Health technology assessment with risk aversion in health

Standard cost-effectiveness models compare incremental cost increases to incremental average gains in health, commonly expressed in Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Our research generalizes earlier models in several ways. We introduce risk aversion in Quality of Life (QoL), which leads to “willingness-to-pay” thresholds that rise with illness severity, potentially by an order of magnitude. Unlike traditional CEA analyses, which discriminate against persons with disabilities, our analysis implies that the marginal value of improving QoL rises for disabled individuals. Our model can also value the uncertain benefits of medical interventions by employing well-established analytic methods from finance. Finally, we show that traditional QALYs no longer serve as a single index of health, when consumers are risk-averse. To address this problem, we derive a generalized single-index of health outcomes—the Generalized Risk-Adjusted QALY (GRA-QALY). Earlier models of CEA that abstract from risk-aversion nest as special cases of our more general model.     

Developing a Brief Neuropsychological Battery for Early Diagnosis of Cognitive Impairment

ObjectivesEarly diagnosis of cognitive impairment is increasingly emphasized in the literature to facilitate timely preventive interventions. Although bedside cognitive tests such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are widely used for such early diagnostic purposes, they may not have comparable performance to a full neuropsychological battery (FNB) in diagnosing early cognitive impairment. This study investigated whether a small subset of neuropsychological tests can be added on to MoCA to match its performance to that of the FNB in discriminating mild cognitive impairment and dementia (MCI/dementia) from normal cognition.DesignCross-sectional diagnostic study.SettingAlzheimer's Disease Centers across the United States.ParticipantsOlder participants (≥50 years) who completed MoCA and the FNB (N = 9187).MeasuresThe study sample was split into two: the derivation sample (n = 1837) was used to develop a brief neuropsychological battery that best discriminated MCI/dementia (using the best-subset approach with 10-fold cross-validation); while the validation sample (n = 7350) verified its actual performance in discriminating MCI/dementia.ResultsA 3-item neuropsychological battery was identified, comprising MoCA, Benson Complex Figure Recall, and Craft Story 21 Delayed Recall. It had excellent performance in discriminating MCI/dementia from normal cognition (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] 90.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 89.2%-90.7%), which was comparable to that of the FNB (AUROC 88.4%, 95% CI 87.6%-89.2%). By contrast, MoCA alone had significantly worse AUROC (86.9%, 95% CI 86.0%-87.7%) than that of the FNB.Conclusions/ImplicationsUsing rigorous methods, this study developed a brief neuropsychological battery that maintained the brevity of a bedside cognitive test, while rivaling the diagnostic performance of an FNB in early cognitive impairment. This brief battery offers a viable alternative when the FNB is needed but cannot be feasibly administered in nonspecialty clinics. It can have a wider health systems effect of improving patients’ access to accurate diagnosis in early cognitive impairment and facilitating timely interventions to delay the progression of cognitive impairment.     

天麻素生物合成的研究进展

天麻素是我国名贵中药材天麻中的一种主要活性成分，具有降血压、抗癫痫、抑制肿瘤、保护神经等多方面的药理活性。随着市场对天麻素需求的不断增长以及传统获取方法固有的问题，导致急需新的方法来解决天麻素生产实际中面临的各项困难。生物合成法是一种有别于传统获取法的新方法，已在天麻素获取上取得了较大进展和成果，故现阶段有必要从天麻素生物合成途径、植物转化法和微生物转化法3个方面，对天麻素生物合成进行系统地阐述，从而为进一步改进和完善天麻素生产方法，以满足人们对其不断增长的需求提供有价值的参考。     

深圳市宝安区梅毒血清固定孕妇的筛查及规范性治疗对妊娠结局和新生儿影响

目的对深圳市宝安区梅毒血清固定的妊娠期孕妇的状况进行筛查及了解规范性治疗对妊娠结局和新生儿的影响。方法选取2015年1月至2017年12月深圳市宝安区医疗单位进行免费梅毒保健筛查的妊娠期孕妇作为观察对象。对妊娠期梅毒患者的数量及梅毒血清固定的人数比例进行分析。梅毒血清固定孕妇,根据第一疗程、第二疗程同时驱梅用药患者作为治疗组,而两疗程没有同时进行药物治疗或两疗程均没有驱梅用药的患者作为未治疗组,选取同期正常孕妇作为对照组,观察规范性治疗对妊娠结局和新生儿影响。结果 2015年1月至2017年12月深圳市宝安区梅毒筛查中,3年的梅毒确诊分别为204例、154例和195例;血清固定孕妇占比分别为5.39%、9.74%和3.07%;在血清固定组患者中不良结局妊娠上三组之间差异无统计学意义(P>0.05);梅毒血清固定患者中治疗组新生儿血清梅毒阳性率和不良事件发生率均显著低于未治疗组,差异具有统计学意义(均P<0.05)。结论本次研究结果显示,在梅毒血清固定患者中采取药物治疗对于提高新生儿的存活率、降低新生儿血清感染率和不良疾病发生率上均具有较好帮助,值得在梅毒血清型固定妊娠妇女中推荐应用。     

皮肤再生医疗技术治疗糖尿病足溃疡疗效分析

目的:分析、总结、探讨皮肤再生医疗技术在临床上治疗糖尿病足溃疡的可行性与有效性。方法:对32例糖尿病足溃疡住院病人采用皮肤再生医疗技术为主、必要时配合植皮的治疗方法进行局部创面修复。结果:32例糖尿病足溃疡应用皮肤再生医疗技术获得修复9例(占28.1％),皮肤再生医疗技术 皮片移植12例(占37．5％),皮肤再生医疗技术 皮瓣修复5例(占15．6％),进行截肢6例(占18．8％)。结论:及时就诊、及时采用皮肤再生医疗技术为主的治疗方法能有效修复溃疡创面、降低糖尿病足截肢率。     

超顺磁性氧化铁标记大鼠骨髓基质细胞经门静脉移植MRI活体示踪的研究

目的观察1．5T场强MRI联合动物专用线圈是否可以活体示踪经门静脉移植的纳米级超顺磁性氧化铁颗粒标记的骨髓基质细胞（bone marrow stromal cells BMSCs），为介人性门静脉骨髓基质细胞移植治疗终末期肝脏疾病的研究提供进一步的依据。方法供体大鼠5只，梯度密度离心分离BMSCs，纳米级超顺磁性氧化铁颗粒和脂质体转染BMSCs，体外经普鲁士蓝染色和HE染色确定细胞标记率。受体大鼠15只，分为5组，分别为对照组和纳米级超顺磁性氧化铁颗粒标记的骨髓基质细胞经门静脉移植人正常大鼠肝脏后2h、3d、7d及2周组。1．5T场强MRI联合动物专用线圈行T1W、T2W和T2＊序列扫描，观察肝脏信号改变情况，与对照组比较，并且与组织切片对照。结果纳米级超顺磁性氧化铁颗粒和脂质体转染BMSCs，细胞标记率〉95％。经门静脉移植人正常大鼠肝脏后，T2＊序列扫描显示经标记的BMSCs在肝内显示弥漫性的结节性低信号影，移植后2h到2周均可见到细胞在受体肝脏内存在，组织学切片显示信号缺失部位与铁颗粒标记细胞相一致。结论纳米级超顺磁性铁氧体颗粒标记的大鼠BMSCs经门静脉移植后可以通过1、5T场强行MRI活体示踪，为临床干细胞移植的应用提供可行的示踪方法。     

螺旋CT导引下肺部肿瘤射频热消融治疗的应用研究

目的 通过对肺肿瘤射频热消融（RFA）治疗效果的观察，评价其技术特点、安全性和疗效。方法 30例肺肿瘤患者共46个肿瘤接受了RFA治疗（其中肺部原发性肿瘤20例，转移瘤10例），在CT引导下将消融电极刺入到距肿瘤边缘组织1cm处，根据病灶大小，将子针打开至合适直径，达到靶温度后，持续7～15min。对患者进行1～9个月的随访，通过胸部X线片和增强螺旋CT观察治疗效果。结果 30例患者46个肿瘤，共做消融灶123个，治疗区域坏死率为100％。（1）随访1个月30例，46个肿瘤瘤体完全消融41个，占89.13％；部分消融5个，占10.87％。（2）随访3～9个月26例，40个肿瘤病灶完全缓解（CR）33个，部分缓解（PR）4个，无变化（NC）2个，进展（PD）1个，总有效率达925％（37／40）。结论 RFA治疗肺部肿瘤疗效肯定、安全，是1种应用前景较好的方法。     

腰椎间盘突出症疗效不佳的临床观察

目的 分析腰椎间盘突出症手术疗效不佳的原因，探讨提高疗效的方法。方法 随访本院1993-2003年腰椎间盘突出症行后路髓核摘除术病例236例，对术后腰腿痛症状未缓解或症状消失后再复发者复查X片、CT或MRI了解病因。结果手术疗效不佳者25例。疗效不佳的主要原因为残留髓核再突出、术后脊柱不稳倾向增加、对侧隐窝狭窄认识不足、神经根损伤、极外侧型椎问盘突出漏切、感染、术后椎管内瘢痕黏连等。全椎板切除术较椎板问开窗术更易发生椎管内瘢痕黏连（P＜0．01）。结论首次手术时应尽可能取净髓核组织，对动力位摄片发现有椎问不稳倾向者行后外侧植骨或椎体问植骨融合，常规探查并妥善处理侧隐窝，牵拉神经根时间不应过长且用力轻柔。行腰椎间盘CT和MRI扫描时，应注意包括椎间盘相邻上下椎体的1／3部，以防止遗漏极外侧型椎问盘突出，尽量采用椎板间开窗术式以减少脊柱创伤，术中间断冲洗，术毕持续负压引流，以减少术后黏连，术中应严格无菌操作。