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Franco Maggiolo,1 Giorgio L Colombo,2,3 Sergio Di Matteo,3 Giacomo M Bruno,3 Noemi Astuti,1 Elisa Di Filippo,1 Giulia Masini,1 Claudia Bernardini1 1Division of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy; 2University of Pavia, Department of Drug Sciences, Pavia, Italy; 3SAVE Studi Analisi Valutazioni Economiche, Milan, Italy Objectives: Costs may play a role in deciding how and when to start highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in a naïve patient. The aim of the present study was to assess the cost- effectiveness of treatment with HAART in a large clinical cohort of naïve adults to determine the potential role of single-tablet regimens in the management of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). An incremental cost-effectiveness ratio analysis was performed, including a quality-adjusted life year approach. Results: In total, 741 patients (females comprising 25.5%) were retrospectively included. The mean age was 39 years, the mean CD4 cell count was 266 cells/µL, and the mean viral load was 192,821 copies/mL. The most commonly used backbone was tenofovir + emtricitabine (77.6%); zidovudine + lamivudine was used in 10%, lamivudine + abacavir in 3%, and other nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) or NRTI-free regimens in 9.4% of patients. NNRTIs were used in 52.8% of cases, boosted protease inhibitors in 44.1%, and unboosted protease inhibitors and integrase inhibitors in 0.7% and 2.4%, respectively. Starting therapy at CD4 >500 cells/µL and CD4 351–500 cells/µL rather than at 500 cells per µL); in this case, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio value was €199,130 per quality-adjusted life year gained, a higher value than the one suggested in guidelines. The single-tablet regimen (STR) invariably dominated any other therapeutic approach. Sensitivity analysis was performed, and starting right away with an STR was cost-effective even when compared with therapeutic strategies contemplating STR as simplification. Conclusion: By integrating clinical data with economic variables, our study offers an estimate of the cost-effectiveness of the various first-line treatment strategies for patients infected with HIV and provides significant evidence to be used in future prospective pharmacoeconomic evaluations. Keywords: cost-effectiveness, quality-adjusted life years, highly active antiretroviral therapy, single-tablet regimen

Presents a study that examined a novel technique for controllable degradation and monitoring of a boron-doped layer as used in thin film solar cells. Background on the thermal equilibrium used in the monitoring process; Characterization of doped materials.

We review recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments aimed at investigating still open issues in the microscopic dynamics of liquids. It is shown that the interpretation of experimental results is put on solid ground by the application of modern methods of analysis and lineshape modelling which ensure the fulfillment of fundamental physical properties that the spectra must obey. This last condition becomes crucial to avoid overinterpretations of the genuine information conveyed by scattering data, especially when studying weak signals in the dynamic structure factor. Moreover, we highlight the different roles that neutron data presently play compared to molecular dynamics simulations depending on the nature of the sample, including the case of quantum liquids. In particular, we show how neutron measurements remain an indispensable benchmark in assessing the present capabilities of classical and quantum simulation methods. We also mention the potential of statistical methods, such as Bayesian inference, when applied to neutron data analysis and the opportunity they provide in establishing the spectral features without arbitrary assumptions on the model lineshape.

We describe a linear array of Ge-Si heterojunction photodiodes monolithically integrated on a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit for detection and imaging in the near infrared. Detectors are realized by thermal evaporation of Ge films at the end of the standard CMOS process on substrates held at low temperature (300°C). Each of the 64 detectors is connected to a front-end stage for photocurrent integration and analog-to-digital conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We introduce a novel method for the wavelength stabilization of semiconductor lasers for telecommunications. The approach is based on a wavelength-sensitive photodetector which, in a feedback system, generates an error signal apt to tune the source to the desired value. We extensively investigate the influence of various design parameters on performance figures such as tunability, steady-state error, and temperature dependence, as well as fabrication tolerances. The results are compared with standard specifications for wavelength-division-multiplexed optical communications with various channel spacings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Atmospheric precipitation can seriously affect the propagation of centimeter and millimeter electromagnetic waves. As a consequence, in some applications, it is necessary to make use of a fade countermeasure technique in order to satisfy the system availability and quality requirements. This study analyses the performance of a satellite-based system in geo-stationary orbit operating at 20 GHz, dynamically assigning the antenna directivity pattern to counteract tropospheric attenuation. The on-board power is spatially distributed over the covered region to minimize, at any time, the number of users undergoing outage because of the tropospheric attenuation. Both the aspects of broadcasting and telecommunication services are addressed. The reflector antenna of the system is supposed to be illuminated by a cluster of feeds driven by a set of excitation coefficients, continuously modified and optimized according to the meteorological information derived by processing METEOSAT satellite data and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) data. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on an extensive analysis of amorphous silicon bulk-barrier phototransistors. Peculiarity of the material; Possibility of finding p-doped material suitable for high-gain devices; Use of the equilibrium model of defects in amorphous silicon as a guideline.

After early premature atrial stimulations, returning cycles shorter than the basic cycle were observed in 25 patients. In 4 of them sinus echoes were seen to occur after premature atrial stimulation coupling intervals shorter than those able to induce completely interpolated beats. Such a sequence is unexpected if we suggest a sino-atrial entrance block for explaining the interpolation phenomenon. An alternative explanation can be postulated assuming that all these early premature beats are sinus node re-entries and that the completely interpolated beat is only a sinus re-entry fortuitously occurring at an appropriate interval. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Associations between CO/PVR and umbilical artery (UmA), middle cerebral artery (MCA) Z scores and uterine artery (UtA) pulsatility index (PI) were calculated with polynomial regression analysis. We included 233 participants, 81 with healthy pregnancies, 47 with PE, 65 with SGA/FGR and 40 with PE+SGA/FGR. Compared to controls, CO was lower in the SGA/FGR and PE+SGA/FGR groups and PVR was increased in all pathological groups. [Extracted from the article]

Fetal middle cerebral artery Doppler (MCA) is recognised as a marker of hypoxia in fetal growth restriction with a reduction in impedance classically described as the "brain sparing effect". We report elsewhere a relationship between maternal hemodynamic function and both uterine and umbilical impedance, and sought to investigate whether fetal middle cerebral artery Doppler was related to maternal cardiac output (CO) and peripheral vascular resistance (PVR) in healthy and complicated pregnancy. [Extracted from the article]

Demonstrates a voltage tunable silicon germanide (SiGe)/Si superlattice photodetector. Capability of SiGe/Si photodetector to do complex mixing functions between optical signals; Calculation of current flow in SiGe/Si device; Development of methods for optical signal encryption based on photodetector characteristics.

We propose and analyze a novel routing switch based on a silicon-on-oxide mode-mixer with a metal-oxide-semiconductor electrical configuration. The switch allows spatial switching with 80% contrast, low currents and speeds of the order of 5 MHz [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

OC25.04: Fetal umbilical artery Doppler end-diastolic flow is associated with changes in maternal cardiovascular function: a three-centre study using different techniques We aim to assess whether fetal umbilical artery Doppler end diastolic flow (whether positive, absent or reversed) is associated with differences in maternal cardiac output (CO) and peripheral vascular resistance (PVR). Fetal umbilical artery Doppler PI was measured; and comparison of cardiovascular measurements were made between those cases with positive umbilical artery end diastolic flow (EDF) and those with negative or absent EDF. [Extracted from the article]

Uterine artery Doppler (UtAD) is an imperfect screening test for pre-eclampsia (PE) and fetal growth restriction (FGR), with better screening performance for early onset complications. We have shown that maternal cardiac output is lower than healthy pregnancies in women with PE+FGR and FGR and higher than healthy pregnancies in PE. Women between 24-40 weeks gestation were prospectively recruited into 3 groups - pre-eclampsia (PE, n=13), fetal growth restriction with or without pre-eclampsia (FGR/PE+FGR, n=32) and healthy controls (n=62). [Extracted from the article]

We sought to determine whether maternal cardiovascular hemodynamics were related to uterine artery (UtAD) and fetal umbilical artery Doppler (UAD) changes in healthy and complicated pregnancy. Women between 24-40 weeks gestation were prospectively recruited into 4 groups- pre-eclampsia (PE), fetal growth restriction (FGR), fetal growth restriction with pre-eclampsia (PE+FGR) and healthy pregnancies (control). There is a significant relationship between maternal CO and PVR and Doppler impedance in both the utero-placental and fetal-placental circulations in normal and pathological pregnancy outcome: lower CO and higher PVR being associated with increased UtA and UAD impedance. [Extracted from the article]