Research Team Research Articles

Identifying and mitigating racial/ethnic disparities in clinical trials with screening data.

63 Background: ASCO and Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) released a statement on increasing racial/ethnic equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in cancer trials (1). It included recommendations for clinical practices and research sites to 1) screen every patient for trial eligibility; and 2) routinely collect and analyze screening and enrollment data by patient demographic characteristics, including race/ethnicity. Most of the 62 sites that completed a 2021 pilot study reported that screening data were not readily available by patient race/ethnicity (2). ASCO conducted a follow-up study about challenges, resource needs, and effective strategies for collecting and analyzing these data. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with research team members from sites that completed the 2021 pilot study. Sites were purposefully selected based on pilot study data quality and insights, diversity of patient population, and site type, size, and region. Sites completed a pre-interview questionnaire on site characteristics and screening and enrollment processes before participating in a 1-hour interview focused on challenges and effective strategies for collecting and analyzing screening and enrollment data, by race/ethnicity. Anticipated themes and relationships, stemming from the pilot study findings, informed a conceptual framework. Up to 20 interviews were planned and halted sooner when there was theme saturation. Results: Thirteen research sites participated in the study, representing academic centers (62%) and community-based practices/health systems (38%) with racially/ethnically diverse patient populations (median 31% non-white; range 11% to 63%). 53 research team members participated in the interviews (typically 4 per site), including investigators (23%), directors/managers (56%), and coordinators (21%). Aggregated responses were interpreted through content analysis and concepts were quantified for both frequency and extensiveness. Several barriers to patient screening, data collection, and analysis were cited, including lack of standardized procedures and documentation, dedicated staff and time, quality and/or accessible data on race/ethnicity and/or screening, and integrated technology that facilitates screening and documentation. Conclusions: Collecting and analyzing screening and enrollment data are critical to identifying and mitigating racial/ethnic disparities in trial access and EDI. Many sites do not systematically screen every patient for a trial and/or document outcomes. Lack of resources, including dedicated staff and time and integrated technology, make it difficult for them to do so in systematic and reliable ways. Greater investment in resources will help to facilitate routine screening of every patient and ensure underrepresented populations are not being overlooked for trials. 1. Oyer et al, JCO, 2022 . 2. Pressman et al, JCO, 2022 .

Detecting Research Teams through Active Collaborative Participation

ABSTRACTResearch teams naturally appear from long‐term collaborations. However, effectively tracking their evolution, showing cross‐team participation, and defining team activity periods pose significant challenges. To address these issues, we propose an innovative method involving the computation of an annual active index for each researcher. We applied our method to analyze the solid‐state battery domain. Leveraging co‐inventor relationships, we found 246 teams, categorized into three groups based on their size. Approximately one‐third of these teams drive technological development, with more than half of the members taking part in multiple teams simultaneously.

Development of international guidelines by Tuina practitioners for specific acupoints of paediatrics Tuina (2022 version).

To establish a standardized framework encompassing the precise locations, manipulations, functions and indications of specific acupoints in the field of paediatric Tuina. The development of consensus involved three distinct stages. Initially, a list of paediatric Tuina specific acupoints was compiled based on an extensive literature review, which was subsequently supplemented through expert interviews. In the second stage, the Delphi method was employed to assess the significance of acupoint locations, manipulations, functions, and indications. In situations where the questionnaire survey failed to yield agreement or when the experts held reservations, the nominal group approach was utilized during the expert consensus meeting. The final version of the technical standardized material was ultimately determined during an expert consensus conference. After undergoing external peer review and evaluation, the completed draft was prepared for public dissemination RESULTS: The comprehensive list identified a total of 66 specific acupoints. The location and manipulation questionnaire consisted of 156 items based on the literature database, while the function and indication questionnaire contained 116 items. Two rounds of Delphi surveys were conducted for the location and manipulation category, and another two rounds of Delphi surveys were conducted for the function and indication category. During the experts consensus meeting The panel of experts conducted in-depth discussions on 61 questions, resulting in the formulation of technical guidelines for the locations, manipulations, functions, and indications of 64 paediatric Tuina acupoints. Subsequently, the research team compiled and edited the draft of the technical guidelines for acupoints of paediatric Tuina, which was finalized after external review and feedback. This study successfully established the recognized technical standards for practitioners of paediatric Tuina, thereby standardizing clinical practices and providing a foundation setting the framework for future research. The guidelines offer theoretical insights and recommendations for conducting clinical studies comparing different acupoint sites, as well as modifying or enhancing treatment regimens.

Developed Countries Dominate Leading Roles in International Scientific Collaborations: Evidence from Scholars' Self‐Reported Contribution in Publications

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the inequality of roles in international scientific collaboration, revealing that scholars from developed countries dominate leadership positions. Using data from high‐impact journals, we find significant underrepresentation of scholars from developing countries who often occupy supporting roles. After controlling authors' seniority, productivity, and scientific impact, developed country scholars are still more likely to lead research teams, perhaps because of the North–South disparity in academic resource distribution.

Exploring the Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact in Pharmaceutical Sciences: Insights Toward the Horizons Where Technology Meets Tradition.

The technological revolutions in computers and the advancement of high-throughput screening technologies have driven the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for faster discovery of drug molecules with more efficiency, and cost-friendly finding of hit or lead molecules. The ability of software and network frameworks to interpret molecular structures' representations and establish relationships/correlations has enabled various research teams to develop numerous AI platforms for identifying new lead molecules or discovering new targets for already established drug molecules. The prediction of biological activity, ADME properties, and toxicity parameters in early stages have reduced the chances of failure and associated costs in later clinical stages, which was observed at a high rate in the tedious, expensive, and laborious drug discovery process. This review focuses on the different AI and machine learning (ML) techniques with their applications mainly focused on the pharmaceutical industry. The applications of AI frameworks in the identification of molecular target, hit identification/hit-to-lead optimization, analyzing drug-receptor interactions, drug repurposing, polypharmacology, synthetic accessibility, clinical trial design, and pharmaceutical developments are discussed in detail. We have also compiled the details of various startups in AI in this field. This review will provide a comprehensive analysis and outline various state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques to the readers with their framework applications. This review also highlights the challenges in this field, which need to be addressed for further success in pharmaceutical applications.

No Laughing Matter: How Autonomous Agents Can Improve Well-Being and Teamwork

Autonomous agents are a critical factor for maintaining the well-being and health of astronaut teams in long duration spaceflight. As autonomous agents become more independent and interdependent the need to understand how they can interact effectively with humans not only becomes more necessary but will become the paradigm for future team research. In our paper, we describe a conceptual model that explains how autonomous agents and human team members can learn to implicitly coordinate through humorous social interaction and effective task interdependence. We argue that to build a shared mental model between autonomous agents and human team members, HATs need to develop trust with one another, albeit through different mechanisms, to work together effectively.

DINOSSAUROS NA RODOVIA E NO MUSEU – QUANDO ARTE E CIÊNCIA SE CRUZAM

In June 2024, I had the honor of participating in a team of researchers and students whose undertaking consisted of exhuming a specimen of a giant fern discovered in the area of ​​the Natural Monument of Fossilized Trees of the State of Tocantins (Monaf), which in turn, is located in the region in the district of Bielândia, municipality of Philadelphia, north of the State of Tocantins.

The COVID-19 experience through the lens of disability Twitter: A qualitative analysis.

The societal response and constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced ableism for disabled people who were yet again treated as an afterthought in society. Systemic ableism impacted their well-being, access, and ability to be active members of their community. Disabled experiences and voices must be heard and amplified to improve preparedness and address ableism. Disability Twitter is one avenue where the disability community can collectively listen and support one another. These voices can and should be used to influence policy and practice. This study used Disability Twitter to represent and honor the experiences of the disability community, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a moment in time. Qualitative thematic analysis of U.S.-based Twitter posts was conducted using retrospective social media posts. A total of 238 initial tweets from January 1, 2020 and September 30, 2022 were analyzed by the research team. Five themes were observed including ableism, devaluation, worthiness, act of reclaiming, and emotion. Disabled people reported instances of ableism, devaluation, and victimization by individuals, systems, and government entities throughout the pandemic. Disabled individuals utilized Twitter to share their collective experiences, urging society to address and respond to the needs of the disability community. Using social media to center the perspectives of the disability community can invoke system-wide change and inform policies. Implications for combating systemic ableism and promoting allyship for clinical professionals, research scholars, and educators are provided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Ensuring equitable access, engagement and ability of socially and ethnically diverse participants to benefit from health promotion programmes: a qualitative study with parent carers of disabled children.

Equity is fundamental to health promotion programmes. However, unintentional or unseen barriers may exist for some underserved groups. We aimed to identify how to ensure equitable access and engagement for diverse parent carers of disabled children to benefit from health promotion programmes. We purposively sampled parent carers with potentially intersecting characteristics including those who self-identified as from ethnic groups, whose children were educated other than at school, with sensory impairments, or neurodiversity, and fathers. Participants were recruited through local and national organisations and parent carer networks. Data collection involved semi-structured individual interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically and iteratively alongside data collection. Core researchers performed early analysis independently, followed by research team and advisory group cross-validation. Thirty-six parent carers with intersecting characteristics across the sampled backgrounds participated. We identified various perceived barriers around finding out about, attending and engaging with health programmes. We organised the findings into five themes focused on concepts capturing challenges and potential solutions to contextual barriers to access and participation in health programmes. (i) Reach-judiciously using targeted and universal strategies to ensure equitable distribution; (ii) Credibility-demonstrating trustworthiness of those advertising and/or delivering the programme; (iii) Opportunity-ensuring that the programme is seen as fulfilling a relevant need; (iv) Reservations-addressing barriers of readiness to participate; and (v) Optimisation-tailoring to improve the inclusivity of the programme delivery. We identified modifiable factors that impede members of some social groups from engaging with, and benefiting from, health promotion programmes, and potential solutions. We advocate a multifaceted approach is required from outreach to delivery, tailored to be mindful of extant diverse needs of parent carers in underserved communities. We catalogue key considerations to inform implementation strategies to optimise equity in health programmes for parent carers. The implications are likely transferable to other interventions and contexts.

Exploratory analysis of blood alcohol concentration-related technology use and drinking outcomes among young adults.

Mobile health (mHealth) technology use may reduce alcohol use and related negative consequences; however, little is known about its efficacy without prompting from researchers or pay-per-use. This exploratory analysis assessed relationships between mHealth technology use frequency and alcohol-use outcomes. Young adults who drink heavily (N = 97, Mage = 23, 51% male, 64% non-Hispanic White, Mdrinks/week = 21) had the option to use three mHealth technologies (breathalyzer device/app, blood alcohol content estimator app, drink counting via text message) while drinking for 2 weeks. Relationships between alcohol-related outcomes and any, multiple, and specific mHealth technology use across study days and drinking days were evaluated via bivariate correlations and multiple regressions. Participants used one or more mHealth technologies on approximately 68% of drinking days (33% of field days), with multiple technologies used on 34% of drinking days. Bivariate correlations revealed that a higher percentage of study days with any mHealth technology use was related to higher mean weekly drinks. However, a higher percentage of drinking days with any mHealth technology use was related to lower mean weekly drinks, percent of heavy and high-intensity drinking days, and negative consequences. There were several significant, inverse correlations between alcohol variables and using the mHealth technologies that provided personalized feedback. Multiple regression analyses (holding sex and baseline alcohol variables constant) indicated that a higher percentage of drinking days with any mHealth technology use was related to lower mean weekly drinks and lower percentage of heavy drinking days. Using mHealth technologies to moderate drinking without direct prompting from the research team or per-use incentives was related to less overall alcohol use and heavy drinking. This indicates potential real-world engagement with mHealth apps to assist with in-the-moment drinking. Normalizing mHealth technology use during drinking could help curb the public health crisis around harmful alcohol use in young adult populations.

Patient research partner involvement in rheumatology research: a systematic literature review informing the 2023 updated EULAR recommendations for the involvement of patient research partners

BackgroundPatient research partners (PRPs) are people with a disease who collaborate in a research team as partners. The aim of this systematic literature review (SLR) was to assess barriers and...

Classification of Vietnamese Reviews on E-Commerce Platforms

The research team used machine learning models to classify Vietnamese reviews on products on the e-commerce platform as positive or negative. To classify and evaluate the effectiveness of Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, Logistic Regression machine learning models on different platforms, the authors have built their own training and test data sets as well as a set of stopwords to classify Vietnamese web reviews [9]. This can then be applied to building a webapp that allows entering a link of any online products and then categorizing its user reviews, helping sellers evaluate their products/services, understand consumer behavior and make changes, improvements to the products accordingly.

Уровень удовлетворенности пациентов услугами психосоциальной поддержки: правовое регулирование и практические вопросы

The research work aims to study the current situation of providing psychosocial support services to inpatients under the Covid-19 pandemic; based on the actual situation of the pandemic, the research team conducted a study on “Satisfaction Level of Psychosocial Support Services for Inpatients in District 2 Hospital” to find out the situation of providing psychosocial support services in the hospital by determining the satisfaction level of inpatients, including patients treated for Covid and patients treated for other diseases. This will be the basis for us to develop recommendations for improving the quality of social work services in the hospital today. Keywords: services, psychosocial, research team, Covid-19, social work, legal regulation, practical issues.

Shaping community-based curriculum of local wisdom on palmyra palm at Huai Krot community in Chai Nat province of Thailand: Initial design processes

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the curriculum development process undertaken by the Huai Krot community in the Chai Nat province of Thailand. The curriculum is centered on the local wisdom on palmyra palm, a valuable local resource. Achievement of this objective was facilitated through the delineation of the preparation and planning phases of course development. The commencement of community curricula entailed the execution of two fundamental stages. Before integrating the community curriculum into the educational process, it was crucial to establish efficient management strategies and conduct a thorough evaluation of the community’s engagement. Data collection involved the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The investigation delineated two fundamental phases in the construction of a community curriculum. Preparation involved the assessing community capacity and needs. The primary stage of research was dedicated to familiarizing oneself with the field, whereas the subsequent stage of research was focused on identifying relevant curriculum concerns. The subsequent stage entailed the formulation of a curriculum plan that was firmly grounded in the local community. This stage required executing six tasks pertaining to curriculum formulation. The activities involved the forming of a committee, identifying challenges related to meeting community needs, training of trainers who would form community/local researcher teams, creating a curriculum based on community input, assessing the curriculum, and establishing a supervisory team. The article contributes to the understanding of how community-oriented curricula that utilize local knowledge and resources could play a crucial role in enabling, nurture, and sustain the growth of local communities.

Transitioning an implementation research intervention to a sustained clinical service: Telehealth primary care mental health integration implementation in Veterans Health Administration.

Often in implementation science efforts, an intervention originated by research funding does not continue in clinical practice after funding ends, or if it does, the process by which it was sustained remains known only to the implementation research or clinical teams. From 2018 to 2020, we implemented a complex telehealth interdisciplinary behavioral health program supported by research funding. The intervention was Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) delivered via televideo from a large parent medical facility to rural satellite clinics (tele-PCMHI) within the Veterans Health Administration. Two implementation facilitators worked closely with clinical leaders and staff to plan, launch, and sustain tele-PCMHI across four sites. The intervention is still maintained by the clinical service and has spread to eight sites. Based on ethnographic and qualitative data collected weekly over 2 years, we categorized sustainment strategies across distinct time periods for this complex program, theoretically grounded in the Dynamic Sustainability Framework, emphasizing changes to adapt intervention fit to rapidly changing context. To contextualize, we identified barriers and strengths, such as difficulty training staff to use new equipment, restructuring clinic workflow, and determining suicide risk management remotely. New barriers arose, and, thus, new strategies were needed to continue implementing at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Different strategies at different stages of implementation allowed sustainment to be a dynamic and evolving process. Plus, proactive and persistent planning for sustainment early in the effort, along with alignment with performance metrics and national policy, supported continued delivery in real-world organized care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

High burden on tuberculosis treatment for society-a survey study

3.8 million died with tuberculosis infections at an accelerated rate since 2018 and the trend will continue to reach 4.6 million by 2030 (Table 1) (Figure 1). Since 2018 the number of resistances has increased significantly, and the trend will continue until 2030, thus complicating treatment and increasing the costs from US dollars 8.2 billion in 2018 to dollars 32 billion in 2030 (Table 2) (Figure 2). The costs associated with resistant tuberculosis management with direct and indirect costs have been increasing ever since 2023 (Table 2) (Figure 2). The Heal Africa research team has demonstrated on 155 patients that a solution to cure the non-resistant cases and resistant cases exists thus reducing the costs and eradicating tuberculosis worldwide (Table 3) (Figure 3). The Heal Africa research team is seeking to expand the cohort study to 1000 patients to prove beyond doubt that this solution is unbiased. A projection chart to demonstrate the reduction of the death toll (from 4.05 million in 2024 to 0 in 2025) and the gains in terms of costs (from 18.8 US billion in 2024 to 1.8 US billion in 2025) by using our solution is given below (Table 3, Figure 3) & (Table 4, Figure 4).

Clinical Validation of a Prototype Smart Non-Invasive Pregnancy Glucose Monitor

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a smart non-invasive blood glucose monitor prototype during pregnancy through clinical validation. The monitor utilizes near-infrared spectroscopy combined with AI big data analysis of photoelectric volumetric pulse wave data to achieve non-invasive monitoring of blood glucose in women during pregnancy. The research team developed a monitor that employs a sensing chip, effectively overcoming the problems of weak signals and individual differences in non-invasive blood glucose monitoring. The user experience is enhanced by visualizing the test results on the accompanying cell phone APP (application) of the smart non-invasive pregnancy blood glucose monitor. Clinical validation revealed that the non-invasive monitoring data for pregnant women aged 20~30 years significantly differed from those obtained via traditional blood glucose measurement methods, whereas no significant difference ( P<0.05) was observed for pregnant women aged 31~42 years. The study concluded that further calibration of the monitor and an expansion of the sample size are necessary to enhance consistency with invasive glucose monitoring results.

Strategies for crowdsourcing hearing health information: a comparative study of educational programs and volunteer-based campaigns on Wikimedia

BackgroundSeveral health institutions developed strategies to improve health content on Wikimedia platforms given their unparalleled reach. The objective of this study was to compare an online volunteer-based Wikimedia outreach campaign with university course Wikipedia assignments (both focused on improving hearing health content in Wikimedia’s public digital knowledge archives), in terms of the reach of the contributions and the extent of the participants’ input. A secondary objective was to examine the feasibility and the implementation of the different strategies.MethodsThe research team partnered for the (1) coordination of improvements in hearing and healthcare content through educational programs using Wikimedia platforms, (2) participation in the global campaign Wiki4WorldHearingDay2023 and (3) evaluation of the proposed strategies. Metrics used in the comparison of the two strategies included the number of articles edited, number of views of the edited articles (as reach) and the extent of edits, captured as the number of words. The feasibility evaluation included assessing recruitment success and the implementation of the proposed plan among faculty, students from various university programs, and volunteers representing different constituencies.ResultsThe effort increased the availability of quality plain language information on hearing conditions and hearing care. Both strategies demonstrated to be feasible by their success in recruiting participants who contributed to the effort and by measurable outputs as edits. The contribution of content to Wikimedia platforms as part of education activities provided a more robust result. Wiki4WorldHearingDay2023 145 participants (78 from educational programs) contributed 167,000 words, 258 + references and 140 images to 322 Wikipedia articles (283 existing and 39 new ones), which were viewed 16.5 million times. Contributions occurred in six languages. Edits in Portuguese, mainly by those involved in educational programs, led the number of articles (226 or 70.2%) that were expanded or created during the 5-month tracking period.ConclusionsThe elements that contributed to the success of the studied strategies include an impact topic, coordination with educational programs, international multidisciplinary collaborations, the dissemination of the initiative in several platforms, connection with a robust local Wikimedia affiliate, and the use of a technical infrastructure that provides metrics and coordination mechanisms.Graphical abstract

Assessing wind turbine blade durability longevity utilizing national renewable energy laboratory tools

With the escalating significance of renewable energy, there exists a pressing demand for precise software and tools capable of designing and forecasting wind turbine blade service life. OpenFAST, TurbSim, and MLife are pivotal open-source wind turbine simulation tools that integrate aerodynamics, structural dynamics, wind simulation, and control systems. They enable accurate prediction of wind turbine performance. This study aims to leverage these software resources to model turbulent wind conditions using predefined basic parameters and then calculate fatigue and longevity of the wind turbine blade to determine service life. Particularly, MLife was employed for rose loading, enhancing the fidelity of the loading cycle simulation. Collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the research team played a crucial role in establishing a foundational baseline and implementing realistic input parameters for evaluating the ultimate load, determining damage equivalent loads (DEL), and projecting service life. In all simulations, a constant factor of safety (FOS) of 1.5 was consistently applied. Additionally, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was employed to validate our numerical experiments, ensuring the accuracy of the obtained results by correlating simulation outcomes with real-world scenarios, further strengthening the credibility of the study.

Proposed Nutrition Competencies for Medical Students and Physician Trainees: A Consensus Statement.

In 2022, the US House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution (House of Representatives Resolution 1118 at the 117th Congress [2021-2022]) calling for meaningful nutrition education for medical trainees. This was prompted by increasing health care spending attributed to the growing prevalence of nutrition-related diseases and the substantial federal funding via Medicare that supports graduate medical education. In March 2023, medical education professional organizations agreed to identify nutrition competencies for medical education. To recommend nutrition competencies for inclusion in medical education to improve patient and population health. The research team conducted a rapid literature review to identify existing nutrition-related competencies published between July 2013 and July 2023. Additional competencies were identified from learning objectives in selected nutrition, culinary medicine, and teaching kitchen curricula; dietetic core competencies; and research team-generated de novo competencies. An expert panel of 22 nutrition subject matter experts and 15 residency program directors participated in a modified Delphi process and completed 4 rounds of voting to reach consensus on recommended nutrition competencies, the level of medical education at which they should be included, and recommendations for monitoring implementation and evaluation of these competencies. A total of 15 articles met inclusion criteria for competency extraction and yielded 187 competencies. Through review of gray literature and other sources, researchers identified 167 additional competencies for a total of 354 competencies. These competencies were compiled and refined prior to voting. After 4 rounds of voting, 36 competencies were identified for recommendation: 30 at both undergraduate and graduate levels, 2 at the undergraduate level only, and 4 at the graduate level only. Competencies fell into the following nutrition-related themes: foundational nutrition knowledge, assessment and diagnosis, communication skills, public health, collaborative support and treatment for specific conditions, and indications for referral. A total of 36 panelists (97%) recommended nutrition competencies be assessed as part of licensing and board certification examinations. These competencies represent a US-based effort to use a modified Delphi process to establish consensus on nutrition competencies for medical students and physician trainees. These competencies will require an iterative process of institutional prioritization, refinement, and inclusion in current and future educational curricula as well as licensure and certification examinations.