Influenza vaccination in healthy working adults in Russia: observational study of effectiveness and return on investment for the employer.

Background: All age groups are affected by influenza infection, resulting in significant medical and economic burden. Influenza infection of healthy working adults can have a marked effect on companies due to lost work days and reduced productivity. Studies in corporate settings have shown that vaccination programmes reduce this burden, although there is a lack of data in Eastern European countries.

Integrating chemists preferences for shape-similarity clustering of series.

This study shows how chemistry knowledge and reasoning are taken into account for building a new methodology that aims at automatically grouping data having a chronological structure. We consider combinatorial catalytic experiments where the evolution of a reaction (e.g.

Basal cell carcinomas and actinic keratoses seen in dermatological practice in France: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Most actinic keratoses (AKs) and a number of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) cannot be assessed by pathological records.

Objective: To estimate prospectively the figures and characteristics of BCCs and AKs seen by French dermatologists, their medical load, and present a more realistic approach to their incidence.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in France in a representative sample of dermatologists (n = 215).

[Therapeutic modalities and economic assessment in the treatment of superficial basal cell carcinomas and multiple actinic keratoses by French dermatologists].

Introduction: To date, no prospective studies have been conducted in France describing the management of actinic keratoses (AK) and superficial basal cell carcinomas (sBCC). The aim of the present study was to describe the therapeutic modalities for AK and sBCC adopted by French dermatologists and to determine the direct annual medical costs.

Patients And Methods: This was a prospective, observational study conducted in France between January and June 2004 in a random selection of representative dermatologists (n=202).

The real cost of rabies post-exposure treatments.

The total costs to all payers, i.e., a societal perspective, of four rabies post-exposure regimens were evaluated in two dog bite centres and four local health centres in India.

Pharmacoeconomic comparison between homeopathic and antibiotic treatment strategies in recurrent acute rhinopharyngitis in children.

Objectives: A pharmacoeconomic study to compare, in terms of: medical effectiveness, quality of life and costs two treatment strategies ('homeopathic strategy' vs 'antibiotic strategy') used in routine medical practice by allopathic and homeopathic GPs in the treatment of recurrent acute rhinopharyngitis in 18-month to 4-year-old children.

Methods: Statistical analysis of data obtained from a population of 499 patients included in a previous 6-month prospective, pragmatic study. The patients were regrouped according to type of drug prescribed.

Limitations of the methods used for calculating quality-adjusted life-year values.

Objective: To test the validity of the techniques used to calculate quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) values based on utility functions, using a real population dataset.

Design: Using the standard gamble technique, we gathered the preferences of a population sample of 189 individuals on a combination of probabilities concerning four simple health states (no physical disability, limp, walk with crutches and need a wheelchair), and three life-year spans (5, 10 and 15 years). Each of the four assumptions of the multiplicative model was tested based on the results of the experiment.

Costs of asthma are correlated with severity: a 1-yr prospective study.

Asthma prevalence is increasing and asthma-related costs are likely to increase, but few studies have analysed the relationship of asthma costs and severity. The impact of severity on costs was quantified in a cohort of 318 asthmatic patients followed up prospectively for 1 yr. Patients presenting with a broad range of severity of the disease (intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent, severe persistent) were recruited by chest physicians throughout France and treated for 1 yr according to customary clinical practice and following international guidelines.

Is short-term odour recognition predictable from odour profile?

Smelling an odour induces a pattern of sensations, images and memories which participate in identification. It was proposed that perceptual memory performances for odours could be inferred from the description of these olfactory representations. The subject was asked to elaborate an odour descriptor profile, and a short-term odour recognition memory task was chosen to test the individual perceptual memory performance.

Invasive nosocomial pulmonary aspergillosis: risk factors and hospital building works.

A retrospective epidemiological study of 22 observations of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, of which 18 were fatal, occurring over a period of 30 months, implicated certain building sites within the hospital. The building works were responsible for the diffusion into the atmosphere of fungal spores from normally closed reservoirs, notably false ceilings, fibrous thermal and/or acoustic insulation materials and roller-blind casings. The results of our study permit us to suggest that protective measures should be set up or that immunodepressed patients are evacuated when such works are to be carried out in an in-patient establishment.