The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a rapid shift to full-time remote work for many information workers. Viewing this shift as a natural experiment in which some workers were already working remotely before the pandemic enables us to separate the effects of firm-wide remote work from other pandemic-related confounding factors. Here, we use rich data on the emails, calendars, instant messages, video/audio calls and workweek hours of 61,182 US Microsoft employees over the first six months of 2020 to estimate the causal effects of firm-wide remote work on collaboration and communication. Our results show that firm-wide remote work caused the collaboration network of workers to become more static and siloed, with fewer bridges between disparate parts. Furthermore, there was a decrease in synchronous communication and an increase in asynchronous communication. Together, these effects may make it harder for employees to acquire and share new information across the network.

Ethics committees and the changed clinical research environment in India in 2016: A perspective!

INTRODUCTION: Institutional and Independent Ethics Committees (ECs) have as their primary mission the protection of human research subjects. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization has in the period 2013-2016 introduced several new regulations and amendments to existing regulations overseeing the conduct of Research in India. Several of these have direct effect on the functioning of the EC from a review, approval, and oversight mechanism. METHODOLOGY: The Ethics Council of Indian Society for Clinical Research conducted a questionnaire survey among EC members to understand the impact of these changes in their functioning. The domains surveyed included awareness about recent changes/amendments and impacts, serious adverse events (SAEs) and compensation, informed consent and audio-video recording, monitoring and auditing of research, and future working of ECs. RESULTS: Seventy-nine percent of ECs are of the opinion that the new regulations/guidelines will add to their existing burden in the process of review and approval, providing subject protection and research oversight. Even though 68% of ECs stated that they are comfortable with SAE assessment and compensation determination, they state that there is variability in calculation of compensation amount using the formulae. An overwhelming majority (80%) of ECs stated that they were not in favor of centralized EC for providing review, approval, and oversight of clinical studies. DISCUSSION: Ethics Committees act as local regulator for clinical trials at sites providing Human Subject protection. The survey captures the contemporary issues faced by the ECs and also raises important questions on the ease of doing research, oversight of approved research, and administrative burden on the EC. CONCLUSION: Recent changes in regulations have on the one hand empowered Ethics committees but brought in challenges in the way that they provide oversight and monitor research carried out at the site.

Solid dispersion as an approach for bioavailability enhancement of poorly water-soluble drug ritonavir.

Ritonavir is an antiretroviral drug characterized by low solubility and high permeability which corresponds to BCS class II drug. The purpose of the study was to develop solid dispersion by different methods and investigate them for in vitro and in vivo performance for enhancing dissolution and bioavailability, respectively. Since the drug possesses food-related absorption, the effect of biorelevant media (FaSSIF and FeSSIF state) on dissolution behavior was also studied. The solid dispersion was prepared using Gelucire as carrier in 1:4 ratio by different methods and were characterized for differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and FT-IR. Oral bioavailability of 10 mg of ritonavir in solid dispersion prepared by solvent evaporation (SE1) and melt method (MM1) was compared with pure drug after oral administration of solid dispersion and pure drug to Albino Wistar rats of either sex. The results suggested formation of eutectic solid dispersion. In vitro dissolution studies was performed in 0.1 N HCl and biorelevant media showed enhanced dissolution rate as compared to pure drug in both FeSSIF media and 0.1 N HCl. The apparent rate of absorption of ritonavir from SE1 (C(max) 20221.37 ng/ml, t(max) 0.5 h) was higher than that of MM1 (C(max) 2,462.2, t(max) 1 h) and pure drug (C(max) 1,354.8 ng/ml, t(max) 0.5 h). On the basis of the result obtained, it was concluded that solid dispersion is a good approach to enhance solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble ritonavir.

Synthesis, spectroscopic, and antimicrobial studies of binuclear metallocene (M = Ti, Zr, or Hf) derivatives of bis(mercaptoazoles).

The reactions of (eta(5) - C(5)H(5))(2)MCl(2) (M = Ti, Zr, or Hf) with mercaptoazoles (LH(2)), namely, bis(mercaptotriazoles), bis(mercap- tooxadiazoles), and bis(mercaptothiadiazoles) in 2 : 1 molar ratio, respectively, have been studied in dry tetrahydrofuran in the presence of n-butylamine and the binuclear complexes of the type [{(eta - C(5)H(5))(2) M}(2)(L)] (M = Ti/Zr/Hf) are obtained. Tentative structural conclusions are drawn for the reaction products based upon elemental analysis, electrical conductance, magnetic moment, and spectral data (UV-Vis, IR, (1)H NMR, and (13)C NMR). FAB-mass spectra of few complexes of each series were also carried out to confirm the binuclear structures. Studies were conducted to assess the growth-inhibiting potential of the complexes synthesized, and the ligands against various fungal and bacterial strains.