Monitoring group activity of hamsters and mice as a novel tool to evaluate COVID-19 progression, convalescence and rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccination efficacy

COVID-19 pandemic initiated a worldwide race toward the development of treatments and vaccines. Small animal models were the Syrian golden hamster and the K18-hACE2 mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 to display a disease state with some aspects of the human COVID-19. Group activity of animals in their home cage continuously monitored by the HCMS100 was used as a sensitive marker of disease, successfully detecting morbidity symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters and in K18-hACE2 mice. COVID-19 convalescent hamsters re-challenged with SARS-CoV-2, exhibited minor reduction in group activity compared to naive hamsters. To evaluate rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccination efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, we used the HCMS100 to monitor group activity of hamsters in their home cage. Single-dose rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccination of immunized group showed a faster recovery compared to the non-immunized infected hamsters, substantiating the efficacy of rVSV-ΔG-spike vaccine. HCMS100 offers non-intrusive, hands-free monitoring of a number of home cages of hamsters or mice modeling COVID-19.

Abstract 14790: Prospective Evaluation of the Effect of Smartphone Electrocardiogram Usage on Anticoagulant Medication Compliance: Results of the Better Outcomes of Anticoagulation Therapy by Observation of Atrial Rhythm (BOAT OART) Study

Introduction: Compliance with anticoagulation treatment for atrial fibrillation is variable. Smartphone electrocardiograms that provide accurate arrhythmia diagnosis may allow patients to have greater insight into their arrhythmia burden. Hypothesis: Our hypothesis was that regular use of a smartphone electrocardiogram would improve anticoagulant compliance. Methods: Patients were enrolled if they had atrial fibrillation with a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 2 or more, were eligible for anticoagulation and had a smartphone. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a smartphone electrocardiogram (AliveCor Kardia) or to the control group. All patients received 6 months of anticoagulant (apixaban) dispensed as 1-month pre-loaded pill boxes. Patients returned monthly to assess medication compliance and receive subsequent month medication. Monitor patients were encouraged to record their electrocardiogram 5 times a week. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled from July 2017 to August 2019, but 4 patients in the monitor arm withdrew prematurely. The monitor and control groups did not differ in age, gender, CHA2DS2-VASc score, comorbidities or atrial fibrillation burden. Medication compliance was 99.1%, with greater compliance in the monitor group (99.5 ± 0.86%) than the control group (98.8% ± 2.19%; p=0.03). In the monitor group, there was no association between missed doses and use or nonuse of the smartphone monitor on a given day. Overall monitor compliance was 87.0±14% with an average of 4.35 recorded electrocardiograms per week. Monitor group patients with 100% medication compliance had a higher average monitor compliance than those patients who missed doses (90.3±11% vs 83.5±15.8%; p=0.05). There were no major adverse events related to anticoagulation. Conclusions: Despite excellent overall anticoagulant medication compliance, this study indicates that smartphone electrocardiogram usage is associated with higher medication compliance. Greater monitor compliance was also associated with greater medication compliance. Future studies are necessary to determine if smartphone electrocardiograms can be used to maintain anticoagulant compliance long-term or improve compliance at onset of anticoagulation treatment.

MAKING GROUPS BETTER

How can we best prepare students for careers in our competitive environment? This paper examines how group work or cooperative learning is beneficial in the learning process. It examines certain areas of learning that lend themselves to cooperative learning. Cooperative learning leads to benefits and potential problems in working with groups. We examine ways to prepare successful groups for a project. The paper suggests ways to monitor group work in the classroom. Finally, it reports on a group work study taking place over many semesters in an introductory accounting class. Results include a very successful semester. While subsequent semesters provided good results, results were mixed. What can we do to enhance our students’ success in group work projects? The research points to several problem areas that can be addressed. What factors can we consider to improve our results? The research points to ways to prepare students for group work. This paper adds to the research by exploring ways to make group work more successful.

Cultura Organizacional y Capacidad de Ejecución

Durante la última década, el tema de la ejecución de la estrategia ha tomado gran interés en los negocios. Este interés se refleja en la publicación de varios libros dedicados al tema, entre ellos Execution: The Discipline to Get Things Done (Bossidy y Charan 2002), Making Strategy Work:Leading Effective Execution and Change (Hrebiniak 2005) y The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage (Kaplan y Norton 2008). Una variedad de estudios recientes respaldan el interés en la ejecución. Por ejemplo, en una encuesta de la American Management Association del 2006, sólo el 3% respondió que sus empresas eran muy exitosas en la ejecución de la estrategia, mientras que el 62% calificó esta capacidad como mediocre o peor. Otra encuestas del Conference Board en 2007 y del Monitor Group en 2006 señalan que la prioridad número uno de los ejecutivos es la excelencia en la ejecución. Finalmente, en su encuesta internacional de 2008, la Society for Human Resource Management indica que las prioridades 1 y 2 de los ejecutivos encuestados eran el desarrollo organizacional y la gestión estratégica, respectivamente, ambos temas íntimamente relacionados con la ejecución de la estrategia.

A Mobile Technology Intervention With Ultraviolet Radiation Dosimeters and Smartphone Apps for Skin Cancer Prevention in Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Skin cancer is the most prevalent and most preventable cancer in Australia. Despite Australia’s long-running public health campaigns, young Australian adults continue to report high levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and frequent sunburns. Young people are now increasingly turning away from traditional media, such as newspapers and TV, favoring Web-based streaming, which is challenging the health care sector to develop new ways to reach this group with targeted, personalized health promotion messages. Advances in technology have enabled delivery of time- and context-relevant health interventions. OBJECTIVE The primary aim of this randomized controlled trial was to test the effect of UVR feedback from a smartphone app or a UVR dosimeter feedback device on sun protection habits, sun exposure behaviors, sunburn, and physical activity levels in young adults. METHODS Young adults aged 18-35 years (n=124) were recruited from Queensland, Australia, between September 2015 and April 2016, via social or traditional media campaigns and outreach activities in the local community. Participants were randomized into 3 groups for a 4-week intervention: (1) no intervention control group; (2) UVR monitor group, who were asked to wear a UVR dosimeter feedback device set to their skin type; and (3) a SunSmart app group, who were asked to download and use the SunSmart phone app. Data were self-assessed through Web-based surveys at baseline and 1 week and 3 months postintervention. RESULTS Complete data were available for 86.2% (107/124) of participants (control group, n=36; UVR monitor group, n=36; and SunSmart app group, n=35). Intervention uptake in the UVR monitor group was high, with 94% (34/36) of participants using the device all or some of the time when outdoors. All SunSmart app group participants downloaded the app on their smartphone. There was no significant difference in the change in the sun protection habits (SPH) index (main outcome measure) across the 3 groups. However, compared with the control group, a significantly greater proportion of the participants in the UVR monitor group reduced their time unprotected and exposed to UVR on weekends during the intervention compared with the baseline (odds ratio [OR]: 2.706, 95% CI 1.047-6.992, P=.04). This significant effect was sustained with greater reductions observed up to 3 months postintervention (OR: 3.130, 95% CI 1.196-8.190, P=.02). There were no significant differences between the groups in weekday sun exposure, sunscreen use, sunburn, suntan, or physical activity. CONCLUSIONS Using technology such as apps and personal UVR monitoring devices may improve some sun exposure behaviors among young adults, but as the SPH index did not increase in this study, further research is required to achieve consistent uptake of sun protection in young people. CLINICALTRIAL The Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials register ACTRN12615001296527; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=368458 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/731somROx)

The Usage of Acoustic Emission in Apis mellifera Research

This paper deals with acoustic emission (AE) which was used to monitor group approximately ten pieces of honeybees in a glass jar. Acoustic emission is a part of the non-destructive methods and it is especially used for to monitor and detection defects of material on construction sites and industrial process. In the last time the acoustic emission was tested for very special objects such as to monitor of growth of plants or behaviour of insects. The mission this work was to apply a new experiment on the behaviour of colonies by means of acoustic emission, which it allows to capture waves and vibrations spreading in the material. Vibrations are one of the major parts of communication in the bee communities. Sensing colonies with the support of acoustic emission can be used for understanding of biological behaviour and reaction bees on different kinds of stimuli. During the experiment were used two sensors for to monitor the activities of selected bees diverging from the normal state were observed. The sensor No. 1 was mounted directly on the glass with using a rubber strip. The sensor No. 2 was mounted on the steel sheet by using a clamp. Whole glass jar was isolated with polystyrene against disturbing waves through the environment. The non-destructive method of acoustic emission was scanned activity of the selected bee sample in the immediate vicinity for approximately thirty hours.

Reforming Managed Care Certification of Mental Health Services

This article examines the issues associated with the current managed care delivery system for certification of mental health services, including pain management. Inconsistencies in dispositions having impacts upon patient care appear to be inherent in the current peer review certification system. Issues related to public assistance clients will be given particular attention. After introducing the issues, this article reviews the literature to survey what facets have been the subjects of academic research and reflection. It then presents case examples of inconsistencies, followed by recommendations for a model with checks and balances. In conclusion, creation of an independent monitor group is recommended.

Assessment of various display devices on a virtual reality-based hand rehabilitation system

The purpose of the present study is to assess the effect of an auxiliary lateral image and display devices on manipulation performance in a virtual reality-based hand rehabilitation system. The system consists of a personal computer, a tracker, a data glove, and a display device. For this study, a projector, a monitor, and a head-mounted display were respectively used as the display devices to present three-dimensional virtual environments. Twelve volunteers were recruited to take a pick-and-place procedure at different levels of difficulty. Task time and collision frequency were the parameters used to evaluate the manipulation performance. It was found that the presence of an auxiliary lateral image was a significant factor only for the performance of the projector group and the monitor group. In addition, no statistically significant difference was found in the comparison between the projector group and the monitor group.