AI-driven epidemic intelligence: the future of outbreak detection and response.

Epidemic intelligence, the process of detecting, verifying, and analyzing public health threats to enable timely responses, traditionally relies heavily on manual reporting and structured data, often causing delays and coverage gaps. The growing frequency of emerging infectious diseases highlights the urgency for more rapid and accurate surveillance methods. This perspective proposes a forward-looking conceptual framework for AI-driven epidemic intelligence, emphasizing the transformative potential of integrating large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and optimization-based resource allocation strategies.

Association Between Hair Cortisol and Psychopathology in Children With a Chronic Physical Illness.

Children with a chronic physical illness (CPI) experience significant stress and are at a greater risk of psychopathology. However, little is known about chronic stress and its relationship with psychopathology in this population. Over the last decade, hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has emerged as a viable biomarker of chronic stress.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health services utilisation and mortality in Ontario, Canada: an interrupted time series analysis.

Background: This study explores changing patterns of healthcare utilisation for chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. It compares prepandemic and pandemic morbidity and mortality, focusing on physician and emergency department visits, hospitalisations for anxiety, depression and chronic diseases, as well as all-cause mortality rates.

Methods: We constructed a cohort of 2 950 384 adults (18+ years), using administrative health databases, who were living in Ontario, Canada, between the period of January 2017 and March 2023 and recorded the number of visits each individual had in the follow-up period related to chronic conditions.

Psychometric validation of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy scale for primary and booster doses among university students: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) continues to impede COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Booster dose uptake lags behind primary dose uptake, especially among younger adults. Unlike most studies that focus on initial stages of VH, the aim of this study was to validate the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (CVHS) for both primary and booster doses among University of Waterloo (UW) students.

Interventions to reduce wait times in emergency departments in Canadian hospitals: A scoping review.

Objectives: Prolonged wait times in Canada's Emergency Departments (EDs) adversely impact patients, hospital staff, and the healthcare system. Despite the growing literature on ED wait times in Canada, our understanding of what strategies work to reduce wait time remains sporadic due to the absence of a current, comprehensive mapping of the interventions implemented within EDs. This scoping review aims to address this gap and map ED interventions in Canada, which may be useful for policymakers and healthcare professionals to make evidence-informed decisions.

Understanding the shift in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its associated factors for primary and booster doses among university students: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) poses a major challenge to achieving high COVID-19 vaccination rates. Universities, with mandatory primary dose policies but optional boosters, offer a unique setting to study VH dynamics. This study aimed to estimate COVID-19 VH prevalence and identify key factors influencing VH across primary and booster doses among university students.

Global, Regional, and National Burden of Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: The Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.

Importance: Nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) represents the third most common stroke type with unique etiologies, risk factors, diagnostics, and treatments. Nevertheless, epidemiological studies often cluster SAH with other stroke types leaving its distinct burden estimates obscure.

Objective: To estimate the worldwide burden of SAH.

The epidemiology and healthcare costs of pregnancy-related listeriosis in British Columbia, Canada, 2005-2014.

This study investigated cases of pregnancy-related listeriosis in British Columbia (BC), Canada, from 2005 to 2014. We described all diagnosed cases in pregnant women ( = 15) and neonates ( = 7), estimated the excess healthcare costs associated with listeriosis, and calculated the fraction of stillbirths attributable to listeriosis, and mask cell sizes 1-5 due to data requirements. Pregnant women had a median gestational age of 31 weeks at listeriosis onset (range: 20-39) and on average delivered at a median of 37 weeks gestation (range: 20-40).

Proposing a Conceptual Framework: Social Media Infodemic Listening for Public Health Behaviors.

Various communication and behavioral theories have been adopted to address health infodemics. However, there is no framework specially designed for social listening studies using social media data, machine learning, and natural language processing techniques. We aimed to propose a novel yet theory-based conceptual framework for infodemic research.

Phytochemical profile and pharmacological potential of Withania somnifera whole plant extracts.

Withania somnifera belongs to the family Solanaceae, commonly called ashwagandha, and is traditionally used as an astringent, hepatoprotective and antioxidant, and as a treatment for rheumatism. Therefore the current study aimed to explore the dichloromethane fraction of W. somnifera whole plant (DCFWS) and ethyl acetate fraction of W.

The Impact of Comorbidities among Ethnic Minorities on COVID-19 Severity and Mortality in Canada and the USA: A Scoping Review.

(1) Current literature on ethnic minorities, comorbidities, and COVID-19 tends to investigate these factors separately, leaving gaps in our understanding about their interactions. Our review seeks to identify a relationship between ethnicity, comorbidities, and severe COVID-19 outcomes (ICU admission and mortality). We hope to enhance our understanding of the various factors that exacerbate COVID-19 severity and mortality in ethnic minorities in Canada and the USA.

Application of artificial intelligence in active assisted living for aging population in real-world setting with commercial devices - A scoping review.

Background: The aging population is steadily increasing, posing new challenges and opportunities for healthcare systems worldwide. Technological advancements, particularly in commercially available Active Assisted Living devices, offer a promising alternative. These readily accessible products, ranging from smartwatches to home automation systems, are often equipped with Artificial Intelligence capabilities that can monitor health metrics, predict adverse events, and facilitate a safer living environment.

Validating part of the social media infodemic listening conceptual framework using structural equation modelling.

Background: The literature has identified various factors that promote or hinder people's intentions towards COVID-19 vaccination, and structural equation modelling (SEM) is a common approach to validate these associations. We propose a conceptual framework called social media infodemic listening (SoMeIL) for public health behaviours. Hypothesizing parameters retrieved from social media platforms can be used to infer people's intentions towards vaccination behaviours.

Health trends in Canada 1990-2019: An analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Objective: Monitoring trends in key population health indicators is important for informing health policies. The aim of this study was to examine population health trends in Canada over the past 30 years in relation to other countries.

Methods: We used data on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability, life expectancy (LE), and child mortality for Canada and other countries between 1990 and 2019 provided by the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Factors Associated With Worsened Mental Health of Health Care Workers in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) in Canada have endured difficult conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many worked long hours while attending to patients in a contagious environment. This introduced an additional burden that may have contributed to worsened mental health conditions.

Heart rate prediction with contactless active assisted living technology: a smart home approach for older adults.

Background: As global demographics shift toward an aging population, monitoring their heart rate becomes essential, a key physiological metric for cardiovascular health. Traditional methods of heart rate monitoring are often invasive, while recent advancements in Active Assisted Living provide non-invasive alternatives. This study aims to evaluate a novel heart rate prediction method that utilizes contactless smart home technology coupled with machine learning techniques for older adults.

National burden of rheumatoid arthritis in Canada, 1990-2019: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 - a GBD collaborator-led study.

Objective: The objectives of this study were: (1) to describe burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and trends from 1990 to 2019 using the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD) data, (2) to describe age and sex differences in RA and (3) to compare Canada's RA burden to that of other countries.

Methods: Disease burden indicators included prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). GBD estimated fatal and non-fatal outcomes using published literature, survey data and health insurance claims.

Public Attitudes Towards Vaccine Passports in Alberta During the "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated": A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Posts.

The goal of this study is to understand the attitudes and beliefs towards mandatory vaccination policies in Alberta, Canada in September 2021, during the fourth wave of COVID-19. 9400 posts between 1st September and 30th September 2021 were collected from the subreddit r/Alberta with Pushshift.io.

Impact of hepatitis B birth dose on immune response in Pakistani children: an open-label, non-inferiority randomized controlled trial, implications for achieving SDG target.

Background: Despite presence of hyperendemic areas, the national immunisation schedule in Pakistan does not include a hepatitis B birth dose, placing newborns at an additional risk of acquiring hepatitis B. This study aimed to assess the impact of adding hepatitis B birth dose in existing national vaccination schedule.

Methods: An open label, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial enrolled 296 healthy near-term mothers to intervention and control groups.

Analysis of Fluoride-Free Content on Twitter: Topic Modeling Study.

Background: Although social media has the potential to spread misinformation, it can also be a valuable tool for elucidating the social factors that contribute to the onset of negative beliefs. As a result, data mining has become a widely used technique in infodemiology and infoveillance research to combat misinformation effects. On the other hand, there is a lack of studies that specifically aim to investigate misinformation about fluoride on Twitter.

Tweeting for Health Using Real-time Mining and Artificial Intelligence-Based Analytics: Design and Development of a Big Data Ecosystem for Detecting and Analyzing Misinformation on Twitter.

Background: Digital misinformation, primarily on social media, has led to harmful and costly beliefs in the general population. Notably, these beliefs have resulted in public health crises to the detriment of governments worldwide and their citizens. However, public health officials need access to a comprehensive system capable of mining and analyzing large volumes of social media data in real time.

Monkeypox: a review of epidemiological modelling studies and how modelling has led to mechanistic insight.

Human monkeypox (mpox) virus is a viral zoonosis that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family, which presents with similar symptoms as those seen in human smallpox patients. Mpox is an increasing concern globally, with over 80,000 cases in non-endemic countries as of December 2022. In this review, we provide a brief history and ecology of mpox, its basic virology, and the key differences in mpox viral fitness traits before and after 2022.

Digital Disease Surveillance for Emerging Infectious Diseases: An Early Warning System Using the Internet and Social Media Data for COVID-19 Forecasting in Canada.

Background: Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) are a significant threat to population health globally. We aimed to examine the relationship between internet search engine queries and social media data on COVID-19 and determine if they can predict COVID-19 cases in Canada.

Methods: We analyzed Google Trends (GT) and Twitter data from 1/1/2020 to 3/31/2020 in Canada and used various signal-processing techniques to remove noise from the data.