Implementing robotic process automation for auditing and fraud control

The cost of fraud continues to be a problem for many organizations in the global economy. This study explores how robotic process automation may offer a way forward for organizations to reduce fraud and advance organizational audit effectiveness for detecting potential fraud areas and cases. The research was performed by conducting a literature review that considered 22 articles (through a selection process) on the relevant research themes of robotic process automation, fraud and auditing. The findings suggest that organizations should consider robotic process automation as a means for reducing fraud opportunities in organizations. Robotic process automation may also assist organizations to advance their audit efficiency and effectiveness. The paper conclude by proposing a theoretical framework for the implementation of robotic process automation in fraud control and auditing. A number of new theoretical questions arose during this analysis. This include, the potential use of robotic process automation by fraudsters in support of organizational fraud and secondly, the new skills required by auditors to be effective in an intelligent workplace.https://www.springer.com/series/78992022-09-24hj2022Informatic

Research Review: The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents - a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) are an increasingly popular way of attempting to improve the behavioural, cognitive and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents, though there is a suggestion that enthusiasm has moved ahead of the evidence base. Most evaluations of MBIs are either uncontrolled or nonrandomized trials. This meta-analysis aims to establish the efficacy of MBIs for children and adolescents in studies that have adopted a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) design. METHODS: A systematic literature search of RCTs of MBIs was conducted up to October 2017. Thirty-three independent studies including 3,666 children and adolescents were included in random effects meta-analyses with outcome measures categorized into cognitive, behavioural and emotional factors. Separate random effects meta-analyses were completed for the seventeen studies (n = 1,762) that used an RCT design with an active control condition. RESULTS: Across all RCTs we found significant positive effects of MBIs, relative to controls, for the outcome categories of Mindfulness, Executive Functioning, Attention, Depression, Anxiety/Stress and Negative Behaviours, with small effect sizes (Cohen's d), ranging from .16 to .30. However, when considering only those RCTs with active control groups, significant benefits of an MBI were restricted to the outcomes of Mindfulness (d = .42), Depression (d = .47) and Anxiety/Stress (d = .18) only. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis reinforces the efficacy of using MBIs for improving the mental health and wellbeing of youth as assessed using the gold standard RCT methodology. Future RCT evaluations should incorporate scaled-up definitive trial designs to further evaluate the robustness of MBIs in youth, with an embedded focus on mechanisms of action

‘Mind the gaps’: the accessibility and implementation of an effective depression relapse prevention programme in UK NHS services: learning from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy through a mixed-methods study

Objectives Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based approach for people at risk of depressive relapse to support their long-term recovery. However, despite its inclusion in guidelines, there is an ‘implementation cliff’. The study objective was to develop a better explanation of what facilitates MBCT implementation. Setting UK primary and secondary care mental health services. Design, participants and methods A national two-phase, multi-method qualitative study was conducted, which was conceptually underpinned by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework. Phase I involved interviews with stakeholders from 40 service providers about current provision of MBCT. Phase II involved 10 purposively sampled case studies to obtain a more detailed understanding of MBCT implementation. Data were analysed using adapted framework analysis, refined through stakeholder consultation. Results Access to MBCT is variable across the UK services. Where available, services have adapted MBCT to fit their context by integrating it into their care pathways. Evidence was often important to implementation but took different forms: the NICE depression guideline, audits, evaluations, first person accounts, experiential taster sessions and pilots. These were used to build a platform from which to develop MBCT services. The most important aspect of facilitation was the central role of the MBCT implementers. These were generally self-designated individuals who ‘championed’ grass-roots implementation. Our explanatory framework mapped out a prototypical implementation journey, often over many years with a balance of bottom-up and top-down factors influencing the fit of MBCT into service pathways. ‘Pivot points’ in the implementation journey provided windows of either challenge or opportunity. Conclusions This is one of the largest systematic studies of the implementation of a psychological therapy. While access to MBCT across the UK is improving, it remains patchy. The resultant explanatory framework about MBCT implementation provides a heuristic that informed an implementation resource

Long‐term cattle grazing shifts the ecological state of forest soils

Cattle grazing profoundly affects abiotic and biotic characteristics of ecosystems. While most research has been performed on grasslands, the effect of large managed ungulates on forest ecosystems has largely been neglected. Compared to a baseline seminatural state, we investigated how long-term cattle grazing of birch forest patches affected the abiotic state and the ecological community (microbes and invertebrates) of the soil subsystem. Grazing strongly modified the soil abiotic environment by increasing phosphorus content, pH, and bulk density, while reducing the C:N ratio. The reduced C:N ratio was strongly associated with a lower microbial biomass, mainly caused by a reduction of fungal biomass. This was linked to a decrease in fungivorous nematode abundance and the nematode channel index, indicating a relative uplift in the importance of the bacterial energy-channel in the nematode assemblages. Cattle grazing highly modified invertebrate community composition producing distinct assemblages from the seminatural situation. Richness and abundance of microarthropods was consistently reduced by grazing (excepting collembolan richness) and grazing-associated changes in soil pH, Olsen P, and reduced soil pore volume (bulk density) limiting niche space and refuge from physical disturbance. Anecic earthworm species predominated in grazed patches, but were absent from ungrazed forest, and may benefit from manure inputs, while their deep vertical burrowing behavior protects them from physical disturbance. Perturbation of birch forest habitat by long-term ungulate grazing profoundly modified soil biodiversity, either directly through increased physical disturbance and manure input or indirectly by modifying soil abiotic conditions. Comparative analyses revealed the ecosystem engineering potential of large ungulate grazers in forest systems through major shifts in the composition and structure of microbial and invertebrate assemblages, including the potential for reduced energy flow through the fungal decomposition pathway. The precise consequences for species trophic interactions and biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships remain to be established, however

Treatment of anastomotic leak after oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer:large, collaborative, observational TENTACLE cohort study

Background: Anastomotic leak is a severe complication after oesophagectomy. Anastomotic leak has diverse clinical manifestations and the optimal treatment strategy is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of treatment strategies for different manifestations of anastomotic leak after oesophagectomy. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in 71 centres worldwide and included patients with anastomotic leak after oesophagectomy (2011-2019). Different primary treatment strategies were compared for three different anastomotic leak manifestations: interventional versus supportive-only treatment for local manifestations (that is no intrathoracic collections; well perfused conduit); drainage and defect closure versus drainage only for intrathoracic manifestations; and oesophageal diversion versus continuity-preserving treatment for conduit ischaemia/necrosis. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality. Propensity score matching was performed to adjust for confounders. Results: Of 1508 patients with anastomotic leak, 28.2 per cent (425 patients) had local manifestations, 36.3 per cent (548 patients) had intrathoracic manifestations, 9.6 per cent (145 patients) had conduit ischaemia/necrosis, 17.5 per cent (264 patients) were allocated after multiple imputation, and 8.4 per cent (126 patients) were excluded. After propensity score matching, no statistically significant differences in 90-day mortality were found regarding interventional versus supportive-only treatment for local manifestations (risk difference 3.2 per cent, 95 per cent c.i. -1.8 to 8.2 per cent), drainage and defect closure versus drainage only for intrathoracic manifestations (risk difference 5.8 per cent, 95 per cent c.i. -1.2 to 12.8 per cent), and oesophageal diversion versus continuity-preserving treatment for conduit ischaemia/necrosis (risk difference 0.1 per cent, 95 per cent c.i. -21.4 to 1.6 per cent). In general, less morbidity was found after less extensive primary treatment strategies. Conclusion: Less extensive primary treatment of anastomotic leak was associated with less morbidity. A less extensive primary treatment approach may potentially be considered for anastomotic leak. Future studies are needed to confirm current findings and guide optimal treatment of anastomotic leak after oesophagectomy.</p

Fluorescent T7 display phages obtained by translational frameshift

Lytic phages form a powerful platform for the display of large cDNA libraries and offer the possibility to screen for interactions with almost any substrate. To visualize these interactions directly by fluorescence microscopy, we constructed fluorescent T7 phages by exploiting the flexibility of phages to incorporate modified versions of its capsid protein. By applying translational frameshift sequences, helper plasmids were constructed that expressed a fixed ratio of both wild-type capsid protein (gp10) and capsid protein fused to enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP). The frameshift sequences were inserted between the 3′ end of the capsid gene and the sequence encoding EYFP. Fluorescent fusion proteins are only formed when the ribosome makes a −1 shift in reading frame during translation. Using standard fluorescence microscopy, we could sensitively monitor the enrichment of specific binders in a cDNA library displayed on fluorescent T7 phages. The perspectives of fluorescent display phages in the fast emerging field of single molecule detection and sorting technologies are discussed

Accessibility and implementation in UK services of an effective depression relapse prevention programme - mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT): ASPIRE study protocol

notes: PMCID: PMC4036706types: Journal Article© 2014 Rycroft-Malone et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a cost-effective psychosocial prevention programme that helps people with recurrent depression stay well in the long term. It was singled out in the 2009 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Depression Guideline as a key priority for implementation. Despite good evidence and guideline recommendations, its roll-out and accessibility across the UK appears to be limited and inequitably distributed. The study aims to describe the current state of MBCT accessibility and implementation across the UK, develop an explanatory framework of what is hindering and facilitating its progress in different areas, and develop an Implementation Plan and related resources to promote better and more equitable availability and use of MBCT within the UK National Health Service.NIHRHS&D

Evidence for natural antisense transcript-mediated inhibition of microRNA function

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have the potential to regulate diverse sets of mRNA targets. In addition, mammalian genomes contain numerous natural antisense transcripts, most of which appear to be non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). We have recently identified and characterized a highly conserved non-coding antisense transcript for beta-secretase-1 (BACE1), a critical enzyme in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology. The BACE1-antisense transcript is markedly up-regulated in brain samples from Alzheimer's disease patients and promotes the stability of the (sense) BACE1 transcript. We report here that BACE1-antisense prevents miRNA-induced repression of BACE1 mRNA by masking the binding site for miR-485-5p. Indeed, miR-485-5p and BACE1-antisense compete for binding within the same region in the open reading frame of the BACE1 mRNA. We observed opposing effects of BACE1-antisense and miR-485-5p on BACE1 protein in vitro and showed that Locked Nucleic Acid-antimiR mediated knockdown of miR-485-5p as well as BACE1-antisense over-expression can prevent the miRNA-induced BACE1 suppression. We found that the expression of BACE1-antisense as well as miR-485-5p are dysregulated in RNA samples from Alzheimer's disease subjects compared to control individuals. Our data demonstrate an interface between two distinct groups of regulatory RNAs in the computation of BACE1 gene expression. Moreover, bioinformatics analyses revealed a theoretical basis for many other potential interactions between natural antisense transcripts and miRNAs at the binding sites of the latter