Summative usability evaluation of the YLB113 etanercept biosimilar autoinjector via simulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Kelly Canham ◽  
Claire Newcomb

Introduction/Study Objectives: Etanercept is a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor indicated for the treatment of several inflammatory disorders. Patients with these diseases may experience manual dexterity challenges. Autoinjectors may improve dose accuracy, treatment adherence and quality of life; and reduce injection-site reactions. Studies have indicated patients prefer autoinjectors to other injection methods, however, patients must be able to demonstrate safe and effective use of an autoinjector for it to be a viable option. The YLB113 etanercept autoinjector may be a substitutable biosimilar to reference etanercept (Pfizer Manufacturing, Puurs, Belgium). This study sought to confirm intended users of the YLB113 etanercept autoinjector could demonstrate safe and effective use. Methods: The evaluation was performed among 79 participants representative of intended YLB113 etanercept autoinjector users; and included patients, caregivers and healthcare providers (HCPs). Results: All participants successfully delivered two simulated doses of etanercept into the foam pad using the autoinjector. Some participants experienced user errors, use difficulties, or close calls while simulating injection or answering knowledge questions. Discussion: In this usability evaluation, study patients, caregivers and HCPs demonstrated a high rate of injection success using the YLB113 etanercept autoinjector. Conclusions: The study results support demonstration of safe and effective use of the YLB113 etanercept autoinjector, a substitutable biosimilar to reference etanercept.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
H. M. Shashikala ◽  
S. Srinivasaragavan

Web-based use of E-resources is playing a vital role for information seeking. In this direction the present study was conducted on the use of E-resources (e-books, e-journals, e-databases subscribed by Health Science Library and Information Network, HELINET Consortium and ERMED Consortium) by the faculty members and PG students of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences and Information Centre, Bangalore, Karnataka State. A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to faculty members and PG students (150) to know their effective use of e-resource for their study, teaching and research. A total of 135 filled in questionnaires were received and the response rate was 82.66%. The study results found that most of the teaching faculty and PG students preferred to search Google and Yahoo as search engine for their information search requirements. At the same time they consulted Pub Med and Science Direct and Ovid publisher’s journal databases to access E- resources.



Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
Tomasz Czarnecki ◽  
Kacper Bloch

The subject of this work is the analysis of methods of detecting soiling of photovoltaic panels. Environmental and weather conditions affect the efficiency of renewable energy sources. Accumulation of soil, dust, and dirt on the surface of the solar panels reduces the power generated by the panels. This paper presents several variants of the algorithm that uses various statistical classifiers to classify photovoltaic panels in terms of soiling. The base material was high-resolution photos and videos of solar panels and sets dedicated to solar farms. The classifiers were tested and analyzed in their effectiveness in detecting soiling. Based on the study results, a group of optimal classifiers was defined, and the classifier selected that gives the best results for a given problem. The results obtained in this study proved experimentally that the proposed solution provides a high rate of correct detections. The proposed innovative method is cheap and straightforward to implement, and allows use in most photovoltaic installations.



2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Samir Shah ◽  
Ali Elgalib ◽  
Adil Al-Wahaibi ◽  
Maha Al-Fori ◽  
Prasanna Raju ◽  
...  

Objectives: Stigma and discrimination undermine the quality of life of people with HIV and their access to health services. This study aimed to assess HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and practices among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Oman. Methods: This cross-sectional study took place between July and November 2016. A questionnaire was distributed to 1,400 government HCWs to determine HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and practices. Results: A total of 1,281 HCWs participated (response rate = 92%). Routine tasks, such as dressing wounds, drawing blood and touching clothes, were a cause of concern for 24–52% of HCWs. Only 69% correctly answered questions regarding the transmission of HIV via eating/drinking and mosquito bites. Compared to other HCWs, doctors had significantly higher knowledge (mean = 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19 to 0.73; P <0.001), attitude (mean = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.31 to 1.24; P = 0.001) and practice (mean = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.59 to 2.55; P <0.001) scores. Expatriates also scored significantly higher in knowledge (mean = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.93 to 1.23; P <0.001), attitude (mean = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.48; P <0.001) and practice (mean = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.82 to 1.34; P <0.001) compared to Omani nationals. Finally, those with >15 years’ work experience scored significantly higher on knowledge (mean = −0.60, 95% CI: −1.12 to −0.08; P = 0.025) and attitude (mean = −0.99, 95% CI: −1.87 to −0.10; P = 0.029) compared to those with less experience. Conclusion: The high rate of HIV-related stigma among HCWs in Oman should be rectified in order to achieve the 90-90-90 target set by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.Keywords: HIV; Social Stigma; Social Discrimination; Knowledge; Attitude; Professional Practice; Healthcare Providers; Oman.



2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-168
Author(s):  
Jean Claude Uwimana

Background: Induction time delays in Operating room (OR) is an issue that affects the productivity of an operating unit especially in a setting with limited resources. It can also results in providing inappropriate services to the patients and their families. The aim of this study was to determine the causes of induction time delays and to propose solutions on how to avoid the reasons of delays. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted. It focused on elective general surgeries and orthopedic surgeries as they were mainly being performed during the study period. The data on the type of operation, the type of anesthesia, delay or no delay of induction (DOI) of anesthesia, causes of DOI were collected. DOI was considered as the time between the previous patient out of the OR and the next one in of more than 30 minutes. Emergency surgeries and elective obstetric surgeries were excluded from the study. Results: 24.8% of surgeries were done after delays of induction of anesthesia as opposed to 75.2% surgeries for which anesthesia was induced without delay. 48.6% of delays of induction to anesthesia were due to the hospital issues followed by anesthesia provision related issues. (40.0%). The surgery related and patient related issues accounted each one 5.7%. Conclusions: There was a high rate of surgeries that had delays in induction times. The OR managers need to work more with the hospital administration and the OR team to correct causes of delays.



Author(s):  
Marianna Obrist ◽  
Regina Bernhaupt ◽  
Elke Beck ◽  
Manfred Tscheligi


2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Boucher ◽  
Agnes Meybeck ◽  
Kazali Alidjinou ◽  
Thomas Huleux ◽  
Nathalie Viget ◽  
...  

ObjectivesSince February 2017, an increase of acute hepatitis A (AHA) cases has been notified in North of France. We aimed to report clinical and virological features of 49 cases treated in three hospitals in Lille European Metropolis (LEM).MethodsAll adult patients treated for AHA in 3 LEM hospitals between 20 February and 5 July 2017 were included. Demographic characteristics, exposure risk factors to hepatitis A virus (HAV), AHA manifestations and concomitant sexually transmitted infections (STI) were retrospectively recorded.ResultsForty-nine cases of AHA were diagnosed among which 34 (69%) were hospitalised. Severe AHA occurred in 7 (14%) patients. The median age of cases was 36 years. All cases except 1 were men and 32 (65%) were identified as men having sex with men (MSM). Eleven (23%) patients were HIV-infected, 5 were under HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), 6 had a history of HIV postexposure prophylaxis and 19 had a history of at least one STI. Only three patients had received HAV vaccine. Proportion of patients tested for syphilis, chlamydial and gonococcal infections was 75% (18/24) in those seen by sexual health specialists and 21% (6/29) in those seen by other specialists. At least one concomitant STI was diagnosed in 13 out of 24 tested patients (54%). RT-PCR sequencing was available for 38 cases and confirmed co-circulation of 3 different strains of subgenotype IA (VRD 521 2016: n=24, RIVM-HAV16-090: n=13, V16-25801: n=1), already identified in several European countries.ConclusionsWe are facing an outbreak of AHA among MSM in the North of France with a high rate of hospitalisation. Analysis of cases highlighted missed opportunities of vaccination and lack of concomitant STI screening. Awareness among healthcare providers and MSM should be increased and HAV vaccination promoted.



2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ibrahim S. Alsukayti

The technological breakthrough of the Internet of Things (IoT) drives the emergence of a wide scope of smart IoT solutions in different domains. Advancing the different technological aspects of these solutions requires effective IoT implementations and experimentations. This is widely addressed following low-cost and scalable methods such as analytical modeling and simulation. However, such methods are limited in capturing physical characteristics and network conditions in a realistic manner. Therefore, this paper presents an innovative IoT testbed system which facilitates practical experimentation of different IoT solutions in an effective environment. The testbed design was developed towards a general-purpose multidimensional support of different IoT properties including sensing, communication, gateway, energy management, data processing, and security. The implementation of the testbed was realized based on integrating a set of robust hardware components and developing a number of software modules. To illustrate its effectiveness, the testbed was utilized to experiment with energy efficiency of selected IoT communication technologies. This resulted in lower energy consumption using the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology compared to the Zigbee and 6LoWPAN technologies. A further evaluation study of the system was carried out following the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). As the study results indicated, the system provides a simple yet efficient platform for conducting practical IoT experiments. It also had positive impact on users’ behavior and attitude toward IoT experimentation.



Author(s):  
Ljiljana Trtica Majnarić ◽  
Thomas Wittlinger ◽  
Dunja Stolnik ◽  
František Babič ◽  
Zvonimir Bosnić ◽  
...  

Background: Due to population aging, there is an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, and in particular musculoskeletal diseases. These trends are associated with an increased demand for prescription analgesics and an increased risk of polypharmacy and adverse medication reactions, which constitutes a challenge, especially for general practitioners (GPs), as the providers who are most responsible for the prescription policy. Objectives: To identify patterns of analgesics prescription for older people in the study area and explore associations between a long-term analgesic prescription and comorbidity patterns, as well as the prescription of psychotropic and other common medications in a continuous use. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 2015 in eastern Croatia. Patients were GP attenders ≥40 years old (N = 675), who were recruited during their appointments (consecutive patients). They were divided into two groups: those who have been continuously prescribed analgesics (N = 432) and those who have not (N = 243). Data from electronic health records were used to provide information about diagnoses of musculoskeletal and other chronic diseases, as well as prescription rates for analgesics and other medications. Exploratory methods and logistic regression models were used to analyse the data. Results: Analgesics have been continuously prescribed to 64% of the patients, mostly to those in the older age groups (50–79 years) and females, and they were indicated mainly for dorsalgia symptoms and arthrosis. Non-opioid analgesics were most common, with an increasing tendency to prescribe opioid analgesics to older patient groups aged 60–79 years. The study results indicate that there is a high rate of simultaneous prescription of analgesics and psychotropic medications, despite the intention of GPs to avoid prescribing psychotropic medications to patients who use any option with opioid analgesics. In general, receiving prescription analgesics does not exceed the prescription for chronic diseases over the rates that can be found in patients who do not receive prescription analgesics. Conclusion: Based on the analysis of comorbidities and parallel prescribing, the results of this study can improve GPs’ prescription and treatment strategies for musculoskeletal diseases and chronic pain conditions.



2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Carles Subirà-Pifarré ◽  
Cristina Masuet-Aumatell ◽  
Carlos Rodado Alonso ◽  
Ricardo Medina Madrid ◽  
Cosimo Galletti

Prescription of implant treatments is very widespread at present, mainly due to the low rate of annual loss and, to date, few studies have assessed their survival in the routine clinical practice of dentistry. The purpose of this observational study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dental implants with a calcium-phosphate surface in the daily practice of dental clinics. A multicenter, prospective, non-interventional, observational study was performed, in which three experienced practitioners (one maxillofacial and two oral surgeons) inserted implants using standard external and internal hexagon connections in adult patients requiring ≥1 osseointegrated implants to replace missing teeth. Follow-up was performed for 24 months after implant loading. Two hundred and twelve subjects were included (51.5% men), with a mean age of 51.2 ± 11.90 years, in whom 544 implants were inserted. 87.2% of the patients received 1–4 implants. The preferred connection system was internal hexagon (73.5%). There were nine failures, with an interval survival rate (ISR) at 24 months of 100% and a cumulative survival rate (CSR) of 98.3%. In conclusion, implants with a modified calcium-phosphate surface are associated with a high rate of survival and may be considered a method of choice in clinical practice.



Author(s):  
Tapan K. Datta ◽  
David Feber ◽  
Kerrie Schattler ◽  
Sue Datta

A vast majority of traffic crashes in urban areas occur at signalized intersections. Roadway geometry, traffic control, adjacent land uses, and environmental factors at intersections often contribute to the high incidence of traffic crashes and injuries. A public-private partnership project to identify high-crash and high-risk locations in the city of Detroit was initiated in 1996. Eighteen candidate sites were selected, and an extensive engineering study was conducted to develop countermeasures to help alleviate the traffic crash problem at the selected sites. The Automobile Association of America, Michigan, was the private partner in this joint venture and, in partnership with the city of Detroit, was a major contributor to covering the cost of improvements. The selection of countermeasures was based on state-of-the-art methodology and analysis, and implementation of the selected countermeasures at some of the sites was undertaken as the initial phase of the project. A comprehensive before-and-after evaluation study was performed at three of the improved sites. The study revealed that the safety improvements that were implemented lowered both crash and severity experience. The differences between the before and after crash frequencies proved to be statistically significant. Additionally, a benefit-cost analysis at the study locations indicated extraordinary results. This research presents the evaluation study results and discusses the countermeasures and improvements that were the most successful in mitigating traffic crash problems at the selected study locations.



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