An Evaluation of a Factor Xa-Based Clotting Time Test for Enoxaparin: A Proof-of-Concept Study

A well-accepted test for monitoring anticoagulation by enoxaparin is not currently available. As inadequate dosing may result in thrombosis or bleeding, a clinical need exists for a suitable test. Previous in silico and in vitro studies have identified factor Xa as an appropriate activating agent, and the phospholipid Actin FS as a cofactor for a Xa clotting time (TenaCT) test. A proof-of-concept study was designed to (1) explore the reproducibility of the TenaCT test and (2) explore factors that could affect the performance of the test. In vitro clotting time tests were carried out using plasma from 20 healthy volunteers. The effect of enoxaparin was determined at concentrations of 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0 IU/mL. Clotting times for the volunteers were significantly prolonged with increasing enoxaparin concentrations. Clotting times were significantly shortened for frozen plasma samples. No significant differences in prolongation of clotting times were observed between male and female volunteers or between the 2 evaluated age groups. The clotting times were consistent between 2 separate occasions. The TenaCT test was able to distinguish between the subtherapeutic and therapeutic concentrations of enoxaparin. Plasma should not be frozen prior to performing the test, without defining a frozen plasma reference range. This study provided proof-of-concept for a Xa-based test that can detect enoxaparin dose effects, but additional studies are needed to further develop the test

Intelligent customer complaint handling utilising principal component and data envelopment analysis (PDA)

In this study, we consider customer to be a company's crucial asset. In order to have a fast, efficient decision-making process, it is vital that a customer relationship management (CRM) decision-maker condenses and abstracts the existing information. A questionnaire survey was conducted among respondents in order to obtain the required data. The questionnaire contains nine categories of satisfaction variables. To perform the analysis, we used principal component analysis (PCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). PDA has been utilised as an abbreviation for the integration of these two methods. To effectively analyse the procedure, PCA was utilised to assign a number to each category of questions related to each satisfaction variable. To achieve optimal precision, DEA was applied to the three categories of customers (‘most important’, ‘important’ and ‘ordinary’ customers) in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of customer services from these customers’ perspectives. Customers were clustered and then DEA was used to determine their viewpoints. Using DEA, we have optimised our recognition of customers’ complaints and then provided recommendations and remedial actions to resolve the current issues in logistics and transport industry in general, and at Fremantle port in particular. Significance The current study integrates soft computing and optimisation technique in order to build the CRM recommender system. It demonstrates the hybrid soft computing strengthens in area of CRM as the relevance solution. The significance of the proposed algorithm is three fold. First, it integrates soft computing and optimisation technique in order to build the CRM recommender system. Second, it utilises the most standard CRM variables in its decision making process. Third, it is an optimising algorithm because it integrates DEA with PCA technique