Spectrophotometry and pharmaceutical PAT/RTRT: Practical challenges and regulatory landscape from development to product lifecycle.

European Pharmacopoeia includes dedicated chapters for Raman, NIR and Chemometrics, as well as there is a lot of Academia research on the matter. Despite that, the word innovation is often associated to such tools and there is a still slow implementation at industry. The paper is the outcome of the Associazione Farmaceutici dell'Industria (AFI) Study Group on Process Innovation and Product Lifecycle; the aim is to describe some case studies referring to practical approaches in pharmaceutical industry, in order to depict challenges and opportunities for the implementation of spectroscopic techniques. Case studies include: feasibility and pre-screening evaluations, chemometric model development approaches, way for the method maintenance during commercial manufacturing, challenges for implementation on existing equipment and on sterile processes. Case studies refer to oral solid products, liquid products and sterile Active Pharmaceutical Ingradient (API) manufacturing. There are already successful and robust spectroscopic applications in pharmaceutical industry and the technology is mature: this is the outcome of a strong applied research performed at pharmaceutical production departments. It is necessary to acknowledge efforts done by industry as Research for strengthening the cooperation with Academia, so that advantage of process innovation might reach the patients in a fastest way.

International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola.

When parents migrate, leaving their children in the origin country, transnational families are formed. Transnational family studies on children who are "left behind" indicate that children suffer psychologically from parental migration. Many of the factors identified as affecting children's responses to parental migration however are not considered in child psychology and family sociology studies. This study aims to bridge these areas of knowledge by quantitatively investigating the association between transnational families and children's psychological well-being. It analyzes a survey conducted in three African countries in 2010-11 (Ghana N = 2760; Angola N = 2243; Nigeria N = 2168) amongst pupils of secondary schools. The study compares children in transnational families to those living with their parents in their country of origin. Children's psychological well-being is measured through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses reveal that children in transnational families fare worse than their counterparts living with both parents but not in Ghana where living conditions mediate this relationship. This paper also looks at four characteristics of transnational families and finds that specific characteristics of transnational families and country contexts matter: (1) changing caregivers is associated with poorer well-being in all countries; (2) which parent migrates does not make a difference in Ghana, when mothers migrate and fathers are caregivers results in poorer well-being in Nigeria, and both mother's and father's migration result in worse outcomes in Angola; (3) the kin relationship of the caregiver is not associated with poorer well-being in Ghana and Nigeria but is in Angola; (4) children with parents who migrate internationally do not show different results than children whose parents migrate nationally in Ghana and Nigeria but in Angola international parental migration is associated with poorer psychological well-being. The study shows that broader characteristics in the population rather than parental migration per se are associated with decreased levels of well-being.