Designing movement into automotive seating - does it improve comfort?

Comfort is important for a good driving experience and automotive seat technology is an important enabler of this. Movement through frequent changes in posture is beneficial for reducing fixed postures. This paper reports on a laboratory study to investigate a novel automotive seat movement concept aiming to delay the onset of driving-related musculoskeletal fatigue and improve feelings of comfort and wellbeing, making the driver feel refreshed and ultimately improving driver performance. The research involved comparison of three seat conditions while driving - no seat movement, fore-aft movement, cushion and backrest angle movement. The movement was designed to be at a fixed speed, slow, smooth and only slightly perceptible while driving. A sample of 10 participants was recruited to take part in a 60 minute drive for each condition - single blind, repeated measures, balanced order and sessions at a similar time of day. Discomfort and wellbeing questionnaires, driver Seat Fidgets and Movements (SFMs), posture capture and a de-brief were used as data collection methods. Results indicate that the two seat movement concepts were positively received. Statistically significant differences were found at minute 60 for buttock area discomfort, with less reported discomfort for the two movement conditions. As expected, overall discomfort ratings and SFMs frequency increased with time spent driving for all trials. Posture scores verified that driver posture was within comfortable ranges and as expected fairly static while driving

Study protocol : Minimum effective low dose: anti-human thymocyte globulin (MELD-ATG): phase II, dose ranging, efficacy study of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) within 6 weeks of diagnosis of type 1 diabetes

Introduction Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic autoimmune disease, characterised by progressive destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. One immunosuppressive agent that has recently shown promise in the treatment of new-onset T1D subjects aged 12-45 years is antithymocyte globulin (ATG), Thymoglobuline, encouraging further exploration in lower age groups. Methods and analysis Minimal effective low dose (MELD)-ATG is a phase 2, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiarm parallel-group trial in participants 5-25 years diagnosed with T1D within 3-9 weeks of planned treatment day 1. A total of 114 participants will be recruited sequentially into seven different cohorts with the first cohort of 30 participants being randomised to placebo, 2.5 mg/kg, 1.5 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg ATG total dose in a 1:1:1:1:1 allocation ratio. The next six cohorts of 12-15 participants will be randomised to placebo, 2.5 mg/kg, and one or two selected middle ATG total doses in a 1:1:1:1 or 1:1:1 allocation ratio, as dependent on the number of middle doses, given intravenously over two consecutive days. The primary objective will be to determine the changes in stimulated C-peptide response over the first 2 hours of a mixed meal tolerance test at 12 months for 2.5 mg/kg ATG arm vs the placebo. Conditional on finding a significant difference at 2.5 mg/kg, a minimally effective dose will be sought. Secondary objectives include the determination of the effects of a particular ATG treatment dose on (1) stimulated C-peptide, (2) glycated haemoglobin, (3) daily insulin dose, (4) time in range by intermittent continuous glucose monitoring measures, (5) fasting and stimulated dry blood spot (DBS) C-peptide measurements. Ethics and dissemination MELD-ATG received first regulatory and ethical approvals in Belgium in September 2020 and from the German and UK regulators as of February 2021. The publication policy is set in the INNODIA (An innovative approach towards understanding and arresting Type 1 diabetes consortium) grant agreement (www.innodia.eu).Peer reviewe