bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
USE OF VALUE OF INFORMATION IN UK HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS
Authors: Mohiuddin Syed , Fenwick Elisabeth , Payne Katherine 
Published: March 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify and critically appraise the use of Value of Information (VOI) analyses undertaken as part of health technology assessment (HTA) reports in England and Wales.Methods: A systematic review of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded HTA reports published between 2004 and 2013 identified the use of VOI methods and key analytical details in terms of: (i) types of VOI methodology used; (ii) parameters and key assumptions; and (iii) conclusions drawn in terms of the need for further research.Results: A total of 512 HTA reports were published during the relevant timeframe. Of these, 203 reported systematic review and economic modeling studies and 25 of these had used VOI method(s). Over half of the twenty-five studies (n = 13) conducted both EVPI (Expected Value of Perfect Information) and EVPPI (Expected Value of Partial Perfect Information) analyses. Eight studies conducted EVPI analysis, three studies conducted EVPI, EVPPI, and EVSI (Expected Value of Sampling Information) analyses and one study conducted EVSI analysis only. The level of detail reporting the methods used to conduct the VOI analyses varied.Conclusions: This review has shown that the frequency of the use of VOI methods is increasing at a slower pace compared with the published volume of HTA reports. This review also suggests that analysts reporting VOI method(s) in HTA reports should aim to describe the method(s) in sufficient detail to enable and encourage decision-makers guiding research prioritization decisions to use the potentially valuable outputs from quantitative VOI analyses.
DIFFERENCES IN EVALUATING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION BY RESEARCHERS AND POLICY MAKERS IN CHINA
Authors: Liu Wenbin , Shi Lizheng , Pong Raymond W. , Dong Hengjin , Mao Yiwei , Tang Meng , Chen Yingyao 
Published: March 2015

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the gaps between researchers and policy makers in perceptions and influencing factors of knowledge translation (KT) of health technology assessment (HTA) in China.Methods: A sample of 382 HTA researchers and 112 policy makers in China were surveyed using structured questionnaires. The questionnaires contained two sections: perceptions of HTA research and assessments of six-stage KT activities. Wilcoxon rank sum test was applied to compare the differences in these two sections between HTA researchers and policy makers. Multivariate linear regression was performed to explore KT determinants of HTA for researchers and policy makers separately.Results: Policy makers and researchers differed in their perceptions of HTA research in all items except collaboration in research development and presentation of evidence in easy-to-understand language. Significant differences in KT activities existed in all the six stages except academic translation. Regarding KT determinants, close contact between research unit and policy-making department, relevance of HTA to policy making, and importance of HTA on policy making were considered facilitators by both groups. For researchers, practicality of HTA report and presentation of evidence in easy-to-understand language can facilitate KT. Policy makers, on the other hand, considered an overly pedantic nature of HTA research as an obstacle to effective KT.Conclusions: Substantial gaps existed between HTA researchers and policy makers regarding the perceptions of HTA research and KT activities. There are also some differences in KT determinants by these two groups. Enhancing collaboration, promoting practicality and policy relevance of HTA research, and making HTA findings easily understood are likely to further the KT of HTA evidence.
UNDERSTANDING AND ANTICIPATING LAG-TIME BIAS IN COST-EFFECTIVENESS STUDIES: THE ROLE OF TIME IN COST-EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS
Authors: van de Wetering Gijs , Olde Rikkert Marcel , van der Wilt Gert Jan , Adang Eddy 
Published: March 2015

Background: Timely provision of information on the cost-effectiveness of innovations in health care becomes more and more important, resulting in increasing pressure on researchers to provide proof of cost-effectiveness in a short time frame. However, most of these innovations require considerable time and effort to optimally implement leading to a biased “steady state” cost-effectiveness outcome. As decision makers in health care predominantly have a short-term focus, the discrepancy between short-term study outcomes and long-term cost-effectiveness may very well lead to misguided decisions about the adoption of innovations in health care.Methods: Factors such as learning effects, capacity constraints, and delayed time to benefit are all related to a short-run timeframe and result in inefficiencies during the implementation of an innovation. These factors and the mechanisms by which they influence the cost-effectiveness outcome are explained for three different types of healthcare innovations.Results: As standard cost-effectiveness analysis assumes costs and effects to behave constant and representative for an innovation's entire economic lifetime, resulting cost-effectiveness outcomes might give a biased, and often overly pessimistic, reflection of the actual cost-effectiveness of an innovation. This is further amplified by the fact that short-run inefficiencies are most prevalent and impactful during an innovation's earliest stage of operation.Conclusions: This study advocates to carefully take into account the different factors contributing to lag-time bias in the design and analysis of cost-effectiveness studies, and to communicate potential biases due to short-run inefficiencies to all stakeholders involved in the decision making process.
DEVELOPING A PRIORITIZED LIST OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: THE SPANISH EXPERIENCE
Authors: Varela-Lema Leonor , De La Fuente-Cid Ramón , López-García Marisa 
Published: March 2015

Objectives: Selecting technologies for formal assessment poses a great challenge to health technology assessment agencies. This study aims to contribute to the creation of a reference framework for the identification, filtering, and prioritization of new and emerging technologies which could be demanded in clinical practice within the next 1–2 years.Methods: Technologies were identified using a prevalidated systematic Medline strategy. They were classified by medical specialty and then sent to selected professionals belonging to the medical units or areas responsible for their application, until there was a minimum of three participants per health care setting. A self-administered questionnaire was drawn up and health professionals were asked to: (1) assess the degree of innovation of the technologies, and (11) score their foreseeable clinical impact on the basis of predefined prioritization criteria (n = 4). Intra-rater reliability was analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).Results: The Medline search yielded 246 potentially relevant technologies. When analyzed by health care area or unit, sixty-eight were deemed to be high-impact innovative technologies (median score >6), with ICCs ranging from 0.03 to 0.83. The final list resulting from the aggregate analysis comprised fifty-one technologies.Conclusions: This study constitutes an innovative contribution to horizon scanning, providing a systematic and reproducible basis for the identification and selection of relevant new and emerging technologies based on the views and values of health professionals involved in their use. In our opinion, the current proposal could be helpful and useful to many other organizations worldwide, serving to complement already existing strategies.
Prospective Memory Impairment in Chronic Heart Failure
Authors: Habota Tina , McLennan Skye N. , Cameron Jan , Henry Julie D. , Ski Chantal F. , Thompson David R. , Rendell Peter G. 
Published: March 2015

AbstractAlthough cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), no study to date has investigated whether these deficits extend to the capacity to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM). This is a surprising omission given the critical role PM plays in correctly implementing many important CHF self-care behaviors. The present study aimed to provide the first empirical assessment of PM function in people with CHF. The key dependent measure was a laboratory measure of PM that closely simulates PM tasks in daily life – Virtual Week. A group comparison design was used, with 30 CHF patients compared to 30 demographically matched controls. Background measures assessing executive functions, working memory, and verbal memory were also administered. The CHF group exhibited significant PM impairment, with difficulties generalizing across different types of PM tasks (event, time, regular, irregular). The CHF group also had moderate deficits on several of the background cognitive measures. Given the level of impairment remained consistent even on tasks that imposed minimal demands on memory for task content, CHF-related difficulties most likely reflects problems with the prospective component. However, exploratory analyses suggest that difficulties with retrospective memory and global cognition (but not executive control), also contribute to the PM difficulties seen in this group. The implications of these data are discussed, and in particular, it is argued that problems with PM may help explain why patient engagement in CHF self-care behaviors is often poor. (JINS, 2015,21, 1–10)
Learning from disaster: community-based marine protected areas in Fiji
Authors: Takasaki Yoshito 
Published: March 2015

AbstractThis paper examines whether and how experiencing climate-related disasters can improve the rural poor's adaptation to climate change through community-based resource management. Original household survey data in Fiji capture the establishment of community-based marine protected areas following a tropical cyclone. Controlling for the endogeneity of household-level cyclone damage reveals that a household's exposure to the disaster increases its support for establishing marine protected areas, presumably for future safety nets. Evidence suggests that community members' social learning from disaster experience might facilitate their consensual decision making.
Worth Shopping Around? Defending Regulatory Autonomy under the SPS and TBT Agreements
Authors: DOWNES CHRIS 
Published: March 2015

AbstractWith its stringent requirements for scientific evidence, the SPS Agreement is commonly considered a greater constraint on WTO Members' regulatory autonomy than the TBT Agreement. It is consequently feared that Members may ‘forum shop’ by reconstructing SPS measures as TBT regulations and hereby circumvent WTO obligations. This article revisits these assumptions in the light of recent TBT jurisprudence and explores the respective challenges of defending policy preferences under the two technical regimes. It argues that in some respects – the characterization of a measure and the chosen level of protection – the SPS Agreement provides a securer basis for Members to defend regulatory choices. While evidential burdens are more explicitly demanding under SPS rules, the challenge of justifying a TBT measure's rationality should not be understated. In light of these reflections, this article concludes that ‘forum shopping’ is an unpromising strategy for protecting controversial SPS measures.
Financial literacy and retirement planning in chile
Authors: GARABATO MOURE NATALIA 
Published: March 2015

AbstractThis paper studies the relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning in Chile, a country with mandatory defined contribution pension plans at the core of its retirement policy. Using a novel dataset, we find that very few Chileans are planning for their retirement and that the levels of financial literacy are remarkably low with only 47% of the population understand compound interest and only 18% understand the concept of inflation. We also find a positive and significant relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning suggesting that investments in financial education could have a substantial impact on the way people think about retirement and therefore on their ability to reach retirement with adequate resources.
The impact of participation in employment-based retirement savings plans on material hardship
Authors: HEIM BRADLEY T. , RAMNATH SHANTHI P. 
Published: March 2015

AbstractTo contribute to a retirement plan (barring an increase in income), an individual must either reduce consumption or increase debt. Using data from the 2004 wave of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine the extent to which contributing to 401(k)-type accounts leads to an increase in short-term financial difficulties, particularly among low-income individuals. After instrumenting for plan take-up, we find that contributing to a 401(k) plan appears to have a small positive impact on the presence of any material hardship and debt holding among the lowest income quintiles, though that effect diminishes further up the income distribution.
Making governance work in the health care sector: evidence from a ‘natural experiment’ in Italy
Authors: Nuti Sabina , Vola Federico , Bonini Anna , Vainieri Milena 
Published: March 2015

AbstractThe Italian Health care System provides universal coverage for comprehensive health services and is mainly financed through general taxation. Since the early 1990s, a strong decentralization policy has been adopted in Italy and the state has gradually ceded its jurisdiction to regional governments, of which there are twenty. These regions now have political, administrative, fiscal and organizational responsibility for the provision of health care. This paper examines the different governance models that the regions have adopted and investigates the performance evaluation systems (PESs) associated with them, focusing on the experience of a network of ten regional governments that share the same PES. The article draws on the wide range of governance models and PESs in order to design a natural experiment. Through an analysis of 14 indicators measured in 2007 and in 2012 for all the regions, the study examines how different performance evaluation models are associated with different health care performances and whether the network-shared PES has made any difference to the results achieved by the regions involved. The initial results support the idea that systematic benchmarking and public disclosure of data are powerful tools to guarantee the balanced and sustained improvement of the health care systems, but only if they are integrated with the regional governance mechanisms.
EVIDENTIAL SUPPORT, TRANSITIVITY, AND SCREENING-OFF
Authors: ROCHE WILLIAM 
Published: March 2015

AbstractIs evidential support transitive? The answer is negative when evidential support is understood as confirmation so thatXevidentially supportsYif and only ifp(Y | X) >p(Y). I call evidential support so understood “support” (for short) and set out three alternative ways of understanding evidential support: support-t(support plus a sufficiently high probability), support-t*(support plus a substantial degree of support), and support-tt*(support plus both a sufficiently high probability and a substantial degree of support). I also set out two screening-off conditions (under which support is transitive): SOC1 and SOC2. It has already been shown that support-tis non-transitive in the general case (where it is not required that SOC1 holds and it is not required that SOC2 holds), in the special case where SOC1 holds, and in the special case where SOC2 holds. I introduce two rather weak adequacy conditions on support measures and argue that on any support measure meeting those conditions it follows that neither support-t*nor support-tt*is transitive in the general case, in the special case where SOC1 holds, or in the special case where SOC2 holds. I then relate some of the results to Douven’s evidential support theory of conditionals along with a few rival theories.
Care for victims of sexual violence, an organization pushed to its limits: The case of Médecins Sans Frontières
Authors: Duroch Françoise , Schulte-Hillen Catrin 
Published: March 2015

AbstractOver the past ten years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided medical care to almost 118,000 victims of sexual violence. Integrating related care into MSF general assistance to populations affected by crisis and conflicts has presented a considerable institutional struggle and continues to be a challenge. Tensions regarding the role of MSF in providing care to victims of sexual violence and when facing the multiple challenges inherent in dealing with this crime persist. An overview of MSF's experience and related reflection aims to share with the reader, on the one hand, the complexity of the issue, and on the other, the need to continue fighting for the provision of adequate medical care for victims of sexual violence, which despite the limitations is feasible.
Assistance, direction and control: Untangling international judicial opinion on individual and State responsibility for war crimes by non-State actors
Authors: Darcy Shane 
Published: March 2015

AbstractDespite the general consistency in the treatment of international humanitarian law by international courts and tribunals, recent decisions have seen significant disagreement regarding the scope of indirect responsibility for individuals and States for the provision of aid or assistance to non-State actors that perpetrate war crimes. The divisions at the international criminal tribunals with regard to the “specific direction” element of aiding and abetting are reminiscent of the divergence between the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on the question of State responsibility for supporting or assisting non-State actors that engage in violations of international law. This article analyzes this jurisprudence on individual and State responsibility for the provision of support to non-State actors that breach international humanitarian law, and considers the interaction and interrelationship between these related but distinct forms of responsibility.
Examination about the Effects of Future Career Choice on Time Perspective in Japanese High School Students
Authors: Tsuzuki Manabu 
Published: March 2015

AbstractThis study investigated types of career choice in high school students and examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of 2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p< .01), for example junior college or vocational school in comparison to boys. Career indecision, i.e. students who could not set a concrete future career in high school, had significantly more negative time perspective than other groups (p< .05), which was caused by a deficiency of their basic cognitive ability. Longitudinal data showed different patterns of fluctuation in time perspective between “school to school transition” and “school to work transition”. It is suggested that the “school to work transition” tends to be more critical for adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time perspectives during the graduation transition.
Cmr1/WDR76 defines a nuclear genotoxic stress body linking genome integrity and protein quality control
Authors: Gallina Irene , Colding Camilla , Henriksen Peter , Beli Petra , Nakamura Kyosuke , Offman Judith , Mathiasen David P. , Silva Sonia , Hoffmann Eva , Groth Anja , Choudhary Chunaram , Lisby Michael 
Published: March 2015

AbstractDNA replication stress is a source of genomic instability. Here we identify changed mutation rate 1 (Cmr1) as a factor involved in the response to DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and show that Cmr1—together with Mrc1/Claspin, Pph3, the chaperonin containing TCP1 (CCT) and 25 other proteins—define a novel intranuclear quality control compartment (INQ) that sequesters misfolded, ubiquitylated and sumoylated proteins in response to genotoxic stress. The diversity of proteins that localize to INQ indicates that other biological processes such as cell cycle progression, chromatin and mitotic spindle organization may also be regulated through INQ. Similar to Cmr1, its human orthologue WDR76 responds to proteasome inhibition and DNA damage by relocalizing to nuclear foci and physically associating with CCT, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved biological function. We propose that Cmr1/WDR76 plays a role in the recovery from genotoxic stress through regulation of the turnover of sumoylated and phosphorylated proteins.
An allosteric photoredox catalyst inspired by photosynthetic machinery
Authors: Lifschitz Alejo M. , Young Ryan M. , Mendez-Arroyo Jose , Stern Charlotte L. , McGuirk C. Michael , Wasielewski Michael R. , Mirkin Chad A. 
Published: March 2015

AbstractBiological photosynthetic machinery allosterically regulate light harvesting via conformational and electronic changes at the antenna protein complexes as a response to specific chemical inputs. Fundamental limitations in current approaches to regulating inorganic light-harvesting mimics prevent their use in catalysis. Here we show that a light-harvesting antenna/reaction centre mimic can be regulated by utilizing a coordination framework incorporating antenna hemilabile ligands and assembled via a high-yielding, modular approach. As in nature, allosteric regulation is afforded by coupling the conformational changes to the disruptions in the electrochemical landscape of the framework upon recognition of specific coordinating analytes. The hemilabile ligands enable switching using remarkably mild and redox-inactive inputs, allowing one to regulate the photoredox catalytic activity of the photosynthetic mimic reversibly and in situ. Thus, we demonstrate that bioinspired regulatory mechanisms can be applied to inorganic light-harvesting arrays displaying switchable catalytic properties and with potential uses in solar energy conversion and photonic devices.
Enriched environment reduces glioma growth through immune and non-immune mechanisms in mice
Authors: Garofalo Stefano , D’Alessandro Giuseppina , Chece Giuseppina , Brau Frederic , Maggi Laura , Rosa Alessandro , Porzia Alessandra , Mainiero Fabrizio , Esposito Vincenzo , Lauro Clotilde , Benigni Giorgia , Bernardini Giovanni , Santoni Angela , Limatola Cristina 
Published: March 2015

AbstractMice exposed to standard (SE) or enriched environment (EE) were transplanted with murine or human glioma cells and differences in tumour development were evaluated. We report that EE exposure affects: (i) tumour size, increasing mice survival; (ii) glioma establishment, proliferation and invasion; (iii) microglia/macrophage (M/Mφ) activation; (iv) natural killer (NK) cell infiltration and activation; and (v) cerebral levels of IL-15 and BDNF. Direct infusion of IL-15 or BDNF in the brain of mice transplanted with glioma significantly reduces tumour growth. We demonstrate that brain infusion of IL-15 increases the frequency of NK cell infiltrating the tumour and that NK cell depletion reduces the efficacy of EE and IL-15 on tumour size and of EE on mice survival. BDNF infusion reduces M/Mφ infiltration and CD68 immunoreactivity in tumour mass and reduces glioma migration inhibiting the small G protein RhoA through the truncated TrkB.T1 receptor. These results suggest alternative approaches for glioma treatment.