Cost-effectiveness of noninvasive liver fibrosis tests for treatment decisions in patients with chronic hepatitis C

The cost-effectiveness of noninvasive tests (NITs) as alternatives to liver biopsy is unknown. We compared the cost-effectiveness of using NITs to inform treatment decisions in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of various NITs using a bivariate random-effects model. We constructed a probabilistic decision analytical model to estimate health care costs and outcomes (quality-adjusted life-years; QALYs) using data from the meta-analysis, literature, and national UK data. We compared the cost-effectiveness of four treatment strategies: testing with NITs and treating patients with fibrosis stage ≥F2; testing with liver biopsy and treating patients with ≥F2; treat none; and treat all irrespective of fibrosis. We compared all NITs and tested the cost-effectiveness using current triple therapy with boceprevir or telaprevir, but also modeled new, more-potent antivirals. Treating all patients without any previous NIT was the most effective strategy and had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £9,204 per additional QALY gained. The exploratory analysis of currently licensed sofosbuvir treatment regimens found that treat all was cost-effective, compared to using an NIT to decide on treatment, with an ICER of £16,028 per QALY gained. The exploratory analysis to assess the possible effect on results of new treatments, found that if SVR rates increased to >90% for genotypes 1-4, the incremental treatment cost threshold for the "treat all" strategy to remain the most cost-effective strategy would be £37,500. Above this threshold, the most cost-effective option would be noninvasive testing with magnetic resonance elastography (ICER=£9,189). Conclusions: Treating all adult patients with CHC, irrespective of fibrosis stage, is the most cost-effective strategy with currently available drugs in developed countries. © 2014 The Authors

Correlation of ISO 16840-2:2007 impact damping and hysteresis measures for a sample of wheelchair seating cushions

Hysteresis and impact damping measures were made on 37 wheelchair seating cushions according to ISO 16840-2:2007 Wheelchair seating—Part 2: Determination of physical and mechanical characteristics of devices intended to manage tissue integrity—seat cushions. These measures were then correlated using Spearman and Pearson correlations to investigate the relationship between them. Correlations were also conducted on the subset of cushions comprising only those with planar foam construction. Correlation between the hysteresis measures (h250 and h500) and the mean number of rebounds greater in amplitude than 10% of the peak acceleration amplitude (R10%) were weak, as were the correlations between the hysteresis measures and the mean peak first rebound acceleration (aa). Correlations between hysteresis and the mean peak second rebound acceleration (a2), and also hysteresis and the ratio of first and second peak (a2:aa) however were moderate. Results demonstrate that the relationship between these two measures is complex. The assertion implicit in ISO 16840-2:2007 is that the two measures are related, but this study shows that these should not be assumed to be equivalent or used interchangeably

A Protocol for an economic evaluation of a polypill in patients with established or at high risk of cardiovascular disease in a UK NHS setting: RUPEE (NHS) study

Copyright © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. Introduction: The ‘Use of a Multi-drug Pill in Reducing cardiovascular Events’ (UMPIRE) trial was a randomised controlled clinical trial evaluating the impact of a polypill strategy on adherence to indicated medication in a population with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) of or at high risk thereof. The aim of Researching the UMPIRE Processes for Economic Evaluation in the National Health Service (RUPEE NHS) is to estimate the potential health economic impact of a polypill strategy for CVD prevention within the NHS using UMPIRE trial and other relevant data. This paper describes the design of a modelled economic evaluation of the impact of increased adherence to the polypill versus usual care among the UK UMPIRE participants. Methods and analysis: As recommended by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research and the Society for Medical Decision Making modelling guidelines, a review of published CVD models was undertaken to identify the most appropriate modelling approach and structure. The review was carried out in the electronic databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE. 40 CVD models were identified from 57 studies, the majority of economic models were health state transition cohort models and individual-level simulation models. The findings were discussed with clinical experts to confirm the approach and structure. An individual simulation approach was identified as the most suitable method to capture the heterogeneity in the population at CVD risk. RUPEE-NHS will use UMPIRE trial data on adherence to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness of the polypill strategy. Dissemination: The evaluation findings will be presented in open-access scientific and healthcare policy journals and at national and international conferences. We will also present findings to NHS policy makers and pharmaceutical companies

A protocol for an economic evaluation of a polypill in patients with established or at high risk of cardiovascular disease in a UK NHS setting: RUPEE (NHS) study.

INTRODUCTION: The 'Use of a Multi-drug Pill in Reducing cardiovascular Events' (UMPIRE) trial was a randomised controlled clinical trial evaluating the impact of a polypill strategy on adherence to indicated medication in a population with established cardiovascular disease (CVD) of or at high risk thereof. The aim of Researching the UMPIRE Processes for Economic Evaluation in the National Health Service (RUPEE NHS) is to estimate the potential health economic impact of a polypill strategy for CVD prevention within the NHS using UMPIRE trial and other relevant data. This paper describes the design of a modelled economic evaluation of the impact of increased adherence to the polypill versus usual care among the UK UMPIRE participants. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: As recommended by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research and the Society for Medical Decision Making modelling guidelines, a review of published CVD models was undertaken to identify the most appropriate modelling approach and structure. The review was carried out in the electronic databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE. 40 CVD models were identified from 57 studies, the majority of economic models were health state transition cohort models and individual-level simulation models. The findings were discussed with clinical experts to confirm the approach and structure. An individual simulation approach was identified as the most suitable method to capture the heterogeneity in the population at CVD risk. RUPEE-NHS will use UMPIRE trial data on adherence to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness of the polypill strategy. DISSEMINATION: The evaluation findings will be presented in open-access scientific and healthcare policy journals and at national and international conferences. We will also present findings to NHS policy makers and pharmaceutical companies

Late Cretaceous ammonoids show that drivers of diversification are regionally heterogeneous

Palaeontologists have long sought to explain the diversification of individual clades to whole biotas at global scales. Advances in our understanding of the spatial distribution of the fossil record through geological time, however, has demonstrated that global trends in biodiversity were a mosaic of regionally heterogeneous diversification processes. Drivers of diversification must presumably have also displayed regional variation to produce the spatial disparities observed in past taxonomic richness. Here, we analyse the fossil record of ammonoids, pelagic shelled cephalopods, through the Late Cretaceous, characterised by some palaeontologists as an interval of biotic decline prior to their total extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. We regionally subdivide this record to eliminate the impacts of spatial sampling biases and infer regional origination and extinction rates corrected for temporal sampling biases using Bayesian methods. We then model these rates using biotic and abiotic drivers commonly inferred to influence diversification. Ammonoid diversification dynamics and responses to this common set of diversity drivers were regionally heterogeneous, do not support ecological decline, and demonstrate that their global diversification signal is influenced by spatial disparities in sampling effort. These results call into question the feasibility of seeking drivers of diversity at global scales in the fossil record

Primordial germ cell DNA demethylation and development require DNA translesion synthesis

Mutations in DNA damage response (DDR) factors are associated with human infertility, which affects up to 15% of the population. The DDR is required during germ cell development and meiosis. One pathway implicated in human fertility is DNA translesion synthesis (TLS), which allows replication impediments to be bypassed. We find that TLS is essential for premeiotic germ cell development in the embryo. Loss of the central TLS component, REV1,significantly inhibits the induction of human PGC-like cells (hPGCLCs). This is recapitulated in mice, where deficiencies in TLS initiation (Rev1-/- or PcnaK164R/K164R) or extension (Rev7-/-) result in a &gt;150-fold reduction in the number of primordial germ cells (PGCs) and complete sterility. In contrast, the absence of TLS does not impact the growth, function, or homeostasis of somatic tissues. Surprisingly, we find a complete failure in both activation of the germ cell transcriptional program and in DNA demethylation, a critical step in germline epigenetic reprogramming. Our findings show that for normal fertility, DNA repair is required not only for meiotic recombination but for progression through the earliest stages of germ cell development in mammals.<br/

Cost-effectiveness of noninvasive liver fibrosis tests for treatment decisions in patients with chronic hepatitis B in the UK: systematic review and economic evaluation

The copyright line for this article was changed on 18 November 2016 after original online publication. Abbreviations: CEAF cost-effectiveness frontier. CHB chronic hepatitis B. CI confidence intervals. FN false negative. FP false positive. HBV hepatitis B virus. HCC hepatocellular carcinoma. ICER incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. NITs noninvasive tests. QUADAS Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies. QUALYs quality-adjusted-life-years. TN true negative. TP true positive.Copyright © 2015 The Authors. We compared the cost-effectiveness of various noninvasive tests (NITs) in patients with chronic hepatitis B and elevated transaminases and/or viral load who would normally undergo liver biopsy to inform treatment decisions. We searched various databases until April 2012. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to calculate the diagnostic accuracy of various NITs using a bivariate random-effects model. We constructed a probabilistic decision analytical model to estimate health care costs and outcomes quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs) using data from the meta-analysis, literature, and national UK data. We compared the cost-effectiveness of four decision-making strategies: testing with NITs and treating patients with fibrosis stage ≥F2, testing with liver biopsy and treating patients with ≥F2, treat none (watchful waiting) and treat all irrespective of fibrosis. Treating all patients without prior fibrosis assessment had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £28 137 per additional QALY gained for HBeAg-negative patients. For HBeAg-positive patients, using Fibroscan was the most cost-effective option with an ICER of £23 345. The base case results remained robust in the majority of sensitivity analyses, but were sensitive to changes in the ≥F2 prevalence and the benefit of treatment in patients with F0–F1. For HBeAg-negative patients, strategies excluding NITs were the most cost-effective: treating all patients regardless of fibrosis level if the high cost-effectiveness threshold of £30 000 is accepted; watchful waiting if not. For HBeAg-positive patients, using Fibroscan to identify and treat those with ≥F2 was the most cost-effective option.The analysis for Hepatitis B was part of a larger project funded by The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (HTA project 09/114/02) and will be published in full in the Health Technology Assessment journal series. Visit the HTA programme website for more details www.hta.ac.uk/link to project page

Can majority support save an endangered language? A case study of language attitudes in Guernsey

Many studies of minority language revitalisation focus on the attitudes and perceptions of minorities, but not on those of majority group members. This paper discusses the implications of these issues, and presents research into majority andf minority attitudes towards the endangered indigenous vernacular of Guernsey, Channel Islands. The research used a multi-method approach (questionnaire and interview) to obtain attitudinal data from a representative sample of the population that included politicians and civil servants (209 participants). The findings suggested a shift in language ideology away from the post-second world war ‘culture of modernisation’ and monolingual ideal, towards recognition of the value of a bi/trilingual linguistic heritage. Public opinion in Guernsey now seems to support the maintenance of the indigenous language variety, which has led to a degree of official support. The paper then discusses to what extent this ‘attitude shift’ is reflected in linguistic behaviour and in concrete language planning measures