ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Medication nonadherence is a costly problem that is common in clinical use and clinical trials alike, with significant adverse consequences. Digital pill systems have proved to be effective and safe solutions to the challenges of nonadherence, with documented success in improving adherence and health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this human factors validation study is to evaluate a novel digital pill system, the ID-Cap System from etectRx, for usability among patient users in a simulated real-world use environment. METHODS: A total of 17 patients with diverse backgrounds who regularly take oral prescription medications were recruited. After training and a period of training decay, the participants were asked to complete 12 patient-use scenarios during which errors or difficulties were logged. The participants were also interviewed about their experiences with the ID-Cap System. RESULTS: The participants ranged in age from 27 to 74 years (mean 51 years, SD 13.8 years), and they were heterogeneous in other demographic factors as well, such as education level, handedness, and sex. In this human factors validation study, the patient users completed 97.5% (196/201) of the total use scenarios successfully; 75.1% (151/201) were completed without any failures or errors. The participants found the ID-Cap System easy to use, and they were able to accurately and proficiently record ingestion events using the device. CONCLUSIONS: The participants demonstrated the ability to safely and effectively use the ID-Cap System for its intended use. The ID-Cap System has great potential as a useful tool for encouraging medication adherence and can be easily implemented by patient users.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Macroalgae represents a promising source of fermentable carbohydrates for use in the production of energy efficient biofuel. The primary carbohydrate in brown algae is the uronic acid-containing alginate, whereas green algae contains a significant amount of glucuronan. A necessary step in the conversion of these polyuronides to bioethanol is saccharification, which can be achieved by enzymatic or chemical degradation. RESULTS: Polysaccharide lyases are a class of enzymes which cleave uronic acid-containing glycans via a ß-elimination mechanism, acting both endo- and exolytically on their substrates. In the present work, we characterize a putative alginate lyase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279a (Smlt2602) and describe a H208F mutant that, in addition to cleaving alginate-based substrates, displays significant, exolytic glucuronan activity. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge this is the first polysaccharide lyase to act exolytically on glucuronan and is an attractive candidate for the broad-spectrum digestion of polyuronides into fermentable monomers.
