Usability evaluation of an eHealth intervention for family carers of individuals affected by psychosis: A mixed-method study

Background Existing research suggests that eHealth interventions targeting family carers of individuals with long-term illness offer a promising approach to care delivery. In particular, digital psychoeducational interventions with interactive psychosocial support are well-received with high rates of satisfaction and acceptability. However, development of such interventions for psychosis carers is lacking. We developed a multi-component eHealth intervention specifically for carers of individuals affected by psychosis, called COPe-support (Carers fOr People with Psychosis e-support). Objective Using mixed methods to evaluate usability, system heuristics and perceived acceptability, we conducted a usability study to establish the suitability of the intervention prototype for the target user group. Methods Twenty-three carers were recruited to the study and participated in a think-aloud test or a remote online trial of the intervention. Qualitative feedback, post-use System Usability Scale (SUS) scores, and real-world usage data collected from the tests were analysed. These were also supplemented with heuristic evaluation data provided by an independent eLearning technology expert. Results Participants evaluated the intervention content as useful and helpful, and indicated that the system had satisfactory usability with a mean SUS score of 73%, above the usability quality benchmark threshold. Study results identified some minor usability issues, which were corroborated with the eLearning expert’s heuristic evaluation findings. We used these results to refine the COPe-support intervention. Conclusions The usability study with end-users and service providers identified real-life usage and usability issues. The study results helped us refine COPe-support and its delivery strategy before its launch as part of a large-scale clinical trial

An animal model to evaluate the function and regulation of the adaptively evolving stress protein SEP53 in oesophageal bile damage responses

Squamous epithelium in mammals has evolved an atypical stress response involving down-regulation of the classic HSP70 protein and induction of sets of proteins including one named SEP53. This atypical stress response might be due to the unusual environmental pressures placed on squamous tissue. In fact, SEP53 plays a role as an anti-apoptotic factor in response to DNA damage induced by deoxycholic acid stresses implicated in oesophageal reflux disease. SEP53 also has a genetic signature characteristic of an adaptively and rapidly evolving gene, and this observation has been used to imply a role for SEP53 in immunity. Physiological models of squamous tissue are required to further define the regulation and function of SEP53. We examined whether porcine squamous epithelium would be a good model to study SEP53, since this animal suffers from a bile-reflux disease in squamous oesophageal tissue. We have (1) cloned and sequenced the porcine SEP53 locus from porcine bacterial artificial chromosome genomic DNA, (2) confirmed the strikingly divergent nature of the C-terminal portion of the SEP53 gene amongst mammals, (3) discovered that a function of the conserved N-terminal domain of the gene is to maintain cytoplasmic localisation, and (4) examined SEP53 expression in normal and diseased porcine pars oesophagea. SEP53 expression in porcine tissue was relatively confined to gastric squamous epithelium, consistent with its expression in normal human squamous epithelium. Immunohistochemical staining for SEP53 protein in normal and damaged pars oesophagea demonstrated significant stabilisation of SEP53 protein in the injured tissue. These results suggest that porcine squamous epithelium would be a robust physiological model to examine the evolution and function of the SEP53 stress pathway in modulating stress-induced responses in squamous tissue

Assessing learning and memory in pigs

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in (mini) pigs (Sus scrofa) as species for cognitive research. A major reason for this is their physiological and anatomical similarity with humans. For example, pigs possess a well-developed, large brain. Assessment of the learning and memory functions of pigs is not only relevant to human research but also to animal welfare, given the nature of current farming practices and the demands they make on animal health and behavior. In this article, we review studies of pig cognition, focusing on the underlying processes and mechanisms, with a view to identifying. Our goal is to aid the selection of appropriate cognitive tasks for research into pig cognition. To this end, we formulated several basic criteria for pig cognition tests and then applied these criteria and knowledge about pig-specific sensorimotor abilities and behavior to evaluate the merits, drawbacks, and limitations of the different types of tests used to date. While behavioral studies using (mini) pigs have shown that this species can perform learning and memory tasks, and much has been learned about pig cognition, results have not been replicated or proven replicable because of the lack of validated, translational behavioral paradigms that are specially suited to tap specific aspects of pig cognition. We identified several promising types of tasks for use in studies of pig cognition, such as versatile spatial free-choice type tasks that allow the simultaneous measurement of several behavioral domains. The use of appropriate tasks will facilitate the collection of reliable and valid data on pig cognition

Rapid cohort generation and analysis of disease spectrum of large animal model of cone dystrophy.

Large animal models are an important resource for the understanding of human disease and for evaluating the applicability of new therapies to human patients. For many diseases, such as cone dystrophy, research effort is hampered by the lack of such models. Lentiviral transgenesis is a methodology broadly applicable to animals from many different species. When conjugated to the expression of a dominant mutant protein, this technology offers an attractive approach to generate new large animal models in a heterogeneous background. We adopted this strategy to mimic the phenotype diversity encounter in humans and generate a cohort of pigs for cone dystrophy by expressing a dominant mutant allele of the guanylate cyclase 2D (GUCY2D) gene. Sixty percent of the piglets were transgenic, with mutant GUCY2D mRNA detected in the retina of all animals tested. Functional impairment of vision was observed among the transgenic pigs at 3 months of age, with a follow-up at 1 year indicating a subsequent slower progression of phenotype. Abnormal retina morphology, notably among the cone photoreceptor cell population, was observed exclusively amongst the transgenic animals. Of particular note, these transgenic animals were characterized by a range in the severity of the phenotype, reflecting the human clinical situation. We demonstrate that a transgenic approach using lentiviral vectors offers a powerful tool for large animal model development. Not only is the efficiency of transgenesis higher than conventional transgenic methodology but this technique also produces a heterogeneous cohort of transgenic animals that mimics the genetic variation encountered in human patients