? anyone else getting a request from Enrico~ NEU and national science foundation

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rhiannon and shadow (GA)

rhiannon and shadow (GA)

Member Since 2012
My name is Enrico. I am a Research Assistant at Northeastern University in Boston (ece.neu.edu/wineslab). In the past few years I have been working on a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored research project that is developing a safer technology to wirelessly connect implantable medical devices.

I am currently investigating potential veterinarian applications for our technology. I have talked with some veterinarians and they all agree that diabetes is a big problem for cats and for their owners.

I am trying to learn more about diabetes in cats and about current treatments. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about your experience with diabetes.

I would really appreciate your help.

Thank you,
Enrico

------------------------------
G. Enrico Santagati
Research Assistant
Wireless Network and Embedded System Lab
Northeastern University
ece.neu.edu/wineslab/santagati
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Yeah, I got one. Looks above board to me - I can independently verify the web page and that he belongs to the lab using Google searches.
 
I seem to recall that @BJM got a similar, if not the same, request and requested a copy of the research prospectus. Not sure if a reply was received from the researcher.
 
I also looked him up and have been corresponding with him. He's interested in knowing the kinds of costs and hassles we have in caring for our diabetic cats. Given the lab he works in, I suspect they are thinking about ways to improve home management of diabetic pets - glucose monitoring and/or insulin administration.

There was another researcher who also contacted the board and was collecting data for her dissertation, which is now complete.
 
I don't really track costs, so I looked up the cost of a 100 count box of test strips and a 100 count box of lancets, then did the math to estimate a monthly cost on just tests, plus gave him some data on current insulin prices and how long a given volume would last Gracie (she's up to about 5 units BID, and climbing, possibly resistant to the ProZinc, sigh)
 
Please ask questions. Has the research been vetted by the institutions IRB (Institutional Review Board)? This is the organization within an academic institution that reviews any research proposal involving humans and animals to make sure that ethical guidelines are followed. There should be an IRB number attached to any research. If they can't produce a letter from the IRB documenting the research and the IRB number, it's bogus.
 
It may not be to the point of a formal investigation with IRB, etc., given the kinds of questions he asked.

Questions Asked:
Do you measure your cat's glucose at home?
Do you use human or pet stripes?
What is the monthly cost of the measurements?
What is the overall cost of the diabetes treatment (also including insulin)?
How often do you go to the veterinarian for testing glucose or for doing other tests related to diabetes?
How much does this cost?​
Does your cat have a pet insurance?
if yes, how much it cost?​
What is the biggest pain (for the cat and for the owner) that you see in current diabetes treatment?
What would you wish to do differently?
How much time of your day you devote for making sure your cat is doing fine?
What is the monthly or daily cost of home monitoring?
How many units do you usually inject (in average)? Or in other words, how long a 400 units vial last?
How much is a glucose curve at the vet hospital?

... Of course, some of this he could have asked local veterinarians or looked at prices on the web for costs.
 
He is listed here.

I also pointed him to www.pubmed.gov because I related that at the MidWest Veterinary Conference, mention was made of some continuous monitoring devices for in hospital use which had some issues with becoming disconnected.
 
I got pretty much the same list of questions after I'd checked out that the lab really existed, that he's affiliated to it, that it's really part of the university etc and agreed to answer what I could. Just the last few were different - mine were about how I achieved remission and how long Rosa has been in remission rather than the dosing, which makes sense. I figure he's not looking for any particularly personal information and if something does eventually come out of it that helps our sugar kitties it's got to be worth a few minutes to give a little information.
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
Please ask questions. Has the research been vetted by the institutions IRB (Institutional Review Board)? This is the organization within an academic institution that reviews any research proposal involving humans and animals to make sure that ethical guidelines are followed. There should be an IRB number attached to any research. If they can't produce a letter from the IRB documenting the research and the IRB number, it's bogus.
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I've emailed Robert.
I'm waiting to find out if he's given his approval.
 
rhiannon and shadow said:
i wondered why he picked who he did
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Could even be as straightforward as who's online most days and does a reasonable amount of posting so they'd be likely to see his message.

Quite possibly he didn't ask Robert - that in itself doesn't mean there's anything dodgy about it, but of course he really should have asked before he messaged people.
 
Unfortunately, making a contribution is, by some IRBs, considered coercive. This is why it's not sufficient that someone works in a lab or is a student at even the most respected institution. ANY gathering of data can be considered research and needs to be cleared by the IRB.
 
Hi all,

This is Enrico, the one in the subject of this thread.

I joined the forum some time ago to get some information about current diabetes treatments and to learn more about the pains and limitations of these treatments. After reading a lot on the board, I decided to engage with some users to ask some questions I had.

I first messaged "Robert and Echo" who I assumed is the administration of the website, just to avoid direct spamming on the board. Unfortunately I didn’t receive any response as of today. Few days ago I started sending out a couple of private messages to the most active users and senior members. I didn’t mean to bother anyone, and I am sorry if I did.

I got a couple of responses so far, and I had great interactions with some users. I really appreciate it, and I want to thanks them once more for taking the time to reply to me. As far as my questions are concerned, they are very vague questions (as you can read from the posts above), and mainly related to treatments. I am not collecting data for statistics, or for publishing a paper out of it. I just want to learn about the pet owner experiences with diabetes, and understand what are the biggest pains. I want to understand if there is anything that our research can help with to alleviate those pains.

I hope this post explains why I am here and why I’ve reached out some of you in private. I apologize again if any of you felt upset about my message. If you have any further questions I would be happy to answer them.

Best,
Enrico
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
Unfortunately, making a contribution is, by some IRBs, considered coercive. This is why it's not sufficient that someone works in a lab or is a student at even the most respected institution. ANY gathering of data can be considered research and needs to be cleared by the IRB.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Sienne, I am not familiar with the regulations; thus my comment about a contribution. I mentioned it because I recently participated in a study conducted by the U of C, and was given $30 for time spent being interviewed.
 
Sienne and Gabby said:
Please ask questions. Has the research been vetted by the institutions IRB (Institutional Review Board)? This is the organization within an academic institution that reviews any research proposal involving humans and animals to make sure that ethical guidelines are followed. There should be an IRB number attached to any research. If they can't produce a letter from the IRB documenting the research and the IRB number, it's bogus.
Click to expand...
Sienne and Gabby said:
Unfortunately, making a contribution is, by some IRBs, considered coercive. This is why it's not sufficient that someone works in a lab or is a student at even the most respected institution. ANY gathering of data can be considered research and needs to be cleared by the IRB.
Click to expand...
Sienne, thank you for this information.
 
Costs pretty variable. You can pay a buck a test for the disks in my breeze2 or go to amazon & buy them for 23 cents a piece. Prozinc at a vet will cost you $120 or so. I think I paid $230 for the vial of lantus when I switched over. And from what I could tell (after the fact!) shopping around wouldn't have helped. Lantus ain't cheap.
 
FYI: Mr. Santagati has been asked to start a topic in the Think Tank forum to get input from membership rather than conducting discussions via our private messaging system. If you'd like to offer any input to his inquiries, please watch for a new thread in the Think Tank Forum.
Thank you!
 
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