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Pen Scanners-- A Back-to-School Must

techpaul — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:17:15 +0000

There are some technologies that really do make me say, "gee, I wish they had that when I was a kid", and one of them is the hand-held document scanner.

A hand-held document scanner is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is; a portable device that allows you to "scan" text and images into digital form so you can store them on your computer... and thus access them for later study.
It's kind of like having your very own pocket Xerox machine.

This is simply a "must have" if you are a researcher, or a student, as it replaces hand-writing out your notes, or carrying pockets full of coins to feed into the library's copy machine.

When you find a relevant passage in a book, or other document, you simply pass the device over the text, much like you would use a highlighter. Later, you attach the device to your PC via a USB cord, and thanks to OCR, you can open your scanned passages in a text editor, like Word.

Hand-held document scanners (generally) come in two flavors; a true "pen" style -- as pictured above -- and a "wand" style.

The "pen" style makes it easier to capture just the lines of text that you are interested in. However, you must pass it in a fairly straight line, and wobbling it high or low may cause you to have to rescan the sentence (most have a preview window).. and some people use a plastic ruler as a guide.

I prefer the "wand" style, even though it (usually) means capturing a whole page. The color versions of these devices are pretty good at scanning images. Another advantage of the wand is if you are scanning tables and charts-- the included software allows you to open the scanned tables in Excel.

Tip of the day: A simply fantastic Back To School gift (either for yourself, or someone you love) is a hand-held digital note taker. They're quite reasonably priced.
My personal reco is to go with the slightly pricier wand scanner, and to go with the pricier-yet color model.

I won't say which one's "best", but I will say that I agree with this PC Magazine review (read it here).

Today's free link: SyncBack is a backup program that also functions as a file synchronizer, such as keeping your thumbdrive files and desktop files updated. From ZDNet:"Easily backup, synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP file, networked drive, or removable media."

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New Facebook

studybob — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:11:29 +0000

Well the new facebook style got rolled out today (or maybe it's beta?). It's mostly a good thing for StudyBob.

The good:

UI needed to be... refined... on the app anyways
newsfeed is much longer, more chance of us being published
much more app centered

The bad

App looks like garbage... not sure what the hell is going on

I'm sure users are going to sh*t a brick, but they'll adapt in a month or so. The new site is a blatant ripoff of friend feed. But hey, I like it.

Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for 2007

libraryfit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:36:35 +0000

And the winner is ... Sheng-tang Wu (Sam) has been awarded an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for 2007.

His thesis title is “Knowledge discovery using pattern taxonomy model in text mining”. Congratulations & Wow!

And in addition ... the recipients of the Dean's outstanding doctoral thesis award are:

Wasana Bandara
Helen Partridge
Jason Smith

More Wow!!!

Richi Nayak is famous!

libraryfit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:57:47 +0000

She has 2 articles in the Austalian & one in the Courier Mail all about her work:

Data mining software helps building safety

In one click, what's yours is mined

She's also in the Courier Mail: Repairs by computer - Program takes guesswork out of building maintenance

QUT Emerald Literati Network Award for Amanda Spink

libraryfit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:11:56 +0000

Congratulations to Amanda Spink of FIT

A paper by Professor Amanda Spink (QUT) and Dr. Chery Dee (South Florida University) is Highly Commended Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2007. The paper is - Spink, A., & Dee, C. (2007). Cognitive shifts related to interactive information retrieval: A replication study. Online Information Review, 31(6), 845-860.

Read it here: www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14684520710841801

QUT bluebox research commercialisation workshops

libraryfit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:00:03 +0000

“Taking research to the real world”

bluebox is conducting a one-day workshop for QUT research staff who wish to learn more about commercialisation.

Offering comprehensive coverage of commercialisation issues relevant to the research environment, the workshop will provide attendees with a fantastic opportunity to discover more about taking research to market and gain a deeper insight into commercialisation at QUT.

Session topics include:

How is QUT research commercialised?
What is intellectual property and why is it relevant to my research?
How can I ensure my research outcomes are able to be commercialised?

for more information visit the bluebox website at: http://www.qutbluebox.com.au/news/upcomingeven/workshops.jsp

New visualisation tool for citation mapping with ISI

libraryfit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:55:28 +0000

There are a number of new options at ISI Web of Knowledge - which is the leading citation/impact factor tool in the science & technology arena. So be all excited: https://ezp02.library.qut.edu.au/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fisiwebofknowledge.com%2fwok%2fmedia%2fswf%2fwokdemoshell.html

The next time you access ISI Web of Knowledge, you'll find enhancements that provide you with totally new options for research:

Citation Mapping • Be the first to see the beta version of this powerful new Web of Science® visualization tool. Visualize citation relationships and understand the meaning of a cited reference search. Map citations by author, institution, country, subject, and more!

Additional All-Database search options • Now you can sort by Times Cited* and search for specific addresses within an All-Database search, making this powerful feature even more flexible and convenient.

New 2007 Data for Journal Citation Reports^®** • The new 2007 data provides the most current information available to determine a publication's impact and influence in the global research community.

More patent coverage • Derwent Innovation Index** now provides more extensive coverage of Canadian patents.

Collaborate and share material easier with EndNote^®Web • Designate read/write access for shared EndNote Web folders. Link to the full text of articles directly from EndNote Web records.

Unique DOI number • View the DOI number in the full record and after export to bibliographic management tools.

Shibboleth support • ISI Web of Knowledge and EndNote Web are now compliant with all Shibboleth regulations.

Ten Rules for Web Startups

studybob — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:49:11 +0000

Evan Williams, Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, put together a list of the Ten Rules for Web Startups. Top 10 countdowns, ala VH1, have never really been my thing... but coming from the guy who started Twitter I'd imagine it's pretty legit.

A sampling:

#1: Be Narrow
#2: Be Different
#3: Be Casual
#4: Be Picky
#5: Be User-Centric
#6: Be Self-Centered
#7: Be Greedy
#8: Be Tiny
#9: Be Agile
#10: Be Balanced
#11 (bonus!): Be Wary

Researcher

studybob — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:46:29 +0000

I've been refining 'researcher' pages quite a bit recently. I moved them to the studybob URL rather than the facebook app. I rolled out all kinds of fancy AJAX links, effects, and the like. Pretty soon I'll implement Scriptaculous for super cool effects.

I'm trying to make the researcher accounts as easy and friendly as possible.

More access to health records?

medicalprivacy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:25:40 +0000

It is not long since people like me warned about the increasing access to our medical records and now the NHS seems to be confirming our greates fears.

Bellow are links to stories about how there are plans to increase the amount of people with access to our records. It is bad enough a patient cant tell their GP something without having to let every doctor and nurse they see at the practice know about it despite there usually not being a 'need to know' basis, It is bad enough reception staff are getting access to our records and knowing our test results and what medications we have been issued, now they want to social care, voluntry orgs, private firms, researchers and never ending list.

Will doctors defend the patient right to privacy? Dont bank on it!

http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/3915/access_to_nhs_care_records_may_be_widened

http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/3947/data_sharing_review_has_messages_for_the_nhs

Researchers Improve Solar Cell Performance

soray2000 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:07:45 +0000

Vegematic writes "Researchers at MIT have improved solar collectors using dyes. They just increased their performance results by a factor of 4. These paint-on materials can increase the power obtained from existing solar cells by a factor of over 40 without needing to track the sun. 'By collecting light over their full surface and concentrating it at their edges, these devices reduce the required area of solar cells and consequently, the cost of solar power. Stacking multiple concentrators allows the optimization of solar cells at each wavelength, increasing the overall power output.' There is also a shorter FAQ available."

Public Library of Science (PLoS) Journals : Please consider for your publications

libraryfit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:54:46 +0000

QUT researchers are invited to submit manuscripts to any of the PLoS journals, listed below, in 2008 and the author-fee per accepted article will be automatically allocated by QUT Library (as approved by the Library and the University's Research and Innovation Committee).

The Library has set aside US$10,000 to pay for author submission fees to PLoS journals as a trial for 2008.

Since the trial was established there have been no submissions from QUT to PLoS open access journals so that full amount is still available.

QUT is an institutional member of the PLoS, a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. As an open access publisher, PLoS works under the model that all PLoS research material published is peer-reviewed, immediately available online and deposited in the the free public archive PubMed Central. There are no charges for access and no restrictions on subsequent redistribution or use, as long as the author(s) and source are cited, as specified by the Creative Commons Attribution License given at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Why publish in PLoS journals?

i) wide dissemination: articles will always be freely available online, from PLoS and from PubMed Central.

Your work will have the broadest possible audience—the entire world. And recent studies suggest that open access articles get downloaded and cited more frequently.

ii) pre-submission inquiries: PLoS are happy to look at abstracts prior to submission and will advise you within 48 hours whether they will consider the full paper.

iii) rapid publication: The time between acceptance and online publication is normally around 6 weeks, and can be expedited under special circumstances.

iii) Editors’ Summary: Each research article is accompanied by an Editors’ Summary written by PLoS editors.

iv) no need to order reprints: The open access license means that anyone can reprint and distribute our content, so long as they credit the author and cite the original source.

v) high impact: 2007 impact factors for PLoS journals, as measured by Thomson Reuters, are given below. Rankings indicate PLoS journals rank very highly in given subject areas.

vi) publicity: PLoS send out weekly press releases on papers published.

PLoS Computational Biology

PLoS Computational Biology is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal featuring works of significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods. It is the official journal of the International Society for Computational Biology.

JCR Impact Factor 2007 : 6.2

Ranked 4 out of 60 in subject category Biochemical Research Methods : Ranked 1 out of 26 in subject category Mathematical & Computational Biology

Journal Citation Reports on the Web - Science and Social Science Edition 2007 (via ISI Web of Knowledge) : Now Available

libraryfit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:52:32 +0000

The 2007 edition of the Journal Citation Reports on the Web - Science and Social Science Edition has just been released.

Briefly (ISI) Journal Citation Reports (JCR) allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 9,300 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries. It is one of the major sources of citation data on journals, and includes virtually all specialties in the areas of science, technology, and social sciences. By using this database one can generate lists of top journals by impact factor for a given subject category/ies for any of the years 2003-2007.

You can search JCR by Subject Category, specific journal or you can view all journals.

Remember the journal impact factor is the average number of times articles from the journal published in the past two years have been cited in the current JCR year (e.g., 2007).
Thus the impact factor is calculated by dividing the number of citations in the JCR year (e.g., 2007) by the total number of articles published in the two previous years. An impact factor of 1.0 means that, on average, the articles published one or two years ago have been cited one time in the current JCR year.. An impact factor of 2.5 means that, on average, the articles published one or two years ago have been cited two and a half times in the specific JCR year (e.g., 2007). Citing articles may be from the same journal; most citing articles are from different journals.

To access Journal Citation Reports on the Web - Science and Social Science Edition 2007 go to the QUT Library homepage and select databases. In the Choose a database to search section enter jcr and click the Search database descriptions box. On the next page click the database name hyperlink to connect to the database.

One-on-One Consultations or Research Group Visits

libraryfit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:49:22 +0000

Just a reminder that I am available for one-on-one consultations or alternatively I am happy to come along to speak to your research group at a time and place suitable to you.

I am happy to meet with academic/research staff and postgraduate research students equally.

Some things we may discuss include:

i) what are the best journals to publish in (i.e., those with the highest impact factor) using Journal Citations Reports and SCImago

ii) who are the top researchers worldwide in your subject area using Essential Science Indicators

iii) which are the most appropriate databases to find articles/conference papers etc. related to your research

iv) how do I search a particular database effectively

v) how do I use import references into EndNote from a search of given database

vi) ebooks

vii) anything else....?

The list is endless......and entirely up to you....

Meet at Merlos, your desk, my desk or a meeting room.

Australian Research Council (ARC) : Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative : Ranked Journal Lists of Publications used by Australian Researchers: Comments Needed by 31 July 2008

libraryfit — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:35:18 +0000

The ARC, on behalf of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative, have released ranked lists of journals in 22 subject areas according to four tiers (as described below).
(NOTE: The ERA initiative will use a range of indicators and other proxies to support the evaluation of research excellence. One of these indicators is discipline-specific tiered outlet rankings.)
The journal lists are available at http://www.research.qut.edu.au/data/quality/qutonly/rankings.jsp
These ranked journal lists were compiled by the Learned Academies and Discipline Bodies in Australia (http://www.arc.gov.au/era/consultation_ranking.htm) at the request of the ARC.

Feedback including amendments and additions should be emailed to era@qut.edu.au by 31st July 2008 using the Amendments and Additions Form also available at http://www.research.qut.edu.au/data/quality/qutonly/rankings.jsp

More information about the ERA is available at http://www.arc.gov.au/era/

What can the library do?

Gather supporting evidence for 'justifications' for challenging a current ranking and/or suggesting titles to be included in the list. e.g. impact factors, circulation figures, journal citation data etc. Please be in touch!

A*= top 5% of journals in a discipline - Typically an A* journal would be one of the best in its field or subfield in which to publish and would typically cover the entire field/subfield. Virtually all papers they publish will be of a very high quality. These are journals where most of the work is important (it will really shape the field) and where researchers boast about getting accepted. Acceptance rates would typically be low and the editorial board would be dominated by field leaders, including many from top institutions.

A= top 6-20% of journals in a discipline- The majority of papers in a Tier A journal will be of very high quality. Publishing in an A journal would enhance the author's standing, showing they have real engagement with the global research community and

that they have something to say about problems of some significance. Typical signs of an A journal are lowish acceptance rates and an editorial board which includes a reasonable fraction of well known researchers from top institutions

B= top 21- 50% of journals in a discipline-Tier B covers journals with a solid, though not outstanding, reputation. Generally, in a Tier B journal, one would expect only a few papers of very high quality. They are often important outlets for the work of PhD students and early career researchers. Typical examples would be regional journals with high acceptance rates, and editorial boards that have few leading researchers from top international institutions

C= top 51-100% of journals in a discipline -Tier C includes quality, peer reviewed, journals that do not meet the criteria of the higher tiers.

Those Danged Researchers At It Again...

oregonnerd — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:50:50 +0000

publishing details on the Mifare Classic chip. How to crack it, that is. These are the guys that went free on the London transit system. NXP which used to be Philips Semiconductors is suing to stop them. This is fairly ludicrous. Hardware proof-of-concepts* are absolutely defensible, because hardware encryption unless one-time will be cracked. (*proof-of-concept: you give the gory details of how to)

--Glenn

Telemarketers vs Researchers

emotionalone71 — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:11:56 +0000

Ok...we have all done it. Get a phone call in the middle of supper or on the weekend during a good movie or just when you are heading out the door. Well, until recently I was one of those people who either pretended I wasn't home or get all mad and slam the phone down. Well, recently I started a new job that is making phone calls for a research marketing firm and believe it or not all of the calls you get are NOT someone trying to sell you something. We call to get results or opinions about a product or service you may already partake of and want your opinion to make improvements to that product or service. The number of calls we make are far greater than the number of completed surveys we are actually able to get. Example...the other day I made 420 phone calls at work and only completed 3 surveys for the company we are representing with the survey. It really made me rethink the whole hanging up on people when I got a few of the respondents that I got that day. Hang ups, rude comments, people who think the survey is too long...if you think it is long for you...TRY READING IT ALL DAY! Yikes! This is Gods punishment to me for all the times I ruined someones day when they called me JUST DOING THEIR JOB. To all of those patient wonderful people whose days I ruined once upon a time...hopefully you will accidentally stumble across this and hear my apology. I am eternally sorry for that. I now walk in your shoes. So when someone calls and it may not be the best time to talk, please be kind and reschedule OR politely say that you are not interested in doing surveys. We LOVE kind people. Have a nice day.

New website for graduate research students

libraryfit — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:41:56 +0000

http://www.graduatejunction.com/

The Graduate Junction is a brand new site which gives research students an easy way of making contact with others who share their research interests no matter which department, institution or country they work in.

The Graduate Junction has been created by two graduate research students, who felt isolated within their own research projects. This isolation was lessened at conferences, where graduate researchers can meet others performing similar research. However, relevant conferences don't happen all the time. The other primary information source for research, published literature, is essential but can only inform on completed work. The Graduate Junction provides the first online meeting place for graduate research students from any background so that you can find out what research is currently being done by your fellow students.

Rate Journal impact OR How to publish, win friends & influence people: a session for all QUT Faculty of Information Technology & ISI Researchers

libraryfit — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:09:46 +0000

Rate Journal impact OR How to publish, win friends & influence people: a session for all QUT Faculty of Information Technology & ISI Researchers

A brief introduction to journal citation analysis & bibliometric tools to analyse the value & impact of particular publications, measure the impact of your work & develop strategies on where to be published & seen.

This will cover:

Thomson Reuters Products Web of Science (WoS), Journal Citations Reports (JCR) and Essential Science Indicators (ESI)/ScienceWatch;
SCImago (uses data from Scopus);
Harzing's Publish or Perish (PoP)(uses data from Google Scholar);
How to Increase your impact through QUT eprints + Open Access Publishing

When? : Monday 7th of July from 12 noon-1.15 pm

Where? : Room V712 in the library (V block)

Target Audience? : FIT & ISI researchers ... academics, research assistants & early career researchers (+ coursework postgrads seeking to publish) all welcome

RSVP please to e.nelms@qut.edu.au
Your feedback & ideas welcome

Southampton Researchers Unlock Secrets Of Most Common Type Of Leukaemia

healtherm2 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:27:01 +0000

Researchers at the University of Southampton (England) are testing patients along the South Coast in order to gain further understanding of the causes of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the commonest form of leukaemia in adults. Blood cancer charity Leukaemia Research has awarded Dr Jonathon Strefford £435,000 to carry out the research at Southampton General Hospital, which will involve testing patients for any abnormalities in their genetic code which may be causing their disease.

To date, little is known about how important a person's genetic make-up is to his or her susceptibility to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Dr Strefford aims to find out, as he explained: "I am using state-of-the-art technology that literally provides a million answers to scientific questions in a single experiment. This type of approach investigates the entire genetic code of a patient with CLL and allows minute changes to be identified that may be contributing to the patient's disease."

The new three-year study is designed to have direct benefits for patients with this form of leukaemia. Dr Strefford described his hopes for the research: "Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia develops at different rates in different people, so if we could test for 'clues' in the DNA of patients at diagnosis we would be able to predict how quickly their disease will progress. We can then treat patients specifically based on their genetic make up and we will have a better idea how certain people will react to certain treatments."

Leukaemia Research Scientific Director Dr David Grant said: "This research is very exciting - by identifying genetic 'markers' for this type of leukaemia we will be able to divide patients into different groups and move away from the 'one size fits all' approach to treatment"

John Murrell, a member of the Southampton Fundraising Branch of Leukaemia Research says: "It's very rewarding to be part of the fundraising team here in Southampton, knowing that all our efforts are helping to make exciting projects like this possible. Continual research is steadily improving the prospects of leukaemia patients."

Leukaemia Research currently has nearly six million pounds invested in blood cancer research in Southampton.

-- Over the next five years, Leukaemia Research urgently needs to raise over £100 million to commit to new research. From basic laboratory research to clinical trials with patients, Leukaemia Research is committed to saving lives by funding high quality, carefully selected research throughout the UK.

-- Leukaemia Research is the only national charity devoted exclusively to improving treatments, finding cures and learning how to prevent leukaemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and other lymphomas, myeloma and the related blood disorders, diagnosed in 24,500 people in the UK every year. Further information, including patient information booklets, is available from www.lrf.org.uk or call 020 7405 0101.

-- To volunteer or fundraise in the region, contact the Southampton Branch at frank.bright@hants.gov.uk

The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and scholarship. It is one of the country's top institutions for engineering, computer science and medicine, and home to a range of world-leading research centres, including the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, the Optoelectronics Research Centre, the Centre for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, and the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies.

As one of the UK's top 10 research universities, the University offers first-rate opportunities and facilities for study and research across a wide range of subjects in humanities, health, science and engineering.

CMS Issues Rule To Provide Researchers With Limited Access To Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Claims

healtherm2 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:26:42 +0000

CMS has issued a rule that will provide researchers with access to hundreds of millions of Medicare prescription drug benefit claims but will limit their studies of the commercial parts of the program, CQ HealthBeat reports.

According to a "fact sheet" issued by CMS on May 22, the rule will allow researchers to study the safety and effectiveness of medications among the elderly and disabled, as clinical trials "often exclude the very old, patients with multiple chronic conditions and those taking multiple medications, comprising the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries." The rule also will allow Medicare beneficiaries to use the claims data to update their personal health records with the medications that they take, CMS said.

However, under the rule, the identities of specific Medicare prescription drug plans will remain "encrypted," CMS said. CMS also will combine cost information for Medicare prescription drug plans because to "do otherwise could negatively affect the ability of plans to negotiate prices favorable to beneficiaries and taxpayers," according to the agency. CMS also said that agency officials will develop guidelines and workshops to inform researchers about how to access the claims data.

Tricia Neuman, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and director of the Medicare Policy Project at the foundation, said, "Researchers are chomping at the bit to get more information about Part D plans, and the release of these data is good news," adding, "However, it appears that data restrictions will limit how much we'll be able to learn about the experiences of people in specific plans." Researchers will not have the ability to determine the relationship between the amount of the rebates that Medicare prescription drug plans receive from pharmaceutical companies and the amount that they charge beneficiaries, Neuman said.

In addition, the rule will allow researchers to determine the number of Medicare beneficiaries who reach the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap, although not for specific prescription drug plans, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 6/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Clinical Trials 2 of 4

Bonnie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:00:30 +0000

Understanding Clinical Trials 2 of 4

Risks

There are risks to clinical trials.

~~~

There may be unpleasant, serious or even life-threatening side effects to experimental treatment.

The experimental treatment may not be effective for the participant.

The protocol may require more of their time and attention than would a non-protocol treatment, including trips to the study site, more treatments, hospital stays or complex dosage requirements.

What are side effects and adverse reactions?

Side effects are any undesired actions or effects of the experimental drug or treatment. Negative or adverse effects may include headache, nausea, hair loss, skin irritation, or other physical problems. Experimental treatments must be evaluated for both immediate and long-term side effects.

How is the safety of the participant protected?

The ethical and legal codes that govern medical practice also apply to clinical trials. In addition, most clinical research is federally regulated with built in safeguards to protect the participants. The trial follows a carefully controlled protocol, a study plan which details what researchers will do in the study. As a clinical trial progresses, researchers report the results of the trial at scientific meetings, to medical journals, and to various government agencies. Individual participants' names will remain secret and will not be mentioned in these reports (See Confidentiality Regarding Trial Participants

What should people consider before participating in a trial?

People should know as much as possible about the clinical trial and feel comfortable asking the members of the health care team questions about it, the care expected while in a trial, and the cost of the trial. The following questions might be helpful for the participant to discuss with the health care team. Some of the answers to these questions are found in the informed consent document.

~~~

What is the purpose of the study?
Who is going to be in the study?
Why do researchers believe the experimental treatment being tested may be effective? Has it been tested before?
What kinds of tests and experimental treatments are involved?
How do the possible risks, side effects, and benefits in the study compare with my current treatment?
How might this trial affect my daily life?
How long will the trial last?
Will hospitalization be required?
Who will pay for the experimental treatment?
Will I be reimbursed for other expenses?
What type of long-term follow up care is part of this study?
How will I know that the experimental treatment is working? Will results of the trials be provided to me?
Who will be in charge of my care?
Plan ahead and write down possible questions to ask.
Ask a friend or relative to come along for support and to hear the responses to the questions.
Bring a tape recorder to record the discussion to replay later.

Every clinical trial in the U.S. must be approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to make sure the risks are as low as possible and are worth any potential benefits. An IRB is an independent committee of physicians, statisticians, community advocates, and others that ensures that a clinical trial is ethical and the rights of study participants are protected. All institutions that conduct or support biomedical research involving people must, by federal regulation, have an IRB that initially approves and periodically reviews the research.

Does a participant continue to work with a primary health care provider while in a trial?

Yes. Most clinical trials provide short-term treatments related to a designated illness or condition, but do not provide extended or complete primary health care. In addition, by having the health care provider work with the research team, the participant can ensure that other medications or treatments will not conflict with the protocol.