Comparing clotting factors attributes across different methods of preference elicitation in haemophilia patients.

Introduction: Emerging, systematic approaches for capturing patient input, such as preference elicitation, can provide valuable information for the benefit-risk assessment of medical products for treating bleeding disorders, such as haemophilia.

Aim: This study aims to identify existing and develop new methods to capture, rank and summarize preference scores for clotting factor therapies.

Methods: Haemophilia patient preference data were compiled from studies identified through literature review and publicly available US FDA patient-focused drug development meeting documents.

Stable isotope data (oxygen-18 and deuterium) from surveys of lakes, wetlands, rivers, and input waters across the South Athabasca Oil Sands region, Alberta, 2007-2009.

Oxygen-18 and deuterium analyses of water samples are provided from a regional survey of lakes, wetlands, soil waters, groundwaters, and snowpack samples collected in the Southern Athabasca Oil Sands (SAOS) region, Alberta, Canada, mainly during 2007-2009. Lake, wetland, and river sampling were conducted by helicopter during late summer, capturing conditions close to peak evaporative enrichment. Shallow soil water from the unsaturated zone was also collected in late summer, whereas deeper groundwaters from Quaternary aquifers, Quaternary channels, and uppermost Cretaceous strata, were collected primarily as part of winter drilling programs by industrial partners.

Advancing the science of patient input throughout the regulatory decision-making process.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) understands the value of patient input in the regulatory decision-making process and has worked to enhance meaningful engagement. In recent years, there has been an increased scientific demand for more systematic and quantitative approaches to incorporate patient input throughout the medical product lifecycle, including to inform regulatory benefit-risk assessments. The use of patient preference information (PPI), elicited using established scientific methods, is a promising strategy for accomplishing this.

Perchlorate in Lake Water from an Operating Diamond Mine.

Mining-related perchlorate [ClO4(-)] in the receiving environment was investigated at the operating open-pit and underground Diavik diamond mine, Northwest Territories, Canada. Samples were collected over four years and ClO4(-) was measured in various mine waters, the 560 km(2) ultraoligotrophic receiving lake, background lake water and snow distal from the mine. Groundwaters from the underground mine had variable ClO4(-) concentrations, up to 157 μg L(-1), and were typically an order of magnitude higher than concentrations in combined mine waters prior to treatment and discharge to the lake.

Fate and transport of oil sand process-affected water into the underlying clay till: a field study.

The South Tailings Pond (STP) is a ~2300-ha tailing pond operated by Suncor Energy Inc. that has received oil sand process-affected (PA) water and mature fine tailings since 2006. The STP is underlain by a clay till, which is in turn underlain by the Wood Creek Sand Channel (WCSC).

Fate of pharmaceutical and trace organic compounds in three septic system plumes, Ontario, Canada.

Three high volume septic systems in Ontario, Canada, were examined to assess the potential for onsite wastewatertreatment systems to release pharmaceutical compounds to the environment and to evaluate the mobility of these compounds in receiving aquifers. Wastewater samples were collected from the septic tanks, and groundwater samples were collected below and down gradient of the infiltration beds and analyzed for a suite of commonly used pharmaceutical and trace organic compounds. The septic tank samples contained elevated concentrations of several pharmaceutical compounds.

Early discontinuation of treatment for osteoporosis.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with early treatment discontinuation of three agents commonly prescribed for women with low bone density.

Methods: A telephone survey was conducted in 2000 to 2001 in a random sample of women aged 45 years or older who had bone density T-scores -1.0 or lower and who had initiated treatment with hormone replacement therapy, raloxifene, oral endronate.

Impact of hip and vertebral fractures on quality-adjusted life years.

The objective of the study was to estimate the impact of hip and vertebral fractures on quality of life in postmenopausal women using a preference-based health measure that is appropriate for economic evaluations and to investigate correlates of health outcome. Interviews to assess health-related quality of life, which also documented other health conditions and characteristics, were undertaken in women age 50 years and older without osteoporotic fractures compared with women with hip and/or vertebral fracture(s). Health status was characterized by self-reported physical limitations and the mental and physical component summary scores of the SF-36.

Assessing values for health: numeracy matters.

Background: Patients' values are fundamental to decision models, cost-effectiveness analyses, and pharmacoeconomic analyses. The standard methods used to assess how patients value different health states are inherently quantitative. People without strong quantitative skills (i.

Self-reported desire to improve colposcopic impressions.

Background: Women who participate in cervical cancer screening programs must have access to high quality colposcopy services when their cytology test are abnormal. The purpose of this project is to evaluate colposcopic services currently available in New Hampshire and whether colposcopy providers are willing to network to maintain and improve their colposcopic pattern recognition skills in order to improve their colposcopic correlations.

Methods: A survey was mailed to 1314 providers throughout New Hampshire.

Measuring health state preferences in women with breast hypertrophy.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the measurement of utilities, or patient preferences, to the plastic surgery community. Specifically, the study demonstrated the development and validation of a utility measure for estimating the health-related quality of life in women with breast hypertrophy. Two self-administered instruments were developed, a Wheel and a Table.

The technical performance and clinical feasibility of telecolposcopy.

Background: The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the technical performance and clinical feasibility of a telecolposcopic system through assessment of image transmission veracity, ease of office system implementation, and the patient's acceptance of the electronic image transmission.

Methods: We used a telecolposcopic system incorporating a custom software package that integrated patient history, current gynecologic status, epidemiologic risk factors, and colposcopic images for local medical documentation and transmission. Satisfaction questionnaires were developed to measure ease of implementation at the remote sites and the patients' acceptance of telecolposcopy.

Has the impact of hormone replacement therapy on health-related quality of life been undervalued?

Previous economic evaluations of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have restricted positive effects to alleviation of postmenopausal symptoms and negative effects to drug side effects. We studied the association between HRT use and postmenopausal women's valuation of both health-related quality of life and potential treatment side effects. Postmenopausal women with either a documented first vertebral fracture within the past 5 years or no history of osteoporotic fractures were recruited from Olmsted County, Minnesota, and from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire to participate in a study to assess quality of life and women's attitudes toward osteoporosis prevention.

Health-related quality of life in economic evaluations for osteoporosis: whose values should we use?

Objective: To determine whether the source of preference scores has an impact on the cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis interventions.

Methods: Three groups of subjects aged > or =50 years--199 women without fractures and 183 women with osteoporotic fractures-were studied at two major medical centers. Medical history and comorbidity data were obtained from review of medical records.

Floral induction in Eucalyptus nitens.

Eucalyptus nitens (Deane & Maiden) Maiden takes at least five years to initiate flower buds from seed and is an infrequent and light flowerer. Because this behavior constitutes a major impediment to breeding programs, we examined the mechanisms controlling floral induction in E. nitens, with the long-term aim of reducing generation time and increasing seed yield.