Empirically derived user attributes for the design of home healthcare technologies

Designing effective home healthcare technologies is a complex task. In order to succeed, it is important to look beyond purely technology-driven solutions and to develop technologies and services that are flexible and reflect a sensitive understanding of the diverse users of such systems. The key contribution of this paper is to introduce 15 empirically derived attributes that can help designers to build a more detailed understanding of the potential users of home healthcare systems. The attributes are spread across four broad themes: technology in the home, experiences of technology, experiences of health and care, and thoughts about smart home technology for health and care. These themes and attributes emerged from an ethnographic study in which we interviewed people across 15 households. All interviews took place in people’s homes and were supplemented by home technology tours and cultural probes. It is intended that the 15 attributes be used in conjunction with demographic and household data to build a richer picture of personal experiences of home, health, and technology in real-life contexts. The aim was to provide an inclusive framework, based on empirically derived attributes, that helps to inform an overall user-centred design approach. To demonstrate one application of the attributes in design, the paper provides in-depth example of their use in the development of a rich set of data-driven personas.SPHERE-IRCUK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Using Plasmodium knowlesi as a model for screening Plasmodium vivax blood-stage malaria vaccine targets reveals new candidates.

Plasmodium vivax is responsible for the majority of malaria cases outside Africa. Unlike P. falciparum, the P. vivax life-cycle includes a dormant liver stage, the hypnozoite, which can cause infection in the absence of mosquito transmission. An effective vaccine against P. vivax blood stages would limit symptoms and pathology from such recurrent infections, and therefore could play a critical role in the control of this species. Vaccine development in P. vivax, however, lags considerably behind P. falciparum, which has many identified targets with several having transitioned to Phase II testing. By contrast only one P. vivax blood-stage vaccine candidate based on the Duffy Binding Protein (PvDBP), has reached Phase Ia, in large part because the lack of a continuous in vitro culture system for P. vivax limits systematic screening of new candidates. We used the close phylogenetic relationship between P. vivax and P. knowlesi, for which an in vitro culture system in human erythrocytes exists, to test the scalability of systematic reverse vaccinology to identify and prioritise P. vivax blood-stage targets. A panel of P. vivax proteins predicted to function in erythrocyte invasion were expressed as full-length recombinant ectodomains in a mammalian expression system. Eight of these antigens were used to generate polyclonal antibodies, which were screened for their ability to recognize orthologous proteins in P. knowlesi. These antibodies were then tested for inhibition of growth and invasion of both wild type P. knowlesi and chimeric P. knowlesi lines modified using CRISPR/Cas9 to exchange P. knowlesi genes with their P. vivax orthologues. Candidates that induced antibodies that inhibited invasion to a similar level as PvDBP were identified, confirming the utility of P. knowlesi as a model for P. vivax vaccine development and prioritizing antigens for further follow up.European Union, National Institutes of Health (US

Evaluation of Waterless Cookware on an Induction Cooktop

This article was originally published by the Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human SciencesThis student-faculty collaborative study compared the effects of different cookware using induction and electric cooktops on overall qualities of chicken breasts including shrinkage, palatability, and consumer acceptability. Four trials of cooking boneless, skinless, chicken breasts on each of these various cooktops were conducted to get an average shrink loss (i.e., weight and length change), taste, texture, and appearance. Objective tests resulted in lowest shrink loss and highest texture and appearance score for the high-end stainless steel cookware on an induction cooktop

Identification and characterisation of mutations associated with von Willebrand disease in a Turkish patient cohort

Several cohort studies have investigated the molecular basis of von Willebrand disease (VWD); however, these have mostly focused on European and North American populations. This study aimed to investigate mutation spectrum in 26 index cases (IC) from Turkey diagnosed with all three VWD types, the majority (73%) with parents who were knowingly related. IC were screened for mutations using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification and analysis of all von Willebrand factor gene (VWF) exons and exon/intron boundaries. Selected missense mutations were expressed in vitro. Candidate VWF mutations were identified in 25 of 26 IC and included propeptide missense mutations in four IC (two resulting in type 1 and two in recessive 2A), all influencing VWF expression in vitro. Four missense mutations, a nonsense mutation and a small in-frame insertion resulting in type 2A were also identified. Of 15 type 3 VWD IC, 13 were homozygous and two compound heterozygous for 14 candidate mutations predicted to result in lack of expression and two propeptide missense changes. Identification of intronic breakpoints of an exon 17–18 deletion suggested that the mutation resulted from non-homologous end joining. This study provides further insight into the pathogenesis of VWD in a population with a high degree of consanguineous partnerships