Pregabalin versus gabapentin nel trattamento dei pazienti con neuropatia periferica: adattamento di un modello internazionale per la valutazione di costo/efficacia e costo/utilità alla realtà nazionale

OBJECTIVE: To compare the economic impact of treating neuropathic pain with pregabalin versus gabapentin. DESIGN: A cost effectiveness analysis comparing costs and effects of pregabalin 375 mg/die versus gabapentin 1800 mg/die in the perspective of the Italian National Healthcare Service was developed. The cost effectiveness analysis is examined alternatively in terms of the incremental cost per additional day with no or mild pain, and the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. Effects were derived from a pregabalin randomised clinical study 1008-155 and gabapentin 645-210 and 945-211 studies. Effects are expressed as reduction score of the VAS pain scale. Pharmacological costs were quantified according to the Italian market price of the drugs; healthcare procedure and hospitalisation costs were quantified on the basis of the National Tariff. Other healthcare services consumption data were derived from a Delphi Panel. To estimate the impact of pregabalin and gabapentin on daily pain experience in patients with neuropatic pain a Markov model is used. The dynamic simulation focuses on a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients and simulates their daily pain experience over 12 weeks, to estimate clinical and economic outcomes for the group as a whole. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES AND RESULTS: The cost-effectiveness ratio for the use of pregabalin is less than 1 euro per additional day with no or mild pain and 468 euros per QALY. The sensitivity analysis conducted to examine the effects of decreasing gabapentin dose to 1200 mg/die showes the consistency of the model results. CONCLUSIONS AND RESULTS: Although pregabalin pure costs are higher than gabapentin costs, the analyses prove pregabalin to be more effective with a small additional cost per day with no or mild pain

Alignment procedure for detector integration and characterization of the CaSSIS instrument onboard the TGO mission

The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is a high-resolution camera for the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission launched in March 2016. CaSSIS is capable of acquiring color stereo images of features on the surface of Mars to better understand the processes related to trace gas emission. The optical configuration of CaSSIS is based on a three-mirror anastigmatic off-axis imager with a relay mirror; to attain telecentric features and to maintain compact the design, the relay mirror has power. The University of Bern had the task of detector integration and characterization of CaSSIS focal plane. An OGSE (Optical Ground Support Equipment) characterization facility was set up for this purpose. A pinhole, imaged through an off-axis paraboloidal mirror, is used to produce a collimated beam. In this work, the procedures to align the OGSE and to link together the positions of each optical element will be presented. A global Reference System (RS) has been defined using an optical cube placed on the optical bench (OB) and linked to gravity through its X component; this global RS is used to correlate the alignment of the optical components. The main steps to characterize the position of the object to that of the CaSSIS focal plane have been repeated to guide and to verify the operations performed during the alignment procedures. A calculation system has been designed to work on the optical setup and on the detector simultaneously, and to compute online the new position of the focus plane with respect to the detector. Final results will be shown and discussed. <P /

First light of Cassis: the stereo surface imaging system onboard the exomars TGO

The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) camera was launched on 14 March 2016 onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and it is currently in cruise to Mars. The CaSSIS high resolution optical system is based on a TMA telescope (Three Mirrors Anastigmatic configuration) with a 4th powered folding mirror compacting the CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) structure. The camera EPD (Entrance Pupil Diameter) is 135 mm and the focal length is 880 mm, giving an F# 6.5 system; the wavelength range covered by the instrument is 400-1100 nm. The optical system is designed to have distortion of less than 2%, and a worst case Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) of 0.3 at the detector Nyquist spatial frequency (i.e. 50 lp/mm). The Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), including the detector, is a spare from the Simbio-Sys instrument of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Simbio-Sys will fly on ESA’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury in 2018. The detector, developed by Raytheon Vision Systems, is a 2k×2k hybrid Si-PIN array with 10 μm-pixel pitch. The detector allows snap shot operation at a read-out rate of 5 Mpx/s with 14-bit resolution. CaSSIS will operate in a push-frame mode with a Filter Strip Assembly (FSA), placed directly above the detector sensitive area, selecting 4 colour bands. The scale at a slant angle of 4.6 m/px from the nominal orbit is foreseen to produce frames of 9.4 km × 6.3 km on the Martian surface, and covering a Field of View (FoV) of 1.33° cross track × 0.88° along track. The University of Bern was in charge of the full instrument integration as well as the characterisation of the focal plane of CaSSIS. The paper will present an overview of CaSSIS and the optical performance of the telescope and the FPA. The preliminary results of the on-ground calibration campaign and the first light obtained during the commissioning and pointing campaign (April 2016) will be described in detail. The instrument is acquiring images with an average Point Spread Function at Full-Width-Half-Maximum (PSF FWHM) of < 1.5 px, as expected

The CaSSIS imaging system: optical performance overview

The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) is the high-resolution scientific imager on board the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) which was launched on 14th March 2016 to Mars. CaSSIS will observe the Martian surface from an altitude of 400 km with an optical system based on a modified TMA telescope (Three Mirrors Anastigmatic configuration) with a 4th powered folding mirror. The camera EPD (Entrance Pupil Diameter) is 135 mm, and the expected focal length is 880 mm, giving an F# 6.5 in the wavelength range of 400- 1100 nm with a distortion designed to be less than 2%. CaSSIS will operate in a “push-frame” mode with a monolithic Filter Strip Assembly (FSA) produced by Optics Balzers Jena GmbH selecting 4 colour bands and integrated on the focal plane by Leonardo-Finmeccanica SpA (under TAS-I responsibility). The detector is a spare of the Simbio-Sys detector of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), developed by Raytheon Vision Systems. It is a 2kx2k hybrid Si-PIN array with a 10 μm pixel pitch. A scale of 4.6 m/px from the nominal orbit is foreseen to produce frames of 9.4 km × 47 km on the Martian surface. The University of Bern was in charge of the full instrument integration as well as the characterization of the focal plane and calibration of the entire instrument. The paper will present an overview of the CaSSIS telescope and FPA optical performance. The preliminary results of on-ground calibration and the first commissioning campaign (April 2016) will be described

On-Ground Performance and Calibration of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter CaSSIS Imager

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) seeks to investigate the biological or geological origin of trace gases found on Mars. The TGO carries a payload of four instruments in order to reach its scientific goals, including the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS). CaSSIS is a colour and stereo telescopic camera that will be capable of taking high-resolution images of the martian surface. Before shipment of the instrument for integration onto the TGO, a detailed calibration campaign was performed, and a number of calibration products were gathered and utilised as part of the in-flight calibration campaign. This paper presents the results of on-ground calibration measurements carried out in order to assess the pre-flight performance of CaSSIS. All indications are that CaSSIS will perform very well on arrival at Mars and will be successful in reaching its scientific objectives

The ARIEL payload: A technical overview

The Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, ARIEL, has been selected to be the next (M4) medium class space mission in the ESA Cosmic Vision programme. From launch in 2028, and during the following 4 years of operation, ARIEL will perform precise spectroscopy of the atmospheres of ~1000 known transiting exoplanets using its metre-class telescope. A three-band photometer and three spectrometers cover the 0.5 µm to 7.8 µm region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This paper gives an overview of the mission payload, including the telescope assembly, the FGS (Fine Guidance System) - which provides both pointing information to the spacecraft and scientific photometry and low-resolution spectrometer data, the ARIEL InfraRed Spectrometer (AIRS), and other payload infrastructure such as the warm electronics, structures and cryogenic cooling systems