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Dennis OConnor

Fast ForWord Reading Intervention and Evidence for ESSA | Scientific Learning - 0 views

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    "Fast ForWord has 21 studies that meet WWC Evidence Standards for Adolescent Literacy, Beginning Reading and English Language Development - the most of any reading intervention evaluated. Positive effectiveness ratings and improvement indices were found for: Alphabetics Reading Fluency Comprehension English Language Development (largest improvement index of interventions evaluated) When compared to other interventions evaluated by WWC, Fast ForWord is the only intervention with positive effects for English Learner AND Literacy Outcomes for students grades K-10 in individual, small group, and whole class settings."
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    Keywords: neuroscience reading
Dennis OConnor

Coronavirus Antibody Tests: Can You Trust the Results? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Of the 14 tests, only three delivered consistently reliable results. Even the best had some flaws.
  • Already Americans are scrambling to take antibody tests to see if they might escape lockdowns. Public health experts are wondering if those with positive results might be allowed to return to work.
  • these tactics mean nothing if the test results can’t be trusted
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  • The proportion of people in the United States who have been exposed to the coronavirus is likely to be 5 percent or less, Dr. Hensley said. “If your kit has a 3 percent false-positive, how do you interpret that? It’s basically impossible,” he said. “If your kit has 14 percent false positive, it’s useless.”
  • The duo recruited Dr. Jeffrey Whitman and Dr. Caryn Bern, who last year published an analysis of antibody tests for Chagas disease. Other graduate students and postdoctoral fellows volunteered to help perform the evaluations.
  • In all, the investigators analyzed 10 rapid tests that deliver a yes-no signal for antibodies, and two tests using a lab technique known as Elisa that indicate the amount of antibodies present and are generally considered to be more reliable.
  • The Bay Area team finished evaluating 12 tests in record time, less than a month. By comparison, the Chagas project required a team of three people working for more than a year just to compare four tests.
  • Having a study design already in hand helped speed the work, but there was one key difference. Decades of data have shown that Chagas disease elicits lifelong immunity.
  • Each test was evaluated with the same set of blood samples: from 80 people known to be infected with the coronavirus, at different points after infection; 108 samples donated before the pandemic; and 52 samples from people who were positive for other viral infections but had tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.
  • Tests made by Sure Biotech and Wondfo Biotech, along with an in-house Elisa test, produced the fewest false positives.
  • A test made by Bioperfectus detected antibodies in 100 percent of the infected samples, but only after three weeks of infection.
  • None of the tests did better than 80 percent until that time period, which was longer than expected, Dr. Hsu said.
  • the tests are less likely to produce false negatives the longer ago the initial infection occurred,
  • There are multiple tests that have specificities greater than 95 percent.
  • Dr. Krammer has developed a two-step Elisa test that he said has 100 percent specificity and delivers a measure of the quantity of IgM and IgG antibodies a person has.
  • Scanwell Health, a Los Angeles-based start-up, has ordered millions of test kits from Innovita, a Chinese manufacturer, and has applied to the Food and Drug Administration to market the tests for at-home use.In the new study, the Innovita test detected antibodies in 83 percent of infected people and yielded a false-positive rate of 4 percent.
  • Scanwell Health, said the study looked at an earlier version of Innovita’s test and not the “newer, improved version” his company had ordered. “It will be interesting to see how it performs,”
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    "A team of scientists worked around the clock to evaluate 14 antibody tests. A few worked as advertised. Most did not."
Dennis OConnor

Eric Heckler - ASU: Agile Science Home - 0 views

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    "Agile science is: people-centered as it is grounded in the real-world needs of individuals.   success-oriented as we ground all evaluation and optimization on clearly defined criteria of success.   efficiently  rigorous via the classic scientific concept of triangulation. We strive to clarify the most important assumption being made at a given moment and then evaluate it as efficiently and rigorously as possible. We then iterate and test again, often with a complementary but also efficient method for the stage of the process to balance strengths/limitations of the approaches." Eric Hekler, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Family Medicine & Public Health Director, Center for Wireless & Population Health Systems
Dennis OConnor

The Lyme Disease Biobank - Characterization of 550 Patient and Control Samples from the... - 0 views

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    Recommended by Sharon Wampler "ABSTRACT Lyme disease (LD) is an increasing public health problem. Current laboratory testing is insensitive in early infection, the stage at which appropriate treatment is most effective in preventing disease sequela. The Lyme Disease Biobank (LDB) collects samples from individuals with symptoms consistent with early LD presenting with or without erythema migrans (EM) or an annular, expanding skin lesion, and uninfected individuals from endemic areas. Samples were collected from 550 participants (298 cases and 252 controls) according to IRB-approved protocols and shipped to a centralized biorepository. Testing was performed to confirm the presence of tick-borne pathogens by real-time PCR, and a subset of samples was tested for Borrelia burgdorferi by culture. Serology using the CDC's standard two-tiered testing algorithm (STTTA) for LD was performed on all samples. LD diagnosis was supported by laboratory testing in 82 cases, including positive STTTA, PCR, culture, or 2 positive ELISA's with EM >5 cm, while the remaining 216 cases had negative laboratory testing results. For the controls, 43 were positive on at least one of the tiers, and 6 were positive by STTTA. This collection highlights and reinforces the known limitations of serologic testing in early LD, with only 29% of individuals presenting with EM >5 cm yielding a positive result using the STTTA. Aliquots of whole blood, serum, and urine from clinically characterized patients with and without LD are available to investigators in academia and industry for evaluation or development of novel diagnostic assays for LD, to continue to improve upon currently available methods."
Dennis OConnor

A more practical guide to incorporating health equity domains in implementation determi... - 0 views

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    Suggested by Gina Soloperta Abstract Background: Due to striking disparities in the implementation of healthcare innovations, it is imperative that researchers and practitioners can meaningfully use implementation determinant frameworks to understand why disparities exist in access, receipt, use, quality, or outcomes of healthcare. Our prior work documented and piloted the first published adaptation of an existing implementation determinant framework with health equity domains to create the Health Equity Implementation Framework. We recommended integrating these three health equity domains to existing implementation determinant frameworks: (1) culturally relevant factors of recipients, (2) clinical encounter or patient-provider interaction, and (3) societal context (including but not limited to social determinants of health). This framework was developed for healthcare and clinical practice settings. Some implementation teams have begun using the Health Equity Implementation Framework in their evaluations and asked for more guidance. Methods: We completed a consensus process with our authorship team to clarify steps to incorporate a health equity lens into an implementation determinant framework. Results: We describe steps to integrate health equity domains into implementation determinant frameworks for implementation research and practice. For each step, we compiled examples or practical tools to assist implementation researchers and practitioners in applying those steps. For each domain, we compiled definitions with supporting literature, showcased an illustrative example, and suggested sample quantitative and qualitative measures. Conclusion: Incorporating health equity domains within implementation determinant frameworks may optimize the scientific yield and equity of implementation efforts by assessing and ideally addressing implementation and equity barriers simultaneously. These practical guidance and tools provided can assist implementation rese
Dennis OConnor

Healthcare Text Analytics: Unlocking the Evidence from Free Text | Frontiers Research T... - 0 views

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    "About this Research Topic Healthcare narratives (such as clinical notes, discharge letters, nurse handover notes, imaging reports, patients posts on social media or feedback comments, etc.) have been used as a key communication stream that contains the majority of actionable and contextualised data, but which - despite being increasingly available in a digital form - is still not routinely analysed, and is rarely integrated with other healthcare data on a large-scale. There are many barriers and challenges in processing healthcare free text, including, for example, the variability and implicit nature of language expressions, and difficulties in sharing training and evaluation data. On the other hand, recent years have witnessed increasing needs and opportunities to process free text, with a number of success stories that have demonstrated the feasibility of using advanced Natural Language Processing to unlock evidence contained in free text to support clinical care, patient self-management, epidemiological research and audit."
Dennis OConnor

Building the case for actionable ethics in digital health research supported by artific... - 0 views

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    "Abstract The digital revolution is disrupting the ways in which health research is conducted, and subsequently, changing healthcare. Direct-to-consumer wellness products and mobile apps, pervasive sensor technologies and access to social network data offer exciting opportunities for researchers to passively observe and/or track patients 'in the wild' and 24/7. The volume of granular personal health data gathered using these technologies is unprecedented, and is increasingly leveraged to inform personalized health promotion and disease treatment interventions. The use of artificial intelligence in the health sector is also increasing. Although rich with potential, the digital health ecosystem presents new ethical challenges for those making decisions about the selection, testing, implementation and evaluation of technologies for use in healthcare. As the 'Wild West' of digital health research unfolds, it is important to recognize who is involved, and identify how each party can and should take responsibility to advance the ethical practices of this work. While not a comprehensive review, we describe the landscape, identify gaps to be addressed, and offer recommendations as to how stakeholders can and should take responsibility to advance socially responsible digital health research."
Dennis OConnor

Transforming Health Care Measurement By Partnering With Patients And Caregivers | Healt... - 0 views

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    "In a high-performing health care system, measurement drives progress toward safe, effective, efficient, timely, equitable, and patient-centered care. Measurement helps to identify priority areas for improvement, evaluate which changes make a difference in performance, and promote accountability. Measurement informs how health care is paid for, how resources are allocated, and, increasingly, how patients and their care teams make care decisions. "
Dennis OConnor

FDA Announces First of Its Kind Pilot Program to Communicate Patient Reported Outcomes ... - 0 views

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    Recommended by Tyler: "Project Patient Voice has been initiated by the Oncology Center of Excellence to give patients and health care professionals unique information on symptomatic side effects to better inform their treatment choices," said FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D. "The Project Patient Voice pilot is a significant step in advancing a patient-centered approach to oncology drug development. Where patient-reported symptom information is collected rigorously, this information should be readily available to patients." "I'm sure this will be useful - and help cancer patients better evaluate treatment options, based on other patients' experience, especially around side effects. I think this is also worth curating." Thanks! Tyler
Dennis OConnor

Assessing Participation Burden in Clinical Trials: Introducing the Patient Friction Coe... - 0 views

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    Abstract: Protocol design complexity, and associated study volunteer burden, negatively impact patient recruitment and retention as well as overall research and development productivity. Complex protocols reduce the willingness of potential clinical trial participants to enroll and reduce retention rates. There have been few systematic assessments of protocol design characteristics to determine the burden placed on study volunteers, although such an assessment would offer a compelling opportunity to optimize trial designs and improve recruitment and retention performance. To be useful, an assessment would need to be patient-centric, and focused on the factors that influence participation throughout the clinical trial. Such an assessment would also need to accommodate the unique cost-value trade-off compared with current treatment patterns that each participant makes when choosing to participate and remain in a clinical trial. This article proposes a new methodology to quantify patient burden: the clinical trial patient friction coefficient (PFC). A case example is provided to illustrate the utility of the PFC. A number of applications for the PFC are envisioned: standardizing patient burden assessment to evaluate clinical trial design feasibility, shedding light on the impact of patient burden on clinical trial economics and performance, and conducting sensitivity analyses to identify factors that most reduce patient burden and improve the performance and efficiency of clinical trials. Key words
Dennis OConnor

randomized clinical trial of plasticity-based cognitive training in mild traumatic brai... - 1 views

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    "The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a self-administered computerized plasticity-based cognitive training programmes in primarily military/veteran participants with a history of mTBI and cognitive impairment. "
Dennis OConnor

Lancet: Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers to increase physical activity and i... - 0 views

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    "Summary Wearable activity trackers offer an appealing, low-cost tool to address physical inactivity. This systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses (umbrella review) aimed to examine the effectiveness of activity trackers for improving physical activity and related physiological and psychosocial outcomes in clinical and non-clinical populations. Seven databases (Embase, MEDLINE, Ovid Emcare, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) were searched from database inception to April 8, 2021. Systematic reviews of primary studies using activity trackers as interventions and reporting physical activity, physiological, or psychosocial outcomes were eligible for inclusion. In total, 39 systematic reviews and meta-analyses were identified, reporting results from 163 992 participants spanning all age groups, from both healthy and clinical populations. Taken together, the meta-analyses suggested activity trackers improved physical activity (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0·3-0·6), body composition (SMD 0·7-2·0), and fitness (SMD 0·3), equating to approximately 1800 extra steps per day, 40 min per day more walking, and reductions of approximately 1 kg in bodyweight. Effects for other physiological (blood pressure, cholesterol, and glycosylated haemoglobin) and psychosocial (quality of life and pain) outcomes were typically small and often non-significant. Activity trackers appear to be effective at increasing physical activity in a variety of age groups and clinical and non-clinical populations. The benefit is clinically important and is sustained over time. Based on the studies evaluated, there is sufficient evidence to recommend the use of activity trackers."
Dennis OConnor

Association of Optimism With Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality: A Systemati... - 1 views

  • Abstract Importance  Optimism and pessimism can be easily measured and are potentially modifiable mindsets that may be associated with cardiovascular risk and all-cause mortality.Objective  To conduct a meta-analysis and systematic review of the association between optimism and risk for future cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.
  • Conclusions and Relevance  The findings suggest that optimism is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Future studies should seek to better define the biobehavioral mechanisms underlying this association and evaluate the potential benefit of interventions designed to promote optimism or reduce pessimism.
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    Recommended by Kabir: "Abstract Importance  Optimism and pessimism can be easily measured and are potentially modifiable mindsets that may be associated with cardiovascular risk and all-cause mortality. Objective  To conduct a meta-analysis and systematic review of the association between optimism and risk for future cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Data Sources and Study Selection  PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO electronic databases were systematically searched from inception through July 2, 2019, to identify all cohort studies investigating the association between optimism and pessimism and cardiovascular events and/or all-cause mortality by using the following Medical Subject Heading terms: optimism, optimistic explanatory style, pessimism, outcomes, endpoint, mortality, death, cardiovascular events, stroke, coronary artery disease, coronary heart disease, ischemic heart disease, and cardiovascular disease."
Dennis OConnor

What Went Wrong with Coronavirus Testing in the U.S. | The New Yorker - 0 views

  • n February 5th, sixteen days after a Seattle resident who had visited relatives in Wuhan, China, was diagnosed as having the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control, in Atlanta, began sending diagnostic tests to a network of about a hundred state, city, and county public-health laboratories⁠. Up to that point, all testing for COVID-19 in the U.S. had been done at the C.D.C.; of some five hundred suspected cases⁠ tested at the Centers, twelve had confirmed positive. The new test kits would allow about fifty thousand patients to be tested, and they would also make testing much faster, as patient specimens would no longer have to be sent to Atlanta to be evaluated.
  • Before a state or local lab could use the C.D.C.-developed tests on actual patients
  • verification
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  • larger number, about thirty-six of them, received inconclusive⁠ results from one of the reagents.
  • Another five,
  • had problems with two reagents
  • On February 8th
  • we’re looking at exponential growth, and we need to figure out how to meet an exponential demand.”
  • the verification problems were “part of the normal procedures⁠.” In the meantime, she said, until new reagents could be manufactured, all COVID-19 testing in the United States would continue to take place exclusively at the C.D.C⁠.
  • The public-health-laboratory network was never intended to provide widespread testing in the event of a pandemic.
  • the three-week delay caused by the C.D.C.’s failure to get working test kits into the hands of the public-health labs came at a crucial time.
  • The void created by the C.D.C.’s faulty tests made it impossible for public-health authorities to get an accurate picture of how far and how fast the disease was spreadin
  • In hotspots like Seattle, and probably elsewhere, COVID-19 spread undetected for several weeks, which in turn only multiplied the need for more tests.
  • The problem was that containment was not done very well.
  • e cascading effects that they’ve had on the country’s COVID-19 preparations suggest a much larger problem with the way the United States has structured its pandemic response.
  • Yet flexibility was not what Jerome and his lab found when they tried to get an E.U.A. for their COVID-19 test.
  • problem was exacerbated by a President who has simultaneously underplayed the severity of the outbreak and overpromised the means available to fight it
  • problems with COVID-19 testing in the United States have obscured
  • triumph of modern medical science
  • Chinese scientists uploaded a copy of the virus’s genome to an online repository⁠, and virologists around the world set to work to develop diagnostic tests for the new disease
  • January 21st, a team in Berlin, led by Christian Drosten, one of the scientists who discovered the original SARS virus, in 2003, submitted the first paper to describe a protocol for testing for SARS-CoV-2.
  • That protocol would form the basis for a test disseminated, early on, by the World Health Organization
  • That same day, Messonnier announced that the C.D.C. had finalized its own test⁠, which it used to confirm the first known case of COVID-19 in the U.S.
  • The U.W. virology lab
  • started, probably in earnest in mid-January, to prepare what we call a laboratory-developed test,⁠
  • It took a team at the lab, working under the direction of Alex Greninger, about two weeks to develop a working version
  • But, as soon as Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, declared a public-health emergency, on February 4th, a new regulatory regime took effect. From that point on, any lab that wanted to conduct its own tests for the new coronavirus would first need to secure something called an Emergency Use Authorization from the F.D.A.
  • This shift in the regulations sounds perverse, since it restricts the use of new tests at precisely the moment they’re most needed.
  • E.U.A. process is supremely flexible.
  • several labs reported their problems to the C.D.C. In a briefing a few days later,
  • hen there’s a big emergency and we feel like we should really do something, it gets hard. It’s a little frustrating. We’ve got a lot of scientists and doctors and laboratory personnel who are incredibly good at making assays. What we’re not so good at is figuring out all the forms and working with the bureaucracy of the federal government.”
  • At one point, he was very frustrated because he’d e-mailed them what we were doing so they could review it,”
  • Here we are in this SARS-CoV-2 crisis, and you have to send them something through the United States Postal Service. It’s just shocking.
  • Despite these difficulties, Jerome said, the F.D.A. ultimately proved responsive to the lab’s entreaties. “They had good and substantive feedback that made our testing better, and the response time was typically just a couple of days.”
  • believe it was, February 29th,” he said. “And then we got a specimen from one of the people who were the two original cases in Washington
  • The E.U.A. regulations, however, prohibited the lab from reporting the results to the doctors who had ordered the tests for their patients.
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    "Sharfstein, too, thinks that it's fair to criticize the federal government for not recognizing that its pandemic plans had a single point of failure. The C.D.C. quickly developed a working test, and it was understandable, at some level, that people at the Centers thought that fixing the faulty reagents for the public-health labs would be faster than shifting to an entirely different protocol. Nevertheless, Sharfstein said, "Why are we relying only on the C.D.C.? What the F.D.A. could have done, and eventually did do, is say, 'You can use other approaches.' " Even so, he said, "I don't think it's quite fair to totally blame the F.D.A. for this. The F.D.A. can design an approach to support the public-health strategy, but someone has to tell F.D.A. the public-health goal." The delay in clearly establishing those goals, he said, shows why the decision to shut down the N.S.C. directorate was so consequential. "People talk about, like, why does it matter that they closed the White House office on pandemic preparedness? This is one reason.""
Dennis OConnor

The Spread of Misinformation - 0 views

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    From Carl Heine at 21cif.com
Dennis OConnor

LESSONS LEARNED FROM COVID-19:Are There Silver Linings for Biomedical Innovation?pdf - 1 views

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    From LinkedIn: As a society, we have not learned from past outbreaks. It's critical that we identify and build on recent progress in biomedical research and innovation. Explore the 20 lessons learned during #COVID19 that can be preserved and enhanced to help speed cures to multiple diseases: #research https://lnkd.in/dztPFiA Among those interviewed for the report were: Francis Collins of National Institutes of Health, Anthony Fauci of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Scott Gottlieb of American Enterprise Institute, Margaret Hamburg of National Academy of Medicine, Annalisa Jenkins of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, U. of London, Peter Mark of Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, FDA; and Janet Woodcock of FDA. #biomedicalresearch #biotech #preparedness
Dennis OConnor

$44 Million NIH Grant to See if Dementia Can Be Prevented - BrainHQ from Posit Science - 0 views

  • The computerized brain training used in the prior study and the new study is found exclusively in the BrainHQ app, made by Posit Science,
  • The ACTIVE study provided the possible beginnings of an answer in 2017. Those results grabbed headlines worldwide, since it was the first large randomized controlled trial to show an intervention (of any kind) could be effective in reducing dementia risk and incidence. 
  • Some eighteen studies have been published on the impact of using BrainHQ among people with MCI or similar pre-dementia conditions
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  • Dr. Mahncke observed. “Billions have been spent in the thus far unsuccessful search for drugs to prevent MCI and dementia, and so it’s great to see a serious commitment to evaluating the plasticity-based training that has delivered so many promising results in recent studies.
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