Impact of Servant Leadership on the Development of Change-Oriented Citizenship Behavior

Due to globalization; utilization of new innovations; adapting to a tempestuous climate; and political, cultural, and economical challenges, organisations face progressing cycles of change. They relegate the duty of expecting change and giving direction to their employees for their professional growth. Because of the change-oriented behavior of employees, the study proposed the importance of understanding the phenomena while examining the subject of change readiness and psychological empowerment of employees during the current era of change. This study examines the mechanism of the effect of servant leadership on change-oriented behavior. The study employed a survey-based method, and data is collected with the help of a questionnaire. The rate of response was 50%, qualifying for the minimum criteria of response rate. For the data analysis, SEM-PLS is used. Results of the current study supported the hypothesised relationships.

Evaluation of Treatment Response in Lupus Nephritis

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment reflected by the rate of response to therapy at 6 months and 12 months of follow-up respectively. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical, laboratory data, treatment regimens, the type of response and relapse rate of 51 patients diagnosed with LN between January 2017 and February 2020. Results:47.06% of the patients underwent renal biopsy, classes III and IV being the most common lupus nephritis types (totaling 35.3% of biopsied patients). All induction therapy choices analyzed in the study- CYC, Glucocorticoids (GCs) and MMF- proved effective at reducing the proteinuria of the patients (p=0.001, p=0.012 and p=0,019 respectively. The 12 months evaluation demonstrated an ascending trend of the complete response, starting from 27.45% at 6 months and almost doubling at 1 year (56.86%). Almost half of patients (49.02%) did not relapse, while most of them (27.45%) had only 1 relapse. Analyzing the risk of relapse for each induction drug used, CYC had the highest rate of recurrence (62.07%). The use of MMF as a maintenance drug associated the lowest degree of recurrence. Conclusions: Both CYC and MMF as induction therapy are significantly effective in reducing proteinuria. The complete response was more frequently identified as an endpoint at 12 months of follow-up.

Association Between the Rate of Treatment Response and Short-Term Outcomes in Childhood Guillain-Barré Syndrome

Introduction: Few studies have examined the association between the rate of treatment response and the outcome of pediatric Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Therefore, our study aimed to identify treatment response in relation to the short-term outcomes of GBS. Further, we investigated its potential predictive value for prognosis.Methods: Our retrospective study included children diagnosed with GBS in the Pediatric Neurology Department of the Children's Hospital of Hebei Province from 2016 to 2020. According to the rate of response from the standard intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatment, patients were divided into two groups: rapid-response GBS (initial response within 7 days) and slow-response (initial response within 8–30 days). The GBS disability score (Hughes Functional Grading Scale) was used to assess the children's functional disability at nadir, 1 month, and 6 months after onset.Results: Among the 36 children included in the study, 18 (50%) and 18 (50%) were rapid and slow responders, respectively. Time from IVIg treatment to the initial response was significantly shorter in the rapid-response group (5 [3–6.25] days vs. 10.5[8.75–15] days in slow-response GBS, p < 0.001). Hughes score at 1 month was worse than the rapid responders (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.006). Survival analysis (Kaplan–Meier) with respect to regaining the ability to walk independently (Hughes Functional Grading Scale of 2) within 1 month after onset was significantly different among the two groups (log-rank test for trend, p = 0.024). The abnormal levels of cerebral spinal fluid proteins and autonomic dysfunction were more frequent in the slow-response group than those in the rapid group (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The rate of response to IVIg treatment was correlated with short-term outcomes in children with GBS and had predictive value for prognosis. The role of patient's initial responses to treatment could be significantly valuable in developing more effective and efficient treatment options.

Rituximab-Lenalidomide-Ibrutinib Combination for Relapsed/Refractory Primary CNS Lymphoma

Background and ObjectivesTo evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of the association rituximab-lenalidomide-ibrutinib (R2I) in relapsed/refractory (R/R) primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL).MethodsR/R PCNSL patients treated with R2I were retrospectively selected and analyzed from the French LOC database.ResultsFourteen patients (median age: 63 years, median Karnofsky Performance Status: 75%) received R2I, administered after a median of 2 previous lines of chemotherapy, including autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in 5 cases. The best response was complete response in 4/14 patients and partial response in 4/14 patients, achieved in a median of 2.5 months. Three responder patients received consolidation treatment (WBRT: N = 2, ASCT: N = 1) after R2I, and R2I served as a bridge before CAR-T cell therapy for one patient. R2I was discontinued due to toxicity in 3/14 patients. There were no toxicity-related deaths.DiscussionThe R2I combination resulted in a high rate of response of rapid-onset in heavily pretreated patients with poor prognosis, with manageable toxicity, and allowed 3 patients to proceed to consolidation. Although preliminary, these results support the use of R2I for R/R PCNSL failing conventional chemotherapies.Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class IV evidence that combination of rituximab-lenalidomide-ibrutinib induces a high rate of response in heavily pretreated R/R PCNSL.

STUDY OF A CATEGORY ONE AIRPORT OPERATIONAL SAFETY AND SECURITY IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

This study assesses the operational safety and security of a category one airport in Nigeria, using the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja (NAIA) as the case study airport. Data were sourced using structured questionnaire and oral interviews. A total of 180 questionnaires were administered and 165 questionnaires were retrieved, amounting to a 91.7% rate of response. The structured questionnaire used aimed at identifying various safety and security parameters in the study area. This study examined the trend of the effectiveness of safety and security variable in airport operations, safety and employee’s attitude towards safety risk management using the Multicriteria Decision Analysis model to achieve this objective. The results show the weighty level, satisfaction index and effective index of the safety and security parameters used in the analysis with their score and effective index graph. Recommendation on how to improve the airport safety operations were made following policy implication on how to improve the safety management system of the airport.

P255 Efficacy and safety of a restrictive ferric carboxymaltose infusion strategy for iron deficiency anemia in inflammatory bowel disease patients

Background Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common condition in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) has shown fast correction of hemoglobin (Hb) levels and good tolerability. We evaluated the response to FCM in IBD patients with IDA. The primary outcome was the assessment of the rate of response to single or multiple FCM infusions after 12 months from the first infusion. Secondary outcomes were the response to a single FCM infusion after 3 months and the assessment of FCM safety. Methods We retrospectively included 185 consecutive patients from IBD Unit of “Villa Sofia-V. Cervello” Hospital who received at least a dose of 500 mg FCM infusion between 2015 and 2018. Complete response (CR) was defined as Hb ≥13 g/dL (men) or ≥12 g/dL (women) or Hb increase ≥2 g/dL; partial response (PR) was defined as Hb increase ≥1 and <2 g/dl, without anemia correction; response was considered either CR or PR. Failure was defined as Hb increase <1 g/dl. A univariate analysis was performed among complete responders, partial responders and failures at 3 and 12 months. Results After 12 months the mean number of FCM infusions was 1.7 ± 1.1 and the rate of response was 139/185 (75.1%; CR: 48.6%; PR: 26.4%). Concerning our secondary endpoint, 169/185 patients received a single infusion of FCM within 3 months, and 134/169 patients (79.2%) achieved response (CR: 56.8%; PR: 22.4%). At univariate analysis low ferritin was the only variable associated with failure at 12 months (p < 0.003). No adverse events were reported. Conclusion A restrictive FCM infusion strategy is effective in most IBD patients with IDA. Interestingly, no association was found with Hb and weight at baseline, so further studies are needed to assess their effective role in deciding dosage of FCM.

Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Tofacitinib in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis: Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Background Knowledge of the real-world effectiveness and safety of tofacitinib for ulcerative colitis (UC) is relevant to confirm the benefit observed in clinical trials. Methods This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the real-world effectiveness of tofacitinib for moderate to severely active UC. The primary outcome was clinical remission evaluated at week 8, weeks 12 to 16, and month 6. Secondary outcomes were response, corticosteroid-free remission, mucosal healing, colectomy, and safety. Results Seventeen studies with a total of 1162 patients with UC were included. Remission (11 studies) was achieved in 34.7% of patients at week 8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.4%-45.1%), 47% at weeks 12 to 16 (95% CI, 40.3%-53.6%), and 38.3% at month 6 (95% CI, 29.2%-47.5%) at month 6 duplicated. Response was achieved in 62.1%, 64.2%, 50.8%, and 41.8% of patients at week 8, weeks 12 to 16, month 6, and month 12, respectively. Corticosteroid-free remission (5 studies) was achieved in 38.4%, 44.3%, 33.6%, and 31% of patients at week 8, weeks 12 to 16, month 6, and month 12, respectively. Mucosal healing was achieved in 48.3% and 45.3% of patients at week 8 and weeks 12 to 16, respectively. Patients who were biologic-naïve (11.6%) had a significantly higher rate of response at week 8 (1.38; 95% CI, 1.03-1.84). The incidence rates of serious adverse events and herpes zoster was 8.9 and 6.9 per 100 patient-years, respectively. Conclusions This meta-analysis of real-world studies confirms the effectiveness of tofacitinib in a highly refractory population of patients with moderate to severely active UC. Tofacitinib showed an acceptable safety profile. These findings were consistent with clinical trials and further support the use of tofacitinib in UC.

Hierarchical Bayesian modelling of disease progression to inform clinical trial design in centronuclear myopathy

Background Centronuclear myopathies are severe rare congenital diseases. The clinical variability and genetic heterogeneity of these myopathies result in major challenges in clinical trial design. Alternative strategies to large placebo-controlled trials that have been used in other rare diseases (e.g., the use of surrogate markers or of historical controls) have limitations that Bayesian statistics may address. Here we present a Bayesian model that uses each patient’s own natural history study data to predict progression in the absence of treatment. This prospective multicentre natural history evaluated 4-year follow-up data from 59 patients carrying mutations in the MTM1 or DNM2 genes. Methods Our approach focused on evaluation of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) in 6- to 18-year-old children. A patient was defined as a responder if an improvement was observed after treatment and the predictive probability of such improvement in absence of intervention was less than 0.01. An FEV1 response was considered clinically relevant if it corresponded to an increase of more than 8%. Results The key endpoint of a clinical trial using this model is the rate of response. The power of the study is based on the posterior probability that the rate of response observed is greater than the rate of response that would be observed in the absence of treatment predicted based on the individual patient’s previous natural history. In order to appropriately control for Type 1 error, the threshold probability by which the difference in response rates exceeds zero was adapted to 91%, ensuring a 5% overall Type 1 error rate for the trial. Conclusions Bayesian statistical analysis of natural history data allowed us to reliably simulate the evolution of symptoms for individual patients over time and to probabilistically compare these simulated trajectories to actual observed post-treatment outcomes. The proposed model adequately predicted the natural evolution of patients over the duration of the study and will facilitate a sufficiently powerful trial design that can cope with the disease’s rarity. Further research and ongoing dialog with regulatory authorities are needed to allow for more applications of Bayesian statistics in orphan disease research.

Increased PD-L1 Tumor Expression Correlates with High Rate of Response to PD-1 Inhibitors in Patients with Unresectable, Recurrent, and Metastatic Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: PD-1 inhibitors were approved for locally advanced and metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) in 2019 with ORR of 47% and CR of 4%. The identification of tumor characteristics that predict potential responders to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is an area of ongoing research. Here we present a series of consecutive patients with locally advanced unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic CSCC treated with PD-1 inhibitors and analyze tumor and blood genomics as well as PD-L1 expression with the aim to correlate with treatment response. Methods: We analyzed all cases of CSCC treated with single agent PD-1 inhibitors in the last 2 years at Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. Demographic and outcome data was collected. Tumors tested for genomics and PD-L1 expression in all cases with available tissue. PD-L1 tumor expression was tested by IHC utilizing DAKO 22C3 pharmDx antibodies. Tumor genomic studies including TMB and MSI were performed by Foundation Medicine platform. Blood was tested for circulating tumor DNA by Guardant 360 platform, at the beginning of treatment and in follow up at the time of maximum response. Response was assessed by RECIST 1.1 Criteria. Results (Table 1): Eleven patients with CSCC treated with PD-1 ICI were included in this study. Five patients had locally advanced disease, five patients had recurrent locally advanced disease, and three patients had metastatic disease. Three patients received treatment for at least 12 months and all have CR to date. Two patients have been on treatment for 6 months, and they have excellent PR with possible CR per imaging studies. Of the six patients who have been on treatment for less than 6 months, one patient has excellent PR with negative PET, three patients have very good clinical response with imaging studies pending, one patient has questionable response, and one patient only recently started treatment. Treatment is well tolerated with no treatment discontinuation. Immune-related complications are rare consisting of only one patient developing hypothyroidism during treatment. Eight patients had sufficient tumor tissue for genomic and PD-L1 testing. Initial blood genomic testing was performed in 10 of 11 patients and in follow up in all three patients who achieved maximum response. Patients with CR had PD-L1 of at least 30%. The additional tested patients have PD-L1 above 10%. The most frequently mutated tDNA gene was TP53 and the second most frequently mutated gene was the NOTCH1/2. TMB was intermediate or high in all tested patients. Discussion: Treatment of locally advanced unresectable, recurrent, and metastatic CSCC with ICI has led to a dramatic change in the management and prognosis of CSCC. Our series of patients with CSCC has a higher than reported rate of response and especially complete response. This corresponds with high TP53 alterations (100% of patients), NOTCH 1/2 alterations (90 % of patients) and high level of expression of PD-L1 (90% patients). Interestingly, PD-L1 rates were higher than previously published.

Challenges for Convergence of Cloud and IoT in Applications and Edge Computing

Cloud computing and internet of things (IoT) are two disparate technologies that can be united for a common purpose as in an operating profit. The technologies are integral parts of modern sophisticated human life. In the future, it is destined to proliferate boundlessly covering utmost spheres. This chapter describes the challenges faced in adopting the two technologies. Edge computing includes both computing and processing the information are carried at the edge of the IoT devices where vast information gathered instead of relying on the central location. Benefits include avoiding latency issues, improving the performance of the application, and cost effectiveness as it reduces the data volume to be processed in cloud/centralized location. In the advent of IoT devices, edge computing is a vital step in building any of its application which sends and receives enormous information to and from the cloud over the course of operations. Applications such as virtual reality and smart systems are benefited by edge computing as they expect higher rate of response and processing speed. A case study on video surveillance is done in this chapter.