Years of life that could be saved from prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) causes premature death and loss of life expectancy worldwide. Its primary and secondary prevention can result in a significant number of years of life saved. AIM: To assess how many years of life are lost after HCC diagnosis. METHODS: Data from 5346 patients with first HCC diagnosis were used to estimate lifespan and number of years of life lost after tumour onset, using a semi-parametric extrapolation having as reference an age-, sex- and year-of-onset-matched population derived from national life tables. RESULTS: Between 1986 and 2014, HCC lead to an average of 11.5 years-of-life lost for each patient. The youngest age-quartile group (18-61 years) had the highest number of years-of-life lost, representing approximately 41% of the overall benefit obtainable from prevention. Advancements in HCC management have progressively reduced the number of years-of-life lost from 12.6 years in 1986-1999, to 10.7 in 2000-2006 and 7.4 years in 2007-2014. Currently, an HCC diagnosis when a single tumour <2 cm results in 3.7 years-of-life lost while the diagnosis when a single tumour 65 2 cm or 2/3 nodules still within the Milan criteria, results in 5.0 years-of-life lost, representing the loss of only approximately 5.5% and 7.2%, respectively, of the entire lifespan from birth. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence results in the loss of a considerable number of years-of-life, especially for younger patients. In recent years, the increased possibility of effectively treating this tumour has improved life expectancy, thus reducing years-of-life lost

CSR as a driver of a positive employees influence

The aim of the paper is to analyze the Corporate Social Responsibility\u2018s (CSR) influence on employees considering the fact that employees are primary stakeholders who directly contribute to the success of the company. In the paper we consider how CSR relates to employees and how CSR may represent a special opportunity to influence: employees\u2019 general impression of the company and expectations about how the organization treats its employees. The role of CSR on employees is becoming more present in the business world, one of the reasons being that successful companies should attract and retain the best work force. By creating a good working environment and developing the internal CSR strategies, companies can stimulate productivity and satisfaction among employees. There\u2019s a debate over whether CSR initiatives, that are socially responsible or environmentally friendly, helps make the employees more loyal and productive. Studies involving CSR have not fully explored how organizational social performance impacts individual employee behaviors nor examined the attributes of individuals comprising stakeholder groups such as employees. The objectives of this study are to analyze the implementation of CSR programs and its impact on employees. The main underlying proposition is that organization can influence its employee through his or her own ethical and responsible behavior. The work culture built upon this sense of organization\u2019s voluntary contribution toward a wide number of stakeholders could invite and encourage employee to adopt the same voluntary attitude and behavior to their own fellow employees. Research clearly indicates, with the help of case study methodology, that committing to CSR boosts the morale and commitment of workers in a positive way. This framework explains how employees\u2018 perceptions of CSR trigger attitudes and behavior in the workplace which affect organizational, social and environmental performance

CSR integration into the corporate strategy

The aim of this research paper is to develop a model for the integration of ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the company strategy as a source of competitive advantages. CSR is an organization's obligation to consider the interests of their customers, employees, shareholders, communities and to consider the social and environmental consequences of their business activities. By integrating CSR into the corporate strategy and stakeholder management, organizations can ensure that the increasing of shareholder value doesn\u2019t overshadow the need to behave ethically to their stakeholders. The research is based on the theoretical framework that supports a thesis of beneficial impact of the development and implementation of CSR plan: by planning out CSR as part of a corporate strategy, companies can achieve the ultimate goal of creating both social value and corporate value

Consumer empowerment in the digital economy: availing sustainable purchasing decisions

The advent of the digital economy and, implicitly, of competition in the online marketplace has triggered new challenges in terms of consumer protection approaches. Online, consumer skills are expected to be improved and the level of consumer awareness and engagement increased. These are the baseline prerequisites of the sustainable purchasing decision and, thus, should be considered as pillars of responsible online consumption. Consistent with the novel consumption challenges, the current paper is intended to advance and test a research model integrating five main constructs, namely, competition in the online marketplace, online consumer skills, online consumer awareness, online consumer engagement and sustainable purchasing decision. A total of 318 college students—a representative population of the new Millennials generation—accepted the invitation to participate in a questionnaire-based survey. In order to pertinently analyze the collected data, a structural equation modeling technique based on partial least squares was employed for the assessment of the measurement and the structural model. The findings indicated that the model explained 24.4 percent of the variance of sustainable purchasing decisions, while the highest influence was exerted by the improvement of online consumer skills. This implies that online providers should revisit their products sustainability standards on purpose to preserve a competitive advantage