Committee Felt Research Articles

Appropriate management of patients with claudication

Appropriate management of patients with claudication

WASOG statement on the diagnosis and management of sarcoidosis-associated pulmonary hypertension.

Sarcoidosis-associated pulmonary hypertension (SAPH) is an important complication of advanced sarcoidosis. Over the past few years, there have been several studies dealing with screening, diagnosis and treatment of SAPH. This includes the results of two large SAPH-specific registries. A task force was established by the World Association of Sarcoidosis and Other Granulomatous disease (WASOG) to summarise the current level of knowledge in the area and provide guidance for the management of patients. A group of sarcoidosis and pulmonary hypertension experts participated in this task force. The committee developed a consensus regarding initial screening including who should undergo more specific testing with echocardiogram. Based on the results, the committee agreed upon who should undergo right-heart catheterisation and how to interpret the results. The committee felt there was no specific phenotype of a SAPH patient in whom pulmonary hypertension-specific therapy could be definitively recommended. They recommended that treatment decisions be made jointly with a sarcoidosis and pulmonary hypertension expert. The committee recognised that there were significant defects in the current knowledge regarding SAPH, but felt the statement would be useful in directing future studies.

Human embryo research, stem cell-derived embryo models and invitro gametogenesis: Considerations leading to the revised ISSCR guidelines.

SummaryThe ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation were last revised in 2016. Since then, rapid progress has been made in research areas related to in vitro culture of human embryos, creation of stem cell-based embryo models, and in vitro gametogenesis. Therefore, a working group of international experts was convened to review the oversight process and provide an update to the guidelines. This report captures the discussion and summarizes the major recommendations made by this working group, with a specific emphasis on updating the categories of review and engagement with the specialized scientific and ethical oversight process.

Best practices review of five recommendations for FAIR software

The purpose of this document is to solicit community feedback on the Five Recommendations for FAIR Software, guidelines that aim to apply the FAIR principles directly to software to improve research software development, which was submitted to INCF for endorsement as a Best Practice. The document contains the INCF Standards and Best Practices Committee's review of the Five Recommendations for FAIR Software, and the criteria in which it was evaluated (open, FAIR, testing and implementation, governance, adoption and use, stability and support, and comparison to similar standards). The committee felt there was no need for it to go through the formal review process and decided to put it up for community review in a fast-track process. In this fast-track process, only the main categories of the criteria were addressed. If the community feedback reveals a need for more thorough vetting of this best practice, the SBP committee will launch one at that time. For the next 60 days, we are seeking community feedback on PyNN. About the Five Recommendations for FAIR Software: This project applies the FAIR principles directly to software to improve research software development. They give five recommendations to make software more FAIR along with some suggestions for how to meet them. In addition, they offer a Python package that can test a GitHub repository for compliance, the output of which can be used to create a badge that visualizes compliance with these recommendations. The recommendations are: Use a publicly accessible repository with version control Add a License Register your code in a community registry Enable citation of the software Use a software quality checklist

The 'National Finals Revision Day' Teaching Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Pass Medical School 'Finals' and Upskill Junior Doctors.

Courses to help medical students pass ‘Finals’ already exist but are typically expensive or can only be attended by a limited number of students. We describe the success of ‘The National Finals Revision Day' (NFRD) course, which we believe is sustainable and unique in terms of its combined scale and cost (£10 per person). The course was organised and taught by 12 junior doctors. In total, 300 students attended from 55% of UK medical schools. Attendees found the course both relevant (96.4%) and cost-effective (97%), whilst the 11 medical and surgical talks were of a high standard (90.1%). The organising committee felt confident to organise their own teaching course in the future with 100% having already run a course themselves since the NFRD course. The NFRD course was also used by 11/12 (91.7%) of the organising committee to achieve their Annual Review of Competency Progression (ARCP) and 12/12 (100%) of the organising committee to obtain jobs on training programmes in the UK. We provide guidance about how to organise similar large-scale events for those interested. Moving forward, the teaching course will be run at: (i) multiple times; (ii) multiple UK venues; (iii) run over two days to cover more medical and surgical topics; and (iv) include the option of attending via video link.

Shaping the 2019 ATHE Conference

Shaping the 2019 ATHE Conference Andrew Gibb (bio) With the exception of Chicago and New York, ATHE rarely meets in one location twice in a decade. So it took many members by surprise when it was announced that we would return to Orlando so soon after our previous visit in 2013. For the 2019 Conference Committee, this presented a challenge: to find an original way to interact with the host city. Fortunately, a conference’s meeting site always provides the inspiration needed. In this case, a theme was prompted by the fact that, in recent years, Orlando’s reputation as “The Most Magical Place on Earth” has been challenged by a number of troubling new associations. The most notorious of these, and the most strongly felt within Orlando itself, was the linkage of the city to homophobic and racist violence following the Pulse nightclub mass shooting of 2016. The wider state of Florida has in recent years suffered from several more high-profile incidents of gun violence, including the high school shooting in Parkland and the killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford (a mere half-hour’s drive from Orlando). A number of less deadly incidents have also focused negative attention on Florida, including a second controversial presidential election in as many decades. In short, events in the City Beautiful and the Sunshine State that transpired since ATHE’s last visit have proven emblematic of the sweeping changes we have seen nearly everywhere else in the same period. Resonating throughout our culture and its institutions, those changes have reached into our theatres and our colleges. Perhaps the most high-profile example of those shifts has been the recent turnover in artistic directorships across the United States, whether as a result of planned departures or of revelations spurred by the #MeToo movement. Given these developments, the 2019 Conference Committee felt that our return to Orlando might afford an excellent opportunity to take up the very theme of change itself. Fortunately, our field offers the perfect metaphor for encapsulating the idea: the scene change. Thus the Conference Committee presented the membership with our 2019 conference theme, “Scene Changes: Performing, Teaching, and Working through the Transitions.” The shape and success of any ATHE conference is the result of the membership’s engagement with the theme, the location, and one another’s work. The wealth of panels, roundtables, and workshops that members brought to Orlando made for an invigorating exchange about the shifting scenery of our field and our world. Assuming such an outcome from the start, the Conference Committee sought ways to supplement that energy with all-conference programming that might coalesce discussions around particular aspects of the theme. In recent years, ATHE’s membership has enjoyed keynote addresses from many prominent playwrights, and the committee felt that a different perspective might be appreciated. We were particularly intrigued by the idea of hearing from one of the artistic directors who are shaping the new theatrical landscape in the United States. Several committee members suggested Bill Rauch, the long-time head of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the recently appointed inaugural artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center in New York City. In response to the gentle yet persistent lobbying of Conference Committee members Martine Kei Green-Rogers and Tiffany Ana López, both long-time collaborators with Bill, he finally agreed to our invitation. Thanks perhaps to his own particular moment of transition, his address took on a depth of reflection and emotional tenor that overwhelmed us all. [End Page 17] Bill was kind enough to stay with us for an extra day, allowing us to incorporate the insights of his keynote into the series of all-conference plenaries we had planned. When ATHE gathered in Boston in 2018, Vice President for Conference Ann Shanahan, working closely with Monica White Ndounou and the rest of the 2018 Conference Committee, sparked an organization-wide conversation that aired members’ concerns about equity, diversity, and inclusion within our field. In looking back at those plenaries, the 2019 Conference Committee felt strongly that we should provide a space for those discussions to develop further. Asking some of last year...

Reflections on engagement from a community liaison committee for a zinc mine in rural South Australia

Conflicts between mining operators and local communities often stem from the latter feeling excluded from decision-making processes. Consequently, regulators sometimes commission a representative consultative group to facilitate interactions among the wider community, miners and regulators. The realised effectiveness of this sort of representative group, however, has rarely been assessed from the perspectives of community participants. We interviewed members of a long running consultative committee for a zinc mine in rural South Australia. Initially, the town’s inexperience with mining meant many held negative views about potential environmental impacts of mining. Those fears were allayed as the mine developed and the committee felt they better understood and could question the mine’s technical operations. Over time, the committee felt their input led to significant changes in a range of mine operations and, while perceiving their committee’s role differently, all thought it effective and strengthened their relationship with the mine operator and regulators. Nonetheless, some negative interactions from the initial stages of engagement have lingered. We conclude that if community trust is gained by operators and efforts are made to help communities understand mining, then consultative committees can play a central role in ensuring that people do not feel disenfranchised by mining operations.

No. 376-Magnesium Sulphate for Fetal Neuroprotection.

The objective is to provide guidelines for the use of antenatal magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection of the preterm infant. Antenatal magnesium sulphate administration should be considered for fetal neuroprotection when women present at ≤33 + 6 weeks with imminent preterm birth, defined as a high likelihood of birth because of active labour with cervical dilatation ≥4 cm, with or without preterm pre-labour rupture of membranes, and/or planned preterm birth for fetal or maternal indications. There are no other known fetal neuroprotective agents. The outcomes measured are the incidence of cerebral palsy (CP) and neonatal death. Published literature was retrieved through searches of PubMed or Medline, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library in December 2017, using appropriate controlled vocabulary and key words (magnesium sulphate, cerebral palsy, preterm birth). Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, and relevant observational studies. There were no date or language restrictions. Searches were updated on a regular basis and incorporated in the guideline to December 2017. Grey (unpublished) literature was identified through searching the websites of health technology assessment and health technology assessment-related agencies, clinical practice guideline collections, clinical trial registries, and national and international medical specialty societies. The quality of evidence was rated using the criteria described in the Report of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (Table 1). Antenatal magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection reduces the risk of "death or CP" (relative risk [RR] 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74-0.98; 4 trials, 4446 infants), "death or moderate-severe CP" (RR 0.85; 95% CI 0.73-0.99; 3 trials, 4250 infants), "any CP" (RR 0.71; 95% CI 0.55-0.91; 4, trials, 4446 infants), "moderate-to-severe CP" (RR 0.60; 95% CI 0.43-0.84; 3 trials, 4250 infants), and "substantial gross motor dysfunction" (inability to walk without assistance) (RR 0.60; 95% CI 0.43-0.83; 3 trials, 4287 women) at 2 years of age. Results were consistent between trials and across the meta-analyses. There is no anticipated significant increase in health care-related costs because women eligible to receive antenatal magnesium sulphate will be judged to have imminent preterm birth. Australian National Clinical Practice Guidelines were published in March 2010 by the Antenatal Magnesium Sulphate for Neuroprotection Guideline Development Panel. Antenatal magnesium sulphate was recommended for fetal neuroprotection in the same dosage as recommended in these guidelines. However, magnesium sulphate was recommended only at <30 weeks gestation, based on 2 considerations. First, no single gestational age subgroup was considered to show a clear benefit. Second, in the face of uncertainty, the committee felt it was prudent to limit the impact of their clinical practice guidelines on resource allocation. In March 2010, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a Committee Opinion on magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection. It stated that "the available evidence suggests that magnesium sulfate given before anticipated early preterm birth reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in surviving infants." No official opinion was given on a gestational age cut-off, but it was recommended that physicians develop specific guidelines around the issues of inclusion criteria, dosage, concurrent tocolysis, and monitoring in accordance with 1 of the larger trials. Similarly, the World Health Organization also strongly recommends use of magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection in its 2015 recommendations on interventions to improve preterm birth outcomes but cites further researching on dosing regimen and re-treatment. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). RECOMMENDATIONS.

Announcements

Other| April 01 2018 Announcements Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (2018) 85 (2): 293–295. https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.85.2.0293 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Announcements. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 1 April 2018; 85 (2): 293–295. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.85.2.0293 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressPennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies Search Advanced Search The Pennsylvania Historical Association is pleased to announce that an article appearing in the Spring 2017 issue of its journal, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, has been awarded the 2017 Arline Custer Memorial Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). “‘The High Price of Living’: The Lives of Insolvent Laborers in Jacksonian-Era Cumberland County,” by Dr. Michael B. McCoy of SUNY–Orange, makes great use of a wonderful primary source, the Cumberland County Insolvent Debtor Petitions, 1799–1860, housed in the Cumberland County, PA, Archives. The article considers the lives and economic conditions of the county's poor by analyzing the reasons given for insolvency listed on the petitions. Dr. McCoy also tabulated the petitions, providing statistical analysis of them in seven tables. The article makes excellent and exhaustive use of this primary source, which is also on line at http://ccweb.ccpa.net/archives/RecordGroupSeries?RGID=47&RID=1. The Custer Award committee felt that the... You do not currently have access to this content.

Methods.

Methods.

Uneasy talking about costs of stillbirth?

In this BJOG stillbirth-themed issue, Campbell et al. (BJOG 2018;125:108–17) report on a population-based cost-of-illness study. Although reports on costs in healthcare are not uncommon – even quality-of-life studies now sometimes incorporate quality-of-life into cost estimates – one may feel uneasy when talking about money in relation to stillbirth; it seems insensitive towards the people suffering the loss. How can one put a monetary value on a life not yet lived? However, these authors should be congratulated for building upon earlier work (Heazell et al., Lancet 2016;387:604–616) in their effort to tackle this difficult and long-neglected topic. I remember vividly the debates with the funding body for an earlier grant application of mine proposing a study on stillbirth. In the 1990s, cost-effectiveness was the key word for health care intervention studies, and at that time I could argue with the committee that a dead child was less expensive than a living one. The embarrassment the committee felt was probably the basis for a positive response in the end. Counting and naming stillbirths all around the world has been very important over the last 10 years in putting stillbirth and its effects on people and society on global and local agendas. Knowledge of the numbers, causes, and long-term effects is vital for good clinical care and future prevention. Campbell et al. describe several relevant domains in which these costs are estimated. They show that although the costs are a fraction of overall healthcare costs, they percolate beyond the healthcare system into society. One of the domains is the increasing costs of litigation even though most cases will not be satisfactorily settled in court. Most cases will not be satisfactorily settled in court. This illustrates our moral obligation to honest disclosure of possible substandard care to parents, effective audits to make sure recurrence is as rare as possible, and an effective process for settlement. This knowledge strengthens the urgent case for performing further studies of stillbirth, its causes, and its sequelae. I hope parents can also see the importance of this and are not offended by talk of money issues in relation to stillbirth. Objective and financial considerations may seem insensitive when discussing a baby's life, but these data can help health professionals and researchers make the case for continued work in this area. We need more funding to perform the necessary studies to diminish this tragedy. Full disclosure of interests available to view online as supporting information. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

Annals for Educators - 3 January 2017

Annals for Educators - 3 January 2017

15th North American Caribou Workshop, 12-16 May 2014, Whitehorse, Canada

The 15th North American Caribou Workshop (NACW) was held from 12-16 May 2014, in the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. This biennial meeting is the largest technical conference of its kind dealing specifically with caribou biology and management. The first NACW was held in Whitehorse over three decades ago in 1983, and 13 subsequent workshops have been held across North America until now. With nearly 400 delegates from Canada, the United States, Norway, and Greenland attending the 2014 conference, it is evident that this “North American” gathering has truly become an international event. Furthermore, delegates attending this 15th NACW represented federal, provincial, territorial, state and First Nation governments, academia, non-governmental organizations, co-management boards and councils, private consultants, and industry, creating a relatively unique conference setting bringing together a variety of perspectives and concerns. The breadth of the participants in terms of geography, expertise and affiliation resulted in a rich base of human capacity to discuss issues related to caribou conservation and management.Given that it had been nearly three decades since the inception of this workshop, and with its return to the location of the first NACW, the organizing committee felt it was a fitting opportunity to look back and assess what had been achieved with respect to caribou conservation and management. As such, the theme of the 15th NACW was “Caribou Conservation and Management: What’s Working?” The opening session of the conference focussed on invited presentations explicitly addressing this question, and included topics on structured decision making, forest management, harvest monitoring, carnivore management, regional land use planning and management, and aboriginal perspectives on a long-term collaborative caribou recovery program in the southwest Yukon. We challenged our speakers to share what was working and why, and the information provided was valuable and timely, prompting many questions and discussion throughout the conference.

Assessment: How to Survive It and Benefit from It

Assessment: How to Survive It and Benefit from It

Promoting Family-Centered Care in the NICU Through a Parent-to-Parent Manager Position

The Family-Centered Care (FCC) committee had formulated multiple ideas for projects but was unable to fully carry out and sustain many of the initiatives. The committee felt that to implement the proposed FCC projects someone would need to devote full attention to the task. The parent-to-parent (PTP) position was created to develop and sustain initiatives of our institution's NICU Family Support Program. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of creating a PTP manager position and the effects it can have in the NICU for the family. Program outcomes were assessed in 3 areas that align with core principles of FCC: (1) emotional support and parent empowerment, (2) a welcoming environment with supportive policies, and (3) education for staff and families. The assessment of the program included review and attendance of parent support offerings, review and revision of parent material, and survey evaluation of staff education. In the first year, the program reached over 800 families, provided 136 parent education hours, and organized social activities that reached 847 families. The creation of a PTP manager position has been instrumental in the development and management of multiple initiatives to offer families and staff continued support and education. Further evaluation of programs and strategies for PTP support in the NICU setting is needed.

International standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury: cases with classification challenges.

The International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) is routinely used to determine levels of injury and to classify the severity of the injury. Questions are often posed to the International Standards Committee of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) regarding the classification. The committee felt that disseminating some of the challenging questions posed, as well as the responses, would be of benefit for professionals utilizing the ISNCSCI. Case scenarios that were submitted to the committee are presented with the responses as well as the thought processes considered by the committee members. The importance of this documentation is to clarify some points as well as update the SCI community regarding possible revisions that will be needed in the future based upon some rules that require clarification.

International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury: Cases with classification challenges

The International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) is routinely used to determine the levels of injury and to classify the severity of the injury. Questions are often posed to the International Standards Committee of the American Spinal Injury Association regarding the classification. The committee felt that disseminating some of the challenging questions posed, as well as the responses, would be of benefit for professionals utilizing the ISNCSCI. Case scenarios that were submitted to the committee are presented with the responses as well as the thought processes considered by the committee members. The importance of this documentation is to clarify some points as well as update the SCI community regarding possible revisions that will be needed in the future based upon some rules that require clarification.

078 What Does an Evidence-Based Guideline Committee Do When There is Insufficient Evidence to Make a Recommendation

BackgroundWhen guidelines are called evidence-based (EBGs) the implication is that there was a transparent and systematic assessment of evidence. However, evidence is often insufficient to draw conclusions. In these cases,...

Creating A Separate Introductory Computer Science Course For Engineers: An Experience In Moving From Java To Python

The University of Manitoba (U. of M.) 2011-12 curriculum has a new introductory programming/computer science course specifically for current or future engineering students. This course focuses on teaching fundamentals of programming and computer science through mathematical computation using Python. The need for this course came from a grass roots movement by engineering professors to evaluate the previous course and provide direction and/or assistance to the department of computer science. The committee felt it was time to abandon Java as the introductory language for engineers. This talk discussesthe resulting course; the challenges in selecting the version of Python to use; and the difficulties and rewards of the change to a new and previously untaught language at the U. of M.

Feminist Transformations

Feminist Transformations