The clinical profile and respiratory ciliary assessment in Kartageners syndrome

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Effectiveness of Facebook Groups and Pages on Participant Recruitment Into a Randomized Controlled Trial During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Descriptive Study

BACKGROUND: In response to the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, conventional recruitment approaches were halted, causing the suspension of numerous clinical trials. Previously, Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc) has emerged as a promising tool for augmenting participant recruitment. While previous research has explored the use of Facebook for surveys and qualitative studies, its potential for recruiting participants into randomized controlled trials (RCTs) remains underexplored. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to comprehensively examine the effectiveness of using Facebook groups and pages to facilitate participant recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic for an RCT on the effectiveness of a remote parenting program, 1-2-3 Magic, in families who have children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United Kingdom. METHODS: We disseminated 5 Facebook posts with an attached digital flyer across 4 prominent ADHD UK support groups and pages run by the National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Services, reaching an audience of around 16,000 individuals over 2 months (January 7 to March 4, 2022). Eligibility criteria mandated participants to be parents or caregivers of a child with diagnosed ADHD aged 12 years or younger, be residing in the United Kingdom, have access to stable internet, and have a device with the Zoom (Zoom Video Communications) app. Participants were required to have never attended 1-2-3 Magic training previously. Prospective participants expressed their interest through Microsoft Forms (Microsoft Corporation). The trial aimed to recruit 84 parents. It is important to note that the term "parent" or "caregiver" in the RCT and in this study within a trial refers to anybody who has legal responsibility for the child. RESULTS: Overall, 478 individuals registered their interest through Microsoft Forms within the stipulated 2-month window. After the eligibility check, 135 participants were contacted for a baseline meeting through Zoom. The first 84 participants who attended a baseline meeting and returned a completed consent form were enrolled. Subsequently, another 16 participants were added, resulting in a final sample of 100 participants. This recruitment strategy incurred negligible expenses and demanded minimal human resources. The approach yielded favorable outcomes by efficiently attracting eligible participants in a condensed time frame, transcending geographical barriers throughout the United Kingdom, which would have been tedious to achieve through traditional recruitment methods. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience demonstrated that digital flyers posted in the targeted Facebook groups were a cost-effective and quick method for recruiting for an RCT, which opened during the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdown restrictions were in place in the United Kingdom. Trialists should consider this low-cost recruitment intervention for trials going forward, and in the case of a global pandemic, this novel recruitment method enabled the trial to continue where many have failed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 15281572; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN15281572

A hyper-heuristic inspired by pearl hunting

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Pearl hunter : an inspired hyper-heuristic

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Pearl hunter: a cross-domain hyper-heuristic that compiles iterated local search algorithms

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Towards a learning-based heuristic searching reform scheme

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Demographics and Medication Use of Patients with Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease in Hong Kong

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly population. However, epidemiological studies on the demographics of AD in Hong Kong population are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the demographics, comorbidities, mortality rates, and medication use of patients with AD in Hong Kong to understand how the disease has been managed locally. METHODS: This was a collaborative study of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Hospital Authority Data Collaboration Lab. We analyzed the demographic data, clinical records, diagnoses, and medication records of patients with AD under the care of the Hospital Authority between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017. RESULTS: We identified 23,467 patients diagnosed with AD. The median age at diagnosis was 84 years old, and 71% of patients were female. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (52.6%). 39.9% of patients received medications for dementia; of those, 68.4% had taken those medications for >  1 year. Compared to nonusers, long-term AD medication users had a significantly younger age of AD onset and were taking more lipid-regulating medication, diabetes medication, or antidepressants. Surprisingly, the use of antipsychotics in patients with AD was quite common; 50.7% of patients had received any type of antipsychotic during disease progression. CONCLUSION: This study provides detailed information on the demographics and medication use of patients with AD in Hong Kong. The data from this AD cohort will aid our future research aiming to identify potential AD risk factors and associations between AD and other diseases

A real time quality monitoring system for the lighting industry : a practical and rapid approach using computer vision and image processing (CVIP) tools

Author name used in this publication: C. K. NgAuthor name used in this publication: C. Y. ChanAuthor name used in this publication: G. T. S. Ho2011-2012 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Design and development of an RFID-based HIS - a case study

Author name used in this publication: S. K. KwokAuthor name used in this publication: G. T. S. HoAuthor name used in this publication: C. Y. Chan2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe