QALY-type preference and willingness-to-pay among end-of-life patients with cancer treatments: a pilot study using discrete choice experiment.

Purpose: Quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) is a dominant measurement of health gain in economic evaluations for pricing drugs. However, end-of-life (EoL) patients' preference for QALY gains in life expectancy (LE) and quality of life (QoL) during different disease stages remains unknown and is seldom involved in decision-making. This study aims to measure preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) towards different types of QALY gain among EoL cancer patients.

Estimating the cost-effectiveness threshold of advanced non-small cell lung cancer in China using mean opportunity cost and contingent valuation method.

Objectives: Monetizing health has sparked controversy and has implications for pricing strategies of emerging health technologies. Medical insurance payers typically set up thresholds for quality-adjusted life years (QALY) gains based on health productivity and budget affordability, but they rarely consider patient willingness-to-pay (WTP). Our study aims to compare Chinese payer threshold and patient WTP toward QALY gain of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to inform a potential inclusion of patient WTP under more complex decision-making scenarios.

Untargeted metabolomics revealed the effect of soybean metabolites on poly(γ-glutamic acid) production in fermented natto and its metabolic pathway.

Background: Natto mucus is mainly composed of poly(γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA), which affects the sensory quality of natto and has some effective functional activities. The soybean metabolites that cause different γ-PGA contents in different fermented natto are unclear.

Results: In this study, we use untargeted metabolomics to analyze the metabolites of high-production γ-PGA natto and low-production γ-PGA natto and their fermented substrate soybean.

Vancomycin Hydrochloride Loaded Hydroxyapatite Mesoporous Microspheres with Micro/Nano Surface Structure to Increase Osteogenic Differentiation and Antibacterial Ability.

As infection induced by the implant will lead to operation failure, the implant material must be endowed with certain antibacterial properties. Hydroxyapatite (HA) mesoporous microspheres have been widely used in bone repair due to their advantages, including simple synthesis, good osteogenic properties and drug loading capacity. In this study, vancomycin hydrochloride-loaded mesoporous hydroxyapatite microspheres with micro/nanosurface structures were synthesized to increase osteogenic differentiation and antibacterial ability.