Citizen workshops in public libraries to disseminate and discuss primary care research results: a scaling-up study

Abstract Background Little is known about engaging patients and stakeholders in the process of scaling up effective knowledge translation interventions targeting the general public. Using an integrated knowledge translation approach, we aimed to scale up and evaluate an effective pilot program of disseminating research results in public libraries. Methods We conducted a scaling-up study targeting the general public. Based on our successful pilot project, we co-developed and implemented a larger-scale program of free citizen workshops in public libraries, this time in close research partnership with stakeholders and patient representatives. Citizen workshops, each facilitated by one participating physician and one science communicator, consisted of a 45-min computer-assisted presentation and a 45-min open exchange. Additional scale-up costs included offering financial incentives to stakeholders involved and the purchase of audio-visual equipment. The intervention outcome was knowledge gained. Scale-up outcomes were satisfaction, appropriateness, coverage, time and costs. An evaluation questionnaire was used to collect data of interest. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed. Results The workshop theme chosen by patient and stakeholder representatives was the high prevalence of medication overuse among people over 65 years of age. From April to May 2019, 26 workshops were given in 25 public libraries reaching 362 people. Eighteen participating physicians and six science communicators facilitated the workshops. Participants reported significant knowledge gain (mean difference 2.1, 95% CI 2.0–2.2, P < .001). Median score for overall public satisfaction was 9/10 (IQR 8–10). A high level of appropriateness of the workshops was globally rated by the public participants Coverage was 92.6% of the total number of public libraries targeted. Costs were $6,051.84 CAD for workshop design and $22,935.41 CAD for scaling them up. Conclusion This project successfully established a large-scale and successful KT bridge between researchers, clinicians, and citizens via public libraries. This study provides a model for a dissemination practice that benefits the general public by both engaging them in the dissemination process and by targeting them directly.

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Is scaling-up COVID-19 testing cost-saving?

10.1101/2020.03.22.20041137 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Bernardo Sousa-Pinto ◽

João Almeida Fonseca ◽

Altamiro Costa-Pereira ◽

Francisco Nuno Rocha-Gonçalves

Keyword(s):

Cost Saving ◽

Large Scale ◽

Scale Up ◽

Scaling Up ◽

World Health ◽

Hospitalization Costs ◽

Testing Cost ◽

Additional Costs ◽

Economic Analyses ◽

Health Organization

The World Health Organization currently recommends that governments scale up testing for COVID-19 infection. We performed health economic analyses projecting whether the additional costs from screening would be offset by the avoided costs with hospitalizations. We analysed Portuguese COVID-19 data up until the 22nd March 2020, and estimated the additional number of cases that would be detected if different testing rates and frequencies of positive results would have been observed. We projected that, in most scenarios, the costs with scaling up COVID-19 tests would be lower than savings with hospitalization costs, rendering large scale testing cost-saving.

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9.G. Workshop: Evaluation of scale-up of health systems interventions: what and how? Lessons for scale-up projects

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.466 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

◽

Keyword(s):

Small Group ◽

Health Information ◽

Large Scale ◽

Scale Up ◽

Health Information Systems ◽

Scaling Up ◽

Evaluation Methods ◽

Cost Evaluation ◽

Research Projects ◽

Implementation Evaluation

Abstract Objectives Non-communicable diseases (NCD) are a major challenge for health systems across the globe. Although effective interventions for prevention, detection and control exist, these do not reach all people in need, especially the poor and most vulnerable. Scale-up strategies are developed to increase universal access to those interventions, addressing demand-side and supply-side barriers and to facilitate integration in the health system. While there are useful frameworks to conceptualise and operationalise scale-up of NCD interventions, there is a knowledge gap on what and how to evaluate. This session addresses that knowledge gap, presenting evaluation methods for scale-up from four large multi-country research projects. The objectives are: To increase knowledge on four dimensions of scale-up evaluation: 1) contextualisation of methods; 2) implementation evaluation; 3) cost-evaluation and 4) use of health information systemsTo present methods and results of implementation research on NCDs as an example for other chronic diseasesTo illustrate how contextualisation, implementation and evaluation varies across different stages of scale-upTo stimulate learning by experience through small-group discussion with session participants This workshop provides added value through the four coherent presentations combined with small group interactions on the same topics. It allows the audience to link the case study lessons to their own research and wider application. Format Four different elements of scale-up evaluation are addressed: 1) Contextualisation of evaluation methods from a common framework; 2) Implementation evaluation at operational level; 3) Cost-evaluation of NCD interventions; and 4) Large-scale evaluation through routine health information systems (HIS). Case studies from four large-scale Horizon2020 funded research projects in 14 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia will be presented, each case focusing on one dimension. Cross-cutting themes of adaptation and transferability of methods will also be addressed. After the presentations, there will be an interactive session to promote experience-based learning in small-group discussions. Presentations Self-Management Approach and Reciprocal Learning for Type 2 Diabetes (SMART2D)Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SPICES)Scaling-Up NCD Interventions in South-East Asia (SUNI-SEA)The Scale-Up of Diabetes and Hypertension Care (SCUBY) The presentations will provide the introduction to subsequent small-table discussions, around the following questions: How to measure and monitor implementation and outcome of intervention scale-up?How to generate transferrable lessons from cross-country studies?How to conduct cross-setting evaluation of the effect and cost of NCD interventions? Key messages The global scale-up of NCD interventions calls for robust evaluation methods of effect, implementation and cost. Evaluation methods need to be fit to the country context and health information systems.

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The Necessity for Scale Up in R&D: Approach for Waste Immobilisation in Cement by BNFL

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-412-501 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 412 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Graham A Fairhall ◽

Eric W Miller

Keyword(s):

Material Properties ◽

Large Scale ◽

Scale Up ◽

Scaling Up ◽

Full Scale ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Wide Range ◽

Regulatory Bodies ◽

Major Factors

AbstractThe full scale processing of nuclear wastes immobilised in cement utilises a wide range of chemical and physical parameters. The success of this work however, involves many factors and material properties which are affected by the actual scaling up processes. The paper outlines the approach and experience gained by BNFL to recognise and evaluate the major factors involved in order to successfully produce large scale stable products acceptable to the appropriate regulatory bodies and suitable for long term disposal.

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A scaling-up strategy supporting the expansion of integrated care: a study protocol

Journal of Integrated Care ◽

10.1108/jica-04-2018-0029 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 215-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Liset Grooten ◽

Cristina-Adriana Alexandru ◽

Tamara Alhambra-Borrás ◽

Stuart Anderson ◽

Francesca Avolio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Integrated Care ◽

Large Scale ◽

Scale Up ◽

Implementation Fidelity ◽

Scaling Up ◽

Realist Evaluation ◽

Content Type ◽

Project Outcomes ◽

Care Systems ◽

Funded Project

Purpose To ensure that more people will benefit from integrated care initiatives, scaling-up of successful initiatives is the way forward. However, new challenges present themselves as knowledge on how to achieve successful large-scale implementation is scarce. The EU-funded project SCIROCCO uses a step-based scaling-up strategy to explore what to scale-up, and how to scale-up integrated care initiatives by matching the complementary strengths and weaknesses of five European regions involved in integrated care. The purpose of this paper is to describe a multi-method evaluation protocol designed to understand what factors influence the implementation of the SCIROCCO strategy to support the scaling-up of integrated care. Design/methodology/approach The first part of the protocol focuses on the assessment of the implementation fidelity of the SCIROCCO step-based strategy. The objective is to gain insight in whether the step-based strategy is implemented as it was designed to explore what works and does not work when implementing the scaling-up strategy. The second part concerns a realist evaluation to examine what it is about the SCIROCCO’s strategy that works for whom, why, how and in which circumstances when scaling-up integrated care. Findings The intended study will provide valuable information on the implementation of the scaling-up strategy which will help to explain for what specific reasons the implementation succeeds and will facilitate further improvement of project outcomes. Originality/value The expected insights could be useful to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of future scaling-up strategies to advance the change towards more sustainable health and care systems.

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CEB Improves Model Robustness

Entropy ◽

10.3390/e22101081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (10) ◽

pp. 1081 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ian Fischer ◽

Alexander A. Alemi

Keyword(s):

Image Classification ◽

Large Scale ◽

Data Augmentation ◽

Scale Up ◽

Conditional Entropy ◽

Scaling Up ◽

Information Bottleneck ◽

Improve Model ◽

Classification Tasks ◽

Model Robustness

Intuitively, one way to make classifiers more robust to their input is to have them depend less sensitively on their input. The Information Bottleneck (IB) tries to learn compressed representations of input that are still predictive. Scaling up IB approaches to large scale image classification tasks has proved difficult. We demonstrate that the Conditional Entropy Bottleneck (CEB) can not only scale up to large scale image classification tasks, but can additionally improve model robustness. CEB is an easy strategy to implement and works in tandem with data augmentation procedures. We report results of a large scale adversarial robustness study on CIFAR-10, as well as the ImageNet-C Common Corruptions Benchmark, ImageNet-A, and PGD attacks.

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Solid Lipid Nanoparticles: A Promising Drug Delivery Technology

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Nanotechnology ◽

10.37285/ijpsn.2009.2.2.3 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 509-516

Author(s):

S. Pragati ◽

S. Kuldeep ◽

S. Ashok ◽

M. Satheesh

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Solid Lipid Nanoparticles ◽

Large Scale ◽

Colloidal Particles ◽

Scale Up ◽

Lipid Nanoparticles ◽

Scale Production ◽

Research Activity ◽

New Approach ◽

Solid Lipid

One of the situations in the treatment of disease is the delivery of efficacious medication of appropriate concentration to the site of action in a controlled and continual manner. Nanoparticle represents an important particulate carrier system, developed accordingly. Nanoparticles are solid colloidal particles ranging in size from 1 to 1000 nm and composed of macromolecular material. Nanoparticles could be polymeric or lipidic (SLNs). Industry estimates suggest that approximately 40% of lipophilic drug candidates fail due to solubility and formulation stability issues, prompting significant research activity in advanced lipophile delivery technologies. Solid lipid nanoparticle technology represents a promising new approach to lipophile drug delivery. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are important advancement in this area. The bioacceptable and biodegradable nature of SLNs makes them less toxic as compared to polymeric nanoparticles. Supplemented with small size which prolongs the circulation time in blood, feasible scale up for large scale production and absence of burst effect makes them interesting candidates for study. In this present review this new approach is discussed in terms of their preparation, advantages, characterization and special features.

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Recombinant Protein Production in Microalgae: Emerging Trends

Protein and Peptide Letters ◽

10.2174/0929866526666191014124855 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 105-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Niaz Ahmad ◽

Muhammad Aamer Mehmood ◽

Sana Malik

Keyword(s):

Chloroplast Genome ◽

Recombinant Proteins ◽

Large Scale ◽

Higher Plants ◽

Scale Up ◽

Chloroplast Transformation ◽

Point Of View ◽

Nuclear Transformation ◽

Scale Production ◽

Algal Chloroplast

: In recent years, microalgae have emerged as an alternative platform for large-scale production of recombinant proteins for different commercial applications. As a production platform, it has several advantages, including rapid growth, easily scale up and ability to grow with or without the external carbon source. Genetic transformation of several species has been established. Of these, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has become significantly attractive for its potential to express foreign proteins inexpensively. All its three genomes – nuclear, mitochondrial and chloroplastic – have been sequenced. As a result, a wealth of information about its genetic machinery, protein expression mechanism (transcription, translation and post-translational modifications) is available. Over the years, various molecular tools have been developed for the manipulation of all these genomes. Various studies show that the transformation of the chloroplast genome has several advantages over nuclear transformation from the biopharming point of view. According to a recent survey, over 100 recombinant proteins have been expressed in algal chloroplasts. However, the expression levels achieved in the algal chloroplast genome are generally lower compared to the chloroplasts of higher plants. Work is therefore needed to make the algal chloroplast transformation commercially competitive. In this review, we discuss some examples from the algal research, which could play their role in making algal chloroplast commercially successful.

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Expanding the boundaries of learning

Phi Delta Kappan ◽

10.1177/00317217211013930 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 102 (8) ◽

pp. 8-13

Author(s):

Thomas Hatch

Keyword(s):

Instructional Practices ◽

New Hampshire ◽

Large Scale ◽

Educational Experiences ◽

Scale Up ◽

Project Based Learning

Taking advantage of the possibilities for learning outside of school requires us to build on what we know about why it is so hard to sustain and scale up unconventional educational experiences within conventional schools. To illustrate the opportunities and challenges, Thomas Hatch describes a large-scale approach to project-based learning developed in a camp in New Hampshire and incorporated in a Brooklyn school, a trip-based program in Detroit, and Singapore’s systemic embrace of learning outside school. By understanding the conditions that can sustain alternative instructional practices, educators can find places to challenge the boundaries of schooling and create visions of the possible that exceed current constraints.

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Strategies for involving patients and the public in scaling-up initiatives in health and social services: protocol for a scoping review and Delphi survey

Systematic Reviews ◽

10.1186/s13643-021-01597-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ali Ben Charif ◽

◽

Karine V. Plourde ◽

Sabrina Guay-Bélanger ◽

Hervé Tchala Vignon Zomahoun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Services ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Delphi Study ◽

Public Involvement ◽

Scale Up ◽

Scaling Up ◽

Delphi Survey ◽

The Public ◽

Health And Social Services ◽

Scoping Reviews

Abstract Background The scale-up of evidence-based innovations is required to reduce waste and inequities in health and social services (HSS). However, it often tends to be a top-down process initiated by policy makers, and the values of the intended beneficiaries are forgotten. Involving multiple stakeholders including patients and the public in the scaling-up process is thus essential but highly complex. We propose to identify relevant strategies for meaningfully and equitably involving patients and the public in the science and practice of scaling up in HSS. Methods We will adapt our overall method from the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method. Following this, we will perform a two-prong study design (knowledge synthesis and Delphi study) grounded in an integrated knowledge translation approach. This approach involves extensive participation of a network of stakeholders interested in patient and public involvement (PPI) in scaling up and a multidisciplinary steering committee. We will conduct a systematic scoping review following the methodology recommended in the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers Manual. We will use the following eligibility criteria: (1) participants—any stakeholder involved in creating or testing a strategy for PPI; (2) intervention—any PPI strategy proposed for scaling-up initiatives; (3) comparator—no restriction; (4) outcomes: any process or outcome metrics related to PPI; and (5) setting—HSS. We will search electronic databases (e.g., Medline, Web of Science, Sociological Abstract) from inception onwards, hand search relevant websites, screen the reference lists of included records, and consult experts in the field. Two reviewers will independently select and extract eligible studies. We will summarize data quantitatively and qualitatively and report results using the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. We will conduct an online Delphi survey to achieve consensus on the relevant strategies for PPI in scaling-up initiatives in HSS. Participants will include stakeholders from low-, middle-, and high-income countries. We anticipate that three rounds will allow an acceptable degree of agreement on research priorities. Discussion Our findings will advance understanding of how to meaningfully and equitably involve patients and the public in scaling-up initiatives for sustainable HSS. Systematic review registration We registered this protocol with the Open Science Framework on August 19, 2020 (https://osf.io/zqpx7/).

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Scaling Up Delivery of Biofortified Staple Food Crops Globally: Paths to Nourishing Millions

Food and Nutrition Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0379572120982501 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 037957212098250

Author(s):

Jennifer K. Foley ◽

Kristina D. Michaux ◽

Bho Mudyahoto ◽

Laira Kyazike ◽

Binu Cherian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pearl Millet ◽

Large Scale ◽

Scale Up ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Raw Material ◽

Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽

Seed Systems ◽

Public And Private ◽

Context Specific ◽

Public And Private Sector

Background: Micronutrient deficiencies affect over one quarter of the world’s population. Biofortification is an evidence-based nutrition strategy that addresses some of the most common and preventable global micronutrient gaps and can help improve the health of millions of people. Since 2013, HarvestPlus and a consortium of collaborators have made impressive progress in the enrichment of staple crops with essential micronutrients through conventional plant breeding. Objective: To review and highlight lessons learned from multiple large-scale delivery strategies used by HarvestPlus to scale up biofortification across different country and crop contexts. Results: India has strong public and private sector pearl millet breeding programs and a robust commercial seed sector. To scale-up pearl millet, HarvestPlus established partnerships with public and private seed companies, which facilitated the rapid commercialization of products and engagement of farmers in delivery activities. In Nigeria, HarvestPlus stimulated the initial acceptance and popularization of vitamin A cassava using a host of creative approaches, including “crowding in” delivery partners, innovative promotional programs, and development of intermediate raw material for industry and novel food products. In Uganda, orange sweet potato (OSP) is a traditional subsistence crop. Due to this, and the lack of formal seed systems and markets, HarvestPlus established a network of partnerships with community-based nongovernmental organizations and vine multipliers to popularize and scale-up delivery of OSP. Conclusions: Impact of biofortification ultimately depends on the development of sustainable markets for biofortified seeds and products. Results illustrate the need for context-specific, innovative solutions to promote widespread adoption.

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