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Historical Review
Published in Gary M. Matoren, The Clinical Research Process in the Pharmaceutical Industry, 2020
Donald D. Vogt, Michael Montagne
The real breakthrough came at the turn of this century when a number of scientists began employing statistical measures in experiments and other research studies. They saw the process of interpreting research results as a statistical exercise, with the primary purpose of attempting to determine or explain the amount of error present in their measurement techniques. The development of the theory and practice of experimental designs, led by R. A. Fisher's Statistical Methods for Research Workers (1925) and The Design of Experiments (1935), signaled a shift to planning and performing experiments with the intent of controlling for errors or chance events. The basic work on experimental designs was undertaken in agricultural research, where a variety of alternative treatments were applied to plots of land, sometimes arranged in blocks, on which a particular crop was grown. Specific measurements were made at various points in time and analyzed comparatively to arrive at a set of results concerning the impact of the treatment given. Consequently, the contemporary experimental method is described as a comparative study of a specific intervention or treatment, i.e., a drug entity, with alternative treatments or no treatment, i.e., the control group(s), involving the randomized selection and placement of cases, i.e., patients, into each of the various treatment groups.
Animal Models of Meniscal Repair
Published in Yuehuei H. An, Richard J. Friedman, Animal Models in Orthopaedic Research, 2020
Jan Klompmaker, René P. H. Veth
Replacement of the meniscus by an allograft is a new development in humans.73-77 The ideal patient is a person with disabilitating osteoarthritis of the knee who cannot be helped by a corrective osteotomy and who is too young for an arthroplasty. Large series do not exist and the long-term results are not known. Therefore, it can be considered an experimental method in humans. Concerns and complications are the same as for animals and will be discussed below.
Introduction
Published in Harald Paganetti, Proton Therapy Physics, 2018
The next group of chapters covers “Dosimetry,” starting with a chapter on radiological aspects covering shielding considerations and measurement methods to ensure the safety of patients as well as operating personnel while operating a treatment beam. One aspect of increasing importance in the field of medical physics is the use of computer simulations to replace or assist experimental methods. After an introduction into the Monte Carlo particle tracking method, Chapter 8 demonstrates how Monte Carlo simulations can be used to address various clinical and research aspects in proton therapy. Chapters 9 and 10 cover detectors and relative dosimetry as well as reference dosimetry and primary standards, respectively. The underlying dosimetry formalism and technology are reviewed in detail in addition to the basic aspects of microdosimetry.
Virtual screening and zebrafish models in tandem, for drug discovery and development
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2023
David Hernández-Silva, Francisca Alcaraz-Pérez, Horacio Pérez-Sánchez, Maria Luisa Cayuela
There are different drugs on the market that have been discovered with VS techniques, including saquinavir, ritonavir, and indinavir (antiretroviral agents), saquinavir, ritonavir, and indinavir (three drugs for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus) and others, which are in clinical phase III, such as nolatrexed, for the treatment of liver cancer [26,58–60]. As previously mentioned, there are also different studies in which the combination of both VS techniques (SBVS and LBVS) is applied, where different drugs were found that are much more potent than that which currently exists, such as inhibitors of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (17β-HSD1) [61,62]. It is worth mentioning that the use of these techniques for the development, improvement, and repositioning of drugs is, in general terms, a much faster and less expensive way than using a traditional experimental method. A key example is the discovery of specific inhibitors of histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8).
Using evidence-based psychological approaches to accommodation anomalies
Published in Strabismus, 2023
Immediately after the consent process, accommodation and convergence were assessed objectively by dynamic photorefraction and vergence assessment at distances between 2 m and 25 cm using the standard objective photorefraction protocol always used in the laboratory. For full details of the method see Horwood & Riddell.19 Initial instructions were minimal, but full explanations were given later. Targets presented eight different stimulus conditions which presented all possible combinations of blur, disparity and proximal cues to assess how accommodation and convergence responses relate to the complexity of the stimulus given. The advantage of this experimental method is that it is hard to work out what is being tested. Any occlusion is invisible, and the equipment is unfamiliar. Participants were asked just to watch the picture, with no instructions about effort or maintaining single vision or clarity. The closest testing distance was 25 cm, so extreme near points could not be assessed in this way. The explanation given to the patients was that we needed to repeat the whole set of measurements twice, and a clinical testing period in the middle of the session would give them a break.
Cortisol, chronotype, and coping styles as determinants of tolerance of nursing staff to rotating shift work
Published in Chronobiology International, 2021
Andrea Minelli, Michael Di Palma, Marco Bruno Luigi Rocchi, Elisa Ponzio, Pamela Barbadoro, Massimo Bracci, Gilda Pelusi, Emilia Prospero
The initiative was advertised by posting advertisements at the clinic and contacting the nursing staff by e-mail. Nurses willing to participate were given thorough explanations describing the design and aims of the study and its experimental methods and procedures. Smokers, the obese (BMI>30), workers affected by chronic diseases or oral pathologies, taking beta-blockers, diuretics, or glucocorticoids, or those reporting bereavements or major stressful events in the previous 6 months were excluded from the study. The present study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association, relating to the ethical standards required for biological rhythm research studies on human beings (Portaluppi et al. 2010), and received the formal approval by the local ethics committee (Comitato Etico Regionale Marche-CERM, Prot. N. 213592).