69 research outputs found
The Japanese model in retrospective : industrial strategies, corporate Japan and the 'hollowing out' of Japanese industry
This article provides a retrospective look at the Japanese model of industrial development. This model combined an institutional approach to production based around the Japanese Firm (Aoki's, J-mode) and strategic state intervention in industry by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). For a long period, the alignment of state and corporate interests appeared to match the wider public interest as the Japanese economy prospered. However, since the early 1990s, the global ambitions of the corporate sector have contributed to a significant 'hollowing out' of Japan's industrial base. As the world today looks for a new direction in economic management, we suggest the Japanese model provides policy-makers with a salutary lesson in tying the wider public interest with those of the corporate sector
Department of Defense prostate cancer clinical trials consortium: A new instrument for prostate cancer clinical research
Background: In 2005, the US Department of Defense, through the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, created a funding mechanism to form a clinical trials consortium to conduct phase I and II studies in prostate cancer. This is the first report of the Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (PCCTC). Patients and Methods: The Department of Defense award supports a consortium of 10 prostate cancer research centers. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was awarded the Coordinating Center grant for the consortium and charged with creating an infrastructure to conduct early-phase multicenter clinical trials. Each participating center was required to introduce ≥ 1 clinical trial per year and maintain accrual of a minimum of 35 patients per year. Results: The PCCTC was launched in 2006 and now encompasses 10 leading prostate cancer research centers. Fifty-one trials have been opened, and 1386 patients have been accrued at member sites. Members share an online clinical trial management system for protocol tracking, electronic data capture, and data storage. A legal framework has been instituted, and standard operating procedures, an administrative structure, editorial support, centralized budgeting, and mechanisms for scientific review are established. Conclusion: The PCCTC fulfills a congressional directive to create a clinical trials instrument dedicated to early-phase prostate cancer studies. The member institutions have built an administrative, informatics, legal, financial, statistical, and scientific infrastructure to support this endeavor. Clinical trials are open and accruing in excess of federally mandated goals
Consensus Statement on Circulating Biomarkers for Advanced Prostate Cancer
Context: In advanced prostate cancer (PC), there is increasing investigation of circulating biomarkers,
including quantitation and characterization of circulating tumour cells and cell-free nucleic acids, for
therapeutic monitoring and as prognostic and predictive biomarkers. However, there is a lack of
consensus and standardisation regarding analyses, reporting, and integration of results into specific
clinical contexts. A consensus meeting on circulating biomarkers was held to address these topics.
Objective: To present a report of the consensus statement on circulating biomarkers in advanced PC.
Evidence acquisition: Four important areas of controversy in the field of circulating biomarkers in PC
management were identified: known clinical utility of circulating biomarkers; unmet clinical needs for
circulating biomarkers in PC care; most pressing blood-based molecular assays required; and essential
steps for developing circulating biomarker assays. A panel of 18 international PC experts in the field of
circulating biomarkers developed the programme and consensus questions. The panel voted publicly
but anonymously on 50 predefined questions developed following a modified Delphi process.
Evidence synthesis: Voting was based solely on panellist opinions of the predefined topics and
therefore not on a standard literature review or meta-analysis. The outcomes of the voting had
varying degrees of support, as reflected in the wording of this article and in the detailed voting results
provided in the Supplementary material.
Conclusions: The expert voting results presented can guide the future development of circulating
biomarkers for PC care. Notably, the consensus meeting highlighted the importance of reproducibility and variability studies, among other significant areas in need of trials specifically designed to
address them.
Patient summary: A panel of international experts met to discuss and vote on the use of different
blood-based prostate cancer tests, and how they can be used to guide treatment and disease
monitoring to deliver more precise and better patient car
The Sock Electrode Array: A Tool for Determining Global Epicardial Activation during Unstable Arrhythmias
Stimulation of the occipital nerve for the treatment of migraine: current state and future prospects
Approximate symmetry laws for percolation in complex systems: Percolation in polydisperse composites
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