Search results for: remote trials

Authors: Aniket Kumar, Jacob Peedicayil

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Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and important psychiatric disorder. Several clinical features of MDD suggest an epigenetic basis for its pathogenesis. Since epigenetics (heritable changes in gene expression not involving changes in DNA sequence) may underlie the pathogenesis of MDD, epigenetic drugs such as DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi) and histone deactylase inhibitors (HDACi) may be useful for treating MDD. The available literature indexed in Pubmed on preclinical drug trials of epigenetic drugs for the treatment of MDD was investigated. The search terms we used were ‘depression’ or ‘depressive’ and ‘HDACi’ or ‘DNMTi’. Among epigenetic drugs, it was found that there were 3 preclinical trials using HDACi and 3 using DNMTi for the treatment of MDD. All the trials were conducted on rodents (mice or rats). The animal models of depression that were used were: learned helplessness-induced animal model, forced swim test, open field test, and the tail suspension test. One study used a genetic rat model of depression (the Flinders Sensitive Line). The HDACi that were tested were: sodium butyrate, compound 60 (Cpd-60), and valproic acid. The DNMTi that were tested were: 5-azacytidine and decitabine. Among the three preclinical trials using HDACi, all showed an antidepressant effect in animal models of depression. Among the 3 preclinical trials using DNMTi also, all showed an antidepressant effect in animal models of depression. Thus, epigenetic drugs, namely, HDACi and DNMTi, may prove to be useful in the treatment of MDD and merit further investigation for the treatment of this disorder.

Keywords: DNA methylation, drug discovery, epigenetics, major depressive disorder

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Authors: Jonathan Ham, Christopher Koch

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There are consistently observed associations between certain odors and colors, and there is an association between the ability to imagine vivid visual objects and imagine vivid odors. However, little has been done to investigate how the associations between odors and visual information effect visual processes. This study seeks to understand the relationship between odor imaging, color associations, and visual attention by utilizing a Stroop-task based on common odor-color associations. This Stroop-task was designed using three fruits with distinct odors that are associated with the color of the fruit: lime with green, strawberry with red, and lemon with yellow. Each possible word-color combination was presented in the experimental trials. When the word matched the associated color (lime written in green) it was considered congruent; if it did not, it was considered incongruent (lime written in red or yellow). In experiment I (n = 34) participants were asked to both imagine the odor of the fruit on the screen and identify which fruit it was, and each word-color combination was presented 20 times (a total of 180 trials, with 60 congruent and 120 incongruent instances). Response time and error rate of the participant responses were recorded. There was no significant difference in either measure between the congruent and incongruent trials. In experiment II participants (n = 18) followed the identical procedure as in the previous experiment with the addition of an odorant in the room. The odorant (orange) was not the fruit or color used in the experimental trials. With a fruit-based odorant in the room, the response times (measured in milliseconds) between congruent and incongruent trials were significantly different, with incongruent trials (M = 755.919, SD = 239.854) having significantly longer response times than congruent trials (M = 690.626, SD = 198.822), t (1, 17) = 4.154, p < 0.01. This suggests that odor imagery does affect visual attention to colors, and the ability to inhibit odor-color associations; however, odor imagery is difficult and appears to be facilitated in the presence of a related odorant.

Keywords: odor-color associations, odor imagery, visual attention, inhibition

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Authors: Zama Mahmood

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The increasing demand of food management, monitoring of the crop growth and forecasting its yield well before harvest is very important. These days, yield assessment together with monitoring of crop development and its growth are being identified with the help of satellite and remote sensing images. Studies using remote sensing data along with field survey validation reported high correlation between vegetation indices and yield. With the development of remote sensing technique, the detection of crop and its mechanism using remote sensing data on regional or global scales have become popular topics in remote sensing applications. Punjab, specially the southern Punjab region is extremely favourable for wheat production. But measuring the exact amount of wheat production is a tedious job for the farmers and workers using traditional ground based measurements. However, remote sensing can provide the most real time information. In this study, using the Normalized Differentiate Vegetation Index (NDVI) indicator developed from Landsat satellite images, the yield of wheat has been estimated during the season of 2013-2014 for the agricultural area around Bahawalpur. The average yield of the wheat was found 35 kg/acre by analysing field survey data. The field survey data is in fair agreement with the NDVI values extracted from Landsat images. A correlation between wheat production (ton) and number of wheat pixels has also been calculated which is in proportional pattern with each other. Also a strong correlation between the NDVI and wheat area was found (R2=0.71) which represents the effectiveness of the remote sensing tools for crop monitoring and production estimation.

Keywords: landsat, NDVI, remote sensing, satellite images, yield

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Authors: Joeri N. Aulman

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In the remote Indian region of Gulbarga a case study of lean airport infrastructure development is getting ‘cast in stone’; In April the first turbo-props will land, and the optimized terminal building will process its first passengers, using minimal square meters in a facility that is based on a complete dress-down of the core operational processes. Yet the solution that resulted from this case study has such elegance in its simplicity that it has emboldened the local administration to invest in its construction and thus secure this remote region’s connectivity to India’s growth story. This paper aims to provide further background to the Gulbarga case study and its relevance to remote region connectivity, covering the demand that was identified, its practical application and its regulatory context and relevance for today’s airport manager and local administrators. This embodies the scope of the paper. In summary, the paper will give airport managers and regional authorities an overview and background to innovative case studies of lean airport infrastructure developments which combine both optimized CAPEX and running costs/OPEX without losing sight of the aspirational nature of up and coming remote regions; a truly sustainable model.

Keywords: airport, CAPEX, lean, sustainable, air connectivity, remote regions

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Authors: Sneh Laller, Kamini C. Tanwar

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Human beings are social animals. The scenario is changing and people become angry towards petty things and this may lead to committing a crime. Objective: The aim of the present research is: 1. To find out the difference between convicts and under-trials on different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation; 2. To find out the difference between male and female jail inmates on different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation; 3. To find out the relationship between different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation in convicts and under-trials; 4. To find out the relationship between different dimensions of Personality, Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Life-orientation in male and female jail inmates. Method: The study was conducted on 100 participants (consisting of 50 convicts- 25 males and 25 females, and 50 under-trials- 25 males and 25 females); age range was 20-60 years. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 by McCrae, Costa (2010), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation scale- II by Leary (1983) and Life Orientation Test-R by Scheier et al. (1994) was used and purposive sampling technique was done for data collection. The t-test was applied to find out the comparison and Pearson correlation was applied to determine the relationship between personality, FNE and life-orientation in both the groups. Results: There is a significant difference in the dimension of personality that is neuroticism and life-orientation in convicts and under-trials and also, in the dimensions of personality such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness, and FNE in male and female jail inmates. In convicts the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with life-orientation (r = 0.430**) whereas, in under-trials the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with FNE (r = 0.315*) and another dimension of personality, extraversion shows significant negative correlation with life-orientation (r = -0.409**). In male jail inmates, the dimension of personality, agreeableness shows significant positive correlation with FNE (r = 0.474**) whereas in female jail inmates, the dimension of personality, openness to experience shows significant negative correlation with FNE (r = -0.356*) and significant positive correlation of neuroticism with life-orientation (r = 0.292*). Conclusion: It was found that under-trials are neurotic and life-oriented than convicts, and female jail inmates are also neurotic and exhibit fear of negative evaluation whereas male jail inmates are extravert and agreeable.

Keywords: convicts, fear of negative evaluation, life-orientation, personality, under-trials

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Authors: Hassan Abo Salem, Guo Feng, Xiaolin Huang

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The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of mirror therapy on motor recovery and functional abilities after stroke. The following databases were searched from inception to May 2014: Cochrane Stroke, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, PsycINFO, and PEDro. Two reviewers independently screened and selected all randomized controlled trials that evaluate the effect of mirror therapy in stroke rehabilitation.12 randomized controlled trials studies met the inclusion criteria; 10 studies utilized the effect of mirror therapy for the upper limb and 2 studies for the lower limb. Mirror therapy had a positive effect on motor recover and function; however, we found no consistent influence on activity of daily living, Spasticity and balance. This meta-analysis suggests that, Mirror therapy has additional effect on motor recovery but has a small positive effect on functional abilities after stroke. Further high-quality studies with greater statistical power are required in order to accurately determine the effectiveness of mirror therapy following stroke.

Keywords: mirror therapy, motor recovery, stroke, balance

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Authors: Simin Shahvazi, Sepideh Soltani, Seyed Mehdi Ahmadi, Russell J. De Souza, Amin Salehi-Abargouei

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Background and Objectives: Vitamin D has received attention for its potential to disrupt cancer processes such as attenuating cell proliferation and exacerbating differentiation and apoptosis. However, whether there exists a role for vitamin D in the treatment of prostate cancer specifically remains controversial. We systematically review the literature to assess whether supplementation with vitamin D influences PSA response and overall survival in patients with prostate cancer. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science and Google scholar from inception through up to 10 September 2017 for both before-and-after and randomized trials that evaluated the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the prostate specific antigen (PSA) response rate in participants with prostate cancer. The DerSimonian and Laird, inverse-weighted random-effects model was used to pool effect estimates from the studies. Heterogeneity and potential publication bias were evaluated. Subgroup analyses were also performed. Results: Twenty-two studies (16 before-after and 6 randomized controlled trials) were found and included in meta-analysis. The analysis on controlled clinical trials revealed that PSA change from baseline [weighted mean difference (WMD) = -1.66 ng/ml, 95%CI: -0.69, 0.36, P= 0.543)], PSA response (RR=1.18, 95%CI: 0.97, 1.45, P=0.104) and mortality rate (risk ratio (RR) = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.81-1.36; P=0.713) was not significantly different between vitamin D supplementation and placebo groups. Single arm trials revealed that vitamin D supplementation had had a modest effect on PSA response rate: 19% of those enrolled had at least a 50% reduction in PSA by the end of treatment (95% CI: 7% to 31%; p=0.002). Conclusion: We found that vitamin D modestly increases the PSA response rate in single arm studies. No effect on serum PSA levels, PSA response and mortality was seen in randomized controlled clinical trials. It does not seem patients with prostate cancer benefit from vitamin D supplementation.

Keywords: mortality, prostatic neoplasms, PSA response, vitamin D

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Authors: Shashank Tiwari, S. P. Mahapatra

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The aim of this technique is to reduce the steps of process scales up, save time & cost of the industries. This technique will minimise the steps of process scale up. The new steps are, Novel Lab Scale, Novel Lab Scale Trials, Novel Trial Batches, Novel Exhibit Batches, Novel Validation Batches. In these steps, it is not divided to validation batches in three parts but the data of trials batches, Exhibit Batches and Validation batches are use and compile for production and used for validation. It also increases the batch size of the trial, exhibit batches. The new size of trials batches is not less than fifty Thousand, the exhibit batches increase up to two lack and the validation batches up to five lack. After preparing the batches all their data & drugs use for stability & maintain the validation record and compile data for the technology transfer in production department for preparing the marketed size batches.

Keywords: batches, technique, preparation, scale up, validation

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Authors: M. E. Kolpakova, A. A. Jakovleva, L. S. Poliakova, H. El Amghari, S. Soliman, D. R. Faizullina, V. V. Sharoyko

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Brain neuroplasticity is associated with blood-brain barrier vascular endothelial proteoglycans and post-stroke microglial activation. The study of the mechanisms of reperfusion injury limitation by remote ischemic postconditioning (RC) is of interest due to the effects on functional recovery after cerebral ischemia. The goal of the study is the assessment of the role of syndecan-1 (SDC-1) in restriction of ischemic-reperfusion injury on middle cerebral artery model in rats using RC protocol. Randomized controlled trials were conducted. Ischemia was performed by middle cerebral artery occlusion by Belayev L. (1996) on the Wistar rat-males (n= 87) weighting 250 ± 50 g. under general anesthesia (Zoletil 100 и Xylazine 2%). Syndecan-1 (SDC-1) concentration difference in plasma samples of false operated animals and animals with brain ischemia was 30% (30 min. МСАо: 41.4 * ± 1.3 ng/ml). SDC-1 concentration in animal plasma samples with ischemia + RC protocol was 112% (30 min МСАо+ RC): 67.8**± 5.8 ng/ml). Calculation of infarction volume in the ischemia group revealed brain injury in 31.97 ± 2.5%; the volume of infarction was 13.6 ± 1.3% in 30 min. МCАо + RC group. Swelling of tissue in the group 30 min. МCАо + RC was 16 ± 2.1%; it was 47 ± 3.3%. in 30 min. МCАо group. Correlation analysis showed a high direct correlation relationship between infarct area and muscle strength in the right forelimb (КК=0.72) in the 30 min. МCАо + RC group. Correlation analysis showed very high inverse correlation between infarct area and capillary blood flow in the 30 min. МCАо + RC group (p <0.01; r = -0.98). We believe the SDC-1 molecule in blood plasma may play role of potential messenger of ischemic-reperfusion injury restriction mechanisms. This leads to infarct-limiting effect of remote ischemic postconditioning and early functioning recovery.

Keywords: ischemia, МСАо, remote ischemic postconditioning, syndecan-1

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Authors: Mohan Ramasundaram, Amutha Prabakar Muniyandi

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Remote user authentication is one of the important tasks for any kind of remote server applications. Several remote authentication schemes are proposed by the researcher for Telecare Medicine Information System (TMIS). Most of the existing techniques have limitations, vulnerable to various kind attacks, lack of functionalities, information leakage, no perfect forward security and ineffectiveness. Authentication is a process of user verification mechanism for allows him to access the resources of a server. Nowadays, most of the remote authentication protocols are using two-factor authentications. We have made a survey of several remote authentication schemes using three factors and this survey shows that the most of the schemes are inefficient and subject to several attacks. We observed from the experimental evaluation; the proposed scheme is very secure against various known attacks that include replay attack, man-in-the-middle attack. Furthermore, the analysis based on the communication cost and computational cost estimation of the proposed scheme with related schemes shows that our proposed scheme is efficient.

Keywords: Telecare Medicine Information System, elliptic curve cryptography, three-factor, biometric, random oracle

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Authors: Tanapat Chongkamunkong

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The objective of this paper is to present a practical use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to the public health from spatial correlation between multiple factors and dengue fever outbreak. Meteorological factors, demographic factors and environmental factors are compiled using GIS techniques along with the Global Satellite Mapping Remote Sensing (RS) data. We use monthly dengue fever cases, population density, precipitation, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data. The scope cover study area under climate change of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indicated by sea surface temperature (SST) and study area in 12 provinces of Thailand as remote sensing (RS) data from January 2007 to December 2014.

Keywords: dengue fever, sea surface temperature, Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing

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Authors: Nikhat Nawaz, S. Srinivasulu, P. Kesava Rao

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Feature extraction plays an important role in many remote sensing applications. Automatic extraction of water bodies is of great significance in many remote sensing applications like change detection, image retrieval etc. This paper presents a procedure for automatic extraction of water information from remote sensing images. The algorithm uses the relative location of R-colour component of the chromaticity diagram. This method is then integrated with the effectiveness of the spatial scale transformation of whole method. The whole method is based on water index fitted from spectral library. Experimental results demonstrate the improved accuracy and effectiveness of the integrated method for automatic extraction of water bodies.

Keywords: feature extraction, remote sensing, image retrieval, chromaticity, water index, spectral library, integrated method

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Authors: H. Cano, P. Ferrer, N. Garcia, M. Popovic, J. Zapata

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Positive Reinforcement Training is a well-known methodology which has been reported frequently to be used in captive non-human primates. As a matter of fact, it is an invaluable tool for different purposes related with animal welfare, such as primate husbandry and environmental enrichment. It is also essential to perform some cognitive experiments. The main propose of this pilot study was to establish an efficient protocol to train captive olive baboons (Papio anubis). This protocol seems to be vital in the context of a larger research program in which it will be necessary to train a complete population of around 40 baboons. Baboons were studied at the Veterinary Research Farm of the University of Murcia. Temporally isolated animals were trained to perform three basic tasks. Firstly, they were required to take food prices directly from the researchers’ hands. Then a clicker sound or bridge stimulus was added each time the animal acceded to the reinforcement. Finally, they were trained to touch a target, consisted of a whip with a red ball in its end, with their hands or their nose. When the subject completed correctly this task, it was also exposed to the bridge stimulus and awarded with a food price, such as a portion of banana, orange, apple, peach or a raisin. Two protocols were tested during this experiment. In both of them, there were 6 series of 2min training periods each day. However, in the first protocol, the series consisted in 3 trials, whereas in the second one, in each series there were 5 trials. A reliable performance was obtained with only 6 days of training in the case of the 5-trials protocol. However, with the 3-trials one, 26 days of training were needed. As a result, the 5-trials protocol seems to be more effective than the 3-trials one, in order to teach these three basic tasks to olive baboons. In consequence, it will be used to train the rest of the colony.

Keywords: captive primates, olive baboon, positive reinforcement training, Papio anubis, training

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Authors: Doua AlSaad, Ahmed Awaisu, Samah Elsalem, Palli Valapila Abdulrouf, Binny Thomas, Moza AlHail

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Background: It has been suggested that pyridoxine has an anti-lactogenic effect. Studies of the efficacy of pyridoxine in suppressing lactation have reported conflicting results. The aim of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of high-dose pyridoxine in postpartum lactation inhibition. Methods: This systematic review included published trials that compared the efficacy and/or safety of pyridoxine to placebo or to other pharmacological agents for the inhibition of postpartum lactation. We searched PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, CINAHL, AMED, the Cochrane library, and the clinical trials registry to identify relevant literature. No limit was imposed on the year of publication of the studies, and the review included studies published until 15 January 2016. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. Results: Seven studies were included, with a total of 1155 women, of which 471 women received pyridoxine. Three studies were randomized controlled trials, while the remaining four studies were non-randomized controlled trials. All of the included studies were relatively small (n = 18 – 482). The studies compared pyridoxine with placebo, bromocriptine, and/or stilboestrol. Pyridoxine was given orally, with a total daily dose of 450 – 600 mg for 5 to 7 days. Two trials (n = 349 participants) indicated that pyridoxine was effective in inhibiting lactation in approximately 95% of the enrolled patients. All other studies failed to demonstrate pyridoxine efficacy through either clinical assessment or prolactin level measurements. Pyridoxine safety was assessed by two trials in which no serious untoward side-effects were reported. Overall, the risk of bias for most of the studies was low to moderate. Conclusion: Current evidence supporting the effectiveness of high dose pyridoxine in the inhibition of postpartum lactation is inconsistent and insufficient. Larger randomized trials are needed to confirm the efficacy of pyridoxine in postpartum lactation inhibition. Acknowledgment: This review received a grant from the Medical Research Center of Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar (grant number: 15100/15).

Keywords: pyridoxine, safety, effectiveness, lactation inhibition

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Authors: Bin Liu

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Protein remote homology detection and fold recognition are two most important tasks in protein sequence analysis, which is critical for protein structure and function studies. In this study, we combined the profile-based features with various string kernels, and constructed several computational predictors for protein remote homology detection and fold recognition. Experimental results on two widely used benchmark datasets showed that these methods outperformed the competing methods, indicating that these predictors are useful computational tools for protein sequence analysis. By analyzing the discriminative features of the training models, some interesting patterns were discovered, reflecting the characteristics of protein superfamilies and folds, which are important for the researchers who are interested in finding the patterns of protein folds.

Keywords: protein remote homology detection, protein fold recognition, profile-based features, Support Vector Machines (SVMs)

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Authors: Rong-Terng Juang

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Autonomous vehicles offer the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare. However, fully automated cars might not be going to happen in the near further. To speed the adoption of the self-driving technologies, many governments worldwide are passing laws requiring data recorders for the testing of autonomous vehicles. Currently, the self-driving vehicle, (e.g., shuttle bus) has to be monitored from a remote control center. When an autonomous vehicle encounters an unexpected driving environment, such as road construction or an obstruction, it should request assistance from a remote operator. Nevertheless, large amounts of data, including images, radar and lidar data, etc., have to be transmitted from the vehicle to the remote center. Therefore, this paper proposes a data compression method of in-vehicle networks for remote monitoring of autonomous vehicles. Firstly, the time-series data are rearranged into a multi-dimensional signal space. Upon the arrival, for controller area networks (CAN), the new data are mapped onto a time-data two-dimensional space associated with the specific CAN identity. Secondly, the data are sampled based on differential sampling. Finally, the whole set of data are encoded using existing algorithms such as Huffman, arithmetic and codebook encoding methods. To evaluate system performance, the proposed method was deployed on an in-house built autonomous vehicle. The testing results show that the amount of data can be reduced as much as 1/7 compared to the raw data.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle, data compression, remote monitoring, controller area networks (CAN), Lidar

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Authors: Ouerchefani Dalel, Mahdhaoui Basma

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Land use change is one of the important factors needed to evaluate later on the impact of human actions on land degradation. This work present the application of a methodology based on remote sensing for evaluation land use change in an arid region of Tunisia. This methodology uses Landsat TM and ETM+ images to produce land use maps by supervised classification based on ground truth region of interests. This study showed that it was possible to rely on radiometric values of the pixels to define each land use class in the field. It was also possible to generate 3 land use classes of the same study area between 1988 and 2011.

Keywords: land use, change, remote sensing, GIS

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Authors: Sanu Muhammed C., Nihal Vadakkan, Sahil Athrij, Sasi Gopalan

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Currently, the content entertainment industry is dominated by mobile devices. As the trends slowly shift towards AR/VR applications, the user experience on these devices should be considered, and we are trying to improve user experience in VR. This paper proposes a survey-based solution to improve user experience in VR. By creating a VR environment where users can move a ball from one position to another using a remote controller and another VR environment where users can move a ball from one place to another using hand gestures/ By allowing a set of audience to use these two environments, we can get their feedback. There are two steps in this comparison, 1) Using Hand Gestures To Move Ball In VR Environment: Here, we create a VR environment where two baskets are there, and one ball will be there in a basket. Here users can transfer the ball to another basket using hand gestures. They will be able to move the ball using hand gestures. 2) Using Remote Control To Move Ball In VR Environment: Here, we create a VR environment where two baskets are there, and one ball will be there in a basket. Here users can transfer the ball to another basket using a remote control. They will be able to move the ball using a remote controller. The above two environments are given to users to experience, and their responses will be recorded to compare the user experience in the above two environments.

Keywords: virtual reality, user experience, hand gestures, remote control

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Authors: Gyoutae Park, Woosuk Kim, Sangguk Ahn, Seungmo Kim, Minjun Kim, Jinhan Lee, Youngdo Jo, Jongsam Moon, Hiesik Kim

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In this research, we designed a remote system to test parameters of gas detectors such as gas concentration and initial response time. This testing system is available to measure two gas instruments simultaneously. First of all, we assembled an experimental jig with a square structure. Those parts are included with a glass flask, two high-quality cameras, and two Ethernet modems for transmitting data. This remote gas detector testing system extracts numerals from videos with continually various gas concentrations while LCDs show photographs from cameras. Extracted numeral data are received to a laptop computer through Ethernet modem. And then, the numerical data with gas concentrations and the measured initial response speeds are recorded and graphed. Our remote testing system will be diversely applied on gas detector’s test and will be certificated in domestic and international countries.

Keywords: gas leak detector, inspection instrument, extracting numerals, concentration

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Authors: Chad A. Roberts

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In the digitally connected world, global virtual teams are increasingly becoming the norm at large, multinational companies. Marketing managers see the positives of virtual teams. They also see the negatives. Employees who work from home may feel isolated, unorganized, and distracted by homelife. These complexities create a phenomenon that leaves virtual team members feeling burnout, a significant issue for marketing leaders and their team members. This paper examines remote worker burnout in global virtual marketing team settings. It provides an overview of the benefits and downsides to remote working marketing teams. The paper presents the literature on remote work stress and burnout, discusses ways marketing leaders can help prevent virtual employee burnout and suggests future research studies.

Keywords: burnout, COVID-19 pandemic, leadership, marketing, remote work, virtual team

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Authors: Claire Williams

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Randomised controlled Trials (RCTs) of efficacy are still perceived as the gold standard for the generation of evidence, and whilst advances in data collection methods are well developed, this progress has not been matched for the reporting of adverse events (AEs). Assessment and reporting of AEs in clinical trials are fraught with human error and inefficiency and are extremely time and resource intensive. Recent research conducted into the quality of reporting of AEs during clinical trials concluded it is substandard and reporting is inconsistent. Investigators commonly send reports to sponsors who are incorrectly categorised and lacking in critical information, which can complicate the detection of valid safety signals. In our presentation, we will describe an electronic data capture system, which has been designed to support clinical trial processes by reducing the resource burden on investigators, improving overall trial efficiencies, and making trials safer for patients. This proprietary technology was developed using expertise proven in the delivery of the world’s first prospective, phase 3b real-world trial, ‘The Salford Lung Study, ’ which enabled robust safety monitoring and reporting processes to be accomplished by the remote monitoring of patients’ EHRs. This technology enables safety alerts that are pre-defined by the protocol to be detected from the data extracted directly from the patients EHR. Based on study-specific criteria, which are created from the standard definition of a serious adverse event (SAE) and the safety profile of the medicinal product, the system alerts the investigator or study team to the safety alert. Each safety alert will require a clinical review by the investigator or delegate; examples of the types of alerts include hospital admission, death, hepatotoxicity, neutropenia, and acute renal failure. This is achieved in near real-time; safety alerts can be reviewed along with any additional information available to determine whether they meet the protocol-defined criteria for reporting or withdrawal. This active surveillance technology helps reduce the resource burden of the more traditional methods of AE detection for the investigators and study teams and can help eliminate reporting bias. Integration of multiple healthcare data sources enables much more complete and accurate safety data to be collected as part of a trial and can also provide an opportunity to evaluate a drug’s safety profile long-term, in post-trial follow-up. By utilising this robust and proven method for safety monitoring and reporting, a much higher risk of patient cohorts can be enrolled into trials, thus promoting inclusivity and diversity. Broadening eligibility criteria and adopting more inclusive recruitment practices in the later stages of drug development will increase the ability to understand the medicinal products risk-benefit profile across the patient population that is likely to use the product in clinical practice. Furthermore, this ground-breaking approach to AE detection not only provides sponsors with better-quality safety data for their products, but it reduces the resource burden on the investigator and study teams. With the data taken directly from the source, trial costs are reduced, with minimal data validation required and near real-time reporting enables safety concerns and signals to be detected more quickly than in a traditional RCT.

Keywords: more comprehensive and accurate safety data, near real-time safety alerts, reduced resource burden, safer trials

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Authors: Tambe Daniel Atem

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Background: Clinical Research is an organized research on human beings intended to provide adequate information on the drug use as a therapeutic agent on its safety and efficacy. The significance of the study is to educate the global health and life science graduates in Clinical Research in depth to perform better as it involves testing drugs on human beings. Objectives: to provide an overall understanding of the scientific approach to the evaluation of new and existing medical interventions and to apply ethical and regulatory principles appropriate to any individual research. Methodology: It is based on – Primary data analysis and Secondary data analysis. Primary data analysis: means the collection of data from journals, the internet, and other online sources. Secondary data analysis: a survey was conducted with a questionnaire to interview the Clinical Research Professionals to understand the need of training to perform clinical trials globally. The questionnaire consisted details of the professionals working with the expertise. It also included the areas of clinical research which needed intense training before entering into hardcore clinical research domain. Results: The Clinical Trials market worldwide worth over USD 26 billion and the industry has employed an estimated 2,10,000 people in the US and over 70,000 in the U.K, and they form one-third of the total research and development staff. There are more than 2,50,000 vacant positions globally with salary variations in the regions for a Clinical Research Coordinator. R&D cost on new drug development is estimated at US$ 70-85 billion. The cost of doing clinical trials for a new drug is US$ 200-250 million. Due to an increase trained Clinical Research Professionals India has emerged as a global hub for clinical research. The Global Clinical Trial outsourcing opportunity in India in the pharmaceutical industry increased to more than $2 billion in 2014 due to increased outsourcing from U.S and Europe to India. Conclusion: Assessment of training need is recommended for newer Clinical Research Professionals and trial sites, especially prior the conduct of larger confirmatory clinical trials.

Keywords: clinical research, clinical trials, clinical research professionals

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Authors: Matthieu-P. Schapranow

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Recruitment of participants for clinical trials requires the screening of a big number of potential candidates, i.e. the testing for trial-specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, which is a time-consuming and complex task. Today, a significant amount of time is spent on identification of adequate trial participants as their selection may affect the overall study results. We introduce a unique patient eligibility metric, which allows systematic ranking and classification of candidates based on trial-specific filter criteria. Our web application enables real-time analysis of patient data and assessment of candidates using freely definable inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result, the overall time required for identifying eligible candidates is tremendously reduced whilst additional degrees of freedom for evaluating the relevance of individual candidates are introduced by our contribution.

Keywords: in-memory technology, clinical trials, screening, eligibility metric, data analysis, clustering

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Authors: Senait Belay Adugna, Mirutse Giday, Tsegahun Manyazewal

Abstract:

Background: The emergence and resurgence of zoonotic diseases have continued to be a major threat to global health and the economy. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable due to agricultural expansions and the domestication of animals by humans. Scientifically sound clinical trials are important to find better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat zoonotic diseases, while there is a lack of evidence to inform the clinical trials’ capacity and practice in countries highly affected by the diseases. This study aimed to investigate researchers’ perceptions and experiences in conducting clinical trials on zoonotic diseases in Ethiopia. Methods: This study employed a descriptive, qualitative study design. It included major academic and research institutions in Ethiopia that had active engagements in veterinary and public health research. It included the National Veterinary Institute, the National Animal Health Diagnostic and Investigation Center, the College of Veterinary Medicine at Addis Ababa University, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, the Armauer Hansen Research Institute, and the College of Health Sciences at Addis Ababa University. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 senior researcher investigators in the institutions who hold a proven exhibit primarily leading research activities or research units. Data were collected from October 2019 to April 2020. Data analysis was undertaken using open code 4.03 for qualitative data analysis. Results: Five major themes, with 18 sub-themes, emerged from the in-depth interview in connection. These were: challenges in the prevention, control, and treatment of zoonotic diseases; One Health approach to mitigate zoonotic diseases; personal and institutional experiences in conducting clinical trials on zoonotic diseases; barriers in conducting clinical trials towards zoonotic diseases; and strategies that promote conducting clinical trials on zoonotic diseases. Conducting clinical trials on zoonotic diseases in Ethiopia is hampered by a lack of clearly articulated ethics and regulatory frameworks, trial experts, financial resources, and good governance. Conclusions: In Ethiopia, conducting clinical trials on zoonotic diseases deserves due attention. Strengthening institutional and human resources capacity is a precondition to harnessing effective implementation of clinical trials on zoonotic diseases in the country. In Ethiopia, where skilled human resource is scarce, the One Health approach has the potential to form multidisciplinary teams to systematically improve clinical trials capacity and outcomes in the country.

Keywords: Ethiopia, clinical triak, zoonoses, disease

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Authors: Zheng DianXun, Cheng Bo, Lin Hetong

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the orbit avoidance strategies of optical remote sensing satellite. The optical remote sensing satellite, moving along the Sun-synchronous orbit, is equipped with laser warning equipment to alert CCD camera from laser attacks. There are three ways to protect the CCD camera: closing the camera cover, satellite attitude maneuver and satellite orbit avoidance. In order to enhance the safety of optical remote sensing satellite in orbit, this paper explores the strategy of satellite avoidance. The avoidance strategy is expressed as the evasion of pre-determined target points in the orbital coordinates of virtual satellite. The so-called virtual satellite is a passive vehicle which superposes the satellite at the initial stage of avoidance. The target points share the consistent cycle time and the same semi-major axis with the virtual satellite, which ensures the properties of the satellite’s Sun-synchronous orbit remain unchanged. Moreover, to further strengthen the avoidance capability of satellite, it can perform multi-target-points avoid maneuvers. On occasions of fulfilling the satellite orbit tasks, the orbit can be restored back to virtual satellite through orbit maneuvers. Thereinto, the avoid maneuvers adopts pulse guidance. And the fuel consumption is also optimized. The avoidance strategy discussed in this article is applicable to optical remote sensing satellite when it is encountered with hostile attack of space-based laser anti-satellite.

Keywords: optical remote sensing satellite, satellite avoidance, virtual satellite, avoid target-point, avoid maneuver

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Authors: Keden Montgomery, Kathie Ardzejewska, Alison Casey, Rosemarie Hogan

Abstract:

Research was undertaken to explore the question “what is known about the experiences of regional, rural and remote Australian women undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing program delivered online?”. The findings will support future research aimed at improving the retention and completion rates of women studying nursing in regional, rural and remote areas.  There is a critical shortage of nurses working in regional, rural and remote (RRR) Australia. It is well supported that this shortage of nurses is most likely to be addressed by nursing students who are completing their studies in RRR areas. Despite this, students from RRR Australia remain an equity group and experience poorer outcomes than their metropolitan counterparts. Completion rates for RRR students who enrol in tertiary education courses are much less than students from metropolitan areas. In addition to this, RRR students are less likely than students from metropolitan areas to gain a tertiary level qualification at all, and even less likely to gain a Bachelor level degree which is required for Registered Nurses. Supporting students to remain in regional, rural and remote areas while they study reduces the need for students to relocate to metropolitan areas and to continue living and working in RRR areas after graduation. This research holds implications for workforce shortages internationally.

Keywords: nurse education, online education, regional, rural, remote, workforce

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Authors: Clif P. Lewis, Ise-Lu Möller

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on employment. The ‘future of work’ is now the ‘present of work’. Changes in the social context within which organisations are embedded necessitated drastic changes in how we work. Through the leveraging of technology and changes in mindset, we have seen exciting innovations in the world of work. This global shift in the context of employment offers a unique opportunity to examine a key unresolved issue in the study of Burnout, namely contextual antecedents. This study answers the call for deeper empirical insight into the contexts within which Burnout occur. We explore the emergence of Burnout within a remote work context by using survey data that incorporates the latest global work trends into the Areas of Worklife framework.

Keywords: burnout, remote work, pandemic, wellness

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Authors: Bikramjit Goswami, Manoranjan Kalita

Abstract:

Active microwave remote sensing is useful in remote sensing applications in cloud-covered regions in the world. Because of high spatial resolution, the spatial variations of land cover can be monitored in greater detail using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Inundation is studied using the SAR images obtained from Sentinel-1A in both VH and VV polarizations in the present experimental study. The temporal variation of the SAR scattering coefficient values for the area gives a good indication of flood and its boundary. The study area is the district of Morigaon in the state of Assam in India. The period of flood monitoring study is the monsoon season of the year 2017, during which high flood occurred in the state of Assam. The variation of microwave scattering value shows a distinctive indication of flood from the non-flooded period. Frequent monitoring of flood in a large area (10 km x 10 km) using passive microwave sensing and pin-pointing the actual flooded portions (5 m x 5 m) within the flooded area using active microwave sensing, can be a highly useful combination, as revealed by the present experimental results.

Keywords: active remote sensing, flood monitoring, microwave remote sensing, synthetic aperture radar

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Authors: Juan Heredia, Naci Dilekli

Abstract:

The Ecuadorian Rainforest has been polluted for almost 60 years with little to no regard to oversight, law, or regulations. The consequences have been vast environmental damage such as pollution and deforestation, as well as sickness and the death of many people and animals. The aim of this paper is to quantify and localize the polluted zones, which something that has not been conducted and is the first step for remediation. To approach this problem, multi-spectral Remote Sensing imagery was utilized using a novel algorithm developed for this study, based on four normalized indices available in the literature. The algorithm classifies the pixels in polluted or healthy ones. The results of this study include a new algorithm for pixel classification and quantification of the polluted area in the selected image. Those results were finally validated by ground control points found in the literature. The main conclusion of this work is that using hyperspectral images, it is possible to identify polluted vegetation. The future work is environmental remediation, in-situ tests, and more extensive results that would inform new policymaking.

Keywords: remote sensing, oil pollution quatification, amazon forest, hyperspectral remote sensing

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Authors: Dianxun Zheng, Wuxing Jing, Lin Hetong

Abstract:

Optical remote sensing satellite, always running on the Sun-synchronous orbit, equipped laser warning equipment to alert CCD camera from laser attack. There have three ways to protect the CCD camera, closing the camera cover satellite attitude maneuver and satellite orbit avoidance. In order to enhance the safety of optical remote sensing satellite in orbit, this paper explores the strategy of satellite avoidance. The avoidance strategy is expressed as the evasion of pre-determined target points in the orbital coordinates of virtual satellite. The so-called virtual satellite is a passive vehicle which superposes a satellite at the initial stage of avoidance. The target points share the consistent cycle time and the same semi-major axis with the virtual satellite, which ensures the properties of the Sun-synchronous orbit remain unchanged. Moreover, to further strengthen the avoidance capability of satellite, it can perform multi-object avoid maneuvers. On occasions of fulfilling the orbit tasks of the satellite, the orbit can be restored back to virtual satellite through orbit maneuvers. There into, the avoid maneuvers adopts pulse guidance. and the fuel consumption is also optimized. The avoidance strategy discussed in this article is applicable to avoidance for optical remote sensing satellite when encounter the laser hostile attacks.

Keywords: optical remote sensing satellite, always running on the sun-synchronous

Procedia PDF Downloads 374