Parental evaluation of a telemonitoring service for children with Type 1 Diabetes

Introduction In the past years, we developed a telemonitoring service for young patients affected by Type 1 Diabetes. That service provides data to the clinical staff and offers an important tool to the parents, that are able to oversee in real time their children. The aim of this work was to analyze the parents' perceived usefulness of the service. Methods The service was tested by the parents of 31 children enrolled in a seven-day clinical trial during a summer camp. To study the parents' perception we proposed and analyzed two questionnaires. A baseline questionnaire focused on the daily management and implications of their children's diabetes, while a post-study one measured the perceived benefits of telemonitoring. Questionnaires also included free text comment spaces. Results Analysis of the baseline questionnaires underlined the parents' suffering and fatigue: 51% of total responses showed a negative tendency and the mean value of the perceived quality of life was 64.13 in a 0-100 scale. In the post-study questionnaires about half of the parents believed in a possible improvement adopting telemonitoring. Moreover, the foreseen improvement in quality of life was significant, increasing from 64.13 to 78.39 ( p-value\u2009=\u20090.0001). The analysis of free text comments highlighted an improvement in mood, and parents' commitment was also proved by their willingness to pay for the service (median\u2009=\u2009200\u2009euro/year). Discussion A high number of parents appreciated the telemonitoring service and were confident that it could improve communication with physicians as well as the family's own peace of mind

Protocole simple de rétrocroisement chez Medicago truncatula

Le décryptage des fonctions géniques chez Medicago truncatula est aujourd’hui facilité par la mise à disposition d’une collection de plus de 21 000 mutants d\u27insertion du rétrotransposon Tnt1, dans le génome de la lignée sauvage R108, pouvant interrompre de nombreux gènes d’intérêt. Toutefois, chaque plante qui comporte une copie du Tnt1 dans un gène d’intérêt comporte aussi 5 à 70 insertionsTnt1 dans d’autres régions du génome rendant critique l’étude directe de ces mutants. Des rétrocroisements (ou Backcross) avec R108 s’avèrent donc nécessaires pour éliminer ces copies surnuméraires du Tnt1 et ainsi « nettoyer » le fond génétique avant d’étudier l’effet de la mutation. M. truncatula est une espèce autogame, dont les fleurs sont hermaphrodites et cléistogames, c’est-à-dire qu’elles s’autopollinisent lorsque la fleur est encore fermée. La maîtrise de ces rétrocroisements nécessitant beaucoup de minutie, nous décrivons ici un protocole que nous avons mis au point, simple et accessible à tous

Current treatment options and challenges in patients with Type 1 diabetes: Pharmacological, technical advances and future perspectives

Type 1 diabetes mellitus imposes a significant burden of complications and mortality, despite important advances in treatment: subjects affected by this disease have also a worse quality of life-related to disease management. To overcome these challenges, different new approaches have been proposed, such as new insulin formulations or innovative devices. The introduction of insulin pumps allows a more physiological insulin administration with a reduction of HbA1c level and hypoglycemic risk. New continuous glucose monitoring systems with better accuracy have allowed, not only better glucose control, but also the improvement of the quality of life. Integration of these devices with control algorithms brought to the creation of the first artificial pancreas, able to independently gain metabolic control without the risk of hypo- and hyperglycemic crisis. This approach has revolutionized the management of diabetes both in terms of quality of life and glucose control. However, complete independence from exogenous insulin will be obtained only by biological approaches that foresee the replacement of functional beta cells obtained from stem cells: this will be a major challenge but the biggest hope for the subjects with type 1 diabetes. In this review, we will outline the current scenario of innovative diabetes management both from a technological and biological point of view, and we will also forecast some cutting-edge approaches to reduce the challenges that hamper the definitive cure of diabetes

The impact of cultural dimensions on project management performance

Purpose: Diverse cultures may make people behave differently and this, in turn, can impact project management. While the relationship between culture and project success has been widely explored, there is a need of addressing the gap in the relationship between culture and project management performance outcomes, that is, the performance in implementing project management processes and practices. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this gap by studying the role of cultural dimensions on project management performance. Design/methodology/approach: An explorative survey including 200 observations relating to the experiences of project managers with a big experience on projects involving many different national cultures has been conducted to collect primary data on the relationship between the nationality observed and the project management performance outcomes shown. Nationality has been used as a proxy to link individual cultural dimensions and project management performance. Findings: The results of this paper show that individualism impacts project dynamics and project control positively. Moreover, masculinity impacts project dynamics positively, and uncertainty avoidance impacts project control negatively. When recognized, different cultural dimensions can drive project management performance outcomes. The increasing awareness on this topic can be a valid instrument to control the cultural effect and take advantage of it to enhance project success. Originality/value: This study contributes to the theory of project management by recognizing linkages between cultural dimensions and project management performance. Moreover, this study overcomes the concept of nationality, focusing on individuals and their unique set of cultural dimensions

An Integrated Mobile Platform for Automated Data Collection and Real-Time Patient Monitoring in Diabetes Clinical Trials

We present a new mobile platform to be used in clinical trials aimed at both collecting data and assessing new technologies and treatments for diabetes care. The main components of the platform are a mobile app, that automatically collects data from continuous glucose monitoring sensors and activity trackers, and also allows users to manually log daily events; a cloud database for safe data storage; a web interface, which allows clinicians to monitor patients\u2019 status in real-time. The platform is modular and highly customizable for a multitude of purposes in clinical research. Preliminary tests performed for daily-life data gathering by both clinicians and users are extremely encouraging

Interspecific hybridization in natural sturgeon populations of the Eastern Black Sea: the consequence of drastic population decline?

The eastern part of the Black Sea and its tributaries are suitable habitats for several sturgeon species, among which Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, A. stellatus, A. nudiventris, A. persicus, A. sturio, and H. huso are well documented. However, different threats have led these species to a dramatic decline, all of them are currently listed as Critically Endangered, and some Locally Extinct, in that area. We tested 94 wild sturgeon samples from the Black Sea and Rioni River by analyzing the mitochondrial Control Region and nuclear markers for hybrid identification. The data analyses (1) assessed mitochondrial diversity among samples, (2) identified their species, as well as (3) indicated instances of hybridization. The data collected, besides confirming a sharp decrease of catches of Beluga and Stellate sturgeon in recent years, also revealed four juvenile hybrids between Russian and Stellate sturgeon, providing the first evidence of natural interspecific hybridization in the Rioni. The present communication raises concerns about the status of sturgeon species in this area and underlines the urgent need for conservation programs to restore self-sustaining populations

Tana1, a new putatively active Tc1-like transposable element in the genome of sturgeons

We report the discovery of a new putatively active Tc1-like transposable element (Tana1) in the genome of sturgeons, an ancient group of fish considered as living fossils. The complete sequence of Tana1 was first characterized in the 454-sequenced transcriptome of the Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii) and then isolated from the genome of the same species and from 12 additional sturgeons including three genera of the Acipenseridae (Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus). The element has a total length of 1588 bp and presents inverted repeats of 210 bp, one of which partially overlapping the 3' region of the transposase gene. The spacing of the DDE motif within the catalytic domain in Tana1 is unique (DD38E) and indicates that Tana1 can be considered as the first representative of a new Tc1 subfamily. The integrity of the native form (with no premature termination codons within the transposase), the presence of all expected functional domains and its occurrence in the sturgeon transcriptome suggest a current or recent activity of Tana1. The presence of Tana1 in the genome of the 13 sturgeon species in our study points to an ancient origin of the element that existed before the split of the group 170 million years ago. The dissemination of Tana1 across sturgeon genomes could be interpreted by postulating vertical transmission from an ancestral Tana1 with a particularly slow evolutionary rate Horizontal transmission might have also played a role in the dissemination of Tana1 as evidenced by the presence of a complete copy in the genome of Atlantic salmon. Vertical and horizontal transmission are not mutually exclusive a id may have concurred in shaping the evolution of Tana1. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved