Present-Biased Individuals, Optimal Paternalism, and Transfers in Kind

Present-biased preferences cause distortions in consumption that can motivate the use of paternalistic in-kind transfers. Empirically, goods are consumed to different degrees when consumption outlay changes. Economists distinguish between necessary goods and luxury goods. A present-biased individual has an intertemporal distortion of consumption toward the present, which in turn distorts present consumption toward luxury goods. In-kind transfers of necessary goods, such as food stamps, can alleviate the intertemporal distortion and make present-biased transfer recipients better off. Further, transfers in kind are asymmetrical in the sense that they can target present-biased recipients without affecting fully rational recipients.in-kind transfers; time preference

Present-Biased Individuals, Optimal Paternalism, and Transfers in Kind

Present-biased preferences cause distortions in consumption that can motivate the use of paternalistic in-kind transfers. Empirically, goods are consumed to different degrees when consumption outlay changes. Economists distinguish between necessary goods and luxury goods. A present-biased individual has an intertemporal distortion of consumption toward the present, which in turn distorts present consumption toward luxury goods. In-kind transfers of necessary goods, such as food stamps, can alleviate the intertemporal distortion and make present-biased transfer recipients better off. Further, transfers in kind are asymmetrical in the sense that they can target present-biased recipients without affecting fully rational recipients

Family studies to find rare high risk variants in migraine

INTRODUCTION: Migraine has long been known as a common complex disease caused by genetic and environmental factors. The pathophysiology and the specific genetic susceptibility are poorly understood. Common variants only explain a small part of the heritability of migraine. It is thought that rare genetic variants with bigger effect size may be involved in the disease. Since migraine has a tendency to cluster in families, a family approach might be the way to find these variants. This is also indicated by identification of migraine-associated loci in classical linkage-analyses in migraine families. A single migraine study using a candidate-gene approach was performed in 2010 identifying a rare mutation in the TRESK potassium channel segregating in a large family with migraine with aura, but this finding has later become questioned. The technologies of next-generation sequencing (NGS) now provides an affordable tool to investigate the genetic variation in the entire exome or genome. The family-based study design using NGS is described in this paper. We also review family studies using NGS that have been successful in finding rare variants in other common complex diseases in order to argue the promising application of a family approach to migraine. METHOD: PubMed was searched to find studies that looked for rare genetic variants in common complex diseases through a family-based design using NGS, excluding studies looking for de-novo mutations, or using a candidate-gene approach and studies on cancer. All issues from Nature Genetics and PLOS genetics 2014, 2015 and 2016 (UTAI June) were screened for relevant papers. Reference lists from included and other relevant papers were also searched. For the description of the family-based study design using NGS an in-house protocol was used. RESULTS: Thirty-two successful studies, which covered 16 different common complex diseases, were included in this paper. We also found a single migraine study. Twenty-three studies found one or a few family specific variants (less than five), while other studies found several possible variants. Not all of them were genome wide significant. Four studies performed follow-up analyses in unrelated cases and controls and calculated odds ratios that supported an association between detected variants and risk of disease. Studies of 11 diseases identified rare variants that segregated fully or to a large degree with the disease in the pedigrees. CONCLUSION: It is possible to find rare high risk variants for common complex diseases through a family-based approach. One study using a family approach and NGS to find rare variants in migraine has already been published but with strong limitations. More studies are under way. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s10194-017-0729-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Samfundsøkonomiske og dynamiske effekter af en fast forbindelse mellem Als og Fyn på kommunalt og regionalt niveau

I analysen beregnes de samfundsøkonomiske og dynamiske effekter af en fast forbindelse mellem Als og Fyn på lokalt og regionalt niveau, med særligt fokus på hvad broen vil betyde for udvalgte kommuner i Region Syddanmark. Der findes ikke nogen etableret praksis for fordeling og beregning af nationale traditionelle samfundsøkonomiske effekter på lokalt og regionalt niveau. Beregningerne er således baseret på og inspireret af en best-practice tilgang, som på tidspunktet for analysen var tilgængelig og vurderedes mest hensigtsmæssig. Beregningerne i analysen er foretaget på baggrund af data fra Landstrafikmodellen samt TERESA-modellen. Analysen viser, at særligt Sønderborg, Faaborg-Midtfyn, Odense, Svendborg samt Aabenraa kommuner oplever de største samfundsøkonomiske og dynamiske effekter af AlsFynBroen. Forbindelsen bidrager samlet set med traditionelle samfundsøkonomiske effekter i Region Syddanmark med en nutidsværdi i 2017-priser på 15,4 mia. kr. Dette skyldes, at regionen høster størstedelen af brugergevinsterne, mens regionen samtidig ikke skal betale en tilsvarende lige så stor andel af de samlede anlægsomkostninger. Herudover bidrager broen med dynamiske effekter til regionen på 3,6 mia. kr. i nutidsværdi, svarende til 68,3 pct. af de samlede dynamiske effekter på nationalt niveau.&nbsp

Dermatology Life Quality Index in Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Plaque Psoriasis Treated with Brodalumab or Ustekinumab

Targeted biological therapies for psoriasis have resulted in significant benefits, with therapeutic goals such as clear or almost clear skin accompanied by improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The objective of this study was to compare the effects of 52 weeks of treatment with brodalumab or ustekinumab on HRQoL in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Data were pooled from two randomised controlled phase 3 trials (AMAGINE-2 and -3) which included patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis treated with brodalumab 210 mg or ustekinumab 45 or 90 mg for 52 weeks. HRQoL outcomes were measured using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) as well as the DLQI-Relevant (DLQI-R) version which excludes 'not relevant' responses. A total of 929 patients were included, 339 in the brodalumab group and 590 in the ustekinumab group. A significantly greater reduction (improvement) in DLQI score from baseline was observed in the brodalumab group compared with the ustekinumab group at weeks 4 [least-squares (LS) mean difference − 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] − 3.6 to − 2.2; p < 0.001), 12 (LS mean difference − 0.85, 95% CI − 1.5 to − 0.2; p = 0.01) and 52 (LS mean difference − 0.94, 95% CI − 1.6 to − 0.2; p = 0.009)]. Significantly greater proportions of patients treated with brodalumab achieved a DLQI score of 0 at weeks 4 (15.0 vs. 5.4%; p < 0.0001), 12 (37.5 vs. 28.0%; p = 0.0140) and 52 (46.3 vs. 30.3%; p < 0.0001), or of ≤ 1 [DLQI (0/1): 33.9 vs. 15.4%, 59.9 vs. 45.6% and 54.9 vs. 39.8%, respectively; all p < 0.0001]. Similar results were observed using the DLQI-R scoring system. Significantly more patients achieved a ≥ 4 or ≥ 5 improvement in DLQI with brodalumab compared to ustekinumab at weeks 4 and 52. Treatment with brodalumab was associated with significantly more patients achieving a DLQI of 0 compared to ustekinumab for all domains after 4 and 52 weeks. Brodalumab was associated with a significantly greater improvement in HRQoL compared to ustekinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis