer.
This review will be conducted following Joanna Briggs Institute methodology based on Arksey and O’Malley’s and Levac et al’s framework and reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for scoping reviews. Studies will be included if (1) the studies focus on unpaid family caregivers of patients diagnosed with cancer; (2) caregivers are adults (≥18 years of age) and (3) the study measured epigenetic clocks. The search will encompass literature and peer-reviewed literature in PubMed/MEDLINE (National Library of Medicine), Embase (Elsevier), Cochrane CENTRAL (Wiley & Sons), Web of Science: Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics), CINAHL (EBSCOhost) and PsycInfo (American Psychological Association).
Since the scoping review methodology focuses on published literature, this study does not require ethical approval. We will publish our findings in a peer-reviewed journal and plan to disseminate our work in conferences and scientific meetings.
Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KW7RT).
Prescribing patterns for hyperopia in children vary widely among eye care providers worldwide. This scoping review aims to identify and map the current literature on optical correction and catalogue outcomes reported, particularly in the domains of vision, vision-related functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) in school-aged children with hyperopia.
This protocol was developed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute’s Manual for Evidence Synthesis. We will include studies involving school-aged children with hyperopia without restrictions on sex, gender, race, ethnicity, type of optical correction, length of intervention, publication date or country of origin. We will include studies with internal or external comparison groups. We will exclude studies associated with myopia control treatments, ocular and visual pathway pathologies affecting vision or visual function. We will search Cochrane CENTRAL, Embase.com and PubMed. Examples of data to be extracted include population demographics, visual acuity, study-specific definitions for refractive error, treatment regimens for optical correction, vision and vision-related functional outcomes and QoL (general or vision-related) as quantified by validated instruments.
Informed consent and Institutional Review Board approval will not be required, as this scoping review will only use published data. The results from the scoping review will be disseminated by publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and at professional conferences.
Prediabetes (PD), defined by impaired glucose tolerance or impaired fasting glucose, represents a growing global health challenge, with a prevalence projected to increase substantially. PD is a critical intervention target because of its high annual progression rate (5–10%) to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Non-surgical interventions (NSIs), particularly lifestyle modifications (LMs) and pharmacological therapies, are the cornerstone of PD management, demonstrating efficacy and cost efficiency over surgical options. However, despite LM’s ability to reduce T2DM incidence by 40–70% in trials such as the Diabetes Prevention Program, real-world implementation faces barriers, including resource intensity and complex delivery requirements, which increase upfront costs. We aim to review scientific literature reporting on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of NSIs for preventing the progression of PD to T2DM among adults.
A comprehensive systematic search will be conducted across major biomedical databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science) for records published up to July 2024. We will include studies involving adults diagnosed with PD according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) or WHO criteria, focusing on LM and pharmacological treatments. Observational and interventional study designs, including economic evaluations, will be considered. Primary outcome: diabetes incidence (ADA or WHO glycaemic criteria). Secondary outcomes: (1) CVD risk factors, (2) health utilities and (3) healthcare cost analyses. The protocol adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols 2015 guidelines and is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024561294). Data extraction and quality assessment will be performed by two reviewers, with discrepancies resolved by the consensus of a third reviewer. Data will be narratively synthesised; if the data allow, a meta-analysis will be conducted.
This systematic review was exempt from ethical approval as it involved no collection of individual patient data and posed no confidentiality risks. The findings will be shared via publication in a peer-reviewed journal or presentation at relevant conferences.
CRD42024561294.
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