Behavioral Economics and the Public Sector

This thesis consists of four essays dealing with topics that are relevant for the public sector. The essays cover diverse issues of economics partly overlapping with political science. The topics reach from the taxation of labor over monetary policy to preferences over voting institutions. Throughout this thesis it is, in contrast to classical economics, not assumed that humans are necessarily fully rational. Once full rationality is no longer assumed, experiments become an important tool to learn about human behavior. Consequently, most of the work in this thesis makes use of economic experiments

Three-dimensional endoscopic visualization in functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

Three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic vision in sinus surgery has been achieved with the microscope so far. The introduction of two-dimensional (2D) endoscopes set a milestone in the visualization of the surgical field and paved the way to functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), although the 2D endoscopes cannot provide a stereoscopic visualization. The latest technology of 3D endoscopes allows stereoscopic vision. We provide a clinical investigation of all commercially available 3D endoscopes in FESS to compare their clinical value and efficacy to routinely used conventional 2D HD endoscopes. In this prospective, randomized, controlled clinical study, 46 patients with polypoid chronic rhinosinusitis underwent FESS with one of the following three endoscopes: 2D 0° high definition (HD), 3D 0° standard definition (SD) and 3D 0° HD. Four surgeons qualitatively assessed endoscopes on stereoscopic depth perception (SDP) of the surgeon, sharpness and brightness of the image, as well as their comfort in use during surgery. Surgeons assessed the brightness of the control (2D HD) significantly better than 3D SD (p = 0.009) and brightness of 3D HD was rated significantly better than 3D SD (p = 0.038). Stereoscopic depth perception (SDP) of 3D SD was assessed highly significantly better than the control (2D HD) (p = 0.021), whereas 3D HD displayed best SDP (p = 0.0001). The comfort in use was rated significantly higher in the 3D HD group compared to the control group (p = 0.025). No significant differences in sharpness could be seen among all endoscopes. 3D HD endoscopy provides an improvement in SDP and brightness of the surgical field. It enhances the intraoperative visualization and is therefore an important and efficient development in endoscopic sinus surgery

Primary mucinous borderline tumor of the vermiform appendix mimicking ovarian carcinoma; case report

WOS: 000309738600020PubMed ID: 23185804Introduction: Primary adenocarcinoma of the vermiform appendix is a very rare entity. Borderline mucinous tumor of the appendix is a much more rare disease. Case: We present a 71-year-old woman with primary mucinous borderline tumor of the vermiform appendix. She was misdiagnosed as an ovarian carcinoma patient and operated on by a gynecologic oncology team. Her frozen section analysis of an appendicial mass resulted as borderline tumor of appendix vermiformis, and right hemicolectomy, as is advised in invasive colon tumors, was not carried out. Conclusion: Borderline mucinous tumor of the appendix vermiformis should be kept in mind in patients who have pseudomyxoma peritonei during surgery. Tumoral resection may be the definitive therapy in these patients

Health-related quality of life in patients with chronic otitis media

Gavin Stirling's Wild Thing Tagada - TG3 - photographed May 2000