Do research ethics committees identify process errors in applications for ethical approval?

We analysed research ethics committee (REC) letters. We found that RECs frequently identify process errors in applications from researchers that are not deemed "favourable" at first review. Errors include procedural violations (identified in 74% of all applications), missing information (68%), slip-ups (44%) and discrepancies (25%). Important questions arise about why the level of error identified by RECs is so high, and about how errors of different types should be handled.

Research involving adults who lack capacity: how have research ethics committees interpreted the requirements?

Two separate regulatory regimes govern research with adults who lack capacity to consent in England and Wales: the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 ("the Regulations"). A service evaluation was conducted to investigate how research ethics committees (RECs) are interpreting the requirements. With the use of a coding scheme and qualitative software, a sample of REC decision letters where applicants indicated that their project involved adults who lacked mental capacity was analysed. The analysis focuses on 45 letters about projects covered by the MCA and 12 letters about projects covered by the Regulations. The legal requirements for involving incapacitated adults in research were not consistently interpreted correctly. Letters often lacked explicitness and clarity. Neither consent nor assent from third parties is a legally valid concept for purposes of the MCA, yet they were suggested or endorsed in 10 post-MCA letters, and there was evidence of confusion about the consultee processes. The correct terms were also not consistently used in relation to clinical trials. Inappropriate use of terms such as "relative" had the potential to exclude people eligible to be consulted. Unless the correct terms and legal concepts are used in research projects, there is potential for confusion and for exclusion of people who are eligible to be consulted about involvement of adults who lack capacity. Improved clarity, explicitness and accuracy are needed when submitting and reviewing applications for ethical review of research in this area.

Dietary protein level and experimental aortic atherosclerosis.

White Carneau pigeons were fed diets containing three levels of protein (compensated for by changes in the dextrin level); all other dietary constituents, including cholesterol, were at the same level, and these diets were fed for nine months, when the birds were killed and necropsied. Group A, which was fed the lowest level of dietary protein (10%), which is considerably less than that in Pigeon Chow Checkers, showed a high mortality rate (50%) and the survivors showed a significant loss in body weight. The birds in the other two groups, B and C (20 and 40% protein respectively) showed no significant changes in body weight during the experiment. When the mean serum uric acid values for the last four blood sampling periods, at two months intervals, in the last seven months of the experiment were compared with the values for A, only Group C showed a significant increase. There was no significant difference in serum total cholesterol concentrations, when compared in the same way. There were no significant changes in either the aorta atherosclerosis indices or the mean aorta cholesterol concentrations, determined after necropsy. If one compares the serum total cholesterol concentration for the groups of pigeons, of the blood samples drawn the day before they were killed, there were significant increases observed for Groups B and C. This work does not support the suggestion previously made that the dietary protein cholesterol interact in determining the concentration of aorta cholesterol and the atherosclerosis index in this breed of pigeon.

A novel model of bacterially-induced acute anterior uveitis in rats and the lack of effect from HLA-B27 expression.

BACKGROUND: Humans with the major histocompatibility antigen B27 (HLA-B27) are especially at risk for developing rheumatic disorders such as ankylosing spondylitis and Reiter's syndrome. Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) often occurs in association with these diseases or in HLA B27 positive individuals without joint disease. METHODS: We induced acute anterior uveitis in Lewis rats by a standard model, the intraperitoneal injection of 200 micrograms of Escherichia coli endotoxin. We also developed a novel model of uveitis secondary to gram-negative infection. RESULTS: Transgenic rats that expressed a low copy number of the B27 gene did not differ statistically from litter mate controls in the intensity of anterior uveitis as judged by histology, enumeration of cells in aqueous humor, protein in aqueous humor, or slit lamp examination. The majority of rats exposed to live Salmonella enteritidis or Yersinia enterocolitica 0:3 using either an oral or intravenous route of infection developed anterior uveitis. In contrast to the disease induced by endotoxin that is most intense 24 hours after the endotoxin challenge, uveitis induced by live bacteria usually began 7 to 9 days after exposure to bacterial products, was more often unilateral, persisted for as long as 3 weeks, and was sometimes recurrent. The expression of HLA-B27 did not appear to influence the incidence or severity of uveitis in B27+ low copy heterozygous animals. CONCLUSION: This rat model of AAU should facilitate evaluation of bacterial antigenic component(s) involved in the pathogenesis of live gram-negative bacteria induced AAU.

Intravitreally injected platelet activating factor induces retinitis in experimental animals.

PURPOSE: Platelet activating factor is a lipid which has been strongly implicated in anterior uveitis. In order to investigate further the role of platelet activating factor in intraocular inflammation, we have characterized the histological changes associated with the intravitreal injection of platelet activating factor, PAF analogs, or lyso-PAF in laboratory rabbits and rats. METHODS: Initial studies utilized a PAF analog (rac 1-0-octadecyl 2-0-ethyl glycero phosphoryl choline or ethoxy PAF), because this compound is relatively resistant to degradation by hydrolase, the major degradative enzyme for PAF. Doses ranging from 1 ug to 5 mg and time points from 6 hours to 7 days after injection were studied. RESULTS: In either rats or rabbits, 100 ug of ethoxy PAF consistently induced a marked uveitis with the predominance of inflammation focused in the retina and choroid. Retinitis was also induced in rabbits by either 1 mg PAF injected intravitreally or a similar dose of the PAF precursor/metabolite, lyso PAF. Retinal inflammation was not induced by an inactive lipid, 1,1-0,0-dihexadecyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine, although this compound resulted in mild vitreous inflammation. The histological changes induced by PAF could be readily distinguished from the predominantly anterior inflammation induced by intravitreal injections of substances such an interleukin-1 or endotoxin. CONCLUSIONS: Recent studies indicating that PAF antagonists inhibit a variety of retinal toxicities and our own observations suggest that PAF could be a major mediator of retinal inflammation.

Differential effects of social skills training for two levels of Machiavellianism.

The personality trait Machiavellianism is related to social interaction. Its clinical relevance was studied with reference to the outcome of multi-model social skills training for women. The null hypothesis received general support but the significant differences which did emerge favoured High Machs in terms of self-reported assertiveness and anxiety.

What do research ethics committees say about applications to conduct research involving children?

OBJECTIVE: To identify issues raised by research ethics committees (RECs) in letters about applications to conduct research involving children. METHODS: Analysis of 80 provisional and unfavourable opinion decision letters written by RECs in response to applications to conduct research involving child participants. RESULTS: RECs were most likely to be concerned about issues relating to consent, recruitment, care and protection of participants, scientific design and confidentiality. RECs focused on children's status as "vulnerable". They sought to ensure that children would be protected, that appropriate written language would be used to communicate with children and that an appropriate person would give consent for children to participate. IMPLICATIONS: Researchers should be attentive to issues of potential vulnerability when preparing applications. REC letters may be improved by giving clear and explicit reasons for their opinions.

Research involving storage and use of human tissue: how did the Human Tissue Act 2004 affect decisions by research ethics committees?

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the types of issues research ethics committees (RECs) raise in their letters about research involving the storage and use of human tissue. AIMS: To classify the issues that appear to trouble RECs and to identify how the implementation of the Human Tissue (HT) Act in September 2006 might have affected REC decisions. METHODS: 100 letters relating to applications about research use of human tissue were randomly selected from the National Research Ethics Service database, of which half were issued before the implementation of the HT Act and half post-implementation. Ethical issues raised by RECs were classified with a coding scheme developed using ethnographic content analysis. RESULTS: Many letters raised issues about informed consent, including specific concerns about the information to be provided to participants about the taking, using and storing of their tissue samples. However, RECs appeared to be less likely to raise concerns about informed consent to use or store tissue after the HT Act, and there was some evidence that RECs were more comfortable allowing archived tissue samples to be used without additional patient consent after the HT Act than before. CONCLUSIONS: In the wake of the HT Act, RECs do not appear to be more cautious about approving research to use or store tissue without consent when responding to applications for ethical approval. The HT Act has provided clarity and authority to RECs and may indeed facilitate the process of gaining ethical approval for tissue-based research.

An analysis of decision letters by research ethics committees: the ethics/scientific quality boundary examined.

OBJECTIVES: The performance of NHS research ethics committees (RECs) is of growing interest. It has been proposed that they confine themselves to "ethical" issues only and not concern themselves with the quality of the science. This study aimed to identify current practices of RECs in relation to scientific issues in research ethics applications. METHODS: Letters written by UK RECs expressing provisional or unfavourable opinions in response to submitted research applications were sampled from the research ethics database held by the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees. Ethnographic content analysis (ECA) was used to develop a coding framework. QSR N6 software was used to facilitate coding. RESULTS: "Scientific issues" were raised in 104 (74%) of the 141 letters in our sample. The present data suggest that RECs frequently considered scientific issues and that judgments of these often informed their decisions about approval of applications. Current processes of peer review seemed insufficient to reassure RECs about the scientific quality of applications they were asked to review. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that scientific issues are frequently raised in letters to researchers and are often considered a quality problem by RECs. In the discussion, the authors reflect on how far issues of science can and should be distinguished from those of ethics and the policy implications.

Consistency in decision making by research ethics committees: a controlled comparison.

There has been longstanding interest in the consistency of decisions made by research ethics committees (RECs) in the UK, but most of the evidence has come from single studies submitted to multiple committees. A systematic comparison was carried out of the decisions made on 18 purposively selected applications, each of which was reviewed independently by three different RECs in a single strategic health authority. Decisions on 11 applications were consistent, but disparities were found among RECs on decisions on seven applications. An analysis of the agreement between decisions of RECs yielded an overall measure of agreement of kappa = 0.286 (95% confidence interval -0.06 to 0.73), indicating a level of agreement that, although probably better than chance, may be described as "slight". The small sample size limits the robustness of these findings. Further research on reasons for inconsistencies in decision making between RECs, and on the importance of such inconsistencies for a range of arguments, is needed.

Paradoxical effects of IL-10 in endotoxin-induced uveitis.

Uveitis, or intraocular inflammation, can be provoked in laboratory rodents by the local or systemic injection of bacterial endotoxin. Many of the inflammatory effects of endotoxin are potentially due to the induction of cytokine synthesis. IL-10 is a cytokine that potently inhibits the synthesis of many cytokines, including IL-1 and TNF-alpha. We have assessed the ability of IL-10 to inhibit endotoxin-induced uveitis in rabbits and mice. The intravitreal injection of 1 micrograms of human recombinant IL-10 was extremely effective in rabbits in reducing the inflammation produced by the intravitreal injection of 250 ng of Escherichia coli endotoxin, as judged by the reduced accumulation of cells and protein in the aqueous humor. Locally injected IL-10 was similarly effective in blocking the ocular inflammatory effects of intravitreally injected endotoxin in a mouse model. If the injection of IL-10 was delayed subsequent to the endotoxin injection, the reduced inflammatory effects in the rabbit model were diminished. In contrast to its ability to inhibit the local inflammatory effect of endotoxin in the eye, IL-10 did not reduce the inflammation induced by a local ocular injection of 400 U of human recombinant IL-alpha. Paradoxically, in a mouse model of uveitis subsequent to intraperitoneally injected endotoxin, the simultaneous injection of 1 micrograms of IL-10 and endotoxin potentiated the ocular inflammation, as judged by the number of leukocytes seen in histologic sections. This effect was dose dependent, since eye inflammation was markedly inhibited by 100 micrograms of IL-10 injected i.p. These observations are compatible with the hypothesis that locally injected IL-10 acts by reducing cytokine synthesis in these uveitis models. Intraperitoneally injected IL-10 can either inhibit or suppress endotoxin-induced eye inflammation in a dose-dependent manner.

Hospital employees and skin problems.

A total of 1481 hospital employees answered a questionnaire on atopy, hand eczema, and dry chapped hands. Out of 864 (58.7%) responders, 17% claimed to suffer from hand eczema. There was not significantly more hand eczema among women (17.6%) than men (15.7%). Atopic disposition was present in 17.5% of responders, of whom a significantly higher number (36.4%) claimed to have hand eczema. Dry chapped hands seemed to be a problem in 33.1%, mainly among nurses, assistant nurses and laboratory assistants. Technicians and X-ray assistants (38%) and kitchen workers (35.7%) claimed to suffer significantly more from hand eczema than others. Their working conditions were inspected. Following examination by a dermatologist, irritant contact eczema was diagnosed in 11 of 17, and occupational eczema in 3. None of the janitors or technical workers (all men) had hand eczema.

Immunolocalization of basic fibroblast growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor-A during adjuvant arthritis in the Lewis rat.

A prerequisite in defining the role of a growth factor in a disease is knowledge of its expression kinetics during the natural course of the disease. We, therefore, used immunohistochemical and immunoblot analyses to examine tissue distribution of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-A) during the development of destructive arthropathy in the rat adjuvant arthritis model. In normal joints, bFGF was primarily localized in endothelial cells. In inflamed joints, increased staining for bFGF was found in the invading panni, hyperplastic synovium, and thickened periosteum where bFGF was also co-localized with two cell proliferation markers. Staining for bFGF began to increase at the onset of arthritis (days 11 to 13), reached peak level on days 17 to 24, and gradually declined afterward. In contrast, PDGF-A staining did not change until day 17 and the increased staining was restricted to areas of newly formed bone. The district temporal and spatial distribution pattern of these two growth factors during the destructive arthropathy strongly suggests that they play different roles during arthritis. Although PDGF-A seems to be exclusively related to osteogenesis, bFGF may have a more extensive impact on synovial proliferation and bone destruction as well as bone formation.