scholarly journals Does age matter? The impact of rodent age on study outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel J Jackson ◽  
Nick Andrews ◽  
Doug Ball ◽  
Ilaria Bellantuono ◽  
James Gray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Rodent Models ◽  
Scientific Validity ◽  
Experimental Variability ◽  
Cellular Ageing ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Clinical Drug

Rodent models produce data which underpin biomedical research and non-clinical drug trials, but translation from rodents into successful clinical outcomes is often lacking. There is a growing body of evidence showing that improving experimental design is key to improving the predictive nature of rodent studies and reducing the number of animals used in research. Age, one important factor in experimental design, is often poorly reported and can be overlooked. The authors conducted a survey to assess the age used for a range of models, and the reasoning for age choice. From 297 respondents providing 611 responses, researchers reported using rodents most often in the 6–20 week age range regardless of the biology being studied. The age referred to as ‘adult’ by respondents varied between six and 20 weeks. Practical reasons for the choice of rodent age were frequently given, with increased cost associated with using older animals and maintenance of historical data comparability being two important limiting factors. These results highlight that choice of age is inconsistent across the research community and often not based on the development or cellular ageing of the system being studied. This could potentially result in decreased scientific validity and increased experimental variability. In some cases the use of older animals may be beneficial. Increased scientific rigour in the choice of the age of rodent may increase the translation of rodent models to humans.

scholarly journals ‘You see the empty bed which means it’s either a transplant or a death’: a qualitative study exploring the impact of death in the haemodialysis community

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e046537
Author(s):  
Sheera Sutherland ◽  
Kirsty E Durley ◽  
Kirsty Gillies ◽  
Margaret Glogowska ◽  
Daniel S Lasserson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Community Patients

ObjectiveTo explore the impact of the death of a patient in the haemodialysis unit on fellow patients.MethodsWe interviewed patients on dialysis in a tertiary dialysis centre using semistructured interviews. We purposively sampled patients who had experienced the death of a fellow patient. After interviews were transcribed, they were thematically analysed by independent members of the research team using inductive analysis. Input from the team during analysis ensured the rigour and quality of the findings.Results10 participants completed the interviews (6 females and 4 males with an age range of 42–88 years). The four core themes that emerged from the interviews included: (1) patients’ relationship to haemodialysis, (2) how patients define the haemodialysis community, (3) patients’ views on death and bereavement and (4) patients’ expectations around death in the dialysis community. Patients noticed avoidance behaviour by staff in relation to discussing death in the unit and would prefer a culture of open acknowledgement.ConclusionStaff acknowledgement of death is of central importance to patients on haemodialysis who feel that the staff are part of their community. This should guide the development of appropriate bereavement support services and a framework that promotes the provision of guidance for staff and patients in this unique clinical setting. However, the authors acknowledge the homogenous sample recruited in a single setting may limit the transferability of the study. Further work is needed to understand diverse patient and nurse experiences and perceptions when sharing the knowledge of a patient’s death and how they react to loss.

Speech Methodologies in Cleft Palate Assessment: A Pilot Project to Compare Two Phonetically Different Sentence Sets

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-72
Author(s):  
Jennie Smith ◽  
Tim Pring ◽  
Debbie Sell
Keyword(s):  
Cleft Palate ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Wilcoxon Test ◽  
Consecutive Series ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Audio Video ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact

Objective: To investigate the impact of the phonetic content of two sentence sets on speech outcomes, specifically the effects of nasal phonemes. Method: Audio-video recordings of a consecutive series of 15 participants (age range 4–22 years), with cleft palate (syndromic or non-syndromic), with and without velopharyngeal dysfunction were taken. Participants repeated Sentence Set 1 (with nasals across sentences) and Sentence Set 2 (without nasals except the three nasal target sentences) during a routine speech recording. Two experienced Specialist Speech and Language Therapists, blinded to the study’s purpose, analyzed participants’ speech using the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech-Augmented (CAPS-A). On day 1, recordings included Sentence Set 1. On day 2, 23 days later, recordings included Sentence Set 2. Main results: The difference between Sentence Set 1 and Sentence Set 2 ‘total scores’ (sum of scores on all CAPS-A parameters) was significant. The Pearson Product Moment showed high correlation. A Wilcoxon test revealed a significant difference between Sets 1 and 2 on the hypernasality parameter, and this alone accounted for the significant difference in total scores. Conclusion: The inclusion or exclusion of nasal consonants in the sentence set significantly affected perceptual ratings of hypernasality but none of the other CAPS-A parameters, highlighting the need for further investigation into perceptual nasality ratings.

The impact of commonly used air filters in eliminating the exposure to secondhand smoke constituents

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-551
Author(s):  
Chris A. Pritsos ◽  
Thivanka Muthumalage
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Environmental Tobacco Smoke ◽  
Tobacco Smoke ◽  
Secondhand Smoke ◽  
Air Filters ◽  
Machine System ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Exposure To Secondhand Smoke

The use of microchip controlled TE-10 smoke machine system with 3R4F research cigarettes as a part of the experimental design in order to create an atmosphere with environmental tobacco smoke constituents.

The impact of experimental design on assessing mechanism-based inactivation of CYP2D6 by MDMA (Ecstasy)

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 834-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linh M. Van ◽  
Amir Heydari ◽  
Jiansong Yang ◽  
Judith Hargreaves ◽  
Karen Rowland-Yeo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
The Impact

An evaluation of opioid use during acute hospital admissions

2022 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Alison Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Acute Pain ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Acute Hospital ◽  
Opioid Use ◽  
Opioid Medication ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Acute Hospital Setting

Long-term opioid use can begin with the treatment of acute pain. However, there is little evidence concerning the impact that better opioid awareness in the acute phase may have on reducing the use of opioids in the long term. This project explored which opioids are routinely prescribed within an acute hospital setting and how these opioids were used over the course of the hospital stay. Codeine and morphine remain the most commonly prescribed opioids. Opioids were prescribed and given to people across the age range, from 16 to 98 years. The project found that 19% of patients were admitted with a pre-existing opioid. Up to 66% of patients were discharged with opioid medication, with almost 20% leaving with more than one opioid. Regular opioid use routinely exposes patients to long-term opioid use and those patients initiated onto opioid medication during admission should have the benefit of planned de-escalation before discharge.

Secret Shame—Male Infertility and Donor Conception in the Wake of Retrospective Legislative Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2110383
Author(s):  
Barbara Cosson ◽  
Deborah Dempsey ◽  
Fiona Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Male Factor ◽  
Perceived Vulnerability ◽  
Donor Conception ◽  
Infertile Men ◽  
Secret Keeping ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact

Historically, sperm donation was shrouded in secrecy to protect the normative family and the perceived vulnerability of infertile men. However, openness about donor conception is increasingly encouraged, in acknowledging that donor-conceived people may benefit from having access to information about their biogenetic origins. Since 2017 in the state of Victoria, Australia, donor-conceived people have been able to access previously anonymous donor records. Drawing on interviews with 17 donor-conceived adults who have come to know their donor through the new laws, this article explores the impact of finding out about the donor on relationships with mothers and fathers, and points to the persistent effects of stigma and shame about donor conception within families. Most of the donor-conceived participants were told about their donor conception in early adulthood. The age range for time of disclosure was mid-teens to early 40s. Most reported that their fathers did not want them to know. In some cases, mothers had disclosed, but sworn them to secrecy. Sensitivity to fathers’ feelings fostered a desire among participants to maintain secrecy about his infertility, especially in relation to wider family and friendship networks. Our findings revealed that secrecy about men’s infertility is heavily reliant on women’s emotional labor to protect ageing infertile fathers’ sense of manhood. Coupled with fathers’ overt resistance to openness, intergenerational secret keeping is perpetuated in families. Laws supporting openness potentially exacerbate the historical stigma associated with male factor infertility in a culture that continues to conflate virility, fertility, and masculinity.

De impact van emotionele communicatie op de gepercipieerde oprechtheid en de reputatie van organisaties in crisis

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
An-Sofie Claeys ◽  
Verolien Cauberghe
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Crisis Communication ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Emotional Communication ◽  
Discrete Emotions ◽  
Stealing Thunder ◽  
The Impact ◽  
A Company

The impact of emotional communication on perceived sincerity and reputation of organizations in crisis The impact of emotional communication on perceived sincerity and reputation of organizations in crisis This paper examines the impact of emotional communication of an organizational spokesperson in times of crisis on consumers’ perceptions of the spokesperson (i.e. sincerity) and the organization (i.e. reputation) by two experimental studies. The results of study one using a 2 (crisis timing strategy: thunder vs. stealing thunder) × 2 (rational vs. sad message) between-subjects experimental design illustrates that emotional crisis communication leads to less reputational damage than rational crisis communication (N = 168), but only if the organization self-discloses the incrementing information. In study two, the discrete emotions were manipulated in a self-disclosing setting to be sadness or anger (N = 60). The results of study two show that a company is perceived to take more responsibility for the crisis when the spokesperson expresses sadness instead of anger. The sincerity of the spokesperson/organization mediates these effects. Both studies stress the importance of emotional communication by spokespersons for organizations in crisis.

Optimisation of geotechnical surveys using a BIM-based geostatistical analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Mahmoudi ◽  
Marcel Stepien ◽  
Markus König
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Data Structures ◽  
Digital Design ◽  
Ground Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Design Environments ◽  
Spatial Estimation ◽  
Computational Performance ◽  
Geological Models ◽  
The Impact

PurposeA principle prerequisite for designing and constructing an underground structure is to estimate the subsurface's properties and obtain a realistic picture of stratigraphy. Obtaining direct measure of these values in any location of the built environment is not affordable. Therefore, any evaluation is afflicted with uncertainty, and we need to combine all available measurements, observations and previous knowledge to achieve an informed estimate and quantify the involved uncertainties. This study aims to enhance the geotechnical surveys based on a spatial estimation of subsoil to customised data structures and integrating the ground models into digital design environments.Design/methodology/approachThe present study's objective is to enhance the geotechnical surveys based on a spatial estimation of subsoil to customised data structures and integrating the ground models into digital design environments. A ground model consisting of voxels is developed via Revit-Dynamo to represent spatial uncertainties employing the kriging interpolation method. The local arrangement of new surveys are evaluated to be optimised.FindingsThe visualisation model's computational performance is modified by using an octree structure. The results show that it adapts the structure to be modelled more efficiently. The proposed concept can identify the geological models' risky locations for further geological investigations and reveal an optimised experimental design. The modifications criteria are defined in global and local considerations.Originality/valueIt provides a transparent and repeatable approach to construct a spatial ground model for subsequent experimental or numerical analysis. In the first attempt, the ground model was discretised by a grid of voxels. In general, the required computing time primarily depends on the size of the voxels. This issue is addressed by implementing octree voxels to reduce the computational efforts. This applies especially to the cases that a higher resolution is required. The investigations using a synthetic soil model showed that the developed methodology fulfilled the kriging method's requirements. The effects of variogram parameters, such as the range and the covariance function, were investigated based on some parameter studies. Moreover, a synthetic model is used to demonstrate the optimal experimental design concept. Through the implementation, alternative locations for new boreholes are generated, and their uncertainties are quantified. The impact of the new borehole on the uncertainty measures are quantified based on local and global approaches. For further research to identify the geological models' risky spots, the development of this approach with additional criteria regarding the search neighbourhood and consideration of barriers and trends in real cases (by employing different interpolation methodologies) should be considered.

scholarly journals A Dockers Storage Performance Evaluation: Impact of Backing File Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 8-17
Author(s):  
Amer Ramadan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
File Systems ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
File Server ◽  
Storage Performance ◽  
File Access ◽  
Mail Server ◽  
The Impact ◽  
E Mail

This paper reports on an in-depth examination of the impact of the backing filesystems to Docker performance in the context of Linux container-based virtualization. The experimental design was a 3x3x4 arrangement, i.e., we considered three different numbers of Docker containers, three filesystems (Ext4, XFS and Btrfs), and four application workloads related to Web server I/O activity, e-mail server I/O activity, file server I/O activity and random file access I/O activity, respectively. The experimental results indicate that Ext4 is the most optimal filesystem, among the considered filesystems, for the considered experimental settings. In addition, the XFS filesystem is not suitable for workloads that are dominated by synchronous random write components (e.g., characteristical for mail workload), while the Btrfs filesystem is not suitable for workloads dominated by random write and sequential write components (e.g., file server workload).

scholarly journals How Will the Use of Technology in Translation and Testing Affect Language Learning?

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Michael Bourne
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Human Element ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
The One ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
Age Range ◽  
The Impact

Technology has an ever increasing impact on how we work and live. Article adressed the issue of the impact of technology in two key areas of language learning. On the one side learners increasingly used technology to translate. Given this trend, was there any real need to learn a language. On the other side, educational institutions increasingly used technology to rate language proficiency. Given this trend, would the work of the teacher become less and less important. The survey was conducted by using quantitative method. The respondents’ age range was 18-25. There were 53 respondents, 35% were male and 65% were female. The instrument was a questionaire having 9 questions describing the students’ reliance on computer in translation. It can be concluded that learners of English indicate that they accept and welcome the role of technology in language learning, but there is a doubt that the role and participation of humans in the learning process will be completely replaced. The human element remains an important ingredient. (EE)

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