International Collaborative Research Efforts Research Articles

Examining international practices in the management of pregnant women with von Willebrand disease

BackgroundThe management of pregnant women with von Willebrand disease (VWD) is complex as physiological pregnancy‐induced increases in plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) may be blunted or absent. Women with VWD experience a heightened risk of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and special consideration must be given regarding neuraxial anesthesia (NA) and the need for prophylaxis at time of delivery. These challenges are compounded by a lack of robust evidence to guide clinical decision‐making. Objectives and MethodsTo determine the current international clinical practices in the management of pregnancy for women with VWD, the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) conducted an international survey of health‐care providers (HCP). ResultsOne hundred thirty‐two respondents from 39 countries were included in the final analysis. Variations in clinical practice were identified in antenatal (monitoring of plasma VWF and ferritin levels), peripartum (optimal plasma VWF target at delivery) and postpartum management (definitions used for PPH and postpartum monitoring). A key area of divergence was suitability for NA for women with type 2 and type 3 VWD, with many respondents advising against the use of NA even with VWF supplementation (29% type 2 VWD, 37% type 3 VWD) but others advising use once plasma VWF activity was >50 IU/dL (57% type 2 VWD; 50% type 3 VWD). ConclusionsThis survey highlighted areas of uncertainty surrounding common management issues for pregnant women with VWD. These data underscore the need for international collaborative research efforts focused on peripartum management to improve care for pregnant women with VWD.

Time to Scale-up Research Collaborations to Address the Global Impact of COVID-19 - A Commentary.

In this commentary, we suggest that the unprecedented global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a compelling reason for researchers to stretch beyond usual limits and find new ways to engage in global collaborations. We point to data that have emerged on the mental health and economic consequences of the pandemic to illustrate the extent to which these common issues cross national borders. There is high likelihood that these burdens will continue to persist long after the pandemic is declared "over." We urge researchers, particularly those from countries with higher income economies, to share resources to increase international collaborative research efforts. We present a case study of an ongoing project and offer some lessons learned for individual investigators. Global problems require global solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that should prompt researchers to engage in science and research across national borders.

New freshwater mussels from two Southeast Asian genera Bineurus and Thaiconcha (Pseudodontini, Gonideinae, Unionidae)

The Mekong and Chao Phraya rivers harbor a species-rich freshwater mussel assemblage containing a large radiation of the Pseudodontini species. Members of the genera Bineurus Simpson 1900 and Thaiconcha Bolotov et al., 2020 primarily inhabit small and medium-sized tributaries of these rivers. Here, we present an integrative taxonomic review of these genus-level clades. We show that Bineurus contains four species: B. mouhotii (Lea, 1863), B. exilis (Morelet, 1866) stat. rev., B. anodontinum (Rochebrune, 1882) stat. rev., and B. loeiensis sp. nov. In its turn, Thaiconcha comprises three species: T. callifera (Martens, 1860), T. munelliptica sp. nov., and T. thaiensis sp. nov. Two species, Pseudodon ovalis Morlet, 1889 and P. thomsoni Morlet, 1884, are considered here as questionable taxa. These findings further highlight that Southeast Asia represents a significant evolutionary hotspot of freshwater mussels, which requires further international collaborative research and conservation efforts.

Global Research Collaboration for Vapour Intrusion

The complexity of the vapour intrusion (VI) transport pathway has received an ever-increased interest worldwide, and an improved and consolidated understanding of the VI issue requires collaboration between international research groups. This study uses the social network analysis methodology, applied to bibliometric authorship for VI research, to discover trends in collaboration, identify lead scientists, organisations, and countries. Furthermore, some of the external factors influencing the collaboration and productivity were assessed. The data suggests that the global research network for VI produced over a time span of 54 years 566 publications via 157 sources. The research network is composed of 437 organisations and 1053 authors from 33 countries. This suggests an increasingly active international collaborative research effort. However, inter-continental cooperation is much less than continental. The top five most central countries in the network are the USA, followed by Canada, China, The Netherlands, and Italy. The researchers with the most publications are from these five countries as well as the top organisations. The social network analysis conducted shows a good approximation of the collaborative structure for the key countries, organisations and researchers involved. Since 2010, the research community has become more stable.

Establishing Pompe Disease Newborn Screening: The Role of Industry.

When clinical trials for enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease commenced, a need for newborn screening (NBS) for Pompe disease was recognized. Two methods for NBS for Pompe disease by measuring acid α-glucosidase in dried blood spots on filter paper were developed in an international collaborative research effort led by Genzyme. Both methods were used successfully in NBS pilot programs to demonstrate the feasibility of NBS for Pompe disease. Since 2009, all babies born in Taiwan have been screened for Pompe disease. Pompe disease was added to the Recommended Uniform (Newborn) Screening Panel in the United States in 2015. NBS for Pompe disease is possible because of the unprecedented and selfless collaborations of countless international experts who shared their thoughts and data freely with the common goal of establishing NBS for Pompe disease expeditiously.

Evolution of international collaborative research efforts to develop non-Cochrane systematic reviews.

This research-on-research study describes efforts to develop non-Cochrane systematic reviews (SRs) by analyzing demographical and time-course collaborations between international institutions using protocols registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) or published in scientific journals. We have published an a priori protocol to develop this study. Protocols published in scientific journals were searched using the MEDLINE and Embase databases; the query terms “Systematic review” [Title] AND “protocol” [Title] were searched from February 2011 to December 2017. Protocols registered at PROSPERO during the same period were obtained by web scraping all non-Cochrane records with a Python script. After excluding protocols that had a fulfillment or duplication rate of less than 90%, they were classified as published “only in PROSPERO”, “only in journals”, or in “journals and PROSPERO”. Results of data and metadata extraction using text mining processes were curated by two reviewers. These Datasets and R scripts are freely available to facilitate reproducibility. We obtained 20,814 protocols of non-Cochrane SRs. While “unique protocols” by reviewers’ institutions from 60 countries were the most frequent, a median of 6 (2-150) institutions from 130 different countries were involved in the preparation of “collaborative protocols”. The highest Ranked countries involved in overall protocol production were the UK, the U.S., Australia, Brazil, China, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Most protocols were registered only in PROSPERO. However, the number of protocols published in scientific journals (924) or in both PROSPERO and journals (807) has increased over the last three years. Syst Rev and BMJ Open published more than half of the total protocols. While the more productive countries were involved in “unique” and “collaborative protocols”, less productive countries only participated in “collaborative protocols” that were mainly published in PROSPERO. Our results suggest that, although most countries were involved in solitary production of protocols for non-Cochrane SRs during the study period, it would be useful to develop new strategies to promote international collaborations, especially with less productive countries.

World Health Organization Global Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (WHO GASP): review of new data and evidence to inform international collaborative actions and research efforts.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a serious public health problem, compromising the management and control of gonorrhoea globally. Resistance in N. gonorrhoeae to ceftriaxone, the last option for first-line empirical monotherapy of gonorrhoea, has been reported from many countries globally, and sporadic failures to cure especially pharyngeal gonorrhoea with ceftriaxone monotherapy and dual antimicrobial therapies (ceftriaxone plus azithromycin or doxycycline) have been confirmed in several countries. In 2018, the first gonococcal isolates with ceftriaxone resistance plus high-level azithromycin resistance were identified in England and Australia. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Program (GASP) is essential to monitor AMR trends, identify emerging AMR and provide evidence for refinements of treatment guidelines and public health policy globally. Herein we describe the WHO GASP data from 67 countries in 2015-16, confirmed gonorrhoea treatment failures with ceftriaxone with or without azithromycin or doxycycline, and international collaborative actions and research efforts essential for the effective management and control of gonorrhoea. In most countries, resistance to ciprofloxacin is exceedingly high, azithromycin resistance is present and decreased susceptibility or resistance to ceftriaxone has emerged. Enhanced global collaborative actions are crucial for the control of gonorrhoea, including improved prevention, early diagnosis, treatment of index patient and partner (including test-of-cure), improved and expanded AMR surveillance (including surveillance of antimicrobial use and treatment failures), increased knowledge of correct antimicrobial use and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimicrobials and effective drug regulations and prescription policies (including antimicrobial stewardship). Ultimately, rapid, accurate and affordable point-of-care diagnostic tests (ideally also predicting AMR and/or susceptibility), new therapeutic antimicrobials and, the only sustainable solution, gonococcal vaccine(s) are imperative.

Forced Migration of Rohingya: An Untold Experience

The mass exodus of Rohingya people from Myanmar in 2017, has been recognised as the fastest growing refugee influx in the world and these refugees are currently living in the most densely populated camps in the world in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh. The long-standing, recurring crackdowns have left an estimated population of only 200,000 in Myanmar of an estimated 2.4 million Rohingya across the world. The recent mass exodus has been described by United Nation’s officials as a classic case of ethnic cleansing (Washington Post, October 12, 2017) and a hallmark of genocide (CNN, March 13, 2018). Alongside humanitarian urgencies, there are numerous challenges, including human rights, legal and geopolitical issues, and economic and environmental implications. Thus, the Rohingya Crisis demands multiple and multidimensional approaches to help Rohingya people with immediate rehabilitation and finding a sustainable solution through repatriation to Myanmar. This current report presents the findings of an international collaborative research effort that entailed interviewing 3,300 Rohingya households living in the makeshift camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The report investigates various dimensions of the life of Rohingya people in Myanmar and the extent and nature of atrocities experienced in Myanmar. This report also provides the socio-political and cultural contexts of Rohingya people and their experiences before fleeing to Bangladesh. One of the major contributions of this report is revealing the types and extent of long-term social, economic and political exclusion that Rohingya people faced at a community and national level in Myanmar. This project investigates the socio-political and cultural context of Rohingya people and their experiences before fleeing to Bangladesh. It investigates the socio-economic lives of Rohingya people, and the emergence of various issues connected with short- and long-term rehabilitation and resettlement in Bangladesh. The project examines ethnicity and preservation of cultural heritage, their sources or earning and the levels of economic activities of Rohingya people in the Bangladesh camps. It also documents the health and wellbeing of Rohingya refugees living there. One of the major contributions of this project is to record the responses and reactions of Rohingya people about the repatriation process, and possible compensation for their losses before returning to Myanmar. This research utilised a researcher-constructed semi-structured interview guide and a qualitative interview guide for primary data collection. The findings reveal far greater incidence of murder, rape, beatings and gunshot wounds experienced by Rohingya people in the August 2017 incident before fleeing to Bangladesh that has been reported previously. Crimes against property in terms of houses burned down, crops and businesses damaged and theft are also estimated at levels above those previously reported. Most respondents wanted to return as soon as possible to Myanmar, but wanted citizenship to be granted to them and for perpetrators of crimes to be prosecuted first. The key findings of the research, based on 650,000 refugees, are as follows: 93 per cent reported experiencing discrimination in Myanmar. 97 per cent of participants reported witnessing their neighbours being injured by Myanmar authorities. 82 per cent of participants reported witnessing their neighbours’ death or saw dead bodies in Myanmar before fleeing. 59 per cent of participants reported witnessing neighbours who had been victims of rape by Myanmar authorities. 85 per cent of participants reported witnessing the burning down of their own or neighbours’ homes. When family members are included, an estimated 115,000 Rohingya were beaten by Myanmar authorities. When family members are included, an estimated 42,000 Rohingya received gunshot wounds. An estimated 35,000 Rohingya people were thrown into fire. An estimated 24,800 Rohingya people were murdered. An estimated 18,500 women and adolescents were raped. 52 per cent of the refugees eat two types of food only within the Camp (generally rice and a vegetable) and may suffer malnutrition due to inadequate food intake. Over 79 per cent were willing to return to Myanmar as soon as possible. Over 96 per cent demanded recognition of Rohingya ethnicity or citizenship by the Myanmar Government as a precondition for their repatriation to Myanmar. These findings reveal a high level of atrocities perpetrated against Rohyinga. They suffered killings much higher than numbers reported to date by other sources and hence demand further examination, including a credible and independent investigation. This project is conducted by a research consortium consisting of academics and practitioners from Australia, Canada and Norway and national and international institutional partners, namely ASA Philippines Foundation, Ontario International Development Agency, Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB), Education for Skill Development (ESD) and Film for Peace Foundation (F4P).

The relationships between distance factors and international collaborative research outcomes: A bibliometric examination

Abstract Increasingly, scholars have been conducting team-based research with multinational collaborators to carry out internationally relevant studies, generate global impact, and promote academic exchanges. In this paper, we examine how four types of distance, i.e., geographic, political, cultural, and economic, relate to the output of international research collaborations. We analyze a bibliometric data set derived from four leading marketing journals spanning the 2001–2016 time frame. Among other insights, our results show that in the context of international collaborative research efforts, co-authors from countries with wider economic distances and narrower political distances have published fewer articles and received fewer citations compared to those from countries with narrower economic distances and wider political distances.

Going viral: riding the RNA wave to discovery.

Going viral: riding the RNA wave to discovery.

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement.

Minimally invasive aortic valve replacement.

The North American Multimodel Ensemble: Phase-1 Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction; Phase-2 toward Developing Intraseasonal Prediction

The recent U.S. National Academies report, Assessment of Intraseasonal to Interannual Climate Prediction and Predictability, was unequivocal in recommending the need for the development of a North American Multimodel Ensemble (NMME) operational predictive capability. Indeed, this effort is required to meet the specific tailored regional prediction and decision support needs of a large community of climate information users. The multimodel ensemble approach has proven extremely effective at quantifying prediction uncertainty due to uncertainty in model formulation and has proven to produce better prediction quality (on average) than any single model ensemble. This multimodel approach is the basis for several international collaborative prediction research efforts and an operational European system, and there are numerous examples of how this multimodel ensemble approach yields superior forecasts compared to any single model. Based on two NOAA Climate Test bed (CTB) NMME workshops (18 February and 8 April 2011), a collaborative and coordinated implementation strategy for a NMME prediction system has been developed and is currently delivering real-time seasonal-to-interannual predictions on the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) operational schedule. The hindcast and real-time prediction data are readily available (e.g., http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.Models/.NMME/) and in graphical format from CPC (www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/NMME/). Moreover, the NMME forecast is already currently being used as guidance for operational forecasters. This paper describes the new NMME effort, and presents an overview of the multimodel forecast quality and the complementary skill associated with individual models.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A scientometric analysis of Indian publications during 2003-2012

Examines 592 publications in Indian chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) research, as indexed in Scopus database during 2003-2012, witnessing an annual average growth rate of 30.38% and international collaborative publication share of 12.67%. The global share of Indian COPD research was 1.46% during 2003-2012, which increased from 1.07% to 1.72% from 2003-2007 to 2008-2012. Medicine contributed the largest publications share (77.70%) in Indian COPD research, followed by biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology (16.89%), pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics (14.36%), environment science (2.87%) and immunology and microbiology (2.70%) during 2003-2012. The 10 most productive organizations and authors in Indian COPD research contributed 30.07% and 17.74% share each to its cumulative publications output during 2003-2012 and have registered an average productivity per author of 17.8 and 10.50, an average citation impact per paper of 3.57 and 5.36 and an average h-index value of 4.60 and 4.50. The authors suggest the need to increase India's research efforts, improve its research quality and increase its international collaborative research efforts. India also needs to develop a National COPD Prevention and Control Programme, with a major thrust on setting up infrastructure for early and accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment and rehabilitation programmes, generating new knowledge in COPD and dissemination of knowledge regarding prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation to healthcare providers in India.

Alzheimer’s Disease Research in India: A Scientometric Analysis of Publications Output during 2002-11

Conclusions: In view of its low publication productivity and citation impact, India needs to increase both the quantity and quality of research output through increased national funding and by enlarging national and international collaborative research efforts. The government must develop a strategy to respond to the growing need for care from early diagnosis to end of life care the disease patients. The government should declare Alzheimer’s disease as a national priority and sufficient budget should be provided for its care and research in the Five Year Plans of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. There is a need to increase the quantum of research efforts through extra-mural funding of all major Indian science agencies/departments.

Transitions theory: A trajectory of theoretical development in nursing

There have been very few investigations into how any single nursing theory has actually evolved historically. In this paper, a trajectory of theoretical development in nursing is explored through reviewing the theoretical development of a single nursing theory—transitions theory. The literature related to transitions theory was searched and retrieved using multiple databases. Ninety-nine papers were analyzed according to type of theory, populations of interest, sources of theorizing, and theoretical methods. Transitions theory originated in research but was initially borrowed. It also arose in research with immigrants and from national and international collaborative research efforts. A product of mentoring, transitions theory is used widely in nursing education, research, and practice. Diverse thoughts related to transitions theory coexist. For future theoretical development in nursing, we need to remain open to new ideas and continue to engage in multiple collaborative efforts.

The human intestinal microbiome: a new frontier of human biology.

To analyze the vast number and variety of microorganisms inhabiting the human intestine, emerging metagenomic technologies are extremely powerful. The intestinal microbes are taxonomically complex and constitute an ecologically dynamic community (microbiota) that has long been believed to possess a strong impact on human physiology. Furthermore, they are heavily involved in the maturation and proliferation of human intestinal cells, helping to maintain their homeostasis and can be causative of various diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease and obesity. A simplified animal model system has provided the mechanistic basis for the molecular interactions that occur at the interface between such microbes and host intestinal epithelia. Through metagenomic analysis, it is now possible to comprehensively explore the genetic nature of the intestinal microbiome, the mutually interacting system comprising the host cells and the residing microbial community. The human microbiome project was recently launched as an international collaborative research effort to further promote this newly developing field and to pave the way to a new frontier of human biology, which will provide new strategies for the maintenance of human health.

Toward Integrated Analysis of Human Impacts on Forest Biodiversity: Lessons from Latin America

Although sustainable forest management (SFM) has been widely adopted as a policy and management goal, high rates of forest loss and degradation are still occurring in many areas. Human activities such as logging, livestock husbandry, crop cultivation, infrastructural development, and use of fire are causing widespread loss of biodiversity, restricting progress toward SFM. In such situations, there is an urgent need for tools that can provide an integrated assessment of human impacts on forest biodiversity and that can support decision making related to forest use. This paper summarizes the experience gained by an international collaborative research effort spanning more than a decade, focusing on the tropical montane forests of Mexico and the temperate rain forests of southern South America, both of which are global conservation priorities. The lessons learned from this research are identified, specifically in relation to developing an integrated modeling framework for achieving SFM. Experience has highlighted a number of challenges that need to be overcome in such areas, including the lack of information regarding ecological processes and species characteristics and a lack of forest inventory data, which hinders model parameterization. Quantitative models are poorly developed for some ecological phenomena, such as edge effects and genetic diversity, limiting model integration. Establishment of participatory approaches to forest management is difficult, as a supportive institutional and policy environment is often lacking. However, experience to date suggests that the modeling toolkit approach suggested by Sturvetant et al. (2008) could be of value in such areas. Suggestions are made regarding desirable elements of such a toolkit to support participatory-research approaches in domains characterized by high uncertainty, including Bayesian Belief Networks, spatial multi-criteria analysis, and scenario planning.

Biodiversity loss and conservation in fragmented forest landscapes: the forests of montane Mexico and temperate South America

<title>Abstract</title> This book is the result of an international collaborative research effort focusing on the tropical montane forests of Mexico and the temperate rain forests of southern South America. The over-all aim of the research was to investigate the impact of human activity on the key processes influencing biodiversity in fragmented forest landscapes, and to use the research results to develop practical tools for evaluating land use decisions, thereby indicating how sustainable forest management might be achieved in practice.

International energy technology collaboration: wind power integration into electricity systems

A rapid growth of wind power since the 1990s has led to notable market shares in some electricity markets. This growth is concentrated in a few countries with effective Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) programmes and with policies that support its diffusion into the market place. The speed and depth of its penetration in these electricity markets have amplified the need to address grid integration concerns, so as not to impede the further penetration of wind power. Research on technologies, tools and practices for integrating large amounts of wind power into electricity supply systems is attempting to respond to this need. In recent years, existing international collaborative research efforts have expanded their focus to include grid integration of wind power and new consortia have been formed to pool knowledge and resources. Effective results benefit a few countries that already have a significant amount of wind in their electricity supply fuel mix, as well as to the potential large markets worldwide. This paper focuses on the challenge of bringing significant amounts of intermittent generating sources into grids dominated by large central generating units. It provides a brief overview of the growth of wind power, mainly since 1990, the technical and operational issues related to integration and selected collaborative programmes underway to address grid integration concerns.

Aerial observation of air pollutants and aerosols over Bo Hai, China

The first aerial observations of atmospheric pollutants over mainland China were performed as an international collaborative research effort in March,2002. Observation flights over Bo Hai were made from Dalian to Dandong, Jinzhou,and Qingdao. High concentrations of gaseous pollutants (O 3,SO 2,and NO x) were observed; SO2 and NOx showed a very good correlation. Comparing the chemical compositions of particulate pollutants showed that there was a high concentration of sulfate ions in fine particles. Concentrations of sulfate and nitrate ions showed good correlations with concentrations of both ammonium and calcium ions,suggesting that the aerosols over the Bo Hai area were well neutralized. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.