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Trial Site (trial + site)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Field validation of experimental challenge models for IPN vaccines

JOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES, Issue 12 2007
A Ramstad
Abstract Atlantic salmon S1/2 pre-smolts from the VESO Vikan hatchery were assigned to study groups, i.p. immunized with commercially available, multivalent oil-adjuvanted vaccines with (Norvax Compact 6 , NC-6) or without (Norvax Compact 4 , NC-4) recombinant infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) antigen. A control group received saline solution. When ready for sea, the fish were transported to the VESO Vikan experimental laboratory, where two identical tanks were stocked with 75 fish per group before being transferred to 10 °C sea water and exposed by bath to first passage IPNV grown in CHSE-214 cells. The third tank containing 40 fish from each group was challenged by the introduction of 116 fish that had received an i.p injection of IPNV-challenge material. The remaining vaccinated fish were transported to the VESO Vikan marine field trial site and placed in two identical pens, each containing approximately 53 000 fish from the NC-6 group and 9000 fish from the NC-4 group. In the experimental bath challenge trial, the cumulative mortality was 75% and 78% in the control groups, and the relative percentage survival (RPS) of the NC-6-immunized fish vs. the reference vaccine groups was 60% and 82%, respectively. In the cohabitation challenge, the control mortality reached 74% and the IPNV-specific vaccine RPS was 72%. In both models, the reference vaccine lacking IPNV antigen gave a moderate but statistically significant non-specific protection. In the field, a natural outbreak of infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) occurred after 7 weeks lasting for approximately 3.5 months before problems due to winter ulcers became dominating. During this outbreak, mortality in the NC-4 groups were 33.5% and 31.6%, respectively, whereas mortality in the NC-6 groups were 6.9% and 5.3%, respectively, amounting to 81% IPNV-specific protection. In conclusion, the IPN protection estimates obtained by experimental challenges were consistent between tanks, and were confirmed by the field results. [source]

Operational teledermatology in Broken Hill, rural Australia

AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Adrian See
SUMMARY From January 2001 to January 2002, Broken Hill, New South Wales, served as a trial site for teledermatology as one method of access to dermatologists. Fourteen participating general practitioners referred 46 patients making up 48 teledermatology cases. The mean diagnostic agreement between general practitioners and dermatologists was 35% and 50% for primary and differential diagnoses, respectively. Teledermatology patients formed 12% of the collectively referred dermatology patients (outpatients and teledermatology). In this project, high patient and general practitioner acceptability and positive medical outcomes confirm the value of rural teledermatology. However, this project also revealed unexpected barriers and pitfalls in the effective operation of rural teledermatology. Lack of education of participants, inertia among potential users and patient inconvenience are issues that may adversely affect the effective implementation of rural teledermatology. [source]

Using species distribution models to identify suitable areas for biofuel feedstock production

GCB BIOENERGY, Issue 2 2010
JASON M. EVANS
Abstract The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act mandates a five-fold increase in US biofuel production by 2022. Given this ambitious policy target, there is a need for spatially explicit estimates of landscape suitability for growing biofuel feedstocks. We developed a suitability modeling approach for two major US biofuel crops, corn (Zea mays) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), based upon the use of two presence-only species distribution models (SDMs): maximum entropy (Maxent) and support vector machines (SVM). SDMs are commonly used for modeling animal and plant distributions in natural environments, but have rarely been used to develop landscape models for cultivated crops. AUC, Kappa, and correlation measures derived from test data indicate that SVM slightly outperformed Maxent in modeling US corn production, although both models produced significantly accurate results. When compared with results from a mechanistic switchgrass model recently developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), SVM results showed higher correlation than Maxent results with models fit using county-scale point inputs of switchgrass production derived from expert opinion estimates. However, Maxent results for an alternative switchgrass model developed with point inputs from research trial sites showed higher correlation to the ORNL model than the corresponding results obtained from SVM. Further analysis indicates that both modeling approaches were effective in predicting county-scale increases in corn production from 2006 to 2007, a time period in which US corn production increased by 24%. We conclude that presence-only methods are a powerful first-cut tool for estimating relative land suitability across geographic regions in which candidate biofuel feedstocks can be grown, and may also provide important insight into potential land-use change patterns likely to be associated with increased biofuel demand. [source]

Prospective Registration of Clinical Trials in India: Strategies, Achievements & Challenges

JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE, Issue 1 2009
Prathap Tharyan
Abstract Objective This paper traces the development of the Clinical Trial Registry-India (CTRI) against the backdrop of the inequities in healthcare and the limitations in the design, conduct, regulation, oversight and reporting of clinical trials in India. It describes the scope and goals of the CTRI, the data elements it seeks and the process of registering clinical trials. It reports progress in trial registration in India and discusses the challenges in ensuring that healthcare decisions are informed by all the evidence. Methods A descriptive survey of developments in clinical trial registration in India from publications in the Indian medical literature supplemented by firsthand knowledge of these developments and an evaluation of how well clinical trials registered in the CTRI up to 10 January, 2009 comply with the requirements of the CTRI and the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trial Registry (WHO ICTRP). Results Considerable inequities exist within the Indian health system. Deficiencies in healthcare provision and uneven regulation of, and access to, affordable healthcare co-exists with a large private health system of uneven quality. India is now a preferred destination for outsourced clinical trials but is plagued by poor ethical oversight of the many trial sites and scant information of their existence. The CTRI's vision of conforming to international requirements for transparency and accountability but also using trial registration as a means of improving trial design, conduct and reporting led to the selection of registry-specific dataset items in addition to those endorsed by the WHO ICTRP. Compliance with these requirements is good for the trials currently registered but these trials represent only a fraction of the trials in progress in India. Conclusion Prospective trial registration is a reality in India. The challenges facing the CTRI include better engagement with key stakeholders to ensure increased prospective registration of clinical trials and utilization of existing legislative opportunities to complement these efforts. [source]