Slit lamp photography for objective assessment of topical eye disorders

Evidence based scientific studies has weightage, when they are presented with quantitative data analysis. Documentation and parametric analysis has become an integral part of present day research. Any publications or write-ups without explanation through standard parameters are not appreciated by the research society. In Ophthalmology assessment of various parameters through photography is a debatable issue. Affordability for higher end diagnostic / OPD instruments may not be feasible for all. In such a scenario, here is an attempt made to standardize the slit lamp photography with a smart phone and its scientific analysis for evaluating clinical conditions like sub-conjunctival hemorrhage, etc. This technique can become a tool for assessment and response of the therapies as well as an important tool to seek help from higher centers. Various add-on benefits in research, limitation and scope for further evaluation also being discussed.

Sleep and Circadian Informatics Data Harmonization: A Workshop Report from the Sleep Research Society and Sleep Research Network

The increasing availability and complexity of sleep and circadian data are equally exciting and challenging. The field is in constant technological development, generating better high-resolution physiological and molecular data than ever before. Yet, the promise of large-scale studies leveraging millions of patients is limited by suboptimal approaches for data sharing and interoperability. As a result, integration of valuable clinical and basic resources is problematic, preventing knowledge discovery and rapid translation of findings into clinical care. To understand the current data landscape in the sleep and circadian domains, the Sleep Research Society (SRS) and the Sleep Research Network (now a task force of the SRS) organized a workshop on informatics and data harmonization, presented at the World Sleep Congress 2019, in Vancouver, Canada. Experts in translational informatics gathered with sleep research experts to discuss opportunities and challenges in defining strategies for data harmonization. The goal of this workshop was to fuel discussion and foster innovative approaches for data integration and development of informatics infrastructure supporting multi-site collaboration. Key recommendations included collecting and storing findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data; identifying existing international cohorts and resources supporting research in sleep and circadian biology; and defining the most relevant sleep data elements and associated metadata that could be supported by early integration initiatives. This report introduces foundational concepts with the goal of facilitating engagement between the sleep/circadian and informatics communities and is a call to action for the implementation and adoption of data harmonization strategies in this domain.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT IN BELARUS AND OTHER EAEU COUNTRIES

The article presents the results of a study of changes in the state policy of the Republic of Belarus related to the field of intellectual property. The author provides information on the adopted regulatory legal acts that improve relations regarding intellectual property rights. A brief overview of the main government bodies in this area is given. The main focus of the study is on the effectiveness of the changes, in particular, the change in the number of applications filed for registration of individual objects of intellectual property. A comparative analysis was carried out of the total number of such applications in all states of the Eurasian Economic Union. Based on the results obtained, the author made the appropriate conclusions and proposed the recommendations to improve the policy in the field of intellectual property both in Belarus and within the entire EAEU, in particular, to strengthen interaction between countries.The study was carried out within the framework of the research work "Mechanisms and directions of development of the single market for services of the EAEU in the context of the implementation of the concept of "Integration +"in the context of ensuring the economic security of the Republic of Belarus (business services) " on assignment 3.02 "Positioning the Republic of Belarus in the global economy in terms of ensuring international competitiveness and economic security, taking into account modern challenges and threats: theory, methodology and practice" of the State program of scientific research "Society and humanitarian security of the Belarusian state" for 2021-2025, subprogram "Economy".

Proposal for Preventing Motor Vehicle Accident Related to Drowsy Driving in Patients With Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by irresistible sleep attacks, hypersomnolence, cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone provoked by emotion), and sleep paralysis. Individuals with narcolepsy are at a high risk of experiencing sleepiness while driving leading to road traffic accidents. To prevent such accidents, some countries have regulations for commercial and noncommercial drivers with narcolepsy. Evaluating sleepiness is essential. Therefore, several subjective reports and objective tests were used to predict the possibility of car crashes or near-misses. Brain stimulants are effective in treating narcolepsy and can reduce daytime sleepiness in these patients. However, no guideline has been established for the driving safety of patients with narcolepsy in Korea. The Korean Sleep Research Society has prepared this proposal for preventing motor vehicle accidents caused by drowsy driving in patients with narcolepsy.

The Use of Scoring Hip Osteoarthritis with MRI as an Assessment Tool for Physiotherapeutic Treatment in Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Hip

Rehabilitation programs are considered effective at reducing the impact of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip; however, studies using reliable measures related to OA biomarkers to assess the effects of rehabilitation are lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate whether an MRI-based (Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based), semi-quantitative system for an OA severity assessment is feasible for the evaluation of the structural changes in the joint observed during a long-term physiotherapy program in patients with hip OA. The study group consisted of 37 adult OA patients who participated in a 12-month physiotherapy program. The Scoring hip osteoarthritis with MRI (SHOMRI) system was used to evaluate the severity of structural changes related to hip OA. Hip disability and the osteoarthritis outcome score (HOOS) and the core set of performance-based tests recommended by Osteoarthritis Research Society International were used for functional assessment. SHOMRI showed excellent inter- and intra-rater agreement, proving to be a reliable method for the evaluation of hip abnormalities. At the 12-month follow-up no statistically significant changes were observed within the hip joint; however, a trend of structural progression was detected. There was a negative correlation between most of the SHOMRI and HOOS subscales at baseline and the 12-month follow-up. Although SHOMRI provides a reliable assessment of the hip joint in patients with OA it showed a limited value in detecting significant changes over time in the patients receiving physiotherapy over a 12-month period.

Towards Efficient Use of Cement in Ultra High Performance Concrete

This paper presents an investigation on substituting the cement content with an inert material, in a typical locally produced UHPC mix. A structured literature review was performed to enrichen the discussion and to benchmark the results towards already reported investigations in the research society. Investigations on cement substitution in UHPC are frequently reported. However, usually the cement is substituted with other binding materials – often pozzolanic by-products from other industries. Reports from investigations on the use of inert materials for cement substitution in UHPC seem scarce. An experimental program that included a total of 210 test specimens was executed. This program included evaluating several questions embedded to the problem on how to substitute cement while keeping all other variables constant. It is concluded that up to 40% of the cement can be substituted with an inert material, without significantly changing the flexural tensile strength or compressive strength of the hardened UHPC. Two preconditions were caretaken: the particle packing was maintained by securing that the substitution material had a Particle Size Distribution (PSD) near identical to the cement and that the water balance was maintained through preconditioning of the substitution material. Suggestions are made for improving benchmarking.

THE EFFECT OF FLIPPED CLASSROOM STRATEGY IN LEARNING SOME BASIC ‎FOOTBALL SKILLS FOR JONIOR INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL STUDENTS

The search aims to: ‎ ‎- Recognize the effect of the inverted grade strategy in learning some ‎of the basic skills of football for second graders. ‎ ‎- Identify the differences between the past and subsequent tests of ‎the two groups of research in learning some of the basic skills of ‎football for second grade students.‎ ‎- Identify the differences between the subsequent tests of the two ‎groups of research in learning some of the basic skills of football for ‎students of the second grade literary.‎ The researchers used the experimental approach to suitability and the ‎nature of the research. The research society consisted of students of ‎the second grade intermediate school in Al-Malwia for boys in the ‎district of Baqubeh in the province of Diyala. The total number of ‎students was (43) and (30) students were randomly chosen to be the ‎sample of the research and divided into two experimental and ‎experimental groups (15), And the two experimental design ‎researchers، called (equal group design، random selection with pre-‎test and post-test) were used to achieve parity between them.‎ and then the main experiment was applied by two units a week for six ‎weeks. After that the post tests were applied. After the data collection ‎and unloading) And test (t) for associated and independent samples، ‎arithmetic mean and standard deviation. After the statistical treatment ‎and the appearance of the results, the researchers concluded the ‎following: ‎- The flipped classroom strategy has the effect of learning some basic ‎football skills for a sample search.‎ ‎- The advantage of strategic inverted grade on the traditional style of ‎the article teacher in learning some basic football skills for sample ‎research. ‎ Therefor, the researchers recommended using this strategy in ‎learning other skills for other. activities.‎

Content validity of Scoliosis Research Society questionnaire-22 revised (SRS-22r) for adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis: protocol for a qualitative study exploring patient’s and practitioner’s perspectives

IntroductionContent validity is the most important measurement property for any patient-reported outcome measure (PROM). It being the extent that the PROM measures important concepts that are relevant to the population of interest. Adolescent with idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common spinal deformity in paediatric populations, with the Scoliosis Research Society questionnaire-22 revised (SRS-22r) a commonly used PROMof quality of life. In the absence of existing evidence, a content validity study for SRS-22r is needed to confirm its suitability for AIS. Thus, this study aims to investigate the content validity of SRS-22r for AIS. A secondary aim is to explore healthcare professional (HCP) perspectives of the barriers and facilitators to using outcome measures in AIS.Methods and analysisQualitative study reported according to COnsolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative Studies. A purposive sample of AIS (n=10–15, Cobb angle >25°, aged 10–18 years) will be recruited for online semi-structured interviews. A convenience sample (n=10–12) of HCP with clinical and/or research experience in AIS will be recruited for a focus group discussion. Topic guides and age-relevant documents are informed by existing evidence and developed using a framework of concept elicitation and cognitive debriefing. Audio-recordings will be transcribed verbatim, coded, analysed and synthesised using interpretive phenomenology analysis. Themes that generated from the analysis will be used as codes that will then be mapped to the SRS-22r contents.Ethics and disseminationThe Health Research Authority and Health and Care Research Wales approval have been granted (IRAS 289888). Study findings will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations.

Conclusions and Policy Implications

The work presented in this volume is a compilation of research highlights that represent numerous studies carried out by researchers within the Energy Governance Work Package (WP4) of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research, Society and Transition (SCCER CREST). As our Introduction has illustrated in detail, these researchers worked together under common scientific interests in providing recommendations to overcome governance challenges in the course of the energy transition in Switzerland. Despite the variety of disciplines involved in this group, the conscious decision not to over-precise the shared notion of governance has successfully guided this challenging but fruitful four-year collaboration. These findings should help identify basic designs and structural principles of good energy governance, i.e., governance that is more effective, efficient, and transparent. The conclusion chapter summarizes these guiding principles and further challenges that emerged from our research in the context of Swiss energy governance.