How do drug prices respond to a change from external to internal reference pricing? Evidence from a Danish regulatory reform

Studies the effects of a switch from external reference pricing to internal reference pricing that was implemented in Denmark in April 2005. Abstract We study the effects of a change in the way patient reimbursements are calculated on the prices of pharmaceuticals using quasi-experimental data for Denmark which switched from external (where reimbursements are based on prices of similar products in foreign countries) to internal reference pricing (where they are based on the cheapest domestic substitute). We analyze three therapeutic classes with different treatment durations and show that the reform led to substantial price decreases for our lifelong treatment and to less substantial price reductions for our medium duration treatment while we do not find significant effects on our acute treatment. Moreover, the reform did only affect generics and did not impact original products or parallel imports

Another (Reauthorization) Act to Follow

No abstract avaialable

Latina/o Futures, Literatures, and Necessary Tensions

No abstract available

Los factores exógenos y los procesos territoriales en la transformación del panorama ocupacional en Yucatán

Residents in rural Yucatan, Mexico, have experienced dramatic employment changes from one generation to the next: most older men are farmers, while young men work in manufacturing and services. Young women engage informal employment much more than their mothers. We examine several factors originating outside the territory,including international markets and Mexican public policies, to see how they interact with social, political and cultural processes within the territory in the development of these occupational transformations. Attention to the role gender plays in external factors as well as in territorial processes drives our analysis of a key territorial process: the implementation of national legislation for sustainable rural development.Los cambios generacionales ocurridos en el empleo en un territorio de Yucatán en México son dramáticos: la mayoría de los hombres mayores son agricultores, mientras que los jóvenes han ingresado masivamente a la industria manufacturera y los servicios. Las jóvenes se han involucrado en el empleo formal mucho más que sus madres. examinamos varios elementos exógenos al territorio, entre ellos movimientos del mercado internacional y políticas públicas mexicanas, para ver cómo estos interactúan con los procesos endógenos –sociales, políticos, culturales– en el desarrollo de las transformaciones ocupacionales documentadas. Nuestro análisis pone énfasis en aspectos de género que están en juego entre los factores exógenos como también en los procesos endógenos, ejemplificado en un proceso territorial ilustrativo: la implementación de la legislación nacional para el desarrollo rural sustentable

Peer reviewed courses in OpenCourseWare at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid: towards a P2P assessment system for OERs

Peer review is common practice with scholarly papers and articles prior to publication, but this is not quite the case with educational content, particularly with Open Educational Resources (OERs). The Quality Group for the OpenCourseWare (OCW) Project at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid decided to set up a system to validate the quality of the teaching materials published on its OCW site. This paper describes the process involved and the results obtained as well as current and future developments to improve the system. It is hoped that this will be of interest to other institutions running OpenCourseWare projects, whether they be newcomers or experienced practitioners in the field

Comparative analyses of CTCF and BORIS occupancies uncover two distinct classes of CTCF binding genomic regions.

BackgroundCTCF and BORIS (CTCFL), two paralogous mammalian proteins sharing nearly identical DNA binding domains, are thought to function in a mutually exclusive manner in DNA binding and transcriptional regulation.ResultsHere we show that these two proteins co-occupy a specific subset of regulatory elements consisting of clustered CTCF binding motifs (termed 2xCTSes). BORIS occupancy at 2xCTSes is largely invariant in BORIS-positive cancer cells, with the genomic pattern recapitulating the germline-specific BORIS binding to chromatin. In contrast to the single-motif CTCF target sites (1xCTSes), the 2xCTS elements are preferentially found at active promoters and enhancers, both in cancer and germ cells. 2xCTSes are also enriched in genomic regions that escape histone to protamine replacement in human and mouse sperm. Depletion of the BORIS gene leads to altered transcription of a large number of genes and the differentiation of K562 cells, while the ectopic expression of this CTCF paralog leads to specific changes in transcription in MCF7 cells.ConclusionsWe discover two functionally and structurally different classes of CTCF binding regions, 2xCTSes and 1xCTSes, revealed by their predisposition to bind BORIS. We propose that 2xCTSes play key roles in the transcriptional program of cancer and germ cells

Habilidades gerenciales en adquisiciones estatales: Efectos en generación de bienestar social

The objective of this article is to analyze the managerial skills in state procurement and the effects produced by the management carried out by officials in the periods 2021-2019 in Peru, showing whether they generate social welfare and economic growth, since they constitute one of the processes with the greatest impact in any country. The research had a qualitative-inductive approach, phenomenological design and an in-depth interview with open questions was used. Results: four officials were interviewed and the findings indicate that there are officials with the appropriate profile and competencies to develop and complete state procurement processes and that the integration of managerial skills is generating social welfare for the population. It is concluded that, although there are officials with competencies in management skills, probity, social responsibility and values, the challenge is to promote the generation of social welfare in all social spheres of the country.El objetivo de este artículo es analizar las habilidades gerenciales en adquisiciones estatales y los efectos producidos por las gestiones realizadas por funcionarios en los periodos 2021-2019 en Perú, mostrando si generan bienestar social y crecimiento económico, ya que constituyen uno de los procesos de mayor impacto en todo país. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cualitativo-inductivo, diseño fenomenológico y se utilizó la entrevista a profundidad con preguntas abiertas. Resultados: se entrevistó a cuatro funcionarios y los hallazgos indican que existen funcionarios con perfil y competencias idóneas para desarrollar y culminar los procesos de adquisiciones estatales y con la integración de habilidades gerenciales se está generando bienestar social en la población. Se concluye señalando que, si bien existen funcionarios con competencias en habilidades gerenciales, probos, con responsabilidad social y con valores, el reto es impulsar la generación de bienestar social en todos los ámbitos sociales del país

GWAS of QRS Duration Identifies New Loci Specific to Hispanic/Latino Populations

BACKGROUND: The electrocardiographically quantified QRS duration measures ventricular depolarization and conduction. QRS prolongation has been associated with poor heart failure prognosis and cardiovascular mortality, including sudden death. While previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 32 QRS SNPs across 26 loci among European, African, and Asian-descent populations, the genetics of QRS among Hispanics/Latinos has not been previously explored. METHODS: We performed a GWAS of QRS duration among Hispanic/Latino ancestry populations (n = 15,124) from four studies using 1000 Genomes imputed genotype data (adjusted for age, sex, global ancestry, clinical and study-specific covariates). Study-specific results were combined using fixed-effects, inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis. RESULTS: We identified six loci associated with QRS (P CONCLUSIONS: Our QRS duration GWAS, the first in Hispanic/Latino populations, identified two new loci, underscoring the utility of extending large scale genomic studies to currently under-examined populations

Contribution of Two-Dose Vaccination Toward the Reduction of COVID-19 Cases, ICU Hospitalizations and Deaths in Chile Assessed Through Explanatory Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape

ObjectivesTo assess the impact of the initial two-dose-schedule mass vaccination campaign in Chile toward reducing adverse epidemiological outcomes due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.MethodsPublicly available epidemiological data ranging from 3 February 2021 to 30 September 2021 were used to construct GAMLSS models that explain the beneficial effect of up to two doses of vaccination on the following COVID-19-related outcomes: new cases per day, daily active cases, daily occupied ICU beds and daily deaths.ResultsAdministered first and second vaccine doses, and the statistical interaction between the two, are strong, statistically significant predictors for COVID-19-related new cases per day (R2 = 0.847), daily active cases (R2 = 0.903), ICU hospitalizations (R2 = 0.767), and deaths (R2 = 0.827).ConclusionOur models stress the importance of completing vaccination schedules to reduce the adverse outcomes during the pandemic. Future work will continue to assess the influence of vaccines, including booster doses, as the pandemic progresses, and new variants emerge.Policy ImplicationsThis work highlights the importance of attaining full (two-dose) vaccination status and reinforces the notion that a second dose provides increased non-additive protection. The trends we observed may also support the inclusion of booster doses in vaccination plans. These insights could contribute to guiding other countries in their vaccination campaigns