Systematic Review of Outcomes for Assessment of Medication Adherence Enhancing Interventions: An ISPOR Special Interest Group Report.

Objectives: The lack of universal guidance on outcome measures for evaluating medication adherence enhancing interventions (MAEIs) poses a challenge for assessing their effectiveness. This literature review aimed to provide a systematic overview of outcome measures currently used for the value assessment of MAEIs.

Methods: We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, and Academic Search Complete for randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials, prospective cohort studies, model-based economic evaluations, and value frameworks published in English between January 2010 and September 2020.

Recommendations for patient involvement in health technology assessment in Central and Eastern European countries.

Introduction: Meaningful patient involvement in health technology assessment (HTA) is essential in ensuring that the interests of the affected patient population, their families, and the general public are accurately reflected in coverage and reimbursement decisions. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are generally at less advanced stages of implementing HTA, which is particularly true for patient involvement activities. As part of the Horizon2020 HTx project, this research aimed to form recommendations for critical barriers to patient involvement in HTA in CEE countries.

Commentary: Advocating for patient and public involvement and engagement in health economic evaluation.

Background: Patient and public involvement in health economic evaluation is still relatively rare, compared to other areas of health and social care research. Developing stronger patient and public involvement in health economic evaluation will be important in the future because such evaluations can impact on the treatments and interventions that patients can access in routine care.

Main Text: The Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) is a reporting guideline for authors publishing health economic evaluations.

Framework for Patient Experience Value Elements in Rare Disease: A Case Study Demonstrating the Applicability of Combined Qualitative and Quantitative Methods.

Background And Objective: Several novel methods have been suggested to extend a conventional value assessment to capture a more comprehensive perspective of value from a patient perspective. The objective of this research was to demonstrate a framework for implementing a combined qualitative and quantitative method to elicit and prioritize patient experience value elements in rare diseases. Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder was used as a case study.

Potential Barriers of Patient Involvement in Health Technology Assessment in Central and Eastern European Countries.

Patients' perspectives are important to identify preferences, estimate values and appreciate unmet medical needs in the process of research and development and subsequent assessment of new health technologies. Patient and public involvement in health technology assessment (HTA) is essential in understanding and assessing wider implications of coverage and reimbursement decisions for patients, their relatives, caregivers, and the general population. There are two approaches to incorporating the patients' voice in HTA, preferably used in a mix.

Patient and Caregiver Experience Decision Factors in Treatment Decision Making: Results of a Systematic Literature Review of Multiple Myeloma Decision Aids.

Objectives: Decision-aids (DAs) may facilitate shared decision-making for patients and caregivers, by providing evidence-based information to assist healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers in making choices about aspects of care, and/or highlighting decision factors to discuss with the potential of altering the treatment decision. These decision factors may not be well integrated in DAs.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted in the field of multiple myeloma (MM) on peer-reviewed publications, extended with a gray literature search.

Patient and Payer Preferences for Additional Value Criteria.

Defining the value of healthcare is an elusive target, and depends heavily on the decision context and stakeholders involved. Cost-utility analysis and the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) have become the method and value definition of choice for traditional value judgements in coverage and pricing decisions. Other criteria that may influence value are often not measured and therefore omitted from value assessments, or are only used to qualitatively contextualize assessments.

Proposal for capturing patient experience through extended value frameworks of health technologies.

Inclusion of patient experience (PEx) in health technology assessment (HTA) has become increasingly important; however, no harmonized approach exists to help manufacturers or decision makers ensure PEx considerations are fair, consistent, and thorough within global HTA frameworks. To develop a proposal for including PEx in the HTA frameworks of health technologies. A systematic literature review (SLR) on existing value frameworks (VFs) was conducted to capture how PEx-related value judgment is currently considered.

Nondestructive evaluation of baking parameters on pogácsa texture.

This study aimed to investigate the potential application of image texture processing method on visible crumb structure of salty cake pogácsa, which was prepared with different baking times (5 and 7 min) and temperatures (200, 215, and 230°C). For this purpose, changes in gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features including energy, contrast, correlation, homogeneity, and entropy were monitored and their relationship with the instrumental texture parameters (hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness) were assessed. The pore ratios were also extracted and visualized using image processing technique.

Pelvic pain: What are the symptoms and predictors for surgery, endometriosis and endometriosis severity.

Background: Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a common condition which significantly impacts the quality of life and wellbeing of many women. Laparoscopy with histopathology is recommended for investigation of pelvic pain and identification of endometriosis with concurrent removal. Never-the-less, the association between endometriosis and pelvic pain is challenging, with endometriosis identified in only 30-50% of women with pain.

Potential Criteria for Frameworks to Support the Evaluation of Innovative Medicines in Upper Middle-Income Countries-A Systematic Literature Review on Value Frameworks and Multi-Criteria Decision Analyses.

Background: Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), a formal decision support framework, has been growing in popularity recently in the field of health care. MCDA can support pricing and reimbursement decisions on the macro level, which is of great importance especially in countries with more limited resources.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to facilitate the development of future MCDA frameworks, by proposing a set of criteria focusing on the purchasing decisions of single-source innovative pharmaceuticals in upper middle-income countries.

The effect of roasting on the total polyphenols and antioxidant activity of coffee.

The total polyphenolic content and the antioxidant activity have been analyzed in ground beans of green, light, medium and dark roasted coffee by UV-VIS spectrometry. Water coffee extracts showed the highest levels of polyphenols in green and light roasted coffees where the total polyphenolic content (TPC) ranged from 49.19 ± 0.

The history of the founding of Societe de Psychopathologie de L'Expression (SIPE) and the early development.

The Societe de Psychopathologie de L'Expression (SIPE) was founded in 1959 in Verona, Italy, during the International Congress on Lombroso. Robert Volmat asked us to get together for discussing the possibility of establishing a society for the research of the art of the insane. The author introduces the most important events and publications after the initiation of the research on the psychopathology of expression.

Approaching the minimal metal ion binding peptide for structural and functional metalloenzyme mimicking.

The peptides Ac-His-Pro-His-Pro-His-NH(2) (L1) and Ac-Lys-His-Pro-His-Pro-His-Gln-NH(2) (L2) have been prepared and the equilibria of their proton, copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes in aqueous solution have been studied by the combination of pH-potentiometric titrations, UV/visible and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The latter methods also provided information on solution structure of the complexes formed under different conditions. Both ligands formed complexes with three imidazole nitrogens around the metal ion at pH ~7.

[Detection of human papillomavirus infection by the nucleic acid hybridization method (a multicenter study)].

The human papillomaviruses (HPV) are regarded as one of the important agents of cervical carcinoma. A multicentre study was organized to determine the prevalence of HPV in the fertile female population in Hungary. Parallel with the clinical sample collection, a questionnaire interview was performed to acquire data on the life style, socioeconomic status, sexual practice, etc.

Cross tolerance between nitroglycerin and neural relaxation of the rabbit sphincter of Oddi.

We studied whether non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) relaxation of the rabbit sphincter of Oddi was influenced by tolerance to nitroglycerin (NG) in vitro. Sphincter of Oddi (SO) muscle rings precontracted with EC50 concentrations of cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK8) were exposed to cumulative increases in NG concentrations and tested for relaxation by measurement of isometric tension. A separate group of six rings was subjected to a preceding exposure to 275 microM nitroglycerin over 60 min to induce in vitro tolerance to nitroglycerin.

Glibenclamide sensitivity of neural relaxation of the rabbit sphincter of oddi.

In this article we studied whether the nitrergic relaxation of the rabbit sphincter was sensitive to glibenclamide. Field stimulation relaxed the sphincter of Oddi rings after incubation with atropine (1 microM) and guanethidine (4 microM) with threefold and fourfold increases in tissue guanosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate and adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate contents, respectively. These changes were blocked by 30 microM NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester.

The effect of continuous versus intermittent treatment with transdermal nitroglycerin on pacing-induced preconditioning in conscious rabbits.

1. Tolerance to the hypotensive effect of nitroglycerin (NG) blocks preconditioning induced by rapid ventricular pacing (RVP) in rabbits. In the present work the effect of continuous versus intermittent treatment with transdermal nitroglycerin on the pacing-induced preconditioning phenomenon was studied in conscious rabbits.

Impaired nitrergic relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi of hyperlipidaemic rabbits.

Field stimulation relaxed the sphincter of Oddi muscle rings of the rabbit after incubation with phentolamine, oxprenolol and atropine (all 1 microM). The relaxation was blocked by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (30 microM) and was reversed by 3 mM L-arginine but not D-arginine. Sphincter of Oddi preparations from hypercholesterolaemic rabbits exhibited contractions under the same conditions.

Loss of preconditioning in rabbits with vascular tolerance to nitroglycerin.

A preceding right ventricular overdrive pacing (VOP) of 500 b.p.m.

Ventricular overdrive pacing-induced anti-ischemic effect: a conscious rabbit model of preconditioning.

To study whether ventricular overdrive pacing (VOP) induces preconditioning, rabbits were equipped with right ventricular electrode catheters for pacing and intracavital recording and polyethylene cannulas in the left ventricle and right carotid artery to measure intraventricular pressure and blood pressure. One week after surgery in conscious animals, VOP at 500 beats/min over 2, 5, or 10 min resulted in an intracavital S-T segment elevation, shortening of ventricular effective refractory period, decrease in maximum rate of pressure development and blood pressure, and increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure proportional to the duration of stimulation. A 5-min preconditioning VOP applied 5 or 30 min before a 10-min VOP markedly attenuated ischemic changes, whereas a 2-min VOP had no effect.

Regional differences in nitric oxide-mediated relaxation of the rabbit sphincter of Oddi.

We studied the role of the L-arginine-nitric oxide (NO) pathway in non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic (NANC) relaxation of the rabbit sphincter of Oddi by recording changes in isometric tension in response to electrical field stimulation in two series of experiments. In a first set of experiments, biliary sphincters of Oddi removed from New Zealand white rabbits were placed horizontally in an organ bath containing oxygenized, buffered (pH 7.4) Krebs solution.

Cromakalim and cicletanine against pacing-induced myocardial ischemia in conscious rabbits.

Myocardial ischemia assessed by intracavital ST-segment elevation, shortening of ventricular effective refractory period (VERP), and increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was provoked by ventricular overdrive pacing (VOP) in conscious rabbits. Cromakalim (10 micrograms/kg), an ATP-sensitive K+ channel opener, and cicletanine (30 mg/kg), a cGMP-phosphodiesterase inhibitor, reduced VOP-induced ST-segment elevation and LVEDP-increase. Under resting conditions, cromakalim lowered blood pressure, increased heart rate (HR), and shortened VERP, whereas cicletanine decreased HR, prolonged VERP without changing blood pressure.

Cicletanine attenuates overdrive pacing-induced global myocardial ischemia in rabbits: possible role of cardiac cyclic nucleotides.

Background: This study examined whether cicletanine, an antihypertensive drug with cGMP phosphodiesterase inhibitory effect, could alleviate ventricular overdrive pacing-induced myocardial ischemia in chronically instrumented rabbits.

Methods: An electrode-catheter implanted into the right ventricle was used for pacing (500 bpm over 5 min) and for measuring intracavital ST-segment elevation and ventricular effective refractory period (VERP). PQ and QT intervals were measured in the chest-lead ECG, and dP/dtmax as well as left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) were recorded through a left intraventricular catheter.

Zaprinast, cicletanine, and verapamil attenuate overdrive pacing-induced myocardial ischemia in conscious rabbits.

In conscious rabbits equipped with right ventricular electrode and left ventricular polyethylene catheters, zaprinast and cicletanine, inhibitors of phosphodiesterase (PDE) V and PDEs I and V, respectively, as well as verapamil, a Ca2+ channel blocker, decreased intracavital ST-segment elevation induced by ventricular overdrive pacing (VOP). Zaprinast and cicletanine attenuated VOP-induced QT reduction and increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), whereas verapamil increased LVEDP. These results suggest that inhibition of cGMP-PDEs can protect heart against ischemia.