Size Matters: Economies of Scale in European Payment Processing

This paper investigates the existence and extent of economies of scale in the European payment processing industry. It is expected that the creation of a Single European Payments Area (SEPA) will spur consolidations and mergers among European payment processors to more fully realize payment economies of scale. We find evidence for the existence of significant economies of scale using data of eight European payment processors during the years 1990-2005. The analysis also reveals that ownership structure is an important factor to explain cost differences across European ACHs.Payment Scale Economies, SEPA, ACHs, ownership

Concise review: Clinical relevance of drug drug and herb drug interactions mediated by the ABC transporter ABCB1 (MDR1, P-glycoprotein).

Learning Objectives After completing this course, the reader will be able to: Identify important sources of variability in drug exposure caused by drug interactions mediated by P-glycoprotein.Describe how unwanted drug–drug interactions may lead to unexpected serious toxicity or undertreatment.Prevent these interactions by individualizing pharmacotherapy; this means selecting noninteracting drugs or adapting the dose of (the) interacting drug(s). CME Access and take the CME test online and receive 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ at CME.TheOncologist.co

Specific Investigation of Sample Handling Effects on Protease Activities and Absolute Serum Concentrations of Various Putative Peptidome Cancer Biomarkers

# The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Introduction In the search for novel cancer biomarkers, various proteolytically derived peptides have been proposed to exhibit cancer or cancer-type specificity. As these peptides are presumably also generated after sample collection by tumor-specific proteases, extensive investigatio

Максим Рильський у світлі теорії та практики перекладу

У запропонованій статті проаналізовано актуальні проблеми теорії і практики перекладу у світлі завдань сучасного перекладознавства, зокрема, об’єктом аналізу є переклади М. Т. Рильським визначних творів зі світової літературної скарбниці.В данной статье анализируются актуальные проблемы теории и практики перевода в соответствии с задачами современного переводоведения, в частности, объектом анализа выступают переводы М. Т. Рыльским выдающихся произведений мировой литературы.In the offered article the issues of the day of theory and practice of translation are analysed in the light of tasks of modern translation theory in particular as an object of analysis translations of Maksym Rylski come forward prominent works from a world literary treasury

Румунський етнографічний aтлас

In Romania, the crisis of the popular culture and the necessity to preserve its characteristic elements by publishing a Romanian Ethnographic Atlas was realized later. The Romanian ethnographers had the possibility to make major methodological innovation for this type of works, such as the replacement of the explicative texts of the maps with the integral publishing of the ethnographic documents, exactly as they were recorded on the field. These two works – thesaurus which shelter the registered for the XX century ethnographic data will have, when finished, 30 toms: 25 with document of oral history and five with maps and images regarding their territorial distribution.În România criza culturii populare şi necesitatea de a păstra elementele ei caracteristice prin publicarea Atlasului Etnografic Român s-a constatat mai târziu. Etnografii români au avut mai apoi posibilitatea de a folosi inovaţii metodologice majore pentru asemenea gen de lucrări, cum ar fi înlocuirea textelor explicative ale hărţilor cu publicarea integrală a documentelor etnografice în felul în care au fost înregistrare pe teren. Aceste două tipuri de lucrări cu caracter de tezaur care acoperă toate datele etnografice înregistrate în secolul al XX-lea vor avea, cînd se vor încheia, 30 de volume: 25 cu documente de istorie orală şi cinci cu hărţi şi imagini referitoare la distribuţia lor teritorială

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of carboplatin administered in a high-dose combination regimen with thiotepa, cyclophosphamide and peripheral stem cell support.

The aim of this pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic study was to define the relationships of the carboplatin exposure with the toxicity in patients treated with high dose carboplatin (400 mg m-2 day-1), cyclophosphamide (1500 mg m-2 day-1) and thiotepa (120 mg m-2 day-1) for four consecutive days, followed by peripheral stem cell transplantation. Exposure to carboplatin was studied in 200 treatment days by measuring the area under the carboplatin plasma ultrafiltrate (pUF) concentration vs time curve (AUC). The AUC was obtained by using a previously validated limited sampling model. A total of 31 patients was studied who received one, two or three courses of this high-dose chemotherapy regimen. The unbound, plasma ultrafiltrate carboplatin was almost completely cleared from the body before each next treatment day in a course; the day-to-day AUC variation was 3.3%. The mean cumulative AUC over 4 days was 19.6 (range 14.1-27.2) mg ml-1 min-1. In 97 treatment days the carboplatin dose was calculated using the Calvert formula with the creatinine clearance as the measure for the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). For these courses, the inter-patient variability in pharmacokinetics was significantly reduced from 21% to 15% (P = 0.007) in comparison with the schemes where it was given as a fixed dose of 400 mg m-2. There were no relationships found between toxicity and the AUC of carboplatin, which may be due to the influence of overlapping toxicities of cyclophosphamide and thiotepa. However, the ototoxicity was strongly related to the cumulative carboplatin AUC. This toxicity was dose limiting for carboplatin in this schedule. It appeared that the carboplatin pharmacokinetics in these regimens were similar to those reported at conventional dosages. To reduce the inter-patient variation, the carboplatin dose can be calculated using the Calvert-formula with the creatinine clearance as the measure for the GFR

Two-stage model-based design of cancer phase I dose escalation trials: evaluation using the phase I program of barasertib (AZD1152)

Introduction Modeling and simulation of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics has previously been shown to be potentially useful in designing Phase I programs of novel anti-cancer agents that show hematological toxicity. In this analysis, a two-stage model-based trial design was evaluated retrospectively using data from the Phase I program with the aurora kinase inhibitor barasertib. Methods Data from two Phase I trials and four regimens were used (n = 79). Using barasertib-hydroxy QPA plasma concentrations and neutrophil count data from only study 1A, a PKPD model was developed and subsequently used to predict the MTD and a safe starting dose for the other trials. Results The PKPD model based on data from the first study adequately described the time course of neutrophil count fluctuation. The two-stage model-based design provided safe starting doses for subsequent phase I trials for barasertib. Predicted safe starting dose levels were higher than those used in two subsequent trials, but lower than used in the other trial. Discussion The two-stage approach could have been applied safely to define starting doses for alternative dosing strategies with barasertib. The limited improvement in efficiency for the phase I program of barasertib may have been due to the fact that starting doses for the studied phase I trials were already nearly optimal. Conclusion Application of the two-stage model-based trial design in Phase I programs with novel anti-cancer drugs that cause haematological toxicity is feasible, safe, and may lead to a reduction in the number of patient treated at sub-therapeutic dose-levels