Use of Cost-Effectiveness Thresholds in Healthcare Public Policy: Progress and Challenges.

The article offers a comparative analysis of the influence of cost-effectiveness thresholds in the decision-making processes in financing policies, coverage, and price regulation of health technologies in nine countries. We investigated whether countries used cost-effectiveness thresholds for public health policy decision making and found that few countries have adopted the cost-effectiveness threshold as an official criterion for financing, reimbursement, or pricing. However, in countries where it is applied, such as Thailand, the results have been very favorable in terms of minimizing health technology prices and ensuring the financial sustainability of the health system.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Pharmacological Treatment for Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients in Colombia.

Objectives: To evaluate cost-effective pharmacological treatment in adult kidney transplant recipients from the perspective of the Colombian health system.

Methods: A decision tree model for the induction phase and a Markov model for the maintenance phase were built. A review of the clinical literature was conducted to extract probabilities, and the life-years were used as the outcome.

Cost-Effectiveness of Tacrolimus Compared With Cyclosporine for Immunosuppression Therapy in Patients Who Underwent Heart Transplant in Colombia.

Objectives: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of pharmacological treatment in maintenance therapy for adult heart transplant recipients from the Colombian health system perspective.

Methods: We constructed a decision tree model with a 1-year time horizon. A review of the clinical literature was performed to extract probabilities of health events and acute rejections avoided were used as the health outcome.

Estimating cost-effectiveness thresholds under a managed healthcare system: experiences from Colombia.

Like most of the world, low- and middle-income countries have faced a growing demand for new health technologies and higher budget constraints. It is necessary to have technical instruments to make decisions based on real-world evidence that allows maximization of the population's health with a limited budget. We estimated the supply-based cost-effectiveness elasticity, which was then used to determine the cost-effectiveness threshold for the healthcare system of Colombia, a middle-income country where multiple insurers, paid under capitation rules, manage the compulsory contributions of the citizens and government subsidies.

Computational algorithms for fast-building 3D carbon nanotube models with defects.

Algorithms for generating defective carbon nanotubes have been developed and implemented in software. The algorithms were designed to create arrays of carbon atoms that form layers and interconnect. The parameters for construction were the following: Hamada indices that respond to topology (armchair, zigzag or chiral nanotubes) and diameter, the saturated or unsaturated nature of the nanotube, the length and, most importantly, the presence of defects that can be built individually or repetitively by rotating bonds, removing atoms, or adding additional carbon atoms.

Occurrence of Hepatozoon sp. in dogs in the urban area originating from a municipality in southeastern Brazil.

The occurrence of Hepatozoon sp. infection in dogs was evaluated in the urban area of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study involved 300 animals, 120 from the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 80 from private clinics, and 100 from the Animal Protective Association (APA).