User-Centric Approach to Specifying Technical Attributes of Drug Delivery Devices: Empirical Study of Autoinjector-Cap Removal Forces.

Purpose: The subcutaneous delivery of biologics using pre-filled autoinjector devices continues to attract broad scholarly interests. However, research still lacks a detailed understanding of user perceptions as the basis for specifying the clinically relevant technical attributes of a device, such as the cap-removal force. Therefore, this article studies the ability of users to remove the autoinjector cap, as well as the effects of the cap-removal force and user characteristics on the perceived ease of decapping.

Hold the device against the skin: the impact of injection duration on user's force for handheld autoinjectors.

: The recent development of high-volume subcutaneous drug delivery using handheld autoinjectors has resulted in longer injection durations. However, the usability of long injections has been neglected. This study aimed to investigate the effects of injection duration on users' ability to apply injections while holding the device against the skin at the injection site.

How to prevent medication errors: a multidimensional scaling study to investigate the distinguishability between self-injection platform device variants.

: The importance of subcutaneous drug delivery using self-injection devices based on common device platforms continues to grow. The resulting broad adoption of potentially look-alike or similar devices, however, raises concerns over limited device distinguishability and ensuing risk of medication errors. The objective of the study is thus to understand whether and how users effectively distinguish between self-injection device variants.

Usability of a new disposable autoinjector platform device: results of a formative study conducted with a broad user population.

This article presents a late-stage formative usability study of an autoinjector platform device. Such devices are used for the subcutaneous delivery of biopharmaceuticals, primarily for self-administration by the patient. Previous usability work on autoinjectors reported in the literature has been specific to single indications.

Usability of devices for self-injection: results of a formative study on a new disposable pen injector.

This article presents a late-stage formative usability study of a pen-injector platform device. Such devices are used for the subcutaneous delivery of biopharmaceuticals, primarily for self-administration by the patient. The study was conducted with a broad user population, defined to represent user characteristics across a range of indications.

The myofibrillar protein, projectin, is highly conserved across insect evolution except for its PEVK domain.

All striated muscles respond to stretch by a delayed increase in tension. This physiological response, known as stretch activation, is, however, predominantly found in vertebrate cardiac muscle and insect asynchronous flight muscles. Stretch activation relies on an elastic third filament system composed of giant proteins known as titin in vertebrates or kettin and projectin in insects.