1,720,969 research outputs found
Development of a framework and decision tool for the evaluation of health technologies based on surrogate endpoint evidence
Full text linkIn the drive toward faster patient access to treatments, health technology assessment (HTA) agencies and payers are increasingly faced with reliance on evidence based on surrogate endpoints, increasing decision uncertainty. Despite the development of a small number of evaluation frameworks, there remains no consensus on the detailed methodology for handling surrogate endpoints in HTA practice. This research overviews the methods and findings of four empirical studies undertaken as part of COMED (Pushing the Boundaries of Cost and Outcome Analysis of Medical Technologies) program work package 2 with the aim of analyzing international HTA practice of the handling and considerations around the use of surrogate endpoint evidence. We have synthesized the findings of these empirical studies, in context of wider contemporary body of methodological and policy-related literature on surrogate endpoints, to develop a web-based decision tool to support HTA agencies and payers when faced with surrogate endpoint evidence. Our decision tool is intended for use by HTA agencies and their decision-making committees together with the wider community of HTA stakeholders (including clinicians, patient groups, and healthcare manufacturers). Having developed this tool, we will monitor its use and we welcome feedback on its utility
Efgartigimod for treating generalised myasthenia gravis: a single technology appraisal
No full textThis report is a critique of the company’s submission (CS) to NICE from argenx on the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of efgartigimod (Vyvgart®) for treating generalised myasthenia gravis (gMG). It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the CS
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Home-testing devices for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnoea syndrome: a systematic review and economic evaluation
No full textBackground: Obstructive sleep apnoea and hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) is a sleep-related breathing disorder. Diagnostic sleep studies for OSAHS are conducted overnight in clinic using oximetry, respiratory polygraphy (RP) and polysomnography (PSG). Portable novel devices have been developed to facilitate home testing. Objectives: To conduct: • a systematic review of clinical effectiveness (including diagnostic performance) of novel home-testing devices in people with suspected OSAHS. • a health economic evaluation modelling the incremental cost-effectiveness of novel home-testing devices compared to home RP or oximetry.Data sources and methods: A systematic review of clinical effectiveness was conducted based on a pre-defined protocol. Searches were conducted between 22nd - 24th May 2023, and updated on 25th September 2023. Screening, data extraction and critical appraisal was conducted by two reviewers. To be included studies (of any design) had to evaluate one or more of six novel home device products used in adults and/or children with suspected OSAHS. A structured descriptive synthesis was done. We reviewed health economic studies and developed a model to assess cost-effectiveness.Results: In adults, novel devices were compared to home RP in four studies, to hospital sleep-laboratory PSG in five studies, and home-based PSG in one study. No studies compared novel devices to home-based pulse oximetry. Sensitivity and specificity estimates vary between, and within, studies at different severity cut-offs. Sensitivity was generally high (between 80% and 100%), falling below 80% in just two studies. Specificity was more variable (between 25% and 100%), with many estimates in the 70% to 80% range. Some estimates were uncertain, and we caution making inferences about relative differences between novel devices. The percentage of test failures ranged from 0% to 18%. Limited data were available on many other outcomes. Only three studies included children and all of these were done in the clinic rather than the home setting. In the base case economic analysis, all six novel devices are less costly than RP, and slightly less effective. For the AcuPebble and Sunrise devices, the reduction in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) may be cost-effective compared to the reduction in costs (i.e. Incremental net monetary benefit (INMB) > £0 at the £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY thresholds). All six novel devices are more costly and more effective than oximetry, with incremental costs below £10,000 per QALY gained. Additional analyses highlight the extent of uncertainty.Limitations: There is uncertainty in the diagnostic test accuracy data comparing the novel devices with RP, but less uncertainty compared to oximetry. For both comparators, data from a clinic, rather than home, test setting are used, and some outcomes have not been modelled. There is insufficient evidence to assess the cost-effectiveness of novel home devices in children.Conclusions: Novel devices for home-based sleep studies in adults are a cost-effective alternative to oximetry, albeit with some uncertainty. It is difficult to assess the cost-effectiveness of the novel devices compared with RP.Future work: More research is needed on: the effectiveness of novel test devices used at home rather in clinics; trial-based designs; studies in children.<br/
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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