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Healthy volunteers (HVs) are essential for phase I trials, yet their recruitment and screening remain resource-intensive and ethically complex. High screening failure (SF) rates highlight the need to evaluate and understand all aspects of the enrolment processes. We analyzed SF patterns in a large German HV cohort and explored participants' motivations, risk perceptions, and expectations regarding trial participation and screening procedure. We retrospectively evaluated screening results from phase I trials (2012-2022) at Heidelberg University Hospital. Additionally, we performed a prospective mixed-methods assessment with semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire evaluating recruitment, informed consent (IC), motivation, and decision making, distributed to experienced volunteers of four trial sites (October 2024-August 2025). Across 30 phase I trials, 900 volunteers were screened with a SF rate of 31.9% (n = 287), mainly due to laboratory abnormalities, medical history of concern, and organizational issues. Results from five semi-structured interviews and the questionnaire survey (n = 196) showed an overall acceptable satisfaction with the IC process, but identified areas of improvement in weighting of topics and risk perception. Although financial compensation was voted as the most important motivation, the decision process is multifactorial and an interplay of compensation, organizational aspects, and expected risks. We identified trial characteristics that are modifiable to facilitate interest in trial participation and provide data-driven recommendations to improve the ethical, efficient, and operational conduct of phase I trials. Furthermore, the results underline the relevance of addressing public perceptions and misconceptions surrounding clinical trials to improve willingness to engage in early-phase research.
Interventions such as teaching and learning infrastructure and capacity-building initiatives have been launched to support Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). However, little is known about whether teacher training has translated into improved CBC performance in public primary schools in the area. The inadequate evidence on this linkage creates uncertainty on the effectiveness of ongoing teacher training efforts. This study therefore sought to examine how teachers’ training influences the performance of CBC in public primary schools in Narok South Sub-County, Kenya. The study tested the null hypothesis (H0)): Teacher training has no significant influence on the performance of CBC in the Public Primary Schools in Narok South Sub County, Kenya. Regarding methodology, pragmatism and descriptive survey research design that used a mixed approach was preferred. The target population included 160 with 9,151 parents, 1616 teachers, and 04 county education officials. Yamane 1967 scientific formula was used to arrive at a teacher and parent sample size of 321 and 383, respectively. The study then employed a simple random sampling technique during data collection using both questionnaire and interview guide. Further, a pilot study was carried out in Narok West Sub-Ciounty. Methods on analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were used. It was found that teachers training had positive correlations with CBC performance (r=0.310, p<0.01). Similar to correlation, regression revealed that teacher training had a positive significant relationship with CBC performance (β = 0.148; sig.= 0.026, p<0.05). The study concludes that teacher training is a critical determinant of the performance of CBC thus it positively influenced curriculum implementation. The study recommends that teachers should participate in ongoing professional development activities such as webinars, seminars, workshops, and peer collaboration to effectively employ teaching training resources, execute competency-based assessments, and adapt to pupils’ requirements.
Poverty has remained a constant topic of scientific discourse since the new Russia emerged. Being deeply politicized and rather abstract when superficially studied, the issue of poverty is often considered exclusively in the context of the internal logic of the country's development. At the same time, while remaining a structural element of the Russian economy, the level of poverty in our country has a certain impact on the logic of global economic development. Based on this, the purpose of this work is to analyze the level of poverty in Russia and its dynamics against the background of Russia's changing position on its indicator in international comparisons. To solve this problem, the author considers a sample of 60 countries where poverty is regarded as an income of less than $6.85 per day and 52 countries where relative poverty statistics are provided – income below 50% of the median. This work covers the period from 2018 to 2023 (from the start of the Unified Plan for Achieving National Development Goals until 2024 and for the future until 2030 (hereinafter referred to as the Unified Plan) until the last year, for which official data from Rosstat are provided). The author considers poverty as a multifaceted socio-economic phenomenon, gives his own definition of poverty, taking into account the official definition of this concept in Russia, as well as changing approaches to its assessment. The article describes the dynamics and features of key poverty indicators established in a Unified Plan, such as poverty levels, incomes, wages, social benefits (including pension payments) and employment. Some data are presented for the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as for the subjects of the Russian Federation and individual industries. The longterm challenges and tasks related to specific indicators of socio-economic development, as well as the limitations of certain program documents, are highlighted.
Classification and ranking of potentially hazardous chemical facilities and contaminated territories are urgent and important tasks in the field of risk management and environmental protection. The presented tasks arise in connection with the need to make decisions on increasing control over hazardous production facilities, as well as optimizing resources and reducing negative environmental impacts, which makes it possible to identify facilities with the greatest potential for danger and strengthen control over them, which contributes to improving the safety of employees, society and the environment. The study aims to substantiate the possibilities of using the method of ranking potentially dangerous chemical and radiation facilities based on literature data to assess their impact on public health and the environment. The scientists have conducted a systematic review of scientific data to substantiate methodological approaches and criteria necessary for ranking potentially dangerous chemical and radiation facilities in order to assess their risk to public health and the environment from bibliographic databases Scopus, MedLine, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, RSCI. The results of the research have made it possible to determine the specifics of accounting for the impact of industrial facilities on the environment and human health applicable to pilot facilities and territories, the possibilities of ranking activities by risk levels are shown, allowing to identify the most critical sectors and processes requiring special attention and regulation. The approaches to creating a unified information and analytical system that takes into account the impact of the environment on health are substantiated, which will make it possible to purposefully develop comprehensive programs for the prevention of morbidity in the population and assess the impact of harmful combined effects of environmental factors on health. The authors have presented criteria for the preliminary ranking of potential carcinogens (total annual emissions, weight coefficient of carcinogenic effect. In the course of their work, the scientists showed the possibilities of ranking activities by risk levels, which make it possible to identify the most critical sectors and processes that require special attention and regulation. They also presented criteria for preliminary ranking of potential carcinogens (the amount of total annual emissions, the weight coefficient of the carcinogenic effect. Ethics. This study did not require the conclusion of an Ethics Committee. Limitations. Given that this study was conducted on the basis of theoretical literature data, three pilot territories are not sufficient for its practical application. In the future, it is planned to expand the number of objects and territories for ranking.
