Incentivizing the Dynamic Workforce: Learning Contracts in the Gig-Economy

In principal-agent models, a principal offers a contract to an agent to perform a certain task. The agent exerts a level of effort that maximizes her utility. The principal is oblivious to the agent's chosen level of effort, and conditions her wage only on possible outcomes. In this work, we consider a model in which the principal is unaware of the agent's utility and action space. She sequentially offers contracts to identical agents, and observes the resulting outcomes. We present an algorithm for learning the optimal contract under mild assumptions. We bound the number of samples needed for the principal obtain a contract that is within $\epsilon$ of her optimal net profit for every $\epsilon>0$

Preventive medicine of von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are rare in von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) but cause serious morbidity and mortality. Management guidelines for VHL-PanNETs continue to be based on limited evidence, and survival data to guide surgical management are lacking. We established the European-American-Asian-VHL-PanNET-Registry to assess data for risks for metastases, survival and long-term outcomes to provide best management recommendations. Of 2330 VHL patients, 273 had a total of 484 PanNETs. Median age at diagnosis of PanNET was 35 years (range 10-75). Fifty-five (20%) patients had metastatic PanNETs. Metastatic PanNETs were significantly larger (median size 5 vs 2\u2009cm; P\u20091.5\u2009cm in diameter were operated. Ten-year survival was significantly longer in operated vs non-operated patients, in particular for PanNETs <2.8\u2009cm vs 652.8\u2009cm (94% vs 85% by 10 years; P\u2009=\u20090.020; 80% vs 50% at 10 years; P\u2009=\u20090.030). This study demonstrates that patients with PanNET approaching the cut-off diameter of 2.8\u2009cm should be operated. Mutations in exon 3, especially of codons 161/167 are at enhanced risk for metastatic PanNETs. Survival is significantly longer in operated non-metastatic VHL-PanNETs

Fish-Free Diet in Patients with Phenylketonuria Is Not Associated with Early Atherosclerotic Changes and Enhanced Platelet Activation.

Since patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) have to follow a lifelong restriction of natural protein to lower phenylalanine-intake, they never eat fish. This diet may lead to a chronic deficit of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with the risk of early atherosclerotic changes. The aim of the study was to analyse the fatty acid profile of PKU patients and to correlate the results with surrogate markers of early atherosclerotic changes [enhanced carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and ß-stiffness index] and platelet activation.In 43 PKU patients and in 58 healthy controls we prospectively examined the fatty acid profile, CIMT, ß-stiffness index and platelet activation (flow cytometric determination of markers of platelet activation). CIMT was measured bilaterally by ultrasound. CIMTmean was defined as the mean value of the sum of CIMTleft and CIMTright.Despite of lower HDL-cholesterol and higher triglyceride concentrations in the PKU group, there was no significant difference in the omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acid profile, CIMT, ß-stiffness index between both groups. Platelet activation was not enhanced in the PKU group.Fish-free diet does not induce early atherosclerotic changes or enhanced platelet activation in PKU patients

Schematic expression of platelet activation markers CD62P, PAC-1, CD63 and CD40 L in PKU patients (group I) versus controls (group II).

<p>Histobars representing a) percentage of positive platelets as [median; interquartile range]: CD62P: [2.0; 1.6–2.7] versus [2.1; 1.57–2.8], p = 0.86 and PAC-1: [0.46; 0.32–0.68] versus [0.55; 0.42–0.71], p = 0.29; b) Mean immunofluorescence intensity (MFI); [median; interquartile range]: CD63 [12.5; 11.0–14.9] versus [13.23; 11.61–15.25], p = 0.3; and CD40L [16.31; 13.10–18.7] versus [16.5; 13.5–19.3], p = 0.62.</p

Schematic representation of carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and β-stiffness index in PKU patients (group I) and controls (group II).

<p>Bar-graphs showing the mean value and SEM. There was no significant difference in CIMT [(0.43 ± 0.02 mm) versus (0.48 ± 0.01mm), p_CIMT = 0.88] and β-stiffness index [(4.57 ± 0.47) versus 4.18 ± 0.59) p_ß = 0.7].</p

Fatty acid profile.

<p>Results are shown as mean ± SEM; p value of < 0.05 was regarded as significant *.</p><p>Fatty acid profile were measured in red cell membranes.</p><p>Fatty acid profile.</p

Preventive medicine of von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

© 2018 Society for Endocrinology Published by Bioscientifica Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are rare in von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) but cause serious morbidity and mortality. Management guidelines for VHL-PanNETs continue to be based on limited evidence, and survival data to guide surgical management are lacking. We established the European-American-Asian-VHL-PanNET-Registry to assess data for risks for metastases, survival and long-term outcomes to provide best management recommendations. Of 2330 VHL patients, 273 had a total of 484 PanNETs. Median age at diagnosis of PanNET was 35 years (range 10-75). Fifty-five (20%) patients had metastatic PanNETs. Metastatic PanNETs were significantly larger (median size 5 vs 2cm; P&lt;0.001) and tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) was faster (22 vs 126 months; P=0.001). All metastatic tumors were ≥2.8cm. Codons 161 and 167 were hotspots for VHL germline mutations with enhanced risk for metastatic PanNETs