Economic evaluation of ASCOT-BPLA: Antihypertensive treatment with an amlodipine-based regimen is cost-effective compared to an atenolol-based regimen

Copyright © 2010 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Cardiovascular Society. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material must be obtained from the Publisher.Objective: To compare the cost effectiveness of an amlodipine-based strategy and an atenolol-based strategy in the treatment of hypertension in the UK and Sweden. Design: A prospective, randomised trial complemented with a Markov model to assess long-term costs and health effects. Setting: Primary care. Patients: Patients with moderate hypertension and three or more additional risk factors. Interventions: Amlodipine 5–10 mg with perindopril 4–8 mg added as needed or atenolol 50–100 mg with bendroflumethiazide 1.25–2.5 mg and potassium added as needed Main outcome measures: Cost per cardiovascular event and procedure avoided, and cost per quality-adjusted life-year gained. Results: In the UK, the cost to avoid one cardiovascular event or procedure would be €18 965, and the cost to gain one quality-adjusted life-year would be €21 875. The corresponding figures for Sweden were €13 210 and €16 856. Conclusions: Compared with the thresholds applied by NICE and in the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare’s Guidelines for Cardiac Care, an amlodipine-based regimen is cost effective for the treatment of hypertension compared with an atenolol-based regimen in the population studied.The study was supported by the principal funding source, Pfizer, New York, USA

Quantifying surfactant interaction effects on soil moisture and turf quality

Soil water repellency occurs widely in horticultural and agricultural soils when very dry. The gradual accumulation and breakdown of surface organic matter over time produces wax-like organic acids, which coat soil particles preventing uniform entry of water into the soil. Water repellency is usually managed by regular surfactant applications. Surfactants, literally, are surface active agents (SURFace ACTive AgeNTS). Their mode of action is to reduce the surface tension of water, allowing it to penetrate and wet the soil more easily and completely. This practice improves water use efficiency (by requiring less water to wet the soil and by capturing rainfall and irrigation more effectively and rapidly). It also reduces nutrient losses through run-off erosion or leaching. These nutrients have the potential to pollute the surrounding environment and water courses. This project investigated potential improvements to standard practices (product combination and scheduling) for surfactant use to overcome localised dry spots on water repellent soils and thus improve turf quality and water use efficiency. Weather conditions for the duration of the trial prevented the identification of improved practices in terms of combination and scheduling. However, the findings support previous research that the use of soil surfactants decreased the time for water to infiltrate dry soil samples taken from a previously severely hydrophobic site. Data will be continually collected from this trial site on a private contractual basis, with the hope that improvements to standard practices will be observed during the drier winter months when moisture availability is a limiting factor for turfgrass growth and quality

Trisammonium geranyl diphosphate

Journal ArticleGeranyl chloride. To a flame-dried, 100-mL, three-necked, round-bottomed flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer, low temperature thermometer, rubber septum, and nitrogen inlet adapter, is added 1 .47 g (11 mmol) of N-chlorosuccinimide (Note 1) . The powder is dissolved in 45 mL of dry dichloromethane (Note 2), and the resulting solution is cooled to -30°C with a dry ice/acetonitrile bath. Freshly distilled dimethyl sulfide (0.87 mL, 0.74 g, 12 mmol) is added dropwise by syringe. The mixture is warmed to 0°C with an ice-water bath, maintained at that temperature for 5 min, and cooled to -40°C. To the resulting milky white suspension is added dropwise by syringe 1.54 g (10 mmol) of geraniol (Note 3) dissolved in 5 mL of dry dichlromethane

Mangetic properties of Ising thin-films with cubic lattices

We have used Monte Carlo simulations to observe the magnetic behaviour of Ising thin-films with cubic lattice structures as a function of temperature and thickness especially in the critical region. The fourth order Binder cumulant is used to extract critical temperatures, and an extension of finite size scaling theory for reduced geometry is derived to calculate the critical exponents. Magnetisation and magnetic susceptibility per spin in each layer are also investigated. In addition, mean-field calculations are also performed for comparison. We find that the magnetic behaviour changes from two dimensional to three dimensional character with increasing thickness of the film. The crossover of the critical temperature from a two dimensional to a bulk value is also observed with both the Monte Carlo simulations and the mean-field analysis. Nevertheless, the simulations have shown that the critical exponents only vary a little from their two dimensional values. In particular, the results for films with up to eight layers provide a strong indication of two dimensional universality.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Comment on "The global tree restoration potential"

Bastin et al. (Reports, 5 July 2019, p. 76) state that the restoration potential of new forests globally is 205 gigatonnes of carbon, conclude that “global tree restoration is our most effective climate change solution to date,” and state that climate change will drive the loss of 450 million hectares of existing tropical forest by 2050. Here we show that these three statements are incorrect

Liraglutide and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes

In a randomized, controlled trial that compared liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 analogue, with placebo in patients with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk who were receiving usual care, we found that liraglutide resulted in lower risks of the primary end point (nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes) and death. However, the long-term effects of liraglutide on renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown

Science Diplomacy Through Cities: Applying NASA Earth Observations at the Urban Scale

NASA's scientific expertise and data products are enhancing cities' environmental monitoring activities by pioneering applications of remote sensing and model-based Earth Observations at the urban scale. The above activities have greatly benefitted from engaging stakeholders and city practitioners from the start. Further, NASA's collaborations with cities have: Advanced NASA science, in testing new products and validating of satellite datasets, while meeting the needs of city governments. Broadened Rio de Janeiro's regional viewpoint and strengthened its relationships with neighboring cities. Scientific collaborations with cities benefit from: Selecting city partners with a high level of technical capacity and willing to make strong investments in joint projects. Sustained communication and face-to-face interactions. Well-defined deliverables, with dedicated resources and personnel. Pairing global datasets and projections with in situ measurements and local knowledgeSensitivity to local working culture and politics