Proceedings of the signature series symposium "cellular therapies for orthopaedics and musculoskeletal disease proven and unproven therapies-promise, facts and fantasy," international society for cellular therapies, montreal, canada, may 2, 2018.

The Signature Series Symposium "Cellular Therapies for Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Disease Proven and Unproven Therapies-Promise, Facts and Fantasy" was held as a pre-meeting of the 26th International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) annual congress in Montreal, Canada, May 2, 2018. This was the first ISCT program that was entirely dedicated to the advancement of cell-based therapies for musculoskeletal diseases. Cellular therapies in musculoskeletal medicine are a source of great promise and opportunity. They are also the source of public controversy, confusion and misinformation. Patients, clinicians, scientists, industry and government share a commitment to clear communication and responsible development of the field. Therefore, this symposium convened thought leaders from around the world in a forum designed to catalyze communication and collaboration to bring the greatest possible innovation and value to patients with musculoskeletal conditions.

Training and capacity building evaluation: Maximizing resources and results with Success Case Method.

This article describes the use of Success Case Method (Brinkerhoff, 2003) to evaluate health promotion and public health training programs. The goal of the Office Community Research and Engagement (OCRE) of the Puerto Rico Clinical and Translational Research Consortium (PRCTRC) is to establish a stable and sustainable translational research capacity. Early efforts toward achieving this goal included sponsoring two independent research training programs. A description of the implementation of the five step Success Case Method is presented. Results reveal that SCM would deem both trainings as highly successful, based upon the overall impact of a low number of success cases. However, a traditional summative evaluation would consider this disappointing. Strengths of SCM are discussed. It was concluded that the Success Case Method is a useful and valuable evaluative method for measuring the success of health promotion and public health training initiatives and provides sufficient information for decision-making processes.

Health Promotion in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), which is commonly underdiagnosed, has a high occurrence in the world population. Health education concerning sleep disorders and OSAS should be implemented. Objectives The objective was to identify studies related to preventive actions on sleep disorders, with emphasis on OSAS. Data Synthesis A literature review was conducted using Lilacs, Medline, PubMed, and Scopus by combining the following keywords: "Health Promotion," "Sleep Disorders," "Primary Prevention," "Health Education," and "Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndromes." Initially, 1,055 papers, from 1968 to 2013, were located, with the majority from the Scopus database. The inclusion criteria were applied, and four articles published between 2006 and 2012 were included in the present study. Conclusions The studies on preventive actions in sleep disorders, with emphasis on OSAS, involved the general population and professionals and students in the health field and led to increased knowledge on sleep disorders and more appropriate practices. .

Capacity needs in community-based organizations for enhancing translational research in Puerto Rico.

BACKGROUND: In an effort to form and sustain community-academic partnerships (CAPs) to enhance clinical and translational research, an assessment of needs for selecting and implementing evidence-based programs (EBPs) was conducted among a group of community-based organizations (CBOs) throughout Puerto Rico. METHODS: The survey was based on an instrument developed by the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network. It assessed specific service information, program selection/implementation processes, knowledge and perception of EBPs, funding venues, evaluation processes, and capacity and training needs. Recruitment consisted of contacting 100 nonprofit organizations in Puerto Rico that work or address specific health areas, namely, cancer, neurological disorders, HIV, and cardiovascular health. RESULTS: The survey revealed wide variability in understanding what constitutes an EBP. Training needs for building a productive translational research process also were identified. Prominent among these were securing funding for ongoing operations, utilizing data for decision making, developing collaborations, managing information, conducting community needs assessments, and program evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings point to important implications for promoting community-campus partnerships for advancing clinical and translational research.

Translational neurorehabilitation research in the third world: what barriers to trial participation can teach us.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Most stroke rehabilitation studies have been performed in high-income countries. The aim of this study was to identify the main barriers for patient inclusion in a research protocol performed in Brazil. METHODS: We evaluated reasons for exclusion of patients in a pilot, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial of stroke rehabilitation. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: Only 5.6% of 571 screened patients were included. Recurrent stroke was responsible for exclusion of 45.4% of potentially eligible patients. CONCLUSIONS: Recurrent stroke represented a big barrier to enroll patients in the protocol. External validity of rehabilitation trials will benefit from definition of study criteria according to regional characteristics of patients, including rates of recurrent stroke. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01333579.