Use of Pharmacoeconomics Information—Report of the ISPOR Task Force on Use of Pharmacoeconomic/Health Economic Information in Health-Care Decision Making

Objectives: Despite the growing number of pharmacoeconomic (PE)/health economic (HE) studies, very little is known about their use by decision makers. The objectives of the Task Force were to ensure that the good research practices of PE/HE studies pay attention to the needs of health-care decision makers and to develop a “toolbox” for the health-care decision maker wanting to interpret and use PE/HE studies. Methods: The membership of the Task Force consisted of individuals involved in making decisions about the availability or use of medicines and researchers into the use of economic evaluations. The group communicated by E-mail and face-to-face meetings. A literature review of decision makers’ attitudes toward PE/HE studies and published economic evaluation guidelines was undertaken. In addition, a focus group discussion was held with opinion leaders in managed care pharmacy. Results: The literature review identified 16 surveys of decision makers’ attitudes toward PE/HE studies and 15 published guidelines that outlined reporting requirements for economic evaluations. These were reviewed and classified. Based on the published literature and comments from decision makers, seven additional reporting requirements for studies were specified. Conclusions: While the Task Force's additional reporting requirements may be helpful to decision makers, they raise a number of issues. These include the feasibility of meeting the additional requirements, whether decision makers should receive more education in economic evaluation, and whether there should be more study of health-care decision-making procedures themselves.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73067/1/j.1524-4733.2003.64245.x.pd

TALAT Lecture 2110.02: Product information structure, business concept and LCA

This lecture gives a brief introduction to the product information structure, a sustainable business concept and Life Cycle; it presents the product and process "Generic Code" - the chromosomes; it generates interest about the concept of "Know Your Product", "Life Cycle Logistics", "Universal Virtues" and "Material/Component Hierarchical Structure" and their use creating a sustainable business concept; it imparts knowledge about Life Cycle Assessment. Some familiarity with QFD (Quality Functions Deployment) principles is assumed.

TALAT Lecture 1601: Process modelling applied to age hardening aluminium alloys

This lecture describes the methodology for physical modelling of materials problems, with particular emphasis on heat treatment and welding of age hardening alloys materials; it establishes mathematical relations between different process variables (e.g. alloy composition, heat treatment procedure, welding conditions) and the alloy strength or hardness, based on sound physical principles (e.g. thermodynamics, kinetic theory, dislocation mechanics); it motivates faster process development, optimization of process and properties and development of real-time control. Knowledge in metallurgy, materials science, materials engineering is assumed.

Between hunter and climate: the effects of hunting and environmental change on fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels in two sympatric ungulate species in the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem, Tanzania

Understanding the drivers of animal population decline is a key focus of conservation biologists. Anthropogenic activities such as hunting have long been established as potentially detrimental to a population\u27s persistence. However, environmental perturbations such as increased temperature variability, exacerbated by climate change, can also have important effects on animal populations. Animals can respond to these challenges by adjusting both their behavior and physiology. We measured fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) of common impala (Aepyceros melampus) and greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), both currently in stable populations, to examine effects of hunting, forage availability, daily variability in temperature and group size on their physiological stress response. The study was conducted across two adjacent protected areas, (i) one non-hunted area (Ruaha National Park; RNP) and (ii) one area used for trophy hunting (Rungwa Game Reserve; RGR). Both impala and kudu had significantly higher FGM levels in the area that allows hunting, while FGM levels decreased with increasing forage availability and increasing daily temperature. Moreover, impala (but not kudu) had lower FGM levels with larger group sizes. Our results indicate that the management regime can significantly alter the physiological state of wild ungulate populations. We also highlight the importance of considering the combined effects of anthropogenic, environmental and social contexts when studying the stress response of wild populations. Our results emphasize the value of protected areas and continued monitoring of hunting quota in order to maintain ungulate populations that are less vulnerable to population declines

TALAT Lecture 2102.01: A Floodlight for an Offshore Oil Platform, Special Study: Extruding Aluminium

This lecture offers an example of product development. It imparts knowledge about the design possibilities inherent in aluminium sections and the choice of alloy. It gives insight into how to develop a product using the general specifications and the interaction between form, material and processing chain; the importance of being thoroughly familiar with the different design materials, their processing possibilities and properties. The lecture is recommended for those situations, where a brief, general background information about aluminium is needed as an introduction of other subject areas of aluminium application technologies. This lecture is part of the self-contained course "Aluminium in Product Development", which is treated under TALAT lectures 2101 and 2102.

TALAT Lecture 2101.02: The product development process

This lecture provides a brief introduction to the product development process and systematic design. It aims at generating interest in and a common understanding of the product development process; telling about the basic principles and terminology used in connection with systematic design in order to facilitate the use of the four product design examples presented in this course (see TALAT lectures 2102.01 - .04). The lecture is recommended for those situations, where a brief, general background information about aluminium is needed as an introduction of other subject areas of aluminium application technologies. This lecture is part of the self-contained course "Aluminium in Product Development", which is treated under TALAT lectures 2100.

Environmental change reduces body condition, but not population growth, in a high-arctic herbivore

Environmental change influences fitness-related traits and demographic rates, which in herbivores are often linked to resource-driven variation in body condition. Coupled body condition-demographic responses may therefore be important for herbivore population dynamics in fluctuating environments, such as the Arctic. We applied a transient Life-Table Response Experiment (‘transient-LTRE’) to demographic data from Svalbard barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis), to quantify their population-dynamic responses to changes in body mass. We partitioned contributions from direct and delayed demographic and body condition-mediated processes to variation in population growth. Declines in body condition (1980-2017), which positively affected reproduction and fledgling survival, had negligible consequences for population growth. Instead, population growth rates were largely reproduction-driven, in part through positive responses to rapidly advancing spring phenology. The virtual lack of body condition-mediated effects indicates that herbivore population dynamics may be more resilient to changing body condition than previously expected, with implications for their persistence under environmental change.,Data of body mass was recorded during goose catches (during the moulting period at the breeding grounds at Ny-Ålesund Svalbard). Body mass (measured in g) was then entered into data bases along with the individual ID and age class (fledgling = FL or adult = Ad). Included in the dataset is the average annual body mass for a cohort , for fledglings (1991-2016) and adults (1980-2016), and the sample size for which the average was calculated.,Where average values of body mass are missing, there was no data available in this year.

Genome Mining of Streptomyces sp. YIM 130001 Isolated From Lichen Affords New Thiopeptide Antibiotic

Streptomyces bacteria are recognized as an important source for antibiotics with broad applications in human medicine and animal health. Here, we report the isolation of a new lichen-associating Streptomyces sp. YIM 130001 from the tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna (Yunnan, China), which displayed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis. The draft genome sequence of this isolate strain revealed 18 putative biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for secondary metabolites, which is an unusually low number compared to a typical streptomycete. Inactivation of a lantibiotic dehydrogenase-encoding gene from the BGC presumed to govern biosynthesis of a thiopeptide resulted in the loss of bioactivity. Using comparative HPLC analysis, two peaks in the chromatogram were identified in the extract from the wild-type strain, which were missing in the extract from the mutant. The compounds corresponding to the identified peaks were purified, and structure of one compound was elucidated using NMR. The compound, designated geninthiocin B, showed high similarity to several 35-membered macrocyclic thiopeptides geninthiocin, Val-geninthiocin and berninamycin A. Bioinformatics analysis of the geninthiocin B BGC revealed its close homology to that of berninamycins.© 2018 Schneider, Simic, Aachmann, Rückert, Kristiansen, Kalinowski, Jiang, Wang, Jiang, Lale and Zotche