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Ni Y, Lu Y, Jing F, Wang Q, Xie Y, He X, Wu D, Tan RKJ, Tucker JD, Yan X, Ong JJ, Zhang Q, Jiang H, Dai W, Huang L, Mei W, Zhou Y, Tang W. A Machine Learning Model for Identifying Sexual Health Influencers to Promote the Secondary Distribution of HIV Self-Testing Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Quasi-Experimental Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2024; 10:e50656. [PMID: 38656769 PMCID: PMC11079758 DOI: 10.2196/50656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sexual health influencers (SHIs) are individuals actively sharing sexual health information with their peers, and they play an important role in promoting HIV care services, including the secondary distribution of HIV self-testing (SD-HIVST). Previous studies used a 6-item empirical leadership scale to identify SHIs. However, this approach may be biased as it does not consider individuals' social networks. OBJECTIVE This study used a quasi-experimental study design to evaluate how well a newly developed machine learning (ML) model identifies SHIs in promoting SD-HIVST compared to SHIs identified by a scale whose validity had been tested before. METHODS We recruited participants from BlueD, the largest social networking app for gay men in China. Based on their responses to the baseline survey, the ML model and scale were used to identify SHIs, respectively. This study consisted of 2 rounds, differing in the upper limit of the number of HIVST kits and peer-referral links that SHIs could order and distribute (first round ≤5 and second round ≤10). Consented SHIs could order multiple HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits and generate personalized peer-referral links through a web-based platform managed by a partnered gay-friendly community-based organization. SHIs were encouraged to share additional kits and peer-referral links with their social contacts (defined as "alters"). SHIs would receive US $3 incentives when their corresponding alters uploaded valid photographic testing results to the same platform. Our primary outcomes included (1) the number of alters who conducted HIVST in each group and (2) the number of newly tested alters who conducted HIVST in each. We used negative binomial regression to examine group differences during the first round (February-June 2021), the second round (June-November 2021), and the combined first and second rounds, respectively. RESULTS In January 2021, a total of 1828 men who have sex with men (MSM) completed the survey. Overall, 393 SHIs (scale=195 and ML model=198) agreed to participate in SD-HIVST. Among them, 229 SHIs (scale=116 and ML model=113) ordered HIVST on the web. Compared with the scale group, SHIs in the ML model group motivated more alters to conduct HIVST (mean difference [MD] 0.88, 95% CI 0.02-2.22; adjusted incidence risk ratio [aIRR] 1.77, 95% CI 1.07-2.95) when we combined the first and second rounds. Although the mean number of newly tested alters was slightly higher in the ML model group than in the scale group, the group difference was insignificant (MD 0.35, 95% CI -0.17 to -0.99; aIRR 1.49, 95% CI 0.74-3.02). CONCLUSIONS Among Chinese MSM, SHIs identified by the ML model can motivate more individuals to conduct HIVST than those identified by the scale. Future research can focus on how to adapt the ML model to encourage newly tested individuals to conduct HIVST. TRIAL REGISTRATION Chinese Clinical Trials Registry ChiCTR2000039632; https://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojEN.html?proj=63068. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID) RR2-10.1186/s12889-021-11817-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxin Ni
- Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ying Lu
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Fengshi Jing
- Institute for Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Application, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, China
- Faculty of Data Science, City University of Macau, Macao SAR, China
| | - Qianyun Wang
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Yewei Xie
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Health Service and System Research Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xi He
- Zhuhai Xutong Voluntary Services Center, Zhuhai, China
| | - Dan Wu
- Department of Social Medicine and Health Education, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Rayner Kay Jin Tan
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Joseph D Tucker
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Xumeng Yan
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Jason J Ong
- Department of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Qingpeng Zhang
- Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong)
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong)
| | - Hongbo Jiang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wencan Dai
- Zhuhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhuhai, China
| | - Liqun Huang
- Zhuhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhuhai, China
| | - Wenhua Mei
- Zhuhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhuhai, China
| | - Yi Zhou
- Zhuhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhuhai, China
| | - Weiming Tang
- Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Project-China, Guangzhou, China
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Examination of de-classified Monsanto documents from litigation in order to expose the impact of the company's efforts to influence the reporting of scientific studies related to the safety of the herbicide, glyphosate. METHODS A set of 141 recently de-classified documents, made public during the course of pending toxic tort litigation, In Re Roundup Products Liability Litigation were examined. RESULTS The documents reveal Monsanto-sponsored ghostwriting of articles published in toxicology journals and the lay media, interference in the peer review process, behind-the-scenes influence on retraction and the creation of a so-called academic website as a front for the defense of Monsanto products. CONCLUSION The use of third-party academics in the corporate defense of glyhphosate reveals that this practice extends beyond the corruption of medicine and persists in spite of efforts to enforce transparency in industry manipulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leemon B McHenry
- Department of Philosophy, California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330, USA. E-mail:
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Guo L, Jin B, Yao C, Yang H, Huang D, Wang F. Which Doctor to Trust: A Recommender System for Identifying the Right Doctors. J Med Internet Res 2016; 18:e186. [PMID: 27390219 PMCID: PMC4956912 DOI: 10.2196/jmir.6015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2016] [Revised: 06/18/2016] [Accepted: 06/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Key opinion leaders (KOLs) are people who can influence public opinion on a certain subject matter. In the field of medical and health informatics, it is critical to identify KOLs on various disease conditions. However, there have been very few studies on this topic. Objective We aimed to develop a recommender system for identifying KOLs for any specific disease with health care data mining. Methods We exploited an unsupervised aggregation approach for integrating various ranking features to identify doctors who have the potential to be KOLs on a range of diseases. We introduce the design, implementation, and deployment details of the recommender system. This system collects the professional footprints of doctors, such as papers in scientific journals, presentation activities, patient advocacy, and media exposure, and uses them as ranking features to identify KOLs. Results We collected the information of 2,381,750 doctors in China from 3,657,797 medical journal papers they published, together with their profiles, academic publications, and funding. The empirical results demonstrated that our system outperformed several benchmark systems by a significant margin. Moreover, we conducted a case study in a real-world system to verify the applicability of our proposed method. Conclusions Our results show that doctors’ profiles and their academic publications are key data sources for identifying KOLs in the field of medical and health informatics. Moreover, we deployed the recommender system and applied the data service to a recommender system of the China-based Internet technology company NetEase. Patients can obtain authority ranking lists of doctors with this system on any given disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Guo
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
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Gupta SK, Nayak RP. Off-label use of medicine: Perspective of physicians, patients, pharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities. J Pharmacol Pharmacother 2014; 5:88-92. [PMID: 24799811 PMCID: PMC4008928 DOI: 10.4103/0976-500x.130046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2013] [Revised: 08/09/2013] [Accepted: 11/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Off-label prescribing of medicines is prevalent worldwide because it gives freedom to physicians to apply new therapeutic options based on the latest evidence. Although physicians may lawfully prescribe approved drugs for any use consistent with available scientific data and proper medical practice, but unfortunately, usually this is done without adequate scientific data. Often, when the best available therapeutic option fails, patients demand new approach or new treatment which ultimately leads to off-label uses. Major concerns about efficacy and safety have been raised by inappropriate use of off-label drugs because it leads to drug being used without risk-benefit analysis by the regulatory agency. Although the regulatory approval process requires ample proof of efficacy and safety for granting approval for specific indications of prescription drugs but unfortunately, more clarity is required about regulations governing off-label use of medicine. Above all because of the financial aspects involved it is highly impractical to expect that pharmaceutical companies will restrict or stop off-label promotion. Off-label use might be compared to double-edged sword which might be very useful for some patients while it can also expose them to unrestricted experimentation, unknown health risks, or ineffective medicine. Hence, there is an urgent need for guidance to encourage proper off-label use of medicine by the distribution of scientifically valid and authentic information from the pharmaceutical companies. In fact, few countries such as the USA and France have taken an initiative and have come up with the regulations about off-label use of medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep Kumar Gupta
- Department of Pharmacology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Siruvachur, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Roopa Prasad Nayak
- Department of Pharmacology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Siruvachur, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract
The position of regional medical advisor (RMA) is relatively new in the pharmaceutical industry and its roles and responsibility are still evolving. The RMA is a field based position whose main mission is to foster collaborative relationships with the key opinion leaders (KOLs) and to facilitate the exchange of unbiased scientific information between the medical community and the company. Field-based medical liaison teams are expanding world-wide as part of the pharmaceutical industry's increased focus on global operations including emerging markets. Now, the position of the RMA has evolved into comprehensive, complex, highly interactive, targeted, highly strategic, innovative, and independent role since its inception by the Upjohn Company in 1967. The major objective of the RMA is to develop the professional relationships with the health-care community, particularly KOLs, through peer-to-peer contact. The RMA can facilitate investigator-initiated clinical research proposals from approval until completion, presentation, and publication. It is possible for a RMA to have valuable access to KOLs through his expertise in the clinical research. The RMA can assist in the development, review, and follow-up of the clinical studies initiated within the relevant therapeutic area at the regional/local level. The RMA can lead regional/local clinical projects to ensure that all clinical trials are conducted in compliance with the International Conference of Harmonisation Good Clinical Practice (ICH GCP) guidelines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep Kumar Gupta
- Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Siruvachur, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu, India
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