Public involvement in the governance of population-level biomedical research: unresolved questions and future directions.

Population-level biomedical research offers new opportunities to improve population health, but also raises new challenges to traditional systems of research governance and ethical oversight. Partly in response to these challenges, various models of public involvement in research are being introduced. Yet, the ways in which public involvement should meet governance challenges are not well understood. We conducted a qualitative study with 36 experts and stakeholders using the World Café method to identify key governance challenges and explore how public involvement can meet these challenges. This brief report discusses four cross-cutting themes from the study: the need to move beyond individual consent; issues in benefit and data sharing; the challenge of delineating and understanding publics; and the goal of clarifying justifications for public involvement. The report aims to provide a starting point for making sense of the relationship between public involvement and the governance of population-level biomedical research, showing connections, potential solutions and issues arising at their intersection. We suggest that, in population-level biomedical research, there is a pressing need for a shift away from conventional governance frameworks focused on the individual and towards a focus on collectives, as well as to foreground ethical issues around social justice and develop ways to address cultural diversity, value pluralism and competing stakeholder interests. There are many unresolved questions around how this shift could be realised, but these unresolved questions should form the basis for developing justificatory accounts and frameworks for suitable collective models of public involvement in population-level biomedical research governance

FU19 Nephrops Grounds 2023 UWTV Survey Report and catch scenarios for 2024

This report provides the main results of the fourteenth underwater television survey of the various Nephrops patches in Functional Unit 19. The survey was multi disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. In 2023 a total 42 UWTV stations were successfully completed. The mean density estimates varied considerably across the different patches. The 2023 raised abundance estimate showed a 15% decrease from the 2022 estimate and at 220 million burrows is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (430 million). Using the 2023 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2024 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters are between 224 and 248 tonnes (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2020–2022). One species of sea pen was observed; Virgularia mirabilis which has been observed on previous surveys of FU19. Trawl marks were observed at 10% of the stations surveyed.Marine Institut

Estimating the Cost of Preeclampsia in the Healthcare System: Cross-Sectional Study Using Data From SCOPE Study (Screening for Pregnancy End Points).

To estimate the cost of preeclampsia from the national health payer’s perspective using secondary data from the SCOPE study (Screening for Pregnancy End Points). SCOPE is an international observational prospective study of healthy nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies. Using data from the Irish cohort recruited between November 2008 and February 2011, all women with preeclampsia and a 10% random sample of women without preeclampsia were selected. Additional health service use data were extracted from the consenting participants’ medical records for maternity services which were not included in SCOPE. Unit costs were based on estimates from 3 existing Irish studies. Costs were extrapolated to a national level using a prevalence rate of 5% to 7% among nulliparous pregnancies. Within the cohort of 1774 women, 68 developed preeclampsia (3.8%) and 171 women were randomly selected as controls. Women with preeclampsia used higher levels of maternity services. The average cost of a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia was €5243 per case compared with €2452 per case for an uncomplicated pregnancy. The national cost of preeclampsia is between €6.5 and €9.1 million per annum based on the 5% to 7% prevalence rate. Postpartum care was the largest contributor to these costs (€4.9–€6.9 million), followed by antepartum care (€0.9–€1.3 million) and peripartum care (€0.6–€0.7 million). Women with preeclampsia generate significantly higher maternity costs than women without preeclampsia. These cost estimates will allow policy-makers to efficiently allocate resources for this pregnancy-specific condition. Moreover, these estimates are useful for future research assessing the cost-effectiveness of preeclampsia screening and treatment.</jats:p

Cultural Change through BIM: Driving Lean Transformation in Education

This paper presents a case study of how the adoption of BIM-based practices in the AECO industry is being reflected by cultural change in higher education in Ireland. The silo-mentality that has dominated the AECO sector for more than a century has, despite numerous reorganisations, been replicated in the structures of educational institutions, including in Dublin Institute of Technology since the inception of its founding colleges in the late 1800s. Most AECO programmes must include content that is external to the programme’s specific discipline. Through the School structures of the Institute, delivery of such content is known as "service teaching" and is regarded by some as being of lesser importance than core, discipline-specific content. When new content needs to be fitted into a programme, such as BIM technologies, or when financial constraints reduce contact hours, ‘serviced’ content is often easier to remove or reduce than discipline-specific content because it typically affects non-School staff. Such reductions lead to reduced exposure of students to complimentary skill-sets held by other professionals in the AECO sector and increased separation of disciplines. Without deliberate instigation of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary project work, students are sometimes educated in isolation from the other disciplines with whom they will work during their professional lives. In extreme cases, graduates sometimes have their first interactions with other professionals when they attend their first site meetings or design team meetings on real-world projects. BIM processes require collaboration at all levels in AECO and it is imperative that current and future students are educated within a structure that equips them with the necessary technical, business, and inter-personal skills. The establishment of the School of Multidisciplinary Technologies (SMDT) at the College of Engineering and Built Environment (CEBE) at DIT and the adoption of a college BIM Strategy are essential steps towards facilitating this new dimension of collaborative education. The School currently manages a suite of postgraduate and CPD, modules and programmes related to BIM and, although some staff in the School teach BIM-related content on these programmes, the majority of teaching on SMDT programmes is provided by lecturers from the disciplines of Architectural Technology, Building Services Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Electrical Services Engineering, Geomatics Engineering, Quantity Surveying, and Structural Engineering. SMDT is also investing in physical infrastructure, e.g. a Big BIM Room and laptop lab, to support existing activities but also to create the environment in which collaborative working between disciplines, structured initially around BIM practices but moving towards addressing Lean Construction, Sustainability, and N-ZEB agendas, becomes the norm for students as they progress towards graduation and entry into the professions

TH17-Induced Neutrophils Enhance the Pulmonary Allergic Response Following BALB/c Exposure to House Dust Mite Allergen and Fine Particulate Matter From California and China

Asthma is a global and increasingly prevalent disease. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 235 million people suffer from asthma. Studies suggest that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can induce innate immune responses, promote allergic sensitization, and exacerbate asthmatic symptoms and airway hyper-responsiveness. Recently, severe asthma and allergic sensitization have been associated with T-helper cell type 17 (TH17) activation. Few studies have investigated the links between PM2.5 exposure, allergic sensitization, asthma, and TH17 activation. This study aimed to determine whether (1) low-dose extracts of PM2.5 from California (PMCA) or China (PMCH) enhance allergic sensitization in mice following exposure to house dust mite (HDM) allergen; (2) eosinophilic or neutrophilic inflammatory responses result from PM and HDM exposure; and (3) TH17-associated cytokines are increased in the lung following exposure to PM and/or HDM. Ten-week-old male BALB/c mice (n = 6-10/group) were intranasally instilled with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), PM+PBS, HDM, or PM+HDM, on days 1, 3, and 5 (sensitization experiments), and PBS or HDM on days 12-14 (challenge experiments). Pulmonary function, bronchoalveolar lavage cell differentials, plasma immunoglobulin (Ig) protein levels, and lung tissue pathology, cyto-/chemo-kine proteins, and gene expression were assessed on day 15. Results indicated low-dose PM2.5 extracts can enhance allergic sensitization and TH17-associated responses. Although PMCA+HDM significantly decreased pulmonary function, and significantly increased neutrophils, Igs, and TH17-related protein and gene levels compared with HDM, there were no significant differences between HDM and PMCH+HDM treatments. This may result from greater copper and oxidized organic content in PMCA versus PMCH

The Effect of Liposome Encapsulation on the Pharmacokinetics of Recombinant Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor (rSLPI) Therapy after Local Delivery to a Guinea Pig Asthma Model

PURPOSE: Inhaled recombinant Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor (rSLPI) has shown potential for treatment of inflammatory lung conditions. Rapid inactivation of rSLPI by cathepsin L (Cat L) and rapid clearance from the lungs have limited clinical efficacy. Encapsulation of rSLPI within 1,2-Dioleoyl-sn-Glycero-3-[Phospho-L-Serine]:Cholesterol liposomes (DOPS-rSLPI) protects rSLPI against Cat L inactivation in vitro. We aimed to determine the effect of liposomes on rSLPI pharmacokinetics and activity in vitro and after local delivery to the airways in vivo. METHODS: Transport of DOPS-rSLPI and free-rSLPI across a polarised air-liquid epithelial monolayer was measured. An asthma guinea pig model was administered either DOPS-rSLPI liposomes or free-rSLPI by intratracheal instillation. RESULTS: Apparent permeability (P(app)) of free-rSLPI was significantly higher at 4.9 x 10⁻⁶ cm/s than for DOPS-rSLPI, P(app) of 2.05 x 10⁻⁷ cm/s, confirmed by in vivo studies. Plasma rSLPI concentrations were highest in free-rSLPI-treated animals compared with those treated with DOPS-rSLPI; there also appeared to be a trend for higher intracellular rSLPI content in animals dosed with DOPS-rSLPI compared to free-rSLPI. Eosinophil influx was recorded as a measure of inflammation. Pre-dosing with either free-rSLPI or DOPS-rSLPI prevented inflammatory response to antigen challenge to levels comparable to control animals. CONCLUSION: Encapsulation of rSLPI in DOPS:Chol liposomes improves stability, reduces clearance and increases residence time in the lungs after local delivery

The value of open-source clinical science in pandemic response: lessons from ISARIC

International audienc