Guaranteeing the safety performance of chemical process units is the premise for the safety production of chemical enterprises.Only to have the system safety management of the whole life cycle of the process units can...Guaranteeing the safety performance of chemical process units is the premise for the safety production of chemical enterprises.Only to have the system safety management of the whole life cycle of the process units can operate the process systems under the state of controllable risk.展开更多
<strong>Introduction:</strong><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> To evaluate the clinical effectiven...<strong>Introduction:</strong><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Gla-300 units/mL (Gla-300) in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) uncontrolled by basal insulin in real-life clinical settings in the Czech Republic (TOPAZ study). </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Methods:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> TOPAZ was a prospective, multi-center, non-interventional, 6-month study. Of the 312 patients screened, 289 were evaluated at month 6. The primary objective was the change of HbA1c after 6 months. The proportion of patients with HbA1c < 7.0% DCCT (< 53 mmol/mol), and those with a decrease of at least 0.5% of HbA1c at month 6, change in FPG, body weight and insulin dose at month 3 and 6 were analysed as secondary objectives. Incidence of hypoglycemia, adverse events and patient treatment satisfaction were also assessed. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> HbA1c decreased significantly after 6 months (mean change 0.9% ± 1.1% DCCT [</span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">−</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">9.9 ± 11.6 mmol/mol], p < 0.0001). HbA1c target < 7.0% DCCT was achieved in 17.6% of patients, 66.1% of patients showed mean HbA1c decrease of 0.5% ± 0.8%. At month 6, FPG decreased (mean change from baseline </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">−</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">1.8 ± 3.1 mmol/L) as well as the incidence of hypoglycemia decreased by 49% (p <</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> 0.0001) while no weight gain was observed. No significant safety signals were ident</span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ified. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusion:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> In a real-life setting, switching to Gla-300 in T2DM patients uncontrolled with other basal insulin was associated with improved glycemic control and reduced risk of hypoglycemia without weight gain, while patients’ satisfaction with treatment increased.</span></span></span></span>展开更多
<strong>Background:</strong> In Greece, the provision of mental health services is limited to people residing in rural and remote areas. The operation of Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs) has been introdu...<strong>Background:</strong> In Greece, the provision of mental health services is limited to people residing in rural and remote areas. The operation of Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs) has been introduced in the Cyclades islands. It is an innovative policy intervention that has been shown to be effective and efficient internationally. <strong>Objective:</strong> The aim was to evaluate the operation of MMHUs in the Cyclades islands based on real-world evidence (RWE), from a societal perspective. <strong>Methods: </strong>A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed where outcomes and costs were elaborated and classified based on two comparators, 1) with MMHUs’ operation and 2) without MMHUs’ operation. Clinical primary outcomes were based on RWE data and were elaborated for the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) values calculation, for a 12 months’ time horizon. Data descriptive statistics were performed with SPSS Statistics 22.0. Direct medical, non-medical and indirect costs were incorporated. Unit costs and monetary values were extracted from published data. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken to test the robustness of the results. <strong>Results:</strong> The operation of MMHUs in the Cyclades islands led to an incremental cost of €12,250.78 per DALY averted. A substantial higher increase is observed in the direct non-medical costs of the non-MMHUs’ operation where patients had to pay approximately €2,602 per capita annually for their transportation and accommodation due to hospitalization and outpatient care. Informal care expenses are 3 fold increasing in the non-MMHUs’ operation arm. Both direct non-medical and informal care costs correspond to high out of pocket payments totally covered by the patients. The sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the decision does not change when we varied the unit costs by ±10%. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> The operation of MMHUs appears to be a cost-effective option for treating patients with mental disorders in remote areas and islands in Greece. MMHUs appear to overcome the existing NHS structural inefficiencies by minimizing public expenditures and patients’ income losses by preventing and improving their mental health status.展开更多
Accelerated life testing(ALT)has been widely used to obtain information about the product's life characteristics at normal conditions in a relatively short period of time.Two key issues with ALT are test design an...Accelerated life testing(ALT)has been widely used to obtain information about the product's life characteristics at normal conditions in a relatively short period of time.Two key issues with ALT are test design and data analysis.The test design of constant stress ALT was studied in this paper.The test design usually combines engineering experiences with optimization models.Such approaches are hard to be implemented by practitioners.A"pure"empirical approach was presented to address this issue.With the proposed approach,some of the decision variables are determined based on the results from the literature,some of the other variables are determined based on engineering analysis and /or judgment,and the remaining variables are determined based on the empirical relations developed in this paper.A real-world example is included to illustrate the appropriateness of the proposed approach.展开更多
To categorize the nations to reflect the development status, to date, there are many conceptual frameworks. The Human Development index (HDI) that is published by the United Nations Development Programme is widely acc...To categorize the nations to reflect the development status, to date, there are many conceptual frameworks. The Human Development index (HDI) that is published by the United Nations Development Programme is widely accepted and practiced by many people such as academicians, politicians, and donor organizations. However, though the development of HDI has gone through many revisions since its formulation in 1990, even the current version of the index formulation published in 2016 needs research to better understand and to gap-fill the knowledge base that can enhance the index formulation to facilitate the direction of attention such as release of funds. Therefore, in this paper, based on principal component analysis and K-means clustering algorithm, the data that reflect the measures of life expectancy index (LEI), education index (EI), and income index (II) are analyzed to categorize and to rank the member states of the UN using R statistical software package, an open source extensible programming language for statistical computing and graphics. The outcome of the study shows that the proportion of total eigen value (i.e., proportion of total variance) explained by PCA-1 (i.e., first principal component) accounts for more than 85% of the total variation. Moreover, the proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 increases with time (i.e., yearly) though the amount of increase with time is not significant. However, the proportions of total eigen value explained by PCA-2 and PCA-3 decrease with time. Therefore, the loss of information in choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables (i.e., LEI, EI, and II) may diminish with time if the trend of increasing pattern of proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 with time continues in the future as well. On the other hand, the correlation between EI and PCA-1 increases with time although the magnitude of increase is not that significant. This same trend is observed in II as well. However, in contrast to these observations, the correlation between PCA-1 and LEI decreases with time. These findings imply that the contributions of EI and II to PCA-1 increase with time, but the contribution of LEI to PCA-1 decreases with time. On top of these, as per Hopkins statistic, the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA-1 alone is far better than the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA scores (i.e., PCA-1, PCA-2, and PCA-3) and the explanatory variables. Therefore, choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables is becoming more concrete.展开更多
文摘Guaranteeing the safety performance of chemical process units is the premise for the safety production of chemical enterprises.Only to have the system safety management of the whole life cycle of the process units can operate the process systems under the state of controllable risk.
文摘<strong>Introduction:</strong><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Gla-300 units/mL (Gla-300) in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) uncontrolled by basal insulin in real-life clinical settings in the Czech Republic (TOPAZ study). </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Methods:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> TOPAZ was a prospective, multi-center, non-interventional, 6-month study. Of the 312 patients screened, 289 were evaluated at month 6. The primary objective was the change of HbA1c after 6 months. The proportion of patients with HbA1c < 7.0% DCCT (< 53 mmol/mol), and those with a decrease of at least 0.5% of HbA1c at month 6, change in FPG, body weight and insulin dose at month 3 and 6 were analysed as secondary objectives. Incidence of hypoglycemia, adverse events and patient treatment satisfaction were also assessed. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Results:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> HbA1c decreased significantly after 6 months (mean change 0.9% ± 1.1% DCCT [</span></span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">−</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">9.9 ± 11.6 mmol/mol], p < 0.0001). HbA1c target < 7.0% DCCT was achieved in 17.6% of patients, 66.1% of patients showed mean HbA1c decrease of 0.5% ± 0.8%. At month 6, FPG decreased (mean change from baseline </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">−</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;">1.8 ± 3.1 mmol/L) as well as the incidence of hypoglycemia decreased by 49% (p <</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> 0.0001) while no weight gain was observed. No significant safety signals were ident</span></span></span><span><span><span style="font-family:;" "=""><span style="font-family:Verdana;">ified. </span><b><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Conclusion:</span></b><span style="font-family:Verdana;"> In a real-life setting, switching to Gla-300 in T2DM patients uncontrolled with other basal insulin was associated with improved glycemic control and reduced risk of hypoglycemia without weight gain, while patients’ satisfaction with treatment increased.</span></span></span></span>
文摘<strong>Background:</strong> In Greece, the provision of mental health services is limited to people residing in rural and remote areas. The operation of Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs) has been introduced in the Cyclades islands. It is an innovative policy intervention that has been shown to be effective and efficient internationally. <strong>Objective:</strong> The aim was to evaluate the operation of MMHUs in the Cyclades islands based on real-world evidence (RWE), from a societal perspective. <strong>Methods: </strong>A cost-effectiveness analysis was performed where outcomes and costs were elaborated and classified based on two comparators, 1) with MMHUs’ operation and 2) without MMHUs’ operation. Clinical primary outcomes were based on RWE data and were elaborated for the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) values calculation, for a 12 months’ time horizon. Data descriptive statistics were performed with SPSS Statistics 22.0. Direct medical, non-medical and indirect costs were incorporated. Unit costs and monetary values were extracted from published data. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken to test the robustness of the results. <strong>Results:</strong> The operation of MMHUs in the Cyclades islands led to an incremental cost of €12,250.78 per DALY averted. A substantial higher increase is observed in the direct non-medical costs of the non-MMHUs’ operation where patients had to pay approximately €2,602 per capita annually for their transportation and accommodation due to hospitalization and outpatient care. Informal care expenses are 3 fold increasing in the non-MMHUs’ operation arm. Both direct non-medical and informal care costs correspond to high out of pocket payments totally covered by the patients. The sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the decision does not change when we varied the unit costs by ±10%. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> The operation of MMHUs appears to be a cost-effective option for treating patients with mental disorders in remote areas and islands in Greece. MMHUs appear to overcome the existing NHS structural inefficiencies by minimizing public expenditures and patients’ income losses by preventing and improving their mental health status.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.71371035)
文摘Accelerated life testing(ALT)has been widely used to obtain information about the product's life characteristics at normal conditions in a relatively short period of time.Two key issues with ALT are test design and data analysis.The test design of constant stress ALT was studied in this paper.The test design usually combines engineering experiences with optimization models.Such approaches are hard to be implemented by practitioners.A"pure"empirical approach was presented to address this issue.With the proposed approach,some of the decision variables are determined based on the results from the literature,some of the other variables are determined based on engineering analysis and /or judgment,and the remaining variables are determined based on the empirical relations developed in this paper.A real-world example is included to illustrate the appropriateness of the proposed approach.
文摘To categorize the nations to reflect the development status, to date, there are many conceptual frameworks. The Human Development index (HDI) that is published by the United Nations Development Programme is widely accepted and practiced by many people such as academicians, politicians, and donor organizations. However, though the development of HDI has gone through many revisions since its formulation in 1990, even the current version of the index formulation published in 2016 needs research to better understand and to gap-fill the knowledge base that can enhance the index formulation to facilitate the direction of attention such as release of funds. Therefore, in this paper, based on principal component analysis and K-means clustering algorithm, the data that reflect the measures of life expectancy index (LEI), education index (EI), and income index (II) are analyzed to categorize and to rank the member states of the UN using R statistical software package, an open source extensible programming language for statistical computing and graphics. The outcome of the study shows that the proportion of total eigen value (i.e., proportion of total variance) explained by PCA-1 (i.e., first principal component) accounts for more than 85% of the total variation. Moreover, the proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 increases with time (i.e., yearly) though the amount of increase with time is not significant. However, the proportions of total eigen value explained by PCA-2 and PCA-3 decrease with time. Therefore, the loss of information in choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables (i.e., LEI, EI, and II) may diminish with time if the trend of increasing pattern of proportion of total eigen value explained by PCA-1 with time continues in the future as well. On the other hand, the correlation between EI and PCA-1 increases with time although the magnitude of increase is not that significant. This same trend is observed in II as well. However, in contrast to these observations, the correlation between PCA-1 and LEI decreases with time. These findings imply that the contributions of EI and II to PCA-1 increase with time, but the contribution of LEI to PCA-1 decreases with time. On top of these, as per Hopkins statistic, the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA-1 alone is far better than the clusterability of the information conveyed by PCA scores (i.e., PCA-1, PCA-2, and PCA-3) and the explanatory variables. Therefore, choosing PCA-1 to represent the chosen explanatory variables is becoming more concrete.