O-187 Smartphone application improves fertility treatment-related literacy: A large-scale surveillance and randomized controlled trial in Japan

Study question

Can providing quality-assured fertility-related information via a smartphone application improve fertility- and treatment-related literacy among smartphone application users?

Summary answer

Provision of quality-assured fertility-related information via a smartphone application contributed to enhancing fertility- and treatment-related literacy among the smartphone application users.

What is known already

For infertility patients, the interpretation of examination results may be overly complicated and complex, and patients may have difficulty in making sense of their own fertility problems. Accessing and learning about fertility-related information using the Internet via smartphone is reasonable; however, the information does not always reflect evidence-based recommendations and low-quality information may lead to adverse effects on users; thus, innovative methods to provide both accessible and high-quality information are desired.

Study design, size, duration

We performed a randomized control-group pretest posttest study and 4,137 smartphone application users were invited to participate between June 18 and 25, 2020. Participants’ fertility treatment-related literacy were assessed with a pretest that comprised of 28 questions and participants were allocated with stratified randomization to either intervention or control group. The intervention comprised a one-week smartphone application-based provision of information on fertility- and treatment-related information and the control group received general information about women’s healthcare.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

The 3,765 participants (91.0 %) who responded were randomly allocated into either the intervention group (N = 1883) or the control group (N = 1882). Characteristics of participants appeared similar between the groups reflecting that the randomization was successful in producing a balance in baseline characteristics. Effectiveness of intervention was assessed using pretest-posttest analysis. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the National Center for Child Health and Development of Japan (approval number: 2019-184).

Main results and the role of chance

The posttest was completed by 659 participants (17.5%), and finally 207 participants in the intervention group and 222 participants in the control group were available for pretest-posttest analysis. Demographic characteristics of these participants appeared similar between the groups. In comparing the demographic characteristics of participants who did and did not complete the posttest, there were significant differences between the two groups in age, overall test score, proportion living with a partner, and action for pregnancy. For the posttest, the overall mean test scores were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group (P = 0.0082). Interestingly, we also observed that posttest scores were significantly improved compared to pretest scores in both the intervention group and control group (P < 0.001). When examining by specific test question, the proportion answering correctly appeared to generally increase at posttest compared to pretest for intervention (P < 0.001) and control (P < 0.001) groups. There was over 10% improvement in 7 questions, and particularly, over 20% improvement for a question about clinical significance of anti-Müllerian hormone. Furthermore, directly comparing the difference in posttest versus pretest scores between the two groups showed, on average, greater improvements in the intervention group than the control group (P < 0.001).

Limitations, reasons for caution

As the intervention was educational material, it was not possible to blind participants to intervention group assignment. We were not able to monitor the participants when completing the tests; thus, whether they accessed other resources could not be addressed.

Wider implications of the findings

Providing information through a smartphone application can be considered acceptable since retrieving information through a smartphone application is in line with the current modern day lifestyle. A smartphone application may offer alternatives such as chatbots and movie-based learning, and they have the potential to increase the effectiveness.

Trial registration number

UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number UMIN000040721.

National biosecurity approaches, plans and programmes in response to diseases in farmed aquatic animals: evolution, effectiveness and the way forward

The rapid increase in aquaculture production and trade, and increased attention to the negative effects of disease, are becoming stimuli for developing national biosecurity strategies for farmed fisheries, for which the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Aquatic Animal Health Code and Manual of Diagnostic Tests for Aquatic Animals serve as an excellent framework. Using examples from a few countries and selected diseases, this paper provides a general overview of the development of approaches to implementing biosecurity strategies, including those emerging in the national legislation and regulations of some countries, and those being initiated by industries themselves. The determination of disease status in different epidemiological units (from a farm to a nation), appropriate approaches for preventing the introduction of disease and developing contingencies for disease control and eradication are also discussed. Important to the effectiveness of such strategies are provision of financial, personnel and other resources to implement them, including incentives such as indemnification or compensation in eradication programmes, and practical linkage to regulatory or government policy initiatives.

Isolation and partial characterization of a calcium-dependent lectin (chiletin) from the haemolymph of the flat oyster, Ostrea chilensis

A calcium-dependent lectin (chiletin) was isolated from oyster haemolymph by mannose elution from Sepharose CL-6B followed by anion exchange chromatography. Chiletin was predominantly composed of 12 and 24 kDa bands when examined with SDS-PAGE under reducing and non-reducing conditions, respectively. Larger molecular weight bands of 36 and 50 kDa were also variably present under reducing conditions. The NH2-terminal sequence of the 24 kDa band was determined and was not homologous to any known protein from the databases searched. Isolated chiletin was composed of multiple isomers approximately 12 kDa in size and ranging in pI from 5.2 to 6.0. Rabbit antiserum was raised to a synthetic peptide coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin and the size of the chiletin subunits was confirmed by Western blot. Two and five different conformational aggregates of chiletin were resolved in oyster haemolymph using size exclusion chromatography in 8 M urea and PBS, respectively. The largest aggregate obtained from size exclusion in 8 M urea was estimated to be greater than 640 kDa. The ability of whole haemolymph and isolated chiletin to agglutinate sheep red blood cells was inhibited by galactose and mannose. Chiletin was identified by immunohistochemistry to be most consistently present in the auricle, followed by the digestive gland, however staining was seen sporadically in haemocytes, gastrointestinal epithelium and interstitial connective tissue cells.

The End-Results of Operation for Detachment of the Retina

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