Generating first-order optical vortex beams by photonic crystal slabs.

Optical vortices, which are beams with helical wavefronts and spiral phase mismatches, have garnered considerable attention in various fields. In this study, we theoretically proposed and experimentally implemented a simple method for generating first-order optical vortices. To generate first-order vortex beams using the polarization field in the momentum space of photonic crystal slabs, topological half charges are required.

Benefits and harms of antenatal and newborn screening programmes in health economic assessments: the VALENTIA systematic review and qualitative investigation.

Background: Health economic assessments are used to determine whether the resources needed to generate net benefit from an antenatal or newborn screening programme, driven by multiple benefits and harms, are justifiable. It is not known what benefits and harms have been adopted by economic evaluations assessing these programmes and whether they omit benefits and harms considered important to relevant stakeholders.

Objectives: (1) To identify the benefits and harms adopted by health economic assessments in this area, and to assess how they have been measured and valued; (2) to identify attributes or relevance to stakeholders that ought to be considered in future economic assessments; and (3) to make recommendations about the benefits and harms that should be considered by these studies.

Coagulation and ozonation treatment of biologically treated wastewater from recycled paper pulping industry: effect on the change of organic compounds.

Recycled paper pulping wastewater (RPPW) will cause serious environmental problems due to the high loads of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and toxic components. In the present work, the degradation of DOM in the biologically treated RPPWs (cardboard wastewater (CW) and corrugated container wastewater (CCW)) by a combined coagulation and ozonation process was investigated. The optimal chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of CW reached 73.

Neonatal health care costs of very preterm babies in England: a retrospective analysis of a national birth cohort.

Objectives: Babies born between 27 and 31 weeks of gestation represent the largest group of very preterm babies requiring National Health Service (NHS) care; however, up-to-date, cost figures for the UK are not currently available. This study estimates neonatal costs to hospital discharge for this group of very preterm babies in England.

Design: Retrospective analysis of resource use data recorded within the National Neonatal Research Database.

Benefits and harms adopted by health economic assessments evaluating antenatal and newborn screening programmes in OECD countries: A systematic review of 336 articles and reports.

Background: Health economic assessments are used to determine whether the resources needed to generate net benefit from a screening programme, driven by multiple complex benefits and harms, are justifiable. We systematically identified the benefits and harms incorporated within economic assessments evaluating antenatal and newborn screening programmes.

Methods: For this systematic review and thematic analysis, we searched the published and grey literature from January 2000 to January 2021.

Methods for evaluating the benefits and harms of antenatal and newborn screening programmes adopted by health economic assessments: protocol for a systematic review.

Introduction: Complex organisational arrangements are required to deliver antenatal and newborn screening programmes. Decision-makers consider the benefits and harms of screening when reviewing the evidence about these programmes. Economic evaluations contribute one important part of this assessment process.

Economic evaluation of patient direct access to NHS physiotherapy services.

Objectives: Our aim was to undertake an economic evaluation of patient direct access to physiotherapy in the UK NHS by comparing the number of patients treated, waiting time, cost and health gain from a direct access pathway versus traditional GP-referral to NHS physiotherapy.

Design: The authors used a discrete event simulation (DES) model to represent a hypothetical GP practice of 10,000 patients. Costs were measured from the perspective of the NHS and society.

The impact of social health insurance on rural populations.

Improving health outcomes of rural populations in low- and middle-income countries represents a significant challenge. A key part of this is ensuring access to health services and protecting households from financial risk caused by unaffordable medical care. In 2003, China introduced a heavily subsidised voluntary social health insurance programme that aimed to provide 800 million rural residents with access to health services and curb medical impoverishment.

Economic evaluation of computerised interpretation of fetal heart rate during labour: a cost-consequence analysis alongside the INFANT study.

Objective: Economic evaluation of computerised decision-support software intended to assist in the interpretation of a cardiotocography (CTG) during birth.

Design: Individual patient level data from the INFANT study (an unmasked randomised controlled trial).

Setting: Maternity units in the UK and Ireland.

Optimising neonatal service provision for preterm babies born between 27 and 31 weeks gestation in England (OPTI-PREM), using national data, qualitative research and economic analysis: a study protocol.

Introduction: In England, for babies born at 23-26 weeks gestation, care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as opposed to a local neonatal unit (LNU) improves survival to discharge. This evidence is shaping neonatal health services. In contrast, there is no evidence to guide location of care for the next most vulnerable group (born at 27-31 weeks gestation) whose care is currently spread between 45 NICU and 84 LNU in England.

Impact of the Southwark and Lambeth Integrated Care Older People's Programme on hospital utilisation and costs: controlled time series and cost-consequence analysis.

Objectives: To estimate the impact on hospital utilisation and costs of a multi-faceted primary care intervention for older people identified as being at risk of avoidable hospitalisation.

Design: Observational study: controlled time series analysis and estimation of costs and cost consequences of the Programme. General practitioner (GP)'s practice level data were analysed from 2009 to 2016 (intervention operated from 2012 to 2016).

Transforming Urgent and Emergency Care and the Vanguard Initiative: Learning from Evaluation of the Southern Cluster.

Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) vanguards aim to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of UEC services so that patients receive the most appropriate care at the right time and in the right place, and so that unnecessary admissions to accident and emergency (A&E) and hospitals are reduced. The Southern Cluster comprises three such UEC vanguards. RAND Europe's evaluation examined the impacts of the vanguards, the processes underpinning delivery (and associated enablers and challenges), and implications for future policy and practice.

Understanding value in health data ecosystems: A review of current evidence and ways forward.

The potential of health data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health research and development, healthcare delivery, and health systems more widely is substantial. There are many initiatives across the EU that are experimenting with ways to capture value and address the nexus of technical, legal, ethics-related, governance and data protection-related, and cultural challenges to delivering potential benefits for society and the economy. The field of health data research and policy is highly dynamic and there is a need for further reflection, thematic learning and evaluation to better understand how to create and connect receptive places, to inform future interventions and to identify transferable lessons.

Evaluation of telephone first approach to demand management in English general practice: observational study.

 To evaluate a "telephone first" approach, in which all patients wanting to see a general practitioner (GP) are asked to speak to a GP on the phone before being given an appointment for a face to face consultation. Time series and cross sectional analysis of routine healthcare data, data from national surveys, and primary survey data. 147 general practices adopting the telephone first approach compared with a 10% random sample of other practices in England.