Patents and Industrialisation. An Historical Overview of the British Case, 1624-1907

A Report to the Strategic Advisory Board on Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP), U

Minimizing Variability of Cascade Impaction Measurements in Inhalers and Nebulizers

The purpose of this article is to catalogue in a systematic way the available information about factors that may influence the outcome and variability of cascade impactor (CI) measurements of pharmaceutical aerosols for inhalation, such as those obtained from metered dose inhalers (MDIs), dry powder inhalers (DPIs) or products for nebulization; and to suggest ways to minimize the influence of such factors. To accomplish this task, the authors constructed a cause-and-effect Ishikawa diagram for a CI measurement and considered the influence of each root cause based on industry experience and thorough literature review. The results illustrate the intricate network of underlying causes of CI variability, with the potential for several multi-way statistical interactions. It was also found that significantly more quantitative information exists about impactor-related causes than about operator-derived influences, the contribution of drug assay methodology and product-related causes, suggesting a need for further research in those areas. The understanding and awareness of all these factors should aid in the development of optimized CI methods and appropriate quality control measures for aerodynamic particle size distribution (APSD) of pharmaceutical aerosols, in line with the current regulatory initiatives involving quality-by-design (QbD)

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Copper(II) Catalyzed Aminomethylation of Alkanes with Amine N-Oxides via C-H Bond Activation

The formation of a C-C bond via double C-H bond activation is very challenging. There are only a few examples of such a coupling having been accomplished. Only one of these examples consists of a coupling of two sp3 hybridized carbons. I set out to reproduce this coupling, using substrates that would have a functional application to the synthesis of appealing molecules such as bioactive molecules. Cyclohexane and trimethylamine N-oxide were successfully coupled via a double C-H bond activation, catalyzed by copper(II). Current research now involves the coupling of toluene with trimethylamine N-oxide. As this work progresses, more interesting and useful substrates will be employed

Stable Interest Points for Improved Image Retrieval and Matching

Local interest points and descriptors have been used very successfully to achieve accurate and efficient image retrieval and matching performance which is robust to occlusion and limited viewpoint change. Currently, these systems tend to be initialized from still images and require that a thousand or more points be stored in a retrieval data structure for each object. Many of these points are rarely if ever used, and thus unnecessarily limit the number of reference images that can be stored effectively. We propose a method for determining the stability of local interest points and their descriptors such that an efficient and effective subset of points can be stored. This technique has been shown to reduce the number of required points by an order of magnitude while improving performance, allowing for significantly smaller data structures for use in retrieval and matching