Detection of Outlying Correlation Coefficients in Multicenter Clinical Trials

Central statistical monitoring aims at finding centers whose data distribution differs significantly from the other centers in multicentric clinical trials. Such differences may point to data quality issues due to negligence, misconduct, or fraud. Data distributions can be compared across centers in many different ways, depending on the type of data (e.g., numerical or categorical), whether a univariate or a multivariate comparison is performed, and so on. In that framework, we present two methods aimed at detecting centers with outlying bivariate Pearson correlation coefficients. One of the methods directly compares the correlations across centers. The other method conditions the test on one of the marginal standard deviations, which makes the test on correlation independent of the centers' standard deviations. Both methods are shown to perform equally well on simulated data. They are also applied on real world data, where they identify centers with outlying correlations. The findings of the two tests are compared, showing that they concord for centers with average standard deviations, but differ for centers with extreme standard deviations. While the focus here is on central statistical monitoring, the methods are general and can be used in other settings.The authors thank Drs Akhtar-Danesh and Dehghan-Kooshkghazi for providing the datasets of fabricated data used in Section 5.1 of this paper

Making healthcare technology a success story: Developing a patient-centric toolset to design, manage, evaluate, and optimize patient healthcare technology usage

No abstract available. This was a presentation that was part of a competition

Heparin-binding domains in elastin-like proteins for improved tissue integration

A heart attack leads to irreversible damage to the heart muscle. Current treatment methods mainly focus on the prevention of secondary infarcts and do not replace the lost cells. Consequently, a myocardial infarction often initiates a chain of events leading to the development of cardiac arrhythmias and ultimately heart failure. New stem cell therapies are under development, but are impeded by the limited retention of these cells at the infarct site. As a result, the majority of injected cells do not have ample time to differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes. Injectable hydrogels offer an elegant approach to increase stem cell retention. Elastin-like proteins (ELPs) have a long history in this field as a result of their intrinsic lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Dynamic hydrogels based on oxidised hyaluronic acid and hydrazide-functionalised ELPs have been previously demonstrated to increase cell retention without impeding injectability. We used these materials as a benchmark and built on this concept by incorporating heparin-binding domains (HBDs) in the ELP structure. This class of positively charged protein domains has been previously studied as affinity tag in protein purification and was expected to also interact with negatively charged components in the extracellular matrix (ECM), such as hyaluronic acid and sulphated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). By relying on an custom-built injectability set-up, we studied the interaction of the incorporated HBDs with other ECM components such as hyaluronic acid and collagen in an indirect way by relating changes in the injectability of hydrogel formulations to changes in viscosity induced by coacervation

Op het spoor van een verlangen: schrijven in het kunstonderwijs

In deze bijdrage vragen Tom Van Imschoot, Isolde Vanhee en Kris Pint aandacht voor de belangrijke rol van schrijven binnen de kunsten en voor artistiek onderzoek binnen het kunstonderwijs. Ze lichten toe dat schrijven niet haaks staat op het artistieke proces, maar dit juist kan aanscherpen. Ze beschrijven vier stappen die nodig zijn om schrijven een plek te geven binnen opleidingen. Twijfel, ongemakkelijkheid, ontevredenheid over wat je schrijft of over bestaande vormen of genres, kan leiden tot een formele integratie van die twijfels door het creëren van een nieuwe vorm, een vorm die op de een of andere manier onze verwachtingen overtreft of ons verrast. (Lydia Davis, De schoonheid van weerbarstig proza, 2019, p. 281). Dat kunstenaars schrijven en dat dus ook binnen het hoger kunstonderwijs vaak geschreven wordt, is vanzelfsprekend. De ontwikkeling van een artistieke taal staat weliswaar voorop in een kunstopleiding, en gezien de nadruk op het woord in de humane wetenschappen zou je dat een 'anderstaligheid' kunnen noemen, maar die anderstalige focus staat de taal van het woord niet in de weg. Van oudsher hebben beeldende kunstenaars geschreven en als medium wordt het woord al lang in de beeldende kunsten geëxploreerd en geïntegreerd. De waarde van verwoording voor de ontwikkeling van kritische zin en communicatie wordt in het kunstonderwijs bovendien niet betwist-zodra mensen geraakt worden door beeldende kunst, willen ze er nu eenmaal vaak ook over spreken. Maar de invoering van academisch onderzoek in het huidige hoger kunst-onderwijs vraagt om een herijking van deze vanzelfsprekendheid. De discussie over welke vormen artistiek onderzoek kan aannemen, roept immers de vraag op hoe de kunsten zich tot schrijven verhouden, omdat onderzoek in de wetenschappen traditioneel neerslaat in masterscripties, artikelen en proefschriften. Daarmee is niet gezegd dat artistiek onderzoek binnen kunstopleidingen met dat schrijven staat of valt. Het gaat immers om praktijkgebaseerd onderzoek, waarin de artistieke praktijk van de onder-zoekende kunstenaar voorop staat (zowel qua onderzoeksvraag, proces en methode als qua artistieke uitkomsten). Toch treedt 'schrijven' op de voor-grond, aangezien academisch onderzoek naast het gangbare onderzoek in de kunstpraktijk ook om een verbale communicatie vraagt. Academisch onderzoek in de kunsten vereist een vorm van schrijven en publiceren die de anderstalige, artistieke onderzoekspraktijk deelbaar maakt, naast vertrouwde vormen als workshops en exposities. Het komt er dan ook op aan vormen van schrijven te ontwikkelen die nauw verbonden zijn met dat artistiek onderzoek, in een productieve wisselwerking met het artistieke onderzoeksproces. Daartoe is een visie op schrijven nodig die niet alleen spoort met het ontwikkelen van de kunsten, zoals artistiek onderzoek beoogt, maar ook met de ontwikkeling van kunststudenten als onderzoeker. Hierna zetten we in vier stappen een visie op schrijven in het hoger kunst-onderwijs uiteen. Niet in de vorm van een Nietzscheaans 'nut en nadeel', maar vanuit een Barthesiaans plezier en verlangen. We concentreren ons daarbij op de rol van schrijven voor onderzoek in de beeldende kunsten

It’s (not) all about the money: financial decisions at the intersection of business and family

Purpose We develop a conceptual framework that combines the established concept of money scripts from financial psychology with the family-practice-fit framework. Through this integration, we analyze how family identity, values and maturity levels interact with financial decision-making. We examine four key financial decisions and their alignment with family characteristics through the lens of different money scripts. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper explores how business families’ collective attitudes toward money and wealth (money scripts) influence their financial business decisions. We examine the relationship between money scripts and four key financial decisions: ROE expectations, profit growth targets, capital structure and dividend policies. By integrating money scripts with the family-practice-fit framework, we investigate how family characteristics shape financial decision-making in family businesses. Findings Our analysis reveals that family businesses’ financial decisions often reflect their collective money scripts rather than purely rational economic considerations. These shared attitudes toward money can lead to financial choices that prioritize family values over conventional business logic. The framework demonstrates how misalignment between money scripts, family characteristics and financial decisions can create tensions affecting both family unity and business performance. Originality/value This paper pioneers the application of money scripts to family business research, offering a novel framework for understanding seemingly irrational financial decisions. It contributes to family business theory by expanding the family-practice-fit framework and provides practical guidance for business families and advisors in making financial decisions that align with family values while supporting business objectives

Presentation 1: Maternal behavioral health during pregnancy and newborn telomere length

Results: Stress moderated the effect of age on the basal cytokine composite, such that age was associated with increased inflammation only among those with higher stress [B=0.02, p<0.01]. No significant interaction effects were found in models predicting CRP or stimulated cytokines. Conclusion: Results support the hypothesis that stress exacerbates the negative effect of aging on basal cytokine levels. Stress did not moderate the association of age with CRP or stimulated cytokines. Background: The importance of health behaviors for age-related disease risk is well established. The period of embryonic and fetal life represents among the most sensitive developmental windows at which time the effects of maternal behavioral factors can impact the initial (newborn) setting of telomere length (TL). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the aggregate effect of maternal diet, sleep and physical activity during pregnancy on newborn TL. Methods: Diet quality (Mediterranean Diet Score), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and physical activity (Measurement of Physical Activity and Sport Questionnaire) were assessed in a sample of N=125 healthy pregnant women enrolled in a longitudinal prospective cohort study. A Behavioral Health Sum Score was computed as the sum of z-scores. Newborn TL was measured in cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) collected at birth using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction method. Results: Regression analysis showed that healthier maternal behavior (i.e. higher Behavioral Health Sum Score) during pregnancy was associated with longer CBMC TL (B=0.03, 95%CI: 0.006 to 0.05, p=.01), also after adjusting for maternal age, SES, pre-pregnancy BMI, child sex and gestational age at birth. Conclusion: Our results emphasize the importance of promoting maternal behavioral health during pregnancy

Air pollution exposure and incidence of cardiometabolic diseases: Exploring the modifying role of dietary antioxidant intake in adults

While the antioxidative potential of certain vitamins and minerals in cardio-protection has garnered increasing interest, their ability to attenuate associations between air pollution exposure and cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) remains unexplored. This study examined the associations of air pollution (particulate matter including ultrafine particles (UFP), and nitrogen oxides, including NO2 and NOx) and six dietary antioxidants with incident non-fatal CMDs in 30,519 EPIC-NL study participants. Data on CMD incidence (total cardiovascular disease (CVD), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart failure (HF)) and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) diagnoses were obtained from medical registries. Annual average ambient concentrations of air pollutants at the participants' baseline residential addresses were predicted using land use regression models. Dietary intake of antioxidants was assessed via a food frequency questionnaire. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to explore associations. Exposures to NO2 and UFP were associated with elevated HF risk (Hazard Ratio (HR) (95 % CI): 1.24 (1.00, 1.54) and 1.69 (1.04, 2.76), respectively). Higher beta-carotene intake was associated with reduced risk of total CVD and CHD incidence (HR (95 % CI): 0.94 (0.89, 0.99) and 0.92 (0.84, 0.99), respectively), whereas, in general, antioxidant intake was positively associated with incident T2DM. Interaction analyses indicated some variability in CMD risk by antioxidant intake, but none of these interactions remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. These findings indicate that the associations of air pollution with incident CMD do not differ by dietary antioxidant intake.The EPIC-NL study was funded by “Europe against Cancer” Program of the European Commission (DG SANCO); the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports (VWS); the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw); and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). The present study has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program ‘SURREAL’ under grant agreement No 956780. TSN holds funding by Methusalem. IV and EJT are supported by an NWO Gravitation Grant (Exposome-NL, 024.004.017). The funding bodies had no role in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data, in writing of the manuscript and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Opportunities for Inclusion: A Critical Analysis of Higher Education in Flanders

The Eurydice report 'Towards equity and inclusion in higher education in Europe' provides an in-depth analysis of the current state of social cohesion and inclusion in higher education in Flanders. In this contribution, seven experts with a multidisciplinary background offer critical reflections, focussing on ten principles that serve as guidelines for policy development and the implementation of inclusive practices in higher education institutions. The authors analyse the effectiveness of current policies and support for vulnerable and underrepresented groups in Flanders, paying particular attention to psychological counseling, funding, and the role of teaching staff. The conclusions drawn in this contribution highlight the need for a common language around inclusiveness, three-level accountability, and a holistic approach to equal educational opportunities. During the presentation, the authors will present a critical assessment of the Flemish situation, indicating that significant progress is possible towards an inclusive learning environment promoting diversity and social cohesion. This contribution provides guidelines for policymakers, educational institutions, and other stakeholders to make effective changes that improve access and participation of all students in higher education

Business Applications of Cargo Drones in the EU

Drones have become ubiquitous in various industries due to their versatility and efficiency in performing various tasks, from agricultural operations to search and rescue missions. This paper explores the use of drones, particularly cargo drones, in revolutionizing logistics and transportation systems. Medium-range cargo drones offer the potential to transform freight transportation by offering independence from traditional infrastructure and potentially reducing environmental impact. However, the integration of UAVs into existing logistical operations faces several challenges, including regulatory hurdles, technological limitations, and public perception issues. Drones can become a viable form of cargo transportation given that the regulatory challenges are addressed and can be efficiently integrated into the existing logistic operations. It would ultimately result in an efficient last-mile delivery option and will revolutionize the logistics industry