Recommendations of the Polish-speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG-PL) regarding the disclosure of biological traces and the handling of evidence for identification tests. / Zalecenia Polskojezycznej Grupy Miedzynarodowego Towarzystwa Genetyki Sadowej (ISFG-PL) dotyczace ujawniania i identyfikacji sladów biologicznych przeznaczonych do badan genetycznych.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate recommendations for the disclosure of biological traces in the laboratory and the handling of forensic evidence submitted for identification tests, recommended by the Polish Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. The paper organizes the knowledge of the most relevant stages of preliminary analysis of biological traces based on both literature sources and those resulting from years of research practice. Recommendations formulated in the course of multi-stage expert consultations contained in this study should be used in the development of laboratory procedures applied during the execution.

Beyond the dyad: Broadening the APA supervision guidelines to include group supervision.

Group supervision is an extensively used format across many training agencies, yet it has been largely disregarded in theory and research within the supervision literature. In fact, the Guidelines for Clinical Supervision in Health Service Psychology (American Psychological Association, 2015a) mentions group supervision only one time, despite the fact that supervision within a group context includes competencies and considerations that are both unique and essential to the effective and ethical practice of group supervision. Because supervision conducted with multiple supervisees is multilayered and-as a result-more complex, group supervisors need to develop special skills that go beyond the supervision dyad. This article looks to the literature on supervision-both individual and group modalities-and on group psychotherapy to highlight the practices and processes that set group supervision apart. Building upon the seven supervision competencies outlined by the American Psychological Association (Supervisor Competence; Diversity; Supervisory Relationship; Professionalism; Assessment/Evaluation/Feedback; Professional Competence Problems; and Ethical, Legal and Regulatory Considerations), which currently concentrate exclusively on individual supervision, we extend each area to include distinct features of group supervision. We include recommendations for supervisor training and for the application of effective group supervision practices, as well as ideas on how best to approach the formal adoption of group supervision guidelines for psychotherapists. Our hope is that, either in a revision of the Guidelines for Clinical Supervision in Health Service Psychology or in a freestanding supplement to the Guidelines, guidance for group supervision will be more explicitly included. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Human embryo research, stem cell-derived embryo models and in vitro gametogenesis: Considerations leading to the revised ISSCR guidelines.

The ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation were last revised in 2016. Since then, rapid progress has been made in research areas related to in vitro culture of human embryos, creation of stem cell-based embryo models, and in vitro gametogenesis. Therefore, a working group of international experts was convened to review the oversight process and provide an update to the guidelines. This report captures the discussion and summarizes the major recommendations made by this working group, with a specific emphasis on updating the categories of review and engagement with the specialized scientific and ethical oversight process.

ISSCR's Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation: Supporting development of safe and efficacious stem cell-based interventions.

The ISSCR's revised Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation reflect the organization's commitment to opposing premature commercialization of stem cell-based interventions and supporting the development of products that meet stringent ethical, scientific, and regulatory standards. The Guidelines contain five important new recommendations concerning clinical translation of stem cell products.

ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation: The 2021 update.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research has updated its Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation in order to address advances in stem cell science and other relevant fields, together with the associated ethical, social, and policy issues that have arisen since the last update in 2016. While growing to encompass the evolving science, clinical applications of stem cells, and the increasingly complex implications of stem cell research for society, the basic principles underlying the Guidelines remain unchanged, and they will continue to serve as the standard for the field and as a resource for scientists, regulators, funders, physicians, and members of the public, including patients. A summary of the key updates and issues is presented here.

ISSCR guidelines for the transfer of human pluripotent stem cells and their direct derivatives into animal hosts.

The newly revised 2021 ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation includes scientific and ethical guidance for the transfer of human pluripotent stem cells and their direct derivatives into animal models. In this white paper, the ISSCR subcommittee that drafted these guidelines for research involving the use of nonhuman embryos and postnatal animals explains and summarizes their recommendations.

Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (CSCC) consensus guidance for testing, selection and quality management of SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care tests.

OBJECTIVES: A consensus guidance is provided for testing, utility and verification of SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care test (POCT) performance and implementation of a quality management program, focusing on nucleic acid and antigen targeted technologies. DESIGN AND METHODS: The recommendations are based on current literature and expert opinion from the members of Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (CSCC), and are intended for use inside or outside of healthcare settings that have varied levels of expertise and experience with POCT. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Here we discuss sampling requirements, biosafety, SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care testing methodologies (with focus on Health Canada approved tests), test performance and limitations, test selection, testing utility, development and implementation of quality management systems, quality improvement, and medical and scientific oversight.

Meta-synthesis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment Options: Developing Consolidated Clinical Treatment Recommendations to Improve Practice.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) treatment contains ambiguities across and within disciplines. This meta-synthesis of professional guidelines consolidates clinical treatment recommendations for CTS treatment and classifies them by strength of evidence. We conducted a search of Google, Google Scholar, and PubMed for published clinical treatment recommendations for CTS. A systematic hand search was completed to identify additional professional organizations with published recommendations. We extracted any mentioned treatment from all sources but developed our final consolidated clinical treatment recommendations only from select rigorous guidelines based on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) criteria for trustworthy guidelines. We translated rating systems of the primary guidelines into a universal rating system to classify recommendations for consolidated clinical treatment recommendations. Our search yielded 30 sources that mentioned a total of 55 CTS treatments. Six of the sources met the IOM inclusion criteria. These primary guidelines provided recommendations for 46 of the 55 treatments, which were consolidated into 12 broad treatment categories. Surgery, positioning, and steroids were strongly supported. Conservative treatments provided by rehabilitation professionals were conditionally supported. Pharmaceuticals, supplements, and alternative treatments were not generally supported. CTS is a complex condition with a wide variety of treatments provided by a multitude of disciplines. Our consolidated clinical treatment recommendations offer a comprehensive outline of available treatments for CTS and contributes to the process of developing best practices for its treatment.

Pharmaceutical company payments to authors of the Japanese guidelines for the management of hypertension.

ABSTRACT: Antihypertensive drugs have been of significant interest to the pharmaceutical industry due to increasing sales opportunities in a global market. The financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and the Japanese Society of Hypertension (JSH) have a possible influence on clinical practices in Japan. This study examined the distribution of pharmaceutical payments made to the authors of the revised Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension (JSH2019) and the transparency of the Conflict of Interest disclosure that each author made.We retrospectively obtained publicly available data regarding payments made by Japanese pharmaceutical companies to all authors of the JSH2019 in 2016. We also collected data on individual financial disclosure of JSH2019 authors to investigate whether their self-reported financial relationship with companies were compliant to the financial disclosure policy of JSH2019.The total and mean payment values reported by pharmaceutical companies were $4,246,436 and $21,447, respectively. Of the 198 authors, 171 (86.4%) authors received at least 1 payment. Of 74 authors required to disclose their conflict of interest (COI) the authors, one-third failed to follow the COI policy covering the clinical guidelines.Major pharmaceutical companies selling antihypertensive drug products in the Japanese market had a significant financial connection with the JSH2019 authors. Financial relationships between pharmaceutical companies and authors or Japanese medical societies are raising significant concerns about the credibility of clinical guidelines and the potentially biases and undue influences that they may cause, especially with respect to adverse prescription patterns.

World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (W.A.A.V.P.) guidelines for studies evaluating the efficacy of parasiticides in reducing the risk of vector-borne pathogen transmission in dogs and cats.

These guidelines are intended to provide an in-depth review of current knowledge and assist the planning and implementation of studies for evaluating the efficacy of parasiticides in reducing transmission of vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) to dogs and cats. At present, the prevention of VBP transmission in companion animals is generally achieved through the administration of products that can repel or rapidly kill arthropods, thus preventing or interrupting feeding before transmission occurs. The present guidelines complement existing guidelines, which focus on efficacy assessment of parasiticides for the treatment, prevention and control of flea and tick infestations, but also give guidance for studies focused on other vectors (i.e. mosquitoes and phlebotomine sand flies). The efficacy of parasiticides in reducing VBP transmission can be evaluated through laboratory or field studies. As such, the present guidelines provide recommendations for these studies, representing a tool for researchers, pharmaceutical companies and authorities involved in the research, development and registration of products with claims for reducing VBP transmission in dogs and cats, respecting the overall principles of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement). Gaps in our current understanding of VBP transmission times are herein highlighted and the need for further basic research on related topics is briefly discussed.

InterOrganizational practice committee guidance/recommendation for models of care during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Objective: The Inter Organizational Practice Committee (IOPC) convened a workgroup to develop guidance on models to provide neuropsychological (NP) care during the COVID-19 pandemic while minimizing risks of novel coronavirus transmission as lockdown orders are lifted and ambulatory clinical services resume.Method: A collaborative panel of experts from major professional organizations developed provisional guidance for models of neuropsychological practice during the pandemic. The stakeholders included the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology/American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Society of Clinical neuropsychology (Division 40) of the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology, and the American Psychological Association Services, Inc.Results: This guidance reviews the risks and benefits of conducting NP exams in several ways, including standard in-person, mitigated in-person, in-clinic teleneuropsychology (TeleNP), and in-home TeleNP. Strategies are provided for selecting the most appropriate model for a given patient, taking into account four levels of patient risk stratification, level of community risk and the concept of stepped models of care. Links are provided to governmental agency and professional organization resources as well as an outline and discussion of essential infection mitigation processes based on commonalities across recommendations from diverse federal, state, local, and professional organization recommendations.Conclusion: This document provides recommendations and guidance with analysis of the risks relative to the benefits of various models of neuropsychological care during the COVID-19 pandemic. These recommendations may be revised as circumstances evolve, with updates posted continuously on the IOPC website (https://iopc.online/).

[GFHT proposals for management of discordance between the International normalized ratio measured in the laboratory and by self-testing]. / Propositions du GFHT pour la gestion des discordances entre l'International normalized ratio mesuré au laboratoire et en automesure.

The lack of quality control for patient point-of-care (POC) INR devices is an issue that has led the French health authorities to make recommendations: a laboratory INR (lab INR) has to be performed at the same time as the POC INR every 6 months. However, the differences observed between the two INRs, POC and lab INRs, are not necessarily due to a failure of the POC INR device. We present here a review of the different causes of discrepancies between INR results, which are the basis of the proposals of the Groupe français d'études sur l'hémostase et la thrombose (GFHT) on the management of lab and POC INR discrepancies. Pre-analytical conditions may account for discrepancies (sampling, transport and storage conditions), as well as analytical factors (mainly the nature of the thromboplastin used) and the clinical context (inflammatory or autoimmune diseases, polycythaemia...). The interpretation of INR discrepancies is not always easy and these proposals aim at standardizing the procedure to be followed in order to make the most appropriate decision for the patient.

[Autoimmunity accreditation: training, accreditation and maintenance of skills in indirect immunofluorescence]. / Accréditation en auto-immunité : formation, habilitation et maintien des compétences en immunofluorescence indirecte.

The ISO 15189 accreditation of biological analysis needs the validation of the analytical methods allowing the evaluation of their performance including all the factors that could influence the quality of their results. The field of autoimmunity includes many analyses and methods such as the indirect immunofluorescence technique (IIF) and the performance of this technique largely depends on the competency of staff members. For each staff member, the required levels of competency have to be precisely defined and evaluated after a period of formation before the final habilitation for the IIF technique. The French group of the international group called EASI (European autoimmunity standardisation initiative) proposes two habilitation forms to be filled with criteria, evidence and maintenance of target skills for the IIF preparation of slides and reading. These forms could be used as a model for the IIF formation and habilitation and have to be adapted to the routine practice of the laboratories.