Prioritization Criteria Research Articles

Beyond COVID-19 pandemic: Topology-aware optimization of vaccination strategy for minimizing virus spreading

The mitigation of an infectious disease spreading has recently gained considerable attention from the research community. It may be obtained by adopting sanitary measurements (e.g., vaccination, wearing masks), social rules (e.g., social distancing), together with an extensive vaccination campaign. Vaccination is currently the primary way for mitigating the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak without severe lockdown. Its effectiveness also depends on the number and timeliness of administrations and thus demands strict prioritization criteria. Almost all countries have prioritized similar classes of exposed workers: healthcare professionals and the elderly, obtaining to maximize the survival of patients and years of life saved. Nevertheless, the virus is currently spreading at high rates, and any prioritization criterion so far adopted did not account for the structural organization of the contact networks.We reckon that a network where nodes are people while the edges represent their social contacts may efficiently model the virus’s spreading. It is known that tailored interventions (e.g., vaccination) on central nodes may efficiently stop the propagation, thereby eliminating the “bridge edges.” We then introduce such a model and consider both synthetic and real datasets. We present the benefits of a topology-aware versus an age-based vaccination strategy to mitigate the spreading of the virus. The code is available athttps://github.com/mazzalab/playgrounds.

Customer Prioritization for Medical Supply Chain During COVID-19 Pandemic

During COVID-19, the escalated demand for various pharmaceutical products with the existing production capacity of pharmaceutical companies has stirred the need to prioritize its customers in order to fulfill their demand. This study considers a two-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain considering various pharma-distributors as its suppliers and hospitals, pharmacies, and retail stores as its customers. Previous studies have generally considered a balanced situation in terms of supply and demand whereas this study considers a special situation of COVID-19 pandemic where demand exceeds supply Various criteria have been identified from the literature that influences the selection of customers. A questionnaire has been developed to collect primary data from pharmaceutical suppliers pertaining to customer-selection criteria. These criteria have been prioritized with respect to eigenvalues obtained from Principal Component Analysis and also validated with the experts’ domain-related knowledge using Analytical Hierarchy Process. Profit potential appeared to be the most important criteria of customer selection followed by trust and service convenience brand loyalty, commitment, brand awareness, brand image, sustainable behavior, and risk. Subsequently, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis has been performed to prioritize the customer-selection criteria and customers with respect to selection criteria. Three experts with seven and three and ten years of experience have participated in the study. Findings of the study suggest large hospitals, large pharmacies, and small retail stores are the highly preferred customers. Moreover, findings of prioritization of customer-selection criteria from both Principal Component Analysis and Analytical Hierarchy Process are consistent. Furthermore, this study considers the experience of three experts to calculate an aggregate score of priorities to reach an effective decision. Unlike traditional supply chain problems of supplier selection, this study considers a selection of customers and is useful for procurement and supply chain managers to prioritize customers while considering multiple selection criteria.

Residual-Driven Band Selection for Hyperspectral Anomaly Detection

This letter proposes an unsupervised band selection (BS) algorithm named residual driven BS (RDBS) to address the lack of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a priori</i> information about anomalies, obtain a band subset with high representation capability of anomalies, and finally improve the anomaly detection (AD). First, an anomaly and background modeling framework (ABMF) is developed via density peak clustering (DPC) to pre-determine the prior knowledge of the anomalies and background. Then, the DPC-based constraints are applied to R-Anomaly Detector (RAD), and three band prioritization (BP) criteria are derived to obtain the representative band subset for anomalies. Experiments on two datasets show the superiority of RDBS over other BS algorithms and verify that the obtained band subsets are strongly representative of anomalies.

Band Sampling for Hyperspectral Imagery

Band sampling (BSam) is an innovative concept for hyperspectral imaging, which is derived from signal sampling in communications/signal processing as well as sampling theory in information theory. It is quite different from band selection (BSel) in several aspects. First of all, BSam “samples” bands with a given fixed BSam rate (BSamR) as opposed to BSel, which “selects” appropriate bands according to the number of bands to be selected. Second, BSam requires no specific means of sampling bands compared to BSel, which requires a specific rule to select bands such as band prioritization (BP) criteria or band search strategies. Third, BSam samples bands without prior band knowledge or specific applications in contrast to BSel, which considers certain bands more significant than other bands according to various applications. Two strategies are developed for BSam. One is from information theory. Under a completely blind and unknown environment, the maximum entropy is achieved by the uniform distribution. This suggests that one best strategy for BSam is uniform band sampling (UBSam). Another strategy is random BSam (RBSam) analogous to random signal sampling in compressive sensing (CS) where the bands sampled by RBSam are random but are not deterministic like the bands selected by BSel. Interestingly, UBSam and RBSam generally perform better than custom-designed BSel methods. To illustrate its potential utility of BSam in various applications, target detection, anomaly detection, and image classification are studied through extensive experiments for demonstration.

Not All Requirements Prioritization Criteria are Equal at All Times: A Quantitative Analysis

Requirement prioritization is recognized as an important decision-making activity in requirements engineering and software development that is applied to determine which requirements should be implemented and released. In order to prioritize requirements, there are several approaches/techniques/tools that use different requirements prioritization criteria, which are often identified by gut feeling instead of an in-depth analysis of which criteria are most important to use. Therefore, in this study we investigate which requirements prioritization criteria are most important to use in industry when determining which requirements are implemented and released, and if the importance of the criteria change depending on how far a requirement has reached in the development process. We conducted a quantitative study of one completed project from one software developing company by extracting 83,408 requirements prioritization decisions based on eight requirements prioritization criteria for 11,110 requirements. The results show that not all requirements prioritization criteria are equally important, and this change depending on how far a requirement has reached in the development process.

A Bandwidth-Balanced RMLSA Solution for Static Elastic Optical Network: A Two Stages Approach

This paper addresses one of the main tasks in transparent static elastic optical networks (EONs), known as the routing, modulation level, and spectrum assignment (RMLSA) problem. We present, for the first time, a two-stage RMLSA solution, focusing on reducing spectrum consumption (or network capacity). The first macro stage, called least demand bandwidth balance (LDBB), relies on a physical layer impairment (PLI) model to jointly compute the connections&#x2019; route and modulation level (RML). We use a new balancing criterion that effectively distributes each network link&#x2019;s frequency slot unit (FSU) demands, exemplifying three different balancing functions based on the maximum number of FSUs on the links and the total number of FSUs demanded and the cost of the route. In the last macro stage, using all connections chosen paths, we perform the spectrum assignment (SA) process using two specific connections prioritization criteria. We propose two SA algorithms, called sliding-fit (SF) and parcel-fit (PF), reducing the spectrum consumption. These algorithms change the SA paradigm by searching connections for a given subset of the frequency spectrum, contrary to the search of FSUs for a given connection in standard approaches. In all cases, our solution exhibited a lower total network capacity than the commonly used strategies found in the literature, with an average network capacity reduction of 5.7 % FSUs. In addition, our proposal may be used to easily dimension network capacity and determine how many extra resources may be needed to attend to all network users.

Neurological disorders in liver transplantation

Liver transplantation is the only curative treatment in patients with end-stage liver failure. It has been associated with neurological disorders more frequently than other solid organ transplantations. We aimed to detect neurological disorders in liver transplantation patients and determine those that affect mortality. One hundred eighty-five patients, 105 with and 80 without neurological disorders, were included in this study. The follow-up was categorized into three periods: preoperative, early postoperative and late postoperative. We analyzed all medical records, including demographic, laboratory, radiological, and clinical data. Neurological disorders were observed in 52 (28.1%) patients in the preoperative period, in 45 (24.3%) in the early postoperative, and in 42 (22.7%) in the late postoperative period. Hepatic encephalopathy in the preoperative and altered mental state in the post-operative period were the most common neurological disorders. Both hepatic encephalopathy (37.5%) and altered mental state (57.7%) caused high mortality (p=0.019 and 0.001) and were determined as indepen-dent risk factors for mortality. Living donor transplantation caused less frequent mental deterioration (p=0.049). The mortality rate (53.8%) was high in patients with seizures (p=0.019). While mortality was 28.6% in Wilson's disease patients with neurological disorders, no death was observed in patients without neurological disorders. We identified a wide variety of neurological disorders in liver transplantation patients. We also demonstrated that serious neurological disorders, including hepatic encephalopathy and seizures, are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, in order to avoid poor outcomes, hepatic encephalopathy should be considered as a prioritization criterion for liver transplantation.

Business process prioritization criteria: a case study in the financial market

Purpose This paper aims to analyze and examine how an organization from the financial sector prioritizes its business processes and what criteria are adopted to select the most appropriate process for improvement projects. Design/methodology/approach This descriptive research is based on an exploratory approach. Qualitative methodology was applied to a case study through on-site observation, documentation analysis and semi-structured interviews. Findings The results confirm criteria mentioned in the literature, such as financial aspects and strategic impacts, but also raised a new critical issue: automation potential of manual processes, reflecting the current movement of process automation. Research limitations/implications As a limitation of this study, it is worth mentioning the application in only one organization in the financial market and the small number of respondents, even though they occupy leadership positions in the organization. Practical implications As a practical implication, the present work offers a direction for managers of the financial sector in structuring and applying models for prioritizing processes aimed at organizational efficiency. Social implications Automation solutions for process improvement need careful study to minimize impacts in human resources reduction. In this sense, the eligibility of a process for automation must be carefully considered. Originality/value This paper presents the evolution of the process prioritization model adopted by a large institution in the financial market, which has a significant presence in the Brazilian and international markets as a commercial and wholesale bank.

Innovation and invention: the role of virtual occupational therapy in the management of motor neurone disease

Background: Motor neurone disease (MND) is a progressive neurological condition with no known cure. Supportive management and symptom control by a multidisciplinary team forms the mainstay of treatment. Caring for patients with MND throughout the COVID-19 required service providers to think of ways to adapt the service in order to meet the acute and constantly changing needs of their service users within pandemic guidelines. Aims: This paper explores innovative changes within the occupational therapy service provision during the pandemic and how it supports the multidisciplinary team (MDT) working. It also evaluates the merits and disadvantages of using virtual technology in specific areas of occupational therapy intervention. Methods: A set of prioritisation criteria was developed to understand the rationale for virtual versus face-to-face input. A reflective process has been used to identify and evaluate innovative service provision in occupational therapy in the management of motor neurone disease. Findings: Virtual consultations were an effective way of providing certain aspects of occupational therapy input. Virtual consultations were found to be less effective during moving and handling assessments, complex environmental adaptations assessment and when managing complex cognitive presentations. During the pandemic there was a rise in referrals for cognitive behavioural management, a specialist area of expertise for occupational therapy in this clinical area. A holistic approach was paramount in meeting the evolving needs of patients across functional domains. Occupational therapy complemented the caring and supportive role of nurses and other members of the MDT in the management of MND. Conclusions: Occupational therapy input can support an MDT by providing valuable assessment of functional decline, specialist equipment, supporting cognitive-behavioural performance, restoring life roles and minimising the challenges imposed by the environment. Using virtual technology discernibly can be an invaluable approach to occupational therapy practice within an MDT setting for managing a progressive neurological condition, such as MND, during a pandemic.

Entgrenzte Figuren – bewegte Erinnerungen.Migration im Spannungsfeld von Literatur und Begriff

AbstractMy paper discusses the controversial relationship between literature and literary studies by using the example of the term ›migration literature‹. It demonstrates in the first part that ›migration literature‹ as a term in literary studies does not expose explications of rational reconstructions of a conceptual content in Harald Fricke’s and Klaus Weimar’s understanding. In its history (Adelson 1991; 2004), ›migration literature‹ goes back to a chain of different terms and definitions asGastarbeiter-orAusländerliteraturand reflects strategies of homogenization and exclusion. From the 1980s forward, those terms produce in cultural contexts a semantic field that propagates culture based on a definition ofex negativo(Tafazoli 2019). The first part of my paper describes an outline of influences of homogenization and reductionism on the discourses of migration in literary studies and explains in the second part an asymmetrical relationship between motive on the one hand and terminology on the other. The term ›migration literature‹ seems to dominate this relationship by determination of a source of ›accepted truths‹ related to the life and background – specifically to the place of birth and the origin – of the author (Bay 2017). By prioritization of criteria beyond narrative reality, literary studies led in the 1980s and 1990s discourses on migration on the sidelines of canon of German speaking literature (Weigel 1991; Wilpert 2001). With regard to terminological determination in order to produce interpretative sovereignty (Foucault 1994), my paper exemplifies in the second part that the term ›migration literature‹ collects selected and limited fields of social, historical and political knowledge in perspective adjustment and in order to classify literature beyond aesthetic criteria. By this means, inductive standards (Müller 2010a; 2010b) classify the literary object ›migration‹ ontologically and regardless of factuality of the author’s life on the one hand and fictionality of narrative text on the other. The ontological classification has been used, for example, in contexts that replace the figure of stranger (Fremder) by the figure of migrant and determines the latter as figuration of external space of culture. The replacement suggests a perspective rigidity in the cultural production of knowledge that flows into a terminological classification and claims with the term ›migration literature‹ sovereignty over culture. From this point of view, the author and his work should be located in the external space of canonized literature. The second part of my paper comes to the conclusion that the term ›migration literature‹ has been developed in politicized frames of external-textual ›accepted truths‹ and bases its stability on cultural essentialism and exclusion regardless of heterogenetic appearance (Bhatti 2015).With regard to theories of »literature on the move« (Ette 2001), my paper understands that migration has always formed a considerable part of literary production. Therefore, migration could be understood as a literary motive. This meaning would undermine an ontological understanding of culture. Narrative texts develop poetics of migration and create by figurations of migration a poly-perspectivity in which migration advances to a polysemantic motive. My paper discusses these thoughts in the context of cultural memory in the third part and understands varied and multifaceted constructions of cultural memory on all sides of cultural borders. This part confronts the asymmetrical relationship between motive and terminology with discussions on migration as narrative of cultural memory that belongs to cultural majority and minority equally, at the same time and in the same space. Based on this understanding, my paper argues that migration as a motive construct shapes and leads discourses of culture under the conditions of global re-formation. The shift of the perspective from conceptual classification to close-readings of literary constructions should lead us to considerations about the openness of the narrative in distinction to terminological unity and should also initiate a paradigm shift in locating migration in discourses of literary studies. The theoretical considerations will be exemplified in the fourth section by Mohammad Hossein AllafisFrankfurter Trilogiethat is a collection of the novelsDie Nächte am Main(1998),Die letzte Nacht mit Gabriela(2000) andGabriela findet einen Stapel Papier(2012). The fourth part of my paper examines inFrankfurter Trilogiea reading that integrates migration as a motive into the discourse of cultural memory of global challenges. Using the example of theTrilogie, this part of my paper demonstrates that discussions on migration in the context of cultural memory could initiate a shift in the perspective of reception from conceptual homogenization to narrative openness. The shift of perspective shows that literature translates the questions of community into the aesthetic perception of the form of culture and civilization in which the community actually articulates and appears itself and shows also that reading of migration as a statement aboutonenation has lost its explanatory power. The last part of my paper resumes my thoughts and takes position in the current fields of research in literary studies.

How to continue COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials? The ethics of vaccine research in a time of pandemic.

Between December 2020 and March 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency issued Emergency Use Authorizations and Conditional Marketing Authorizations for the distribution of the first COVID-19 vaccines. Although these vaccines were thoroughly assessed before their approval, regulators required companies to continue ongoing placebo-controlled clinical trials in order to gather further reliable scientific information on their safety and efficacy, as well as to start new studies to evaluate additional candidates. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the ethical issues raised by the tension between the need to continue these types of clinical trials and the obligations related to the protection of the rights and well-being of research participants. Specifically, we question whether—how, and to what extent—fundamental principles governing research involving human beings can be applied to the current pandemic situation. We argue that continuing ongoing placebo-controlled clinical trials can be considered ethically justifiable only if all participants are adequately informed of any developments that may affect their willingness to remain enrolled, including the current situation of resource scarcity and the prioritization criteria established for vaccination. However, we also argue that currently approved vaccines, which are considered safe and effective enough to be administered to millions of people as part of the vaccination campaign, necessarily represent the “best proven intervention” currently available and, therefore, should be used as comparators in future studies instead of placebo.

From policy to practice: prioritizing person-centred healthcare actions in the state of Victoria

BackgroundMeaningful involvement of consumers in healthcare is a high priority worldwide. In Victoria, Australia, a Partnering in Healthcare (PiH) policy framework was developed to guide health services in addressing consumer-focused healthcare improvements. The aim of this project was to identify priorities for improvement relating to the framework from the perspective of Victorian healthcare consumers and those who work in the healthcare sector.MethodsA survey of Victorians representing key stakeholder groups was used to identify a “long list” of potential priorities, followed by a day-long summit to reduce this to a “short list” using explicit prioritization criteria. The survey was piloted prior to implementation, and diverse consumer groups and key health service providers were purposefully sampled for the summit.ResultsThe survey (n = 680 respondents) generated 14–20 thematic categories across the proposed framework’s five domains. The summit (n = 31 participants, including n = 21 consumer representatives) prioritized the following five areas based on the survey findings: communication, shared decision-making, (shared) care planning, health (system) literacy and people (not) around the patient. These priorities were underpinned by three cross-cutting principles: care/compassion/respect, accountability and diversity.ConclusionFew studies have explicitly sought consumer input on health policy implementation. Adopting a codesign approach enabled the framework to be a shared foundation of healthcare improvement. The framework was subsequently launched in 2019. All Victorian health services are required to commit annually to improvement priorities against at least two framework domains.

Criteria prioritization for the sustainable development of second-generation bioethanol in Thailand using the Delphi-AHP technique

BackgroundThe availability of underexploited agricultural residues in Thailand opens up the opportunity to supply second-generation bioethanol production. The national implementation of residues-to-biofuel can potentially boost the bioeconomy and greenhouse gas mitigation but requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the development of effective policy recommendations. This study aims to optimize the implementation of the national strategy through the use of a multi-criteria approach that involves participatory prioritization by current stakeholders in order to evaluate certain aspects and important indicators for second-generation bioethanol development.MethodsThe Delphi-AHP technique was used to analyze the degree of importance of different criteria. The evaluation process was conducted with various stakeholders and used a pairwise comparison of 4 dimensions (main criteria) and 12 indicators (sub-criteria). Participants were asked to rate factors related to technical feasibility, environmental impacts, economic feasibility and social impacts in terms of importance.ResultsBioethanol stakeholders in Thailand from five different sectors (industry/business, NPO/NGOs, the governmental sector, academic/research institutes and financial institutions/banks) participated in the Delphi survey. The 20 experts’ evaluation of the four dimensions ranked economic feasibility (32.7%) highest in terms of level of importance, followed by environmental impacts (25.1%), technical feasibility (24.9%) and social impacts (17.3%). When assessing the sub-criteria, the participants selected ‘final price per liter’, ‘added value of input materials’ and ‘net energy balance’ as the top three most important indicators among the 12 sub-criteria. In terms of a link between the preferred criteria and the participants’ expertise, the results encouraged taking different backgrounds and affiliations into account in the policy planning phase.ConclusionsThe stakeholder survey indicated the importance of economic aspects, highlighting the need to take governmental driven policy into consideration. However, implementation scenarios have to be embedded in a broader range of aspects because all the dimensions were rated as being highly impactful. For future sustainable bioenergy, the inclusion of stakeholders’ opinions can result in multifaceted scenarios that can be linked to social acceptance and benefits for all relevant players when developing policy recommendations for advanced bioenergy.

Bioethical Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Did Healthcare Ethics Committees and Institutions State in Spain?

Objectives: Each new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic invites the possible obligation to prioritize individuals' access to vital resources, and thereby leads to unresolved and important bioethical concerns. Governments have to make decisions to protect access to the health system with equity. The prioritization criteria during a pandemic are both a clinical and legal-administrative decision with ethical repercussion. We aim to analyse the prioritization protocols used in Spain during the pandemic which, in many cases, have not been updated.Method: We carried out a narrative review of 27 protocols of prioritization proposed by healthcare ethics committees, scientific societies and institutions in Spain for this study. The review evaluated shared aspects and unique differences and proffered a bioethical reflection.Results: The research questions explored patient prioritization, the criteria applied and the relative weight assigned to each criterion. There was a need to use several indicators, being morbidity and mortality scales the most commonly used, followed by facets pertaining to disease severity and functional status. Although age was initially considered in some protocols, it cannot be the sole criterion used when assigning care resources.Conclusions: In COVID-19 pandemic there is a need for a unified set of criteria that guarantees equity and transparency in decision-making processes. Establishing treatment indications is not the aim of such criteria, but instead prioritizing access to care resources. In protocols of prioritization, the principle of efficiency must vary according to the principle of equity and the criteria used to guarantee such equity.

Explain and Prioritize Information Disclosure Factors related to Sustainable Development Accounting with Fuzzy Approach

This research was conducted with the aim of explain and prioritize information disclosure factors related to sustainable development accounting with fuzzy in 2019 of companies active on the Iranian Stock Exchange. Qualitative data were obtained through the study of research and credible sources in the field of sustainable development accounting and using coding through content analysis, the initial variables of the model were identified; 61 indicators were extracted from the initial codes in 4 dimensions including: environment, social factors. Economic and governance factors were categorized. In the quantitative section, the statistical population of the study included knowledgeable and professional and academic experts in the field of ac-counting. Using the targeted sampling method, 25 experts were selected as statistical samples. In the quantitative part, using fuzzy Delphi technique in one step, the indicators were screened. In the next step, prioritization of criteria and sub-criteria was done by hierarchical analysis method with fuzzy approach; among the main criteria, environmental dimension with weight 0.405 in rank 1 The social dimension with a weight of 0.296 was ranked 2nd, the economic dimension with a weight of 0.186 was ranked 3rd and the leadership dimension with a weight of 0.113 was ranked 4th. Finally, based on the calculated final weight, the strategic approach to environmental impacts with a weight of 0.955 in the first place, management and efficiency in consumption in the second place, social development and humanity in the third place and management Waste and waste came in fourth.

Somatostatin receptors scintigraphy prioritization criteria based on net patient epidemiological profile: a bi-centric study

This study aimed to create a generic profile of patients with NETs and to establish the prioritization criteria for somatostatin receptors scintigraphy (SRS), within the NETs diagnostic algorithm, being the first study of this kind conducted in Romania. Material and methods: A bi-centric, retro-prospective study comprising 103 patients with NETs, evaluated through 99mTc-TOC SRS, in two nuclear medicine departments from “Sf. Spiridon” County Clinical Emergency Hospital Iasi, Romania and Center of Nuclear Medicine, University Clinical Center of Kragujevac, Serbia. We analyzed the clinical-paraclinical features of included patients, as a starting point for streamlining the selection of patients for SRS. Results and discussion: The total group of patients included 47.57 % men and 52.43 % women, the age varying between 21-83 years. The most frequent primary NETs were represented by pNETs, and GI-NETs and the symptoms were nonspecific for majority of analyzed patients. Both prospective and retrospective analysis showed that SRS was followed by positive results. For prospectively analyzed patients, due to the used customized sheets, it was extremely easy to identify four SRS prioritization criteria. Conclusions: This study could outline the profile of patients with NETs, as the starting point for streamlining patient selection for SRS. The four prioritization criteria proposed by us could guide the diagnostic algorithm.

Preparing n-of-1 Antisense Oligonucleotide Treatments for Rare Neurological Diseases in Europe: Genetic, Regulatory, and Ethical Perspectives.

Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies present a promising disease-modifying treatment approach for rare neurological diseases (RNDs). However, the current focus is on “more common” RNDs, leaving a large share of RND patients still without prospect of disease-modifying treatments. In response to this gap, n-of-1 ASO treatment approaches are targeting ultrarare or even private variants. While highly attractive, this emerging, academia-driven field of ultimately individualized precision medicine is in need of systematic guidance and standards, which will allow global scaling of this approach. We provide here genetic, regulatory, and ethical perspectives for preparing n-of-1 ASO treatments and research programs, with a specific focus on the European context. By example of splice modulating ASOs, we outline genetic criteria for variant prioritization, chart the regulatory field of n-of-1 ASO treatment development in Europe, and propose an ethically informed classification for n-of-1 ASO treatment strategies and level of outcome assessments. To accommodate the ethical requirements of both individual patient benefit and knowledge gain, we propose a stronger integration of patient care and clinical research when developing novel n-of-1 ASO treatments: each single trial of therapy should inherently be driven to generate generalizable knowledge, be registered in a ASO treatment registry, and include assessment of generic outcomes, which allow aggregated analysis across n-of-1 trials of therapy.

Research priorities to increase vaccination coverage in Europe (EU joint action on vaccination)

BackgroundDeciding how best to invest in healthcare is never an easy task and prioritization is therefore an area of great interest for policymakers. Too low public vaccine confidence, which results in insufficient vaccine uptake, remains an area of concern for EU policy-makers. Within the European Joint action on vaccination, a work-package dedicated to research aims to define tools and methods for priority‐setting in the field of vaccination research. We therefore propose a prioritization framework to identify research priorities towards generating and synthesizing evidence to support policies and strategies aiming at increasing vaccine coverage. Materials/methodsWe used a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method inspired by the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative developed by Rudan et al. This quantitative methodology follows a series of steps involving different groups of experts and relevant stakeholders. The first step consists in identifying key research questions through a broad consultation. In parallel, a first group of experts is tasked to select criteria for prioritization of research questions, taking into consideration the ultimate goal of the exercise. Another group of experts is then requested to assess a weight to each of the criteria, using pair-wise comparisons. The final step consists in gathering experts who will assess each research question against the weighted criteria. This evaluation leads to assigning a score to each individual research question, which can then be ranked in order of priority. ResultsWe focused our work on four pre-selected pilot vaccines (pertussis, measles containing combination vaccines, influenza and HPV). The consultation generated 124 questions, which were secondarily sorted and re-worded to obtain 27 questions to be ranked. Criteria for setting priorities were the following: accessibility, answerability, deliverability, disease prevalence/incidence, effectiveness, equity, generalization, and territory. During a final face-to-face meeting international experts ranked the 27 questions and agreed on a consensual list of six top-priorities. ConclusionsWe have developed a transparent, evidence-based rigorous framework to defined key research questions to generate evidence towards the design of policies and strategies to increase vaccine coverage. Results were disseminated broadly and submitted to the EC for potential funding in the context of The Horizon Europe Program. The same process will be conducted in 2021 to identify vaccination research priorities regarding all vaccines used in the EU as well as COVID-19 vaccines.

High prevalence of multilocus pathogenic variation in neurodevelopmental disorders in the Turkish population

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are clinically and genetically heterogenous; many such disorders are secondary to perturbation in brain development and/or function. The prevalence of NDDs is > 3%, resulting in significant sociocultural and economic challenges to society. With recent advances in family-based genomics, rare-variant analyses, and further exploration of the Clan Genomics hypothesis, there has been a logarithmic explosion in neurogenetic "disease-associated genes" molecular etiology and biology of NDDs; however, the majority of NDDs remain molecularly undiagnosed. We applied genome-wide screening technologies, including exome sequencing (ES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS), to identify the molecular etiology of 234 newly enrolled subjects and 20 previously unsolved Turkish NDD families. In 176 of the 234 studied families (75.2%), a plausible and genetically parsimonious molecular etiology was identified. Out of 176 solved families, deleterious variants were identified in 218 distinct genes, further documenting the enormous genetic heterogeneity and diverse perturbations in human biology underlying NDDs. We propose 86 candidate disease-trait-associated genes for an NDD phenotype. Importantly, on the basis of objective and internally established variant prioritization criteria, we identified 51 families (51/176= 28.9%) with multilocus pathogenic variation (MPV), mostly driven by runs of homozygosity (ROHs) - reflecting genomic segments/haplotypes that are identical-by-descent. Furthermore, with the use of additional bioinformatic tools and expansion of ES to additional family members, we established a molecular diagnosis in 5 out of 20 families (25%) who remained undiagnosed in our previously studied NDD cohort emanating from Turkey.

A Prioritization Approach for Regression Test Cases Based on a Revised Genetic Algorithm

The regression testing is a software-based testing approach executed to verify that changes made to the softwaredo not affect the existing functionality of the product. On account of the constraints of time and cost, it isimpractical to re-execute all the test cases for software whenever a change occurs. In order to overcome sucha problem in the selection of regression test cases, a prioritization technique should be employed. On the basisof some predefined criterion, the prioritization techniques create an execution schedule for the test cases, sothe higher priority test cases can be performed earlier than the lower priority test cases in order to improvethe efficiency of the software testing. Many prioritization criteria for regression test cases have been proposedin software testing literature; however, most of such techniques are code-based. Keeping in view this fact, thisresearch work has proposed a prioritization approach for regression test cases generated from software specificationswhich are based on the criterion of the Average Percentage Transition Coverage (APTC) by using arevised genetic algorithm. This criterion evaluates the rate of transitions coverage by incorporating knowledgeabout the significance of transitions between activates in the form of weights. APTC has been used as a fitnessevaluation function in a genetic algorithm to measure the effectiveness of a test cases sequence. Moreover, inorder to improve the coverage percentage, the proposed approach has revised the genetic algorithm by solvingthe problem of the optimal local solution. The experimental results show that the proposed approach demonstratesa good coverage performance with less execution time as compared to the standard genetic algorithmand some other prioritization techniques.