Squishy Non-Spherical Hydrogel Microparticles

available in PMC 2011 July 15Recent advances in the synthesis of polymeric colloids have opened the doors to new advanced materials. There is strong interest in using these new techniques to produce particles that mimic and/or interact with biological systems. An important characteristic of biological systems that has not yet been exploited in synthetic polymeric colloids is their wide range of deformability. A canonical example of this is the human red blood cell (RBC) which exhibits extreme reversible deformability under flow. Here we report the synthesis of soft polymeric colloids with sizes and shapes that mimic those of the RBC. Additionally, we demonstrate that the mechanical flexibility of the colloids can be reproducibly varied over a large range resulting in RBC-like deformability under physiological flow conditions. These materials have the potential to impact the interaction between biological and synthetic systems.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-MGH Fellowship in Translational Research)Massachusetts General Hospital (MIT-MGH Fellowship in Translational Research)National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (U.S.) (BioMEMS Resource Center, P41 EB002503)John Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationInstitut Curie (Rothschild-Yvette-Mayent-Institute Curie Fellowship

A mixed methods feasibility study to evaluate the use of a low-intensity, nurse-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome

Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is characterised by symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhoea and bloating. These symptoms impact on health-related quality of life, result in excess service utilisation and are a significant burden to healthcare systems. Certain mechanisms which underpin IBS can be explained by a biopsychosocial model which is amenable to psychological treatment using techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). While current evidence supports CBT interventions for this group of patients, access to these treatments within the UK healthcare system remains problematic. Methods and analysis: A mixed methods feasibility randomised controlled trial will be used to assess the feasibility of a low-intensity, nurse-delivered guided self-help intervention within secondary care gastrointestinal clinics. A total of 60 participants will be allocated across four treatment conditions consisting of: high-intensity CBT delivered by a fully qualified cognitive behavioural therapist, low-intensity guided self-help delivered by a registered nurse, self-help only without therapist support and a treatment as usual control condition. Participants from each of the intervention arms of the study will be interviewed in order to identify potential barriers and facilitators to the implementation of CBT interventions within clinical practice settings. Quantitative data will be analysed using descriptive statistics only. Qualitative data will be analysed using a group thematic analysis.N/

Medical Safety and Device Reliability of Active Transcutaneous Middle Ear and Bone Conducting Implants: A Long-Term Multi-Centre Observational Study

Active bone-conducting hearing devices (aBCHD; e.g., MEDEL Bonebridge® (BB)) and active middle ear implants (aMEI; e.g., MEDEL Vibrant Soundbridge® (VSB)) use radio frequency transmission to send information from an external microphone and sound processor to an internally implanted transducer. These devices potentially have an advantage over devices with percutaneous links because the skin is closed over the implantable components, which should reduce the risk of skin problems and infection. On the other hand, surgical procedures are more complex, with a greater risk of damage due to surgery. The objectives of this research were to quantify the reliability and long-term survival of MEDEL VSB and BB devices, determine the adverse and serious adverse device-related complications, and consider associated causes. A multi-center observational retrospective and prospective study was conducted at eleven auditory implant centers in the United Kingdom. Data was collected using a surgical questionnaire and audiological reports. Data were obtained from patient notes or from prospective cases that had a minimum follow-up of one year post-implant. Consecutive patient records were reviewed. Datasets from 109 BB and 163 VSB were reviewed. Of these, 205 were retrospective case note reviews, and 67 were prospective cases. The mean follow-up was 4 and 6 years, respectively, for BB and VSB. Kaplan–Meier Survival analyses indicated that the BB survival was 97% and 93.3% at 1 and 5 years, respectively, and the VSB was 92.1% and 87% at the same time points. This is a large cohort study for the field and has indicated that BB and VSB are safe interventions. Care should be taken to monitor magnet strength in the first few months. For the majority of device-related effects, there was no apparent association with etiology. However, an interesting pattern emerged for individuals who exhibited an inflammatory response, e.g., adhesions or device extrusion, and those with a history of chronic suppurative otitis media. This should be considered in future work and is not surprising given that many VSB recipients have a complicated hearing history, often associated with otitis media

Measuring symptoms in the irritable bowel syndrome: development of a framework for clinical trials

Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2010; 32: 1275–1291There is uncertainty about how to measure patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in IBS. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emphasizes that PROs must be couched in a conceptual framework, yet existing IBS PROs were not based on such a framework.To perform qualitative analyses to inform a new conceptual framework for IBS symptoms.Following FDA guidance, we searched the literature for extant IBS questionnaires. We then performed interviews in IBS patients to learn about the illness experience in their own words. We cultivated vocabulary to inform a conceptual framework depicted with domains, sub-domains, and item categories, per FDA guidance.We identified 13 questionnaires with items encompassing 18 symptoms. We recruited 123 IBS patients for cognitive interviews. Major themes included: pain and discomfort are different – asking about discomfort is nonspecific and should be avoided in future PROs; bowel urgency is multifaceted – PROs should measure bowel immediacy, controllability, and predictability; and PROs should divide bloating into how it feels vs. how it looks. Symptom experience may be determined by 35-item categories within five domains: (i) pain; (ii) gas/bloat; (iii) diarrhoea; (iv) constipation; and (v) extraintestinal symptoms.We applied FDA guidance to develop a framework that can serve as the foundation for developing a PRO for IBS clinical trials.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79156/1/j.1365-2036.2010.04464.x.pd

Evaluating the effectiveness and reliability of the Vibrant Soundbridge and Bonebridge auditory implants in clinical practice: Study design and methods for a multi-centre longitudinal observational study.

BACKGROUND: The Vibrant Soundbridge middle ear implant and the Bonebridge bone conducting hearing device are hearing implants that use radio frequency transmission to send information from the sound processor to the internal transducer. This reduces the risk of skin problems and infection but requires a more involved surgical procedure than competitor skin penetrating devices. It is not known whether more complex surgery will lead to additional complications. There is little information available on the reliability of these systems and adverse medical or surgical events. The primary research question is to determine the reliability and complication rate for the Vibrant Soundbridge and Bonebridge. The secondary research question explores changes in quality of life following implantation of the devices. The tertiary research question looks at effectiveness via changes in auditory performance. METHOD: The study was designed based on a combination of a literature search, two clinician focus groups and expert review.A multi-centre longitudinal observational study was designed. There are three study groups, two will have been implanted prior to the start of the study and one group, the prospective group, will be implanted after initiation of the study. Outcomes are surgical questionnaires, measures of quality of life, user satisfaction and speech perception tests in quiet and in noise. CONCLUSION: This is the first multi-centre study to look at these interventions and includes follow up over time to understand effectiveness, reliability, quality of life and complications

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

A randomised controlled trial on hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: design and methodological challenges (the IMAGINE study)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common gastro-intestinal disorder in primary and secondary care, characterised by abdominal pain, discomfort, altered bowel habits and/or symptoms of bloating and distension. In general the efficacy of drug therapies is poor. Hypnotherapy as well as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and short Psychodynamic Therapy appear to be useful options for patients with refractory IBS in secondary care and are cost-effective, but the evidence is still limited. The IMAGINE-study is therefore designed to assess the overall benefit of hypnotherapy in IBS as well as comparing the efficacy of individual versus group hypnotherapy in treating this condition.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The design is a randomised placebo-controlled trial. The study group consists of 354 primary care and secondary care patients (aged 18-65) with IBS (Rome-III criteria). Patients will be randomly allocated to either 6 sessions of individual hypnotherapy, 6 sessions of group hypnotherapy or 6 sessions of educational supportive therapy in a group (placebo), with a follow up of 9 months post treatment for all patients. Ten hospitals and four primary care psychological practices in different parts of The Netherlands will collaborate in this study. The primary efficacy parameter is the responder rate for adequate relief of IBS symptoms. Secondary efficacy parameters are changes in the IBS symptom severity, quality of life, cognitions, psychological complaints, self-efficacy as well as direct and indirect costs of the condition. Hypnotherapy is expected to be more effective than the control therapy, and group hypnotherapy is expected not to be inferior to individual hypnotherapy.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>If hypnotherapy is effective and if there is no difference in efficacy between individual and group hypnotherapy, this group form of treatment could be offered to more IBS patients, at lower costs.</p> <p>Trial registration number</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN22888906">ISRCTN22888906</a></p

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio