Research Group Research Articles

Accelerating cancer research trial startup in the community setting: A quality-improvement study.

11066 Background: There is a large variation in activation times for cancer clinical trials, delaying the opportunity for patients to benefit from cutting edge treatments. Academic medical centers typically take longer to activate a clinical trial as compared to community settings. Some academic medical centers have adopted quality improvement processes to reduce clinical trial start-up time. Our center, TriHealth Cancer & Blood Institute (TCBI) in the SW Ohio community has also adopted quality improvement processes to further reduce startup time within our oncology research group. Methods: This study encompassed July 2022-June 2023, with baseline data drawn from January 2021 to December 2021 prior to the study period which revealed a mean clinical trial start-up time of 116 days. The research group used a swim-lane process to define the typical process & stakeholders for clinical activation time at our institution prior to the study time. Our group identified three major areas with significant lag-time - contracts, budgets, & IRB/ICF - with the overarching root cause for delays due to lack of organizational process & expertise in these major areas. Using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA), we instituted interventions, which included utilizing a central IRB, identifying a responsible member with extensive research budgeting to review research study budgets, & identified a responsible member with extensive contracts review & negotiations working with Central Legal throughout the contracts negotiation process with sponsor(s). Results: During this 12-month study time, our center demonstrated a 44% reduction in trial start up time (141 days to 79 days), while at the same time doubling the number of active trials. This process change resulted in sustainability that carried into 2023, further reducing start-up time to 70 days. In 2021, we opened 6 studies and after adoption of these process improvements (2022) we doubled the number of studies by 117%, while opening 67% more in 2023 than in 2021. The ability to open more studies has allowed us to shift patient enrollment to more investigational trials while increasing treatment enrollment from 2022 to 2023 by 24%. Through process improvement, more treatment studies are open & available for our community. Conclusions: By implementing interventions to streamline clinical trial activation time, our center was able to significantly & sustainably reduce the time required to start a clinical trial in our community health system in a 12-month period, resulting in our ability to initiate more clinical trials. As a result, more treatment trial patients were able to be enrolled in these clinical trials at TCBI, with the hope of improved outcomes. We anticipate that further adoption of just-in-time studies may help to decrease this activation time further. [Table: see text]

3R Nursing Combined with Dietary and Nutritional Interventions Enhances Self-care Ability in Elderly Patients with Vascular Dementia.

Vascular dementia (VD) is an extremely common neurological dysfunction in the elderly population, and greatly affects the patient's ability to take care of themselves. Recent research suggests that VD patients need more targeted and individualized nursing during treatment, so as to enhance cognitive function and therapeutic efficacy. The objective of this study is to observe the effect of reminiscence, reality, and remotivation (3R) nursing combined with dietary and nutritional interventions on elderly patients with VD, so as to provide clinical evidence for the management of VD in older adults. 120 elderly VD patients admitted between December 2022 and December 2023 were selected, including 64 cases receiving 3R nursing combined with dietary and nutritional interventions (the research group) and 56 cases receiving routine nursing (the control group). The two groups were compared in terms of neurological function, self-care ability, and nutritional status before and after nursing, as well as nursing compliance. After the completion of the care, patients' quality of life and family satisfaction were investigated. In comparison with the control group, the research group displayed higher scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), greater self-care ability, and higher levels of nutritional proteins and grip strength (p < 0.05). In addition, patients in the research group displayed greater nursing compliance and quality of life of patients, as well as higher family satisfaction (p < 0.05). 3R nursing combined with dietary and nutritional interventions can effectively improve the neurological function of VD patients and enhance their self-care ability.

Hydrophobic C-Terminal Peptide Analog Aβ31-41 Protects the Neurons from Aβ-Induced Toxicity.

Spontaneous aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ) leads to the formation of neurotoxic senile plaque considered as the most crucial event in Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression. Inhibition or disruption of this deadly aggregate formation is one of the most efficient strategies for the development of potential therapeutics, and extensive research is in progress by various research groups. In this direction, the development of a peptide analogous to that of the native Aβ peptide is an attractive strategy. Based on this rationale, β-sheet breakers were developed from the Aβ central hydrophobic core. These peptide derivatives will bind to the full length of the parent Aβ and interfere in self-recognition, thereby preventing the folding of the Aβ peptide into cross β-sheet neurotoxic aggregates. However, this approach is effective in the inhibition of fibrillar aggregation, but this strategy is ineffective in the Aβ neurotoxic oligomer formation. Therefore, an alternative and efficient approach is to use the Aβ peptide analogous to the C-terminal region, which arbitrates fibrillation and oligomerization. Herein, we developed the Aβ C-terminal fragment (ACT-1 to ACT-7) for inhibition of oligomerization as well as fibrillar aggregation. Screening of these seven peptides resulted in an efficient anti-Aβ peptide aggregative agent (ACT-7), which was evaluated by the ThT assay peptide. The ThT assay reveals complete inhibition and showed significant neuroprotection of PC-12-derived neurons from Aβ-induced toxicity and reduced cell apoptosis. Further, analysis using CD and FTIR spectroscopy reveals that the ACT-7 peptide efficiently inhibits the formation of the β-sheet secondary structure content. HR-TEM microscopic analysis confirmed the inhibition of formation. Therefore, the inhibition of β-sheet Aβ fibrillary aggregation by the protease-stable ACT-7 peptide may provide a beneficial effect on AD treatment to control the Aβ aggregates. Finally, we anticipate that our newly designed ACT peptides may also assist as a template molecular scaffold for designing potential anti-AD therapeutics.

Optimizing High-Entropy Alloys using Deep Neural Networks

Exceptional mechanical properties of multi-principal element alloys have been typically achieved through manual trial-and-error approaches. The advances in artificial neural networks (ANN) have recently allowed for the development of predictive alloy design ANN models that take into account a large variety of prior experimental findings. However, when mechanical performance is considered, prior processing protocols (e.g. annealing, cold working) are almost impossible to track across different research groups and material classes. In this work, we propose to reverse the use of the yield stress point, setting it as an explicit input (instead of predictive output) parameter that is then used for the quantification of the material state, towards predicting material properties, such as the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS). This novel approach specifically addresses the challenge of predicting and improving ductility, a common issue in existing methods focused on yield stress, hardness, and phases. By combining available, validated databases of eleven elements and 734 total materials, we develop an ANN that receives as input the compositions out of 11 possible elements and the "observed" yield stress. Then, we utilize this model to perform predictions for 5-element concentrated alloys with exceptional UTS. We show that this ANN modeling strategy leads to exceptional confidence scores, and then, we use this ANN model for the design of HEAs, which we further discuss.

Antitumor mechanisms of OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) nanoimmunotherapy involving monoamine oxidases: Clinical implications in BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

e14597 Background: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy has been the gold standard treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) for nearly half a century. However, many high-risk patients experience recurrence, including those who progress and eventually become unresponsive to BCG. The emergence of new immunotherapeutic agents has revolutionized the treatment of various tumor types, including urothelial carcinoma. In this context, our research group has developed OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) immunotherapy, which has shown promising results in cancer treatment, particularly in NMIBC. Given the inherent complexity of the immune response, patient selection and the development of biomarkers to guide the identification of individuals who will derive the greatest benefit from a specific immunotherapy remain crucial. Over the past years, several studies have demonstrated the upregulation of monoamine oxidases (MAOs) in tumor progression and metastasis. Therefore, the objectives of this present study were to characterize the effects of OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) on the modulation of MAOs (MAO-A and MAO-B) in the bladder of patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC. Methods: A total of 40 bladder biopsies from patients with BCG-unresponsive NMIBC treated with OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) were collected and analyzed from Paulínia Municipal Hospital (HMP). These samples were then divided into two groups (n=20 per group): Group 1 (biopsy before OncoTherad treatment) and Group 2 (biopsy after OncoTherad treatment). Subsequently, the samples underwent immunohistochemical analyses for MAO-A and MAO-B. The retrospective anonymous study was approved by the local ethics committee (Clinical Trial: RBR-6swqd2). Results: Our results demonstrated high immunoreactivities for both MAO-A and MAO-B in the bladder tumor microenvironment prior to OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) treatment, confirming that the pattern reported in literature studies can also be observed in NMIBC. Total immunoreactivities for MAO-A did not differ statistically between bladder biopsies of Groups 1 and 2, indicating that this treatment does not interfere with the action of MAO-A in bladder tissue. In contrast, immunoreactivities for MAO-B were significantly lower (p&lt;0.05) in the Group 2 when compared to Group 1 suggesting that this immunotherapy reversed the immunosuppressive state and tumor progression induced by MAO-B. Conclusions: Taken together, our results support the use of MAO-B as a biomarker for clinical response to OncoTherad (MRB-CFI-1) immunotherapy.

Authentic parent engagement in performance measure design: The JCAMP example

AbstractPerformance measurement is meant to help organizations to better understand current practices, processes, outputs, or outcomes. Yet, it is often limited in its use and usefulness, partly because it is not designed with the end user in mind. This article describes a process that integrates participatory design and design thinking methodologies to bring together a multidisciplinary group of systems professionals, researchers, and persons with lived experience to create meaningful child welfare court performance measures. The methods and process used to design the measures are described, including the resulting measures in one domain of measurement. Key lessons were learned throughout this process, including the value of lived experience in design and implementation.

Multimodal cross-examination of progressive apraxia of speech by diffusion tensor imaging-based tractography and Tau-PET scans.

Progressive apraxia of speech (PAOS) is a 4R tauopathy characterized by difficulties with motor speech planning. Neurodegeneration in PAOS targets the premotor cortex, particularly the supplementary motor area (SMA), with degeneration of white matter (WM) tracts connecting premotor and motor cortices and Broca's area observed on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We aimed to assess flortaucipir uptake across speech-language-related WM tracts identified using DTI tractography in PAOS. Twenty-two patients with PAOS and 26 matched healthy controls were recruited by the Neurodegenerative Research Group (NRG) and underwent MRI and flortaucipir-PET. The patient population included patients with primary progressive apraxia of speech (PPAOS) and non-fluent variant/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (agPPA). Flortaucipir PET scans and DTI were coregistered using rigid registration with a mutual information cost function in subject space. Alignments between DTI and flortaucipir PET were inspected in all cases. Whole-brain tractography was calculated using deterministic algorithms by a tractography reconstruction tool (DSI-studio) and specific tracts were identified using an automatic fiber tracking atlas-based method. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and flortaucipir standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were averaged across the frontal aslant tract, arcuate fasciculi, inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus, inferior and middle longitudinal fasciculi, as well as the SMA commissural fibers. Reduced FA (p < .0001) and elevated flortaucipir SUVR (p = .0012) were observed in PAOS cases compared to controls across all combined WM tracts. For flortaucipir SUVR, the greatest differentiation of PAOS from controls was achieved with the SMA commissural fibers (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve [AUROC] = 0.83), followed by the left arcuate fasciculus (AUROC = 0.75) and left frontal aslant tract (AUROC = 0.71). Our findings demonstrate that flortaucipir uptake is increased across WM tracts related to speech/language difficulties in PAOS.

Reply to 'Commentary on: Mapping the landscape of immunonutrition and cancer research: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on behalf of NutriOnc Research Group (Int J Surg 2023, Epub ahead of print)'.

Reply to 'Commentary on: Mapping the landscape of immunonutrition and cancer research: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on behalf of NutriOnc Research Group (Int J Surg 2023, Epub ahead of print)'.

Research Group Introduction: Abe Laboratory, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Program, Dept. of Monozukuri Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology

Research Group Introduction: Abe Laboratory, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Program, Dept. of Monozukuri Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology

Healthcare disparities are associated with eligibility and enrollment in clinical trials in Louisiana.

e13728 Background: Clinical trials offer an opportunity to evaluate novel therapeutic strategies and modalities of care. Overall enrollment is low for clinical trials, but previous literature has highlighted lower rates of enrollment among underrepresented populations. A disproportionately low accrual of minority or other populations will result in reducing the ability of such clinical trials to prove general benefit to the overall population. This study aims to evaluate the population of those able or unable to qualify for and enroll in the Gulf South Clinical Trials network, a minority/underserved NCORP community site. Methods: Patient data was collected through interviews using a screening tool developed by the National Cancer Institute’s Community Oncology and Prevention Trials Research Group and active enrollment of ongoing clinical trials. Patients were interviewed regarding demographic data and tumor staging. Reason for ineligibility or non-enrollment was documented by the clinical staff. Clinical trials were categorized between Cancer-Control and Cancer Care Delivery Research (CC-CCDR) Trials and Cancer Treatment Trials from 2017 and 2023. Rates of eligibility and enrollment were compared via Fisher’s Exact tests. Results: CC-CCDR Trials had 363 participants while Cancer Treatment had 550 participants. CC-CCDR Trials resulted in 19% (n=69) of patients being ineligible with 81% (n=294) being eligible with a higher proportion of Whites (p&lt;.001), non-rural (p = .021), low income (p=.007), private insurance (p=&lt;.001), stage 1 tumors (p&lt;.001), and having a genetic predisposition (p&lt;.001) being ineligible. From the patients that were eligible, 13% (n= 39) of patients were not enrolled with 87% (n=255) of patients enrolled. Cancer Treatment Trials resulted in 23% (n=129) of ineligible patients and 76.5% (n=421) of eligible patients, with a higher proportion of low income (p=.002), private insurance (p=.035), and those not having genetic predispositions (p=.022) being ineligible. From the participants that were eligible, 20% (n=85) of patients were not enrolled with 80% (n=336) of patients enrolled, with a higher proportion of female (p= .002) patients not enrolled. Conclusions: Disparities in socioeconomic factors and female gender are associated with lower rates of eligibility and enrollment in clinical trials in community oncology settings. Future research identifying modifiable underlying factors can assist in developing strategies to improve enrollment in underserved populations.

Geriatric Oncology: A 5-Year Strategic Plan.

The increasing rate of the older adult population across the world over the next 20 years along with significant developments in the treatment of oncology will require a more granular understanding of the older adult population with cancer. The ASCO Geriatric Oncology Community of Practice (COP) herein provides an outline for the field along three fundamental pillars: education, research, and implementation, inspired by ASCO's 5-Year Strategic Plan. Fundamental to improving the understanding of geriatric oncology is research that intentionally includes older adults with clinically meaningful data supported by grants across all career stages. The increased knowledge base that is developed should be conveyed among health care providers through core competencies for trainees and continuing education for practicing oncologists. ASCO's infrastructure can serve as a resource for fellowship programs interested in acquiring geriatric oncology content and provide recommendations on developing training pathways for fellows interested in pursuing formalized training in geriatrics. Incorporating geriatric oncology into everyday practice is challenging as each clinical setting has unique operational workflows with barriers that limit implementation of valuable geriatric tools such as Geriatric Assessment. Partnerships among experts in quality improvement from the ASCO Geriatric Oncology COP, the Cancer and Aging Research Group, and ASCO's Quality Training Program can provide one such venue for implementation of geriatric oncology through a structured support mechanism. The field of geriatric oncology must continue to find innovative strategies using existing resources and partnerships to address the pressing needs of the older adult population with cancer to improve patient outcomes.

A United Kingdom prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study investigating tolerance of anti-cancer systemic therapy in the elderly: The TOASTIE study.

1521 Background: Older adults have a higher risk of developing chemotherapy (CTx) related toxicity. The Cancer Aging Research Group (CARG) score was developed and validated in the USA to predict risk of severe CTx induced toxicity in older adults; subsequent validation studies have had varying results. The TOASTIE study sought to evaluate the CARG score prospectively in a United Kingdom (UK) population. Methods: This multicentre, prospective, observational study recruited patients aged ≥65 years commencing first-line neo-adjuvant, adjuvant or palliative CTx for any solid organ malignancy. Those receiving non-CTx agents were excluded. Baseline demographics and established frailty measures were recorded, including Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), Rockwood Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), Geriatric-8 (G8) score and Charlson Co-morbidity Index (CCI). CARG score was calculated after initial Oncology consultation. Follow-up data including CTCAEv5 toxicity and hospital admissions were collected retrospectively. Results: 19 centres recruited 330 patients between Nov 2019 - Dec 2022. Median age was 73 years (range 65-92) and 51.9% were male. 54.9% had a primary tumour of gastrointestinal origin, 48.7% received CTx with palliative intent and 70.8% received doublet therapy. At baseline, 85% patients had an ECOG PS 0 or 1, with median CFS 3 (range 0-8), G8 score 12 (range 6-16) and CCI 6 (range 2-12). Follow-up data was available for 314 (92.6%) patients; the median CTx cycles received was 4 (range 1-16) with 124 (39%) patients dose reduced at cycle one. Treatment delays occurred in 83 (26.4%) patients and 123 (39.2%) stopped treatment early, with 60 (48.8%) cases due to treatment-related toxicity. 69(22.3%) patients experienced a CTCAE grade ≥3 toxicity and 84 (27%) requiring hospital admission. CARG score was available for 313 patients; 107 (34.2%) low risk, 167 (53.4%) medium risk and 39 (12.5%) high risk. Increasing CARG risk groups had increased toxicity rates (low 19.6%, medium 22.2%, high 28.2%) however this was non-significant with no evidence of robust predictive performance (Table). The performance of CFS and ECOG PS was superior to CARG. Conclusions: In this UK older patient population, baseline frailty was prevalent. CARG score was unable to robustly discriminate or predict risk of high-grade toxicity. ECOG showed superior, albeit limited, ability to predict and discriminate toxicity risk. This study highlights the need for development of further tools predictive of toxicity in this population. [Table: see text]

Immunological profiling of glioblastoma cellular composition to predict response to dendritic cell vaccination.

e14037 Background: Glioblastomas are the most common primary malignant brain tumors, comprising 2% of all adult cancers. Despite recent advancements in genetic classification and targeted therapies for specific mutations, there has been no significant improvement in overall life expectancy for the majority of patients. Last year, our research group reported promising results from a phase II prospective trial involving allogeneic dendritic cell vaccination. To date, six out of 37 reported cases remain alive without tumor recurrence, exhibiting a performance status of 90 to 100% according to the Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) three years after the initiation of vaccination. Methods: In this study, we focused on the immune cell infiltration observed at the time of tumor excision in enrolled patients. We utilized flow cytometry to quantify cells expressing membrane CD86, CD45, HLA-DR, PD-L1, CD11b, and CD14, in addition to assessing IDH-1 status, age, gender, KPS, gender, ECOG, symptomatology, and the number of vaccines administered during the trial. Our goal was to predict responsiveness in terms of overall survival using a neural network prediction algorithm with three hidden nodes and five seeds for improved reproducibility. We employed the random holdback method for algorithm validation. Results: From the 37 enrolled patients, we successfully obtained viable tumor cells from 19 frozen samples. The model achieved an RSquare value of 0.71 after training and 0.66 after validation (where 1 indicates a perfect model and 0 implies no improvement over a constant model). Similar RSquare values in both training and validation sets indicate strong predictive power. Positive predictors of overall survival included HLA-DR positivity, PD-L1 positivity, IDH-1 mutation status, the presence of focal deficits, and higher KPS scores, while negative predictors were CD86 expression, older age, symptoms of intracranial hypertension (ICH), and higher ECOG performance status. Conclusions: In conclusion, the neural network algorithm described herein enables the prediction of responsiveness to dendritic cell vaccination in terms of overall survival, based on clinical features and the profile of immune cell infiltration observed at the time of tumor excision.

Assessing safe chemotherapy needs and practices in Ile-Ife, Nigeria: a multi-disciplinary quality improvement project

ObjectiveTo explore the gaps in the safe handling, administration, preparation and disposal of chemotherapy agents in low and middle-income countries.DesignTwo surveys comprising a needs assessment survey and an American Cancer...

Usability and feasibility of the open-source GeRI platform for remote assessments in older adults with prostate cancer.

e13664 Background: The Geriatric Remote Initiative (GeRI) is an open-source tool to collect patient-generated health data for older adults with cancer. It comprises a WiFi-enabled Raspberry Pi tablet, a Bangle.js 2 wrist accelerometer, and Mi Body Composition Scale 2 for data collection. Following the initial phase where feedback from older cancer survivors and caregivers refined a demonstration GeRI platform, this study deployed a live version of GeRI in advanced prostate cancer patients to evaluate its feasibility and usability. Methods: In this single-arm pilot feasibility and usability study, we evaluated GeRI among ten advanced prostate cancer patients aged ≥65 years undergoing androgen deprivation (ADT) across varied frailty risk categories. Participants interacted with GeRI for ≥12 weeks. Data collection comprised demographics, clinical information, and vulnerability assessment (Cancer and Aging Research Group [CARG] score) from in-clinic surveys. Biometric (wearable/scale) and electronic patient-reported outcomes data from the tablet were securely transmitted to the institution’s HIPAA-compliant cloud. Usability was evaluated using the System Usability Scale (SUS), aiming for an average score of 68 or higher. Feasibility was achieved if ≥6 participants completed at least 50% of all prompted interactions with the system components (surveys, wearable, and weight/bioimpedance) throughout a 12-week study period. Results: Ten men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer [median age: 73 years; 40% minority; median of 3 months of ADT exposure (IQR: 2-4.5); 80% had intensified ADT with 60% getting concurrent prostate-directed radiation] engaged with GeRI for a median of 104 days (IQR: 93-131). 40% were vulnerable with a CARG&gt;5. System usability, evaluated by SUS, yielded a mean score of 84 (SD: 12.5). All participants met the feasibility criterion. Deficiencies in obtaining complete 48-hour accelerometry data from 7 participants were noted with only 1 being due to persistent non-wear of the wearable and the remainder due to transmission failure. Conclusions: The GeRI platform exhibited exceptional usability and met all feasibility benchmarks in a geriatric oncology setting, highlighting its potential despite technical hurdles in accelerometry data collection. Further deployment of GeRI is underway [or planned] through an expanded program focusing on other cancer types, including head and neck, and more robust biometric data collection.

Demystifying In Vivo Bioluminescence Imaging of a Chagas Disease Mouse Model for Drug Efficacy Studies.

To control and decrease the public health impact of human protozoan diseases such as Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and human African trypanosomiasis, expediting the development of new drugs and vaccines is necessary. However, this process is filled with difficulties such as highly complex parasite biology and disease pathogenesis and, as typical for neglected tropical diseases, comparatively limited funding for research and development. Thus, in vitro and in vivo study models that can sufficiently reproduce infection and disease key features while providing rational use of resources are essential for progressing research for these conditions. One example is the in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI) mouse model for Chagas disease, which provides highly sensitive detection of long wavelength light generated by Trypanosoma cruzi parasites expressing luciferase. Despite this technique becoming the standard approach for drug efficacy in vivo studies, research groups might still struggle to implement it due to a lack of proper practical training on equipment handling and application of quality control procedures, even when suitable BLI equipment is readily available. Considering this scenario, this protocol aims to guide from planning experiments to data acquisition and analysis, with details that facilitate the implementation of protocols in research groups with little or no experience with BLI, either for Chagas disease or for other infectious disease mouse models.

SSENPV's Integrated Management Platform

At the Polytechnic of Viseu (PV) [1], the number of students has been increasing [2], and it is hoped that this trend continues, for the sake of the literacy of the population that serves in its area of coverage and for the reduction of the desertification of the interior region in which is inserted. In the case of Students with Specific Educational Needs (SSEN) who attend the PV (SSENPV), it is extremely important to develop procedures that minimize the anxiety brought about by change for these students, as well as to facilitate their adaptation, to make the period of permanence in Higher Education (HE) an inclusive period, generating well-being, promoting academic success, and facilitating the transition to active life. To combat this phenomenon and since the PV is a Higher Education Institution (HEI) that is guided by equity in its community, in particular the student community, the SSENPV census is a crucial measure insofar as it is necessary to implement procedures, which must respect and obey individual specificities. It is also intended that, regarding access to information on the platform, it will allow reducing asymmetries between students as well as access to services.To respond to this reality, within the scope of the Inova & Includes project. IPV I2 [3], a group of researchers, in partnership with the degree course in Computer Engineering at the Superior School of Technology and Management of Viseu (ESTGV) – curricular unit of “Project”, developed an integrated management platform for SSENPV. This platform, which is intended to be a contribution to true equity in education in the PV, is based on the support of social impact in different dimensions, which translates into the implementation of the following profiles:• Informative Profile: dissemination of legislation and other relevant information on Specific Educational Needs (SEN), ensuring centralized and accessible information management and streamlining procedures and support measures.• Academic Profile: registration and updating of data on the SSENPV.• Technical Evaluation and Follow-up Profile: registration of the SSENPV procedural evaluation, with automatic sending of technical evaluations to authorized users.

Evaluation of the efficacy of intervention in the management of AD chronic disease based on the theory of "prevention of the recrudescence of disease".

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease with a chronic course and a high recurrence. Based on the theory of "prevention and recovery after ulceration", the application value and significance of compound ginseng cicada decoction in the intervention of chronic disease management in patients with AD were retrospectively analyzed. Through clinical retrospective observation, 60 patients with spleen deficiency and moisture type AD admitted to the outpatient clinic of our hospital after January 2019 were analyzed. After comprehensive treatment until the patient's Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) Scale score is lower than 2 points, the study group was divided into a research group and a control group, according to the actual clinical follow-up whether to take compound ginseng cicada soup. The control group carried out chronic disease management education, conventional emollient topical with no drug maintenance intervention, and the research group included clinical patients who were orally administered to compound ginseng cicada decoction for 1 month, observed for 3 months, and compared with the clinical recurrence (recurrence rate, time to first recurrence, severity at recurrence, degree of pruritus), and the quality of life. After 3 months, the relapse rate, recurrence severity, itching degree and quality of life impact scores of the study group were significantly lower than those of the control group, and there were no obvious adverse events. The combined application of compound ginseng cicada decoction in the management of chronic diseases in patients with atopic dermatitis has the positive significance of reducing AD recurrence, alleviating the severity of recurrence, and effectively improving the life quality of patients. This method has high safety and is worthy of wide application.

Evaluating the process of practice enhancement for exclusive breastfeeding (PEEB): a participatory action research approach for clinical innovation

BackgroundDespite the known benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, global rates remain below recommended targets, with Ireland having one of the lowest rates in the world. This study explores the efficacy of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Work-Based Learning Groups (WBLGs) to enhance breastfeeding practices within Irish healthcare settings from the perspective of WBLG participants and facilitators.MethodsEmploying a PAR approach, interdisciplinary healthcare professionals across maternity, primary, and community care settings (n = 94) participated in monthly WBLGs facilitated by three research and practice experts. These sessions, conducted over nine months (November 2021 – July 2022), focused on critical reflective and experiential learning to identify and understand existing breastfeeding culture and practices. Data were collected through participant feedback, facilitator notes, and reflective exercises, with analysis centered on participant engagement and the effectiveness of WBLGs. This approach facilitated a comprehensive understanding of breastfeeding support challenges and opportunities, leading to the development of actionable themes and strategies for practice improvement.ResultsData analysis from WBLG participants led to the identification of five key themes: Empowerment, Ethos, Journey, Vision, and Personal Experience. These themes shaped the participants’ meta-narrative, emphasising a journey of knowledge-building and empowerment for breastfeeding women and supporting staff, underlining the importance of teamwork and multidisciplinary approaches. The project team’s evaluation highlighted four additional themes: Building Momentum, Balancing, Space Matters, and Being Present. These themes reflect the dynamics of the PAR process, highlighting the significance of creating a conducive environment for discussion, ensuring diverse engagement, and maintaining energy and focus to foster meaningful practice changes in breastfeeding support.ConclusionThis study highlights the potential of WBLGs and PAR to enhance the understanding and approach of healthcare professionals towards breastfeeding support. By fostering reflective and collaborative learning environments, the study has contributed to a deeper understanding of the challenges in breastfeeding support and identified key areas for improvement. The methodologies and themes identified hold promise to inform future practice and policy development in maternal and child health.

New haptic systems for elicit emotions in audio-visual events for hearing impaired people.

In this research we have developed devices for hearing impaired people that can transmit the emotions evoked by music. In this way, we will all achieve the full inclusion of impairment people in all social activities. As this is an issue that goes beyond pure engineering research, it has been necessary to create a multidisciplinary group within the Spanish Centre for Captioning and Audio Description (CESyA), in direct collaboration with the Display and Photonic Applications Research Group (GDAF) and the Human Language and Accessibility Technologies Group (HULAT) of the Carlos III University (UC3M) and the Psychiatry and Applied Communication Departments of the Complutense University of Madrid. For this research, a pair of haptic gloves were developed, which transmit different characteristics extracted from music by means of vibrational sequences, intended to drive an emotional reinforcement. Another device, a “music box”, a vibration box, was also developed from the idea of using vibration as an instrument.Overall, the acceptance of the glove was positive, with an 80% of users accepting the negative video, repeatedly stating in the surveys that they "felt more when the glove vibrated". The music box was also well received. Volunteers felt that the system gave them a pleasant sensation and that they could feel the music. However, some participants associated the vibration with the sensation of an alarm clock, which was expectedly negative.Considering the obtained EEG results, we can conclude that the integration of simple multimodal stimuli, visual and vibrotactile, helps to enhance the activation of emotional processes linked with musical stimulation. It can also be concluded that multimodal visual and vibrotactile stimulation enhances both attentional and emotional processes. These results pave the way for future developments that will allow a hearing-impaired person to fully enjoy an audiovisual event, which will have a great impact on this group.