Handling protest responses in contingent valuation surveys

OBJECTIVES: Protest responses, whereby respondents refuse to state the value they place on the health gain, are commonly encountered in contingent valuation (CV) studies, and they tend to be excluded from analyses. Such an approach will be biased if protesters differ from non-protesters on characteristics that predict their responses. The Heckman selection model has been commonly used to adjust for protesters, but its underlying assumptions may be implausible in this context. We present a multiple imputation (MI) approach to appropriately address protest responses in CV studies, and compare it with the Heckman selection model. METHODS: This study exploits data from the multinational EuroVaQ study, which surveyed respondents' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY). Here, our simulation study assesses the relative performance of MI and Heckman selection models across different realistic settings grounded in the EuroVaQ study, including scenarios with different proportions of missing data and non-response mechanisms. We then illustrate the methods in the EuroVaQ study for estimating mean WTP for a QALY gain. RESULTS: We find that MI provides lower bias and mean squared error compared with the Heckman approach across all considered scenarios. The simulations suggest that the Heckman approach can lead to considerable underestimation or overestimation of mean WTP due to violations in the normality assumption, even after log-transforming the WTP responses. The case study illustrates that protesters are associated with a lower mean WTP for a QALY gain compared with non-protesters, but that the results differ according to method for handling protesters. CONCLUSIONS: MI is an appropriate method for addressing protest responses in CV studies

Conservation laws arising in the study of forward-forward Mean-Field Games

We consider forward-forward Mean Field Game (MFG) models that arise in numerical approximations of stationary MFGs. First, we establish a link between these models and a class of hyperbolic conservation laws as well as certain nonlinear wave equations. Second, we investigate existence and long-time behavior of solutions for such models

Cost-effectiveness of ablation of ventricular tachycardia in ischaemic cardiomyopathy: Limitations in the trial evidence base

Objective: Catheter ablation is an important treatment for ventricular tachycardia (VT) that reduces the frequency of episodes of VT. We sought to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of catheter ablation versus antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy. / Methods: A decision-analytic Markov model was used to calculate the costs and health outcomes of catheter ablation or AAD treatment of VT for a hypothetical cohort of patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. The health states and input parameters of the model were informed by patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQL) data using randomised clinical trial (RCT)-level evidence wherever possible. Costs were calculated from a 2018 UK perspective. / Results: Catheter ablation versus AAD therapy had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £144 150 (€161 448) per quality-adjusted life-year gained, over a 5-year time horizon. This ICER was driven by small differences in patient-reported HRQL between AAD therapy and catheter ablation. However, only three of six RCTs had measured patient-reported HRQL, and when this was done, it was assessed infrequently. Using probabilistic sensitivity analyses, the likelihood of catheter ablation being cost-effective was only 11%, assuming a willingness-to-pay threshold of £30 000 used by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. / Conclusion: Catheter ablation of VT is unlikely to be cost-effective compared with AAD therapy based on the current randomised trial evidence. However, better designed studies incorporating detailed and more frequent quality of life assessments are needed to provide more robust and informed cost-effectiveness analyses

JOÃO ALPHONSUS: O CENTRO & AS MARGENS

Na primeira metade do século XX, o mineiro João Alphonsus (1901-1944) angariou o título de consolidador do conto moderno brasileiro. Em contexto de guerra mundial, de revoluções políticas internas e de movimentação artística, o escritor fez parte do grupo que ansiava por mudanças substantivas tanto na esfera sociopolítica quanto na literária: acreditando que um novo país só poderia ser construído a partir de pensamento e expressão novos, dedicou-se a um lirismo citadino e participou do movimento modernista desenvolvido em Belo Horizonte. No intuito de analisar as escolhas temáticas e formais de Alphonsus, como o emprego metonímico da cidade, extensão de seus habitantes, a maioria afetada pela morte (factual ou metafórica), neste ensaio partimos da leitura crítica de dois contos, “A pesca da baleia” e “Morte burocrática”, publicados no segundo livro, A pesca da baleia (1941)

InfectionCMA: A Cell MicroArray Approach for Efficient Biomarker Screening in In Vitro Infection Assays

The recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has forced the scientific community to acquire knowledge in real-time, when total lockdowns and the interruption of flights severely limited access to reagents as the global pandemic became established. This unique reality made researchers aware of the importance of designing efficient in vitro set-ups to evaluate infectious kinetics. Here, we propose a histology-based method to evaluate infection kinetics grounded in cell microarray (CMA) construction, immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. We demonstrate that the chip-like organization of the InfectionCMA has several advantages, allowing side-by-side comparisons between diverse cell lines, infection time points, and biomarker expression and cytolocalization evaluation in the same slide. In addition, this methodology has the potential to be easily adapted for drug screening. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding text 1: Funding: The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funded this project through the Research4COVID19 projects 109_596696487 and RESEARCH COVID-19 projects Ref. 510. FCT also financed the Ph.D. grant to R.J.P. (SFRH/BD/145217/2019) and M.N. (2020.04720.BD). i3S is supported by FEDER–Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020–Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in the framework of the project ‘Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences’ (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274).; Funding text 2: The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funded this project through the Research4COVID19 projects 109_596696487 and RESEARCH COVID-19 projects Ref. 510. FCT also financed the Ph.D. grant to R.J.P. (SFRH/BD/145217/2019) and M.N. (2020.04720.BD). i3S is supported by FEDER?Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020?Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT/Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia e Inova??o in the framework of the project ?Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences? (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274)

Observations from the IMPROVE trial concerning the clinical care of patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

BACKGROUND: Single-centre series of the management of patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are usually too small to identify clinical factors that could improve patient outcomes. METHODS: IMPROVE is a pragmatic, multicentre randomized clinical trial in which eligible patients with a clinical diagnosis of ruptured aneurysm were allocated to a strategy of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) or to open repair. The influences of time and manner of hospital presentation, fluid volume status, type of anaesthesia, type of endovascular repair and time to aneurysm repair on 30-day mortality were investigated according to a prespecified plan, for the subgroup of patients with a proven diagnosis of ruptured or symptomatic AAA. Adjustment was made for potential confounding factors. RESULTS: Some 558 of 613 randomized patients had a symptomatic or ruptured aneurysm: diagnostic accuracy was 91·0 per cent. Patients randomized outside routine working hours had higher operative mortality (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1·47, 95 per cent confidence interval 1·00 to 2·17). Mortality rates after primary and secondary presentation were similar. Lowest systolic blood pressure was strongly and independently associated with 30-day mortality (51 per cent among those with pressure below 70 mmHg). Patients who received EVAR under local anaesthesia alone had greatly reduced 30-day mortality compared with those who had general anaesthesia (adjusted OR 0·27, 0·10 to 0·70). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the outcome of ruptured AAA might be improved by wider use of local anaesthesia for EVAR and that a minimum blood pressure of 70 mmHg is too low a threshold for permissive hypotension

Advanced tools and techniques to add value to soil stabilization practice

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the advanced tools and techniques used for adding value to the soil stabilization practice. The tools presented involve advanced laboratory tests and modeling using codes and soft computing to evaluate the mechanical behavior of stabilized soils with cement, ranging from short-term to long-term behavior. More precisely, these tools are able to: 1. Predict the mechanical behavior of the stabilized soils over time from data obtained in the early ages saving time in laboratory tests; 2. Predict the mechanical behavior of the stabilized soils over time based on basic parameters of soil type and binder using historical accurate data, avoiding mechanical laboratory tests. 3. Incorporate the serviceability limit state concept in a novel proposal to estimate the design modulus in function of the uniaxial compressive strength and the strain level, making more economic and sustainable geotechnical solutions.This work was supported by FCT—‘‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’’, within ISISE, project UID/ECI/04029/2013 and through the post doctoral Grant fellowship with reference SFRH/BPD/94792/2013. This work was also partly financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme—COMPETE and by national funds through FCT within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007633.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Abcesso Hepático por Streptococcus Anginosus e Eikenella Corrodens, Secundário a Perfuração Gástrica por Espinha de Peixe

Introduction: Foreign-body ingestion is a common event, but in only less than 1% of the cases complications occur. Hepatic abscesses induced by foreign-body penetration are rare. To date, there are only 62 reported cases of hepatic abscess secondary to fish bone perforation of the gastrointestinal tract. Case presentation: A 78-year-old male patient was admitted due to high fever and vomiting for 2 days, along with frequent eructations for the past 3 months. Abdominal ultrasound showed a liver abscess in the left lobe, and computed tomography revealed a hyperdense linear image that crossed the superior wall of the gastric antrum, contacting the liver lesion, suggestive of a foreign body, probably a fish bone. Blood cultures were positive with isolation of Streptococcus anginosus and Eikenella corrodens. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous drainage of the abscess was done, and S. anginosus was isolated in the pus. Surgical debridement and fish bone removal were performed; the patient completed 21 days of antibiotic therapy, with a favorable evolution. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of liver abscess caused by fish bone penetration with isolation of S. anginosus and E. corrodens. Bacterial coaggregation is one of the mechanisms that can explain their ability for causing invasive infections away from the oral cavity, by increasing their resistance to the innate immune system and survival of both species.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The fate of steroid estrogens: Partitioning during wastewater treatment and onto river sediments

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.The partitioning of steroid estrogens in wastewater treatment and receiving waters is likely to influence their discharge to, and persistence in, the environment. This study investigated the partitioning behaviour of steroid estrogens in both laboratory and field studies. Partitioning onto activated sludge from laboratory-scale Husmann units was rapid with equilibrium achieved after 1 h. Sorption isotherms and Kd values decreased in the order 17α-ethinyl estradiol > 17α-estradiol > estrone > estriol without a sorption limit being achieved (1/n >1). Samples from a wastewater treatment works indicated no accumulation of steroid estrogens in solids from primary or secondary biological treatment, however, a range of steroid estrogens were identified in sediment samples from the River Thames. This would indicate that partitioning in the environment may play a role in the long-term fate of estrogens, with an indication that they will be recalcitrant in anaerobic conditions.EPSR