Technology assessment review
A systematic assessment of an intervention (or group of interventions), usually undertaken for policy customers such as NICE.
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The MRC/NIHR National Phenome Centre
The Medical Research Council (MRC)/NIHR National Phenome Centre enables scientists to better understand and tackle diseases that are triggered by environmental as well as genetic causes, and to develop strategies for their prevention and treatment. It uses nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry technology to give the most accurate readings to date of the exact chemical make-up of people’s blood and urine.
Themed call
A call for proposals in a particular area of medicine or health (e.g. obesity, dementia).
Topic identification
Activities carried out to identify suitable topics for research. These activities provide a way for individuals and groups to propose areas where good evidence is lacking or unanswered questions exist.
Toxicity
The degree to which a medicine is poisonous. How much of a medicine can be taken before it has a toxic effect.
Transitional arrangements
Arrangements such as ‘transitional agreements’, which are contracts which gradually shift the basis of payments from an institution to a publisher from subscription-based reading to OA publishing services in a controlled manner.
TRCs
Translational Research Collaborations (TRCs) bring together world-class health researchers within designated BRCs to effectively pull discoveries from the country’s world-leading basic and translational research into real benefits for patients, share their considerable resources and world-leading expertise to improve treatment and care, and to maximise the impact of NIHR investment. The collaborations also play an important role in collaborating with the life sciences industry.
Treatment
The process of intervening with the aim of enhancing health or life expectancy. Sometimes, and particularly in statistical texts, the word is used to cover all comparison groups, including placebo and no treatment arms of a controlled trial and even interventions designed to prevent bad outcomes in healthy people, rather than cure ill people.
Trialist
Used to refer to a person conducting or publishing a controlled trial.
TSC
The role of the Trial Steering Committee (TSC) is to provide the overall supervision of the trial. Ideally, the TSC should include members who are independent of the investigators, their employing organisations, funders and sponsors. The TSC should monitor trial progress and conduct and advise on scientific credibility. The TSC will consider and act, as appropriate, upon the recommendations of the Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) or equivalent and ultimately carries the responsibility for deciding whether a trial needs to be stopped on grounds of safety or efficacy.