Idelalisib addition has neutral to beneficial effects on quality of life in bendamustine/rituximab-treated patients: results of a phase 3, randomized, controlled trial

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Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Deliver the Goods? Evidence from Developing Countries.

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs), signed by developing countries explicitly state the objective of promoting foreign direct investment (FDI). The rapid increase in the number of BITs and the concurrent increase in worldwide flows of FDI between 1980 and 2003 suggest that BITs are an effective strategy toward this goal. Recent studies provide some empirical support for this link. However, FDI flows into specific countries from 1980 to 2003 reveals the puzzling behavior for flows to increase soon after country starts signing BITs, followed by fluctuations with either a downward trend or no noticeable trend at all. Our main contribution is to explain this behavior by explicitly incorporating the impact of treaty violations, as evidenced by treaty disputes arbitrated by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, on FDI flows. We find that while BITs are effective in attracting investment, disputes tend to decrease future investment flows

Healthcare resource utilization and costs of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients with advanced liver disease in Italy

Background and aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) may progress to advanced liver disease (AdvLD). This study characterized comorbidities, healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and associated costs among hospitalized patients with AdvLD due to NASH in Italy. Methods and results: Adult nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/NASH patients from 2011 to 2017 were identified from administrative databases of Italian local health units using ICD-9-CM codes. Development of compensated cirrhosis (CC), decompensated cirrhosis (DCC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver transplant (LT) was identified using first diagnosis date for each severity cohort (index-date). Patients progressing to multiple disease stages were included in >1 cohort. Patients were followed from index-date until the earliest of disease progression, end of coverage, death, or end of study. Within each cohort, per member per month values were annualized to calculate all-cause HCRU or costs(\u20ac) in 2017. Of the 9,729 hospitalized NAFLD/NASH patients identified, 97% were without AdvLD, 1.3% had CC, 3.1% DCC, 0.8% HCC, 0.1% LT. Comorbidity burden was high across all cohorts. Mean annual number of inpatient services was greater in patients with AdvLD than without AdvLD. Similar trends were observed in outpatient visits and pharmacy fills. Mean total annual costs increased with disease severity, driven primarily by inpatient services costs. Conclusion: NAFLD/NASH patients in Italy have high comorbidity burden. AdvLD patients had significantly higher costs. The higher prevalence of DCC compared to CC in this population may suggest challenges of effectively screening and identifying NAFLD/NASH patients. Early identification and effective management are needed to reduce risk of disease progression and subsequent HCRU and costs