To generate high-quality evidence and serve as a platform for interdisciplinary communication regarding challenging issues in global health and medicine, we are launching a new open-access multispecialty journal — GHM Open (www.ghmopen.com) – with the goal of creating a network to share global health information and findings from basic science and clinical science for use in practice. GHM Open will be an inclusive and global journal; the diversity of our editorial board, authors, and reviewers will allow us to showcase rich and wide-ranging content, making it ever more relevant to researchers and clinicians around the world. The journal prioritizes specialized research with wider general relevance that will influence clinical care, global health, public health, medical education, and the direction of future research. We aim to be relevant, accessible, and enjoyable, not only to researchers but also to global health and medical care providers. We sincerely look forward to having you join us as a reader, author, reviewer, or editorial board member to address challenging issues in global health and medicine.

The use of the Internet-of-Things has improved glycemic control in individuals with diabetes in several small-scale studies with a short follow-up period. This large-scale randomized controlled trial investigates whether a smartphone-based self-management support system prevents the worsening of glycemic control in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Individuals with type 2 diabetes (age range 20-74 years; n = 2,000) will be recruited, enrolled, and randomly assigned to two groups: the intensive therapy group and the conventional therapy group. Participants in the intensive therapy group will be supervised to use an automated Internet-of-Things system that demonstrates a summary of lifelogging data (e.g., weight, blood pressure, and daily activities) obtained from each measurement device and will receive feedback messages via smartphone applications to encourage them to increase their physical activity and to monitor weight and blood pressure. Participants in the conventional therapy group are allowed to use the same measurement devices as part of the routine diabetes care but without the Internet-of-Things system. The primary endpoint is the between-group difference in HbA1c levels from baseline to 52 weeks. This randomized controlled study will test the hypothesis that an Internet-of-Things-based self-monitoring system could effectively prevent the worsening of diabetes in individuals with type 2 diabetes. The expected results of the study should facilitate the development of novel strategies for both diabetes treatment and social health.

The world is now facing one of the most devastating public health concern where the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is spreading all over the world initiating from Wuhan, China, started from December, 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) already announced the situation as pandemic all over the world. According to the webpage of WHO, this SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading all over the world (223 countries, areas or territories) with 126,890,643 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 2,778,619 confirmed deaths (as of March 30, 2021). Accumulated published documents indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus primarily affects the lungs causing hypoxia, which is the leading cause of death. There are many reports describing that with the progress of this disease, many other organs (such as heart, kidney, liver, brain) of the affected person start to malfunction. Though SARS-CoV-2 uses the cell surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) expressed by lungs, cardiovascular system, and kidneys but it is still not clear except for lungs that all these other organs are directly affected by this virus or not. Therefore, the aim of this review is to gather informations about affected/damaged organs or tissues and consequences of this damage in COVID-19 patients.

This study aimed to clarify the current status of motor function, activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental ADL (IADL) in hemophilia patients with HIV infection due to treatment with non-heat-treated blood products as they now enter middle and old age. Participants were 70 such patients (mean age, 52.1 years), and their range of motion (ROM), muscle strength, extremity circumference, walking speed, ADL, and IADL were evaluated at checkups of motor function, ADL, and IADL that were held during patients' association meetings. Results showed that ROM was limited in all joints. Ankle dorsiflexion, hip abduction, and shoulder abduction were particularly restricted. Decreased muscle strength was most frequent in ankle plantarflexion, followed by hip extension. The proportion of patients with walking speed and grip strength below reference values increased with age. Walking speed was 73.9-110.9% of reference values. Factors affecting walking speed were knee flexion, ankle dorsiflexion, and hip extension muscle strength. Grip strength was 58.0-83.5% of reference values. Thigh girth most greatly differed between the patients and healthy individuals. Among the ADL items, "standing up from the floor" was reported as "difficult"/"cannot do" by 45.7% of the patients. The most common IADL problem was "putting away futons", which 17.2% responded was "difficult"/"cannot do". Parents were the most common helpers with household tasks (12.9%). "Decreased muscle strength/limited ROM" was the most frequently reported troublesome problem (35.7%). These results reveal the current status of motor function, ADL, and IADL limitations in hemophilia patients with HIV.

Self-isolation to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 began in April 2020. As a result, the number of prostate needle biopsies taken at our hospital for suspicion of prostate cancer decreased by 30.5%, from 403 in 2019 to 280 in 2020. The number of diagnoses of prostate cancer decreased by 35.4% from 189 to 122. High-risk and intermediate-risk prostate cancers were 36.5% and 49.7%, respectively, in 2019. Assuming that this situation in our hospital reflects events nationwide, approximately 32,575 (high-risk; 11,890, intermediate risk; 16,189) patients annually would be suffering delays in diagnosis. Furthermore, > 90% of the decrease are curable cases in their 60s and 70s, with prostate specific antigen levels of 30 ng/mL or less, with stage T2, and N0M0. Widely aware that more than 30,000 prostate cancers might be overlooked nationwide in 2020, we recommend establishing a health checkup system with infection control and undergoing early testing.

The current study examined the effectiveness of using e-learning to teach respiratory nursing to students and provide continuing education to new nurses. An e-learning system was developed for pre-learning activities in combination with simulations. Ten new nurses were interviewed about nursing practices to identify learning tasks that were appropriate for new nurses. Based on those interviews, the current authors developed teaching materials for the core program. The e-learning system used was a web-based platform that conforms to global standards (TAO, Infosign Inc., Tokyo). The e-learning system was tested with students in their third and fourth years of nursing school at two universities in January and February of 2017. A follow-up indicated that third- and fourth-year nursing students who participated in clinical learning found the e-learning system (which was developed based on the experiences of new nurses) useful.

According to the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in 2016, various measures have been implemented to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Japan. Subsequently, promoting public education is important, as the Japanese public does not have sufficient knowledge about antimicrobials and AMR. The AMR Clinical Reference Center (AMRCRC) of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine conducts seminars for the media once a year as part of information and education services. In 2020, the AMRCRC conducted the first online seminar since it was unable to conduct face-to-face seminars due to the novel coronaviral disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. An online seminar was considered effective in promoting education and awareness through the media. Twenty-four media representatives (from 19 companies) participated in the online seminar. Media articles related to the activities of AMRCRC were similar to those of the previous years despite the impact of COVID-19.

Home-visit services are provided to families with newborns as means of parenting support. These services potentially are playing major roles during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, where people have been socially isolated. However, the pandemic has deterred the use of this service to some extent. From the Japan "COVID-19 and Society" Internet Survey, we identified that 15% of the survey respondents who delivered between January 2020 and October 2020 refused home visit services. The proportion of the services used during the pandemic (85%) was lower than those used before the pandemic (95%). Home-visit services provide a unique opportunity for public health nurses to assess the risk of postpartum depression and child maltreatment in the family; thus, families with newborns should be instructed to receive home-visit services as well as child immunization and health checkups, despite the continuation of the pandemic.

To achieve effective prevention and control strategies for COVID-19, regular survey of seroprevalence of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is essential. Using four serological tests, we examined the residual sera collected in an annual medical checkup of the staff members of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Aichi Prefecture, Central Japan in June 2020. Of the 631 samples, two were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in at least two tests, showing a seroprevalence of 0.32%. Four subjects showed positive results in only one test. All individuals were asymptomatic and had not been in close contact with patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Multiple antibody tests could be used to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection including individuals without COVID-19 symptoms.