Retailing Digital Products: Reconstructing the Traditional RIS-Model

Current research activities in the area of trading digital products usually focus on specific legal or technical problems, neglecting the underlying business models and their implications on retail information systems. There is a need for a framework in to order the structure the diverse research efforts. Within the paper retailing of digital products is positioned within the wider field of electronic commerce. Then business models for procurement and distribution of digital products are established. The Retail-H-Model, a framework for retail information systems originally developed for traditional retailing, is used introduced as a structural framework for dealing with digital product retailing issues. Selected underlying functional models are examined and adapted in order to fulfil the requirements of retailing digital products. The paper concludes with an outlook on future research activities

Modelling and Implementing Macro Web Navigation Structures

From the three existing dimensions - content objects, navigation and presentation - of web pages, the navigation dimension is analysed. It consists of macro, meso and micro navigation. A conceptual approach to model and implement the macro navigation structure of web sites is presented. We start by enhancing a function decomposition diagram to model the macro navigation structure. The resulting graph is analysed and transformed to find its crucial components. In order to store these components in a database table, an appropriate entity-relationship model is developed. Afterwards we identify three navigation styles that can be produced from the underlying database and give the PHP source code for one of them. Finally, an example web page using our navigation styles is depicted. It is concluded that using our ideas may lead to reduced development time and avoids link errors in the process of creating the site navigation

Health-related quality of life in patients with recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections

BACKGROUND: The health-related quality of life (HrQoL) can be substantially affected in patients with recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) but the impact of effective treatment of the infection remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the HrQoL in patients with rCDI and estimate the gain in HrQoL associated with effective treatment of rCDI. METHODS: Patients’ HrQoL was estimated based on EuroQol 5-Dimensions 3-Levels (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaires obtained from a Danish randomised controlled trial (RCT). In the RCT, 64 patients with rCDI were randomised to receive either vancomycin (n = 16), fidaxomicin (n = 24) or faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) preceded by vancomycin (n = 24). The primary outcome in the RCT was rCDI resolution. Patients were closely monitored during the RCT, and rescue FMT was offered to those who failed their primary treatment. Patients’ HrQoL was measured at baseline and at 8- and 26-weeks follow-up. Linear regression analyses conditional on the differences between baseline and follow-up measurements were used to assess statistical significance (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Within 26 weeks of follow-up, 13 (81%) patients treated with vancomycin, 12 (50%) patients treated with fidaxomicin, and 3 (13%) patients treated with FMT had a subsequent recurrence and received a rescue FMT. The average HrQoL for untreated patients with rCDI was 0.675. After receiving effective treatment, this value increased by 0.139 to 0.813 (p < 0.001) at week 8 and by 0.098 to 0.773 (p = 0.003) at week 26 of follow-up compared with baseline. CONCLUSION: The HrQoL was adversely affected in patients with an active episode of rCDI but increased substantially after receiving an effective treatment algorithm in which rescue FMT was provided in case of a primary treatment failure. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The RCT was preregistered at EudraCT (j.no. 2015-003004-24, https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2015-003004-24/results) and at ClinicalTrials.gov (study identifier NCT02743234, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02743234)

Economic evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial of blended cognitive-behavioral therapy for patients suffering from major depressive disorder

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of blended cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) compared to standard CBT for adult patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). DESIGN: A cost-utility analysis alongside the randomized controlled ENTER trial. SETTING: Center for Telepsychiatry, Mental Health Services in the Region of Southern Denmark, Denmark. PARTICIPANTS: The study included 76 patients suffering from MDD. INTERVENTIONS: The patients in the intervention group received blended CBT treatment comprising a combination of online modules and face-to-face consultations with a psychologist. The patients in the control group received standard CBT treatment, that is, solely face-to-face consultations with a psychologist. The treatment period was 12 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost-effectiveness was reported as incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. A micro-costing approach was applied to evaluate the savings derived. Changes in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were estimated using the EuroQol 5-Dimensions 5-Levels questionnaire at the baseline and the six-month follow-up. RESULTS: Data for 74 patients were included in the primary analysis. The adjusted QALY difference between blended CBT and standard CBT was −0.0291 (95% CI: −0.0535 to −0.0047), and the adjusted difference in costs was -£226.32 (95% CI: −300.86 to −151.77). Blended CBT was estimated to have a 6.6% and 3.1% probability of being cost-effective based on thresholds of £20,000 and £30,000. CONCLUSION: Compared to standard CBT, blended CBT represents a cost-saving but also a loss in QALYs for patients suffering from MDD. However, results should be carefully interpreted, given the small sample size. Future research involving larger replication studies focusing on other aspects of blended CBT with more patient involvement is advised. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrial.gov: S-20150150

Is population screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm cost-effective?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is responsible for 1–2% of all male deaths over the age of 65 years. Early detection of AAA and elective surgery can reduce the mortality risk associated with AAA. However, many patients will not be diagnosed with AAA and have therefore an increased death risk due to the untreated AAA. It has been suggested that population screening for AAA in elderly males is effective and cost-effective. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of published cost-effectiveness analyses of screening elderly men for AAA.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a systematic search for economic evaluations in NHSEED, EconLit, Medline, Cochrane, Embase, Cinahl and two Scandinavian HTA data bases (DACEHTA and SBU). All identified studies were read in full and each study was systematically assessed according to international guidelines for critical assessment of economic evaluations in health care.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The search identified 16 cost-effectiveness studies. Most studies considered only short term cost consequences. The studies seemed to employ a number of "optimistic" assumptions in favour of AAA screening, and included only few sensitivity analyses that assessed less optimistic assumptions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Further analyses of cost-effectiveness of AAA screening are recommended.</p

The economics of debt clearing mechanisms

We examine the evolution of decentralized clearinghouse mechanisms from the 13th to the 18th century; in particular, we explore the clearing of non- or limitedtradable debts like bills of exchange. We construct a theoretical model of these clearinghouse mechanisms, similar to the models in the theoretical matching literature, and show that specific decentralized multilateral clearing algorithms known as rescontre, skontrieren or virement des parties used by merchants were efficient in specific historical contexts. We can explain both the evolutionary self-organizing emergence of late medieval and early modern fairs, and its robustness during the 17th and 18th century

Clinical application of scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering

The purpose of this paper is to review the basic science and clinical literature on scaffolds clinically available for the treatment of articular cartilage injuries. The use of tissue-engineered grafts based on scaffolds seems to be as effective as conventional ACI clinically. However, there is limited evidence that scaffold techniques result in homogeneous distribution of cells. Similarly, few studies exist on the maintenance of the chondrocyte phenotype in scaffolds. Both of which would be potential advantages over the first generation ACI. The mean clinical score in all of the clinical literature on scaffold techniques significantly improved compared with preoperative values. More than 80% of patients had an excellent or good outcome. None of the short- or mid-term clinical and histological results of these tissue-engineering techniques with scaffolds were reported to be better than conventional ACI. However, some studies suggest that these methods may reduce surgical time, morbidity, and risks of periosteal hypertrophy and post-operative adhesions. Based on the available literature, we were not able to rank the scaffolds available for clinical use. Firm recommendations on which cartilage repair procedure is to be preferred is currently not known on the basis of these studies. Randomized clinical trials and longer follow-up periods are needed for more widespread information regarding the clinical effectiveness of scaffold-based, tissue-engineered cartilage repair