One year symptom severity and health-related quality of life changes among Black African patients undergoing uterine fibroid embolisation.

BACKGROUND: The main aim in the treatment of symptomatic fibroids by various modalities including uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) is to alleviate symptoms and ultimately improve the quality of life. The efficacy of this modality of treatment in Black African women with significant fibroid burden and large uterine volumes is not clear. The main objective of the study was to examine potential changes in symptom severity among Black African patients 1 year following UFE for symptomatic uterine fibroids in a resource-constrained setting, rated using a validated questionnaire (UFS-QOL). Secondary outcomes examined were changes in quality of life and potential associations with age, parity, uterine volume and fibroid number prior to UFE. Additional interventions after UFE were also recorded. METHODS: A prospective before and after study of Black African patients undergoing UFE was undertaken. Participants underwent pelvic MR imaging prior to UFE and completed the UFS-QOL, a validated condition-specific questionnaire at baseline and at 1 year. Ninety five participants were recruited and data from 80 completing 1 year of follow up were available for analysis of changes in the symptom severity scores. RESULTS: The mean reduction in symptom severity score was 29.6 [95% CI 23.6 to 35.6, P < 0.001] and the mean improvement in HRQOL score was 35.7 [95% CI 28.4 to 42.9, P < 0.001]. A greater number of fibroids identified prior to UFE was associated with a more substantial improvement in symptom severity score (rs = 0.28, n = 80, P = 0.013) and participants of higher parity reported a greater improvement in HRQOL score (r = 0.336, P = 0.002). Major and minor surgical interventions were needed in 5 (6.3%) and 10 (12.5%) participants respectively. CONCLUSIONS: UFE is associated with clinically useful and statistically significant symptom relief in Black African patients. Symptom improvement following UFE is not compromised by a large fibroid burden and the rate of subsequent intervention is within an acceptable range. UFE is a safe alternative and efforts are needed to widen access to this non-surgical treatment modality

The Semantics of Entrepreneurial Learning in New Technology-Based Firms

New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) learn their business in the early-stages of their life-cycle. As a central element of the entrepreneurial learning process, the business model describes the value-creation functions that are conceptualized in different stages of the NTBF’s life-cycle. Transaction relations connect the model with the business reality and ideally mature in strength over time to a functioning value-network. This chapter describes the development of a research design that determines, extracts, and evaluates semantics constructs of this entrepreneurial learning out of a convenient sample and three cohorts of business plans submitted to a business plan award between 2008 and 2010. The analysis shows empirical evidence for the survival and growth of those NTBFs that exhibit a balanced status of entrepreneurial learning in the maturity of the value-network that can be characterized as early startup-stage. The empirical findings of the network theory based business plan analysis will allow for a better explanation of the performance in the entrepreneurial process that is discussed for NTBFs based on theory of organizational learning