Computerized classification of auditory trauma: Results of an investigation on screening employees exposed to noise

An automatic, computerized method was developed to classify results from a screening of employees exposed to noise, resulting in a fast and effective method of identifying and taking measures against auditory trauma. This technique also satisfies the urgent need for quick discovery of cases which deserve compensation in accordance with the Law on Industrial Accident Insurance. Unfortunately, use of this method increases the burden on the already overloaded investigatory resources of the auditory health care system

Severe Photo Toxicity Recalled by Docetaxel

Photo-recall phenomenon is a rarely recognized adverse event of chemotherapeutic agents. The physiopathology of this entity is unclear. We have reported a 56-year old breast cancer patient with severe photo toxicity recalled 5 months after the initial sunburn by one course of adjuvant docetaxel treatment. However, being given right diagnosis and proper managements the patient could be able to complete her adjuvant chemotherapy according to the planed time schedule, without any delay. Our case may be explained by the theory that long-lived memory T-cells may remember former skin damage and cross-react with cytotoxic drugs. In addition, we have proved that weekly paclitaxel can still be the drug of option after docetaxel recalled severe photo toxicity

The Severity Staircase in Swedish Drug Reimbursement : Evidence of Pharmaceutical Pricing Indicates That Firms Climb, but Not to the Top

Background: The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency (TLV) decides what prescription drugs should be included in the Swedish high-cost protection. For drugs to be included, TLV requires that they achieve a reasonable balance between health effects and costs. This requirement is operationalized as Cost-Effectiveness Thresholds(CETs) that vary with disease severity and represent the maximum tolerated cost per unit of health. Objectives: To investigate how close to the CETs pharmaceutical producers set their prices, and if they act on opportunities to raise them when permitted by higher disease severity. Methods: I reviewed 335 of TLV’s publicly available reimbursement decisions between 2017 and 2024 and extracted Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratios (ICERs) where available (n = 91) along with TLV’s severity classifications. These were analyzed descriptively and with an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model explaining ICERs with severity classifications. In extended OLS models, I added a dummy variable indicating whether a drug had previously been approved for subsidy, and another to control for systematic differences in ICERs between drugs approved for restricted and general subsidy. Results: Pharmaceutical producers do not price to the CETs, but ICERs increase significantly with severity. Previous subsidy approval was negatively associated with ICERs whereas being approved for restricted subsidy was associated with a higher ICER, but both dummies were statistically insignificant. Additionally, a majority of ICERs were higher than previous estimates of the healthcare system’s marginal cost for producing a unit of health. Key Implications: Reimbursement authorities like TLV should expect pharmaceutical producers to act on opportunities to raise prices when weighing additional benefits and cost-savings into their reimbursement decisions. However, researchers should be careful to assume that producers will price to CETs when developing theoretical frameworks. Furthermore, TLV should consider revising their CETs to reflect the opportunity cost of healthcare to avoid incurring net health losses to societ