Blind Administration Research Articles

PSX-27 Growth performance and immune response dynamics in weaned lambs with subclinical Haemonchus contortus parasite infection

Abstract Parasite infections, particularly from Haemonchus contortus, hinder sheep production in Canada by reducing weight gain and immunity. Current diagnosis and treatment methods rely on observing symptoms and the blind administration of anthelmintic drugs, resulting in escalating costs and the development of drug-resistant parasites. This study aimed to identify the exact time-point when subclinical H. contortus parasite infection affects growth performance and triggers an immune response. A total of 60 Rideau Arcott ewe lambs (~7-8 mo old), confirmed to be parasite-free, were randomly assigned in a 2 x 2 factorial design assessing inoculation treatment (TRT): oral inoculation (IN) with a solution containing 5,000 L3 strain of H. contortus or sham inoculation (CT) using water solution as control; and drench (DRENCH) administration: oral drench (D), 28-days post-inoculation, with a combination of 0.08% ivermectin solution (200 mcg per kg of BW; Durvet®) and 10% oral suspension of fenbendazole (2.5 mL per 50 kg of BW; Safe-guard®), or water solution (non-drenched, ND), resulting in four treatment groups: IN-D, IN-ND, CT-D, and CT-ND (n=15/treatment). Lambs were equally assigned to four feedlot pens (two replicates/treatment) for 57 days (d) with ad libitum access to a grain-based total mixed ration and water. Animals were individually weighed (BW) and blood sampled on days -1 and 0 (baseline), as well as on days 7, 21, 28, 35, 42, 56, and 57 post-inoculations (DAY); average daily gain (ADG) was calculated for the entire experimental period. White blood cells count (WBC) was used as an indicator of infection and red blood cell count (RBC) as indicator of anemia. Data was analyzed using a mixed-effects model including TRT, DRENCH, DAY (and their interactions) as fixed effects. Overall, CT lambs were heavier (TRT effect; P < 0.05) and had a tendency of greater (TRT effect; P = 0.08) ADG than IN lambs. The IN lambs had a tendency of greater (TRT*DAY; P = 0.07) WBC on d 7 than CT lambs. Additionally, IN-ND had lower (TRT*DRENCH; P < 0.05) WBC than IN-D lambs (1.9 and 2.0 ± 0.042 x 109/L, respectively). A significant (TRT*DRENCH*DAY; P < 0.01) interaction was found on RBC. The CT-D had lower (P < 0.05) RBC on d 7 and greater (P < 0.05) on d 28, 35, 42, and 57 than IN-ND as well as on d 28 than IN-D. Furthermore, CT-ND had greater (P < 0.05) RBC on d 21, 28 and 35 than IN-D and from d 21 to 57 than IN-ND. The IN-D had greater (P < 0.01) RBC from d 35 to 57 than IN-ND. These findings suggest compromised growth in both drenched and non-drenched infected groups. Infection slightly peaked in the infected lambs on d 7 post-inoculation, but drench administration was effective at mitigating overall infection by day 21 and the anemia by day 35.

The Therapeutic Landscape of Salivary Gland Malignancies—Where Are We Now?

Salivary gland malignancies (SGMs) account for less than 5% of new diagnoses in head and neck tumors. If feasible, surgery is the preferred treatment modality. Nevertheless, some malignancies have a tendency of recurrence, with possible distant metastasis. Alternative treatment strategies, such as primary radiation or chemotherapeutics, often present low response rates. As a result, there is an unmet need for novel therapeutic approaches. Nowadays, target-based therapies (e.g., small inhibitors and immunotherapy) are used by the medical oncologist for possible treatment of advanced SGMs. Based on recent published trials, some novel treatments may provide additional disease control for some patients. However, sample sizes are small, the general findings are unsatisfactory, and a lot of uncertainties remain to be elucidated. Nevertheless, research shows that patients do not benefit from blind administration of systemic treatments and therefore a more personalized approach is highly needed. The aim of this review paper is to summarize the most recent advances in the biological understanding and molecular pathways of salivary gland cancers, the association of these pathways with the current treatments used and their implications for more personalized targeted-based therapies.

In Frozen Shoulder, US-Guided Versus Blind Administration of Intra-Articular Corticosteroid Injections Increased Accuracy of Injections but Did Not Improve Clinical Outcomes at 12 Weeks.

In Frozen Shoulder, US-Guided Versus Blind Administration of Intra-Articular Corticosteroid Injections Increased Accuracy of Injections but Did Not Improve Clinical Outcomes at 12 Weeks.

Administrator blindness affects the recording of eyewitness lineup outcomes.

We investigated the effects of administrator knowledge of suspect identity in a lineup (blind vs. nonblind), witness identification (suspect vs. filler), and witness confidence (high vs. low) on whether administrators recorded the identification as an affirmative response; whether administrators recorded qualitative notes regarding the lineup task; and the content of those qualitative notes. We predicted that nonblind administrators would record more identifications of the suspect than the filler, but blind administrators would record such identifications at comparable rates. We predicted this difference would be larger in the low (vs. high) confidence condition. We examined effects on administrators' qualitative notes in an exploratory fashion. Undergraduate participant administrators (N = 488) presented a lineup to a confederate witness (who made a scripted identification decision) and completed a record of the lineup task. Nonblind administrators recorded 25% fewer identifications of fillers (vs. suspects), and evaluated witnesses less favorably in the filler (vs. suspect) identification condition (ηp² = .194). Blind administrators were not influenced by witness selection. Blind (vs. nonblind) administrators recorded more qualitative notes, confidence statements, and information relevant to witnesses' decision processes, regardless of whether witnesses identified the suspect or the filler. Among those who recorded a confidence statement, nonblind administrators' characterizations were biased such that independent coders judged witnesses to be more confident in their identifications of the suspect (vs. filler). Blind administration eliminates numerous biases associated with administrator expectations and may yield more informative lineup records. These results further support blind lineup reform recommendations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Variations in reliability and validity do not influence judge, attorney, and mock juror decisions about psychological expert evidence.

We tested whether the reliability and validity of psychological testing underlying an expert's opinion influenced judgments made by judges, attorneys, and mock jurors. We predicted that the participants would judge the expert's evidence more positively when it had high validity and high reliability. In Experiment 1, judges (N = 111) and attorneys (N = 95) read a summary of case facts and proffer of expert testimony on the intelligence of a litigant. The psychological testing varied in scientific quality; either there was (a) blind administration (i.e., the psychologist did not have an expectation for the test result) of a highly reliable test, (b) nonblind administration (i.e., the psychologist did have an expectation for the test result) of a highly reliable test, or (c) blind administration of a test with low reliability. In a trial simulation (Experiment 2), we varied the scientific quality of the intelligence test and whether the cross-examination addressed the scientific quality of the test. The variations in scientific quality did not influence judges' admissibility decisions nor their ratings of scientific quality nor did it influence attorneys' decisions about whether to move to exclude the evidence. Attorneys' ratings of scientific quality were sensitive to variations in reliability but not the testing conditions. Scientifically informed cross-examinations did not help mock jurors (N = 192) evaluate the validity or the reliability of a psychological test. Cross-examination was an ineffective method for educating jurors about problems associated with nonblind testing and reliability, which highlights the importance of training judges to evaluate the quality of expert evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Consequences of False Memories in Eyewitness Testimony: A Review and Implications for Chinese Legal Practice

False memories can result in severe legal consequences including the imprisonment of innocent people. False memory in eyewitnesses is the largest factor contributing to miscarriages of justice in the United States. To date, no study has focused on how false memories might play a role in the Chinese legal system. The purpose of this review is to summarize the latest findings on false memory and eyewitness testimony in the literature, and to shed some light on how the Chinese legal system may incorporate these experiences into practice. Overall, false memories of eyewitnesses are generated either by external misleading information or by internal cognitive processes; false memories may guide police investigations in the wrong direction or cause eyewitnesses to misidentify an innocent person as the perpetrator. We conclude that specially designed interview protocols such as the Cognitive Interview, warnings given to eyewitnesses, and blind lineup administration may prevent or lower the risk of false memory occurrence.

Dance Like No One’s Watching: the Influence of Demand Characteristics When Examining Lineups via Computer or In-Person

Lineup administrators may inadvertently bias an eyewitness’ identification; as such, the blind-lineup administration is recommended to combat this bias. Three studies examined eyewitness identification accuracy when the lineup is presented on a computer versus in-person to determine whether computer-administrated lineups could replace in-person lineups to ensure blind administration. Study 1 (N = 378) varied whether the administration was on a computer versus in-person across the simultaneous, elimination, and wildcard procedures. Overall, participants were more accurate when presented with the online administration; moreover, participants were more accurate in target-absent lineups when presented with a simultaneous or elimination procedure compared to the wildcard procedure. Study 2 (N = 367) was similar to study 1 but used different stimuli and included the simultaneous, elimination, and elimination-plus procedures. Identification accuracy was comparable for online and in-person administration. Study 3 (N = 219) sought to examine why online administration was superior in study 1 by varying whether the researcher was present only during the identification task. When the researcher was present, participants were more likely to make a foil identification in the simultaneous procedure compared to the elimination procedure. The results of these three studies suggest that computer-administrated lineups may be a feasible solution to ensure blind administration.

Blind sequential lineup administration reduces both false identifications and confidence in those false identifications.

One of the most recommended procedures proposed by eyewitness experts is the use of double-blind lineups, in which the administrator does not know the identity of the suspect in the lineup. But despite the near universality of this recommendation, there is surprisingly little empirical research to support the claim that nonblind administration inflates false identifications. What little research has been conducted has shown conflicting findings with regard to the conditions under which nonblind administration affects false identifications, as well as its effects on witness confidence. The current study attempts to elucidate this effect. Student-participants (n = 312) were randomly assigned to play the role of either a lineup administrator (who were either told the identity of the suspect in the lineup or not) or a mock crime witness. Following unbiased instructions, administrators presented either a target-present or target-absent sequential lineup to the witness while being surreptitiously videorecorded. Nonblind administration significantly inflated false, but not correct, identifications, and significantly inflated witness confidence in those false identifications. Video recordings indicated that nonblind administrators were significantly more likely than blind administrators to smile (a) while the witness was viewing a photograph of the suspect, and (b) after a suspect identification. Results provide stronger support for the use of blind lineup administration by broadening the conditions under which nonblind administration is shown to inflate false identifications. Possible reconciliations for conflicting findings in the literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Origins and implications of neglect of G6PD deficiency and primaquine toxicity in Plasmodium vivax malaria

Most of the tens of millions of clinical attacks caused by Plasmodium vivax each year likely originate from dormant liver forms called hypnozoites. We do not systematically attack that reservoir because the only drug available, primaquine, is poorly suited to doing so. Primaquine was licenced for anti-relapse therapy in 1952 and became available despite threatening patients having an inborn deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) with acute haemolytic anaemia. The standard method for screening G6PD deficiency, the fluorescent spot test, has proved impractical where most malaria patients live. The blind administration of daily primaquine is dangerous, but so too are the relapses invited by withholding treatment. Absent G6PD screening, providers must choose between risking harm by the parasite or its treatment. How did this dilemma escape redress in science, clinical medicine and public health? This review offers critical historic reflection on the neglect of this serious problem in the chemotherapy of P. vivax.

PROtocolized Care to Reduce HYpotension after Spinal Anesthesia (ProCRHYSA randomized trial): statistical plan

Background Spinal anesthesia is a regional anesthesia technique widely employed in clinical practice. The common side effects consist in a reduction of systemic vascular resistances, with systemic hypotension. To prevent this complication, blind administration of fluids is commonly used. This is accomplished on an empirical basis, carrying risk of possible volume overload. Vena cava ultrasound has been shown to be an effective method to assess fluid responsiveness in critical care patients, however this method has never been studied in a non critical population. Aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of vena cava ultrasound guided titrated volume repletion in preventing spinal anesthesia induced hypotension in an elective surgical population.

G6PD deficiency at Sumba in Eastern Indonesia is prevalent, diverse and severe: implications for primaquine therapy against relapsing Vivax malaria.

Safe treatment of Plasmodium vivax requires diagnosis of both the infection and status of erythrocytic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity because hypnozoitocidal therapy against relapse requires primaquine, which causes a mild to severe acute hemolytic anemia in G6PD deficient patients. Many national malaria control programs recommend primaquine therapy without G6PD screening but with monitoring due to a broad lack of G6PD deficiency screening capacity. The degree of risk in doing so hinges upon the level of residual G6PD activity among the variants present in any given area. We conducted studies on Sumba Island in eastern Indonesia in order to assess the potential threat posed by primaquine therapy without G6PD screening. We sampled 2,033 residents of three separate districts in western Sumba for quantitative G6PD activity and 104 (5.1%) were phenotypically deficient (<4.6U/gHb; median normal 10U/gHb). The villages were in two distinct ecosystems, coastal and inland. A positive correlation occurred between the prevalence of malaria and G6PD deficiency: 5.9% coastal versus inland 0.2% for malaria (P<0.001), and 6.7% and 3.1% for G6PD deficiency (P<0.001) at coastal and inland sites, respectively. The dominant genotypes of G6PD deficiency were Vanua Lava, Viangchan, and Chatham, accounting for 98.5% of the 70 samples genotyped. Subjects expressing the dominant genotypes all had less than 10% of normal enzyme activities and were thus considered severe variants. Blind administration of anti-relapse primaquine therapy at Sumba would likely impose risk of serious harm.

Video Identification of Suspects: A Discussion of Current Practice and Policy in the United Kingdom

Procedures for eyewitness identification of suspects in the United Kingdom must adhere to the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act Codes of Practice. These Codes stipulate what methods can and cannot be used, what must be said to eyewitnesses before the procedure, and how procedures must be constructed. Our approach has been two fold. The first has been to contact all police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to obtain copies of the protocols followed when they conduct identification tests. The second has been to review evidence from the psycho- logical literature on a range of factors that can influence outcomes on eyewitness identification tests. We make several recommendations that would bring PACE in line with research-based best practice, including mandatory single-suspect procedures, blind administration, and systematic recording of eyewitness confidence. The technology and the structure of specialist identification suites in the UK would allow each of the recommendations to be imple- mented effectively and inexpensively.

Naltrexone effects on cortisol secretion in women and men in relation to a family history of alcoholism: Studies from the Oklahoma Family Health Patterns Project

Naltrexone evokes a cortisol response through its blockade of central opioid receptors on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA). The magnitude of this cortisol response may be useful as a probe for central opioid activity in different groups of subjects. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of opioid blockade on the HPA in 70 women and 58 men with (N=41) and without (N=87) a family history of alcoholism, using a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind administration of oral naltrexone (50mg). Saliva cortisol was sampled at baseline prior to placebo or naltrexone and again every 30 min over the next 180 min. Women had significantly larger cortisol responses to naltrexone than did the men, F=6.88, p<0.0001. There were no significant differences in cortisol response between groups differing in family history of alcoholism, F=0.65, p>0.69. The present results confirm that women have much greater central opioid restraint on the HPA than men do and that this endogenous restraint is unmasked by opioid blockade. However the results provide no evidence of a differential central opioid tonus in persons with a family history of alcoholism at this dose of naltrexone. The cortisol response to naltrexone may be a useful probe for central opioid activity in women and to a lesser degree in men.

Blind lineup administration as a prophylactic against the postidentification feedback effect.

Confidence and other testimony-relevant judgments may be distorted when witnesses are given confirming postidentification feedback, and double-blind procedures-wherein the lineup administrator does not know the identity of the suspect-are a commonly proposed, but untested, remedy for this effect. In the current study, mock witnesses viewed a staged crime video followed by a target-present or target-absent lineup where the administrator was or was not presumed to know the identity of the suspect. After making an identification decision, witnesses were or were not given realistic, but nonidentification-specific, feedback, and then confidence and other judgments were assessed. A significant interaction was found between blind condition and feedback such that feedback inflated confidence and other judgments in presumed nonblind conditions only; feedback had no effect on participants in presumed blind conditions. As predicted by the selective cue integration framework-a theoretical model suggested to explain the interaction between presumed blind administration and feedback-this interaction was significant only for inaccurate participants. These results suggest that blind administration may serve as a prophylactic against the negative effects of postidentification feedback. In addition, the effectiveness of our subtle feedback in influencing judgments suggests that lineup administrators should take care not to provide any feedback to eyewitnesses.

Is Measured Hearing Aid Benefit Affected by Seeing Baseline Outcome Questionnaire Responses?

To determine whether hearing aid outcome measured by the Hearing Handicap Inventory (HHI) for the Elderly/Adults (Newman, Weinstein, Jacobson, & Hug, 1990; Ventry & Weinstein, 1982) is differentially affected by informed vs. blind administration of the postfitting questionnaire. Participants completed the HHI at their hearing aid evaluation and again at their hearing aid follow-up visit. At follow-up, half received a clean HHI form (blind administration), whereas the remainder responded on their original form (informed administration) and could thus base their follow-up responses on those they gave at the hearing aid evaluation. The data show that for the population examined here, informed administration of the follow-up HHI did not yield a different outcome to blind administration of the follow-up HHI. This was not influenced by past hearing aid use, age of the participant, or the duration of time between baseline questionnaire completion and follow-up completion. These data suggest that completion of follow-up questionnaires in either informed or blind format will have little impact on HHI responses, most likely because of the many other factors that combined to influence hearing aid outcome.

Checking the ability to mask ventilate before administering long‐acting neuromuscular blocking drugs

Checking the ability to mask ventilate before administering long‐acting neuromuscular blocking drugs

Should Previous Responses Be Shown to Study Objects; A Comparison of Informed versus Blind Administration of the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Adult Form (FAQLQ-AF)

RATIONALE: Informed administration (previous responses available) may improve longitudinal validity of health-related quality of life questionnaires compared to blind administration (previous responses unavailable). As this has never been investigated in food allergic patients, we compared informed and blind administration of the recently developed and validated Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire-Adult Form (FAQLQ-AF).

Moving forward: Response to "Studying eyewitness investigations in the field."

Field studies of eyewitness identification are richly confounded. Determining which confounds undermine interpretation is important. The blind administration confound in the Illinois study is said to undermine it's value for understanding the relative utility of simultaneous and sequential lineups. Most criticisms of the Illinois study focus on filler identifications, and related inferences about the importance of the blind confound. We find no convincing evidence supporting this line of attack and wonder at filler identifications as the major line of criticism. More debilitating problems impede using the Illinois study to address the simultaneous versus sequential lineup controversy: inability to estimate guilt independent of identification evidence, lack of protocol compliance monitoring, and assessment of lineups quality. Moving forward requires removing these limitations.

Disease Management for Depression in an Ms Clinic

Evidence-based treatments for depression in multiple sclerosis (MS) are available, but their implementation can be challenging. We explored the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing a disease management program for depression in an MS clinic. A non-randomized "before-after" design was used. The University of Calgary MS Clinic performs routine screening for depression using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Rating Scale (CES-D). During a six month baseline period, the screen results were not systematically acted upon. During a subsequent nine-month study period, a case manager was routinely notified of positive screens. These patients were offered disease management. Major depression was assessed six months later with a blind administration of the Mini Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Quality of life (EQ-5D) and functional status (WHO DAS II) were also measured. Eighty-three patients were enrolled in the study; 54 were in the disease management group and 29 received treatment as usual. There was a lower frequency of major depression in the intervention group six months post-screening. No differences in quality of life or functional status were seen. Disease management approaches for depression were developed in primary care environments and have been adapted for geriatric and diabetic populations. These strategies may require modification for application in MS clinics. While an intervention for depression was effective in those who received it, its impact on the targeted clinical population was reduced by lower than expected rates of participation and higher than expected rates of treatment at baseline.

Eyewitness Misidentification: Single vs Double-Blind Comparison of Photospread Administration

Interactive effects of photospread procedures (blind administration or has knowledge of suspect identity) and presentation techniques (sequential or simultaneous photospreads) on false eyewitness identification rates were examined. Of 117 subjects (57 men and 60 women), 87 served as a witness sample and 30 as a photospread administrator sample. Witnesses viewed a 20-sec. mock robbery video prior to viewing a photospread of six photographs either simultaneously or sequentially. Half of the administrators, prior to displaying the photospreads, were made aware of the photograph of the designated suspect (single-blind condition). Consistent with previous findings, sequential presentation was associated with both lower overall false identification rates as well as lower suspect designated-misidentification rates. In each case, there was evidence that administrators' knowledge increased false identification rates more in simultaneous than in sequential presentation conditions. Implications for administrations by police investigators are discussed.