Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Expected to grow by 11.65% from 2023 to 2033 | Says Evolve Business Intelligence – Business News Today – EIN Presswire
An Irish woman behind a string of Hallmark films says it is a dream come true to be producing the feelgood movies on set in West Cork — and using local talent.The US production company is currently shooting in Skibbereen, Baltimore and Ballydehob. Everyone from local extras to art designers have come together for the project, sparking hopes for more collaborations in the years ahead. While details of the actors and movie title have yet to be announced, Dublin-based executive producer Edwina Forkin from Zanzibar films said filming was going well. Filming is expected to be completed by the end of next week.The project, which is being undertaken in collaboration with Cartel Entertainment in the US, has been described as a romantic comedy similar to PS I Love You. It follows the romantic story of a woman who falls in love with a local man after travelling to Ireland with her mother.It is understood the leading female actors are from the US. An Irish actor has been cast as the movie’s coveted love interest.“We’re hoping this could be one of many in West Cork,” Ms Forkin said. Edwina Forkin: ‘We had been wanting to film in Cork for such a long time and now it’s finally happening.’“We had been wanting to film in Cork for such a long time and now it’s finally happening. West Cork Film Studios have been great. The staff there are really accommodating. There is so much talent in West Cork. We are trying to have as many West Cork locals on board as possible.” Ms Forkin said the response from the community had been really positive.“It’s really wholesome entertainment. Everyone knows Hallmark which is great because people realise it’s not going to be this gory slasher movie or anything like that. All the scenes are going to show West Cork in a really nice light.” The film producer, who is from Blackrock in Dublin, said she grew up watching Hallmark movies.“Hallmark movies are very family orientated. I knew the brand very well and enjoyed the aspirational storylines and beautiful lighting. They are films you can watch with your mum or your granny so I always enjoyed them. “My mum was delighted when I got my first Hallmark movie because she always loved their films. After she passed I got so many more. It was like she was throwing them at me from above.” Well-known Hallmark productions filmed in Ireland include As Luck Would Have It and Christmas at Castle Hart. However, this will be the first film of its kind to be shot in West Cork.The crew at West Cork Film Studios, from left, Caroline Keoghane, Lynsey O’Leary, Colyne Laverriere, Eoghan Horgan, Edwina Forkin, Alan Forkin, Caroll O’Reilly, Brian Forkin, Grace Sexton, John Norton, Stephen O’Hanlon and Liam Neville. “I have already done four films this year. Last year, I did seven. A lot of these are Christmas films so we always have decorations in storage that are ready to go. A lot of the time the scenes shot in Ireland will be made to resemble another country. “For example, a lot of the filming for the movie A Norwegian Christmas was done in Ireland. We managed to make Norway in Blackrock. We shot in Bergen for a few days to set the scenes. It’s a hybrid approach we have adopted for many of the films. It’s a machine so you have to have everything turned around really quickly. It’s really important that you don’t drop the ball.” She hopes Ireland can attract more film productions in the years ahead.“A lot of the previous Hallmark films were filmed in Canada. Now, they have their sights set on Europe, which is really exciting. The combination of tax breaks and beautiful scenery have made Ireland a very attractive place to film in.”
Juries of international and local experts judged 84 works competing for festival awards and special prizes from RIGA IFF partners.
An awards ceremony at the festival’s main venue, the historic Splendid Palace cinema, revealed the main 10 000 EUR cash prize went to the documentary film Songs of the Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba. The jury described the winning film as ”a moving film that depicts the harsh reality of war away from the frontline with resilience, honesty and dignity”. The jury’s special mention went to Drowning Dry by the Lithuanian director Laurynas Bareiša – “an intriguing and suspenseful drama with credible characters and a subtle eye for contemporary society”.
Riga IFF winner
Photo: Riga IFF
As the winner of Short Film National Competition, which had 9 Latvian short films competing for the bronze statuete and the 1 000 EUR cash prize, was announced the short film North Pole directed by Roberts Vanags. ”With an eye for striking compositions and flashes of poetry that can transform the familiar at rare moments of the day or night, an atmospheric world is created that signals a fresh new voice in Baltic cinema,” jury stated.
As the best film of the Short Film International Competition, and the recipient of the festival award and the 2 000 EUR cash prize, was announced Where Russia Ends by director Oleksiy Radynski – “a significant work of archive retrieval and restoration of collective memory, assembled with precise care, to safeguard the visibility and history of Russia’s indigenous peoples against imperialistic erasure and environmental ravages – matters of burning relevance in today’s Europe”. The jury’s special mention was awarded to Pubert Jimbob, the short animation film by Quirijn Dees, described as “a profoundly unique graduation film shows us the kaleidoscopic power of animation at its strangest and best”.
Riga IFF 2024
Photo: Riga IFF
In the ceremony the nominee for the ”Best European Short 2025” award was awarded to Adas Burkšaitis’ short film Left-handed Pen, described in jury’s statement as “with the suspense of a thriller and a precisely composed ensemble, this film doesn’t lose a second to let us witness an intimate story of hope and despair – and the work of a European director from whom we hope to see more in the future“.
The winner of the Baltic Music Video Competition was the music video Protection (artist – German postpunk group SMILE) directed by Latvian director Anna Ansone. It was described by the jury as “a perfect balance – complete, simple, and flawless, like well-made pasta. Sometimes, we aim to impress the world with complexity, but this video reminded us that simplicity is the true key to brilliance” and received the festival award and the 1 000 EUR cash prize.
Meanwhile the RIGA IFF Baltic Music Video Competition jury’s special mention went to the music video In My Nostrils (artist – musical project Zvīņas) by director Antons Georgs Grauds – “a remarkable blend of creativity, visual language, twisted spirituality and fly collection, this video captured us from the very beginning”. In collaboration with Radio SWH, the main audience award – advertising slots in Radio SWH programming worth 1 000 EUR – went to the creative team behind music video Visai Baika by Kedrostubùras (director – Elzė Vozbinaitė).
The winners of RIGA IFF FORUM, a section devoted to the film industry and its professionals, were also announced. The winner of SHORT RIGA Test Screenings and the recipient of the BBPosthouse prize – post-production services worth 5 000 EUR – was the short film Where Does the Sun Sleep at Night? by Ildze Felsberga.
SHORT RIGA Test Screenings panel of experts describes it as “a film that makes folk music resonate in rooms without windows, where employees are seeking meaning through rituals and repetition surrounded by obsolete furniture and technology“. Meanwhile the jury’s special mention went to Slush, a short film by Jēkabs Okonovs and Aivars Šaicāns, – “The unexpected, the happy accidents and the many shades of a new-born friendship intertwine in this story crafted by a power trio of creators sharing a strong bond and a lovely aura.“
Riga IFF 2024
Photo: Riga IFF
The winner among the feature films and series presented in the film market co-production platform RIGA IFF SHOWCASE, awarded by the international jury, was Curtain, a feature film project by Valeria Sochyvets. “An urgent, raw relationship drama with two richly delineated main characters. The project promises a new strong female voice in contemporary European cinema, being the debut feature made by a young but prominent Ukrainian filmmaker,” the jury stated.
Meanwhile as the market exchange finalist to be presented at New European Market Zagreb this December was announced Cold, fiction series project by Domas Petronis and Tiago Guedes – “a solid, well-developed and gripping project with an obvious international appeal“.
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Researchers have found and counteracted the biochemical trigger for Huntington’s disease, opening avenues for early detection and potentially curative therapies. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
A groundbreaking study has identified a critical chemical change in the brain that triggers Huntington’s disease.
By manipulating this process, scientists have successfully prevented the onset of symptoms in animal models, paving the way for early interventions and therapies that could stop the disease from progressing.
Breakthrough in Huntington’s Disease Research
A new study published today (October 28) in Nature Metabolism has, for the first time, identified a specific biochemical change responsible for the onset of Huntington’s disease and shown that blocking this change can halt disease progression.
Huntington’s disease is a genetic disorder that progressively impairs brain function, leading to both mental and physical decline over time. Symptoms generally emerge after age 30 and worsen over 10 to 20 years, ultimately becoming fatal.
Early Changes in Huntington’s Disease Development
The study investigated a change first noted in the brains of Huntington’s patients in the early 1980s that may initiate the disease. Researchers found that dysfunction in a specific type of neuron, called indirect pathway spiny projection neurons (iSPNs)—which are among the first cells affected by Huntington’s disease—disrupts dopamine balance. This disruption occurs when the neurotrophin receptor TrkB fails to activate properly, leading to early disease symptoms, including involuntary, abnormal movements.
First, the researchers looked at mice that lacked normal function in these iSPNs due to disrupted TrkB neurotrophin signaling and noticed that they showed increased levels of dopamine in the brain, leading to hyperactivity. This change occurred before noticeable symptoms appeared, suggesting that these early alterations may contribute significantly to HD progression.
Protein Regulation and Disease Management
The researchers also found that a protein called GSTO2, an enzyme that is part of the glutathione metabolism, plays an important role in regulating dopamine levels. By selectively reducing the activity of this protein in mice, the researchers were able to prevent dopamine and energy metabolism dysfunction, arresting the onset of motor symptoms in mice.
Importantly, this enzyme shows similar dysregulation in a rat model of HD and some rare brains of asymptomatic HD patients, confirming its putative relevance to the development of the disorder.
New Pathways for Treatment and Diagnosis
The study’s lead author, Liliana Minichiello, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience at Oxford’s Department of Pharmacology, said: “The big problem with Huntington’s disease is that by the time that symptoms develop much of the damage has already been done, and therefore, it is fundamental that we understand the changes that occur before the disorder develops if we are to develop effective therapeutics.”
“This research marks the first time that we have been able to identify a specific chemical change that is unique to the development of Huntington’s disease, which opens the possibility of developing new tests to study the early changes of the disease before irreversible damage occurs.
“Understanding these early changes provides crucial insights into how Huntington’s Disease develops, and this knowledge could help develop preventive therapies to maintain dopamine balance and delay or halt disease progression.”
Dr. Yaseen Malik (Department of Pharmacology, Oxford University), first author of the paper, said: “Despite our significant understanding of its pathophysiology, HD remains without a cure, which underscores the necessity of delivering diagnostic and therapeutic interventions prior to the onset of symptoms, and this study is a step in that direction.”
Reference: “Impaired striatal glutathione–ascorbate metabolism induces transient dopamine increase and motor dysfunction” 28 October 2024, Nature Metabolism.DOI: 10.1038/s42255-024-01155-z
Electronic Stability Control Market Manifesting a CAGR of 8.3% from 2022 to 2031 | Top Business Growth – Business News Today – EIN Presswire
When “Frozen” was released in 2013, the Hans Christian Andersen-inspired fairy tale marked a fresh approach for a Disney princess film — one that centered the relationship between two sisters, rather than happily ever after with a charming prince. More than a decade later, Elsa and Anna dresses are still ubiquitous costumes for kids and Idina Menzel’s power ballad “Let It Go” still dominates parental playlists.That’s no coincidence, says Emily Kristen Morris, the New York-based actor making her Paramount Theatre debut in its winter production of “Frozen.” “It’s about familial love. It’s about sisterhood. It’s about women. That’s really special, and I think that’s why it’s had this crazy long success,” she says.Nominated for three Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2018, the stage adaptation has since toured North America and played in Europe, Asia and Australia. Paramount, the downtown Aurora theater known for its large-scale musical productions, has built a strong relationship with Disney in recent years and landed the rights to stage the Midwest regional premiere. Jeff Award winner Trent Stork directs.In the stage version, “you get everything you know and love in the movie,” says Stork, but new songs provide more character development. “The songs that are added to the musical let us inside (Elsa’s) brain, so she’s not just this mystical figure. She’s become such an iconic persona that almost feels intangible, and the music in the musical brings a lot of Elsa’s humanity out.”Preparing for the role of Elsa, Morris drew on her experience as the Elphaba standby on the national tour of “Wicked,” a job that brought her to Chicago in the fall of 2022. “The first thing that struck me, looking at the (‘Frozen’) script, is the similarities between (Elsa) and Elphaba,” she says. “I know what it is to play a character who has been isolated but in a different way.”Starring opposite Morris as Elsa’s younger sister, Anna, is Beth Stafford Laird, who played Belle in Paramount’s “Beauty and the Beast” in 2019. “That was great because I had done that show before as an understudy, and so it was really wonderful to get to play the part here with such full permission to do it the way that I really wanted. Similarly, with this process, I’m getting the same free rein to play, which is so much fun. I’m a baby sister — I’m the youngest of three — so I said on the phone to my parents that this is my inner child incarnate, running around on stage.”In rehearsals, Morris and Laird have discussed their characters’ shared backstories to inform their performances. After being close in childhood, Elsa and Anna are isolated from each other when Elsa’s magical powers grow beyond her control.“The absolute trauma that does to somebody growing up — being asked to hide such a huge part of their identity and being told if they don’t, they will cause damage to those around them and maybe hurt or kill people — there’s a real stunt to both of their growths, and that manifests in different ways,” says Morris. “Because (Elsa) knows the truth, that manifests in terror and fear.”Anna doesn’t understand what’s going on with her sister, so she becomes “an overly trusting, overly optimistic, can-do kind of opportunist,” says Laird. “Given the opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it because for so long, I couldn’t.”Unlike the movie and the Broadway production, the sisters share a duet in the current version of the musical. Added during the North American tour, “I Can’t Lose You” is “one of the most beautiful songs in the show,” says Stork. “It really highlights how deep their love is for each other and how their bond is so strong.”Emily Kristen Morris plays Elsa, Everleigh Murphy and Genevieve Jane alternate as Young Elsa, Elowen Murphy and Avelyn Choi alternate as Young Anna, and Beth Stafford Laird plays Anna in the Disney musical “Frozen” at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. (Amy Nelson)With this sisterly love story at its heart, “Frozen” also promises a certain level of spectacle that audiences expect from a Disney musical. Stork, who has Norwegian ancestry, leans into the fairy tale’s Nordic roots and envisions Arendelle as a closeknit community that’s deeply connected to nature. This approach results in designs that are unmistakably inspired by the film but “uniquely our own.” Elsa’s snow magic and an onstage blizzard are among the special effects, and Sven (Adam Fane) and Olaf (Ryan Stajmiger) are brought to life by puppets designed by Jesse Mooney-Bullock.Likely to be a popular family attraction over the holidays, “Frozen” is scheduled to play for 12 weeks, the longest run for Paramount’s Broadway Series since its launch in 2011. “It’s always such an honor to be able to do the holiday show with the Paramount,” says Stork. In 11 years of working there, they’ve seen kids who used to attend shows with their parents or grandparents grow up and go off to college to study theater.“To be a part of everyone’s holiday traditions and holiday memories is really, really beautiful to me, and I’m just so excited that ‘Frozen’ gets to be the next iteration of that legacy,” says Stork. “I’m hoping that this is a show that people remember for a long, long time, and that they have a memory of this theatrical experience for the rest of their lives.”Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.Oct. 30 to Jan. 19 at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora; tickets $28-$85 at 630-896-6666 and paramountaurora.com
When “Frozen” was released in 2013, the Hans Christian Andersen-inspired fairy tale marked a fresh approach for a Disney princess film — one that centered the relationship between two sisters, rather than happily ever after with a charming prince. More than a decade later, Elsa and Anna dresses are still ubiquitous costumes for kids and Idina Menzel’s power ballad “Let It Go” still dominates parental playlists.That’s no coincidence, says Emily Kristen Morris, the New York-based actor making her Paramount Theatre debut in its winter production of “Frozen.” “It’s about familial love. It’s about sisterhood. It’s about women. That’s really special, and I think that’s why it’s had this crazy long success,” she says.Nominated for three Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2018, the stage adaptation has since toured North America and played in Europe, Asia and Australia. Paramount, the downtown Aurora theater known for its large-scale musical productions, has built a strong relationship with Disney in recent years and landed the rights to stage the Midwest regional premiere. Jeff Award winner Trent Stork directs.In the stage version, “you get everything you know and love in the movie,” says Stork, but new songs provide more character development. “The songs that are added to the musical let us inside (Elsa’s) brain, so she’s not just this mystical figure. She’s become such an iconic persona that almost feels intangible, and the music in the musical brings a lot of Elsa’s humanity out.”Preparing for the role of Elsa, Morris drew on her experience as the Elphaba standby on the national tour of “Wicked,” a job that brought her to Chicago in the fall of 2022. “The first thing that struck me, looking at the (‘Frozen’) script, is the similarities between (Elsa) and Elphaba,” she says. “I know what it is to play a character who has been isolated but in a different way.”Starring opposite Morris as Elsa’s younger sister, Anna, is Beth Stafford Laird, who played Belle in Paramount’s “Beauty and the Beast” in 2019. “That was great because I had done that show before as an understudy, and so it was really wonderful to get to play the part here with such full permission to do it the way that I really wanted. Similarly, with this process, I’m getting the same free rein to play, which is so much fun. I’m a baby sister — I’m the youngest of three — so I said on the phone to my parents that this is my inner child incarnate, running around on stage.”In rehearsals, Morris and Laird have discussed their characters’ shared backstories to inform their performances. After being close in childhood, Elsa and Anna are isolated from each other when Elsa’s magical powers grow beyond her control.“The absolute trauma that does to somebody growing up — being asked to hide such a huge part of their identity and being told if they don’t, they will cause damage to those around them and maybe hurt or kill people — there’s a real stunt to both of their growths, and that manifests in different ways,” says Morris. “Because (Elsa) knows the truth, that manifests in terror and fear.”Anna doesn’t understand what’s going on with her sister, so she becomes “an overly trusting, overly optimistic, can-do kind of opportunist,” says Laird. “Given the opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it because for so long, I couldn’t.”Unlike the movie and the Broadway production, the sisters share a duet in the current version of the musical. Added during the North American tour, “I Can’t Lose You” is “one of the most beautiful songs in the show,” says Stork. “It really highlights how deep their love is for each other and how their bond is so strong.”Emily Kristen Morris plays Elsa, Everleigh Murphy and Genevieve Jane alternate as Young Elsa, Elowen Murphy and Avelyn Choi alternate as Young Anna, and Beth Stafford Laird plays Anna in the Disney musical “Frozen” at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. (Amy Nelson)With this sisterly love story at its heart, “Frozen” also promises a certain level of spectacle that audiences expect from a Disney musical. Stork, who has Norwegian ancestry, leans into the fairy tale’s Nordic roots and envisions Arendelle as a closeknit community that’s deeply connected to nature. This approach results in designs that are unmistakably inspired by the film but “uniquely our own.” Elsa’s snow magic and an onstage blizzard are among the special effects, and Sven (Adam Fane) and Olaf (Ryan Stajmiger) are brought to life by puppets designed by Jesse Mooney-Bullock.Likely to be a popular family attraction over the holidays, “Frozen” is scheduled to play for 12 weeks, the longest run for Paramount’s Broadway Series since its launch in 2011. “It’s always such an honor to be able to do the holiday show with the Paramount,” says Stork. In 11 years of working there, they’ve seen kids who used to attend shows with their parents or grandparents grow up and go off to college to study theater.“To be a part of everyone’s holiday traditions and holiday memories is really, really beautiful to me, and I’m just so excited that ‘Frozen’ gets to be the next iteration of that legacy,” says Stork. “I’m hoping that this is a show that people remember for a long, long time, and that they have a memory of this theatrical experience for the rest of their lives.”Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.Oct. 30 to Jan. 19 at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora; tickets $28-$85 at 630-896-6666 and paramountaurora.com
In testimony to Congress last year, David McCormick, now the Republican candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, said that as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world, he “held deep reservations” about “the moral and patriotic hazards of doing business in China”.As CNN reported, between 2017 and 2021, such qualms did not stop McCormick overseeing an increase in Bridgewater’s Chinese holdings from $1.6m to $1.77bn. Nor, according to Bloomberg, did Bridgewater flinch from significant investments in companies that supply the Chinese military. It has also been reported that McCormick oversaw investment in a Chinese fentanyl producer and, as HuffPost put it, “profited from China trade policies he helped shape” as a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs under George W Bush.Denying wrongdoing, McCormick throws claims of hypocrisy back at his opponent, the incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, over his own investment links to companies from China and other countries.As election day nears, with Senate control up for grabs in such battleground-state races, both parties are seeking to emphasize China’s threat to the US economy and national security. But a review of reporting and documentation reveals many other Republicans taking a tough line on China despite their own business and investment links to Beijing.In Wisconsin, Eric Hovde, a banker, has said that if he was in the Senate, “I’d be very focused on what China is doing and why we are allowing them to come to our communities and buy up our land, especially around military bases.” He has also accused his opponent, Tammy Baldwin, of failing to address a fentanyl addiction crisis fueled by Chinese imports.According to the Daily Beast, before entering politics, Hovde’s family tried to launch an investment vehicle in China. A spokesperson for Hovde insisted he was not involved.In Michigan, the former US House intelligence committee chair Mike Rogers says he was “among the first to sound the alarm on the economic and national security danger posed by China” – while the Detroit News reports that Rogers and his wife “have gained hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth through companies that have partnered with Chinese firms”. Heartland Signal has highlighted Rogers’ ties with Nokia, a Finnish telecoms firm that “has conducted extensive business deals with Chinese tech companies like Huawei”, which is subject to US sanctions.Rogers denies wrongdoing – and attacks his opponent for a Senate seat, congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, alleging she signed an NDA concerning a planned electric vehicle battery plant in Big Rapids to be built by a company connected to the Chinese Communist party. Slotkin denies that, and says she “worked to bring manufacturing back to the United States” while Rogers “supported trade deal after trade deal – including Nafta – that helped ship jobs to places like China”.Meanwhile, Montana is no Rust-belt battleground but it is a rare Republican-dominated state represented by a Democrat in a Senate split 51-49. The Republican candidate, the US Navy Seal turned businessperson Tim Sheehy, has called for the US to “get tough” on China while attacking the incumbent, Jon Tester, as “weak” on the issue.Last December, HuffPost reported that Sheehy “sold off shares in the Chinese tech giant Tencent, earning between $200 and $1,000 in dividends, according to his Senate campaign financial disclosure”. The same report said Sheehy maintained significant investments with financial institutions with “deep ties to China”.Sheehy responded by attacking Tester for getting “six times richer as a career politician hobnobbing with lobbyists in Washington for nearly two decades”. Sheehy’s own wealth comes from Bridger Aerospace, a company dedicated to fighting forest fires. Heartland Signal reported that Sheehy “endorsed and attempted to utilize Chinese drones built by a company which was sanctioned by two administrations for leaking American data to the Chinese Communist Party”. Sheehy did not comment.In Ohio, where the Democrat Sherrod Brown is seeking to keep his seat, China is an issue too, if over thousands rather than millions of dollars. The Republican candidate, auto salesperson Bernie Moreno, has claimed to have refused to sell a Chinese-made SUV. Spectrum News showed that Moreno did sell such vehicles. A spokesperson said Moreno stopped selling them after a local plant closed down.And in Florida, Democrats dream of defeating Rick Scott, the former healthcare executive and governor who won his seat narrowly in 2018. Earlier this year, Mother Jones reported that though Scott has urged voters to “stop buying [Chinese] stuff[,] stop helping them[,] stop investing in China”, because “you don’t do business with your enemies,” he “has a long record of supporting Chinese investment in the United States and personally making money off Chinese commerce”.The magazine laid out such links. A Scott spokesperson attacked the outlet and said the senator would be “happy to put his record up against” Democrats “pushing [Joe] Biden’s pro-China agenda”.The Guardian asked the National Republican Senatorial Committee for comment about Republican candidates voicing bellicose campaign rhetoric about China despite reported ties to Beijing. It did not reply.
The importance of good protocol and instrument design for clinical outcome assessments
Many factors contribute to the success of a clinical trial. These can vary depending on the phase, therapeutic area and indication. However, the bedrock of a successful clinical trial is a well-designed protocol with reliable and valid measurements of biomedical and health-related outcomes. A well-written protocol ensures that good quality data is collected. More specifically, clinical trial data must be of sufficient quality to enable meaningful comparison, have adequate scientific rigor and satisfy regulatory standards. Put simply, a clinical trial is only as good as its data.
Clinical trials data fall into two main categories: biomarkers and clinical outcome assessments (COA). Biomarkers measure characteristics, for example, blood pressure that indicates biological or pathologic processes or responses to intervention. COAs describe or reflect how an individual feels, functions, or survives. Although generally more subjective in nature, COA can and should be subject to scientific rigor and the application of science can make for a better patient experience and improved data quality.
As technology has evolved and become more present in our daily lives, the ability for technology to improve clinical research has grown. At Clario, we see these benefits every day across our clinical trial management platform. The collection of COA electronically (eCOA) has been a game changer in clinical research. eCOA has facilitated decentralization of trials and hybrid clinical models by making data available to sites and monitors in real time and enhancing the ability to get information from patients in diverse environments. We can integrate this information better and with less effort because of the increased data quality and the ability for validation or adjudication. Electronic data collection allows for custom programmability, date and time stamping, prevention of data omissions and restrictions of data entry to prevent retroactive or forward completion or the review of previously recorded data. As a result, eCOA datasets are more reliable, accurate, and complete as compared to paper COA.
eCOA designs include alerts and compliance triggers to make sure we’re collecting the data that we need.On the backend, we can benchmark the data received from patients with metadata or data from connected devices, creating a robust assessment of the clinical outcomes.The availability of modern technology, including smartphones and tablets in the home, has enabled electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO) to provide patients with greater flexibility and input in their participation in clinical trials. Clinical trials now routinely offer participants the option of using their own smartphone to enter study data (a method called BYOD—or bring your own device).
It’s easy to get excited about the promise of technology in clinical trials.If you had told us 20 years ago that there was a way to avoid the hundreds of hours and massive room for error introduced by the manual data entry process that would have been cause for celebration.
Allocated funding for aquaculture research could transform aquaculture not just in Scotland but around the world.
The Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre recently announced funding for three projects, each of which involves research on fish health, especially in relation to climate change.
SAIC is a Scotland-based organization that works “to reduce the environmental footprint and increase the economic impact of aquaculture.”
To do so, SAIC frequently funds research, promotes education, and connects businesses to advance aquaculture. According to the Global Seafood Alliance, SAIC has transformed “nearly £11 million ($14.3 million) into essential research worth over £71 million ($92.9 million). These initiatives have spurred the creation of spin-out companies, new products, and innovative solutions to industry challenges.”
These newly funded programs add to SAIC’s long list of contributions, and The Global Seafood Alliance covers the three funded programs in detail. They include a “holographic imaging system to detect and monitor micro-jellyfish,” “automated profiling system for harmful algal blooms,” “predictive biomarkers for gill health in Atlantic salmon,” and “stock management strategies for outbreaks of proliferative kidney disease.”
Advancements in aquaculture are essential to develop sustainable methods of harvesting seafood. Climate change is wreaking havoc on our oceans — warming, polluted, and acidic oceans kill fish, which disrupt food chains and fragile ecosystems.
Did you know the body produces 1-2% less collagen protein per year, starting in your 30s? As the most abundant protein in the body, its decline is a major contributor to signs of aging.
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In one study, postmenopausal women who took 5 grams of collagen a day saw a 7% increase in bone density over the course of a year — that’s just how powerful collagen replacement can be.
Simply add two flavorless, easily dissolvable scoops to your favorite drink to get 18 grams of protein that promotes bone health, digestion, and more.
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With conservation efforts, there may be hope for us. Restoration projects work to rebuild habitats, like in Perch Lake in Minnesota. Habitat restoration helps endangered fish increase in population, like the bull trout in Oregon’s Klamath Basin.
Project by project, researcher by researcher, incredible progress is being made, and it isn’t slowing down.
Linsey Dickson told the Global Seafood Alliance she hopes that “by applying cutting-edge technologies and evidence-based practices, these projects are poised to address some of the sector’s most pressing challenges.”
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