Advancing hospital-based health technology assessment: evaluating genomic panel contracting strategies for blood tumors through a multimethodology.

Introduction: The adoption of genomic technologies in the context of hospital-based health technology assessment presents multiple practical and organizational challenges.

Objective: This study aimed to assist the Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil (IPO Lisboa) decision makers in analyzing which acute myeloid leukemia (AML) genomic panel contracting strategies had the highest value-for-money.

Methods: A tailored, three-step approach was developed, which included: mapping clinical pathways of AML patients, building a multicriteria value model using the MACBETH approach to evaluate each genomic testing contracting strategy, and estimating the cost of each strategy through Monte Carlo simulation modeling.

Which value aspects are relevant for the evaluation of medical devices? Exploring stakeholders' views through a Web-Delphi process.

Background: Implementation and uptake of health technology assessment for evaluating medical devices require including aspects that different stakeholders consider relevant, beyond cost and effectiveness. However, the involvement of stakeholders in sharing their views still needs to be improved.

Objective: This article explores the relevance of distinct value aspects for evaluating different types of medical devices according to stakeholders' views.

ANIPHI: An innovative pedagogical platform based on the Delphi method to support animal welfare teaching.

As a teaching subject, animal welfare is challenging for educators and learners, as was recently shown in a recent survey on the evolution of animal welfare teaching in Europe. Among several suggestions to overcome the current resistance to implementing animal welfare education, we highlight two. The first is that animal welfare education should be based on learner-centred approaches; the second is that it should encompass both animal welfare science and ethics and law.

Evaluation of Inter-Observer Reliability of Animal Welfare Indicators: Which Is the Best Index to Use?

This study focuses on the problem of assessing inter-observer reliability (IOR) in the case of dichotomous categorical animal-based welfare indicators and the presence of two observers. Based on observations obtained from Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project surveys conducted on nine dairy goat farms, and using udder asymmetry as an indicator, we compared the performance of the most popular agreement indexes available in the literature: Scott's π, Cohen's k, kPABAK, Holsti's H, Krippendorff's α, Hubert's Γ, Janson and Vegelius' J, Bangdiwala's B, Andrés and Marzo's ∆, and Gwet's γ(AC1). Confidence intervals were calculated using closed formulas of variance estimates for π, k, kPABAK, H, α, Γ, J, ∆, and γ(AC1), while the bootstrap and exact bootstrap methods were used for all the indexes.

Selecting Indicators to Monitor and Assess Environmental Health in a Portuguese Urban Setting: A Participatory Approach.

Environmental health (EH) is influenced by complex interactions between health and the built and natural environments, there being little research on its specificities in urban settings. The use of suitable indicators to monitor and assess EH is fundamental in informing evidence-based interventions at the local level. A participatory approach to selecting indicators to inform the monitoring and assessment of EH in Lisbon is herein considered.

Scenarios for population health inequalities in 2030 in Europe: the EURO-HEALTHY project experience.

Background: Health inequalities have been consistently reported across and within European countries and continue to pose major challenges to policy-making. The development of scenarios regarding what could affect population health (PH) inequalities across Europe in the future is considered critical. Scenarios can help policy-makers prepare and better cope with fast evolving challenges.