WorldWideScience

Sample records for heavily marketed medications

  1. Beyond "medical tourism": Canadian companies marketing medical travel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Leigh

    2012-06-15

    Despite having access to medically necessary care available through publicly funded provincial health care systems, some Canadians travel for treatment provided at international medical facilities as well as for-profit clinics found in several Canadian provinces. Canadians travel abroad for orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery, ophthalmologic surgery, stem cell injections, "Liberation therapy" for multiple sclerosis, and additional interventions. Both responding to public interest in medical travel and playing an important part in promoting the notion of a global marketplace for health services, many Canadian companies market medical travel. Research began with the goal of locating all medical tourism companies based in Canada. Various strategies were used to find such businesses. During the search process it became apparent that many Canadian business promoting medical travel are not medical tourism companies. To the contrary, numerous types of businesses promote medical travel. Once businesses promoting medical travel were identified, content analysis was used to extract information from company websites. Company websites were analyzed to establish: 1) where in Canada these businesses are located; 2) the destination countries and health care facilities that they market; 3) the medical procedures they promote; 4) core marketing messages; and 5) whether businesses market air travel, hotel accommodations, and holiday tours in addition to medical procedures. Searches conducted from 2006 to 2011 resulted in identification of thirty-five Canadian businesses currently marketing various kinds of medical travel. The research project began with what seemed to be the straightforward goal of establishing how many medical tourism companies are based in Canada. Refinement of categories resulted in the identification of eighteen businesses fitting the category of what most researchers would identify as medical tourism companies. Seven other businesses market regional, cross

  2. Medicalization, markets and consumers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conrad, Peter; Leiter, Valerie

    2004-01-01

    This paper examines the impact of changes in the medical marketplace on medicalization in U.S. society. Using four cases (Viagra, Paxil, human growth hormone and in vitro fertilization), we focus on two aspects of the changing medical marketplace: the role of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and the emergence of private medical markets. We demonstrate how consumers and pharmaceutical corporations contribute to medicalization, with physicians, insurance coverage, and changes in regulatory practices playing facilitating roles. In some cases, insurers attempt to counteract medicalization by restricting access. We distinguish mediated and private medical markets, each characterized by differing relationships with corporations, insurers, consumers, and physicians. In the changing medical environment, with medical markets as intervening factors, corporations and insurers are becoming more significant determinants in the medicalization process.

  3. Beyond "medical tourism": Canadian companies marketing medical travel

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Despite having access to medically necessary care available through publicly funded provincial health care systems, some Canadians travel for treatment provided at international medical facilities as well as for-profit clinics found in several Canadian provinces. Canadians travel abroad for orthopaedic surgery, bariatric surgery, ophthalmologic surgery, stem cell injections, “Liberation therapy” for multiple sclerosis, and additional interventions. Both responding to public interest in medical travel and playing an important part in promoting the notion of a global marketplace for health services, many Canadian companies market medical travel. Methods Research began with the goal of locating all medical tourism companies based in Canada. Various strategies were used to find such businesses. During the search process it became apparent that many Canadian business promoting medical travel are not medical tourism companies. To the contrary, numerous types of businesses promote medical travel. Once businesses promoting medical travel were identified, content analysis was used to extract information from company websites. Company websites were analyzed to establish: 1) where in Canada these businesses are located; 2) the destination countries and health care facilities that they market; 3) the medical procedures they promote; 4) core marketing messages; and 5) whether businesses market air travel, hotel accommodations, and holiday tours in addition to medical procedures. Results Searches conducted from 2006 to 2011 resulted in identification of thirty-five Canadian businesses currently marketing various kinds of medical travel. The research project began with what seemed to be the straightforward goal of establishing how many medical tourism companies are based in Canada. Refinement of categories resulted in the identification of eighteen businesses fitting the category of what most researchers would identify as medical tourism companies. Seven other

  4. Launch prices for new pharmaceuticals in the heavily regulated and subsidized Spanish market, 1995-2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puig-Junoy, Jaume; López-Valcárcel, Beatriz González

    2014-06-01

    This paper provides empirical evidence on the explanatory factors affecting introductory prices of new pharmaceuticals in a heavily regulated and highly subsidized market. We collect a data set consisting of all new chemical entities launched in Spain between 1997 and 2005, and model launch prices following an extended version of previous economic models. We found that, unlike in the US and Sweden, therapeutically "innovative" products are not overpriced relative to "imitative" ones after having controlled for other factors. Price setting is mainly used as a mechanism to adjust for inflation independently of the degree of innovation. The drugs that enter through the centralized EMA approval procedure are overpriced, which may be a consequence of market globalization and international price setting. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Deconstructing medical practice marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasbo, Abe

    2010-01-01

    The healthcare marketing game has radically changed. Medical practices must rely on strategies instead of tactics to better separate themselves from the competition. The Internet has become a disruptive force in marketing, tipping the balance and control of the reputations of medical practices to the patient. Done right, medical practices can harness this new energy to attract new patients and keep current patients loyal.

  6. Characterizing customers at medical center farmers' markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraschnewski, Jennifer L; George, Daniel R; Rovniak, Liza S; Monroe, Diana L; Fiordalis, Elizabeth; Bates, Erica

    2014-08-01

    Approximately 100 farmers' markets operate on medical center campuses. Although these venues can uniquely serve community health needs, little is known about customer characteristics and outreach efforts. Intercept survey of markets and market customers between August 2010 and October 2011 at three medical centers in different geographic regions of the US (Duke University Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, and Penn State Hershey Medical Center) were conducted. Markets reported serving 180-2,000 customers per week and conducting preventive medicine education sessions and community health programs. Customers (n = 585) across markets were similar in sociodemographic characteristics--most were middle-aged, white, and female, who were employees of their respective medical center. Health behaviors of customers were similar to national data. The surveyed medical center farmers' markets currently serve mostly employees; however, markets have significant potential for community outreach efforts in preventive medicine. If farmers' markets can broaden their reach to more diverse populations, they may play an important role in contributing to community health.

  7. Ethics in the marketing of medical services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latham, Stephen R

    2004-09-01

    This paper deals with the ethics of marketing medical services by physicians, medical groups, hospitals and other mainstream medical caregivers in the United States. It does not deal with pharmaceutical marketing, since that raises a number of special issues, some of them legal and some having to do with the unique culture of pharmaceutical marketing, which really ought to be dealt with separately. Nor does it touch on the little-explored field of marketing alternative and complementary medicine. It begins with a general description of what is included in "the marketing process." It then briefly tours some of the difficulties faced by those who would market medical services ethically, and ends with some comments on the relevance of professionalism to ethical marketing.

  8. Medical device market in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyer, Philip; Morshed, Bashir I; Mussivand, Tofy

    2015-06-01

    With China's growing old-age population and economic presence on the international stage, it has become important to evaluate its domestic and foreign market contribution to medical devices. Medical devices are instruments or apparatuses used in the prevention, rehabilitation, treatment, or knowledge generation with respect to disease or other abnormal conditions. This article provides information drawn from recent publications to describe the current state of the Chinese domestic market for medical devices and to define opportunities for foreign investment potential therein. Recent healthcare reforms implemented to meet rising demand due to an aging and migrating population are having a positive effect on market growth-a global market with a projected growth of 15% per year over the next decade. Copyright © 2015 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Key Success Factors in Medical Tourism Marketing

    OpenAIRE

    Yung-Sheng Yang

    2013-01-01

    The planners in tourism businesses and medical institutes, the evaluation criteria and dimensions for Medical Tourism Marketing are determined by experts through expert interviews. The weights and correlations among the dimensions and criteria are determined by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct an evaluating indicator model suitable for Medical Tourism Marketing. By organizing the overall weight of the key success factors in Medical Tourism Marketing, the top five indicators conta...

  10. Characterizing customers at medical center farmers’ markets1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraschnewski, Jennifer L.; George, Daniel R.; Rovniak, Liza S.; Monroe, Diana L.; Fiordalis, Elizabeth; Bates, Erica

    2014-01-01

    Approximately 100 farmers’ markets operate on medical center campuses. Although these venues can uniquely serve community health needs, little is known about customer characteristics and outreach efforts. Intercept survey of markets and market customers between August 2010-October 2011 at three medical centers in different geographic regions of the US: Duke University Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, and Penn State Hershey Medical Center were conducted. Markets reported serving 180–2000 customers per week and conducting preventive medicine education sessions and community health programs. Customers (n=585) across markets were similar in sociodemographic characteristics – most were middle-aged, white, and female, who were employees of their respective medical center. Health behaviors of customers were similar to national data. The surveyed medical center farmers’ markets currently serve mostly employees; however, markets have significant potential for community outreach efforts in preventive medicine. If farmers’ markets can broaden their reach to more diverse populations, they may play an important role in contributing to community health. PMID:24421001

  11. Medical group management: a marketing orientation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bopp, K D; Allcorn, S

    1986-09-01

    This article considers the pragmatic aspects of conducting a situation/marketing audit for group medical practices. This audit is a key component in the formulation of a competitive strategy and the development of a marketing program. Given are a series of questions that may be used by medical groups to guide assessment of the opportunities and threats present in the environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the organization in meeting the environmental challenges. Furthermore, the article provides a framework for thinking about strategy and the variables that should be considered and aligned to achieve effective implementation of strategy. Finally, the parameters are outlined for deciding on a marketing program: the mix of marketing tools (service design, distribution channels, pricing and promotion) that should be employed to offensively and/or defensively position the medical group in the competitive marketplace.

  12. [Marketing in the system of military-medical facilities].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kostiuchenko, O M; Sviridova, T B

    2014-02-01

    Military medical facilities of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian, have received the right to provide additional services and have been involved in the sphere of market relations. The strong influence of market relations - an objective reality that must be used for the development of military medical institutions and improving quality of care.Effective commercial activity can improve capabilities of the military medical institutions. This requires constant study of market mechanisms to implement and develop their competitive advantage. The paper substantiates the need for the participation of military medical institutions in the provision of health services to the public on the terms of compensation incurred by financial institutions costs (paid medical services, medical assistance program of compulsory and voluntary health insurance). Taking into account the specifics of military medical institutions set out basic principles and recommendations have been implementing marketing approach in their management, the practical application of which will not only increase efficiency, but also create conditions to improve the financial and economic indicators. This knowledge will help the mechanism of functioning health care market and the rules of interaction of market counterparties.

  13. Marketing analysis of medical tourism in India

    OpenAIRE

    Manhas, Parikshat Singh; Ramjit, Monu

    2015-01-01

    The aim of the present research is to carry out the marketing analysis and to determine the potential of the medical tourism, to identify the various challenges to the medical tourism in India and to suggest and recommend the marketing strategies to develop the India as the medical tourism destination. The research is primarily based on the secondary sources by searching the various potential academic journals and reports potential articles, with medical tourism in the title...

  14. Growing a medical practice with social media marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laban, Jake

    2012-01-01

    Many medical practices are facing the lack of practice growth that their social media efforts are generating. This article provides concrete ideas that can be put in place by any medical practice to realize sustainable practice growth through social media marketing. In the article, the author demonstrates that social media marketing of the medical practice has become absolutely essential in today's evolving, competitive, and fast-paced environment. This demonstration is made through an exploration of the evolution of what "good" marketing has looked like for medical practices over time. In addition, attention is paid to the shift in the definition of good marketing that is required for the practice that is preparing a social media-marketing plan. Specifically, the article investigates the proven requirements for a balanced blend of unique and engaging promotional and nonpromotional community outreach, which is required on a daily basis to achieve the significant, lasting, and sustainable growth that the practice wishes to achieve.

  15. Marketing norm perception among medical representatives in Indian pharmaceutical industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagashekhara, Molugulu; Agil, Syed Omar Syed; Ramasamy, Ravindran

    2012-03-01

    Study of marketing norm perception among medical representatives is an under-portrayed component that deserves further perusal in the pharmaceutical industry. The purpose of this study is to find out the perception of marketing norms among medical representatives. The research design is quantitative and cross sectional study with medical representatives as unit of analysis. Data is collected from medical representatives (n=300) using a simple random and cluster sampling using a structured questionnaire. Results indicate that there is no difference in the perception of marketing norms among male and female medical representatives. But there is a difference in opinion among domestic and multinational company's medical representatives. Educational back ground of medical representatives also shows the difference in opinion among medical representatives. Degree holders and multinational company medical representatives have high perception of marketing norms compare to their counterparts. The researchers strongly believe that mandatory training on marketing norms is beneficial in decision making process during the dilemmas in the sales field.

  16. [Marketing as a tool in the medical institution management].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrova, N G; Balokhina, S A

    2009-01-01

    The contemporary social economic conditions dictate the necessity to change tactics and strategy of functioning of medical institutions of different property forms. Marketing, alongside with management is to become a leading concept of administration of medical institutions. It should be a framework for systematic collection, registration and analysis of data relevant to the medical services market. The issues of the implementation of marketing concept in the practical everyday activities of commercial medical organization providing cosmetology services to population of metropolis.

  17. [Medical students and drug marketing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calderón Larrañaga, Sara; Rabanaque Hernández, María José

    2014-03-01

    To determine the exposure of medical students to the marketing activities of the pharmaceutical industry, and identify their opinions and attitudes, and also the possible effects this exposure on their training and future professional practice. Descriptive cross-sectional. University of Zaragoza Faculty of Medicine. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth year medical students. The information was obtained using a previously adapted, self-report questionnaire on the exposure, attitudes and perceived suitability of drug marketing activities. Percentages were calculated for the categorical variables, applying the chi squared test for the comparison between the groups. A logistic regression was performed to determine the factors associated with their attitudes towards these activities. A total of 369 questionnaires were returned (93% of those attending classes). The exposure to marketing activities is high, particularly in the clinical stage (78.6% said to have received a gift non-educational gift). The students recognised the possible biases and repercussions in professional practice, although with ambiguity and contradictions. The most accepted activities are those associated with training, and the most critical attitudes appear in the clinical stage, particularly in the sixth year. Exposure to drug marketing by medical students and its possible training and professional effects is frequent and significant. The training environment is particularly open to promotional activities. The differences observed in the later years suggest the need for a specific curriculum subject and development of reflective attitudes by the students themselves. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

  18. Growth and characterization of heavily doped silicon crystals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scala, R.; Porrini, M. [MEMC Electronic Materials SpA, via Nazionale 59, 39012 Merano (Italy); Borionetti, G. [MEMC Electronic Materials SpA, viale Gherzi 31, Novara (Italy)

    2011-08-15

    Silicon crystals grown with the Czochralski method are still the most common material used for the production of electronic devices. In recent years, a growing need of large diameter crystals with increasingly higher doping levels is observed, especially to support the expanding market of discrete devices and its trend towards lower and lower resistivity levels for the silicon substrate. The growth of such heavily doped, large-diameter crystals poses several new challenges to the crystal grower, and the presence of a high dopant concentration in the crystal affects significantly its main properties, requiring also the development of dedicated characterization techniques. This paper illustrates the recent advances in the growth and characterization of silicon crystals heavily doped with antimony, arsenic, phosphorus and boron. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

  19. Medical students' exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing: a survey at one U.S. medical school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellin, Melena; McCarthy, Susan; Drevlow, Laurel; Pierach, Claus

    2004-11-01

    While much is known about the interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and physicians, very little is known about pharmaceutical marketing directed toward medical students. This study sought to characterize the extent and forms of medical students' exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing. In 2001-02, an anonymous, 17-item questionnaire was distributed to 165 preclinical and 116 clinical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School-Twin Cities. The main outcome measures were the number and forms of exposures to pharmaceutical industry marketing reported by medical students and whether students had discussed these exposures with teachers or advisors. Preclinical and clinical students were compared using chi(2) analysis (p marketing. Seventy-six (71.7%) clinical students compared to 38 (33.3%) preclinical students recalled over 20 exposures (p textbook (p marketing with an instructor or advisor; 59 (55.7%) clinical students as compared to 87 (80.6%) preclinical students recalled no such discussion (p marketing during their early years of training. Given existing evidence that such exposure influences physicians' practice and prescribing patterns, the authors propose that medical school curricula include formal instruction to prepare students to critically assess these contacts.

  20. Action needed to combat food and drink companies' social media marketing to adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Simon

    2013-05-01

    Reports have shown how behavioural marketing through social media sites is heavily dominated by soft drink and fast food franchises, with additional concern arising due to the direct targeting of this marketing at 13 to 17-year-olds. Dr Simon Williams from Northwestern University, Chicago, USA suggests ways in which the medical community can tackle this threat to public health.

  1. Positioning patient-perceived medical services to develop a marketing strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Minsoo; Hong, Myung-Sun

    2012-01-01

    In today's medical market, marketing philosophy is being rapidly transformed from customer searching to patient satisfaction and service improvement. The principal objective of this study was to contribute to the establishment of a desirable medical marketing strategy, through the factors of customer satisfaction and the positioning of patients' perceptions by marketing institutions. The data were collected from 282 students of the College of Public Health and Medicine in Seoul. The survey tools were developed using the SERVQUAL scale. Analysis in this study involved both statistical and network analysis. The former was used to verify the determinants of service satisfaction as perceived by respondents, via factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The latter was obtained using a positioning map and 2-mode network analysis with the matrix data converted from raw data. The determining factors for patient satisfaction were identified as facilities, accessibility, process, physicians, and medical staff. The regression equation was significant (R = 0.606), and the most influential variable was the service quality of physicians (β = .569). According to multidimensional scaling, the positioning of medical institutions indicated that patients' perceptions were affected by hospital size and specialization. By recognizing and managing patient satisfaction, medical institutions are able to foster customer loyalty and, in turn, to enhance service quality. It is necessary to develop an adequate marketing mix to provide better medical services and to overcome medical competition among institutions.

  2. Examination of Market Segmentation among Medical Marijuana Dispensaries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Alexis; Freisthler, Bridget; Mulholland, Elycia

    2018-01-05

    As medical marijuana legislation becomes more common, concerns arise about the overconcentration of dispensaries, raising questions about the number of medicinal marijuana dispensaries (MMD) needed to serve medicinal users. This paper applies niche-marketing theory-which suggests dispensaries market to specific types of people-to examine if MMDs might be targeting recreational users. Observed differences between dispensary populations and between dispensary clients and local residents may indicate that dispensaries are drawing in patients based on factors other than medical need. Data were collected via exit surveys with patients at four dispensaries in Long Beach, CA. A total of 132 patients were surveyed regarding demographic data, purchase information, medical condition, and nearest cross street for their home address. Census tract information was collected for every dispensary. Chi-squared tests show significant associations between dispensary visited and race (χ 2 = 31.219, p market segmentation.

  3. Marketing the academic medical center group practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eudes, J A; Divis, K L

    1992-01-01

    From a marketing perspective, there are many differences between private and academic medical center (AMC) group practices. Given the growing competition between the two, write John Eudes and Kathy Divis, it is important for the AMC group practice to understand and use these differences to develop a competitive market advantage.

  4. Marketing 2.0 für Medizinbibliotheken / Marketing 2.0 for medical libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Obst, Oliver

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available For medical libraries marketing and public relations are essential factors, which are important for strategic planning. They positively affect the imbedding into the organization and the customer relationship. The decrease of the information monopoly, the flood of information and the increasing competition strengthen the necessity for marketing activities. Fundamental principles of marketing and public relations are described and illustrated with examples from the Branch Library of Medicine at Münster. New methods such as weblog marketing and viral marketing are presented.

  5. Air ambulance medical transport advertising and marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Air Medical Physician Association (AMPA), the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS), and the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) believe that patient care and outcomes are optimized by using air medical transport services that are licensed air ambulance providers with robust physician medical director oversight and ongoing quality assessment and review. Only air ambulance medical transport services with these credentials should advertise/market themselves as air ambulance services.

  6. Marketing strategies for vascular practitioners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satiani, Anand; Satiani, Bhagwan

    2009-09-01

    A common misconception is that marketing is synonymous with advertising. Marketing by physicians has undergone a transformation from the earlier unacceptable slick sales pitches to a more common sense, tasteful, comprehensive, and well thought out plan to reach potential patients. Marketing is a much broader concept comprising four aspects: product, price, promotion, and place. Marketing activities for a medical practice include not only external but internal tactics. Publicly available resources are available to assist physicians in developing and targeting the plan towards a narrow patient demographic. The marketing process includes: determining objectives, identifying resources, defining target population, honing a message, outlining a media plan, implementing the plan, and finally, evaluating the success or failure of the marketing campaign. A basic knowledge of marketing combined with a common sense approach can yield dividends for those practices that need the service. For surgical practices that exist in heavily populated urban areas with significant competition, a well thought out marketing plan can assist the practice in reaching out to new groups of patients and maintaining the existing patient base.

  7. Marketing medical services to an aging America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mast, L J

    1993-01-01

    Consumers over age 50 currently comprise 40 percent of consumer demand. Medical services provided in the group practice setting must be structured to accommodate the unique needs of their increasing number of elderly patients According to this professional paper, the development of a marketing plan will provide a strategy that will keep the medical group competitive among older consumers.

  8. Effectively marketing prepaid medical care with decision support systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forgionne, G A

    1991-01-01

    The paper reports a decision support system (DSS) that enables health plan administrators to quickly and easily: (1) manage relevant medical care market (consumer preference and competitors' program) information and (2) convert the information into appropriate medical care delivery and/or payment policies. As the paper demonstrates, the DSS enables providers to design cost efficient and market effective medical care programs. The DSS provides knowledge about subscriber preferences, customer desires, and the program offerings of the competition. It then helps administrators structure a medical care plan in a way that best meets consumer needs in view of the competition. This market effective plan has the potential to generate substantial amounts of additional revenue for the program. Since the system's data base consists mainly of the provider's records, routine transactions, and other readily available documents, the DSS can be implemented at a nominal incremental cost. The paper also evaluates the impact of the information system on the general financial performance of existing dental and mental health plans. In addition, the paper examines how the system can help contain the cost of providing medical care while providing better services to more potential beneficiaries than current approaches.

  9. MARKETING RESEARCHES OF THE POPULATIONS HEALTH STATE AS A FACTOR OF DEMAND FORMATION IN THE MARKET OF PAID MEDICAL SERVICES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nataliia Hrechanyk

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The state of health of the population is one of the most important indicators of the well-being of the nation. Important directions of health care reform are optimization of management, rational distribution of limited financial resources, efficient use of material resources, introduction of health insurance, restructuring of treatment and preventive care to the people. Marketing of medical services market is one of the most complex types of marketing. Because it is medical services that are connected with the protection and maintenance of the most important values ​​of a person - life and health. The market for medical services is a combination of socio-economic relations in the healthcare sector. The most important components of the analysis of any market, including the market of medical services, are marketing research, which is a systematic collection, processing, analysis of data and information in order to formulate proposals for effective activities on it. In the field of public health, marketing can be defined as a complex process of planning, economic substantiation and management of the process of provision of medical services, the formation of a pricing policy of the medical-preventive process, ensuring effective communication with patients. The purpose of the study is to identify the health of the population and determine the demand factors for paid health services and their demand. The main task set before market research on the health of the population is the formation and provision of benefits to consumers that meet their needs for qualified medical care and quality of life. The research methods used in the work are based on probabilistic, stratified, quota, representative samples for the entire population of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ivano-Frankivsk region. The obtained results allow us to give a realistic assessment of the main trends and allow us to assess the potential of socio-economic adaptation of the population in the

  10. RESEARCH OF RUSSIAN HIGH TECHNOLOGY MEDICAL EQUIPMENT MARKET: THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Станислав Сергеевич Отставнов

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the data obtained from comprehensive study of russian hi-tech medical equipment market. The size and the structure of Russian medical equipment market in 2005-2011 were investigated and market size forecast for 2012-2015 was given. Priority segments of Russian high-tech medical equipment market were identified (products with a high degree of visualization, anesthetic and ventilation equipment, patient monitors  based on the analysis of literature sources and morbidity structure. Key players in key segments of the market were identified and their financial performance such as number of employees, revenue, net profit, researches and development expenses were compared (according to actual annual reports.Research allowed to draw the following conclusion: today in the key segments of Russian high-tech medical equipment market the leadership of foreign companies  (Hitachi, Philips, Siemens, Toshiba, General Electric, Dräger is indisputable, objective preconditions for the fundamental change of the situation are absent. Import substitution requires the consolidation of domestic producers, adequate funding and human resource.The results can be used in practice by medical industry companies and State authorities on purpose to upgrade the medical industry.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-1-31

  11. [Industry regulation and its relationship to the rapid marketing of medical devices].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsuoka, Atsuko

    2012-01-01

    In the market of medical devices, non-Japanese products hold a large part even in Japan. To overcome this situation, the Japanese government has been announcing policies to encourage the medical devices industry, such as the 5-year strategy for medical innovation (June 6, 2012). The Division of Medical Devices has been contributing to rapid marketing of medical devices by working out the standards for approval review and accreditation of medical devices, guidances on evaluation of medical devices with emerging technology, and test methods for biological safety evaluation of medical devices, as a part of practice in the field of regulatory science. The recent outcomes are 822 standards of accreditation for Class II medical devices, 14 guidances on safety evaluation of medical devices with emerging technology, and the revised test methods for biological safety evaluation (MHLW Notification by Director, OMDE, Yakushokuki-hatsu 0301 No. 20 "Basic Principles of Biological Safety Evaluation Required for Application for Approval to Market Medical Devices").

  12. Clarifications regarding medical tourism destinations marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    STANCIOIU Aurelia-Felicia

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The development of new types of tourism (stand-alone, connected or components, from marketing experience, implies a broad spectrum of challenges, which, placed in a planned background, has the purpose the creation and then, the development of tourism products that correspond, at least, to consumers’ expectations. In order to optimize the new type of tourism, it is necessary to be correlated with the relevant resources of the destination, which, harmonized, can lead to the elaboration of destination marketing strategies, in this situation being the medical tourism, component of health tourism.

  13. Canadian medical tourism companies that have exited the marketplace: Content analysis of websites used to market transnational medical travel

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Medical tourism companies play an important role in promoting transnational medical travel for elective, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Though researchers are paying increasing attention to the global phenomenon of medical tourism, to date websites of medical tourism companies have received limited scrutiny. This article analyzes websites of Canadian medical tourism companies that advertised international healthcare but ultimately exited the marketplace. Using content analysis of company websites as an investigative tool, the article provides a detailed account of medical tourism companies that were based in Canada but no longer send clients to international health care facilities. Methods Internet searches, Google Alerts, searches on Google News Canada and ProQuest Newsstand, and searches of an Industry Canada database were used to locate medical tourism companies located in Canada. Once medical tourism companies were identified, the social science research method of content analysis was used to extract relevant information from company websites. Company websites were analyzed to determine: 1) where these businesses were based; 2) the destination countries and medical facilities that they promoted; 3) the health services they advertised; 4) core marketing messages; and 5) whether businesses marketed air travel, hotel accommodations, and holiday excursions in addition to medical procedures. Results In total, 25 medical tourism companies that were based in Canada are now defunct. Given that an estimated 18 medical tourism companies and 7 regional, cross-border medical travel facilitators now operate in Canada, it appears that approximately half of all identifiable medical tourism companies in Canada are no longer in business. 13 of the previously operational companies were based in Ontario, 7 were located in British Columbia, 4 were situated in Quebec, and 1 was based in Alberta. 14 companies marketed medical procedures within a single country, 9

  14. Canadian medical tourism companies that have exited the marketplace: Content analysis of websites used to market transnational medical travel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Leigh

    2011-10-14

    Medical tourism companies play an important role in promoting transnational medical travel for elective, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Though researchers are paying increasing attention to the global phenomenon of medical tourism, to date websites of medical tourism companies have received limited scrutiny. This article analyzes websites of Canadian medical tourism companies that advertised international healthcare but ultimately exited the marketplace. Using content analysis of company websites as an investigative tool, the article provides a detailed account of medical tourism companies that were based in Canada but no longer send clients to international health care facilities. Internet searches, Google Alerts, searches on Google News Canada and ProQuest Newsstand, and searches of an Industry Canada database were used to locate medical tourism companies located in Canada. Once medical tourism companies were identified, the social science research method of content analysis was used to extract relevant information from company websites. Company websites were analyzed to determine: 1) where these businesses were based; 2) the destination countries and medical facilities that they promoted; 3) the health services they advertised; 4) core marketing messages; and 5) whether businesses marketed air travel, hotel accommodations, and holiday excursions in addition to medical procedures. In total, 25 medical tourism companies that were based in Canada are now defunct. Given that an estimated 18 medical tourism companies and 7 regional, cross-border medical travel facilitators now operate in Canada, it appears that approximately half of all identifiable medical tourism companies in Canada are no longer in business. 13 of the previously operational companies were based in Ontario, 7 were located in British Columbia, 4 were situated in Quebec, and 1 was based in Alberta. 14 companies marketed medical procedures within a single country, 9 businesses marketed health care

  15. Canadian medical tourism companies that have exited the marketplace: Content analysis of websites used to market transnational medical travel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Turner Leigh

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Medical tourism companies play an important role in promoting transnational medical travel for elective, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Though researchers are paying increasing attention to the global phenomenon of medical tourism, to date websites of medical tourism companies have received limited scrutiny. This article analyzes websites of Canadian medical tourism companies that advertised international healthcare but ultimately exited the marketplace. Using content analysis of company websites as an investigative tool, the article provides a detailed account of medical tourism companies that were based in Canada but no longer send clients to international health care facilities. Methods Internet searches, Google Alerts, searches on Google News Canada and ProQuest Newsstand, and searches of an Industry Canada database were used to locate medical tourism companies located in Canada. Once medical tourism companies were identified, the social science research method of content analysis was used to extract relevant information from company websites. Company websites were analyzed to determine: 1 where these businesses were based; 2 the destination countries and medical facilities that they promoted; 3 the health services they advertised; 4 core marketing messages; and 5 whether businesses marketed air travel, hotel accommodations, and holiday excursions in addition to medical procedures. Results In total, 25 medical tourism companies that were based in Canada are now defunct. Given that an estimated 18 medical tourism companies and 7 regional, cross-border medical travel facilitators now operate in Canada, it appears that approximately half of all identifiable medical tourism companies in Canada are no longer in business. 13 of the previously operational companies were based in Ontario, 7 were located in British Columbia, 4 were situated in Quebec, and 1 was based in Alberta. 14 companies marketed medical procedures within a

  16. Nonprescription medications for respiratory symptoms: Facts and marketing fictions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberger, Miles; Hendeles, Leslie

    2018-05-01

    There are many nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medications available on pharmacy shelves marketed for relief of respiratory symptoms. The number of such medications has been increasing. This review provides an evidence-based examination of OTC products used for respiratory symptoms. Antihistamines, decongestants, mucolytics, antitussives, and intranasal steroids were selected as the most common OTC medications taken by adults and children for various respiratory symptoms. Controlled clinical trials of efficacy were identified by searching a medical literature data base. Those trials and key publications related to the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the products were reviewed. Comparisons of the various OTC antihistamines' ability to suppress the effects of histamine were related to their clinical benefit. Intranasal corticosteroids are the preferred agents for maintenance therapy of persistent nasal congestion and are highly effective for symptoms of inhalant allergy other than allergic conjunctivitis. The disconnect between marketing claims and evidence was demonstrated for antihistamines and oral alpha-1 adrenergic agonist decongestants. Data for OTC mucolytics and antitussives were insufficient to justify their use based on the evidence. There was little relationship between marketing claims and evidence regarding OTC medications used for respiratory symptoms. Analysis of data supported cetirizine, levocetirizine, and fexofenadine as the most effective of the OTC antihistamines. There were no data that supported the use of oral phenylephrine as a decongestant. Neither OTC mucolytics or antitussives provided sufficient evidence to justify their use.

  17. Variability in market uptake of psychotropic medications in Europe reflects cultural diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. M. Hoebert

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the last 20–30 years, many international studies have found substantial differences in the use of (older psychotropic medication between European countries. The majority mentioned an important role for attitudes and beliefs towards psychotropic medication. So far, no studies have looked into the effects of cultural diversity on the use of new medications entering the market. As national cultures relate deeply to held values regarding, for example, what is seen as effective versus ineffective or safe versus dangerous, (cultural diversity in decision making around the role of new medications in clinical practice may already be expected from the first day after market authorization. Methods This study examined the relation between cultural diversity, described in Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Indulgence and Long-Term Orientation and utilization of three new psychotropic medications, namely aripiprazole, duloxetine and pregabalin in Europe. Country level sales data of the case study medications were correlated to country-specific scores of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. IMS Health’s MIDAS database has been used for sales data (converted to Defined Daily Doses/1000 inhabitants/day for the case study medications from the market authorization date in 2004 until December 2009 for 23 EU member states. Results Consumption of the case study medications was seen in all countries. In general, pregabalin was used more often than aripiprazole and duloxetine. In 2 years after market authorization, approximately 80% of all countries have reported use of all three molecules. Correlations between Hofstede dimensions individualism, long-term orientation and indulgence and total use of the case study medications tended to become stronger over time, but they were only statistically significant for indulgence at two years after market authorization (rho

  18. Variability in market uptake of psychotropic medications in Europe reflects cultural diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoebert, J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, A K; Leufkens, H G M; van Dijk, L

    2017-11-06

    In the last 20-30 years, many international studies have found substantial differences in the use of (older) psychotropic medication between European countries. The majority mentioned an important role for attitudes and beliefs towards psychotropic medication. So far, no studies have looked into the effects of cultural diversity on the use of new medications entering the market. As national cultures relate deeply to held values regarding, for example, what is seen as effective versus ineffective or safe versus dangerous, (cultural) diversity in decision making around the role of new medications in clinical practice may already be expected from the first day after market authorization. This study examined the relation between cultural diversity, described in Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Indulgence and Long-Term Orientation) and utilization of three new psychotropic medications, namely aripiprazole, duloxetine and pregabalin in Europe. Country level sales data of the case study medications were correlated to country-specific scores of Hofstede's cultural dimensions. IMS Health's MIDAS database has been used for sales data (converted to Defined Daily Doses/1000 inhabitants/day) for the case study medications from the market authorization date in 2004 until December 2009 for 23 EU member states. Consumption of the case study medications was seen in all countries. In general, pregabalin was used more often than aripiprazole and duloxetine. In 2 years after market authorization, approximately 80% of all countries have reported use of all three molecules. Correlations between Hofstede dimensions individualism, long-term orientation and indulgence and total use of the case study medications tended to become stronger over time, but they were only statistically significant for indulgence at two years after market authorization (rho = 0.51, p = 0.014) and three years after market

  19. Post-market clinical research conducted by medical device manufacturers: a cross-sectional survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Joseph S; Blount, Katrina L; Ritchie, Jessica D; Hodshon, Beth; Krumholz, Harlan M

    2015-01-01

    In the US, once a medical device is made available for use, several requirements have been established by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure ongoing post-market surveillance of device safety and effectiveness. Our objective was to determine how commonly medical device manufacturers initiate post-market clinical studies or augment FDA post-market surveillance requirements for higher-risk devices that are most often approved via the FDA's pre-market approval (PMA) pathway. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 47 manufacturers with operations in California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts who market devices approved via the PMA pathway. Among 22 respondents (response rate =47%), nearly all self-reported conducting post-market clinical research studies, commonly between 1 and 5; only 1 respondent reported never conducting post-market clinical research studies. While manufacturers most often engaged in these studies to satisfy FDA requirements, other reasons were reported, including performance monitoring and surveillance and market acceptance initiatives. Risks of conducting and not conducting post-market clinical research studies were described through open-ended response to questions. Medical device manufacturers commonly initiate post-market clinical studies at the request of the FDA. Clinical data from these studies should be integrated into national post-market surveillance initiatives.

  20. [Beyond the horizon of health-care delivery - medical marketing].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, M; Großterlinden, L G; Rueger, J M; Ruecker, A H

    2014-12-01

    The progress in medical health care and demographic changes cause increasing financial expenses. The rising competitive environment on health-care delivery level calls for economisation and implementation of a professional marketing set-up in order to ensure long-term commercial success. The survey is based on a questionnaire-analysis of 100 patients admitted to a trauma department at a university hospital in Germany. Patients were admitted either for emergency treatment or planned surgical procedures. Competence and localisation represent basic criteria determing hospital choice with a varying focus in each collective. Both collectives realise a trend toward economisation, possibly influencing medical care decision-making. Patients admitted for planned surgical treatment are well informed about their disease, treatment options and specialised centres. The main source of information is the internet. Both collectives claim amenities during their in-hospital stay. Increasing economisation trends call for a sound and distinct marketing strategy. The marketing has to be focused on the stakeholders needs. Concomitant factors are patient satisfaction, the establishment of cooperation networks and maintenance/improvement of medical health-care quality. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  1. Pre-Clinical Medical Students' Exposure to and Attitudes Toward Pharmaceutical Industry Marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fein, Eric H; Vermillion, Michelle L; Uijtdehaage, Sebastian H J

    2007-12-01

    Background - Recent studies have examined the exposures and attitudes of physicians and third- and fourth-year medical students toward pharmaceutical industry marketing, but fewer studies have addressed these topics among pre-clinical medical students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess pre-clinical students' level of exposure to the pharmaceutical industry and their attitudes toward marketing. Method - First and second-year medical students at UCLA completed a 40-item survey based on previous studies. Results - Over three quarters of pre-clinical students (78.5% or 226 of 288) responded to the survey. Exposure to pharmaceutical industry marketing started very early in medical school. Most second-year students (77%) had received gifts including drug samples after three semesters. Most felt that this would not affect their future prescribing behavior. Conclusions - These findings and findings from related studies, coupled with the students' desire to learn more about the issue, suggest that an early educational intervention addressing this topic may be warranted in American medical schools.

  2. Market factors and electronic medical record adoption in medical practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menachemi, Nir; Mazurenko, Olena; Kazley, Abby Swanson; Diana, Mark L; Ford, Eric W

    2012-01-01

    Previous studies identified individual or practice factors that influence practice-based physicians' electronic medical record (EMR) adoption. Less is known about the market factors that influence physicians' EMR adoption. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between environmental market characteristics and physicians' EMR adoption. The Health Tracking Physician Survey 2008 and Area Resource File (2008) were combined and analyzed. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between three dimensions of the market environment (munificence, dynamism, and complexity) and EMR adoption controlling for several physician and practice characteristics. In a nationally representative sample of 4,720 physicians, measures of market dynamism including increases in unemployment, odds ratio (OR) = 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.91, 0.99], or poverty rates, OR = 0.93, 95% CI [0.89, 0.96], were negatively associated with EMR adoption. Health maintenance organization penetration, OR = 3.01, 95% CI [1.49, 6.05], another measure of dynamism, was positively associated with EMR adoption. Physicians practicing in areas with a malpractice crisis, OR = 0.82, 95% CI [0.71, 0.94], representing environmental complexity, had lower EMR adoption rates. Understanding how market factors relate to practice-based physicians' EMR adoption can assist policymakers to better target limited resources as they work to realize the national goal of universal EMR adoption and meaningful use.

  3. How can cardiothoracic and vascular medical devices stay in the market?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Kathie A; Hodgson, Luke; Garas, George; Malietzis, George; Markar, Sheraz; Rao, Christopher; von Segesser, Ludwig K; Athanasiou, Thanos

    2016-12-01

    Surgeons, as the consumers, must engage in commercial activity regarding medical devices since it directly has impacts on surgical practice and patient outcomes. Unique features defy traditional economic convention in this specific market partly because consumers do not usually pay directly. Greater involvement with commercial activity means better post-market surveillance of medical devices which leads to improved patient safety. The medical device industry has exhibited astonishing levels of growth and profitability reaching $398 billion on a global scale with new product development focusing on unmet clinical need. The industry has rapidly emerged within the context of an ageing population and a global surge in healthcare spending. But the market remains fragmented. The split of consumer, purchaser and payer leads to clinical need driving demand for new product development. This demand contributes to potentially large profit margins mainly contained by regulatory burden and liability issues. Demographic trends, prevalence of diseases and a huge capacity to absorb technology have sustained near unparalleled growth. To stay in the market, incremental development over the short term is essentially aided by responsiveness to demand. Disruptive product development is now more likely to come from multinational companies, in an increasingly expensive, regulated industry. Understanding healthcare organization can help explain the highly complex process of diffusion of innovations in healthcare that include medical devices. The time has come for surgeons to become actively involved with all aspects of the medical device life cycle including commercial activity and post-market surveillance. This is vital for improving patient care and ensuring patient safety. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

  4. Hospital ownership and medical services: market mix, spillover effects, and nonprofit objectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horwitz, Jill R; Nichols, Austin

    2009-09-01

    Hospitals operate in markets with varied demographic, competitive, and ownership characteristics, yet research on ownership tends to examine hospitals in isolation. Here we examine three hospital ownership types -- nonprofit, for-profit, and government -- and their spillover effects. We estimate the effects of for-profit market share in two ways, on the provision of medical services and on operating margins at the three types of hospitals. We find that nonprofit hospitals' medical service provision systematically varies by market mix. We find no significant effect of market mix on the operating margins of nonprofit hospitals, but find that for-profit hospitals have higher margins in markets with more for-profits. These results fit best with theories in which hospitals maximize their own output.

  5. Marketing aspects of development of medical waste management in health care institutions in Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inesa Gurinа

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The concept of marketing approach to medical waste management in health care is suggested.The goal of research was to study the state of marketing activities of health care institutions on medical waste management and development trends of   resolution of outstanding issues.Methods. The methods, which were used in the research, are the methods of mathematical statistics, social studies and scientific knowledge.Results. Environmental marketing institutions of healthcare means perfectly safe for the environment provision of health services. The main directions of environmental marketing concept in health care institutions is the acceptance generally binding legal standards of Use Resources, strict control the formation and licensing of medical waste; economic incentives for workers, aimed at minimizing their interest in the volumes of medical waste; financing of R & D relative to the development of new waste and sound technologies; develop a system of taxes and penalties for polluting the environment and so on.Conclusions. As a result of the implementation of marketing strategies for managing medical waste of healthcare institutions are obtained strategic, social, environmental and economic benefits.

  6. Post-market clinical research conducted by medical device manufacturers: a cross-sectional survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ross JS

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Joseph S Ross, Katrina L Blount, Jessica D Ritchie, Beth Hodshon, Harlan M Krumholz Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT, USA Background: In the US, once a medical device is made available for use, several requirements have been established by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA to ensure ongoing post-market surveillance of device safety and effectiveness. Our objective was to determine how commonly medical device manufacturers initiate post-market clinical studies or augment FDA post-market surveillance requirements for higher-risk devices that are most often approved via the FDA's pre-market approval (PMA pathway. Methods and results: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 47 manufacturers with operations in California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts who market devices approved via the PMA pathway. Among 22 respondents (response rate =47%, nearly all self-reported conducting post-market clinical research studies, commonly between 1 and 5; only 1 respondent reported never conducting post-market clinical research studies. While manufacturers most often engaged in these studies to satisfy FDA requirements, other reasons were reported, including performance monitoring and surveillance and market acceptance initiatives. Risks of conducting and not conducting post-market clinical research studies were described through open-ended response to questions. Conclusion: Medical device manufacturers commonly initiate post-market clinical studies at the request of the FDA. Clinical data from these studies should be integrated into national post-market surveillance initiatives. Keywords: FDA, PMA pathway, post-market surveillance

  7. Post market surveillance in the german medical device sector - current state and future perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zippel, Claus; Bohnet-Joschko, Sabine

    2017-08-01

    Medical devices play a central role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases but also bring the potential for adverse events, hazards or malfunction with serious consequences for patients and users. Medical device manufacturers are therefore required by law to monitor the performance of medical devices that have been approved by the competent authorities (post market surveillance). Conducting a nationwide online-survey in the German medical device sector in Q2/2014 in order to explore the current status of the use of post market instruments we obtained a total of 118 complete data sets, for a return rate of 36%. The survey included manufacturers of different sizes, producing medical devices of all risk classes. The post market instruments most frequently reported covered the fields of production monitoring and quality management as well as literature observation, regulatory vigilance systems, customer knowledge management and market observation while Post Market Clinical Follow-up and health services research were being used less for product monitoring. We found significant differences between the different risk classes of medical devices produced and the intensity of use of post market instruments. Differences between company size and the intensity of instruments used were hardly detected. Results may well contribute to the development of device monitoring which is a crucial element of the policy and regulatory system to identify device-related safety issues. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Rural hospital ownership: medical service provision, market mix, and spillover effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horwitz, Jill R; Nichols, Austin

    2011-10-01

    To test whether nonprofit, for-profit, or government hospital ownership affects medical service provision in rural hospital markets, either directly or through the spillover effects of ownership mix. Data are from the American Hospital Association, U.S. Census, CMS Healthcare Cost Report Information System and Prospective Payment System Minimum Data File, and primary data collection for geographic coordinates. The sample includes all nonfederal, general medical, and surgical hospitals located outside of metropolitan statistical areas and within the continental United States from 1988 to 2005. We estimate multivariate regression models to examine the effects of (1) hospital ownership and (2) hospital ownership mix within rural hospital markets on profitable versus unprofitable medical service offerings. Rural nonprofit hospitals are more likely than for-profit hospitals to offer unprofitable services, many of which are underprovided services. Nonprofits respond less than for-profits to changes in service profitability. Nonprofits with more for-profit competitors offer more profitable services and fewer unprofitable services than those with fewer for-profit competitors. Rural hospital ownership affects medical service provision at the hospital and market levels. Nonprofit hospital regulation should reflect both the direct and spillover effects of ownership. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

  9. COMPETITION ON THE WHOLESALE MEDICATION DISTRIBUTION MARKET IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alina HAGIU

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Wholesale distribution of medicines in Romania was in the constant attention of the competition authority. In order to analyze the operation of the distribution system practiced in Romania, but also changes that may occur in this system on short and medium term, the Competition Council conducted a sector inquiry after which they found some malfunctioning mainly chained to distributors access to certain medications. Conducted on a sample of 23 pharmaceutical groups operating on the Romanian market and holding approximately 80% of the pharmaceutical market in Romania in 2009, the sector inquiry aimed at two objectives, namely: Legislation analysis with impact on the wholesale distribution of drugs; Market analysis of drug distribution.Following the findings of the high concentration of markets analyzed, due to significant market shares held by innovative drugs under investigation were analyzed also the penetration of generics in the market and the factors that led to this situation.

  10. Utilizing national and international registries to enhance pre-market medical device regulatory evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Lilly Q; Campbell, Gregory; Lu, Nelson; Xu, Yunling; Zuckerman, Bram

    2016-01-01

    Regulatory decisions are made based on the assessment of risk and benefit of medical devices at the time of pre-market approval and subsequently, when post-market risk-benefit balance needs reevaluation. Such assessments depend on scientific evidence obtained from pre-market studies, post-approval studies, post-market surveillance studies, patient perspective information, as well as other real world data such as national and international registries. Such registries provide real world evidence and are playing a more and more important role in enhancing the safety and effectiveness evaluation of medical devices. While these registries provide large quantities of data reflecting real world practice and can potentially reduce the cost of clinical trials, challenges arise concerning (1) data quality adequate for regulatory decision-making, (2) bias introduced at every stage and aspect of study, (3) scientific validity of study designs, and (4) reliability and interpretability of study results. This article will discuss related statistical and regulatory challenges and opportunities with examples encountered in medical device regulatory reviews.

  11. Integrative taxonomy of the ornamental 'peppermint' shrimp public market and population genetics of Lysmata boggessi, the most heavily traded species worldwide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baeza, J Antonio; Behringer, Donald C

    2017-01-01

    The ornamental trade is a worldwide industry worth >15 billion USD with a problem of rampant product misidentification. Minimizing misidentification is critical in the face of overexploitation of species in the trade. We surveyed the peppermint shrimp ornamental marketplace in the southeastern USA, the most intense market for peppermint shrimps worldwide, to characterize the composition of species in the trade, reveal the extent of misidentification, and describe the population genetics of the true target species. Shrimps were bought from aquarium shops in FL, GA, SC, and NC. We demonstrated, contrary to popular belief (information from dealers), that the most heavily traded species in the market was Lysmata boggessi , an endemic species to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and not Lysmata wurdemanni . Importantly, only when color pattern or genetic markers in conjunction with morphological traits were employed, was it was possible to unequivocally identify L. boggessi as the only species in the trade. The intensity of the market for peppermint shrimps in the USA has led to L. boggessi being the most traded species worldwide. Misidentification in the shrimp aquarium trade is accidental and involuntary, and is explained by remarkable similarity among congeneric species. Using sequences of the 16S-mt-DNA marker, we found no indication of population genetic structure in the endemic L. boggessi across  550 km of linear coast. Therefore, this species can be considered genetically homogeneous and a single fished stock. Still, we argue in favor of additional studies using more powerful markers (e.g., SNPs) capable of revealing genetic structure at a finer spatial-scale. Our results will help advance management and conservation policies in this lucrative yet understudied fishery. Future studies of other ornamental fisheries will benefit from using an integrative taxonomic approach, as we demonstrate here.

  12. Generating demand for pharmacist-provided medication therapy management: identifying patient-preferred marketing strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Gladys M; Snyder, Margie E; McGrath, Stephanie Harriman; Smith, Randall B; McGivney, Melissa Somma

    2009-01-01

    To identify effective strategies for marketing pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services to patients in a self-insured employer setting. Qualitative study. University of Pittsburgh during March through May 2008. 26 university employees taking at least one chronic medication. Three focus group sessions were conducted using a semistructured topic guide to facilitate the discussion. Employees' perceived medication-related needs, perceived benefits of pharmacist-provided MTM, potential barriers for employee participation in MTM, and effective strategies for marketing MTM. Participants reported concerns with timing of doses, medication costs, access, and ensuring adherence. Participants generally felt positively toward pharmacists; however, the level of reported patient contact with pharmacists varied among participants. Some participants questioned pharmacists' education and qualifications for this enhanced role in patient care. Perceived benefits of MTM noted by participants included the opportunity to obtain personalized information about their medications and the potential for improved communication among their health providers. Barriers to patient participation were out-of-pocket costs and lack of time for MTM visits. Participants suggested use of alternative words to describe MTM and marketing approaches that involve personal contact. Pharmacists should emphasize parts of MTM that patients feel are most beneficial (i.e., provision of a personal medication record) and use patient-friendly language to describe MTM when marketing their practice. Patients will need greater exposure to the concept of MTM and the pharmacists' role in order to correctly describe and assign value to this type of pharmacist patient care practice.

  13. Marketing to Develop the Premier Medical Brand in the Huaihai Economic Zone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Peiying; Meng, Qingchao

    2015-06-01

    Based on the practices at Xuzhou Central Hospital, the authors analyzed the improvements in the healthcare quality and economic efficiency after implementing a brand marketing strategy. Using methods including questionnaires and business controlling means, we summarized that the improvements to the healthcare quality and economic efficiency after strategies were implemented in the areas of network, reputation, academic research, and public welfare. After the implementation of a brand marketing campaign, the medical service quality and brand reputation have been greatly improved. Meanwhile, a central hospital group was formed and gradually became the central healthcare provider in the Huaihai Economic Zone. The new marketing facilitated the drastic increase of medical service and brand reputation.

  14. Marketing and the medical specialist in the managed care environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treister, N W

    1997-01-01

    Marketing means more than just communicating or advertising to potential patients; marketing means identifying your customers and working to meet or exceed their expectations. There are five key areas of a marketing plan: (1) Establish the foundation, beginning with your mission statement; (2) Assess your marketing environment by internal and external research; (3) Target your efforts, looking at image and perception; (4) Develop your particular mix of product, price, place of distribution, and promotion; and (5) implement and evaluate your marketing process. This article discusses the importance of a marketing plan for the medical specialist and highlights the features unique to a practice working in a system of capitated reimbursement. Applying these principles will help to demonstrate added value, protect the fundamental role of the patient-physician relationship, ensure that our efforts are aligned with professional missions and goals, and ultimately increase profitability and professional success.

  15. Relationship between National Institutes of Health research awards to US medical schools and managed care market penetration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moy, E; Mazzaschi, A J; Levin, R J; Blake, D A; Griner, P F

    1997-07-16

    Medical research conducted in academic medical centers is often dependent on support from clinical revenues generated in these institutions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that managed care has the potential to affect research conducted in academic medical centers by challenging these clinical revenues. To examine whether empirical evidence supports a relationship between managed care and the ability of US medical schools to sustain biomedical research. Data on annual extramural research grants awarded to US medical schools by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from fiscal years 1986 to 1995 were obtained, and each medical school was matched to a market for which information about health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration in 1995 was available. Growth in total NIH awards, traditional research project (R01) awards, R01 awards to clinical and basic science departments, and changes in institutional ranking by NIH awards were compared among schools located in markets with low, medium, and high managed care penetration. Medical schools in all markets had comparable rates of growth in NIH awards from 1986 to 1990. Thereafter, medical schools in markets with high managed care penetration had slower growth in the dollar amounts and numbers of NIH awards compared with schools in markets with low or medium managed care penetration. This slower growth for schools in high managed care markets was associated with loss of share of NIH awards, equal to $98 million in 1995, and lower institutional ranking by NIH awards. Much of this revenue loss can be explained by the slower growth of R01 awards to clinical departments in medical schools in high managed care markets. These findings provide evidence of an inverse relationship between growth in NIH awards during the past decade and managed care penetration among US medical schools. Whether this association is causal remains to be determined.

  16. The efficacy of the Internet and Social Media as Medical Marketing Tools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Constantinides, Efthymios; Karantinou, Kalipso; Alexiou, Maria; Vlachaki, Athanasia

    2016-01-01

    The role and efficacy of online marketing in healthcare remains underexplored. The present study, focusing on one medical specialty, investigates the perceived role of the Internet and social media as marketing tools from the perspectives of both healthcare providers and patients. It assesses their

  17. [Marketing approval and market surveillance of medical devices in Germany: Where does policy integration take place?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lang, Achim

    2014-01-01

    Since 2011 new regulatory measures regarding medical devices have been set up with the aim to eliminate obstacles to innovations and to find more coordinated ways to marketing authorisation and market surveillance. This essay investigates whether these new and existing coordination mechanisms build up to a Joined-up Government approach. The analysis shows that the regulatory process should be adjusted along several dimensions. First, many organisations lack awareness regarding their stakeholders and focus solely on their immediate organisational activities. Second, the regulatory process (marketing authorisation and market surveillance) is too fragmented for an effective communication to take place. Finally, the underlying strategy process is an ad-hoc approach lacking continuity and continued involvement of, in particular, the responsible federal ministries. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

  18. Market power in electricity markets: Beyond concentration measures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borenstein, S.; Bushnell, J.; Knittel, C.R.

    1999-01-01

    The wave of electricity market restructuring both within the US and abroad has brought the issue of horizontal market power to the forefront of energy policy. Traditionally, estimation and prediction of market power has relied heavily on concentration measures. In this paper, the authors discuss the weaknesses of concentration measures as a viable measure of market power in the electricity industry, and they propose an alternative method based on market simulations that take advantage of existing plant level data. The authors discuss results from previous studies they have performed, and present new results that allow for the detection of threshold demand levels where market power is likely to be a problem. In addition, the authors analyze the impact of that recent divestitures in the California electricity market will have on estimated market power. They close with a discussion of the policy implications of the results

  19. Utilization of a Marketing Strategy at Naval Regional Medical Center Great Lakes, Great Lakes, Illinois

    Science.gov (United States)

    1983-06-01

    22 Analysis of the Mare.....................22 Development of the Marketing Mix .. .......... 29 A Marketing Mix --Recommendations...problem. Marketing strategy, marketing mix and ultimately the marketing orientation will allow hospitals to persevere and possibly thrive in a somewhat...market are currently being met at Naval Regional Medical Center Great Lakes. The fourth objective is to demonstrate an appropriate marketing mix for

  20. The market of medical imagery. Innovations, new entrants, redesign of business models: which perspectives for the market and the competitive landscape by 2020?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-10-01

    The medical imagery market is a promising one because of constant innovations and perspectives of diagnosis and therapeutic applications, notably in France where an effort of updating heavy equipment (MRI, scanners, PET) is on the way. However, measures of expense reduction in the health sector, and purchase grouping and optimisation by hospitals put the pressure on manufacturers in terms of prices and requirements. This report proposes a detailed overview of this medical imagery market, its situation, its evolution and its actors. It proposes an analysis and a presentation of its perspectives: determining factors, situation until 2016 (world market, European market, French market, turnover of the French sector, dynamics of its segments), and a provisional scenario by 2020 which discusses opportunities and threats on the medium term. The next part proposes a detailed analysis of the market environment: economic and demographic environment (health systems and expenses in OECD countries, population ageing), demand in medical imagery, role of public authorities, organisation of the access to the market, analysis of the equipment fleet situation and evolution in France. The third part analyses the supply evolution and axes of development of actors: technological evolution, business model evolution, development of the application of information technology to medical imagery, improvement of distribution channels, and repositioning on the chain value. The fourth part gives an overview of actors: ranking and positioning of manufacturers per speciality, focus on some specific markets, description of the competitive context, identity sheets of some key actors (foreign actors, French actors and specialised actors in contrast products and tracers). The last part proposes sheets of information on companies, and tables which provide a comparison between 200 operators according to 5 key indicators

  1. Assessing the comparative effectiveness of newly marketed medications: methodological challenges and implications for drug development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneeweiss, S; Gagne, J J; Glynn, R J; Ruhl, M; Rassen, J A

    2011-12-01

    Comparative-effectiveness research (CER) aims to produce actionable evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of medical products and interventions as they are used outside of controlled research settings. Although CER evidence regarding medications is particularly needed shortly after market approval, key methodological challenges include (i) potential bias due to channeling of patients to the newly marketed medication because of various patient-, physician-, and system-related factors; (ii) rapid changes in the characteristics of the user population during the early phase of marketing; and (iii) lack of timely data and the often small number of users in the first few months of marketing. We propose a mix of approaches to generate comparative-effectiveness data in the early marketing period, including sequential cohort monitoring with secondary health-care data and propensity score (PS) balancing, as well as extended follow-up of phase III and phase IV trials, indirect comparisons of placebo-controlled trials, and modeling and simulation of virtual trials.

  2. [Health care units image development on the market of medical services].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemicer-Chmielewska, Ewa; Karakiewicz, Beata

    2010-01-01

    The cause for this document is to present a deliberation on public health facility image development on the medical services market. Marketization of the health service, growing awareness of Polish citizens and their expectation of high service quality as well as increased competition in the healthcare system market is the reason why health unit managers need to put a lot of strength and effort in sustaining or improving the image of the facility they run. Such action gives a chance for obtaining a competitive advantage.

  3. The influence of labor market changes on first-time medical school applicant pools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cort, David A; Morrison, Emory

    2014-12-01

    To explore whether the number and composition of first-time applicants to U.S. MD-granting medical schools, which have fluctuated over the past 30 years, are related to changes in labor market strength, specifically the unemployment rate and wages. The authors merged time series data from 1980 through 2010 (inclusive) from five sources and used multivariate time series models to determine whether changes in labor market strength (and several other macro-level factors) were related to the number of the medical school applicants as reported by the American Medical College Application Service. Analyses were replicated across specific sex and race/ethnicity applicant pools. Two results surfaced in the analyses. First, the strength of the labor market was not influential in explaining changes in applicant pool sizes for all applicants, but was strongly influential in explaining changes for black and Hispanic males. Increases of $1,000 in prevailing median wages produced a 1.6% decrease in the white male applicant pool, while 1% increases in the unemployment rate were associated with 4.5% and 3.1% increases in, respectively, the black and Hispanic male applicant pools. Second, labor market strength was a more important determinant in applications from males than in applications from females. Although stakeholders cannot directly influence the overall economic market, they can plan and prepare for fewer applications from males, especially those who are black and Hispanic, when the labor market is strong.

  4. Marketing your medical practice with an effective web presence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finch, Tammy

    2004-01-01

    The proliferation of the World Wide Web has provided an opportunity for medical practices to sell themselves through low-cost marketing on the Internet. A Web site is a quick and effective way to provide patients with up-to-date treatment and procedure information. This article provides suggestions on what to include on a medical practice's Web site, how the Web can assist office staff and physicians, and cost options for your Web site. The article also discusses design tips, such as Web-site optimization.

  5. A qualitative study about self-medication in the community among market vendors in Fuzhou, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Yi; Lieber, Eli; Wan, Dai; Hong, Yuanhao

    2011-09-01

    Despite government efforts to increase healthcare insurance and access in China, many individuals, regardless of insurance status, continue to engage in high levels of self-medication. To understand the factors influencing common self-medication behaviour in a community of food market vendors in Fuzhou China, a total of 30 market vendors were randomly recruited from six food markets in 2007. In-depth interviews were conducted with each participant at their market stalls by trained interviewers using a semi-structured open-ended interview protocol. Participants were asked broad questions about their health-seeking behaviours as well as their past experiences with self-medication and hospital care. ATLAS. ti was used to manage and analyse the interview data. The results showed that hospital-based healthcare services were perceived as better quality. However, self-medication was viewed as more affordable in terms of money and time. Other factors prompting self-medication, included confidence in understanding the health problem, the easy accessibility of local pharmacies and the influences of friends/peers and advertising. Three broad domains, attitude, cost and effectiveness, were all seen to determine past decisions and experiences with self-medication. Interestingly, the effective management of self-medication via pharmacy resources raised particular concern because of perceived variation in quality. In conclusion, self-medication was found to be an important and common health-seeking behaviour driven by multiple factors. A sound and comprehensive public health system should systematically attend to these behaviours and the pharmacies, where much of the behaviour occurs. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  6. Medical devices and the Middle East: market, regulation, and reimbursement in Gulf Cooperation Council states

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Howard JJ

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Jason J Howard Division of Paediatric Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Doha, Qatar Abstract: With some of the richest economies in the world, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC is undergoing rapid growth not only in its population but also in health care expenditure. Despite the GCC's abundance of hydrocarbon-based wealth, the drivers of the medical device industry in the GCC are still in flux, with gains yet to be made in areas of infrastructure, regulation, and reimbursement. However, the regional disease burden, expanding health insurance penetration, increasing privatization, and a desire to attract skilled expatriate health care providers have led to favorable conditions for the medical device market in the GCC. The purpose of this article is to investigate the current state of the GCC medical device industry, with respect to market, regulation, and reimbursement, paying special attention to the three largest medical device markets: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The GCC would seem to represent fertile ground for the development of medical technologies, especially those in line with the regional health priorities of the respective member states. Keywords: medical devices, regulation, reimbursement, Middle East 

  7. Effect of educational interventions and medical school policies on medical students' attitudes toward pharmaceutical marketing practices: a multi-institutional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kao, Audiey C; Braddock, Clarence; Clay, Maria; Elliott, Donna; Epstein, Scott K; Filstead, William; Hotze, Tim; May, Win; Reenan, Jennifer

    2011-11-01

    To determine the effect of educational interventions on medical students' attitudes toward pharmaceutical industry marketing practices and whether restrictive medical school policies governing medicine-industry interactions are associated with student support for banning such interactions. Prospective cohort study involving the graduating classes of 2009 (intervention, n=474) and 2010 (control, n=459) at four U.S. medical schools. Intervention students experienced a former pharmaceutical representative's presentation, faculty debate, and a Web-based course. Both groups completed baseline and follow-up attitude surveys about pharmaceutical marketing. A total of 482 students (51.6%) completed both surveys. In regression analyses, intervention students were more likely than control students to think that physicians are strongly or moderately influenced by pharmaceutical marketing (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.46-3.59) and believed they would be more likely to prescribe a company's drug if they accepted that company's gifts and food (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.12-2.52). Intervention students were more likely to support banning interactions between pharmaceutical representatives and students (OR, 4.82; 95% CI, 3.02-7.68) and with physicians (OR, 6.88; 95% CI, 4.04-11.70). Students from schools with more restrictive policies were more likely to support banning interactions between pharmaceutical representatives and students (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.26-3.16) and with physicians (OR, 3.44; 95% CI, 2.05-5.79). Education about pharmaceutical marketing practices and more restrictive policies governing medicine-industry interactions seem to increase medical students' skepticism about the appropriateness of such marketing practices and disapproval of pharmaceutical representatives in the learning environment.

  8. Effects of internal marketing on nurse job satisfaction and organizational commitment: example of medical centers in Southern Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Ching-Sheng; Chang, Hsin-Hsin

    2007-12-01

    As nurses typically represent the largest percentage of employees at medical centers, their role in medical care is exceptionally important and becoming more so over time. The quality and functions of nurses impact greatly on medical care quality. The concept of internal marketing, with origins in the field of market research, argues that enterprises should value and respect their employees by treating them as internal customers. Such a marketing concept challenges traditional marketing methods, which focus on serving external customers only. The main objective of internal marketing is to help internal customers (employees) gain greater job satisfaction, which should promote job performance and facilitate the organization accomplishing its ultimate business objectives. A question in the medical service industry is whether internal marketing can similarly increase the job satisfaction of nurses and enhance their commitment to the organization. This study aimed to explore the relational model of nurse perceptions related to internal marketing, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment by choosing nurses from two medical centers in Southern Taiwan as research subjects. Of 450 questionnaire distributed, 300 valid questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 66.7%. After conducting statistical analysis and estimation using structural equation modeling, findings included: (1) job satisfaction has positive effects on organizational commitment; (2) nurse perceptions of internal marketing have positive effects on job satisfaction; and (3) nurse perceptions of internal marketing have positive effects on organizational commitment.

  9. Medical school gift restriction policies and physician prescribing of newly marketed psychotropic medications: difference-in-differences analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Marissa; Essick, Connor; Bearman, Peter; Ross, Joseph S

    2013-01-30

    To examine the effect of attending a medical school with an active policy on restricting gifts from representatives of pharmaceutical and device industries on subsequent prescribing behavior. Difference-in-differences approach. 14 US medical schools with an active gift restriction policy in place by 2004. Prescribing patterns in 2008 and 2009 of physicians attending one of the schools compared with physicians graduating from the same schools before the implementation of the policy, as well as a set of contemporary matched controls. Probability that a physician would prescribe a newly marketed medication over existing alternatives of three psychotropic classes: lisdexamfetamine among stimulants, paliperidone among antipsychotics, and desvenlafaxine among antidepressants. None of these medications represented radical breakthroughs in their respective classes. For two of the three medications examined, attending a medical school with an active gift restriction policy was associated with reduced prescribing of the newly marketed drug. Physicians who attended a medical school with an active conflict of interest policy were less likely to prescribe lisdexamfetamine over older stimulants (adjusted odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval 0.22 to 0.88; P=0.02) and paliperidone over older antipsychotics (0.25, 0.07 to 0.85; P=0.03). A significant effect was not observed for desvenlafaxine (1.54, 0.79 to 3.03; P=0.20). Among cohorts of students who had a longer exposure to the policy or were exposed to more stringent policies, prescribing rates were further reduced. Exposure to a gift restriction policy during medical school was associated with reduced prescribing of two out of three newly introduced psychotropic medications.

  10. Global Health, Medical Anthropology, and Social Marketing: Steps to the Ecology of Collaboration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whiteford, Linda

    2015-06-01

    Anthropology and global health have long been a focus of research for both biological and medical anthropologists. Research has looked at physiological adaptations to high altitudes, community responses to water-borne diseases, the integration of traditional and biomedical approaches to health, global responses to HIV/AIDS, and more recently, to the application of cultural approaches to the control of the Ebola epidemic. Academic anthropology has employed theory and methods to extend knowledge, but less often to apply that knowledge. However, anthropologists outside of the academy have tackled global health issues such as family planning and breast-feeding by bringing together applied medical anthropology and social marketing. In 2014, that potent and provocative combination resulted in the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida being made the home of an innovative center designed to combine academic and applied anthropology with social marketing in order to facilitate social change. This article discusses how inter- and intra-disciplinary research/application has led to the development of Florida's first World Health Organization Collaborating Center (WHO CC), and the first such center to focus on social marketing, social change and non-communicable diseases. This article explains the genesis of the Center and presents readers with a brief overview, basic principles and applications of social marketing by reviewing a case study of a water conservation project. The article concludes with thoughts on the ecology of collaboration among global health, medical anthropology and social marketing practitioners.

  11. Medical devices and the Middle East: market, regulation, and reimbursement in Gulf Cooperation Council states.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Jason J

    2014-01-01

    With some of the richest economies in the world, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is undergoing rapid growth not only in its population but also in health care expenditure. Despite the GCC's abundance of hydrocarbon-based wealth, the drivers of the medical device industry in the GCC are still in flux, with gains yet to be made in areas of infrastructure, regulation, and reimbursement. However, the regional disease burden, expanding health insurance penetration, increasing privatization, and a desire to attract skilled expatriate health care providers have led to favorable conditions for the medical device market in the GCC. The purpose of this article is to investigate the current state of the GCC medical device industry, with respect to market, regulation, and reimbursement, paying special attention to the three largest medical device markets: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. The GCC would seem to represent fertile ground for the development of medical technologies, especially those in line with the regional health priorities of the respective member states.

  12. Exposure of medical students to pharmaceutical marketing in primary care settings: frequent and influential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarikaya, Ozlem; Civaner, Murat; Vatansever, Kevser

    2009-12-01

    It is known that interaction between pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals may lead to corruption of professional values, irrational use of medicine, and negative effects on the patient-physician relationship. Medical students frequently interact with pharmaceutical company representatives and increasingly accept their gifts. Considering the move toward early clinical encounters and community-based education, which expose students early to pharmaceutical representatives, the influence of those gifts is becoming a matter of concern. This study examines the frequency and influence of student exposure to drug marketing in primary care settings, as well as student perceptions of physician-pharmaceutical company relationships. This was a two-phase study consisting of qualitative research followed by a cross-sectional survey. Clinical experience logbooks of 280 second-year students in one school were analysed, and the themes that emerged were used to develop a survey that was administered to 308 third-year students from two medical schools. Survey results showed a 91.2% exposure to any type of marketing, and 56.8% of students were exposed to all classes of marketing methods studied. Deliberate targeting of students by pharmaceutical representatives, in particular, was correlated with being less sensitive to the negative effects of and having positive opinions about interactions with pharmaceutical companies. The vast majority of students are exposed to drug marketing in primary care settings, and may become more vulnerable to that strategy. Considering that medical students are vulnerable and are targeted deliberately by pharmaceutical companies, interventions aimed at developing skills in the rational use of medicines and in strategies for coping with drug marketing should be devised.

  13. Marketing ethics, functions, and content: a health education/marketing survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, P D; King, K K

    1985-01-01

    Survey data were used to evaluate the role of marketing in the nonprofit arena of health promotion. Questionnaires utilizing a Likert type scale were sent to 106 marketers and 247 health educators soliciting their opinions about health care marketing. Both groups agreed that marketing was appropriate for both profit and non-profit organizations, but were not in total agreement on specific aspects of the marketing process. Marketers were adamant that marketing is not confined to promotional, advertising and communication functions, while health educators were neutral. Marketers were strong in their disagreement that marketing is selling; health educators were still neutral but in slight disagreement. Marketers did not believe that marketing uses gimmickry heavily, while health educators agreed that it does use gimmickry. A significant finding from the survey is that the major ethical issue for health educators is their view that marketing manipulates society. Both community and school health educators agreed that using marketing techniques is a step forward manipulation of a society, while the group of marketers disagreed.

  14. Review of segmentation process in consumer markets

    OpenAIRE

    Veronika Jadczaková

    2013-01-01

    Although there has been a considerable debate on market segmentation over five decades, attention was merely devoted to single stages of the segmentation process. In doing so, stages as segmentation base selection or segments profiling have been heavily covered in the extant literature, whereas stages as implementation of the marketing strategy or market definition were of a comparably lower interest. Capitalizing on this shortcoming, this paper strives to close the gap and provide each step...

  15. Four motivations for charitable giving: implications for marketing strategy to attract monetary donations for medical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, S

    1988-06-01

    Medical research foundations can compete more effectively for charitable dollars by being aware of motivations for giving when designing marketing strategy. The study tests the extent to which the motives of reciprocity, income, career, and self-esteem predict monetary giving to medical research. The results indicate that reciprocity and income motives are significant predictors of giving, as are household assets and age. Interpretation of these results leads to several suggestions for marketing strategy.

  16. Curing the disobedient patient: medication adherence programs as pharmaceutical marketing tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamkin, Matt; Elliott, Carl

    2014-01-01

    Pharmaceutical companies have long focused their marketing strategies on getting doctors to write more prescriptions. But they lose billions in potential sales when patients do not take their prescribed drugs. Getting patients to "adhere" to drug therapies that have unpleasant side effects and questionable efficacy requires more than mere ad campaigns urging patients to talk to their doctors. It requires changing patients' beliefs and attitudes about their medications through repeated contact from people patients trust. Since patients do not trust drug companies, these companies are delivering their marketing messages through nurses, pharmacists, and even other patients--leveraging patients' trust in these intermediaries to persuade them to consume more brand name drugs. Armed with the premise that better adherence improves patients' health, drug companies justify manipulating patients by reframing reasonable decisions to decline therapy as pathological, and promote brand loyalty in the guise of offering medical care. © 2014 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

  17. Can inbound and domestic medical tourism improve your bottom line? Identifying the potential of a U.S. tourism market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fottler, Myron D; Malvey, Donna; Asi, Yara; Kirchner, Sarah; Warren, Natalia A

    2014-01-01

    In large part due to current economic conditions and the political uncertainties of healthcare reform legislation, hospitals need to identify new sources of revenue. Two potentially untapped sources are inbound (international) and domestic (within the United States) medical tourists. This case study uses data from a large, urban healthcare system in the southeastern United States to quantify its potential market opportunities for medical tourism. The data were mined from electronic health records, and descriptive frequency analysis was used to provide a preliminary market assessment. This approach permits healthcare systems to move beyond anecdotal information and assess the relative market potential of their particular geographic area and the diagnostic services they offer for attracting inbound and domestic medical tourists. Implications for healthcare executives and guidance on how they can focus marketing efforts are discussed.

  18. Using marketing research concepts to investigate specialty selection by medical students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weissman, Charles; Schroeder, Josh; Elchalal, Uriel; Weiss, Yoram; Tandeter, Howard; Zisk-Rony, Rachel Y

    2012-10-01

    This study was intended to examine whether a marketing research approach improves understanding of medical specialty selection by medical students. This approach likens students to consumers who are deciding whether or not to purchase a product (specialty). This approach proposes that when consumers' criteria match their perceptions of a product's features, the likelihood that they will purchase it (select the specialty) increases. This study examines whether exploring students' selection criteria and perceptions of various specialties provides additional insights into the selection process. Using a consumer behaviour model as a framework, a questionnaire was designed and administered to Year 6 (final-year) students in 2008 and 2009 to elicit information on their knowledge about and interests in various specialties, the criteria they used in specialty selection, and their perceptions of six specialties. A total of 132 (67%) questionnaires were returned. In many instances, consistency between selection criteria and perceptions of a specialty was accompanied by interest in pursuing the specialty. Exceptions were noted and pointed to areas requiring additional research. For example, although > 70% of female students replied that the affordance of a controllable lifestyle was an important selection criterion, many were interested in obstetrics and gynaecology despite the fact that it was not perceived as providing a controllable lifestyle. Minimal overlap among students reporting interest in primary specialties that possess similar characteristics (e.g. paediatrics and family medicine) demonstrated the need to target marketing (recruitment) efforts for each specialty individually. Using marketing research concepts to examine medical specialty selection may precipitate a conceptual shift among health care leaders which acknowledges that, to attract students, specialties must meet students' selection criteria. Moreover, if consumers (students) deem a product (specialty

  19. Public health care providers and market competition: the case of Finnish occupational health services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kankaanpää, Eila; Linnosmaa, Ismo; Valtonen, Hannu

    2011-02-01

    As reforms in publicly funded health systems rely heavily on competition, it is important to know if and how public providers react to competition. In many European countries, it is empirically difficult to study public providers in different markets, but in Finnish occupational health services, both public and private for-profit and non-profit providers co-exist. We studied possible differences in public providers' performance (price, intensity of services, service mix-curative medical services/prevention, productivity and revenues) according to the competitiveness of the market. The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) collected data on clients, services and personnel for 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2004 from occupational health services (OHS) providers. Employers defray the costs of OHS and apply for reimbursement from the Social Insurance Institution (SII). The SII data was merged with FIOH's questionnaire. The unbalanced panel consisted of about 230 public providers, totalling 1,164 observations. Local markets were constructed from several municipalities based on commuting practices and regional collaboration. Competitiveness of the market was measured by the number of providers and by the Herfindahl index. The effect of competition was studied by ordinary least square regression analysis and panel models. The more competitive the environment was for a public provider the higher were intensity, productivity and the share of medical care. Fixed panel models showed that these differences were not due to differences and changes in the competitiveness of the market. Instead, in more competitive markets public providers had higher unit prices and higher revenues.

  20. Arthritis, Rheumatism and Aging Medical Information System Post-Marketing Surveillance Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, G

    2001-05-01

    The Arthritis, Rheumatism, and Aging Post-Marketing Surveillance Program (ARAMIS-PMS) is a collection of multicenter, prospective, noninterventional, observational longitudinal studies of patients with rheumatic diseases. The ARAMIS-PMS program aims to study patients in normal clinical setting to evaluate the real-life effectiveness, toxicity, and cost effectiveness of various medications used to treat rheumatic diseases.

  1. ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT TRENDS OF THE MARKET NANOCOSMETICS DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu. V. Korzh

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Today, nanotechnology has become one of the strategic directions of economic development of the leading countries. According to literary sources, it is established that more than 50 countries of the world are adopting national programs in this field of new knowledge, and various methods of nanotechnology have received the greatest development and application in microelectronics, aerospace, chemical, medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. It should be noted, that beauty is the most represented products with the use of nanotechnologies in the world. On the evaluation of the European Commission in 2009, the specific weight of cosmetics with nanoparticles amounted to 5%. The aim of the work was to assess the current trends of the market nanocosmetic photoprotectors development. In the last years in Ukraine the market of cosmetics is developing dynamically. Manufacturers of medical cosmetics invest heavily in scientific researches, patents, improvement of existing technologies. To determine the status of the security of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine, we have analyzed the volume of sales and range of medical cosmetics, presented at the domestic market. In terms of sales volume in money terms of therapeutic cosmetics every year loses its position. Thus, the volume of sales in 2011, has decreased on 1,1 % in comparison with 2009. In Ukraine cosmetics of native production occupies 8% of the total volume of sales, cosmetics of foreign production - 92%. At the next stage of the research we have analyzed the medical cosmetic means, which are used for the prevention of photo-aging of the skin. In General, the Ukrainian market of medicinal cosmetics contains 125 trademarks of foreign and native manufacture. The largest share in the market of Ukraine belongs to the French medical cosmetics - 48,6 % of the total number of medical cosmetic means. It is represented by the various lines of medical cosmetics brands such: Vichy, Avene, RoC, Uriage

  2. European oil demand and 1993 Common Market potential effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chevalier, J.M.

    1991-01-01

    Unification of the energy european market will heavily enhance external energy dependence and inter-energy competition. In order to respond to these new challenges, petroleum industry will have to change, probably in the direction of an increased integration concentration. Petroleum market share, moreover, will depend largely from environmental trends in EEC politics and regulations

  3. Developing Competitive Advantage in the Private Medical Services Market. The Case of Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simona BASTURESCU

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Health was, is and will always be a top priority for a country’s stakeholders. The average health expenditure depicts an impressive variability worldwide, with Americans being the top spenders and South East Asia countries being at the bottom of the respective list. This study analyses the existing competitive advantages of the most important players in the private medical services market, in Romania. It traces their development and the factors that determine positioning strategic decisions. The competitive advantage of a business in the private medical services market is a result of a number of factors. The top three criteria of choice for a patient are doctors, medical technology and waiting time for accessing the service. The objectives of this research paper are: 1. to identify the key success factors (KSFs and the drivers of change (DC in the Romanian Medical Industry; 2. to propose a fine tuning in strategy as a response to changes in the macro and micro environment, 3. to re-evaluate existing business models and propose amendments that may lead to future sustainable competitive advantage and 4. to develop a proposition for growth strategies, business strategies and means of implementation that will lead to long term growth.

  4. Further considerations for damping in heavily insulated pipe systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, M.J.; Lindquist, M.R.; Severud, L.K.

    1985-01-01

    Over the past several years a body of test data has been accumulated which demonstrates that damping in small diameter heavily insulated pipe systems is much larger than presently recommended by Regulatory Guide 1.61. This data is generally based on pipe systems using a stand-off insulation design with a heater annulus. Additional tests have how been completed on similar pipe systems using a strap-on insulation design without the heater annulus. Results indicate some reduction in damping over the stand-off designs. Test data has also been obtained on a larger sixteen-inch diameter heavily insulated pipe system. Results of these two additional test series are presented. Revised damping values for seismic design of heavily insulated pipe systems are then recommended

  5. Further considerations for damping in heavily insulated pipe systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, M.J.; Lindquist, M.R.; Severud, L.K.

    1985-01-01

    Over the past several years a body of test data has been accumulated which demonstrates that damping in small diameter heavily insulated pipe systems is much larger than presently recommended by Regulatory Code 1.61. This data is generally based on pipe systems using a stand-off insulation design with a heater annulus. Additional tests have now been completed on similar pipe systems using a strap-on insulation design without the heater annulus. Results indicate some reduction in damping over the stand-off designs. Test data has also been obtained on a larger sixteen-inch diameter heavily insulated pipe system. Results of these two additional test series are presented. Revised damping values for seismic design for heavily insulated pipe systems are then recommended

  6. FinTech Market Development Perspectives

    OpenAIRE

    Kalmykova, Ekaterina Yurievna; Ryabova, Anna

    2016-01-01

    Fast development of technologies has led to emergence of the new market – FinTech – which is very attractive for investors today. By now this market has a great number of different concepts: P2P-crediting, E-wallets, Bitcoins, mPOS-acquiring, T-commerce, mobile banks, etc. Many of these tools have already heavily entered our ordinary life. People can obtain any credits through special services on the Internet from other users without participation of banks, pay by credit card using mobile dev...

  7. Superconductivity in heavily boron-doped silicon carbide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Kriener, Takahiro Muranaka, Junya Kato, Zhi-An Ren, Jun Akimitsu and Yoshiteru Maeno

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The discoveries of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond in 2004 and silicon in 2006 have renewed the interest in the superconducting state of semiconductors. Charge-carrier doping of wide-gap semiconductors leads to a metallic phase from which upon further doping superconductivity can emerge. Recently, we discovered superconductivity in a closely related system: heavily boron-doped silicon carbide. The sample used for that study consisted of cubic and hexagonal SiC phase fractions and hence this led to the question which of them participated in the superconductivity. Here we studied a hexagonal SiC sample, free from cubic SiC phase by means of x-ray diffraction, resistivity, and ac susceptibility.

  8. Medical Representatives' Intention to Use Information Technology in Pharmaceutical Marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwak, Eun-Seon; Chang, Hyejung

    2016-10-01

    Electronic detailing (e-detailing), the use of electronic devices to facilitate sales presentations to physicians, has been adopted and expanded in the pharmaceutical industry. To maximize the potential outcome of e-detailing, it is important to understand medical representatives (MRs)' behavior and attitude to e-detailing. This study investigates how information technology devices such as laptop computers and tablet PCs are utilized in pharmaceutical marketing, and it analyzes the factors influencing MRs' intention to use devices. This study has adopted and modified the theory of Roger's diffusion of innovation model and the technology acceptance model. To test the model empirically, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 221 MRs who were working in three multinational or eleven domestic pharmaceutical companies in Korea. Overall, 28% and 35% of MRs experienced using laptop computers and tablet PCs in pharmaceutical marketing, respectively. However, the rates were different across different groups of MRs, categorized by age, education level, position, and career. The results showed that MRs' intention to use information technology devices was significantly influenced by perceived usefulness in general. Perceived ease of use, organizational and individual innovativeness, and several MR characteristics were also found to have significant impacts. This study provides timely information about e-detailing devices to marketing managers and policy makers in the pharmaceutical industry for successful marketing strategy development by understanding the needs of MRs' intention to use information technology. Further in-depth study should be conducted to understand obstacles and limitations and to improve the strategies for better marketing tools.

  9. Muddling up the Market: New Exempt- Market Regulations may do more Harm than Good to the Integrity of Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jack M. Mintz

    2014-11-01

    protect investors from the higher risks that are presumed of exempt markets. However, there is no evidence — given the paucity of information about them — that exempt markets necessarily pose a greater risk of fraud or poorer returns and losses than do heavily regulated public markets. And if risk is indeed higher in the exempt markets, one would expect these proposed regulations to assist highquality firms from distinguishing themselves in the exempt market from low-quality firms. However, these regulations may actually have the opposite effect, making it harder for better-quality firms to signal their worthiness to investors. Canadian productivity — which continues to lag relative to other developed economies — relies heavily on businesses being able to acquire capital for investing in new technologies. Canadian companies and investors appear to be voting with their feet for exempt markets in raising that capital, possibly discouraged from public markets by regulatory costs and inefficiencies. For policy-makers to layer additional regulation on top of exempt markets without fully understanding the impact that it will have, could well result in making Canadian markets, and Canada’s economy, weaker, rather than stronger.

  10. Joint marketing cites excellence: Fairview-University Medical Center advertises cooperatively with University of Minnesota Physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Botvin, Judith D

    2004-01-01

    Fairview-University Medical Center and University of Minnesota Physicians, both in Minneapolis, are enjoying the benefits of a co-branded advertising campaign. It includes print ads, brochures, and other marketing devices.

  11. Learning from Marketing: Rapid Development of Medication Messages that Engage Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yank, Veronica; Tribett, Erika; Green, Lydia; Pettis, Jasmine

    2015-01-01

    Objective To adapt marketing approaches in a health services environment. Methods Researchers and advertising professionals partnered in developing advertising-style messages designed to activate patients pre-identified as having chronic kidney disease to ask providers about recommended medications. We assessed feasibility of the development process by evaluating partnership structure, costs, and timeframe. We tested messages with patients and providers using preliminary surveys to refine initial messages and subsequent focus groups to identify the most persuasive ones. Results The partnership achieved an efficient structure, $14,550 total costs, and 4-month timeframe. The advertising team developed 11 initial messages. The research team conducted surveys and focus groups with a total of 13 patients and 8 providers to identify three messages as most activating. Focus group themes suggested the general approach of using advertising-style messages was acceptable if it supported patient-provider relationships and had a credible evidence base. Individual messages were more motivating if they elicited personal identification with imagery, particular emotions, active patient role, and message clarity. Conclusion We demonstrated feasibility of a research-advertising partnership and acceptability and likely impact of advertising-style messages on patient medication-seeking behavior. Practice Implications Healthcare systems may want to replicate our adaptation of marketing approaches to patients with chronic conditions. PMID:25913245

  12. Learning from marketing: Rapid development of medication messages that engage patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yank, Veronica; Tribett, Erika; Green, Lydia; Pettis, Jasmine

    2015-08-01

    To adapt marketing approaches in a health services environment. Researchers and advertising professionals partnered in developing advertising-style messages designed to activate patients pre-identified as having chronic kidney disease to ask providers about recommended medications. We assessed feasibility of the development process by evaluating partnership structure, costs, and timeframe. We tested messages with patients and providers using preliminary surveys to refine initial messages and subsequent focus groups to identify the most persuasive ones. The partnership achieved an efficient structure, $14,550 total costs, and 4-month timeframe. The advertising team developed 11 initial messages. The research team conducted surveys and focus groups with a total of 13 patients and 8 providers to identify three messages as most activating. Focus group themes suggested the general approach of using advertising-style messages was acceptable if it supported patient-provider relationships and had a credible evidence base. Individual messages were more motivating if they elicited personal identification with imagery, particular emotions, active patient role, and message clarity. We demonstrated feasibility of a research-advertising partnership and acceptability and likely impact of advertising-style messages on patient medication-seeking behavior. Healthcare systems may want to replicate our adaptation of marketing approaches to patients with chronic conditions. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  13. ["What do physicians really read?" Medical journals and pharma-marketing between 1900 and the late 1970s].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoms, Ulrike

    2014-01-01

    Scientific Journals are widely used sources in the history science. First and foremost they are analyzed under the aspect of professionalization and the development of scientific topics. However, the impact of the increasing number of advertisements on the journals has been almost systematically excluded from historical analysis. The paper analyses the relations between pharma marketing and medical journals. However, the emphasis here is not so much on the development of print advertisements. Instead the paper uses sources, which were produced in the process of marketing to access the history of the medical scientific journal, its change and its reception by physicians.

  14. Marketing to increase participation in a Web-based continuing medical education cultural competence curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estrada, Carlos A; Krishnamoorthy, Periyakaruppan; Smith, Ann; Staton, Lisa; Korf, Michele J; Allison, Jeroan J; Houston, Thomas K

    2011-01-01

    CME providers may be interested in identifying effective marketing strategies to direct users to specific content. Online advertisements for recruiting participants into activities such as clinical trials, public health programs, and continuing medical education (CME) have been effective in some but not all studies. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of 2 marketing strategies in the context of an online CME cultural competence curriculum (www.c-comp.org). In an interrupted time-series quasi-experimental design, 2 marketing strategies were tested: (1) wide dissemination to relevant organizations over a period of approximately 4 months, and (2) Internet paid search using Google Ads (5 consecutive 8-week periods--control 1, cultural/CME advertisement, control 2, hypertension/ content advertisement, control 3). Outcome measures were CME credit requests, Web traffic (visits per day, page views, pages viewed per visit), and cost. Overall, the site was visited 19,156 times and 78,160 pages were viewed. During the wide dissemination phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit decreased between the first (5.3%) and second (3.3%) halves of this phase (p = .04). During the Internet paid search phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit was highest during the cultural/CME advertisement period (control 1, 1.4%; cultural/CME ad, 4.3%; control 2, 1.5%; hypertension/content ad, 0.6%; control 3, 0.8%; p advertisement periods. The incremental cost for the cultural advertisement per CME credit requested was US $0.64. Internet advertisement focusing on cultural competence and CME was associated with about a threefold increase in requests for CME credit at an incremental cost of under US $1; however, Web traffic changes were independent of the advertisement strategy. Copyright © 2011 The Alliance for Continuing Medical Education, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on CME, Association for Hospital Medical

  15. Essays on the Marketing and Packaging of Cigarettes

    OpenAIRE

    Leas, Eric Craig

    2017-01-01

    Background: To curb smoking rates, the World Health Organizations’ Framework Convention on Tobacco Control recommends that countries ban all forms of tobacco advertising and restrict the use of certain terminology on packaging and branding. However, in many countries, including the United States, tobacco remains one of the most heavily marketed consumer goods. Through a series of studies I explore several issues pertaining to the marketing of tobacco products including: whether some brands ac...

  16. The marketing mix and development of medical tourism in shiraz.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jabbari, Alireza; Rahimi Zarchi, Mohammad Kazem; Kavosi, Zahra; Shafaghat, Tahere; Keshtkaran, Ali

    2013-01-01

    In recent years, medical tourism market has been raised as one of the income-earning and competitive industries in the world and is considered as a modern field of advanced tourism. Therefore, a great number of countries are seeking to develop this type of tourism and one of the strategies for developing this industry is using the marketing mix elements. This study was a descriptive-analytic and cross sectional one. The research community included all the public and private hospitals of Shiraz among which, 7 public and 9 private hospitals were studied. The study data were collected through a researcher-made check list whose face and content validity was confirmed by the experts. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software. According to the objectives of the study, the descriptive results were presented in frequency tables and Chi-square test was used for data analysis. In addition, Pmedical tourists and developing this industry in Shiraz.

  17. Structure of an urban Christmas tree market

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas H. Pendleton; Lawrence D. Garrett; Lawrence D. Garrett

    1973-01-01

    The retail Christmas tree market in Winston-Salem, N.C., was studied 3 years. Types of retailers and their sales are described. Best sales were made by dealers who had lots on heavily traveled streets in business districts, had ample parking facilities, advertised, and displayed their trees well.

  18. Pharmaceutical marketing in a new age. Effective campaigns still need to focus on what customers want.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, Sanjay K

    2002-01-01

    The pharmaceutical industry has focused heavily on marketers' ability to market new products more efficiently. However, a more streamlined marketing approach can help address customers' needs and ease the pressure on drug companies to discover new drugs with blockbuster appeal. Through discussion and a detailed example, this article describes a stream-lined approach to creating more effective marketing and sales force strategies.

  19. Comparison on mechanical properties of heavily phosphorus- and arsenic-doped Czochralski silicon wafers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Kang; Sun, Yuxin; Lu, Yunhao; Liang, Xingbo; Tian, Daxi; Ma, Xiangyang; Yang, Deren

    2018-04-01

    Heavily phosphorus (P)- and arsenic (As)-doped Czochralski silicon (CZ-Si) wafers generally act as the substrates for the epitaxial silicon wafers used to fabricate power and communication devices. The mechanical properties of such two kinds of n-type heavily doped CZ silicon wafers are vital to ensure the quality of epitaxial silicon wafers and the manufacturing yields of devices. In this work, the mechanical properties including the hardness, Young's modulus, indentation fracture toughness and the resistance to dislocation motion have been comparatively investigated for heavily P- and As-doped CZ-Si wafers. It is found that heavily P-doped CZ-Si possesses somewhat higher hardness, lower Young's modulus, larger indentation fracture toughness and stronger resistance to dislocation motion than heavily As-doped CZ-Si. The mechanisms underlying this finding have been tentatively elucidated by considering the differences in the doping effects of P and As in silicon.

  20. Australian Educational Institutions International Markets: A Correspondence Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzarol, Timothy W.; Soutar, Geoffrey N.

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The global market for international students have become highly competitive and many institutions, particularly higher education institutions, rely heavily on fee income from overseas students. This study aims to examine the countries from which Australian education institutions draw such students and used this information to better…

  1. All-Round Marketing Increases Hospital Popularity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziqi, Tao

    2015-06-01

    Xuzhou Center Hospital is in a competing medical market in Xuzhou city. This hospital has been dedicating to improve the medical skills and provide professional and individualized service to the patients in order to improve the patient's experience and increase the patient's satisfaction. On the other side, this hospital has provided an all-round marketing campaign to build up the social influence and public reputation through public-praise marketing, web marketing, media marketing, and scholar marketing. Besides, this hospital has been cooperating with foreign medical institutions and inviting foreign medical specialists to academic communication. With the combined effects of improving medical service and all-round marketing, the hospital's economic performance has been enhanced significantly and laid a solid foundation for its ambition to become the first-class hospital in Huaihai Economic Zone.

  2. Marketing Medical Education: An Examination of Recruitment Web Sites for Traditional and Combined-Degree M.D. Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Roberta L.

    2004-01-01

    The Internet has the potential to reshape college recruiting; however, little research has been done to see the impact of the Internet on marketing graduate programs, including medical schools. This paper explores the Web sites of 20 different medical schools, including traditional four-year and bachelor's-M.D. degree programs, to ascertain…

  3. Chronic Disease Prevalence and Medicare Advantage Market Penetration: Findings From the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Steven W; Bernell, Stephanie Lazarus; Casim, Faizan M; Wilmott, Jennifer; Pearson, Lindsey; Byler, Caitlin M; Zhang, Zidong

    2015-01-01

    By March 2015, 30% of all Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Research to date has not explored the impacts of MA market penetration on individual or population health outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationships between MA market penetration and the beneficiary's portfolio of cardiometabolic diagnoses. This study uses 2004 to 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component data to construct an aggregate index that captures multiple diagnoses in one outcome measure (Chronic Disease Severity Index [CDSI]). The MEPS data for 8089 Medicare beneficiaries are merged with MA market penetration data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Ordinary least squares regressions are run with SAS 9.3 to model the effects of MA market penetration on CDSI. The results suggest that each percentage increase in MA market penetration is associated with a greater than 2-point decline in CDSI (lower burden of cardiometabolic chronic disease). Spill-over effects may be driving improvements in the cardiometabolic health of beneficiary populations in counties with elevated levels of MA market penetration.

  4. Marketing to Increase Participation in a Web-Based Continuing Medical Education Cultural Competence Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estrada, Carlos A.; Krishnamoorthy, Periyakaruppan; Smith, Ann; Staton, Lisa; Korf, Michele J.; Allison, Jeroan J.; Houston, Thomas K.

    2011-01-01

    Introduction: CME providers may be interested in identifying effective marketing strategies to direct users to specific content. Online advertisements for recruiting participants into activities such as clinical trials, public health programs, and continuing medical education (CME) have been effective in some but not all studies. The purpose of…

  5. Customers and Markets: Both are Essential to Credit-Risk Measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David E. Allen

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper compares credit models that incorporate a market component to those that are solely customerbased. We found that customer-only models understated credit risk during the Global Financial Crisis (GFCand do not adequately differentiate between industries. Models that focus too heavily on the market canoverstate credit risk in times of high volatility. We recommend a two-factor modelling approach thatincorporates both customer and market risk to improve the accuracy of credit-risk measurement as well asassist lenders with early risk detection.

  6. a Study of Oxygen Precipitation in Heavily Doped Silicon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graupner, Robert Kurt

    Gettering of impurities with oxygen precipitates is widely used during the fabrication of semiconductors to improve the performance and yield of the devices. Since the effectiveness of the gettering process is largely dependent on the initial interstitial oxygen concentration, accurate measurements of this parameter are of considerable importance. Measurements of interstitial oxygen following thermal cycles are required for development of semiconductor fabrication processes and for research into the mechanisms of oxygen precipitate nucleation and growth. Efforts by industrial associations have led to the development of standard procedures for the measurement of interstitial oxygen in wafers. However practical oxygen measurements often do not satisfy the requirements of such standard procedures. An additional difficulty arises when the silicon wafer has a low resitivity (high dopant concentration). In such cases the infrared light used for the measurement is severely attenuated by the electrons of holes introduced by the dopant. Since such wafers are the substrates used for the production of widely used epitaxial wafers, this measurement problem is economically important. Alternative methods such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy or Gas Fusion Analysis have been developed to measure oxygen in these cases. However, neither of these methods is capable of distinguishing interstitial oxygen from precipitated oxygen as required for precipitation studies. In addition to the commercial interest in heavily doped silicon substrates, they are also of interest for research into the role of point defects in nucleation and precipitation processes. Despite considerable research effort, there is still disagreement concerning the type of point defect and its role in semiconductor processes. Studies of changes in the interstitial oxygen concentration of heavily doped and lightly doped silicon wafers could help clarify the role of point defects in oxygen nucleation and precipitation

  7. Informational segmentation in international capital markets

    OpenAIRE

    Wahl, Jack E.

    1988-01-01

    The economic influence of barriers to international information acquisition and, hence, of informational segmentation in international capital markets depends heavily upon the prevailing level of risk aversion. We find that these barriers are likely to have second order economic impact only. Furthermore, improving international informational integration is likely to Increase all asset prices when causing less heterogeneity of international subjective probability beliefs.

  8. Marketing Is Not a Luxury - Marketing Is a Necessity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Sean

    2017-10-01

    Physicians who work in small practices constantly face a basic marketing question: What's the best way to sell myself and my business to the community? Because few physicians studied business principles, many won't know the answer. That's why the Texas Medical Association is publishing a book titled Marketing Smart: A Guide for Medical Practices.

  9. Explosive phenomena in heavily irradiated NaCl

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    denHartog, HW; Vainshtein, DI; Matthews, GE; Williams, RT

    1997-01-01

    In heavily irradiated NaCl crystals explosive phenomena can be initiated during irradiation or afterwards when samples are heated to temperatures between 100 and 250 degrees C. During irradiation of NaCl Na and Cl-2 precipitates and void structures are produced along with the accumulation of stored

  10. The pricing of natural gas in US markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, S.P.A.; Yucel, M.K.

    1993-01-01

    Our econometric evidence indicates that changes in natural gas prices are unequal in the long run. Nonetheless, all downstream prices change by at least as much as the average well-head price. Statistically, residential and commercial prices change as much as the city gate price. In the face of persistent shocks, however, market institutions and market dynamics can lead to lengthy periods in which the residential and commercial prices of natural gas adjust less than the wellhead or city gate prices. Electrical and industrial users of natural gas rely heavily on spot supplies and can switch fuels easily. Their ability to switch fuels may be related to the development of a spot market to serve them. Reliance on the spot market may explain why these end users have seen a greater reduction in natural gas prices than have the LDCs over the past seven years. The ability to switch fuels may account for electrical and industrial prices being the source of shocks in their relationships with the wellhead price. It also may explain why prices in these end-sue markets are quick to adjust. Commercial and residential customers cannot switch fuels easily and rely heavily on LDCs for their natural gas. The inability of these end users to switch fuels probably contributes to the reluctance of LDCs to purchase spot supplies of gas. Reliance on contract supplies may explain why the city gate price has not declined as much as electrical and industrial prices of natural gas over the past seven years. Furthermore, the LDCs administer prices in the commercial and residential markets under state regulation

  11. Physicians' perceptions of medical representative visits in Yemen: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Areefi, Mahmoud Abdullah; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi; Ibrahim, Mohamed Izham b Mohamed

    2013-08-20

    The pharmaceutical industry invests heavily in promotion, and it uses a variety of promotional strategies to influence physicians' prescribing decisions. Within this context, medical representatives (MRs) are the key personnel employed in promoting their products. One significant consequence of the interactions between physicians and medical representatives is a conflict of interests which may contribute to the over prescribing of medications and thus negative effects on patients' health and economics. There is limited detailed information published on the reasons why physicians interact with pharmaceutical representatives. This study aims to qualitatively explore physicians' attitudes about interactions with medical representatives and their reasons for accepting the medical representatives' visits. In-depth interviews were used to gain a better understanding of physicians' perceptions of medical representative visits. A total of 32 physicians from both private and public hospitals were interviewed. The recordings of the interviews were transcribed verbatim and subject to thematic analysis using a framework analysis approach. The present qualitative study found that the majority of the physicians had positive interactions with medical representatives. The physicians' main reasons stated for allowing medical representatives' visits are the social contacts and mutual benefits they will gain from these representatives. They also emphasized that the meeting with representatives provides educational and scientific benefits. A few physicians stated that the main reasons behind refusing the meeting with medical representatives were lack of conviction about the product and obligation to prescribe medicine from the representative company. Most of the physicians believed that they were under marketing pressure to prescribe certain medicines. Although physicians are aware that the medical representatives could influence their prescribing decision, they welcome

  12. Pay-as-bid based reactive power market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amjady, N.; Rabiee, A.; Shayanfar, H.A.

    2010-01-01

    In energy market clearing, the offers are stacked in increasing order and the offer that intersects demand curve, determines the market clearing price (MCP). In reactive power market, the location of reactive power compensator is so important. A low cost reactive producer may not essentially be favorable if it is far from the consumer. Likewise, a high cost local reactive compensator at a heavily loaded demand center of network could be inevitably an alternative required to produce reactive power to maintain the integrity of power system. Given the background, this paper presents a day-ahead reactive power market based on pay-as-bid (PAB) mechanism. Generators expected payment function (EPF) is used to construct a bidding framework. Then, total payment function (TPF) of generators is used as the objective function of optimal power flow (OPF) problem to clear the PAB based market. The CIGRE-32 bus test system is used to examine the effectiveness of the proposed reactive power market.

  13. Pay-as-bid based reactive power market

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amjady, N. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Rabiee, A., E-mail: Rabiee@iust.ac.i [Center of Excellence for Power System Automation and Operation, Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shayanfar, H.A. [Center of Excellence for Power System Automation and Operation, Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2010-02-15

    In energy market clearing, the offers are stacked in increasing order and the offer that intersects demand curve, determines the market clearing price (MCP). In reactive power market, the location of reactive power compensator is so important. A low cost reactive producer may not essentially be favorable if it is far from the consumer. Likewise, a high cost local reactive compensator at a heavily loaded demand center of network could be inevitably an alternative required to produce reactive power to maintain the integrity of power system. Given the background, this paper presents a day-ahead reactive power market based on pay-as-bid (PAB) mechanism. Generators expected payment function (EPF) is used to construct a bidding framework. Then, total payment function (TPF) of generators is used as the objective function of optimal power flow (OPF) problem to clear the PAB based market. The CIGRE-32 bus test system is used to examine the effectiveness of the proposed reactive power market.

  14. Growth in HMO share of the Medicare market, 1989-1994.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, W P

    1996-01-01

    Between 1989 and 1994 the health maintenance organization (HMO) share of the Medicare market grew rapidly. It is still heavily concentrated geographically, however. The most influential factor in this growth is HMO penetration into an area's general health care market. Medicare payment rates and prior Medicare HMO penetration also have an impact, but their effects are much weaker. Thus, payment rate reform is likely to have only a modest impact on Medicare HMO growth in the short term. In the longer term, the HMO share of the Medicare market will continue to grow, because HMO penetration in the general health care market is growing rapidly.

  15. Medical societies, patient education initiatives, public debate and marketing of unproven stem cell interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Daniel J; Turner, Leigh; Levine, Aaron D; Ikonomou, Laertis

    2018-02-01

    Businesses marketing unproven stem cell interventions proliferate within the U.S. and in the larger global marketplace. There have been global efforts by scientists, patient advocacy groups, bioethicists, and public policy experts to counteract the uncontrolled and premature commercialization of stem cell interventions. In this commentary, we posit that medical societies and associations of health care professionals have a particular responsibility to be an active partner in such efforts. We review the role medical societies can and should play in this area through patient advocacy and awareness initiatives. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. 'On the doctor's orders': A pilot study of the effects of website marketing for medical specialist providers under gatekeeping arrangements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zwier, S.

    2017-01-01

    Websites from medical specialist providers are becoming increasingly marketing oriented, but there exists a paucity of empirical research on the effects. This experimental study explored effects of exposure to real websites from medical specialist providers among Dutch adults under physician

  17. Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medication in New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Every-Palmer, Susanna; Duggal, Rishi; Menkes, David B

    2014-08-29

    The last decade has seen increasing measures aimed at regulating the influence of 'Big Pharma' following a number of scandals relating to unethical marketing. Despite these international trends, New Zealand continues to tolerate direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription medication, a controversial pharmaceutical marketing strategy that has been prohibited in all but two countries in the industrialised world. While the pharmaceutical industry asserts that DTCA is informational and empowers consumers, in this viewpoint article we argue that DTCA is a heavily biased source of health information that favours representation of benefits over harms, and is associated with unnecessary prescribing, iatrogenic harm and increased costs to the taxpayer. In this paper, we show that DTCA provides unbalanced information to consumers who may misconstrue DTCA as public health messages, and fail to recognise inherent commercial bias. We describe how DTCA has been linked with inappropriate prescribing and overtreatment, with evidence indicating that patients request and receive specific medications in response to DTCA, even when treatment is not clinically indicated. This exposes patients to unnecessary adverse effects and iatrogenic harm, and increases costs for the health-care sector through the prescription of expensive branded medication. We use local examples to illustrate these points. New Zealand remains an outlier in allowing DTCA to continue which, in our view, is a controversial and harmful practice. The available evidence suggests that consumers and health care professionals are generally opposed to DTCA. Therefore, we believe that the New Zealand government should review its stance on DTCA.

  18. Regulating the Dutch pharmaceutical market: improving efficiency or controlling costs?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wolf, de P.; Brouwer, W.B.F.; Rutten, F.H.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we describe the Dutch pharmaceutical market, which is heavily regulated by the government. Through the regulation of prices and promoting prudent use, the Dutch government tries to bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals, which increases every year at a higher rate than total health

  19. Medical Underwriting In Long-Term Care Insurance: Market Conditions Limit Options For Higher-Risk Consumers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornell, Portia Y; Grabowski, David C; Cohen, Marc; Shi, Xiaomei; Stevenson, David G

    2016-08-01

    A key feature of private long-term care insurance is that medical underwriters screen out would-be buyers who have health conditions that portend near-term physical or cognitive disability. We applied common underwriting criteria based on data from two long-term care insurers to a nationally representative sample of individuals in the target age range (50-71 years) for long-term care insurance. The screening criteria put upper bounds on the current proportion of Americans who could gain coverage in the individual market without changes to medical underwriting practice. Specifically, our simulations show that in the target age range, approximately 30 percent of those whose wealth meets minimum industry standards for suitability for long-term care insurance would have their application for such insurance rejected at the underwriting stage. Among the general population-without considering financial suitability-we estimated that 40 percent would have their applications rejected. The predicted rejection rates are substantially higher than the rejection rates of about 20-25 percent of applicants in the actual market. In evaluating reforms for long-term care financing and their potential to increase private insurance rates, as well as to reduce financial pressure on public safety-net programs, policy makers need to consider the role of underwriting in the market for long-term care insurance. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  20. "On the doctor's orders": A pilot study of the effects of website marketing for medical specialist providers under gatekeeping arrangements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zwier, Sandra

    2017-01-01

    Websites from medical specialist providers are becoming increasingly marketing oriented, but there exists a paucity of empirical research on the effects. This experimental study explored effects of exposure to real websites from medical specialist providers among Dutch adults under physician gatekeeper arrangements. Exposure led to a stronger intention to seek treatment from the specialist provider and motivation to rely on the providers' claims. Weaker to absent effects were found for intention to question the physician gatekeeper's referral and this was chiefly motivated by the belief that "the doctor knows best." Implications for specialist provider marketing under gatekeeping arrangements are discussed.

  1. Money: A Market Microstructure Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Krueger, Malte

    2008-01-01

    The current discussion about the future of the financial system draws heavily on a set of theories known as the ‘New Monetary Economics’. The New Monetary Economics predicts that deregulation and financial innovation will lead to a moneyless world. This paper uses a market microstructure approach to show that a common medium of exchange that serves as unit of account will remain a necessary instrument to reduce transaction costs. This finding is supported by empirical evidence from foreign...

  2. An Exploratory Investigation of the Periodic Performance Evaluation Processes for Marketing Faculty: A Comparison of Doctoral-Granting and Non-Doctoral-Granting Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, C. David; Carley, Susan S.; Stuart, Randy S.

    2009-01-01

    Whether a first entrant into the academic job market or a seasoned professional, career outcomes for marketing educators depend heavily on the evaluation process used at their institutions. This research explores the periodic performance evaluation process for marketing faculty members using data collected from a national sample of marketing…

  3. Heavily nitrogen doped, graphene supercapacitor from silk cocoon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahu, Vikrant; Grover, Sonia; Tulachan, Brindan; Sharma, Meenakshi; Srivastava, Gaurav; Roy, Manas; Saxena, Manav; Sethy, Niroj; Bhargava, Kalpana; Philip, Deepu; Kim, Hansung; Singh, Gurmeet; Singh, Sushil Kumar; Das, Mainak; Sharma, Raj Kishore

    2015-01-01

    Doping of graphene with nitrogen is of much interest, since it improves the overall conductivity and supercapacitive properties. Besides conductivity, nitrogen doping also enhances the pseudo-capacitance due to fast and reversible surface redox processes. In this work, we have developed a cheap and easy process for synthesizing heavily nitrogen doped graphene (15% nitrogen) from non-mulberry silk cocoon membrane (Tassar, Antheraea mylitta) by pyrolyzing the cocoon at 400 °C in argon atmosphere. Further we have investigated the performance of this heavily ‘nitrogen doped graphene’ (NDG) in a supercapacitor device. Our results suggest that NDG obtained from cocoon has improved supercapacitor performance. The improved performance is due to the high electronegativity of nitrogen that forms dipoles on the graphene surface. These dipoles consequently enhance the tendency of graphene to attract charged species to its surface. This is a green and clean synthesis approach for developing electronic materials for energy applications

  4. Design and Implementation of a Portal for the Medical Equipment Market: MEDICOM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalivas, Dimitris; Panou-Diamandi, Ourania; Zeelenberg, Cees; van Nimwegen, Chris

    2001-01-01

    Background The MEDICOM (Medical Products Electronic Commerce) Portal provides the electronic means for medical-equipment manufacturers to communicate online with their customers while supporting the Purchasing Process and Post Market Surveillance. The Portal offers a powerful Internet-based search tool for finding medical products and manufacturers. Its main advantage is the fast, reliable and up-to-date retrieval of information while eliminating all unrelated content that a general-purpose search engine would retrieve. The Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS) registers all products. The Portal accepts end-user requests and generates a list of results containing text descriptions of devices, UMDNS attribute values, and links to manufacturer Web pages and online catalogues for access to more-detailed information. Device short descriptions are provided by the corresponding manufacturer. The Portal offers technical support for integration of the manufacturers' Web sites with itself. The network of the Portal and the connected manufacturers' sites is called the MEDICOM system. Objective To establish an environment hosting all the interactions of consumers (health care organizations and professionals) and providers (manufacturers, distributors, and resellers of medical devices). Methods The Portal provides the end-user interface, implements system management, and supports database compatibility. The Portal hosts information about the whole MEDICOM system (Common Database) and summarized descriptions of medical devices (Short Description Database); the manufacturers' servers present extended descriptions. The Portal provides end-user profiling and registration, an efficient product-searching mechanism, bulletin boards, links to on-line libraries and standards, on-line information for the MEDICOM system, and special messages or advertisements from manufacturers. Platform independence and interoperability characterize the system design. Relational Database

  5. Design and implementation of a portal for the medical equipment market: MEDICOM.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palamas, S; Kalivas, D; Panou-Diamandi, O; Zeelenberg, C; van Nimwegen, C

    2001-01-01

    The MEDICOM (Medical Products Electronic Commerce) Portal provides the electronic means for medical-equipment manufacturers to communicate online with their customers while supporting the Purchasing Process and Post Market Surveillance. The Portal offers a powerful Internet-based search tool for finding medical products and manufacturers. Its main advantage is the fast, reliable and up-to-date retrieval of information while eliminating all unrelated content that a general-purpose search engine would retrieve. The Universal Medical Device Nomenclature System (UMDNS) registers all products. The Portal accepts end-user requests and generates a list of results containing text descriptions of devices, UMDNS attribute values, and links to manufacturer Web pages and online catalogues for access to more-detailed information. Device short descriptions are provided by the corresponding manufacturer. The Portal offers technical support for integration of the manufacturers Web sites with itself. The network of the Portal and the connected manufacturers sites is called the MEDICOM system. To establish an environment hosting all the interactions of consumers (health care organizations and professionals) and providers (manufacturers, distributors, and resellers of medical devices). The Portal provides the end-user interface, implements system management, and supports database compatibility. The Portal hosts information about the whole MEDICOM system (Common Database) and summarized descriptions of medical devices (Short Description Database); the manufacturers servers present extended descriptions. The Portal provides end-user profiling and registration, an efficient product-searching mechanism, bulletin boards, links to on-line libraries and standards, on-line information for the MEDICOM system, and special messages or advertisements from manufacturers. Platform independence and interoperability characterize the system design. Relational Database Management Systems are used for

  6. The "Journal of Marketing Education": Past, Present, and Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Deborah M.; Peltier, James W.; Schibrowsky, John A.

    2012-01-01

    The "Journal of Marketing Education" ("JME") was launched almost 35 years ago. In this invited article, we review "JME"'s long and distinguished history. For historical perspective, we will lean heavily on the words of "JME" editors (including special issue editors); this focus adds context for the past and helps project the future. As a…

  7. Strategic marketing in the UK tobacco industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Susan; Hastings, Gerard; MacFadyen, Lynn

    2002-08-01

    Tobacco-industry marketing has played a central part in the global spread of tobacco use and addiction. Although the absolute size of the tobacco market has dwindled, the industry is still immensely successful, largely due to sophisticated and manipulative marketing strategies. The UK tobacco industry identifies target groups and builds enduring relationships based on careful brand management. Potential customers are exposed to brands which are likely to appeal to them most. Tobacco companies tailor their products to target markets by altering the content of tar and nicotine, and by adding flavourings to produce a distinctive taste. Marketing strategies ensure that the products are promoted heavily at the point of sale, and directed advertising and sponsorship agreements are used to increase the visibility of the brand and strengthen its image. Tobacco companies also target non-consumer organisations such as retailers and policy makers with the aim of creating the best possible business environment for tobacco sales. We review published evidence, internal-advertising-agency documents, and observational data about tobacco promotion, and discuss the use of targeted marketing strategies in the UK.

  8. Commoditization of the international teleradiology market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLean, Thomas

    2007-04-01

    Telemedicine improves access to medical care. However, telemedicine will also increase market volatility because of its ability to stimulate price competition and the insidious way it shifts liability for providing medical services. To cope with increased volatility, other economic sectors have evolved commodities markets by making greater use of standardized forward/future contracts. In the past, the need for medical services to be produced and consumed locally and a lack of an objective definition for medical quality, prohibited the use of forward contracts for health-care services. However, telemedicine, and the increasing use of statistical definitions of medical quality now make standardized forward contracts for health-care services conceivable. Commoditization of teleradiology would offer several advantages including increasing market transparency, a mechanism for ensuring medical quality, and a means for bringing capital into the health-care sector. To reap the benefits of a commodities market in teleradiology, the key will be for market stakeholders to overcome their fear of the unknown in order to organize a central exchange.

  9. Aspect of the electrical power market in the condition on liberalization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikolov, Marjan

    2003-01-01

    This paper comprise several topics of the electricity market area as investments and costs, production and efficiency, general issues on the market liberalization, with a discussion on the Macedonian specifics, as well as the market forces that drives the electricity trade. In this paper the main topic will be on the production and applied economics in this heavily engineering area. In the last years the traditional engineering approach requires synergy and wider approach including pure economic methods and techniques in order to derive efficient strategic decisions. The purpose here will be to illustrate simple examples of the economic thought in this area. (Original)

  10. Aspect of the electrical power market in the condition on liberalization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikolov, Marjan

    2004-01-01

    This paper comprise several topics of the electricity market area as investments and costs, production and efficiency, general issues on the market liberalization, with a discussion on the Macedonian specifics, as well as the market forces that drives the electricity trade. In this paper the main topic will be on the production and applied economics in this heavily engineering area. In the last years the traditional engineering approach requires synergy and wider approach including pure economic methods and techniques in order to derive efficient strategic decisions. The purpose here will be to illustrate simple examples of the economic thought in this area. (Original)

  11. Promoting medical tourism to India: messages, images, and the marketing of international patient travel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crooks, Valorie A; Turner, Leigh; Snyder, Jeremy; Johnston, Rory; Kingsbury, Paul

    2011-03-01

    The practice of medical tourism depends on successfully informing potential patients about procedure options, treatment facilities, tourism opportunities, travel arrangements, and destination countries. The promotion of medical tourism includes a wide range of marketing materials such as flyers, booklets, and websites. Yet, there is a paucity of knowledge about the dissemination, content, and reception of these promotional materials. Drawing on a thematic content analysis of the promotional print material distributed at the first medical tourism trade show in Canada in 2009, the main purpose of this article is to identify and understand the messages and images that companies use to market India as a global destination. While researchers and news media frequently cite low cost procedures as a key determinant for international patient travel, particularly to developing nations, our analysis reveals few low cost-related images or messages in the promotional materials distributed at the trade show. To help explain this surprising disjuncture, we consider four related issues: (1) promotional materials may be designed to be circulated amongst potential patients' concerned family and friends who privilege knowing about things such as the use of advanced technologies; (2) developing nations need to portray safe and advanced treatment facilities in order to dispel potential patients' suspicions that their medical care is inferior; (3) companies may avoid making cost saving claims that cannot be fulfilled for all of their international patients, especially those traveling from developing nations; and (4) messages of low cost may detract from and even undermine messages about quality. We conclude by identifying numerous avenues for future research by social and health scientists, and by considering the implications of our findings for existing knowledge gaps and debates within health geography specifically. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Modelling Danish local CHP on market conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ravn, Hans V.; Riisom, Jannik; Schaumburg-Müller, Camilla

    2004-01-01

    with the liberalisation process of the energy sectors of the EU countries, it is however anticipated that Danish local CHP are to begin operating on market conditions within the year 2005. This means that the income that the local CHPs previously gained from selling electricity at the feed-in tariff is replaced in part...... the consequences of acting in a liberalised market for a given CHP plant, based on the abovementioned bottom-up model. The key assumption determining the bottom line is the electricity spot price. The formation of the spot price in the Nordic area depends heavily upon the state of the water reservoirs in Norway...

  13. Proposed Industry Best Practices in Development and Marketing of Medical Foods for the Management of Chronic Conditions and Diseases while Awaiting Regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnett, Bruce; Levy, Robert M

    Ideal therapeutics have low toxicity and can effectively manage condition(s) or disease(s). The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) marketing category of therapeutics called “medical foods” (MFs) meets such a definition. Medical foods have existed in Federal law since passage the Orphan Drug Act in 1988, which created a category of nutritional therapeutics separate from drugs. Unfortunately, MFs are not widely understood by the medical community or utilized in all patients who need them due to lack of a FDA-approval process, unclear and contradictory guidance especially with regard for need for an investigational new drug (IND) application, and no clear regulations regarding their development and marketing. The goals of this article are to propose “Best Practices” to guide the medical food industry in the development and marketing of products as well as to serve as a starting point for suggestions regarding further FDA regulation so that therapeutics which are shown to be generally recognized as safe (GRAS), provide food ingredients to meet a distinctive nutritional requirement for a specific condition/disease and are proven effective for the management for that condition/disease can be used to benefit patients who need them.

  14. Strategic marketing: an introduction for medical specialists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lexa, Frank James; Berlin, Jonathan

    2006-03-01

    Marketing and branding are 2 of the most important factors for business success in the United States. They are particularly critical in service industries such as diagnostic imaging. However, in spite of their strategic importance in radiology success, a search of the peer-reviewed radiology literature reveals a paucity of published work that addresses marketing for imaging practices. In particular, there is a dearth of literature addressing the role (both direct and indirect) of radiologists in marketing efforts. In this article, the authors attempt to identify and correct some common misconceptions that physicians and other scientific and technical professionals have about marketing. Basic terms and preliminary concepts are introduced to provide a foundational understanding of the topic, allowing the interested reader to move forward and explore these critical issues in greater depth.

  15. The concept of marketing in the public-private partnership in the medical system in Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purcărea, V L; Coculescu, B I; Coculescu, E C

    2014-01-01

    During the transition period, the Romanian medical system, subject (like other areas) to a process of reform, had to go through a difficult path, not without obstacles (malpractice, underfunding, embezzlement scandals in the media etc.). Consequently, Romania has faced (and unfortunately still is still facing) the massive exodus of health professionals to countries where they can benefit from better working conditions and payment, and those who suffer from health care crisis are the patients. Reform means "the people in the system for the people", which requires a change of mindset within the medical staff, especially in the continuous professional development. However, to talk about the quality of the medical act requires that all those involved in the medical system should create appropriate conditions - i.e. advanced technical equipment and appropriate salaries. In addition, as underfunding is the main cause of failure in the health system, that management remains the only tool that can lead to the appropriate use of the existing resources and the quality of health services. Therefore, the idea of public-private partnership - which occurred as a challenge, especially after the EU accession - can be considered a solution designed to improve the quality and cost of health services. In other words, the cooperation of the private sector with the public authority means increasing the rigor of the medical equipment performance, fostering professional competition, and an increased attention to the patient, in a word: performance. Currently, more and more frequently, the management has studied to identify opportunities for innovation in health care services in an attempt to bring together patients and practitioners in the field by resorting to the identification of the ways they can receive health care services promptly, fairly and efficiently. Therefore, a clear and responsible design in the spirit of ethics and medical ethic will help the marketing manager solve many

  16. Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Rents: a Simulation of the Market Process

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keyhani, M; Levesque, M.; Madhok, A.

    2015-01-01

    While strategy theory relies heavily on equilibrium theories of economic rents such as Ricardian and monopoly rents, we do not yet have a comprehensive theory of disequilibrium or entrepreneurial rents. We use cooperative game theory to structure computer simulations of the market process in which

  17. Medical device development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panescu, Dorin

    2009-01-01

    The development of a successful medical product requires not only engineering design efforts, but also clinical, regulatory, marketing and business expertise. This paper reviews items related to the process of designing medical devices. It discusses the steps required to take a medical product idea from concept, through development, verification and validation, regulatory approvals and market release.

  18. Operation of heavily irradiated silicon detectors in non-depletion mode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verbitskaya, E.; Eremin, V.; Ilyashenko, I.; Li, Z.; Haerkoenen, J.; Tuovinen, E.; Luukka, P.

    2006-01-01

    The non-depletion detector operation mode has generally been disregarded as an option in high-energy physics experiments. In this paper, the non-depletion operation is examined by detailed analysis of the electric field distribution and the current pulse response of heavily irradiated silicon (Si) detectors. The previously reported model of double junction in heavily irradiated Si detector is further developed and a simulation of the current pulse response has been performed. It is shown that detectors can operate in a non-depletion mode due to the fact that the value of the electric field in a non-depleted region is high enough for efficient carrier drift. This electric field originates from the current flow through the detector and a consequent drop of the potential across high-resistivity bulk of a non-depleted region. It is anticipated that the electric field in a non-depleted region, which is still electrically neutral, increases with fluence that improves the non-depleted detector operation. Consideration of the electric field in a non-depleted region allows the explanation of the recorded double-peak current pulse shape of heavily irradiated Si detectors and definition of the requirements for the detector operational conditions. Detailed reconstruction of the electric field distribution gives new information on radiation effects in Si detectors

  19. Dislocations in FX Swap and Money Markets in Hong Kong and Policy Actions during the Financial Crisis of 2008

    OpenAIRE

    Laurence Fung; Ip-wing Yu

    2009-01-01

    When US dollar interbank markets malfunctioned during the global financial crisis of 2008, many non-US financial institutions relied heavily on the foreign-exchange (FX) swap markets for US-dollar funds. This one-sided market induced a risk premium of the FX swap-implied US-dollar rate across a range of funding currencies, i.e. a deviation from the covered interest parity (CIP) condition. The turbulence in the global interbank markets therefore spilled over to the FX swap markets, including t...

  20. The Supply of Medical Radioisotopes. Market impacts of converting to low-enriched uranium targets for medical isotope production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westmacott, Chad; Cameron, Ron

    2012-01-01

    The reliable supply of molybdenum-99 ( 99 Mo) and its decay product, technetium-99m ( 99m Tc), is a vital component of modern medical diagnostic practices. At present, most of the global production of 99 Mo is from highly enriched uranium (HEU) targets. However, all major 99 Mo-producing countries have recently agreed to convert to using low-enriched uranium (LEU) targets to advance important non-proliferation goals, a decision that will have implications for the global supply chain of 99 Mo/ 99m Tc and the long-term supply reliability of these medical isotopes. This study provides the findings and analysis from an extensive examination of the 99 Mo/ 99m Tc supply chain by the OECD/NEA High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR). It presents a comprehensive evaluation of the potential impacts of converting to the use of LEU targets for 99 Mo production on the global 99 Mo/ 99m Tc market in terms of costs and available production capacity, and the corresponding implications for long-term supply reliability. In this context, the study also briefly discusses the need for policy action by governments in their efforts to ensure a stable and secure long-term supply of 99 Mo/ 99m Tc

  1. Cogema looks to wider markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cruikshank, A.

    1984-01-01

    As the pace of the French nuclear programme slackens off, Cogema is planning to compete even more vigorously in world fuel cycle markets. The company believes the foundations for success lie in its comprehensive range of fuel cycle activities, its status as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, and its experience in fulfilling the bulk of French fuel cycle needs. To build on these foundations, Cogema is exploring for uranium, investing heavily in new plant, and strengthening its commercial management. (author)

  2. Abortion choices among women in Cambodia after introduction of a socially marketed medicated abortion product.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotheary, Khim; Long, Dianna; Mundy, Gary; Madan, Yasmin; Blumenthal, Paul D

    2017-02-01

    To assess whether a social marketing initiative focusing on medicated abortion via a mifepristone/misoprostol "combipack" has contributed to reducing unsafe abortion in Cambodia. In a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study, annual household surveys were conducted across 13 Cambodian provinces in 2010, 2011, and 2012. One married woman of reproductive age who was not pregnant and did not wish to be within the next 2 years in each randomly selected household was approached for inclusion. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 1843 women in 2010, 2068 in 2011, and 2059 in 2012. Manual vacuum aspiration was reported by 61 (72.6%) of 84 women surveyed in 2010 who reported an abortion in the previous 12 months, compared with only 28 (52.8%) of 53 in 2012 (P=0.001). The numbers of women undergoing medicated abortion increased from 22 (26.2%) of 84 in 2010 to 27 (49.1%) of 53 in 2012 (P=0.003), whereas the numbers undergoing unsafe abortion decreased from 4 (4.8%) in 2010 to 0 in 2012 (P=0.051). Social marketing of medication abortion coupled with provider training in clinical and behavioral change could have contributed to a reduction in the prevalence of unsafe abortion and shifted the types of abortion performed in Cambodia, while not increasing the overall number of abortions. © 2016 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

  3. Is the medical loss ratio a good target measure for regulation in the individual market for health insurance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karaca-Mandic, Pinar; Abraham, Jean M; Simon, Kosali

    2015-01-01

    Effective January 1, 2011, individual market health insurers must meet a minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) of 80%. This law aims to encourage 'productive' forms of competition by increasing the proportion of premium dollars spent on clinical benefits. To date, very little is known about the performance of firms in the individual health insurance market, including how MLRs are related to insurer and market characteristics. The MLR comprises one component of the price-cost margin, a traditional gauge of market power; the other component is percent of premiums spent on administrative expenses. We use data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (2001-2009) to evaluate whether the MLR is a good target measure for regulation by comparing the two components of the price-cost margin between markets that are more competitive versus those that are not, accounting for firm and market characteristics. We find that insurers with monopoly power have lower MLRs. Moreover, we find no evidence suggesting that insurers' administrative expenses are lower in more concentrated insurance markets. Thus, our results are largely consistent with the interpretation that the MLR could serve as a target measure of market power in regulating the individual market for health insurance but with notable limited ability to capture product and firm heterogeneity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. The Consumer’s Experience of Design Influences How Markets Work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gabrielsen, Gorm; Kristensen, Tore

    2016-01-01

    Most studies in marketing operate at a market level, which also becomes frequently the condition for design work. This means that the aggregate or weighted average consumer is the focus. Having already made this aggregation as the “top-down approach” indicates, it is not feasible to take...... the consequences at a market level. We explore a procedure that enables the marketer to estimate the effect of a marketing message like a mission statement in a logo at the level of a single individual. This is a prior to market test, with its own realism. The procedure can easily be extended to products, where...... the trace of the individual. In the bottom up approach we measure how much the influence of a treatment like that of facing a particular design influences each human being. Successively, one may see if other behavioural characteristics also unite for instance those who are heavily affected or those who...

  5. Towards a Confucian virtue bioethics: reframing Chinese medical ethics in a market economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Ruiping

    2006-01-01

    This essay addresses a moral and cultural challenge facing health care in the People's Republic of China: the need to create an understanding of medical professionalism that recognizes the new economic realities of China and that can maintain the integrity of the medical profession. It examines the rich Confucian resources for bioethics and health care policy by focusing on the Confucian tradition's account of how virtue and human flourishing are compatible with the pursuit of profit. It offers the Confucian account of the division of labor and the financial inequalities this produces with special attention to China's socialist project of creating the profession of barefoot doctors as egalitarian peasant physicians and why this project failed. It then further develops the Confucian acknowledgement of the unequal value of different services and products and how this conflicts with the current system of payment to physicians which has led to the corruption of medical professionalism through illegal supplementary payments. It further gives an account the oblique intentionality of Confucian moral psychology that shows how virtuous persons can pursue benevolent actions while both foreseeing profit and avoiding defining their character by greed. This account of Confucian virtue offers the basis for a medical professionalism that can function morally within a robustly profit-oriented market economy. The paper concludes with a summary of the characteristics of Confucian medical professionalism and of how it places the profit motive within its account of virtue ethics.

  6. Marketing research activities in hospitals. Satisfaction surveys of inpatients and outpatients are the most widely used application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loubeau, P R; Jantzen, R

    1998-01-01

    Virtually unheard of in health care 30 years ago, marketing research by hospitals is expanding at a notable rate, particularly among larger institutions located in highly competitive urban markets. Research applications are particularly pronounced at for-profit institutions, those heavily involved in managed care programs, and hospitals that are part of an integrated delivery system. However, the majority of hospital administrators surveyed indicated they do not invest in marketing research to track the effectiveness of their own institution's advertising.

  7. Remote Excavation of Heavily Contaminated UXO Sites. The Range Master

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Crandall, Alan L

    2007-01-01

    USA Environmental, Inc., and Timberline Environmental Services, Inc., developed the Range Master, a remote controlled scraper with an integrated power screen, to excavate and sift the top 12 inches of heavily contaminated UXO sites...

  8. Accuracy of marketing claims by providers of stereotactic radiation therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narang, Amol K; Lam, Edwin; Makary, Martin A; Deweese, Theodore L; Pawlik, Timothy M; Pronovost, Peter J; Herman, Joseph M

    2013-01-01

    Direct-to-consumer advertising by industry has been criticized for encouraging overuse of unproven therapies, but advertising by health care providers has not been as carefully scrutinized. Stereotactic radiation therapy is an emerging technology that has sparked controversy regarding the marketing campaigns of some manufacturers. Given that this technology is also being heavily advertised on the Web sites of health care providers, the accuracy of providers' marketing claims should be rigorously evaluated. We reviewed the Web sites of all U.S. hospitals and private practices that provide stereotactic radiation using two leading brands of stereotactic radiosurgery technology. Centers were identified by using data from the manufacturers. Centers without Web sites were excluded. The final study population consisted of 212 centers with online advertisements for stereotactic radiation. Web sites were evaluated for advertisements that were inconsistent with advertising guidelines provided by the American Medical Association. Most centers (76%) had individual pages dedicated to the marketing of their brand of stereotactic technology that frequently contained manufacturer-authored images (50%) or text (55%). Advertising for the treatment of tumors that have not been endorsed by professional societies was present on 66% of Web sites. Centers commonly claimed improved survival (22%), disease control (20%), quality of life (17%), and toxicity (43%) with stereotactic radiation. Although 40% of Web sites championed the center's regional expertise in delivering stereotactic treatments, only 15% of Web sites provided data to support their claims. Provider advertisements for stereotactic radiation were prominent and aggressive. Further investigation of provider advertising, its effects on quality of care, and potential oversight mechanisms is needed.

  9. Electrochemical Decontamination of Painted and Heavily Corroded Metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marczak, S.; Anderson, J.; Dziewinski, J.

    1998-01-01

    The radioactive metal wastes that are generated from nuclear fuel plants and radiochemical laboratories are mainly contaminated by the surface deposition of radioactive isotopes. There are presently several techniques used in removing surface contamination involving physical and chemical processes. However, there has been very little research done in the area of soiled, heavily oxidized, and painted metals. Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have been developing electrochemical procedures for the decontamination of bare and painted metal objects. These methods have been found to be effective on highly corroded as well as relatively new metals. This study has been successful in decontaminating projectiles and shrapnel excavated during environmental restoration projects after 40+ years of exposure to the elements. Heavily corroded augers used in sampling activities throughout the area were also successfully decontaminated. This process has demonstrated its effectiveness and offers several advantages over the present metal decontamination practices of media blasting and chemical solvents. These advantages include the addition of no toxic or hazardous chemicals, low operating temperature and pressure, and easily scaleable equipment. It is in their future plans to use this process in the decontamination of gloveboxes destined for disposal as TRU waste

  10. Healthcare market research examined. Relevant, rigorous and highly regulated

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bob Douglas

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available [The abstract of this article is not available. Here are the first sentences of the article. The full text is freely available upon registration]Market research is invariably confused with marketing – but, in fact, the two disciplines are very different. Put in its simplest terms, marketing is about promotion whilst market research is about understanding. Accordingly, data collected for market research purposes are used in a completely different way to that gathered for marketing, with research practices heavily regulated to ensure high ethical standards.Let’s begin with a definition of what, exactly, market research is. According to the ICC/ESOMAR International Code 2007 (a definition also adopted by the European Pharmaceutical Market Research Association, it is: «the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organisations using the statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision-making. The identity of respondents will not be revealed to the user of the information without explicit consent and no sales approach will be made to them as a direct result of their having provided information».

  11. How to market an affiliation. St. Elizabeth Hospital and Mercy Medical Center affiliate to create Affinity Health System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    When Wisconsin's St. Elizabeth Hospital and Mercy Medical Center affiliated to create Affinity Health System, Inc., strategic planning and a solid marketing plan carefully executed were instrumental in its success. A corporate identity campaign and product line identification were follow-up phases to the merger approval.

  12. [Marketing for hospitals--an issue?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schindler, Achim W; Schindler, Nicola; Vagts, Dierk

    2007-09-01

    Since economization of medicine continues, marketing is becoming more and more important. To shape marketing activities in correspondence with their professional ethics, physicians need some basic knowledge about marketing. The process of marketing consists of SWOT-analysis, market segmentation, market differentiation, positioning and the marketing-mix with ist most important component, the marketing communication. Specific aspects in the marketing of medical services derive from their nature as a service and the determinants of perceived service quality.

  13. Inadequately marketing our brand: Medical student awareness of acute care surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, Stephanie C; Privette, Alicia R; Ferguson, Pamela L; Mirdamadi, Meena; Fakhry, Samir M

    2015-11-01

    Despite focused national efforts to promote acute care surgery (ACS), little is known about medical student awareness of ACS as a career choice. The impending shortage of general surgeons emphasizes the need to increase interest in this comprehensive surgical specialty. The goal of this study was to determine whether students would be more likely to consider choosing ACS if they were aware of the specialty and its benefits. A survey was distributed electronically to medical students at our institution, a Level I trauma center with an active ACS service. The survey asked questions regarding specialty choice and factors that were used in making that decision. Also included were questions regarding their familiarity and affinity for ACS. The survey was returned by 518 students. Each medical school year was proportionately represented. Twenty-one percent of the students reported surgery as their career choice; however, women were half as likely to choose surgery as men. When asked to define ACS, 23% of all students gave the correct response. Only 8.9% of the students in the preclinical years correctly defined ACS. Even in the clinical years, 54% were unaware of ACS as a specialty. Students reported that the top factors that influenced their choice were controllable lifestyle, predictable schedule, and a positive medical school role model. When asked to identify what would make ACS appealing, a 50-hour work week was deemed most influential. When given the definition of ACS with approximate pay and on-call hours, 41.5% of the students and 75% of those interested in surgery would be likely to choose ACS as a career. This study highlights that awareness of ACS as a specialty is lacking. This may reflect inadequate marketing of our "brand" both locally and nationally. Focused efforts at familiarizing students with ACS and increased role modeling may increase interest in ACS.

  14. How to Conduct Store Observations of Tobacco Marketing and Products.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feld, Ashley L; Johnson, Trent O; Byerly, Katherine W; Ribisl, Kurt M

    2016-02-18

    As tobacco companies continue to heavily market their products at the point of sale, tobacco control groups seek strategies to combat the negative effects of this marketing. Store observations, which have been widely used by researchers and practitioners alike, are an excellent surveillance tool. This article provides a guide for public health practitioners interested in working in the tobacco retail environment by detailing the steps involved in conducting store observations of tobacco marketing and products including 1) obtaining tobacco product retailer lists, 2) creating measures, 3) selecting a mode of data collection, 4) training data collectors, and 5) analyzing data. We also highlight issues that may arise while in the field and provide information on disseminating results of store observations, including the potential policy implications.

  15. Families, markets, and medicalization: the role of paid support for childbirth and breastfeeding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Jennifer M C

    2015-07-01

    Much attention has been given to the commercialization of care and its relationship to the outsourcing of family life, as well as larger social and cultural processes that can change the nature of caring. I engage with this question of why certain aspects of care are provided by the market, using 72 interviews with lactation consultants, doulas, clients, and clinicians, as well as 150 hours of ethnographic observation in the USA. Examining how participants understood the role of these services in the maternity care system and the reasons why clients turned to these services, I found that, in several ways, these forms of care work reflected outsourcing trends. However, lactation consultants and doulas were also acting as advocates and guides, helping their clients navigate the complex medical maternity system. This reflects a fundamental transformation in the nature of maternity support, attributed to the impact of medicalization, both historically and currently. © The Author(s) 2014.

  16. The market for magnetic resonance spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, L.

    1990-01-01

    The medical market is, at present, the most dominant market for low T c superconductors. Indeed, without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there would hardly be a low T c superconductor market at all. According to the author, any development that can expand the medical market for MRI machines would be a welcome one. This paper reports how the recent advances in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) are such a development. While the principle of MRS has bee around as long as MRI, only recently have advances in technique, computer programming and magnet technology allowed MRS to advance to a point where it may become an important technology-one that could increase the medical market for superconductors. The author discussed how MRS can be used to analyze oil core samples for their oil content, oil/water ratios, how the oil is bound and how to extract it

  17. Market, Regulation, Market, Regulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frankel, Christian; Galland, Jean-Pierre

    2015-01-01

    barriers to trade in Europe, realized the free movement of products by organizing progressively several orders of markets and regulation. Based on historical and institutional documents, on technical publications, and on interviews, this article relates how the European Commission and the Member States had......This paper focuses on the European Regulatory system which was settled both for opening the Single Market for products and ensuring the consumers' safety. It claims that the New Approach and Standardization, and the Global Approach to conformity assessment, which suppressed the last technical...... alternatively recourse to markets and to regulations, at the three main levels of the New Approach Directives implementation. The article focuses also more specifically on the Medical Devices sector, not only because this New Approach sector has long been controversial in Europe, and has recently been concerned...

  18. Marketing aspect of paramedical

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dugalić Sretenka L.

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available That's how the primary medical and ecological reasons as the well being for humanity came out of the satisfaction of specific health needs. Through operationally of these outcomes it tried to prove the need and the intentions of the customers, and through methodologies and strategies which stand to our service. Further developing activity acted as a useful to the innovation of the product and vertical structure of marketing, through the change in the way of thinking of the medical and pharmaceutical profession. The paper is concepted so that the received material inserted to the content part, do the following: 1. Meaning, characteristics and developing possibilities of phytotherapy; 2. Dimensions of market in managing of phytotherapic assortment. By observing the final results, which were obtained through means of representative sources and other research of phytotherapic products, it can be expected that the same can be applicable to broader spectrum in practice with kind input to the marketing ideas. Models, presented here, is meant to be for innovative applications in the medical marketing concept, by the results of wide spending in the food service industry (domain of dietetics, at manufacture of food for children at the manufacture of 'medical cosmetics' and cosmetic-druggist assortments (products for hygiene, shampoos, soap, creams and bubbles for bath.

  19. COM1/348: Design and Implementation of a Portal for the Market of the Medical Equipment (MEDICOM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palamas, S; Vlachos, I; Panou-Diamandi, O; Marinos, G; Kalivas, D; Zeelenberg, C; Nimwegen, C; Koutsouris, D

    1999-01-01

    Introduction The MEDICOM system provides the electronic means for medical equipment manufacturers to communicate online with their customers supporting the Purchasing Process and the Post Market Surveillance. The MEDICOM service will be provided over the Internet by the MEDICOM Portal, and by a set of distributed subsystems dedicated to handle structured information related to medical devices. There are three kinds of these subsystems, the Hypermedia Medical Catalogue (HMC), Virtual Medical Exhibition (VME), which contains information in a form of Virtual Models, and the Post Market Surveillance system (PMS). The Universal Medical Devices Nomenclature System (UMDNS) is used to register all products. This work was partially funded by the ESPRIT Project 25289 (MEDICOM). Methods The Portal provides the end user interface operating as the MEDICOM Portal, acts as the yellow pages for finding both products and providers, providing links to the providers servers, implements the system management and supports the subsystem database compatibility. The Portal hosts a database system composed of two parts: (a) the Common Database, which describes a set of encoded parameters (like Supported Languages, Geographic Regions, UMDNS Codes, etc) common to all subsystems and (b) the Short Description Database, which contains summarised descriptions of medical devices, including a text description, the codes of the manufacturer, UMDNS code, attribute values and links to the corresponding HTML pages of the HMC, VME and PMS servers. The Portal provides the MEDICOM user interface including services like end user profiling and registration, end user query forms, creation and hosting of newsgroups, links to online libraries, end user subscription to manufacturers' mailing lists, online information for the MEDICOM system and special messages or advertisements from manufacturers. Results Platform independence and interoperability characterise the system design. A general purpose RDBMS is used

  20. Medical tourism market trends - an exploratory research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ile Florența Larisa

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Medical tourism is a modern concept, but not a new tourism practice. Even there is still no international consent on the definitions and measurement of this trend, its importance in the development of a tourism destination started to be taken into consideration. In accordance with tourism segment classification depending on journey reasons recommended by World Tourism Organization, one of the main groups is for “medical treatment/health”. Being part of health tourism, medical tourism is often called medical travel because it includes the act of travelling to different countries for medical reasons. An increasing significant element in medical service trade is patient circulation at cross-border level with a view to obtaining necessary health services; this circulation generated a new phenomenon, namely medical tourism. Studying the scientific literature we find new medical tourism trends in connection with globalization and liberalization. The countries that decided to promote this niche tourism are aware of the huge economic benefits brought by this. Analyzing published data by tourism medical organizations associated to indicators of economic development, we find two aspects: the success of a medical tourism destination is influenced by the economical level of the receiving countries, but, at the same time, it is also a growth factor for developing economies if it is included in their national strategy. We intend to find the answer of several questions: trends in medical tourism development are involving only medical service trade, or a combination of specific activities of many sectors? Is the medical tourism acting in favor of developing economies? This study aims to notice the development trends of the medical tourism based on the published figures and on the experience of major destinations and to highlight the importance of the medical tourism for the developing economies.

  1. Advertising, marketing and purchase behavior for energy-related products

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tiedemann, K.; Nelson, D.

    1998-07-01

    Energy conservation programs have relied heavily on incentives and regulatory standards to reduce residential energy consumption. However, in the changing market environment characterized by competitive pressures, alternative mechanisms such as marketing and promotions may increase substantially in importance compared to the demand-side management programs which have been the focus of most research. This paper describes the role of marketing and promotions in encouraging energy efficiency at the household level in British Columbia. The paper examines three related issues: first, the purchase process for energy-related products; second, the criteria used by customers in making purchase decisions; and third, the impact and effectiveness of alternative marketing tools. A key finding is the energy-related purchases do not fall into the impulse purchase category. There are two reasons for this: first, most of these products require installation and this requires a high level of commitment on the part of the purchaser; second, many energy-related products require a significant outlay of funds and this reduces impulse buying.

  2. Assessing the relationship between healthcare market competition and medical care quality under Taiwan's National Health Insurance programme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Chih-Hsien; Lu, Ning; Tang, Chao-Hsiun; Chang, Hui-Chih; Huang, Kuo-Cherh

    2018-06-04

    There is still significant uncertainty as to whether market competition raises or lowers clinical quality in publicly funded healthcare systems. We attempted to assess the effects of market competition on inpatient care quality of stroke patients in a retrospective study of the universal single-payer health insurance system in Taiwan. In this 11-year population-based study, we conducted a pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis with a fixed-effects model and the Hausman test approach by utilizing two nationwide datasets: the National Health Insurance Research Database and the National Hospital and Services Survey in Taiwan. Patients who were admitted to a hospital for ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were enrolled. After excluding patients with a previous history of stroke and those with different types of stroke, 247 379 ischemic and 79 741 hemorrhagic stroke patients were included in our analysis. Four outcome indicators were applied: the in-hospital mortality rate, 30-day post-operative complication rate, 14-day re-admission rate and 30-day re-admission rate. Market competition exerted a negative or negligible effect on the medical care quality of stroke patients. Compared to hospitals located in a highly competitive market, in-hospital mortality rates for hemorrhagic stroke patients were significantly lower in moderately (β = -0.05, P markets (β = -0.05, P market competition on the quality of care of ischemic stroke patients was insignificant. Simply fostering market competition might not achieve the objective of improving the quality of health care. Other health policy actions need to be contemplated.

  3. Price discovery in dual-class shares across multiple markets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fernandes, Marcelo; Scherrer, Cristina

    We extend the standard price discovery analysis to estimate the information share of dual-class shares across domestic and foreign markets. By examining both common and preferred shares, we aim to extract information not only about the fundamental value of the firm, but also about the dual...... the innovations, the standard information share measure depends heavily on the ordering we attribute to prices in the system. To remain agnostic about which are the leading share class and market, one could for instance compute some weighted average information share across all possible orderings...... or trading platform conveys more information about shocks in the fundamental price. As such, our procedure yields a single measure of information share, which is invariant to the ordering of the variables in the system. Simulations of a simple market microstructure model show that our information share...

  4. Market power in cap-and-trade auctions: A Monte Carlo approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dormady, Noah C.

    2013-01-01

    Recent greenhouse gas auctions have resulted in base level prices while remaining significantly concentrated. How do dominant firms receive such a large share of emissions allowances without bidding up the market price? This paper provides a Monte Carlo simulation analysis based on a contemporary regional greenhouse gas market in the United States. It introduces a C# simulation software environment, Oligopsony 1.0 that simulates uniform-price emissions auctions in repeated iterations. The results of these simulations indicate that there can be significant non-linearities between profit and market power as exercised through strategic demand reduction. This analysis finds the optimum point of strategic demand reduction that enables firms to exploit these non-linearities. The use of auctions to distribute tradeable pollution rights to firms in heavily concentrated markets can have significant unintended consequences, as it can exacerbate the problems of market power that exist within those markets. -- Highlights: •The theory of market power behavior in emissions auctions is furthered. •Monte Carlo simulation environment Oligopsony 1.0 is introduced. •Simulations provide analysis of optimum bids to exercise market power. •Significant non-linearities exist between profit and the exercise of market power

  5. Marketing information goods and services in medical libraries and information centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashrafi-Rizi, Hasan; Kazempour, Zahra

    2012-01-01

    Marketing is one of the essential parts of any business corporation in the modern management. One can see the difference between corporations in gaining their goals, considering their marketing methods. Gaining more advantage or acquiring more funds can be of reasons for marketing, but these are not all the reasons. Perhaps the most important reason for marketing is increasing the customer satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to more willingness in payment and using services. Nowadays, due to rapid growth in ICT, changes in budgets, rapid growth in development and use of knowledge, variety of users and their needs, marketing has become an important factor in any library activities. Libraries are now more responsible in this regard, because marketing is now an important tool in improving users' satisfaction in using library services. Hence, marketing is now very important for libraries to survive in the increasing pressures of competitive conditions of the information market. This article is tapping on issues such as information marketing, principles of marketing, marketing techniques, developing markets, and marketing skills. Some recommendations are also presented for marketing in libraries.

  6. Marketing information goods and services in medical libraries and information centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashrafi-rizi, Hasan; Kazempour, Zahra

    2012-01-01

    Marketing is one of the essential parts of any business corporation in the modern management. One can see the difference between corporations in gaining their goals, considering their marketing methods. Gaining more advantage or acquiring more funds can be of reasons for marketing, but these are not all the reasons. Perhaps the most important reason for marketing is increasing the customer satisfaction. This, in turn, leads to more willingness in payment and using services. Nowadays, due to rapid growth in ICT, changes in budgets, rapid growth in development and use of knowledge, variety of users and their needs, marketing has become an important factor in any library activities. Libraries are now more responsible in this regard, because marketing is now an important tool in improving users’ satisfaction in using library services. Hence, marketing is now very important for libraries to survive in the increasing pressures of competitive conditions of the information market. This article is tapping on issues such as information marketing, principles of marketing, marketing techniques, developing markets, and marketing skills. Some recommendations are also presented for marketing in libraries. PMID:23555112

  7. Upgrading of smallholder agro-food production in Africa: the role of lead firm strategies and new markets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fold, Niels; Larsen, Marianne Nylandsted

    2011-01-01

    of the co-existing collaboration and intensified rivalry between lead firms within the same chain. The other is caused by new opportunities and challenges stemming from increased requirements on retailer-driven markets in the North and expansion of new markets in the South. The paper points out the need...... to rectify the heavily biased policy focus on standard compliance with the purpose of strengthening smallholder incorporation and upgrading in retailer-driven strands of global value chains ending in the North. Instead, markets in the South and in emerging economies may function as a training ground...

  8. Positron trapping in heavily irradiated semiconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moser, P.; Pautrat, J.L.; Corbel, C.; Hautojarvi, P.

    1985-01-01

    Vacancy processes are studied in several heavily irradiated semiconductors. Specimens are ZnTe, CdTe, CdTe (In), InP, InP (Cr), InP (Zn) and Ge. Irradiations are made at 20 K using a 3 MeV Van de Graaff electron accelerator. Doses are 4 x 10 18 e - /cm 2 . Lifetime measurements are made at 77 K at each step of an isochronal annealing (30 min 20 K). In each specimen, the results show a significant increase of the lifetime (+ 30 at + 50 ps) which anneals out in different steps restoring the initial lifetime. The steps are sharp (ΔT/T=0.3) with the exception of InP, InP(Cr), InP(Zn), (ΔT/T=0.9). Tentative interpretations are given

  9. Marketing strategy determinants in rural hospitals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, H L; Haley, D; Piland, N F

    1993-01-01

    Rural hospitals confront an inauspicious environment due to changes in patient reimbursement and medical practice. Facing a situation of declining revenues, marketing presents an option for rural hospitals to adapt to the growing constraints. This paper analyzes the determinants of marketing strategy emphasis in rural hospitals. The conceptual model adopted in this study predicts that prior performance and contextual variables explain marketing strategy emphasis. The relationships are examined in a case study of rural New Mexico hospitals. Results suggest that prior performance and several contextual variables explain variations in marketing strategy emphasis. In particular, higher gross patient revenues are associated with more emphasis on television and radio advertising. Furthermore, rural New Mexico hospitals with high numbers of licensed beds and medical staff members, or that are affiliated with a chain organization, place greater emphasis on market research and market planning. The implications for marketing practice in rural hospitals are discussed.

  10. Near-infrared free carrier absorption in heavily doped silicon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baker-Finch, Simeon C.; McIntosh, Keith R.; Yan, Di; Fong, Kean Chern; Kho, Teng C.

    2014-01-01

    Free carrier absorption in heavily doped silicon can have a significant impact on devices operating in the infrared. In the near infrared, the free carrier absorption process can compete with band to band absorption processes, thereby reducing the number of available photons to optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. In this work, we fabricate 18 heavily doped regions by phosphorus and boron diffusion into planar polished silicon wafers; the simple sample structure facilitates accurate and precise measurement of the free carrier absorptance. We measure and model reflectance and transmittance dispersion to arrive at a parameterisation for the free carrier absorption coefficient that applies in the wavelength range between 1000 and 1500 nm, and the range of dopant densities between ∼10 18 and 3 × 10 20  cm −3 . Our measurements indicate that previously published parameterisations underestimate the free carrier absorptance in phosphorus diffusions. On the other hand, published parameterisations are generally consistent with our measurements and model for boron diffusions. Our new model is the first to be assigned uncertainty and is well-suited to routine device analysis

  11. Medical Illustration

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... as medical books, journals, magazines, pharma or biotech marketing, films, online video, exhibits, posters, wall charts, educational ... of the health career profession with strong communication skills, medical illustrators work closely with clients to interpret ...

  12. Connecting pre-marketing clinical research and medical practice : opinion-based study of core issues and possible changes in drug regulation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wieringa, N.F; Peschar, J.L.; Denig, P; de Graeff, P.A.; Vos, R

    2003-01-01

    Objectives: To identify core issues that contribute to the gap between pre-marketing clinical research and practice as seen from the perspective of medical practice, as well as possible changes and potential barriers for closing this gap. Methods: Interviews with 47 physicians and pharmacists who

  13. Addition of sunitinib to cetuximab and irinotecan in patients with heavily pre-treated advanced colorectal cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Qvortrup, Camilla; Jensen, Benny Vittrup; Jørgensen, Trine Lembrecht

    2010-01-01

    Results of continuous sunitinib, in combination with cetuximab and irinotecan every other week (SIC) for compassionate use in heavily pre-treated patients with mCRC are presented.......Results of continuous sunitinib, in combination with cetuximab and irinotecan every other week (SIC) for compassionate use in heavily pre-treated patients with mCRC are presented....

  14. Marketing trials, marketing tricks - how to spot them and how to stop them.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matheson, Alastair

    2017-03-08

    Last this year in this journal, Barbour and colleagues reported a study of "marketing trials" in leading medical journals (Trials 2016;17:31). In this commentary I discuss their research, describe new analyses of the study cohort and consider measures to address marketing within academic medical literature. Barbour et al. sought to identify a subgroup of "marketing trials" within leading medical journals, but in reality, nearly all industry-financed trials serve marketing functions, and many exhibit marketing-related features, including biases, in their framing, methodology or reporting. I conducted new analyses of the cohort of Barbour et al., showing that most trials funded exclusively by drug manufacturers had direct involvement of the manufacturer in design, analysis and reporting, and features supportive of product seeding. However, these commercial enterprises were without exception presented to journal readers as academic-led projects, using attributional spin, which should itself be considered an important form of marketing bias. Barbour et al. correctly conclude that commercial bias in industry clinical trials articles often requires expertise to recognize, and in many cases cannot be identified from the published journal report. Several potential remedies are discussed, including independent clinical research, data sharing, improved reporting guidance, improved tools for assessing research quality, reforms to article attribution, submission checklists and new editorial standards. Medicine's journals have a responsibility to uphold rigorous scientific and reporting standards, require ready trials data access and ensure the commercial dimensions of research are brought prominently to their readers' attention. Failure to meet these responsibilities constitutes an enduring threat to the integrity of biomedical literature.

  15. Gemcitabine and capecitabine for heavily pre-treated metastatic colorectal cancer patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spindler, Karen-Lise G; Pallisgaard, Niels; Andersen, Rikke F

    2014-01-01

    AIM: We investigated the efficacy and safety of capecitabine and gemcitabin (GemCap) in heavily pre-treated, therapy-resistant metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients and the clinical importance of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) measurement. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients' inclusion criteria included...

  16. Comparative cardiovascular safety of dementia medications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fosbøl, Emil L; Peterson, Eric D; Holm, Ellen

    2012-01-01

    To compare the cardiovascular safety of currently marketed dementia medications in new users in the United States and Denmark.......To compare the cardiovascular safety of currently marketed dementia medications in new users in the United States and Denmark....

  17. Becoming an Educational Leader--Exploring Leadership in Medical Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolander Laksov, Klara; Tomson, Tanja

    2017-01-01

    Research on educational leadership emphasizes the importance of having institutional leaders heavily involved with advanced instructional programming. Best practices for developing educational leadership in higher education health care and medical faculties have to be better understood. Within the framework of a seminar series, researchers and…

  18. 42 CFR 438.104 - Marketing activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... State government, or similar entity. (c) State agency review. In reviewing the marketing materials... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Marketing activities. 438.104 Section 438.104... (CONTINUED) MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS MANAGED CARE Enrollee Rights and Protections § 438.104 Marketing...

  19. Markets for reactor-produced non-fission radioisotopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bennett, R.G.

    1995-01-01

    Current market segments for reactor produced radioisotopes are developed and reported from a review of current literature. Specific radioisotopes studied in is report are the primarily selected from those with major medical or industrial markets, or those expected to have strongly emerging markets. Relative market sizes are indicated. Special emphasis is given to those radioisotopes that are best matched to production in high flux reactors such as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory or the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A general bibliography of medical and industrial radioisotope applications, trends, and historical notes is included

  20. Mid-infrared plasmonic resonances exploiting heavily-doped Ge on Si

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biagioni, P.; Sakat, E.; Baldassarre, L.; Calandrini, E.; Samarelli, A.; Gallacher, K.; Frigerio, J.; Isella, G.; Paul, D. J.; Ortolani, M.

    2015-03-01

    We address the behavior of mid-infrared localized plasmon resonances in elongated germanium antennas integrated on silicon substrates. Calculations based on Mie theory and on the experimentally retrieved dielectric constant allow us to study the tunability and the figures of merit of plasmon resonances in heavily-doped germanium and to preliminarily compare them with those of the most established plasmonic material, gold.

  1. Performant Brand Management Contribution to the Company Success on International Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Danciu

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available The success of any company in international markets heavily depends on the brand strategies. These strategies are based on the pillars of the brand management, which are identity, positionning and image. The core element of the internationalisation strategy of the brand is the identity. The positionning depends on the global or international characteristics of the brand. The market served, the product innovation and the exclusive character or not of the brand are the fundamental decisions of the internalisation strategy of the brand. The results of these decisions are to be found in the strategies of the brand. These strategies play a prominent part in the performant management of the brand and the strategical outcome of the company in the international markets. The succesfull, consistent international brands confirm this remarcable role of the management.

  2. Retail competition in electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Defeuilley, Christophe

    2009-01-01

    The introduction of competition into retail electricity supply gave rise to great expectations. However, to date, its performance has proven less than stellar, owing primarily to the theoretical concepts underpinning this reform, which draw heavily on the Austrian school. Neither consumers' decision processes nor this sector's technical paradigm were adequately accounted for, leading to an uncorrect estimation of the expected impact of opening to competition. Short- and medium-term prospects for the evolution of retail markets must be reconsidered from the perspective of greater stability: not a generalization of competition, but rather a persistent segmentation between active and inactive clients; not a large and rapid diffusion of radical innovations in commercialisation, with the potential for undermining the incumbents' positions

  3. Medical tourism market trends - an exploratory research

    OpenAIRE

    Ile Florența Larisa; Țigu Gabriela

    2017-01-01

    Medical tourism is a modern concept, but not a new tourism practice. Even there is still no international consent on the definitions and measurement of this trend, its importance in the development of a tourism destination started to be taken into consideration. In accordance with tourism segment classification depending on journey reasons recommended by World Tourism Organization, one of the main groups is for “medical treatment/health”. Being part of health tourism, medical tourism is often...

  4. Pre-market clinical evaluations of innovative high-risk medical devices in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulstaert, Frank; Neyt, Mattias; Vinck, Imgard; Stordeur, Sabine; Huić, Mirjana; Sauerland, Stefan; Kuijpers, Marja R; Abrishami, Payam; Vondeling, Hindrik; Flamion, Bruno; Garattini, Silvio; Pavlovic, Mira; van Brabandt, Hans

    2012-07-01

    High-quality clinical evidence is most often lacking when novel high-risk devices enter the European market. At the same time, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is often initiated as a requirement for obtaining market access in the US. Should coverage in Europe be postponed until RCT data are available? We studied the premarket clinical evaluation of innovative high-risk medical devices in Europe compared with the US, and with medicines, where appropriate. The literature and regulatory documents were checked. Representatives from industry, Competent Authorities, Notified Bodies, Ethics Committees, and HTA agencies were consulted. We also discuss patient safety and the transparency of information. In contrast to the US, there is no requirement in Europe to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of high-risk devices in the premarket phase. Patients in Europe can thus have earlier access to a potentially lifesaving device, but at the risk of insufficiently documented efficacy and safety. Variations in the stringency of clinical reviews, both at the level of Notified Bodies and Competent Authorities, do not guarantee patient safety. We tried to document the design of premarket trials in Europe and number of patients exposed, but failed as this information is not made public. Furthermore, the Helsinki Declaration is not followed with respect to the registration and publication of premarket trials. For innovative high-risk devices, new EU legislation should require the premarket demonstration of clinical efficacy and safety, using an RCT if possible, and a transparent clinical review, preferably centralized.

  5. Market Collapse Weighs Heavily on College Endowments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bluemenstyk, Goldie

    2009-01-01

    College endowments earned an average return of minus-3 percent for the 2008 fiscal year and an estimated minus-22.5 percent in the five months after that, two new reports show. More than a quarter of all institutions said they plan to draw less money from their endowment this year than they had expected to spend. After a half-decade of soaring…

  6. Medical and Social Determinants of Subsequent Labour Market Marginalization in Young Hospitalized Suicide Attempters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas; Tinghög, Petter; Goldman-Mellor, Sidra; Wilcox, Holly C; Gould, Madelyn; Mittendorfer-Rutz, Ellenor

    2016-01-01

    Individuals with a history of suicide attempt have a high risk for subsequent labour market marginalization. This study aimed at assessing the effect of individual and parental factors on different measures of marginalization. Prospective cohort study based on register linkage of 5 649 individuals who in 1994 were 16-30 years old, lived in Sweden and were treated in inpatient care for suicide attempt during 1992-1994. Hazard ratios (HRs) for labour market marginalization defined as long-term unemployment (>180 days), sickness absence (>90 days), or disability pension in 1995-2010 were calculated with Cox regression. Medical risk factors, particularly any earlier diagnosed specific mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia: HR 5.4 (95% CI: 4.2, 7.0), personality disorders: HR 3.9, 95% CI: 3.1, 4.9), repetitive suicide attempts (HR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.4, 1.9) were associated with a higher relative risk of disability pension. Individual medical factors were of smaller importance for long-term sickness absence, and of only marginal relevance to long-term unemployment. Country of birth outside Europe had an opposite effect on disability pension (HR 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.8) and long-term unemployment (HR 1.5, 95% CI: 1.3, 1.8). Female sex was positively correlated with long-term sickness absence (HR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.4, 1.7), and negatively associated with long-term unemployment (HR: 0.8, 95% CI: 0.7, 0.9). As compared to disability pension, long-term sickness absence and unemployment was more strongly related to socio-economic variables. Marginalization pathways seemed to vary with migration status and sex. These findings may contribute to the development of intervention strategies which take the individual risk for marginalization into account.

  7. Market concentration trends in South Africa’s private healthcare sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marine Erasmus

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The Competition Commission (CC commenced with an enquiry into South Africa’s private healthcare sector at the beginning of 2014, the outcome of which could have far-reaching consequences for the medical industry in South Africa. The panel appointed to consider competition in the private healthcare sector has indicated that they are interested in understanding increased consolidation in the private hospital market and the effect this may have on competitive dynamics. This article considers historical concentration trends in the private hospital market from 2000 to 2012. In addition it also deals with changes in market structure in the medical scheme and administrator markets. These trends provide a complete picture of market structure changes and the implications for relative bargaining power of the various parties. It finds that whereas the market concentration of private hospitals has remained relatively stable since 2004, the market concentration of medical schemes and administrators has increased over this period.

  8. Positioning marketing in the hospital's power structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckham, D

    1984-08-01

    Although hospitals are increasingly recognizing the importance of marketing, many have difficulty assimilating what has been primarily an industrial concern into a health care environment. The author explains the function of marketing in health care, the outlook and expectations of a good marketing executive, and why hospital management and the medical staff may have difficulty accepting marketing and the expectations of the marketing executive.

  9. The impact of state financial incentives on market deployment of solar technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sarzynski, Andrea; Larrieu, Jeremy; Shrimali, Gireesh

    2012-01-01

    Many states have adopted financial incentives to encourage market deployment of solar energy technology. This paper employs a cross-sectional time-series approach to evaluate the extent to which state solar financial incentives systematically encouraged market deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology from 1997 to 2009. The results demonstrate that states offering cash incentives such as rebates and grants experienced more extensive and rapid deployment of grid-tied PV technology than states without cash incentives over the study period. The analysis also finds that the presence of state renewable energy portfolio standards and specific solar carve-out provisions within them heavily influenced the market deployment of grid-tied solar PV technology through 2009. - Highlights: ► We evaluate the impact of state financial incentives on solar technology adoption. ► Cash incentives and renewable portfolio standards strongly influenced deployment. ► The impact of cash incentives and RPS grew significantly over time. ► Tax incentives had little systematic effect on solar market deployment.

  10. The need for a marketing strategy for Alberta bitumen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Redford, D.A. (Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, Edmonton, AB (Canada))

    1993-03-01

    Over the past 15 years, government and industry have invested heavily in research and development of new technology for extracting bitumen from the Alberta oil sands. The results have been a dramatic increase in the fraction of oil sands deposits that could be economically exploited and a drop in production costs. However, no rapid increase in bitumen recovery has been achieved and most new bitumen production projects have been postponed or cancelled. This is the result of very variable prices for bitumen and the inadequacy of a marketing strategy which relies on the sale of raw bitumen. Options such as transport of bitumen to southern markets are limited by the need to reduce bitumen viscosity for pipelining and by the limited market for emulsified or diluted bitumen. Another possible strategy, conversion of the bitumen to synthetic crude oil, is limited by high costs, product characteristics (too much diesel and not enough gasoline), and a market limited to specialized refineries. A third strategy is to convert and refine bitumen to transportation fuels in Alberta, using inexpensive local natural gas, and transporting the products through existing pipeline facilities. 3 figs.

  11. The need for a marketing strategy for Alberta bitumen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Redford, D.A.

    1993-01-01

    Over the past 15 years, government and industry have invested heavily in research and development of new technology for extracting bitumen from the Alberta oil sands. The results have been a dramatic increase in the fraction of oil sands deposits that could be economically exploited and a drop in production costs. However, no rapid increase in bitumen recovery has been achieved and most new bitumen production projects have been postponed or cancelled. This is the result of very variable prices for bitumen and the inadequacy of a marketing strategy which relies on the sale of raw bitumen. Options such as transport of bitumen to southern markets are limited by the need to reduce bitumen viscosity for pipelining and by the limited market for emulsified or diluted bitumen. Another possible strategy, conversion of the bitumen to synthetic crude oil, is limited by high costs, product characteristics (too much diesel and not enough gasoline), and a market limited to specialized refineries. A third strategy is to convert and refine bitumen to transportation fuels in Alberta, using inexpensive local natural gas, and transporting the products through existing pipeline facilities. 3 figs

  12. NuSTAR observations of heavily obscured quasars at z ~ 0.5

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lansbury, G. B.; Alexander, D. M.; Del Moro, A.

    2014-01-01

    We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of three Type 2 quasars at z ≈ 0.4-0.5, optically selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Although the quasars show evidence for being heavily obscured, Compton-thick systems on the basis of the 2-10 keV to [O III] luminosity ratio and multiwavelength...

  13. Review of segmentation process in consumer markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronika Jadczaková

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Although there has been a considerable debate on market segmentation over five decades, attention was merely devoted to single stages of the segmentation process. In doing so, stages as segmentation base selection or segments profiling have been heavily covered in the extant literature, whereas stages as implementation of the marketing strategy or market definition were of a comparably lower interest. Capitalizing on this shortcoming, this paper strives to close the gap and provide each step of the segmentation process with equal treatment. Hence, the objective of this paper is two-fold. First, a snapshot of the segmentation process in a step-by-step fashion will be provided. Second, each step (where possible will be evaluated on chosen criteria by means of description, comparison, analysis and synthesis of 32 academic papers and 13 commercial typology systems. Ultimately, the segmentation stages will be discussed with empirical findings prevalent in the segmentation studies and last but not least suggestions calling for further investigation will be presented. This seven-step-framework may assist when segmenting in practice allowing for more confidential targeting which in turn might prepare grounds for creating of a differential advantage.

  14. Research in review: A marketing perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spada, M.L.; Forman, J.I.; SLovin, K.A.

    1995-12-31

    One year after a Marketing reorganization in an electric utility preparing for competition and better meeting customer needs, the newly established research team lives to tell about it. The new research function was formulated as a result of a corporate reorganization designed to better position the Company to meet the challenges occurring in today`s electric utility industry. Many senior level managers from different parts of the Company participated in this reengineering process. Their perspectives included customer services, marketing, energy services, engineering, rates and corporate communications. One of their major recommendations was to form a centralized or coordinated research function for the Company. They saw that the future of successful utility marketing and business planning would depend heavily on the success of a research and analysis function. Other major recommendations included the formulation of additional groups: market planning, product R & D, pricing, evaluation and marketing information systems. Once the senior team recommended general functions and responsibilities of each of the suggested groups mentioned above, the Company assembled one junior level team to study each group in more detail. The junior team assigned to the research function spent several months canvassing and investigating what research and data were currently available internally, who performs it and how it is used. The junior team reported not only on what is, but also on what a research function should be in the evolving electric utility industry and what steps can be taken to move towards those goals. The junior team concluded that there was a wealth of information available and much research activity taking place internally.

  15. Health care: development of data for a marketing approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stitt, V J

    1985-06-01

    Marketing in health care is a relatively new process. It is a business tool that can serve a very useful purpose. Health care management has become aware of the usefulness of marketing in long-range planning. Through a well-thought-out marketing plan, the provider will not be leaving the future to chance. A well-conceived, patient-oriented, competitor-aware marketing plan should place the medical practice at a strategic advantage as the health care industry joins other industries in the competitive marketplace for the consumer's dollar.The ever-increasing political and regulatory environment that the health care field is undergoing emphasizes the need for the inclusion of marketing skills, such as cost containment, in the medical curriculum. It should be the obligation of the training facilities as well as medical societies to respond to this need by providing the education that will enable black providers to survive in this competitive environment.

  16. Nurse prescribing ethics and medical marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, J

    This article suggests that nurse prescribers require an awareness of key concepts in ethics, such as deontology and utilitarianism to reflect on current debates and contribute to them. The principles of biomedical ethics have also been influential in the development of professional codes of conduct. Attention is drawn to the importance of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's code of practice for the pharmaceutical industry in regulating marketing aimed at prescribers.

  17. [Segment analysis of the target market of physiotherapeutic services].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babaskin, D V

    2010-01-01

    The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the possibilities to analyse selected segments of the target market of physiotherapeutic services provided by medical and preventive-facilities of two major types. The main features of a target segment, such as provision of therapeutic massage, are illustrated in terms of two characteristics, namely attractiveness to the users and the ability of a given medical facility to satisfy their requirements. Based on the analysis of portfolio of the available target segments the most promising ones (winner segments) were selected for further marketing studies. This choice does not exclude the possibility of involvement of other segments of medical services in marketing activities.

  18. Marketing and medicine: a questionable mix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran, Michael E; Baum, Neil H

    2012-01-01

    Historically, medicine has been an evolving art and science. It never remains the same. Only in the past few decades has it been acceptable for doctors to market and promote their practices. This article will review the history of medical marketing and provide ethical examples of marketing that might be available to any physician, in any practice, and in any geographic location.

  19. Retail competition in electricity markets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Defeuilley, Christophe [LARSEN and EDF R and D, Fontenay aux Roses (France)

    2009-02-15

    The introduction of competition into retail electricity supply gave rise to great expectations. However, to date, its performance has proven less than stellar, owing primarily to the theoretical concepts underpinning this reform, which draw heavily on the Austrian school. Neither consumers' decision processes nor this sector's technical paradigm were adequately accounted for, leading to an uncorrect estimation of the expected impact of opening to competition. Short- and medium-term prospects for the evolution of retail markets must be reconsidered from the perspective of greater stability: not a generalization of competition, but rather a persistent segmentation between active and inactive clients; not a large and rapid diffusion of radical innovations in commercialisation, with the potential for undermining the incumbents' positions. (author)

  20. Ontario perspective on interregional markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shalaby, A.

    2003-01-01

    On May 1, 2002, wholesale and retail electricity markets in Ontario were opened to competition. The industry structure has been completely unbundled into separate entities for power generation, distribution and transmission. There are currently 20 generators, 90 distributors and 4 transmitters in Ontario. Trade with neighbouring jurisdictions has increased and now accounts for 10 to 15 per cent of demand on summer peak days. Import/export capability with the United States (northeast and midwest) and other Canadian provinces (Quebec and Manitoba) is 4,000 to 6,000 MW. Ontario has not had new generation or transmission capacity in several years and the heat waves of summer 2002 resulted in a heavier power demand than forecasted. The province had to rely heavily on power imports resulting in high and volatile electricity prices. In response to customer complaints, the Ontario government froze retail rates and in a recent policy directive announced a public ownership policy for transmission with further consultation on improving supply competition in Ontario. FERC order 888 and the increased role of independent power producers has improved trading opportunities between Canada and the United States. The presentation highlighted recent trade trends and outlined the specific impact of the Standard Market Design on Canadian markets. It was noted that Ontario should work on ensuring power reliability, transmission planning, inter-regional coordination, and joint investments with neighbouring jurisdictions. 9 figs

  1. European Sugar Market – Impact of Quota System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irena Benešová

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The European agricultural market has been criticized for its heavy regulations and subsidization. The sugar market is one of the most regulated ones; however, this will change radically in 2017 when the current system of production quotas will end. The aim of this paper is to present the basic characteristics of the EU quota sugar market. The analysis identifies the main drivers of EU sugar market and their position within the EU sugar market. The paper identifies especially those drivers/companies/alliances which take control over the EU sugar production realized under the quota production system. The paper also highlights the level of EU sugar market concentration and also identifies those countries and companies which are the main leaders in the sugar production area realized under the quota system. Based on the results deriving from the paper, it is possible to characterize the EU sugar market as a heavily concentrated one – nearly 75% (10 mil. tonnes of the quota is controlled by five multinational companies only; these companies are operating more than 50% of all the available sugar plants located in the EU. These multinational alliances are also in control of the production capacities of their subsidiaries. In most countries, this causes serious problems as the given quota is controlled by one or two producers only. The EU sugar market is extremely concentrated especially if we take into consideration the location of each alliance’s headquarters. The majority of production capacities are under (the control of especially German and French companies. These two countries are also the main beneficiaries in relation to the EU sugar production quota system.

  2. Marketing your practice in a social world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Ashley; Grundin, Erica; Harrison, Dash; Espinoza, Jessica

    2012-01-01

    Social media use has moved beyond just being a way for family and friends to keep in touch. Now it is imperative that all businesses implement a social media strategy into their overall marketing plan. Medical practices are no exception. Using social media within your medical practice will allow you take your marketing to a new level of success. It also allows you to connect with patients on a more personal, less corporate level.

  3. Marketing to physicians in a digital world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manz, Christopher; Ross, Joseph S; Grande, David

    2014-11-13

    Pharmaceutical marketing can lead to overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overuse of medications. Digital advertising creates new pathways for reaching physicians, allowing delivery of marketing messages at the point of care, when clinical decisions are being made.

  4. Photonic crystal fibres in the market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Broeng, Jes; Laurila, Marko; Noordegraaf, Danny

    2011-01-01

    Photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) emerged as a research topic in the mid 1990'ies [1]. Today, 15 years later, these fibres are increasing deployed in various commercial markets. Here, we will address three of these markets; medical imaging, materials processing and sensors. We will describe how...... the PCFs provide radical improvements and illustrate the strong diversity in the evolution of PCFs to serve these different markets....

  5. THE MEDICAL AND WELLNESS TOURISM PERCEPTION IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soare Ionica

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Tourism or geriatric-medical and wellness tourism are market segments that lately have registered significant increases. The need to define, organize, and promote these sectors. This item is intended to synthesize developments and challenges market growth wellness and medical tourism. For the industry spa these developments may represent an opportunity to take full advantage of wellness and medical tourism.

  6. West Angeles Community Development Corporation final technical report on export market feasibility planning and research for the solar medical autoclave

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Power, G.D.

    1998-04-20

    This report summarizes core findings from an investigation performed by the staff of West Angeles Community Development Corporation (CDC) regarding the feasibility of marketing the Solar Medical Autoclave (``autoclave``) in South Africa. The investigation was completed during 1997, the period prescribed by the Grant Award made by the U.S. Department of Energy on January 1, 1997, and was monitored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

  7. From Servicescape to Loyalty in the Medical Tourism Industry: A Medical Clinic’s Service Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Minseong; Koo, Dong-Woo; Shin, Dong-Jin; Lee, Sae-Mi

    2017-01-01

    Medical tourism organizations have increasingly recognized that loyalty makes a medical clinic a marketing success. To increase understanding of the importance of medical clinics, this study examined the roles of servicescapes, emotions, and satisfaction in the development of customer loyalty toward medical clinics and destination. Data were collected among international medical tourists visiting Korea. Results identified that dimensions of medical clinics’ servicescape (ie, medical clinic en...

  8. Forms of Functioning of the Modern Market of Addictive Goods Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roman Yu. Skokov

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The classification of forms of markets for addictive goods was made according to the criterion of exchange (absent, emerging, free, oligopolistic, monopolistic, monopoly. There were systematized approaches to argument for the state monopolization of the markets. Reducing the supply, increasing prices, reducing the influence of the motive of private profit are crucial. There was made the classification and analysis of prevailing forms of state markets for addictive goods in the international practice. They are: state monopolistic, competitive, prohibitionists, medical, antiprohibitionists mixed. Based on this there were marked modern features of their state regulation due to the consumer culture, religious prohibitions, the effectiveness of measures in demand reducing, diametrically different approaches to new markets, international split in the prohibition of the drug market. Domestic specifics associated with skimping on experience of regulation of the alcoholic market in a similar pattern of consumption in the Nordic countries, inadequate implementation capacity of state regulation of demand for tobacco products, with the creation of barriers to the development of gambling and new markets for addictive goods, with a veto on the liberalization of the drug market. Based on a comprehensive assessment of the market potential of business entities in specific markets there were offered socially appropriate forms of their states: in the markets of gambling and drugs a combination of the policy of prohibition and monopoly-oligopolistic proposals, in oligopolistic markets tobacco products and energy drinks the monopoly, in the markets of alcoholic products the differentiated approach.

  9. [Marketing in hospitals and practices: from theory to implementation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattmüller, R; Gebauer, J

    2011-12-01

    Although hospitals and medical practices are typical service providers from a marketing perspective, only very few engage in topics relevant to marketing. Best practice examples do, however, show how important and meaningful the implementation of marketing tools can be for medical service providers. This article thus deals with the question of how the service of hospitals and practices may be improved by marketing initiatives. As a first step, the particular challenges these service providers face need to be analyzed. A significant focus will therefore be put on the examination of service-related quality and will then be applied to medical services. Thus it becomes evident that the path to success is based on adapting to patients' needs. Possibilities to minimize the uncertainties and risks experienced by the patients need to be identified. At the same time, the perceived service quality needs to be maximized.

  10. FinTech Market Development Perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalmykova Ekaterina

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Fast development of technologies has led to emergence of the new market – FinTech – which is very attractive for investors today. By now this market has a great number of different concepts: P2P-crediting, E-wallets, Bitcoins, mPOS-acquiring, T-commerce, mobile banks, etc. Many of these tools have already heavily entered our ordinary life. People can obtain any credits through special services on the Internet from other users without participation of banks, pay by credit card using mobile devices, and get information about expenses and incomes according to the card anywhere in the world. Users do not need to go to banks anymore and to spend their time for credit arrangements, currency exchange, to look for ATMs to remove cash. Purchases on the Internet can be paid not only in rubles, but also in new digital currency. These tools make life easier, however, they pose a serious threat for banks. Now, bank institutions should create more convenient and utility services for the clients to keep clients. Therefore, bank and credit systems start to change actively.

  11. TU-AB-204-03: Research Activities in Medical Physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Badano, A.

    2016-01-01

    The responsibilities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have increased since the inception of the Food and Drugs Act in 1906. Medical devices first came under comprehensive regulation with the passage of the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In 1971 FDA also took on the responsibility for consumer protection against unnecessary exposure to radiation-emitting devices for home and occupational use. However it was not until 1976, under the Medical Device Regulation Act, that the FDA was responsible for the safety and effectiveness of medical devices. This session will be presented by the Division of Radiological Health (DRH) and the Division of Imaging, Diagnostics, and Software Reliability (DIDSR) from the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at the FDA. The symposium will discuss on how we protect and promote public health with a focus on medical physics applications organized into four areas: pre-market device review, post-market surveillance, device compliance, current regulatory research efforts and partnerships with other organizations. The pre-market session will summarize the pathways FDA uses to regulate the investigational use and commercialization of diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy medical devices in the US, highlighting resources available to assist investigators and manufacturers. The post-market session will explain the post-market surveillance and compliance activities FDA performs to monitor the safety and effectiveness of devices on the market. The third session will describe research efforts that support the regulatory mission of the Agency. An overview of our regulatory research portfolio to advance our understanding of medical physics and imaging technologies and approaches to their evaluation will be discussed. Lastly, mechanisms that FDA uses to seek public input and promote collaborations with professional, government, and international organizations, such as AAPM, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC

  12. TU-AB-204-03: Research Activities in Medical Physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Badano, A. [Food & Drug Administration (United States)

    2016-06-15

    The responsibilities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have increased since the inception of the Food and Drugs Act in 1906. Medical devices first came under comprehensive regulation with the passage of the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In 1971 FDA also took on the responsibility for consumer protection against unnecessary exposure to radiation-emitting devices for home and occupational use. However it was not until 1976, under the Medical Device Regulation Act, that the FDA was responsible for the safety and effectiveness of medical devices. This session will be presented by the Division of Radiological Health (DRH) and the Division of Imaging, Diagnostics, and Software Reliability (DIDSR) from the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at the FDA. The symposium will discuss on how we protect and promote public health with a focus on medical physics applications organized into four areas: pre-market device review, post-market surveillance, device compliance, current regulatory research efforts and partnerships with other organizations. The pre-market session will summarize the pathways FDA uses to regulate the investigational use and commercialization of diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy medical devices in the US, highlighting resources available to assist investigators and manufacturers. The post-market session will explain the post-market surveillance and compliance activities FDA performs to monitor the safety and effectiveness of devices on the market. The third session will describe research efforts that support the regulatory mission of the Agency. An overview of our regulatory research portfolio to advance our understanding of medical physics and imaging technologies and approaches to their evaluation will be discussed. Lastly, mechanisms that FDA uses to seek public input and promote collaborations with professional, government, and international organizations, such as AAPM, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC

  13. Conductivity and superconductivity in heavily vacant diamond

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S A Jafari

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available   Motivated by the idea of impurity band superconductivity in heavily Boron doped diamond, we investigate the doping of various elements into diamond to address the question, which impurity band can offer a better DOS at the Fermi level. Surprisingly, we find that the vacancy does the best job in producing the largest DOS at the Fermi surface. To investigate the effect of disorder in Anderson localization of the resulting impurity band, we use a simple tight-binding model. Our preliminary study based on the kernel polynomial method shows that the impurity band is already localized at the concentration of 10-3. Around the vacancy concentration of 0.006 the whole spectrum of diamond becomes localized and quantum percolation takes place. Therefore to achieve conducting bands at concentrations on the scale of 5-10 percent, one needs to introduce correlations such as hopping among the vacancies .

  14. Mission-driven marketing: a rural example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rohrer, J E; Vaughn, T; Westermann, J

    1999-01-01

    Marketing receives little attention in the academic healthcare management literature, possibly because it is associated with pursuit of profit rather than community benefit. However, a marketing perspective can be applied to the pursuit of the traditional missions of healthcare delivery organizations. Mission-oriented market selection criteria could include characteristics such as relevance to mission, underserved or vulnerable population status, resistance to care, limited resources, and low accessibility. A survey conducted in a rural county is used to demonstrate ways that underserved market segments can be identified and targeted. In the market surveyed, men used less medical care than women; depressed people and those with low levels of education used less medical care than people without these characteristics. Consumers were more likely to defer care because of cost if they lacked health insurance coverage, were female, were under age 55, had fair health status, were depressed, and were chronically ill. Marketing strategies worthy of consideration relate to price (e.g., free care, coupons and sales for eligible individuals), distribution (e.g., visiting nurses, malls and fairs, occupational medicine programs), product (e.g., satisfaction, waiting time, attractiveness, assertive follow-up), and promotion (education about insurance benefits, facilitating development of regular sources of care, health education).

  15. Medically Unexplained Symptoms and the risk of loss of labor market participation - A prospective study in the Danish population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løngaard, Katja; Bjorner, Jacob Bue; Fink, Per

    2015-01-01

    follow-up. MUS participants also showed an elevated RR with regard to risk of disability pensioning, however this association was not statistically significant (RR = 2.06, 95% CI = 0.77-5.52). CONCLUSION: MUS seem to have a negative effect on labor market participation defined by LTSA and unemployment......BACKGROUND: Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) are frequently encountered in general practice. However, little is known whether MUS affects labor market participation. We investigated the prospective association between MUS at baseline and risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA), unemployment...... treatment. Participants were classified with MUS if they: a) had reported three or more symptoms during the last month, and b) did not have a chronic condition, neither in the self-reported nor the register data. We assessed LTSA, unemployment, and disability pensioning by linking our data with National...

  16. Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isselmann DiSantis, Katherine; Kumanyika, Shiriki; Carter-Edwards, Lori; Rohm Young, Deborah; Grier, Sonya A; Lassiter, Vikki

    2017-10-29

    Food marketing environments of Black American consumers are heavily affected by ethnically-targeted marketing of sugar sweetened beverages, fast foods, and other products that may contribute to caloric overconsumption. This qualitative study assessed Black consumers' responses to targeted marketing. Black adults (2 mixed gender groups; total n = 30) and youth (2 gender specific groups; total n = 35) from two U.S. communities participated before and after a sensitization procedure-a critical practice used to understand social justice concerns. Pre-sensitization focus groups elicited responses to scenarios about various targeted marketing tactics. Participants were then given an informational booklet about targeted marketing to Black Americans, and all returned for the second (post-sensitization) focus group one week later. Conventional qualitative content analysis of transcripts identified several salient themes: seeing the marketer's perspective ("it's about demand"; "consumers choose"), respect for community ("marketers are setting us up for failure"; "making wrong assumptions"), and food environments as a social justice issue ("no one is watching the door"; "I didn't realize"). Effects of sensitization were reflected in participants' stated reactions to the information in the booklet, and also in the relative occurrence of marketer-oriented themes and social justice-oriented themes, respectively, less and more after sensitization.

  17. Latin America wind market assessment. Forecast 2013-2022

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2013-10-15

    Wind Power Activities by Country: Developers/Owners, Wind Plant Sizes, Wind Turbines Deployed, Commissioning Dates, Market Share, and Capacity Forecasts Latin American markets are a subject of intense interest from the global wind industry. Wind plant construction across Latin America is modest compared to the more established markets like the United States, Europe, and China, but it is an emerging market that is taking off at a rapid pace. The region has become the hottest alternative growth market for the wind energy industry at a time when growth rates in other markets are flat due to a variety of policy and macroeconomic challenges. Globalization is driving sustainable economic growth in most Latin American countries, resulting in greater energy demand. Wind is increasingly viewed as a valuable and essential answer to increasing electricity generation across most markets in Latin America. Strong wind resources, coupled with today's sophisticated wind turbines, are providing cost-effective generation that is competitive with fossil fuel generation. Most Latin American countries also rely heavily on hydroelectricity, which balances well with variable wind generation. Navigant Research forecasts that if most wind plants under construction with planned commissioning go online as scheduled, annual wind power installations in Latin America will grow from nearly 2.2 GW in 2013 to 4.3 GW by 2022. This Navigant Research report provides a comprehensive view of the wind energy market dynamics at play in Latin America. It offers a country-by-country analysis, outlining the key energy policies and development opportunities and barriers and identifying which companies own operational wind plants and which wind turbine vendors supplied those projects. Market forecasts for wind power installations, capacity, and market share in Latin America, segmented by country and company, extend through 2022. The report also offers an especially close analysis of Brazil and Mexico

  18. Financial Crisis Now Striking Home for School Districts: Project Delays, Worries About Cash Flow Result of Tight Credit Markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Michelle R.

    2008-01-01

    This article reports that the crisis besetting U.S. and world financial markets is hitting school districts hard, as they struggle to float the bonds needed for capital projects, borrow money to ensure cash flow, and get access to investment funds locked up in troubled institutions. Some schools districts depend heavily on borrowed money to pay…

  19. Yield strength of a heavily drawn Cu-20% Nb filamentary microcomposite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, S.I.

    1998-01-01

    It has been well documented that heavily-drawn, copper-niobium microcomposites possess high strength and high conductivity. Since niobium has little solubility in copper, the conductivity of the copper is not strongly affected by the addition of niobium. Following extensive mechanical deformation of Cu-Nb, niobium dendrites transform into fine niobium ribbons as a result of the niobium texture upon drawing. This nanostructure contributes to the ultrahigh strength of Cu-Nb microcomposites. The strength of heavily deformed Cu-Nb exceeds that predicted by the rule-of-mixtures (ROM), and a fundamental understanding of the strengthening mechanisms involved has been the subject of much discussion. Spitzig and his coworkers suggests a barrier strengthening model while Funkenbusch and Courtney believe that stored dislocations have a role in substructural hardening. Hangen and Raabe recently proposed an analytical model for the calculation of the yield strength of Cu-Nb microcomposite. The model of Hangen and Raabe and that of Spitzig and his coworkers have a great deal of resemblance since both models attribute the strength to the difficulty of propagating plastic flow through the interface. The purpose of this study was to enhance the understanding of the strengthening mechanisms associated with Cu-Nb microcomposites by examining the previous studies on mechanical and microstructural stability of Cu-based microcomposites

  20. Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Performance: Do Organizational and Market Characteristics Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaulding, Aaron; Edwardson, Nick; Zhao, Mei

    The hospital value-based purchasing (HVBP) program of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services challenges hospitals to deliver high-quality care or face a reduction in Medicare payments. How do different organizational structures and market characteristics enable or inhibit successful transition to this new model of value-based care? To address that question, this study employs an institutional theory lens to test whether certain organizational structures and market characteristics mediate hospitals' ability to perform across HVBP domains.Data from the 2014 American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database, Area Health Resource File, the Medicare Hospital Compare Database, and the association between external environment and hospital performance are assessed through multiple regression analysis. Results indicate that hospitals that belong to a system are more likely than independent hospitals to score highly on the domains associated with the HVBP incentive arrangement. However, varying and sometimes counterintuitive market influences bring different dimensions to the HVBP program. A hospital's ability to score well in this new value arrangement may be heavily based on the organization's ability to learn from others, implement change, and apply the appropriate amount of control in various markets.

  1. Electricity market pricing, risk hedging and modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Xu

    In this dissertation, we investigate the pricing, price risk hedging/arbitrage, and simplified system modeling for a centralized LMP-based electricity market. In an LMP-based market model, the full AC power flow model and the DC power flow model are most widely used to represent the transmission system. We investigate the differences of dispatching results, congestion pattern, and LMPs for the two power flow models. An appropriate LMP decomposition scheme to quantify the marginal costs of the congestion and real power losses is critical for the implementation of financial risk hedging markets. However, the traditional LMP decomposition heavily depends on the slack bus selection. In this dissertation we propose a slack-independent scheme to break LMP down into energy, congestion, and marginal loss components by analyzing the actual marginal cost of each bus at the optimal solution point. The physical and economic meanings of the marginal effect at each bus provide accurate price information for both congestion and losses, and thus the slack-dependency of the traditional scheme is eliminated. With electricity priced at the margin instead of the average value, the market operator typically collects more revenue from power sellers than that paid to power buyers. According to the LMP decomposition results, the revenue surplus is then divided into two parts: congestion charge surplus and marginal loss revenue surplus. We apply the LMP decomposition results to the financial tools, such as financial transmission right (FTR) and loss hedging right (LHR), which have been introduced to hedge against price risks associated to congestion and losses, to construct a full price risk hedging portfolio. The two-settlement market structure and the introduction of financial tools inevitably create market manipulation opportunities. We investigate several possible market manipulation behaviors by virtual bidding and propose a market monitor approach to identify and quantify such

  2. [Involvement of medical representatives in team medical care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirotsu, Misaki; Sohma, Michiro; Takagi, Hidehiko

    2009-04-01

    In recent years, chemotherapies have been further advanced because of successive launch of new drugs, introduction of molecular targeting, etc., and the concept of so-called Team Medical Care ,the idea of sharing interdisciplinary expertise for collaborative treatment, has steadily penetrated in the Japanese medical society. Dr. Naoto Ueno is a medical oncologist at US MD Anderson Cancer Center, the birthplace of the Team Medical Care. He has advocated the concept of ABC of Team Oncology by positioning pharmaceutical companies as Team C. Under such team practice, we believe that medical representatives of a pharmaceutical company should also play a role as a member of the Team Medical Care by providing appropriate drug use information to healthcare professionals, supporting post-marketing surveillance of treated patients, facilitating drug information sharing among healthcare professionals at medical institutions, etc.

  3. Identifying ambassador species for conservation marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E.A. Macdonald

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Conservation relies heavily on external funding, much of it from a supportive public. Therefore it is important to know which species are most likely to catalyse such funding. Whilst previous work has looked at the physical attributes that contribute to a species' appeal, no previous studies have tried to examine the extent to which a species' sympatriots might contribute to it's potential as flagship for wider conservation. Therefore, here we estimate ‘flexibility’ and ‘appeal’ scores for all terrestrial mammals (n = 4320 and identify which of these might serve as ambassadors (defined as both highly appealing and flexible. Relatively few mammals (between 240 and 331 emerged as ambassadors, with carnivores featuring heavily in this group (representing 5% of terrestrial mammals but 39% of ambassadors. ‘Top ambassadors’ were defined as those with both flexibility and appeal scores greater than 1 standard deviation above the mean. Less than a quarter of the 20 most endangered and evolutionary distinct species in this study were classed as ambassadors, highlighting the need for surrogate species to catalyse conservation effort in areas with such priority species. This is the first global analysis bringing together flexibility and appeal for all terrestrial mammals, and demonstrates an approach for determining how best to market species in order to achieve maximal conservation gain in a world with urgent conservation need but limited resources.

  4. AFM of metallic nano-particles and nano-structures in heavily irradiated NaCl

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaynutdinov, R; Vainshtein, DI; Hak, SJ; Tolstikhina, A; Den Hartog, HW

    2003-01-01

    AFM investigations are reported for heavily, electron irradiated NaCl crystals in ultra high vacuum (UHV) in the non-contact mode-with an UHV AFM/STM Omicron system. To avoid chemical reactions between the radiolytic Na and oxygen and water, the irradiated samples were cleaved and prepared for the

  5. Tracking with heavily irradiated silicon detectors operated at cryogenic temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casagrande, L.; Barnett, B.M.; Bartalina, P.

    1999-01-01

    In this work, the authors show that a heavily irradiated double-sided silicon microstrip detector recovers its performance when operated at cryogenic temperatures. A DELPHI microstrip detector, irradiated to a fluence of ∼4 x 10 14 p/cm 2 , no longer operational at room temperature, cannot be distinguished from a non-irradiated one when operated at T < 120 K. Besides confirming the previously observed Lazarus effect in single diodes, these results establish, for the first time, the possibility of using standard silicon detectors for tracking applications in extremely demanding radiation environments

  6. Theoretical investigation of the heavily-doped semiconductor aspect of ultra-dilute GaAsN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sukpitak, Jessada; Sa-yakanit, Virulh

    2015-12-01

    The model of GaAs1- y N y ( y = 0.001) as a heavily-doped semiconductor in the ultra-dilute region is attentively examined. The model enables GaAsN to be viewed as a disordered assembly of three-dimensional quantum dots (potential wells) caused by random potential fluctuations from nitrogen pairs in the system. Consequently, Feynman's path-integration technique is applied in order to quantify the density of states (DOS) in the vicinity of the conduction band edge. The obtained DOS tail, even though overestimated, still clearly shows a much shorter tail than that the experimental result does. This shows that the heavily-doped semiconductor viewpoint is not proper for GaAsN, not even in the ultra-dilute region. Furthermore, this also suggests that the impurity wave function overlap is not a basic mechanism of band gap reduction.

  7. International Isotopes Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanislaw Z. Zhiznin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper studies world markets of stable and radioactive isotopes. Isotopes have found various applications in science, industry, agriculture and other sectors of the economy, but especially - in medicine. Nuclear medicine is developing intensively all over the world thanks to the success in the treatment of various diseases with the help of radioactive pharmaceuticals (radiopharmaceuticals. The article uses empirical data from a forecast study of the global radiopharmaceuticals market made in 2015 by a research company «Markets and Markets» for the European, North American and global markets. The paper also analyzes the statistical data on the global export and import of natural uranium, enriched and depleted uranium, plutonium, thorium and some stable isotopes of non-medical purposes, presented by a company «Trend economy» in 2014. Despite a unique industrial base for the production of isotopes created in the Soviet Union Russia occupies a modest position on the world market of nuclear medicine except for certain areas. More than 80% of isotopes, produced in USSR were consumed domestically, the export of the stable and radioactive isotopes was in equal proportions. Now the country's domestic radiopharmaceuticals market is poorly developed. To radically change the situation, it is necessary to carry out reforms that stimulate the development of nuclear medicine.

  8. Photo acoustic imaging: technology, systems and market trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faucheux, Marc; d'Humières, Benoît; Cochard, Jacques

    2017-03-01

    Although the Photo Acoustic effect was observed by Graham Bell in 1880, the first applications (gas analysis) occurred in 1970's using the required energetic light pulses from lasers. During mid 1990's medical imaging research begun to use Photo Acoustic effect and in vivo images were obtained in mid-2000. Since 2009, the number of patent related to Photo Acoustic Imaging (PAI) has dramatically increased. PAI machines for pre-clinical and small animal imaging have been being used in a routine way for several years. Based on its very interesting features (non-ionizing radiation, noninvasive, high depth resolution ratio, scalability, moderate price) and because it is able to deliver not only anatomical, but functional and molecular information, PAI is a very promising clinical imaging modality. It penetrates deeper into tissue than OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) and provides a higher resolution than ultrasounds. The PAI is one of the most growing imaging modality and some innovative clinical systems are planned to be on market in 2017. Our study analyzes the different approaches such as photoacoustic computed tomography, 3D photoacoustic microscopy, multispectral photoacoustic tomography and endoscopy with the recent and tremendous technological progress over the past decade: advances in image reconstruction algorithms, laser technology, ultrasound detectors and miniaturization. We analyze which medical domains and applications are the most concerned and explain what should be the forthcoming medical system in the near future. We segment the market in four parts: Components and R&D, pre-clinical, analytics, clinical. We analyzed what should be, quantitatively and qualitatively, the PAI medical markets in each segment and its main trends. We point out the market accessibility (patents, regulations, clinical evaluations, clinical acceptance, funding). In conclusion, we explain the main market drivers and challenges to overcome and give a road map for medical

  9. Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Isselmann DiSantis

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Food marketing environments of Black American consumers are heavily affected by ethnically-targeted marketing of sugar sweetened beverages, fast foods, and other products that may contribute to caloric overconsumption. This qualitative study assessed Black consumers’ responses to targeted marketing. Black adults (2 mixed gender groups; total n = 30 and youth (2 gender specific groups; total n = 35 from two U.S. communities participated before and after a sensitization procedure—a critical practice used to understand social justice concerns. Pre-sensitization focus groups elicited responses to scenarios about various targeted marketing tactics. Participants were then given an informational booklet about targeted marketing to Black Americans, and all returned for the second (post-sensitization focus group one week later. Conventional qualitative content analysis of transcripts identified several salient themes: seeing the marketer’s perspective (“it’s about demand”; “consumers choose”, respect for community (“marketers are setting us up for failure”; “making wrong assumptions”, and food environments as a social justice issue (“no one is watching the door”; “I didn’t realize”. Effects of sensitization were reflected in participants’ stated reactions to the information in the booklet, and also in the relative occurrence of marketer-oriented themes and social justice-oriented themes, respectively, less and more after sensitization.

  10. Sensitizing Black Adult and Youth Consumers to Targeted Food Marketing Tactics in Their Environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isselmann DiSantis, Katherine; Kumanyika, Shiriki; Rohm Young, Deborah; Grier, Sonya A.; Lassiter, Vikki

    2017-01-01

    Food marketing environments of Black American consumers are heavily affected by ethnically-targeted marketing of sugar sweetened beverages, fast foods, and other products that may contribute to caloric overconsumption. This qualitative study assessed Black consumers’ responses to targeted marketing. Black adults (2 mixed gender groups; total n = 30) and youth (2 gender specific groups; total n = 35) from two U.S. communities participated before and after a sensitization procedure—a critical practice used to understand social justice concerns. Pre-sensitization focus groups elicited responses to scenarios about various targeted marketing tactics. Participants were then given an informational booklet about targeted marketing to Black Americans, and all returned for the second (post-sensitization) focus group one week later. Conventional qualitative content analysis of transcripts identified several salient themes: seeing the marketer’s perspective (“it’s about demand”; “consumers choose”), respect for community (“marketers are setting us up for failure”; “making wrong assumptions”), and food environments as a social justice issue (“no one is watching the door”; “I didn’t realize”). Effects of sensitization were reflected in participants’ stated reactions to the information in the booklet, and also in the relative occurrence of marketer-oriented themes and social justice-oriented themes, respectively, less and more after sensitization. PMID:29109377

  11. [The Second Health Care Market: Market Mapping Based upon Consumer Perception].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teichert, T; Mühlbach, C

    2018-03-01

    The aim of the study was to present a picture of consumers' views on the specific market of health and health products, the second German health market. Market analysis of the product categories was carried out. A large-scale representative survey (N=1 033) determined with an innovative adaptation of the repertory grid method the consumer's perspective on the specific market. Basic questions concerning attitudes to health as well as healthy behaviors completed the telephone survey. In the saturated markets, market for health is growing, especially in the context of aging societies, and this is not limited to primary medical products. In this study, product categories such as "dental care", "fruit and vegetables" or "nuts" were classified as healthy products. The relevance of health also in the macroeconomic context has been long underestimated. Health has still a high priority for consumers. A disclosure of individual perceptions in the health context provides a significantly more relevant product design. The identification of healthy product dimensions from the consumer's perspective sheds light on the actually desired product properties and the available potential to meet these desires. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  12. R&D Expenses and Share Value in The Japanese Stock Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sophie Nivoix

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The growing influence of technology in business activities is driving many firms to devote a greater amount of resources to research and development. It is therefore crucial to understand how the stock market evaluates the benefits of R&D. In this paper, our aim is to investigate whether Japanese investors have rewarded firms that heavily invest in R&D. We first document that R&D expenses have remained fairly stable relative to sales in the past eight years, but with large variations within and between industries. We then show that R&Dfirms have achieved a higher return relative to non-R&D firms. However, our regressions and investment simulations indicate that the relation between R&D intensity and stock returns is not significant, suggesting that the Japanese stock market is semi-strong efficient.

  13. Applications of medical wireless LAN systems (MedLAN)

    OpenAIRE

    Banitsas, KA; Istepanian, RSH; Tachakra, S

    2002-01-01

    This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Medical Marketing. The definitive publisher-authenticated version "Konstantinos A. Banitsas, R.S.H. Istepanian, Sapal Tachakra. Applications of medical Wireless LAN systems (MedLAN). Journal of Medical Marketing, Volume 2, Number 2, 1 January 2002 , pp. 136-142(7)" is available online at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/pal/jomm/2002/00000002/00000002/art00008. In this paper the Wireless LAN (WLAN)...

  14. Efficacy testing and market research for the pork industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivinski, Jacek S.

    Low dose (less than 30 krad) gamma irradiation of Trichinella spiralis infected pork renders the parasites sexually sterile and blocks maturation of the ingested larvae in the host gut. Irradiation of freshly slaughtered, market weight hog carcasses indicate that larvae throughout the carcass have essentially identical sensitivities to radiation. The research data indicate that 30 krad of 0.66 MeV gammas can be delivered to market weight, split carcasses with acceptable uniformity, and that such a dose can provide a substantial margin of safety for human consumption of even heavily infected meat. Feasibility studies of pork irradiation in commercial operations have shown the process to be technically, economically, and financially feasible. Treatment during the first four years of operation in a 2,000 hog per day plant will cost about 0.0034 dollars per pound and 0.0011 dollars per pound thereafter. Social and political feasibility are addressed in a 1,000-family consumer survey completed in the first quarter of 1984.

  15. Efficacy testing and market research for the pork industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivinski, J.S.

    1985-01-01

    Low dose (less than 30 krad) gamma irradiation of Trichinella spiralis infected pork renders the parasites sexually sterile and blocks maturation of the ingested larvae in the host gut. Irradiation of freshly slaughtered, market weight hog carcasses indicate that larvae throughout the carcass have essentially identical sensitivities to radiation. The research data indicate that 30 krad of 0.66 MeV gammas can be delivered to market weight, split carcasses with acceptable uniformity, and that such a dose can provide a substantial margin of safety for human consumption of even heavily infected meat. Feasibility studies of pork irradiation in commercial operations have shown the process to be technically, economically, and financially feasible. Treatment during the first four years of operation in a 2,000 hog per day plant will cost about 0.0034 dollars per pound and 0.0011 dollars per pound thereafter. Social and political feasibility are addressed in a 1,000-family consumer survey completed in the first quarter of 1984. (author)

  16. Medical Total Force Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-05-01

    Facilities (MTFs). For specialties that are common in civilian labor markets , civilian providers generally cost less than military providers. While the...produced in Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). For specialties that are common in civilian labor markets , civilian providers generally cost less...Attracting Fully Trained Medical Personnel,” CRM D0013237.A2 (Alexandria, VA: CNA Corporation, 2006). 66

  17. Medically unexplained symptoms and the risk of loss of labor market participation--a prospective study in the Danish population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loengaard, Katja; Bjorner, Jakob Bue; Fink, Per Klausen; Burr, Hermann; Rugulies, Reiner

    2015-09-02

    Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) are frequently encountered in general practice. However, little is known whether MUS affects labor market participation. We investigated the prospective association between MUS at baseline and risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA), unemployment, and disability pensioning in a 5-year-follow-up study. In the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study 2005, 8187 randomly selected employees from the Danish general population answered a questionnaire on work and health. Responses were linked with national registers on prescribed medication and hospital treatment. Participants were classified with MUS if they: a) had reported three or more symptoms during the last month, and b) did not have a chronic condition, neither in the self-reported nor the register data. We assessed LTSA, unemployment, and disability pensioning by linking our data with National registers of social transfer payments. Of the 8187 participants, 272 (3.3%) were categorized with MUS. Compared to healthy participants, participants with MUS had an increased risk of LTSA (Rate ratio (RR) = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.28-2.42), and of unemployment (RR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.02-2.15) during follow-up. MUS participants also showed an elevated RR with regard to risk of disability pensioning, however this association was not statistically significant (RR = 2.06, 95% CI = 0.77-5.52). MUS seem to have a negative effect on labor market participation defined by LTSA and unemployment, whereas it is more uncertain whether MUS affects risk of disability pensioning.

  18. An X-ray wave theory for heavily distorted crystals. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohkawa, T.; Hashimoto, H.

    1985-01-01

    An X-ray diffraction theory is developed of monochromatic waves having spherical wave front, which is applicable to an interpretation of divergent X-ray diffraction images of crystals containing arbitral types of strain field. The theory is divided into two parts. In part I, Takagi's theory is expanded by introducing amplitude and phase correction functions and a new improved representation for the X-ray diffraction theory is given. In part II dispersion surfaces in heavily distorted crystals are discussed, and in the discussion the resonance shift functions are introduced. These formulations can lead to a complete understanding of the extinction phenomena. (author)

  19. Gulf producers and Asian markets: the links

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hisatake, Masato

    1999-01-01

    The paper discusses the growing links between Asia and the Middle East and focuses particularly on Japan's role. The recent problems in the Asian economy has not been helpful, but with recovery on the way it is expected that the link will resume steady growth. The paper leans heavily on the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting hosted by the Japanese government in Okinawa in October 1998. The subjects discussed at the meeting were economic slowdown in Asia, energy infrastructure, energy security and environment. Some individual topics focused on are (i) energy supply and demand, (ii) oil imports (who buys from whom), (iii) the Japanese oil industry, (iv) increasing competition in the crude oil market, (v) natural gas and (vi) coal

  20. Supply/Demand in Radiology: A Historical Perspective and Comparison to other Labor Markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharafinski, Mark E; Nussbaum, David; Jha, Saurabh

    2016-02-01

    There has been attention on the job market recently and on radiology's supply/demand calculus. Supply is influenced by the number of trained radiologists, while demand is driven by demographics and technological innovation. We analyze the supply of radiologists historically and compare to other labor markets-medical and non-medical, domestic and foreign. We review National Resident Matching Program data in radiology and several other specialties from 1991 to 2015. We also review surveys, physician recruitment data, and peer-reviewed commentaries on medical specialty job markets. Trends are compared across specialties. The regulation of American medical training is compared to that in the United Kingdom and to a nonmedical labor market, unionized theatrical stage employees. Radiology residency positions have increased since 1998 despite a downturn in the job market. This expansion coincides with a decreasing percentage of positions filled by domestic graduates. A similar trend has been seen in pathology, a notoriously oversupplied specialty. Conversely, other specialties have maintained their proportion of domestic graduates by way of limited supply or implicit demand. The radiology job market is currently oversupplied, primarily a result of increasing residency positions despite indicators of decreasing demand. The percentage of residency positions filled by domestic graduates has decreased during the same period, suggesting that medical student interest is responsive to the market. Other specialties, particularly pathology, demonstrate the dangers of chronic oversupply. We advocate a reduction of radiology residency positions such that supply closely approximates demand without exceeding it. Additional measures may be taken, if necessary, to restore market equilibrium in the event of a mild undersupply. Copyright © 2015 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Recognizing misleading pharmaceutical marketing online.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Freitas, Julian; Falls, Brian A; Haque, Omar S; Bursztajn, Harold J

    2014-01-01

    In light of decision-making psychology, this article details how drug marketing operates across established and novel web domains and identifies some common misleading trends and influences on prescribing and patient-initiated medication requests. The Internet has allowed pharmaceutical marketing to become more salient than ever before. Although the Internet's growth has improved the dissemination of pharmaceutical information, it has also led to the increased influence of misleading pharmaceutical marketing. Such mismarketing is of concern, especially in psychiatry, since psychotropics generate considerable revenue for drug companies. In a climate of resource-limited drug regulation and time-strapped physicians, we recommend improving both independent monitoring and consumer awareness of Internet-enabled, potentially misleading, pharmaceutical marketing influences. © 2014 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

  2. Keeping the medical practice financially viable: a marketer's approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, Michelle L; Capraro, Anthony J; Credito, Candace M

    2002-01-01

    This paper explores a way that medical practices might develop a higher margin revenue source by offering a differentiated service that caters to patients who value more personalized service. Using SERVQUAL, German patients were surveyed to determine if there is a relationship between a desire for personalized service and a willingness to pay a premium for medical care. The results indicate that a greater desire for personalized care distinguishes those who pay a premium for medical care from those who do not. This suggests that medical practices can differentiate their service based on more personalized care and charge a higher fee for this service.

  3. [Social marketing and public health].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arcaro, P; Mannocci, A; Saulle, R; Miccoli, S; Marzuillo, C; La Torre, G

    2013-01-01

    Social marketing uses the principles and techniques of commercial marketing by applying them to the complex social context in order to promote changes (cognitive; of action; behavioral; of values) among the target population in the public interest. The advent of Internet has radically modified the communication process, and this transformation also involved medical-scientific communication. Medical journals, health organizations, scientific societies and patient groups are increasing the use of the web and of many social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube) as channels to release scientific information to doctors and patients quickly. In recent years, even Healthcare in Italy reported a considerable application of the methods and techniques of social marketing, above all for health prevention and promotion. Recently the association for health promotion "Social marketing and health communication" has been established to promote an active dialogue between professionals of social marketing and public health communication, as well as among professionals in the field of communication of the companies involved in the "health sector". In the field of prevention and health promotion it is necessary to underline the theme of the growing distrust in vaccination practices. Despite the irrefutable evidence of the efficacy and safety of vaccines, the social-cultural transformation together with the overcoming of compulsory vaccination and the use of noninstitutional information sources, have generated confusion among citizens that tend to perceive compulsory vaccinations as needed and safe, whereas recommended vaccinations as less important. Moreover, citizens scarcely perceive the risk of disease related to the effectiveness of vaccines. Implementing communication strategies, argumentative and persuasive, borrowed from social marketing, also for the promotion of vaccines is a priority of the health system. A typical example of the application of social marketing, as

  4. The impact of hospital market structure on patient volume, average length of stay, and the cost of care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, J C; Luft, H S

    1985-12-01

    A variety of recent proposals rely heavily on market forces as a means of controlling hospital cost inflation. Sceptics argue, however, that increased competition might lead to cost-increasing acquisitions of specialized clinical services and other forms of non-price competition as means of attracting physicians and patients. Using data from hospitals in 1972 we analyzed the impact of market structure on average hospital costs, measured in terms of both cost per patient and cost per patient day. Under the retrospective reimbursement system in place at the time, hospitals in more competitive environments exhibited significantly higher costs of production than did those in less competitive environments.

  5. 6 Tips to Avoid Medication Mistakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... use. Computerized Medication Box FDA has cleared for marketing the Electronic Medication Management Assistant (EMMA), a programmable ... for You Sign up for Consumer Updates by E-mail Page Last Updated: 04/02/2018 Note: If ...

  6. Big Pharma on the Farm: Students Are Exposed to Pharmaceutical Marketing More Often in Rural Clinics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, David V; Keys, Toby; Desnick, Laurel; A Andrilla, C Holly; Bienz, Danielle; Rosenblatt, Roger

    2016-07-01

    Pharmaceutical marketing techniques are effective in changing the behavior of health care providers in ways that deviate from evidence-based practices. To mitigate the influence of pharmaceutical marketing on learners, academic medical centers (AMCs) have adopted policies to limit student/industry interaction. Many clinical experiences occur outside of the AMC. The purpose of this study was to compare medical students' exposure to pharmaceutical marketing in off-campus rural and urban underserved clinical sites. The University of Washington School of Medicine Rural and Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP) places rising second-year medical students in underserved clinical sites in five northwestern states. We surveyed RUOP students to evaluate their exposure to pharmaceutical marketing. Of 120 students, 86 (72%) completed surveys. Sixty-five (76%) did their RUOP rotation in rural areas. Students in rural locations were more likely to report exposure to pharmaceutical marketing. Distribution of free drug samples was reportedly three times higher in rural than urban sites (54% versus 15%). Doctors meeting with sales representatives were reported as four times higher in rural clinics (40% versus 10%). Students at rural sites reported exposure to pharmaceutical marketing more than those in urban settings. Rural medical educators should provide faculty development for community clinicians on the influences of pharmaceutical marketing on learners. Medical schools must review local clinic and institution-wide policies to limit pharmaceutical marketing exposure to learners in the rural learning environment.

  7. The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maresova, Petra; Penhaker, Marek; Selamat, Ali; Kuca, Kamil

    2015-01-01

    The high quality of public health improves not only healthy life expectancy, but also the productivity of labor. The most important part of the health care sector is the medical technology industry. The aim of this study is to analyze the current situation in the medical device industry in Europe, its potential strengths and weaknesses in the context of topical economic and demographic development. The contribution specifies an analysis of the economic state of the medical device industry in the context of demographic development of European Union's macroeconomic indicators and views of experts in the field of medical device development, concerning the opportunities for entities involved in the medical device market. There is fierce competition on the European market. The innovative activity is stable and well regulated by responsible authorities. Worldwide, the medical device market is expected to grow.

  8. Community Pharmacy Marketing: Strategies for Success

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristina D. Wood

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: As community pharmacies are implementing increasingly more clinical services they are faced with a new challenge of marketing these services. This article discusses The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy Clinical Partners Program's (Clinical Partners experiences in marketing clinical services to patients, barriers encountered through these experiences, and presents suggestions for future marketing of services. Experience: Clinical Partners developed two targeted marketing projects and evaluated impact on patient enrollment in services. In January 2008, the pharmacy ran a series of radio advertisements, newspaper print advertisements, and face to face marketing in the community with the focus of each being patient care services. During this project five individuals expressed interest in Clinical Partners' services. Four indicated that they heard about Clinical Partners through the radio ad and one through the pharmacy website, though none chose to enroll in services. In 2009 Clinical Partners focused on marketing MTM in the form of a comprehensive medication review to current patients already enrolled in its anticoagulation management service. Following a three month period, 6 patients (8% of the 71 patients receiving the marketing intervention chose to enroll in MTM. Four additional patients have enrolled in MTM since conclusion of the project. Discussion: These projects and a review of available literature revealed barriers that pharmacies encounter when marketing clinical services to patients in an outpatient setting including patients' unawareness of the role a pharmacist can play outside dispensing medications, patients' belief they do not need clinical services, and patients' unwillingness to pay a pharmacist out of pocket for services. Future Implications: To overcome these identified challenges, community pharmacies should consider integration of marketing techniques such as tailoring marketing to a target population

  9. Community Pharmacy Marketing: Strategies for Success

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer L. Rodis, Pharm.D., B.C.P.S.

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: As community pharmacies are implementing increasingly more clinical services they are faced with a new challenge of marketing these services. This article discusses The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy Clinical Partners Program’s (Clinical Partners experiences in marketing clinical services to patients, barriers encountered through these experiences, and presents suggestions for future marketing of services.Experience: Clinical Partners developed two targeted marketing projects and evaluated impact on patient enrollment in services. In January 2008, the pharmacy ran a series of radio advertisements, newspaper print advertisements, and face to face marketing in the community with the focus of each being patient care services. During this project five individuals expressed interest in Clinical Partners’ services. Four indicated that they heard about Clinical Partners through the radio ad and one through the pharmacy website, though none chose to enroll in services. In 2009 Clinical Partners focused on marketing MTM in the form of a comprehensive medication review to current patients already enrolled in its anticoagulation management service. Following a three month period, 6 patients (8% of the 71 patients receiving the marketing intervention chose to enroll in MTM. Four additional patients have enrolled in MTM since conclusion of the project.Discussion: These projects and a review of available literature revealed barriers that pharmacies encounter when marketing clinical services to patients in an outpatient setting including patients’ unawareness of the role a pharmacist can play outside dispensing medications, patients’ belief they do not need clinical services, and patients’ unwillingness to pay a pharmacist out of pocket for services.Future Implications: To overcome these identified challenges, community pharmacies should consider integration of marketing techniques such as tailoring marketing to a target

  10. MARKETING PLANNING IN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bobeica Ana Amaria

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to develop a perspective on what is important or critical to the discipline of healthcare marketing by analyzing the marketing plan from the institutional (or organizational perspective. This “salience issue” is complicated by the structural problems in healthcare such as new advertising programs, advances in medical technology, and the escalating costs of care in the recent economic situation of world economic crisis. Reviewing a case study, the paper examines how marketing managers face increasingly difficult management and it emphasizes one more time the importance of marketing in the internal organizational structure. Also it shows the direct connection between the marketing strategy, the Quality of Healthcare and marketing planning in the internal organization of Private Healthcare Practice in Romania. Also it concludes that marketing planning in healthcare has to be very precised in order to achieve some major objectives: customer care, financial stability, equilibrium between stakeholders and shareholders and future improvement in communication to customers. The marketing strategies and programs discussed in this paper follow the analysis of the 4Ps of Healthcare Marketing Services and propose call to action plans and possibilities that might result in a more particular case study analysis of the Romanian Healthcare Market.

  11. Phytotherapy in Germany : Its Role in Self-Medication and in Medical Prescribing

    OpenAIRE

    LUTZ, HEIDE; Pharmaceutical Biology, Pharmaceutical Institute, University of Tuebingen

    1996-01-01

    This paper gives a review of the present state of herbal medicine in Germany. Phytotherapeutic drugs (herbal remedies) are of considerable importance in Germany, both in self-medication and in medical prescriptions. They represent approx. 5.4% of the prescriptions by medical doctors, and 10% of the entire domestic drug market. The Federal Health Office of the German Ministry of Health has officially evaluated the efficacy and safety of approx. 300 medicinal plants used in Germany; their evalu...

  12. Medical technology update - a Canadian perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, J.

    2005-01-01

    Major advances in medical equipment and the expanding utility of clinical applications have contributed to imaging procedures fast becoming an integral part of standard patient care in hospitals and clinics worldwide. The medical imaging market is based on the integration of at least three critical market segments using cutting-edge technologies: Image-generating equipment; contrast agents and imaging labels, including radionuclides; and associated hardware and software to process, evaluate, store, and transmit the images, which are either digitally generated or digitized from conventional film. (author)

  13. Price and distribution policies in healthcare marketing in Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coculescu, B I; Coculescu, E C; Purcărea, V L

    2017-01-01

    There is a principle similar to the theory of exchange in the marketing of health services, meaning that what is delivered to the target market (i.e. the beneficiaries) must be equal to or greater than what is to be received (i.e. the price). The price level in the marketing mix is influenced by how the consumer perceives the respective medical service and is quantified in the profit and the turnover of the organization respectively. The cost of the medical act as a whole is the value of all the tangible and intangible variables associated with it, and the planning, distribution and promotion of the product must be taken into account in the price setting.

  14. Dual Inhibition of EGFR and VEGF in Heavily Pretreated Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Finn Ole; Markussen, Alice; Nielsen, Dorte

    2017-01-01

    : The combination of irinotecan, bevacizumab, and cetuximab/panitumumab is safe and shows a toxicity profile corresponding to what is expected from the agents alone. The results indicate that the combination in the 4th line may result in a high rate of disease control in heavily pretreated patients with metastatic...

  15. Segmentation in local hospital markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dranove, D; White, W D; Wu, L

    1993-01-01

    This study examines evidence of market segmentation on the basis of patients' insurance status, demographic characteristics, and medical condition in selected local markets in California in the years 1983 and 1989. Substantial differences exist in the probability patients may be admitted to particular hospitals based on insurance coverage, particularly Medicaid, and race. Segmentation based on insurance and race is related to hospital characteristics, but not the characteristics of the hospital's community. Medicaid patients are more likely to go to hospitals with lower costs and fewer service offerings. Privately insured patients go to hospitals offering more services, although cost concerns are increasing. Hispanic patients also go to low-cost hospitals, ceteris paribus. Results indicate little evidence of segmentation based on medical condition in either 1983 or 1989, suggesting that "centers of excellence" have yet to play an important role in patient choice of hospital. The authors found that distance matters, and that patients prefer nearby hospitals, moreso for some medical conditions than others, in ways consistent with economic theories of consumer choice.

  16. Organizational and market influences on physician performance on patient experience measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez, Hector P; von Glahn, Ted; Rogers, William H; Safran, Dana Gelb

    2009-06-01

    To examine the extent to which medical group and market factors are related to individual primary care physician (PCP) performance on patient experience measures. This study employs Clinician and Group CAHPS survey data (n=105,663) from 2,099 adult PCPs belonging to 34 diverse medical groups across California. Medical group directors were interviewed to assess the magnitude and nature of financial incentives directed at individual physicians and the adoption of patient experience improvement strategies. Primary care services area (PCSA) data were used to characterize the market environment of physician practices. We used multilevel models to estimate the relationship between medical group and market factors and physician performance on each Clinician and Group CAHPS measure. Models statistically controlled for respondent characteristics and accounted for the clustering of respondents within physicians, physicians within medical groups, and medical groups within PCSAs using random effects. Compared with physicians belonging to independent practice associations, physicians belonging to integrated medical groups had better performance on the communication ( p=.007) and care coordination ( p=.03) measures. Physicians belonging to medical groups with greater numbers of PCPs had better performance on all measures. The use of patient experience improvement strategies was not associated with performance. Greater emphasis on productivity and efficiency criteria in individual physician financial incentive formulae was associated with worse access to care ( p=.04). Physicians located in PCSAs with higher area-level deprivation had worse performance on the access to care ( p=.04) and care coordination ( pintegrated medical groups and groups with greater numbers of PCPs performed better on several patient experience measures, suggesting that organized care processes adopted by these groups may enhance patients' experiences. Physicians practicing in markets with high

  17. A day-ahead market for electricity in Alberta : is there a case to be made?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fronimos, P.

    2006-01-01

    Following the success of the introduction of competition in several heavily regulated industries in the 1980s and 1990s, traditional utilities were broken up and markets were introduced for their respective services. Some of these markets evolved into complex structures with multiple sub-markets for installed capacity, energy, transmission and for all types of reserves. Electricity submarkets now operate in a similar manner in different timeframes comprising two settlement systems: the Day Ahead (DA) market, operating a day ahead of the actual generation and consumption of electricity and one that operates in real time, the Real-Time (RT) or Balancing market. This paper explored the case for a binding DA market for electricity in Alberta, by looking at the challenges facing the marketplace and examining how using a DA market would affect them. This paper hypothesized that a correctly designed and implemented, financially binding DA market would enhance the fidelity of the price signal in Alberta by providing an information rich environment for participants and the system operator. The paper defined and discussed both types of settlement systems. It then discussed the DA market in Alberta in terms of risk management, reliability, price fidelity and demand response. It was noted that some of the benefits of using a DA market could also be achieved by improvements to the existing market. Alberta faces several challenges, such as merit order instability and price volatility which are likely due to market design and operations rather than the inherent inability of a power exchange to address them. 31 refs., 1 tab., 3 figs

  18. Ethics of medical records and professional communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Recupero, Patricia R

    2008-01-01

    In child and adolescent psychiatry, medical records and professional communications raise important ethical concerns for the treating or consulting clinician. Although a distinction may be drawn between internal records (eg, medical records and psychotherapy notes) and external communications (eg, consultation reports and correspondence with pediatricians), several ethical principles apply to both types of documentation; however, specific considerations may vary, depending upon the context in which the records or communications were produced. Special care is due with regard to thoroughness and honesty, collaboration and cooperation, autonomy and dignity of the patient, confidentiality of the patient and family members, maintaining objectivity and neutrality, electronic communications media, and professional activities (eg, political advocacy). This article reviews relevant ethical concerns for child and adolescent psychiatrists with respect to medical records and professional communications, drawing heavily from forensic and legal sources, and offers additional recommendations for further reading for clarification and direction on ethical dilemmas.

  19. One unit-cell seed layer induced epitaxial growth of heavily nitrogen doped anatase TiO{sub 2} films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, T L; Hirose, Y; Hitosugi, T; Hasegawa, T [Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), Kawasaki 213-0012 (Japan)], E-mail: chen@ksp.or.jp

    2008-03-21

    We present a novel way to obtain heavily nitrogen doped anatase TiO{sub 2} films by using a solid-state nitrogen source. Epitaxial growth of the films was realized by introducing one unit-cell seed layer, which was indicated by reflection high-energy electron diffraction as intensity oscillation. Results of x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the films were in the anatase phase heavily doped with nitrogen of {approx}15 at%. The films obtained exhibited considerable narrowing of the optical bandgap, resulting in an enhancement of absorption in the visible-light region. (fast track communication)

  20. What Makes the Learning of Physiology in a PBL Medical Curriculum Challenging? Student Perceptions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tufts, Mark A.; Higgins-Opitz, Susan B.

    2009-01-01

    Physiology is an integral component of any medical curriculum. Traditionally, the learning of physiology has relied heavily on systems-based didactic lectures. In 2001, the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM; Durban, South Africa) embarked on a problem-based curriculum in which the learning of physiology was integrated with relevant…

  1. Pharmaceutical marketing research and the prescribing physician.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greene, Jeremy A

    2007-05-15

    Surveillance of physicians' prescribing patterns and the accumulation and sale of these data for pharmaceutical marketing are currently the subjects of legislation in several states and action by state and national medical associations. Contrary to common perception, the growth of the health care information organization industry has not been limited to the past decade but has been building slowly over the past 50 years, beginning in the 1940s when growth in the prescription drug market fueled industry interest in understanding and influencing prescribing patterns. The development of this surveillance system was not simply imposed on the medical profession by the pharmaceutical industry but was developed through the interactions of pharmaceutical salesmen, pharmaceutical marketers, academic researchers, individual physicians, and physician organizations. Examination of the role of physicians and physician organizations in the development of prescriber profiling is directly relevant to the contemporary policy debate surrounding this issue.

  2. Analysis of the Marketing Mix of a Chosen Pharmacy

    OpenAIRE

    Trnka, Štěpán

    2011-01-01

    This Bachelor's Thesis studies application of marketing to a pharmacy in a small to medium sized town. The theoretical part addresses marketing elements that are relevant for this field of entrepreneurship. I also add the specifics of marketing in the field of medical care. The analysis deals mainly with marketing mix in a traditional sense and competiton in the area. The Theoretical part also includes specifics of operation of a pharmacy. The Practical part contains basic information about t...

  3. Using research for successful Medicare and Medicaid risk marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, S; Nelson, A M; Wood, S D

    1996-01-01

    Medicare/Medicaid risk marketing is a vital business challenge, one that countless managed care organizations are facing right now. Early entry into new markets and aggressive participation in existing markets are essential to meet competitive pressures. Health plans intent on success in government risk programs should conduct research to learn the medical needs, wants, and desires of older persons in the geographic area they serve. Original, market-specific research yields critical marketing and clinical data that can be used to improve care and member satisfaction along with customer loyalty and retention.

  4. Connecting with prospective medical tourists online

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moghavvemi, Sedigheh; Ormond, M.E.; Musa, Ghazali; Isa Mohammed, Che Ruhana; Thirumoorthi, Thinaranjeney; Mustapha, Bin Mohd Zulkhairi; Kanapathy, Kanagi; Chiremel Chandy, Jacob John

    2017-01-01

    Websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism are important marketing channels for showcasing and promoting destinations' medical facilities and their array of staff expertise, services, treatments and equipment to domestic and foreign patient-consumers alike. This study examines the

  5. "Location is surprisingly a lot more important than you think": a critical thematic analysis of push and pull factor messaging used on Caribbean offshore medical school websites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Jeffrey; Crooks, Valorie A; Sampson, Carla Jackie; Snyder, Jeremy

    2017-06-02

    Offshore medical schools are for-profit, private enterprises located in the Caribbean that provide undergraduate medical education to students who must leave the region for postgraduate training and also typically to practice. This growing industry attracts many medical students from the US and Canada who wish to return home to practice medicine. After graduation, international medical graduates can encounter challenges obtaining residency placements and can face other barriers related to practice. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis to discern the dominant messages found on offshore medical school websites. Dominant messages included frequent references to push and pull factors intended to encourage potential applicants to consider attending an offshore medical school. We reviewed 38 English-language Caribbean offshore medical school websites in order to extract and record content pertaining to push and pull factors. We found two push and four pull factors present across most offshore medical school websites. Push factors include the: shortages of physicians in the US and Canada that require new medical trainees; and low acceptance rates at medical schools in intended students' home countries. Pull factors include the: financial benefits of attending an offshore medical school; geographic location and environment of training in the Caribbean; training quality and effectiveness; and the potential to practice medicine in one's home country. This analysis contributes to our understanding of some of the factors behind students' decisions to attend an offshore medical school. Importantly, push and pull factors do not address the barriers faced by offshore medical school graduates in finding postgraduate residency placements and ultimately practicing elsewhere. It is clear from push and pull factors that these medical schools heavily focus messaging and marketing towards students from the US and Canada, which raises questions about who benefits from this

  6. High-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tu, Nguyen Thanh; Hai, Pham Nam; Anh, Le Duc; Tanaka, Masaaki

    2016-01-01

    We show high-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga_1_−_x,Fe_x)Sb (x = 23% and 25%) thin films grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy and anomalous Hall effect measurements indicate intrinsic ferromagnetism of these samples. The Curie temperature reaches 300 K and 340 K for x = 23% and 25%, respectively, which are the highest values reported so far in intrinsic III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors.

  7. The Development of a Marketing Program for Womack Army Medical Center Fort Bragg, North Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-05-01

    Its successful implementation requires organizational commitment to market -based principles . This research assesses the design, function, and success...Concept of Marketing ," Journal of Marketing , (January 1969): 10-15. 60 Kotler , Philip and Gerald Zaltman. "Social Marketing : An Approach to Planned... market based enterprise. Its successful implementation requires organizational commitment to market -based principles . This research assesses the design

  8. Einstein's photoemission emission from heavily-doped quantized structures

    CERN Document Server

    Ghatak, Kamakhya Prasad

    2015-01-01

    This monograph solely investigates the Einstein's Photoemission(EP) from Heavily Doped(HD) Quantized Structures on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws. The materials considered are quantized structures of HD non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V, Bismuth Telluride together with various types of HD superlattices and their Quantized counterparts respectively. The EP in HD opto-electronic materials and their nanostructures is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields  that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestions for the experimental determinations of different important physical quantities in HD 2D and 3D materials  and the importance of measurement of band gap in HD optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nano devices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring   physical properties in the presence of intense light waves w...

  9. Ebonyi Medical Journal: Editorial Policies

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The journal publishes original research findings, reviews, case reports and letters to the editor in clinical and basic medical sciences to disseminate same to medical doctors, ... Each paper is reviewed by the editorial board before review by two assessors for peer review (anonymous). ... Circulating/Marketing: Dr JO Mbazor

  10. Courts, Scheduled Damages, and Medical Malpractice Insurance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bertoli, Paola; Grembi, Veronica

    We assess the impact of the introduction of schedules of non-economic damages (i.e. tiered caps systems) on the behavior of insurers operating in the medical liability market for hospitals while controlling the performance of the judicial system, measured as court backlog. Using a difference......-in-differences strategy on Italian data, we find that the introduction of schedules increases the presence of insurers (i.e. medical liability market attractiveness) only in inefficient judicial districts. In the same way, court inefficiency is attractive to insurers for average values of schedules penetration...... of the market, with an increasing positive impact of inefficiency as the territorial coverage of schedules increases. Finally, no significant impact is registered on paid premiums. Our analysis sheds light on a complex set of elements affecting the decisions of insurers in malpractice markets. The analysis...

  11. Market failure, policy failure and other distortions in chronic disease markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Segal Leonie

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The increasing prevalence of chronic disease represents a significant burden on most health systems. This paper explores the market failures and policy failures that exist in the management of chronic diseases. Discussion There are many sources of market failure in health care that undermine the efficiency of chronic disease management. These include incomplete information as well as information asymmetry between providers and consumers, the effect of externalities on consumer behaviour, and the divergence between social and private time preference rates. This has seen government and policy interventions to address both market failures and distributional issues resulting from the inability of private markets to reach an efficient and equitable distribution of resources. However, these have introduced a series of policy failures such as distorted re-imbursement arrangements across modalities and delivery settings. Summary The paper concludes that market failure resulting from a preference of individuals for 'immediate gratification' in the form of health care and disease management, rather than preventative services, where the benefits are delayed, has a major impact on achieving an efficient allocation of resources in markets for the management of chronic diseases. This distortion is compounded by government health policy that tends to favour medical and pharmaceutical interventions further contributing to distortions in the allocation of resources and inefficiencies in the management of chronic disease.

  12. Medical Devices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verkerke, Gijsbertus Jacob; Mahieu, H.F.; Geertsema, A.A.; Hermann, I.F.; van Horn, J.R.; Hummel, J. Marjan; van Loon, J.P.; Mihaylov, D.; van der Plaats, A.; Schraffordt Koops, H.; Schutte, H.K.; Veth, R.P.H.; de Vries, M.P.; Rakhorst, G.; Shi, Donglu

    2004-01-01

    The development of new medical devices is a very time-consuming and costly process. Besides the time between the initial idea and the time that manufacturing and testing of prototypes takes place, the time needed for the development of production facilities, production of test series, marketing,

  13. Strategies to crack well-guarded markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryce, David J; Dyer, Jeffrey H

    2007-05-01

    How can companies break into attractive markets, where incumbents erect many barriers to entry? To answer this question, the authors studied organizations that successfully entered the most profitable industries in the United States between 1990 and 2000. When they dissected the strategies that worked best, one common theme stood out: indirect assault. Smart newcomers don't duplicate existing business models, compete for crowded distribution channels, or go after mainstream customers right away. Instead, they attack the enemy at its weakest points; then gain competitive advantage; and later, if doing so meets their objectives, go after its strongholds. Recent battles in the soft drink industry--where brands, bottling and distribution capabilities, and shelf space are incumbents' main advantages--are a case in point. When Virgin Drinks entered the U.S. cola market in 1998, it advertised heavily and immediately tried to get into the retail outlets that stock the leading brands. Virgin has never garnered more than a 1% share of the market. Red Bull, by contrast, came on the scene in 1997 with a niche product: a carbonated energy drink. The company started by selling the drink at bars and nightclubs. After gaining a loyal following through these outlets, Red Bull elbowed its way into the corner store. In 2005 it enjoyed a 65% share of the $650 million energy drink market. Successful entrants use three basic approaches in their indirect attacks. They leverage their existing assets and resources, reconfigure their value chains, and create niches. These approaches may appear to be simple, but their magic lies in their combination. By mixing and matching them, Bryce and Dyer say, enterprises can defy half a century of economic logic and make money entering highly profitable industries. The authors use Skype, Costco, Skechers, and many other companies to illustrate their argument.

  14. Long-Term Stability of Oxide Nanowire Sensors via Heavily Doped Oxide Contact.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Hao; Takahashi, Tsunaki; Kanai, Masaki; Zhang, Guozhu; He, Yong; Nagashima, Kazuki; Yanagida, Takeshi

    2017-12-22

    Long-term stability of a chemical sensor is an essential quality for long-term collection of data related to exhaled breath, environmental air, and other sources in the Internet of things (IoT) era. Although an oxide nanowire sensor has shown great potential as a chemical sensor, the long-term stability of sensitivity has not been realized yet due to electrical degradation under harsh sensing conditions. Here, we report a rational concept to accomplish long-term electrical stability of metal oxide nanowire sensors via introduction of a heavily doped metal oxide contact layer. Antimony-doped SnO 2 (ATO) contacts on SnO 2 nanowires show much more stable and lower electrical contact resistance than conventional Ti contacts for high temperature (200 °C) conditions, which are required to operate chemical sensors. The stable and low contact resistance of ATO was confirmed for at least 1960 h under 200 °C in open air. This heavily doped oxide contact enables us to realize the long-term stability of SnO 2 nanowire sensors while maintaining the sensitivity for both NO 2 gas and light (photo) detections. The applicability of our method is confirmed for sensors on a flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate. Since the proposed fundamental concept can be applied to various oxide nanostructures, it will give a foundation for designing long-term stable oxide nanomaterial-based IoT sensors.

  15. From Servicescape to Loyalty in the Medical Tourism Industry: A Medical Clinic's Service Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Minseong; Koo, Dong-Woo; Shin, Dong-Jin; Lee, Sae-Mi

    2017-01-01

    Medical tourism organizations have increasingly recognized that loyalty makes a medical clinic a marketing success. To increase understanding of the importance of medical clinics, this study examined the roles of servicescapes, emotions, and satisfaction in the development of customer loyalty toward medical clinics and destination. Data were collected among international medical tourists visiting Korea. Results identified that dimensions of medical clinics' servicescape (ie, medical clinic environment, medical treatment, staff, and doctor) influenced emotions and satisfaction among international medical tourists. Also, positive emotions and the 2 dimensions of satisfaction with a medical clinic and doctor mediate the influence of medical clinics' servicescapes on 2 types of loyalty (the medical clinic and Korea for medical care). Overall, these findings indicate that the interrelationship of servicescapes, positive emotion, and satisfaction is essential in influencing international medical tourists' loyalty to a medical clinic.

  16. Tobacco industry marketing: an analysis of direct mail coupons and giveaways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, Betsy; Schillo, Barbara A; Moilanen, Molly

    2015-09-01

    Despite marketing prohibitions, tobacco company marketing expenditures in the USA have continued to grow with tobacco companies shifting focus towards point-of-sale-marketing and direct marketing to consumers through the mail and on the web. The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the content of direct marketing sent in response to registrations on select industry websites. An analysis of 659 tobacco company direct mail marketing pieces received between July 2011 and June 2012 was conducted. Mailings were coded for type and value of tobacco coupons, type of tobacco products promoted with coupons and number and type of giveaways offered. The most common type of mailing was tobacco coupon distribution; 86.5% of the mailings contained at least one coupon. Mailings with coupons had an average estimated coupon value of $4.17. The total coupon value of each mailing varied by the type of coupon offer and product promoted. The Camel and Marlboro coupon mailings heavily promoted snus, with over half of Camel coupon mailings (60.9%) and nearly half (44.8%) of Marlboro coupon mailings promoting snus alone. In addition, 47.9% of Marlboro coupon mailings and 11.4% of Camel mailings promoted snus alongside cigarettes. Tobacco companies use direct mail marketing to communicate with consumers and provide valuable tobacco coupons. More research is needed to understand the content of these mailings and how they are used by tobacco consumers in order to develop effective policy solutions. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  17. Perceptual market orientation gap and its impact on relationship quality and patient loyalty: the role of internal marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jin-An; Weng, Rhay-Hung; Lai, Chi-Shiun; Hu, Jer-San

    2013-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptual market orientation gaps between physician and patients and its impact on relationship quality and patient loyalty, and to verify the critical role of internal marketing on developing market orientation. Self-administered questionnaires were then employed to collect the data. We used a convenience sample of physicians and patients at a medical center in central Taiwan, and 90 usable questionnaires from physicians and 450 usable questionnaires from patients were returned. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to validate the research hypotheses. Physicians' perceptual market orientation had a positive influence on physician-patient relationship quality, hospital-patient relationship quality, and patient loyalty, but the perceptual market orientation gap between physicians and their patients had a direct negative impact on these constructs. Finally, internal marketing was found to have an influence on relationship quality and patient loyalty through the mediation of market orientation. In order to enhance relationship quality and patient loyalty, hospital managers should focus their efforts on improving employees' market orientation and reducing patients' perceptual market orientation gap. In addition, internal marketing was found to be a useful pathway in developing market orientation.

  18. Marketing orientation in pharmaceutical industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prošić Danica

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Pharmaceutical companies are major stakeholders in the global health agenda Virtually all drugs used by patients in Europe reach markets through the promotion tactics of a small number of corporations with a tremendous impact on global health. The sector is both fast growing and highly profitable. Effective marketing strategies are a crucial ingredient in making sure pharmaceutical products and profits flow in a virtuous cycle. At first glance, the relationship between doctors and drug companies, as well as advertising practices for over-the-counter medication, appears tightly regulated. According to many consumer organizations, drug promotion in Europe today can be characterized as nice and friendly marketing. This refers to the creation of a false sense of trust that consumers associate with branded pharmaceutical products, as a result of pharmaceutical marketing efforts disguised as genuine corporate responsibility.

  19. Self-Assembled Formation of Well-Aligned Cu-Te Nano-Rods on Heavily Cu-Doped ZnTe Thin Films

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Jing; Cheng, Man Kit; Lai, Ying Hoi; Wei, Guanglu; Yang, Sean Derman; Wang, Gan; Ho, Sut Kam; Tam, Kam Weng; Sou, Iam Keong

    2016-11-01

    Cu doping of ZnTe, which is an important semiconductor for various optoelectronic applications, has been successfully achieved previously by several techniques. However, besides its electrical transport characteristics, other physical and chemical properties of heavily Cu-doped ZnTe have not been reported. We found an interesting self-assembled formation of crystalline well-aligned Cu-Te nano-rods near the surface of heavily Cu-doped ZnTe thin films grown via the molecular beam epitaxy technique. A phenomenological growth model is presented based on the observed crystallographic morphology and measured chemical composition of the nano-rods using various imaging and chemical analysis techniques. When substitutional doping reaches its limit, the extra Cu atoms favor an up-migration toward the surface, leading to a one-dimensional surface modulation and formation of Cu-Te nano-rods, which explain unusual observations on the reflection high energy electron diffraction patterns and apparent resistivity of these thin films. This study provides an insight into some unexpected chemical reactions involved in the heavily Cu-doped ZnTe thin films, which may be applied to other material systems that contain a dopant having strong reactivity with the host matrix.

  20. Competitive energy markets and nuclear power. Can we have both, do we want either?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, Steve

    2010-01-01

    In 1987, the UK Conservative Party was re-elected promising to transform the electricity industry into a privatised competitive industry and to promote an expansion of nuclear power. Fulfilling both objectives was not possible. The nuclear plants were withdrawn from the sale and plans to build new plants were abandoned, but privatisation proceeded. In 2007, the Labour government began a new attempt to build nuclear plants to operate in the competitive electricity market, promising that no subsidies would be offered to them. By 2010, the utilities that were planning to build nuclear plants were beginning to suggest that 'support' in some form would be needed if they were to build new plants. More surprisingly, the energy regulator, Ofgem, cast doubt on whether a competitive wholesale electricity market would provide security of supply. In 1990, the UK government opted for a competitive electricity market over expanding nuclear power. Now, the option of opting for a competitive electricity market may not exist. However, this might not leave the way open for new nuclear plants. The expected cost of power from new nuclear plants is now so high that no more than one or two heavily subsidised plants will be built. (author)

  1. Today's markets for superconductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1988-01-01

    The worldwide market for superconductive products may exceed $1 billion in 1987. These products are expanding the frontiers of science, revolutionizing the art of medical diagnosis, and developing the energy technology of the future. In general, today's customers for superconductive equipment want the highest possible performance, almost regardless of cost. The products operate within a few degrees of absolute zero, and virtually all are fabricated from niobium or niobium alloys-so far the high-temperature superconductors discovered in 1986 and 1987 have had no impact on these markets. The industry shows potential and profound societal impact, even without the new materials

  2. High-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tu, Nguyen Thanh [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Department of Physics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, 280, An Duong Vuong Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City 748242 (Viet Nam); Hai, Pham Nam [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro, Tokyo 152-0033 (Japan); Center for Spintronics Research Network (CSRN), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Anh, Le Duc [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Tanaka, Masaaki [Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan); Center for Spintronics Research Network (CSRN), The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)

    2016-05-09

    We show high-temperature ferromagnetism in heavily Fe-doped ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga{sub 1−x},Fe{sub x})Sb (x = 23% and 25%) thin films grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. Magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy and anomalous Hall effect measurements indicate intrinsic ferromagnetism of these samples. The Curie temperature reaches 300 K and 340 K for x = 23% and 25%, respectively, which are the highest values reported so far in intrinsic III-V ferromagnetic semiconductors.

  3. Relationship marketing in a hospital library.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enyeart, Amanda L; Weaver, Debbie

    2005-01-01

    This article explores relationship marketing as adopted by staff of the Forbes Medical Library at The Children's Hospital in Denver. It provides a broad overview of relationship marketing along with its applications in libraries, and a description of how the library staff has used specific relationships with different hospital groups to enhance library service. The examples illustrate the importance of persistence, patience, and flexibility when consciously developing relationships between a library and individuals or groups.

  4. Becoming a Heavily Tattooed Young Body: From a Bodily Experience to a Body Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Vitor Sérgio

    2014-01-01

    Why some young people start to tattoo their bodies? And why some of them keep going on with this practice, until having all body tattooed? What doing so means to them? These are some of the questions that underlie a qualitative research project carried out in Portugal on heavily tattooed young people. In this article, the author discusses their…

  5. Pharmaceutical industry marketing: understanding its impact on women's health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sufrin, Carolyn B; Ross, Joseph S

    2008-09-01

    The delivery of modern health care entails significant involvement from the pharmaceutical industry, including developing and manufacturing drugs. However, the industry also has tremendous influence on the practice of medicine through its considerable marketing efforts, both to patients through direct to consumer advertising, and to physicians through detailing, providing samples, continuing medical education, and other efforts. This article will review the role that pharmaceutical marketing plays in health care, and the substantial evidence surrounding its influence on patient and physician behaviors, with additional discussion of the medical device industry, all with particular attention to women's health. Understanding the effects of pharmaceutical marketing on women's health, through discussion of relevant examples-including oral contraceptive pills, drugs for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, Pap smear cytology techniques, and neonatal herpes prophylaxis-will help ensure that women receive unbiased, evidenced-based care. We will conclude with a discussion of guidelines that have been proposed by professional organizations, policy makers, and universities, to assist physicians in managing exposure to pharmaceutical marketing.

  6. Global marketing of cholesterol-lowering drugs as therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elimimian, Jonathan U; Gilmore, James M; Singletary, Tony J

    2006-01-01

    Pharmaceutical marketing services (PMS) are a key component of pharmaceutical companies' marketing strategies in that they create links between the pharmaceutical company and the physician. They are is also a link between physician and patients locally and globally. PMS discussed in this paper provide various services from tangible to intangible products in order to increase the physicians and pharmacists prescribing activities of their treatment modalities. Given the high cost of recruiting, training, and supporting PMS global marketing efforts, it is important for PMS channels to understand the significance of pharmaceutical multinational companies to ascribe to prescription drug services provided in Thailand. This created the unique marketing environment for the pharmaceutical companies. This study examines whether there is a gap in the existing cholesterol-lowering medication prescribed by physicians in Thailand and the newly introduced brand to the U.S. market. The degree of the new product adoption is analyzed through physician prescription frequency and records. Results of the study indicate there is significant improvement in the health conditions of the users of the new cholesterol medication among Thailand patients. Physicians in Thailand were, however, faced with competing brands in the market due to aggressiveness of advertising and promotion by multinational pharmaceutical marketing and manufacturers Associations. Perceived value and benefit to users were significant outcome of the study. More diagnostic and prescriptive research is recommended to cover Southeast Asia and other parts of the developing countries.

  7. [Does co-operation research provide approaches to explain the changes in the German hospital market?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raible, C; Leidl, R

    2004-11-01

    The German hospital market faces an extensive process of consolidation. In this change hospitals consider cooperation as one possibility to improve competitiveness. To investigate explanations of changes in the German hospital market by theoretical approaches of cooperation research. The aims and mechanism of the theories, their relevance in terms of contents and their potential for empirical tests were used as criteria to assess the approaches, with current and future trends in the German hospital market providing the framework. Based on literature review, six theoretical approaches were investigated: industrial organization, transaction cost theory, game theory, resource dependency, institutional theory, and co-operative investment and finance theory. In addition, the data needed to empirically test the theories were specified. As a general problem, some of the theoretical approaches set a perfect market as a precondition. This precondition is not met by the heavily regulated German hospital market. Given the current regulations and the assessment criteria, industrial organization as well as resource-dependency and institutional theory approaches showed the highest potential to explain various aspects of the changes in the hospital market. So far, none of the approaches investigated provides a comprehensive and empirically tested explanation of the changes in the German hospital market. However, some of the approaches provide a theoretical background for part of the changes. As this dynamic market is economically of high significance, there is a need for further development and empirical testing of relevant theoretical approaches.

  8. Medical tourism analysis under the innovation perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keline Leão Ferreira

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Medical tourism, although being considered a recent phenomenon in Brazil, still represents an important opportunity for institutions that have health facilities, human resources and advanced technological level. This work aims to develop a reflection about this market based under the innovation theoretical perspectives. In order to support this analysis was conducted a multi case study in four health institutions located in the Brazilian south region. Results confirmed that these institutions developed innovations, classified as innovation in product, process, organizational and marketing. Moreover, the evidences indicated that the institution participation on medical tourism market, using innovation as a competitive advantage, helps to promote a new business design and organizational processes, adequate infrastructure, assigning a due importance to the marketing and management sectors, generating an external recognition, a larger network relationships, cooperation among peers, ensuring to these institutions an international standard of service delivery.

  9. Market access pathways for cell therapies in France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rémuzat, Cécile; Toumi, Mondher; Jørgensen, Jesper; Kefalas, Panos

    2015-01-01

    Cell therapies can be classified into three main categories of products: advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), ATMPs prepared on a non-routine basis (hospital exemptions), and minimally manipulated cells. Despite the benefits that cell therapies can bring to patients, they are subject to complex pathways to reach the market in France. The objective of this study was to identify and describe routes to market access for cell therapies in France and how these vary by regulatory status. The research was structured following five main steps: (1) identification of the French regulatory framework for cell therapies; (2) identification of the health products categorised as cell therapies in France; (3) mapping of the market access pathways per category of cell therapy; (4) validation of findings by interviewing experts; and (5) development of a roadmap summarising market access pathways for cell therapies in France. The secondary research methodology included a comprehensive literature review conducted on websites of French public health institutions, complemented by a research for peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and grey literature. Different market access pathways are possible depending on the cell therapy category. For ATMPs, market access pathways depend on the licensing status of the therapy. Licensed ATMPs followed the same market access pathways as 'conventional' pharmaceuticals, whereas not-yet-licensed ATMPs can be funded via a specific financial allowance under the framework of a Temporary Authorisation for Use procedure or various research programmes. For new ATMPs that are associated with a separate medical device (not considered as 'combined ATMPs') or associated with a new medical procedure, additional pathways will apply for the medical device and/or medical procedure to be reimbursed in the ambulatory settings or at hospital. The most likely funding option for ATMPs prepared on a non-routine basis is outside the diagnosis-related group (DRG

  10. Modernising the regulation of medical migration: moving from national monopolies to international markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Epstein Richard J

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Traditional top-down national regulation of internationally mobile doctors and nurses is fast being rendered obsolete by the speed of globalisation and digitisation. Here we propose a bottom-up system in which responsibility for hiring and accrediting overseas staff begins to be shared by medical employers, managers, and insurers. Discussion In this model, professional Boards would retain authority for disciplinary proceedings in response to local complaints, but would lose their present power of veto over foreign practitioners recruited by employers who have independently evaluated and approved such candidates' ability. Evaluations of this kind could be facilitated by globally accessible National Registers of professional work and conduct. A decentralised system of this kind could also dispense with time-consuming national oversight of continuing professional education and license revalidation, which tasks could be replaced over time by tighter institutional audit supported by stronger powers to terminate underperforming employees. Summary Market forces based on the reputation (and, hence, financial and political viability of employers and institutions could continue to ensure patient safety in the future, while at the same time improving both national system efficiency and international professional mobility.

  11. Modernising the regulation of medical migration: moving from national monopolies to international markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Traditional top-down national regulation of internationally mobile doctors and nurses is fast being rendered obsolete by the speed of globalisation and digitisation. Here we propose a bottom-up system in which responsibility for hiring and accrediting overseas staff begins to be shared by medical employers, managers, and insurers. Discussion In this model, professional Boards would retain authority for disciplinary proceedings in response to local complaints, but would lose their present power of veto over foreign practitioners recruited by employers who have independently evaluated and approved such candidates' ability. Evaluations of this kind could be facilitated by globally accessible National Registers of professional work and conduct. A decentralised system of this kind could also dispense with time-consuming national oversight of continuing professional education and license revalidation, which tasks could be replaced over time by tighter institutional audit supported by stronger powers to terminate underperforming employees. Summary Market forces based on the reputation (and, hence, financial and political viability) of employers and institutions could continue to ensure patient safety in the future, while at the same time improving both national system efficiency and international professional mobility. PMID:23039098

  12. Modernising the regulation of medical migration: moving from national monopolies to international markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Richard J; Epstein, Stephen D

    2012-10-05

    Traditional top-down national regulation of internationally mobile doctors and nurses is fast being rendered obsolete by the speed of globalisation and digitisation. Here we propose a bottom-up system in which responsibility for hiring and accrediting overseas staff begins to be shared by medical employers, managers, and insurers. In this model, professional Boards would retain authority for disciplinary proceedings in response to local complaints, but would lose their present power of veto over foreign practitioners recruited by employers who have independently evaluated and approved such candidates' ability. Evaluations of this kind could be facilitated by globally accessible National Registers of professional work and conduct. A decentralised system of this kind could also dispense with time-consuming national oversight of continuing professional education and license revalidation, which tasks could be replaced over time by tighter institutional audit supported by stronger powers to terminate underperforming employees. Market forces based on the reputation (and, hence, financial and political viability) of employers and institutions could continue to ensure patient safety in the future, while at the same time improving both national system efficiency and international professional mobility.

  13. Beyond the brochure. Administrators play key role in positioning the practice, aligning marketing with mission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redling, Bob

    2007-04-01

    Marketing doesn't start and stop with a glossy brochure, a display ad in the local Yellow Pages or a Web site. Those are merely tactics that a medical group practice might use to position its physicians' services in the community. Marketing and planning support a medical group's mission and vision--and its strategic plan. The adminstrator must demonstrate this connection to physicians and educate them about what marketing really is.

  14. Medical Malpractice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grembi, Veronica

    2014-01-01

    MM first came to the attention of policy makers primarily in the USA where, from the 1970s, healthcare providers denounced problems in getting insurance for medical liability, pointing out to a crisis in the MM insurance market (Sage WM (2003) Understanding the first malpractice crisis of the 21th...

  15. Cytogenetic abnormalities of the descendants of permanent residents of heavily contaminated East Kazakhstan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaizhunusova, Nailya; Madiyeva, Madina; Tanaka, Kimio; Hoshi, Masaharu; Kawano, Noriyuki; Noso, Yoshihiro; Takeichi, Nobuo; Rakhypbekov, Tolebay; Urazalina, Nailya; Dovgal, Galina; Rymbaeva, Tamara; Tokanova, Sholpan; Beisengazina, Meruert; Kembayeva, Kulypash; Inoue, Ken

    2017-11-01

    More than 400 nuclear explosion tests were conducted at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (SNTS) and significant radioactive substances were released. The long-term consequences of the activities at the SNTS and the appearance of any hereditary effects remain insufficiently studied about 25 years after the test site was closed. The population living in villages near the SNTS are considered to have been heavily exposed to external and internal radiation. This study aims to perform an assessment and comprehensive cytogenetic analysis of the inhabitants living near the SNTS, and their first-(F1) and second-(F2) generation children. Residents of the East Kazakhstan region living in the area covered by the former SNTS were included in the study. To evaluate the hereditary effects of nuclear testing, comprehensive chromosome analyses were performed in lymphocytes using conventional Giemsa and fluorescent in situ hybridization methods in 115 F1 and F2 descendants in the villages of Dolon and Sarzhal, which were heavily contaminated. The parents of the subjects had permanently lived in the villages. A higher number of stable-type chromosome aberrations such as translocations was found in these residents than in 80 residents of the control area, Kokpecty, which indicates the possibility that radiation had biological effects on the exposed subjects.

  16. Assessing restrictiveness of national alcohol marketing policies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esser, Marissa B; Jernigan, David H

    2014-01-01

    To develop an approach for monitoring national alcohol marketing policies globally, an area of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Alcohol Strategy. Data on restrictiveness of alcohol marketing policies came from the 2002 and 2008 WHO Global Surveys on Alcohol and Health. We included four scales in a sensitivity analysis to determine optimal weights to score countries on their marketing policies and applied the selected scale to assess national marketing policy restrictiveness. Nearly, 36% of countries had no marketing restrictions. The overall restrictiveness levels were not significantly different between 2002 and 2008. The number of countries with strict marketing regulations did not differ across years. This method of monitoring alcohol marketing restrictiveness helps track progress towards implementing WHO'S Global Alcohol Strategy. Findings indicate a consistent lack of restrictive policies over time, making this a priority area for national and global action. © The Author 2014. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

  17. Regulation and competition in the Taiwanese pharmaceutical market under national health insurance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ya-Ming; Yang, Yea-Huei Kao; Hsieh, Chee-Ruey

    2012-05-01

    This article investigates the determinants of the prices of pharmaceuticals and their impact on the demand for prescription drugs in the context of Taiwan's pharmaceutical market where medical providers earn profit directly from prescribing and dispensing drugs. Based on product-level data, we find evidence that the profit-seeking behavior of the medical providers in the prescription drug market transfers the force of competition from the unregulated wholesale market to the regulated retail market and hence market competition still plays an important role in the determination of the regulated price. We also find that the profit-seeking behavior plays a similar role to advertising in that it increases the brand loyalty and hence lowers price elasticity. An important implication of our study is that the institutional features in the pharmaceutical market matter in shaping the nature of pharmaceutical competition and the responsiveness of pharmaceutical consumption with respect to changes in price. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Competitive marketing strategies. A challenge for academic practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinioris, M E

    1985-01-01

    A special challenge has been presented to academic medical practices by the new healthcare environment. While increased competition for patients and resources affects all medical groups, it is the academic practices who are responsible for training the physicians of tomorrow. Not only must they sharpen their students' awareness of the new environment and teach them to incorporate effective management strategies into their practices, but they must set an example in effective management as well. The basic concepts of competitive marketing strategy, along with helpful exhibits, are presented here, and strategies for effectively maximizing position are discussed from the viewpoints of product mix, process market, and financing.

  19. World Energy Markets Observatory. November 2017 - 19. Edition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewiner, Colette; Stoneman, Perry; Modi, Gaurav; Lindhaus, Jan

    2017-11-01

    The study reveals that progress in the sector's generation technologies has caused an acceleration in the Energy Transition, while related renewable growth continues to destabilize the wholesale electricity markets and key players. The study also highlights a profound change in customer energy usage, behaviors and expectations, with, for example, self-consumption, Smart Homes, Smart Buildings, Smart Plants, Smart Cities and the creation of communities to purchase or manage energy differently. As a result, the financial situation of established Utilities remains challenging. The report encourages Utilities to accelerate their transformation efforts and to leverage increasingly the power of Digital Transformation. The three main findings of the 2017 edition of the World Energy Markets Observatory report are: 1. Rapid evolution of generation technologies makes the renewables penetration unstoppable, thanks to their competitiveness gains, and despite the end of feed-in tariffs in Europe; 2. Empowered Smart Energy consumers are pushing Utilities to deliver new energy services; 3. Established Utilities, heavily hit by Energy Transition and customers' evolving expectations, have started large transformations. It's now time to accelerate by leveraging Digital Transformation

  20. Expanding insurance coverage through tax credits, consumer choice, and market enhancements: the American Medical Association proposal for health insurance reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmisano, Donald J; Emmons, David W; Wozniak, Gregory D

    2004-05-12

    Recent reports showing an increase in the number of uninsured individuals in the United States have given heightened attention to increasing health insurance coverage. The American Medical Association (AMA) has proposed a system of tax credits for the purchase of individually owned health insurance and enhancements to individual and group health insurance markets as a means of expanding coverage. Individually owned insurance would enable people to maintain coverage without disruption to existing patient-physician relationships, regardless of changes in employers or in work status. The AMA's plan would empower individuals to choose their health plan and give patients and their physicians more control over health care choices. Employers could continue to offer employment-based coverage, but employees would not be limited to the health plans offered by their employer. With a tax credit large enough to make coverage affordable and the ability to choose their own coverage, consumers would dramatically transform the individual and group health insurance markets. Health insurers would respond to the demands of individual consumers and be more cautious about increasing premiums. Insurers would also tailor benefit packages and develop new forms of coverage to better match the preferences of individuals and families. The AMA supports the development of new health insurance markets through legislative and regulatory changes to foster a wider array of high-quality, affordable plans.

  1. Markets of well-being : navigating health and healing in Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dekker, M.; Dijk, van R.A.

    2010-01-01

    Health and healing in Africa have increasingly become subject to monetization and commodification, in short, the market. Based on fieldwork in nine countries, this volume offers different perspectives on these emerging markets and the way medical staff, patients, households and institutions navigate

  2. From Servicescape to Loyalty in the Medical Tourism Industry: A Medical Clinic’s Service Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koo, Dong-Woo; Shin, Dong-Jin; Lee, Sae-Mi

    2017-01-01

    Medical tourism organizations have increasingly recognized that loyalty makes a medical clinic a marketing success. To increase understanding of the importance of medical clinics, this study examined the roles of servicescapes, emotions, and satisfaction in the development of customer loyalty toward medical clinics and destination. Data were collected among international medical tourists visiting Korea. Results identified that dimensions of medical clinics’ servicescape (ie, medical clinic environment, medical treatment, staff, and doctor) influenced emotions and satisfaction among international medical tourists. Also, positive emotions and the 2 dimensions of satisfaction with a medical clinic and doctor mediate the influence of medical clinics’ servicescapes on 2 types of loyalty (the medical clinic and Korea for medical care). Overall, these findings indicate that the interrelationship of servicescapes, positive emotion, and satisfaction is essential in influencing international medical tourists’ loyalty to a medical clinic. PMID:29233057

  3. Regional trade and border markets between Niger, Benin and Nigeria

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Walther, Olivier; Tenikué, Michel; Kuepié, Mathias

    The objective of this methodological paper is to identify a number of products or sectors whose trade is relevant for border regions in West Africa. Focusing on Niger, Benin and Nigeria, we start with contextualising the importance of border markets by quantifying the changes in the relative values...... and volumes of imports and exports passing through border posts. In a second step, we determine which are the products most commonly found among the imports and exports of the border posts. The study shows that seven products are recognised as being heavily imported, subject to significant trade from large...... traders, and considered as re-export products: building materials, cereals and flour, textile, used clothing, used vehicles, cigarettes and oil....

  4. Utilizing image guided surgery for user interaction in medical augmented reality

    OpenAIRE

    Fischer, Jan; Bartz, Dirk

    2005-01-01

    The graphical overlay of additional medical information over the patient during a surgical procedure has long been considered one of the most promising applications of augmented reality. While many experimental systems for augmented reality in medicine have reached an advanced state and can deliver high-quality augmented video streams, they usually depend heavily on specialized dedicated hardware. Such dedicated system components, which originally have been designed for engineering applicatio...

  5. Rapid enhancement of nodal quasiparticle mass with heavily underdoping in Bi2212

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anzai, Hiroaki; Arita, Masashi; Namatame, Hirofumi; Taniguchi, Masaki; Ishikado, Motoyuki; Fujita, Kazuhiro; Ishida, Shigeyuki; Uchida, Shin-ichi; Ino, Akihiro

    2018-05-01

    We report substantial advance of our low-energy angle-resolved photoemission study of nodal quasiparticles in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. The new data cover the samples from underdoped down to heavily underdoped levels. We also present the nodal Fermi velocities that determined by using an excitation-photon energy of hν = 7.0 eV over a wide doping range. The consistency between the results with hν = 8.1 and 7.0 eV allows us to rule out the effect of photoemission matrix elements. In comparison with the data previously reported, the nodal effective mass increases by a factor of ∼ 1.5 in going from optimally doped to heavily underdoped levels. We find a rapid enhancement of the nodal quasiparticle mass at low doping levels near the superconductor-to-insulator transition. The effective coupling spectrum, λ (ω) , is extracted directly from the energy derivatives of the quasiparticle dispersion and scattering rate, as a causal function of the mass enhancement factor. A steplike increase in Reλ (ω) around ∼ 65 meV is demonstrated clearly by the Kramers-Kronig transform of Imλ (ω) . To extract the low-energy renormalization effect, we calculated a simple model for the electron-boson interaction. This model reveals that the contribution of the renormalization at | ω | ≤ 15 meV to the quasiparticle mass is larger than that around 65 meV in underdoped samples.

  6. Legislative aspects of the development of medical devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marešová, Petra; Klímová, Blanka; Krejcar, Ondřej; Kuča, Kamil

    2015-09-01

    European industry of medical device technologies represents 30% of all worlds sales. New health technologies bring effective treatment approaches, help shorten stays in hospital1),bring better treatment results and accelerate rehabilitation which leads to the earlier patients recovery.Legislative aspects are one of the key areas influencing the speed of development of medical devices and their launching. The aim of this article is to specify current state of legislation in the development of medical devices in the European Union in comparison with the market leaders such as China, Japan and USA.The best established market of medical devices is in the USA. Both Japan and China follow the USA model. However, a non-professional code of ethics in China in some respect contributes to the decrease of quality of medical devices, while Japan as well as the EU countries try really hard to conform to all the regulations imposed on the manufacturing of medical devices.

  7. PRODUCT EFFICIENCY IN THE SPANISH AUTOMOBILE MARKET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    González, Eduardo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper evaluates product efficiency in the Spanish automobile market. We use non parametric frontier techniques in order to estimate product efficiency scores for each model. These scores reflect the minimum price for which each car could be sold, given the bundle of tangible features it offers in comparison to the best-buy models. Unlike previous research, we use discounted prices which have been adjusted by car dealerships to meet sale targets. Therefore, we interpret the efficiency scores as indicators of the value of the intangible features of the brand. The results show that Audi, Volvo, Volkswagen and Mercedes offer the greatest intangible value, since they are heavily overpriced in terms of price/product ratios. Conversely, Seat, Kia, Renault and Dacia are the brands that can be taken as referent in terms of price/product ratios.

  8. Determination of total aflatoxines in dryed and nuted fruits present in macedinian market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hajrulai-Musliu Zehra

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Humans and animals are exposed to aflatoxins by consuming foods contaminated with products of fungal growth. Such exposure is difficult to avoid because fungal growth in foods is not easy to prevent. Even though heavily contaminated food supplies are not distributed at market in developed countries, concern still remains for the possible adverse effects as a consequence of long-term exposure to low levels of aflatoxins in the food supply. Thence the aim of this study was determination of total aflatoxins in dry fruits and nuts. Only products in the open market places such as peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds and raisins, were analysed. Nineteen of 30 analysed samples (63.33% were over the detection limit, whereas 11 of analysed samples (36,6% were the same limit.The highr then allowed value of aflatoxins concentration was determined only in one sample of walnut (21 µg/kg.

  9. An accurate measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation with heavily gas-dominated ALFALFA galaxies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Papastergis, E.; Adams, E. A. K.; van der Hulst, J. M.

    2016-01-01

    We use a sample of 97 galaxies selected from the Arecibo legacy fast ALFA (ALFALFA) 21 cm survey to make an accurate measurement of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (BTFR). These galaxies are specifically selected to be heavily gas-dominated (Mgas/M∗ ≳ 2.7) and to be oriented edge-on. The former

  10. Medical Progress and Supplementary Private Health Insurance

    OpenAIRE

    Reiner Leidl

    2003-01-01

    In many welfare states, tightening financial constraints suggest excluding some medical services, including new ones, from social security coverage. This may create opportunities for private health insurance. This study analyses the performance of supplementary private health insurance (SPHI) in markets for excluded services in terms of population covered, risk selection and insurer profits. Using a utility-based simulation model, the insurance market is described as a composite of sub-market...

  11. Implement the medical group revenue function. Create competitive advantage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colucci, C

    1998-01-01

    This article shows medical groups how they can employ new financial management and information technology techniques to safeguard their revenue and income streams. These managerial techniques stem from the application of the medical group revenue function, which is defined herein. This article also describes how the medical group revenue function can be used to create value by employing a database and a decision support system. Finally, the article describes how the decision support system can be used to create competitive advantage. Through the wise use of internally generated information, medical groups can negotiate better contract terms, improve their operations, cut their costs, embark on capital investment programs and improve market share. As medical groups gain market power by improving in these areas, they will be more attractive to potential strategic allies, payers and investment bankers.

  12. 'Get with the Program!': pharmaceutical marketing, symptom checklists and self-diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebeling, Mary

    2011-09-01

    During more than a decade of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC) of pharmaceuticals in the United States, several highly controversial and contested disease states have been promoted to affect diagnostic and prescribing outcomes that are favorable to a company's branded drug. Influencing medical diagnosis is essential to the branding of a disease, which helps to protect pharmaceutical intellectual property and assures higher profits for drug companies. Enormous marketing as well as medical resources are deployed to ensure that new diagnoses of disease states are recognized. While much work has been done investigating the marketing processes necessary to shape and define diagnoses for many of these new disease states, such as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), the promotion of self-diagnosis within pharmaceutical marketing campaigns garner little sociological attention. This article reviews and analyzes branded disease awareness campaigns sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that employ self-diagnostic "tools". By using the example of one specific disease state, PMDD, I illustrate how the marketing of self-diagnosis transforms the patient into a consumer in order to achieve the aims of a drug company. This example is contextualized within the larger theoretical framework on the sociology of diagnosis. Consideration is given to how the marketing of self-diagnosis goes beyond Jutel's (2009) description of diagnosis as being the "classification tool of medicine" and becomes a marketing tool to construct a well-educated consumer who will demand medical diagnoses inline with a drug company's objectives. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. [Development of medical tourism in Georgia. Problems and prospectiv (review)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerzmava, O; Lomtadze, L; Kitovani, D; Kadjrishvili, M

    2011-10-01

    Medical tourism is the movement of patients through a global network of health services. Medical tourists seek affordable healthcare on a timely basis in a variety of destination nations. The expansion of global medical services has sparked immense economic growth in developing nations and has created a new market for advertising access to care. Beyond offering a unique untapped market of services, medical tourism has invited a host of liability, malpractice and ethical concerns. The explosion of off-shore "mini-surgical" vacations will surely incite global unification and increased access, quality and affordability of care. Medical tourism is a dynamic subset of global health care that incorporates a variety of services, procedures and venues of care. Health insurance coverage, the impact on domestic and global markets, and the use of international standards of care will be examined in combination with quality, access and cost parameters. The global nature of medical tourism invites a variety of legal and ethical issues and calls for an organizational body to monitor this new phenomenon. Finally, the future implications of the globalization of health services and systems will be discussed.

  14. DIGITAL MARKETING FOR FOREIGN MARKETS. CASE: LOST IN KAJAANI

    OpenAIRE

    Akhmetyanova, Yulia

    2016-01-01

    Different marketing researches report that participation in adventure races had grown over the last 2-3 years. However, adventure races have received relatively little attention in academic literature. The focus of existing studies in this field tends to be on accidents or medical issues. At the same time social media networks have become popular. The purpose of this thesis was to describe how increased social media activity would affect awareness of the Lost in Kajaani (LiK) adventure race. ...

  15. Hedging Medical Spending Growth: An Adaptive Expectations Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberthal, Robert D

    2016-08-01

    Long-term health insurance provides consumers with protection against persistent, negative health shocks. While the stochastic rise in medical spending growth may make some health risks harder to insure, financial assets could act as a hedge for medical spending growth risk. The purpose of this research was to determine whether such hedges exist. The results of this study were two-fold. First, the asset classes with the strongest statistical evidence as hedges were bonds, not stocks. Second, any strategy to hedge medical spending growth involved shorting assets i.e. betting against the bond or stock market. Health insurers writing long-term contracts should combine the use of hedges in the bond market with of portfolio diversification, and may benefit from health policies to moderate the uncertainty of medical spending growth.

  16. Medical Tourism: Between Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Bioethics Boundaries: Narrative Review Article

    Science.gov (United States)

    BADULESCU, Daniel; BADULESCU, Alina

    2014-01-01

    Abstract Nowadays, medical tourism reports impressive growth in terms of number of persons, income and number of countries involved in cross-border flows. So this study was undertaken to clarify entrepreneurship opportunities and bio-ethics boundaries in medical tourism. For tourism entrepreneurs, these outgoing flows related to medical procedures and tourism become an opportunity that cannot be ignored, so a wide range of tourist services related to health care are provided on a private, entrepreneurial basis. However, social and economic boundaries are omnipresent (impaired health services in receiving (incoming) countries, the crisis of the health care systems in emitting (outgoing) countries, over-consumption of medical and tourism services), and, not least, ethical considerations. Transforming medical care in a market tool, reducing human attributes to the status of commodity that can be bought, sold or negotiated, seriously challenges contemporary bioethics principles. It is a significant entering in the area (which is essentially un-ethic) of market transactions, where libertarianism and consumer-oriented attitudes dominates the spectrum of rational choice. So tourism comes to provide an organized and comfortable framework for all these choices, but many issues still re-main controversial and may worsen if national health systems and national and international regulations would not identify their problems and would continue to leave medical tourism to market mechanisms. Market will efficiently allocate the resources, but not always in an ethical manner. PMID:26005650

  17. Medical tourism: between entrepreneurship opportunities and bioethics boundaries: narrative review article.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badulescu, Daniel; Badulescu, Alina

    2014-04-01

    Nowadays, medical tourism reports impressive growth in terms of number of persons, income and number of countries involved in cross-border flows. So this study was undertaken to clarify entrepreneurship opportunities and bio-ethics boundaries in medical tourism. For tourism entrepreneurs, these outgoing flows related to medical procedures and tourism become an opportunity that cannot be ignored, so a wide range of tourist services related to health care are provided on a private, entrepreneurial basis. However, social and economic boundaries are omnipresent (impaired health services in receiving (incoming) countries, the crisis of the health care systems in emitting (outgoing) countries, over-consumption of medical and tourism services), and, not least, ethical considerations. Transforming medical care in a market tool, reducing human attributes to the status of commodity that can be bought, sold or negotiated, seriously challenges contemporary bioethics principles. It is a significant entering in the area (which is essentially un-ethic) of market transactions, where libertarianism and consumer-oriented attitudes dominates the spectrum of rational choice. So tourism comes to provide an organized and comfortable framework for all these choices, but many issues still re-main controversial and may worsen if national health systems and national and international regulations would not identify their problems and would continue to leave medical tourism to market mechanisms. Market will efficiently allocate the resources, but not always in an ethical manner.

  18. Association of medical students' reports of interactions with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and medical school policies and characteristics: a cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, James S; Austad, Kirsten E; Franklin, Jessica M; Chimonas, Susan; Campbell, Eric G; Avorn, Jerry; Kesselheim, Aaron S

    2014-10-01

    Professional societies use metrics to evaluate medical schools' policies regarding interactions of students and faculty with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. We compared these metrics and determined which US medical schools' industry interaction policies were associated with student behaviors. Using survey responses from a national sample of 1,610 US medical students, we compared their reported industry interactions with their schools' American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard and average Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) Conflicts of Interest Policy Database score. We used hierarchical logistic regression models to determine the association between policies and students' gift acceptance, interactions with marketing representatives, and perceived adequacy of faculty-industry separation. We adjusted for year in training, medical school size, and level of US National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. We used LASSO regression models to identify specific policies associated with the outcomes. We found that IMAP and AMSA scores had similar median values (1.75 [interquartile range 1.50-2.00] versus 1.77 [1.50-2.18], adjusted to compare scores on the same scale). Scores on AMSA and IMAP shared policy dimensions were not closely correlated (gift policies, r = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11-0.44; marketing representative access policies, r = 0.51, 95% CI 0.36-0.63). Students from schools with the most stringent industry interaction policies were less likely to report receiving gifts (AMSA score, odds ratio [OR]: 0.37, 95% CI 0.19-0.72; IMAP score, OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.19-1.04) and less likely to interact with marketing representatives (AMSA score, OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.15-0.69; IMAP score, OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.95) than students from schools with the lowest ranked policy scores. The association became nonsignificant when fully adjusted for NIH funding level, whereas adjusting for year of education, size of school, and publicly versus

  19. Association of medical students' reports of interactions with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and medical school policies and characteristics: a cross-sectional study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James S Yeh

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Professional societies use metrics to evaluate medical schools' policies regarding interactions of students and faculty with the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. We compared these metrics and determined which US medical schools' industry interaction policies were associated with student behaviors.Using survey responses from a national sample of 1,610 US medical students, we compared their reported industry interactions with their schools' American Medical Student Association (AMSA PharmFree Scorecard and average Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP Conflicts of Interest Policy Database score. We used hierarchical logistic regression models to determine the association between policies and students' gift acceptance, interactions with marketing representatives, and perceived adequacy of faculty-industry separation. We adjusted for year in training, medical school size, and level of US National Institutes of Health (NIH funding. We used LASSO regression models to identify specific policies associated with the outcomes. We found that IMAP and AMSA scores had similar median values (1.75 [interquartile range 1.50-2.00] versus 1.77 [1.50-2.18], adjusted to compare scores on the same scale. Scores on AMSA and IMAP shared policy dimensions were not closely correlated (gift policies, r = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11-0.44; marketing representative access policies, r = 0.51, 95% CI 0.36-0.63. Students from schools with the most stringent industry interaction policies were less likely to report receiving gifts (AMSA score, odds ratio [OR]: 0.37, 95% CI 0.19-0.72; IMAP score, OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.19-1.04 and less likely to interact with marketing representatives (AMSA score, OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.15-0.69; IMAP score, OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.95 than students from schools with the lowest ranked policy scores. The association became nonsignificant when fully adjusted for NIH funding level, whereas adjusting for year of education, size of school, and publicly

  20. USING ONLINE MARKETING TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION IN A WEB-BASED CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION CULTURAL COMPETENCE CURRICULUM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estrada, Carlos A.; Krishnamoorthy, Periyakaruppan; Smith, Ann; Staton, Lisa; Korf, Michele J.; Allison, Jeroan J.; Houston, Thomas K.

    2012-01-01

    Introduction CME providers may be interested in identifying effective marketing strategies to direct users to specific content. The use of online advertisements to recruit participants for clinical trials, public health programs, and Continuing Medical Education (CME) has been shown to be effective in some but not all studies. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of two marketing strategies in the context of an online CME cultural competence curriculum (www.c-comp.org). Methods In an interrupted time-series quasi-experimental design, two marketing strategies were tested: a) wide dissemination to relevant organizations over a period of approximately four months, and b) Internet paid search using Google Ads (five consecutive eight-week periods--control 1, cultural/ CME advertisement, control 2, hypertension/ content advertisement, control 3). Outcome measures were CME credit requests, Web traffic (visits per day, page views, pages viewed per visit), and cost. Results Overall, the site was visited 19,156 times and 78,160 pages were viewed. During the wide dissemination phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit decreased between the first (5.3%) and second halves (3.3%) of this phase (p= .04). During the Internet paid search phase, the proportion of visits requesting CME credit was highest during the cultural/ CME advertisement period (control 1, 1.4%; cultural/CME ad, 4.3%; control 2, 1.5%; hypertension/content ad, 0.6%; control 3, 0.8%; p<.001). All measures of Web traffic changed during the Internet paid search phase (p<.01); however, changes were independent of the advertisement periods. The incremental cost for the cultural advertisement per CME credit requested was $0.64US. Discussion Internet advertisement focusing on cultural competence and CME was associated with about a three-fold increase in requests for CME credit at an incremental cost of under $1; however, Web traffic changes were independent of the advertisement strategy. PMID

  1. A marketing plan for health care in the financial district of San Francisco.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, S

    1987-01-01

    The development of a corporate health marketing program for the Medical Pavilion was based on three assumptions. 1. Medical Pavilion will contribute positively to health care cost containment for employers by providing convenient, quality medical care which will help to reduce employee time lost from work due to physician visits, and through health screening, early diagnosis, and out-patient procedures, decrease unnecessary hospitalization. 2. The level of awareness among chief executive officers, benefits directors, corporate medical directors, and employees will be positively related to utilization of health services at the Medical Pavilion. 3. The Medical Pavilion will be organized on a private practice model; although special programs related to employer coverage and specific benefits may be considered separately. The recommended goals of the corporate health program of the Medical Pavilion were as follows: 1. To develop demographic profiles based on current utilization of medical services in a random sample to corporations in the Financial District. 2. To design a survey of corporate leadership to determine a needs assessment strategy for the development of preventive health services programs to be offered at the Medical Pavilion. 3. To select an advertising and public relations agency; and determine the marketing bridges, for the first year and the following five year period. 4. To evaluate effectiveness of the corporate health marketing plan referral data collected through the Management Information System to be established at the Medical Pavilion.

  2. Modeling Medical Services with Mobile Health Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenfei Wang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The rapid development of mobile health technology (m-Health provides unprecedented opportunities for improving health services. As the bridge between doctors and patients, mobile health applications enable patients to communicate with doctors through their smartphones, which is becoming more and more popular among people. To evaluate the influence of m-Health applications on the medical service market, we propose a medical service equilibrium model. The model can balance the supply of doctors and demand of patients and reflect possible options for both doctors and patients with or without m-Health applications in the medical service market. In the meantime, we analyze the behavior of patients and the activities of doctors to minimize patients’ full costs of healthcare and doctors’ futility. Then, we provide a resolution algorithm through mathematical reasoning. Lastly, based on artificially generated dataset, experiments are conducted to evaluate the medical services of m-Health applications.

  3. Post-marketing surveillance in the published medical and grey literature for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty catheters: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polisena, Julie; Forster, Alan J; Cimon, Karen; Rabb, Danielle

    2013-10-10

    Post-marketing surveillance (PMS) may identify rare serious incidents or adverse events due to the long-term use of a medical device, which was not captured in the pre-market process. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a non-surgical procedure that uses a balloon-tipped catheter to enlarge a narrowed artery. In 2011, 1,942 adverse event reports related to the use of PTCA catheters were submitted to the FDA by the manufacturers, an increase from the 883 reported in 2008. The primary research objective is to conduct a systematic review of the published and grey literature published between 2007 and 2012 for the frequency of incidents, adverse events and malfunctions associated with the use of PTCA catheters in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Grey literature has not been commercially published. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PubMed for medical literature on PMS for PTCA catheters in patients with CAD published between January 2007 and July 2012. We also searched the grey literature. This review included 11 studies. The in-hospital adverse events reported were individual cases of myocardial infarction and hematoma. In studies of patients with coronary perforation, more patients with balloon angioplasty were identified compared with patients who required stenting. Our systematic review illustrates that the volume and quality of PMS studies associated with the use of PTCA catheters in patients with CAD are low in the published and grey literature, and may not be useful sources of information for decisions on safety. In most studies, the objectives were not to monitor the long-term safety of the use of PTCA catheters in clinical practice. Future studies can explore the strengths and limitations of PMS databases administered by regulatory authorities.

  4. Implications of Medical Tourism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cesario, Sandra K

    2018-06-01

    Medical tourism is an emerging industry that facilitates travel to another country for people who seek medical, surgical, or dental care that is unavailable or more affordable than in their home countries. Rapid advances in electronic communication and the ease of international travel have fueled the growth of this industry. More than half of medical travelers are women, especially for services related to cosmetic or reproductive conditions. Medical tourism creates both opportunities and challenges for nurses and other health care providers. Consumers' increased access to the global health care market necessitates the development of a structure that shapes the medical tourism industry and addresses evolving ethical, political, and human rights concerns related to this industry. Copyright © 2018 AWHONN. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Medical Tourism as an important niche of Tourism Development in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A Nicolaides

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available When tourists travel to another country for Medical treatment as well as for sightseeing, the practice is called medical tourism. In the last few years this trend has increased. This emergent global trend of increased medical tourism is expected to gain momentum in the coming decades as travelers seek destinations abroad that are associated with wellness and affordable medical care. How countries are marketing medical tourism destinations and the choices of consumers in this regard are important aspects for the South African tourism market to consider. Additionally, the economic impact of medical tourism on countries such as India, where it is virtually a routine practice, and how tourism may be affected by the development of medical pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and medical industry job creation, are aspects worthy of consideration as South Africa seeks to obtain an important part of the market. Medical tourists cannot make an informed choice about treatment when comparing different hospitals in different countries and at best make a partially informed choice. The strategy is to get them to come to South Africa because we are a preferred option with a good reputation in healthcare. This article seeks to address these issues and make suggestions on how medical tourism offerings can be improved in South Africa so as to make medical tourism increase in volume.

  6. Medicinal plants sold at traditional markets in southern Ecuador.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tinitana, Fani; Rios, Montserrat; Romero-Benavides, Juan Carlos; de la Cruz Rot, Marcelino; Pardo-de-Santayana, Manuel

    2016-07-05

    The traditional markets in southern Ecuador and within the Andean region are especially important for plant resource trading among local people, even since before Spanish colonization; therefore, ethnobotanical studies are currently necessary and important. These strategic spaces persist for the traditional medicine cultural value reflected in the higher consumption of medicinal plants, which span all socioeconomic levels of rural and urban people. The purpose of this study includes the following: 1) to create a novel list of medicinal plants sold at 33 traditional markets; 2) to establish medicinal plant use agreement amongst vendors with the Factor of Informant Consensus (FIC); and 3) to determine the most sold medicinal plant species using the Fidelity Level (FL). This study focus on traditional markets ethnobotany utilizes the largest sample of medicinal plants market vendors up to date in Ecuador, interviewing them at 33 traditional markets, located within the Loja province. In order to determine the most sold medicinal plants and their ethnobotanical information, structured questionnaires and personal conversations were conducted with 196 medicinal plant vendors, and voucher specimens were created. Agreement among vendors about the therapeutic use of medicinal plants was measured using the FIC, and the most sold medicinal plant species were assessed with the FL. This research registered 160 medicinal plant species, grouped in 126 genera and 57 families that were sold in 33 traditional markets. The uses of medicinal plants in southern Ecuador are related to a long history of traditional medicine health practices that has persisted until today as well as high plant diversity. The 53 therapeutic uses recorded were grouped into 12 medical categories that were adapted from the World Health Organization. Three medical categories shared the highest value for FIC = 0.92, which showed a high level of agreement of market vendors for 57 medicinal plant species sold

  7. Assessment of target markets for deployment of modular HTGRs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Richards, M.; Hamilton, C.; Venneri, F.

    2014-01-01

    The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Industry Alliance (NIA) consists of 16 companies and organizations that support development and deployment of modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (modular HTGRs or MHRs). These companies include reactor vendors, utilities, potential industrial end users of MHR process steam/heat, nuclear graphite vendors, and companies with design, technology development, regulatory licensing, and other HTGR subject matter expertise. The NIA has been investigating potential markets for MHRs in both North America and globally as part of its business plan development. MHRs have inherent, melt-down proof safety with high-temperature capability and high utilization of the nuclear heat for production of electricity and process heat. These features allow MHRs to be located within close proximity to the public and industrial end users, and in locations with very limited or no availability of cooling water as the ultimate heat sink. This paper provides a summary of recent NIA target market assessments, including selected markets which currently utilize high value oil and expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuels for process heat and electricity generation on a large scale (e.g., Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Korea). Results show that significant markets exist today for economical deployment of steam-cycle MHRs for electricity and process heat, especially in countries/regions that utilize expensive (or heavily subsidized) fossil fuels for energy needs. Low natural gas prices in North America presently inhibit expansion of any nuclear technology, but MHRs should be economically competitive by the 2030 - 2040 time frame, when natural gas prices are projected to be in the $7 to $10 per MMBtu price range. There is also good market potential for higher temperature MHR applications, including nuclear steel manufacturing, production of synthetic fuels, and hydrogen production. (author)

  8. Strategies for marketing your company as a takeover target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Currie, G.

    1998-01-01

    Recently, there has been a growing number of takeovers in the petroleum industry. The reasons behind such transactions were discussed and seven moves (or deadly sins) which guarantee that a company becomes a takeover target were presented. The seven 'sins' are: (1) drill as many dry holes as possible, (2) promise more production or cash flow than can be delivered, (3) make acquisitions close to the top of the market, (4) issue shares regularly, (5) borrow heavily, and/or issue high yield private placement debt, (6) commit the company to a single commodity or market, and (7) when things go wrong, keep the bad news to yourself, hoping that nobody will notice. Any of these moves are likely to be immediately reflected in stock prices. Four quantitative measures used to value producers' stocks were summarized, i.e. : (1) price/cash flow, (2) price/net asset value, (3) market value of reserves, and (4) market value of production. Steps to follow in responding to a takeover were also described. Lessons to be learned from actual takeovers that occurred during the past couple of years were briefly reviewed. In the author's view, there are far too many acquisitions in the petroleum industry, and the best that can be said for them is that they are the market's way of rationalizing under performing management teams. In some cases acquisition may be a reflection of management's impatience to grow more quickly, without realizing that at some sizes it becomes difficult to sustain a producer in Western Canada. The best defence against a takeover is to run a company with growing production, a competitive cost structure, a good balance sheet, and a shareholder-responsive management team. 2 tabs

  9. Assessment of target markets for deployment of modular HTGRs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richards, M.; Hamilton, C.; Venneri, F., E-mail: mrichards@ultrasafe-nuclear.com, E-mail: chamilton@ultrasafe-nuclear.com, E-mail: fvenneri@ultrasafe-nuclear.com [Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2014-07-01

    The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Industry Alliance (NIA) consists of 16 companies and organizations that support development and deployment of modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (modular HTGRs or MHRs). These companies include reactor vendors, utilities, potential industrial end users of MHR process steam/heat, nuclear graphite vendors, and companies with design, technology development, regulatory licensing, and other HTGR subject matter expertise. The NIA has been investigating potential markets for MHRs in both North America and globally as part of its business plan development. MHRs have inherent, melt-down proof safety with high-temperature capability and high utilization of the nuclear heat for production of electricity and process heat. These features allow MHRs to be located within close proximity to the public and industrial end users, and in locations with very limited or no availability of cooling water as the ultimate heat sink. This paper provides a summary of recent NIA target market assessments, including selected markets which currently utilize high value oil and expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuels for process heat and electricity generation on a large scale (e.g., Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Korea). Results show that significant markets exist today for economical deployment of steam-cycle MHRs for electricity and process heat, especially in countries/regions that utilize expensive (or heavily subsidized) fossil fuels for energy needs. Low natural gas prices in North America presently inhibit expansion of any nuclear technology, but MHRs should be economically competitive by the 2030 - 2040 time frame, when natural gas prices are projected to be in the $7 to $10 per MMBtu price range. There is also good market potential for higher temperature MHR applications, including nuclear steel manufacturing, production of synthetic fuels, and hydrogen production. (author)

  10. Competitive energy markets and nuclear power. Can we have both, do we want either?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Steve [Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), Business School, University of Greenwich, 30 Park Row, London SE10 9LS (United Kingdom)

    2010-09-15

    In 1987, the UK Conservative Party was re-elected promising to transform the electricity industry into a privatised competitive industry and to promote an expansion of nuclear power. Fulfilling both objectives was not possible. The nuclear plants were withdrawn from the sale and plans to build new plants were abandoned, but privatisation proceeded. In 2007, the Labour government began a new attempt to build nuclear plants to operate in the competitive electricity market, promising that no subsidies would be offered to them. By 2010, the utilities that were planning to build nuclear plants were beginning to suggest that 'support' in some form would be needed if they were to build new plants. More surprisingly, the energy regulator, Ofgem, cast doubt on whether a competitive wholesale electricity market would provide security of supply. In 1990, the UK government opted for a competitive electricity market over expanding nuclear power. Now, the option of opting for a competitive electricity market may not exist. However, this might not leave the way open for new nuclear plants. The expected cost of power from new nuclear plants is now so high that no more than one or two heavily subsidised plants will be built. (author)

  11. Competitive energy markets and nuclear power: Can we have both, do we want either?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thomas, Steve, E-mail: Stephen.thomas@gre.ac.u [Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), Business School, University of Greenwich, 30 Park Row, London SE10 9LS (United Kingdom)

    2010-09-15

    In 1987, the UK Conservative Party was re-elected promising to transform the electricity industry into a privatised competitive industry and to promote an expansion of nuclear power. Fulfilling both objectives was not possible. The nuclear plants were withdrawn from the sale and plans to build new plants were abandoned, but privatisation proceeded. In 2007, the Labour government began a new attempt to build nuclear plants to operate in the competitive electricity market, promising that no subsidies would be offered to them. By 2010, the utilities that were planning to build nuclear plants were beginning to suggest that 'support' in some form would be needed if they were to build new plants. More surprisingly, the energy regulator, Ofgem, cast doubt on whether a competitive wholesale electricity market would provide security of supply. In 1990, the UK government opted for a competitive electricity market over expanding nuclear power. Now, the option of opting for a competitive electricity market may not exist. However, this might not leave the way open for new nuclear plants. The expected cost of power from new nuclear plants is now so high that no more than one or two heavily subsidised plants will be built.

  12. AFM of metallic nano-particles and nano-structures in heavily irradiated NaCl

    OpenAIRE

    Gaynutdinov, R; Vainshtein, DI; Hak, SJ; Tolstikhina, A; Den Hartog, HW

    2003-01-01

    AFM investigations are reported for heavily, electron irradiated NaCl crystals in ultra high vacuum (UHV) in the non-contact mode-with an UHV AFM/STM Omicron system. To avoid chemical reactions between the radiolytic Na and oxygen and water, the irradiated samples were cleaved and prepared for the experiments in UHV At the surface of freshly cleaved samples, we have observed sodium nano-precipitates with shapes, which depend on the irradiation dose and the volume fraction of the radiolytic Na...

  13. Stored energy and annealing behavior of heavily deformed aluminium

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kamikawa, Naoya; Huang, Xiaoxu; Kondo, Yuka

    2012-01-01

    It has been demonstrated in previous work that a two-step annealing treatment, including a low-temperature, long-time annealing and a subsequent high-temperature annealing, is a promising route to control the microstructure of a heavily deformed metal. In the present study, structural parameters...... are quantified such as boundary spacing, misorientation angle and dislocation density for 99.99% aluminium deformed by accumulative roll-bonding to a strain of 4.8. Two different annealing processes have been applied; (i) one-step annealing for 0.5 h at 100-400°C and (ii) two-step annealing for 6 h at 175°C...... followed by 0.5 h annealing at 200-600°C, where the former treatment leads to discontinuous recrystallization and the latter to uniform structural coarsening. This behavior has been analyzed in terms of the relative change during annealing of energy stored as elastic energy in the dislocation structure...

  14. Recruitment and retention of rural general practitioners: a marketing approach reveals new possibilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemphill, Elizabeth; Dunn, Steve; Barich, Hayley; Infante, Rebecca

    2007-12-01

    This paper repositions the challenge of attracting and retaining rural GPs in a marketing context as a new focus for future research and policy development. Case study with mixed design of surveys of GPs and medical students and depth interviews with GPs, medical students, regional-division administrators and GP recruitment agents. GP recruitment and retention in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia. Twenty-seven Limestone Coast (LC) GPs; random sample of medical students from Adelaide University, Adelaide University Rural Health Society and Flinders University; snowball sampling two adjacent rural regions (20 GPs); and administrators from LC and adjacent regions and GP recruitment agencies in Adelaide. Drawing from marketing theory, creative suggestion of 'promotion of the practice and not the region' offers a means of GP recruitment and retention for structured succession planning for rural general practices. Structural attempts to broaden the GP market with overseas recruitment have done little for improving full-time equivalent GP levels. Market segmentation and market orientation offer a new emphasis on value exchange between the corporation (the practice), customer (GPs) and competition (all practices) to influence future mobility. A marketing orientation to the GP challenge emphasises individual's perceptions of value, GP expectations and practice offerings. Failure to acknowledge benefits of this marketing approach means that solutions such as those developed in the Limestone Coast region are unlikely. Research is now required to define GP satisfaction and value for long-term viability of general practices.

  15. Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe 2016--Health Network Communications' Tenth Annual Conference (February 23-25, 2016--London, UK).

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Souza, P

    2016-03-01

    Tighter national budgets and escalating drug prices continue to present challenges for pharmaceutical market access strategies and societal cost of care. As pharmaceutical companies and medical governmental advisory organizations enter tougher negotiations, hospital trusts and other dispensary firms face barriers to receiving the best medical treatment, and as a result patient access is limited. The 2016 HealthNetwork Communications' Pharma Pricing & Market Access Europe meeting brought together pharmaceutical, medical governmental advisory and stakeholders and market access/pricing consultants, to encourage discussions and negotiations into how to improve the drug pricing system and consequential market access strategies while achieving the respective reimbursement and affordability objectives. Copyright 2016 Prous Science, S.A.U. or its licensors. All rights reserved.

  16. "Almost invisible scars": medical tourism to Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Edmonds, A.

    2011-01-01

    Along with a handful of other nations in the developing world, Brazil has emerged as a top destination for medical tourism. Drawing on the author’s ethnographic fieldwork in plastic surgery wards, this article examines diverse factors—some explicitly promoted in medical marketing and news sources,

  17. Medical education and information and communication technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houshyari, Asefeh Badiey; Bahadorani, Mahnaz; Tootoonchi, Mina; Gardiner, John Jacob Zucker; Peña, Roberto A; Adibi, Peyman

    2012-01-01

    Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought many changes in medical education and practice in the last couple of decades. Teaching and learning medicine particularly has gone under profound changes due to computer technologies, and medical schools around the world have invested heavily either in new computer technologies or in the process of adapting to this technological revolution. In order to catch up with the rest of the world, developing countries need to research their options in adapting to new computer technologies. This descriptive survey study was designed to assess medical students' computer and Internet skills and their attitude toward ICT. Research findings showed that the mean score of self-perceived computer knowledge for male students in general was greater than for female students. Also, students who had participated in various prior computer workshops, had access to computer, Internet, and e-mail, and frequently checked their e-mail had higher mean of self-perceived knowledge and skill score. Finally, students with positive attitude toward ICT scored their computer knowledge higher than those who had no opinion. The results have confirmed that the medical schools, particularly in developing countries, need to bring fundamental changes such as curriculum modification in order to integrate ICT into medical education, creating essential infrastructure for ICT use in medical education and practice, and structured computer training for faculty and students.

  18. Product policy - the main component of the marketing mix in the Romanian health services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coculescu, B I; Purcarea, V L; Coculescu, E C

    2016-01-01

    The objectives of the reforms in the EU healthcare systems are based on the implementation of the marketing concept in the health systems, which are, among other things: • efficient management of the financial resources and control costs of the rendered health services; • increased satisfaction of the clients of health care services; • broad accessibility to health services; • effective implementation of modern technologies; • rational stimulation of medical services consumption; • achievement of a fair and neutral competition between the public/ private providers and health insurance companies; • introduction of performance criteria in order to increase the incomes of the medical staff and hierarchy in hospitals; • implementation of modern management methods in health services management; • decentralization of the public healthcare system. Product policy in the medical system of healthcare - the most important component of the marketing mix - is the attitude that addresses a medical organization to the volume, structure, and diversity of services subject to their own activities in relation to the requirements of the services market and the competitive actions of other medical institutions.

  19. Market policy as an innovative element of marketing in the Romanian healthcare services - an approach focused on the patient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coculescu, B I; Coculescu, E C; Radu, A; Petrescu, L; Purcărea, V L

    2015-01-01

    The orientation towards one of the marketing policies with a major impact in organizations providing healthcare services, requires a careful analysis of the needs and aspirations of customers, targeting those patients whose needs the service organization can achieve through the existing resources at the respective health facility, finding the most effective way of achieving benefits associated with reduced costs to maximizing profits, placing the offers for medical services required by the patients on the market, as well as promptly reacting and acting to the changes of health services market which is constantly evolving through a flexible organizing and functioning structure, connected to the financial needs of the patients.

  20. Canadian medical tourism companies that have exited the marketplace: Content analysis of websites used to market transnational medical travel

    OpenAIRE

    Turner Leigh

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Background Medical tourism companies play an important role in promoting transnational medical travel for elective, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Though researchers are paying increasing attention to the global phenomenon of medical tourism, to date websites of medical tourism companies have received limited scrutiny. This article analyzes websites of Canadian medical tourism companies that advertised international healthcare but ultimately exited the marketplace. Using content a...

  1. In situ observation of triple junction motion during recovery of heavily deformed aluminum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Tianbo; Hughes, Darcy A.; Hansen, Niels

    2015-01-01

    -junctions are pinned by deformation-induced interconnecting and lamellar boundaries, which slow down the recovery process and lead to a stop-go migration pattern. This pinning mechanism stabilizes the deformation microstructure, i.e. the structure is stabilized by balancing the driving and pinning forces controlling......Microstructural evolution during in situ annealing of heavily cold-rolled aluminum has been studied by transmission electron microscopy, confirming that an important recovery mechanism is migration of triple junctions formed by three lamellar boundaries (Y-junctions). The migrating Y...

  2. Nice Guys Finish Last: Are People with Higher Tax Morale Taxed more Heavily?

    OpenAIRE

    Philipp Doerrenberg; Denvil Duncan; Clemens Fuest; Andreas Peichl

    2012-01-01

    This paper is the first to provide evidence of efficient taxation of groups with heterogeneous levels of 'tax morale'. We set up an optimal income tax model where high tax morale implies a high subjective cost of evading taxes. The model predicts that 'nice guys finish last': groups with higher tax morale will be taxed more heavily, simply because taxing them is less costly. Based on unique cross-country micro data and an IV approach to rule out reverse causality, we find empirical support fo...

  3. Mechanisms determining prices of products on the pharmaceutical market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Klaudia LUCIUS

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The pharmaceutical market is characterized by the existence of state regulations restricting his freedom to market and is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy all over the world. Factors that have a real impact on determining the price of drugs can be grouped into three categories: medical factors, economic factors, political and environmental factors. In the group of medical factors can be distinguished patent protection, the cost of producing the drug and the value of the drug. To economic factors, taking into account the aspect of market competitiveness of companies, include: the size of the producer, nature of the company - whether it is a research unit of the pharmaceutical company, return on investment – effectiveness of use of expenditure with the aim of achieving a profit (return on investment, ROI, profitability entity. The remaining group of factors (environmental, and political relate mainly to national regulations. They are connected with among others the registration system of marketing authorization, whether a reimbursement system that determines whether and how drugs are financed from public funds. Membership in the European Union forces on all Member States to make reimbursement decisions by the so-called Transparency Directive. It is connected with the obligation to justify decisions, and calling upon objective reasons. Medical Technology Assessment Agency formulating recommendations take into account factors i.e. a therapeutic, benefits for the patients, cost-effectiveness, impact on the budget.

  4. Customer relations data aids marketing efforts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Werronen, H J

    1988-08-01

    A customer relations information system can help improve a hospital's marketing performance. With such a system, the author writes, a medical center can easily redirect its information systems away from the traditional transaction-oriented approach toward the building of long-lasting relationship with customers.

  5. Clinical bioethics in china: the challenge of entering a market economy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiao-Yang

    2006-02-01

    Over the last quarter-century, China has experienced dramatic changes associated with its development of a market economy. The character of clinical practice is also profoundly influenced by the ways in which reimbursement scales are established in public hospitals. The market distortions that lead to the over-prescription of drugs and the medically unindicated use of more expensive drugs and more costly high-technology diagnostic and therapeutic interventions create the most significant threat to patients. The payment of red packets represents a black-market attempt to circumvent the non-market constraint on physicians' fees for services. These economic and practice pattern changes are taking place as China and many Pacific Rim societies are reconsidering the moral foundations of their professional ethics and their bioethics. The integrity of the medical profession and the trust of patients in physicians can only be restored and protected if the distorting forces of contemporary public policy are altered.

  6. [Digital marketing: what place does it have in blood donation?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guedj, A

    2013-05-01

    Blood transfusion arose from the actions of medical doctors and has to answer to the increasing evolution of the blood product. To answer this vital need, marketing intervenes with the implementation of strategy and a multi-channel campaign. The emergence, acquisition and evolution of new information technologies in today's society require that marketing and communication professionals use of digital marketing in their relational initiatives and the promotion of the gift of life. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier SAS.

  7. Vaporous Marketing: Uncovering Pervasive Electronic Cigarette Advertisements on Twitter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Eric M; Jones, Chris A; Williams, Jake Ryland; Kurti, Allison N; Norotsky, Mitchell Craig; Danforth, Christopher M; Dodds, Peter Sheridan

    2016-01-01

    Twitter has become the "wild-west" of marketing and promotional strategies for advertisement agencies. Electronic cigarettes have been heavily marketed across Twitter feeds, offering discounts, "kid-friendly" flavors, algorithmically generated false testimonials, and free samples. All electronic cigarette keyword related tweets from a 10% sample of Twitter spanning January 2012 through December 2014 (approximately 850,000 total tweets) were identified and categorized as Automated or Organic by combining a keyword classification and a machine trained Human Detection algorithm. A sentiment analysis using Hedonometrics was performed on Organic tweets to quantify the change in consumer sentiments over time. Commercialized tweets were topically categorized with key phrasal pattern matching. The overwhelming majority (80%) of tweets were classified as automated or promotional in nature. The majority of these tweets were coded as commercialized (83.65% in 2013), up to 33% of which offered discounts or free samples and appeared on over a billion twitter feeds as impressions. The positivity of Organic (human) classified tweets has decreased over time (5.84 in 2013 to 5.77 in 2014) due to a relative increase in the negative words 'ban', 'tobacco', 'doesn't', 'drug', 'against', 'poison', 'tax' and a relative decrease in the positive words like 'haha', 'good', 'cool'. Automated tweets are more positive than organic (6.17 versus 5.84) due to a relative increase in the marketing words like 'best', 'win', 'buy', 'sale', 'health', 'discount' and a relative decrease in negative words like 'bad', 'hate', 'stupid', 'don't'. Due to the youth presence on Twitter and the clinical uncertainty of the long term health complications of electronic cigarette consumption, the protection of public health warrants scrutiny and potential regulation of social media marketing.

  8. Contraceptive social marketing in the Philippines. A new initiative.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Migallos, G; Araneta, A

    1994-01-01

    By offering contraceptives at subsidized prices through pharmacies, drugstores, grocery shops, and other conveniently-located retail outlets, and promoting them with modern marketing techniques, social marketing programs can do much to reduce the unmet need for family planning. Users obviously benefit, while the family planning program benefits from advertising and marketing skills and some cost recovery. The Philippine Contraceptive Social Marketing Project (PCSMP) was formally launched in the Philippines in 1993 in response to the large unmet need in the country, and initial results are promising. The project was started with funding from the US Agency for International Development to provide affordable, quality contraceptives through the private sector to Filipino couples who choose to practice family planning. A 1988 survey found that only 22.4% of women aged 15-44 years were using modern methods of contraception and 13.8% were using traditional methods; approximately three million women therefore had unmet need for family planning. The PCSMP established an AIDS prevention component and a birth spacing component, enlisting the participation of oral contraceptive manufacturers Wyeth, Organon, and Schering, along with one condom distributor, Philusa. These companies lowered their product prices by 20% for the program. Despite objections from the Catholic church, sales of both oral pills and condoms increased in the first year. In its second year, the program will advertise Sensation condoms and the Couple's Choice Pills via television, through intensive distribution drives, consumer and trade promotions, and the continuous training of health professionals. The contraceptive injectable DMPA will be added to the Couple's Choice product line in April 1994. This method, too, will be heavily promoted.

  9. Development of a Marketing Plan at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-03-01

    advertising, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling (Hillestad et. al., 1991). The healthcare marketer at NMCP could use all aspects...relations is an image focused program to assess the public’s attitude and interest in the organization. Sales promotion is aimed at the end consumers

  10. Proposed changes to the reimbursement of pharmaceuticals and medical devices in Poland and their impact on market access and the pharmaceutical industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badora, Karolina; Caban, Aleksandra; Rémuzat, Cécile; Dussart, Claude; Toumi, Mondher

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT In Poland, two proposed amendments to the reimbursement act are currently in preparation; these are likely to substantially change the pricing and reimbursement landscape for both drugs and medical devices. Proposed changes include: alignment of medical device reimbursement with that of pharmaceuticals; relaxing the strict reimbursement criteria for ultra-orphan drugs; establishment of an additional funding category for vaccines; introduction of compassionate use, and a simplified reimbursement pathway for well-established off-label indications; appreciation of manufacturers’ innovation and research and development efforts by creating a dedicated innovation budget; introduction of a mechanism preventing excessive parallel import; prolonged duration of reimbursement decisions and reimbursement lists; and increased flexibility in defining drug programmes. Both amendments are still at a draft stage and many aspects of the new regulations remain unclear. Nonetheless, the overall direction of some of the changes is already evident and warrants discussion due to their high expected impact on pharmaceutical and device manufacturers. Here we evaluate the main changes proposed to the reimbursement of drugs, vaccines, and medical devices, and examine the impact they are likely to have on market access and pharmaceutical industry in Poland. PMID:29081924

  11. Market Reform, Programmatic (DeAlignment and Party System Stability in Latin America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenneth M. ROBERTS

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Although democratic regimes in Latin America since the early 1980s have been surprisingly durable, party systems in much of the region continue to experience very high levels of electoral instability. A critical juncture approach to institutional change suggests that variation in party system stability is related to the impact of market liberalization in the 1980s and 90s on the programmatic alignment –or (dealignment– of partisan competition. Market reforms that were adopted by conservative leaders and opposed by a major leftist rival aligned party systems programmatically, allowing societal opposition to be channeled into institutionalized forms of competition that were highly stable in the post-adjustment era. By contrast, «bait-and-switch» reforms adopted by populist or leftist leaders were programmatically de-aligning for party systems, leaving them vulnerable to highly destabilizing reactive sequences in the aftermath to the reform process-including mass social protests, the demise of historic conservative parties, and the outflanking of traditional populist or leftist parties by more radical, anti-neoliberal outsiders. The political dynamics of market-based economic adjustment thus heavily conditioned the ways in which party systems would process the post-adjustment revival of populist and leftist alternatives in the region.

  12. Medicine, morality, and the market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, D

    1984-07-07

    In extracts from a lecture given at McGill University, the author describes the rise of a marketing or corporate ethos in medicine, stemming from economic constraints and the demographic pressures of aging populations in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. To counter the trend to corporate rather than public policy making in medicine, he advocates a holistic approach to health care, a revival of interest in preventive health, and encouragement of the self-help movement. Owen calls for a reorientation of medical attitudes so that traditional moral values of medicine present a "counterweight to the mechanistic, technological, cost-effectiveness of the market place."

  13. Radiation sterilization of medical products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khurshid, S.J.; Hussain, A.M.

    1989-01-01

    Radiation sterilization is the best method of sterilization, essentially for single use medical and surgical products. Pakistan has established a commercial gamma irradiation plant for this purpose. This article overviews the advantages and benefits of radiation sterilization to stimulate the interest of industrialists and the users in this technology. This technology can give a better medical care in the country and the growing demand can only be met by bulk sterilization. The radiation sterilized medical products can also compete well with the products sterilized by other methods in the international market, gamma sterilization is accepted internationally and if adopted it can boost our export of medical products. (author)

  14. Four proposals for market-based health care system reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumner, W

    1994-08-01

    A perfectly free, competitive medical market would not meet many social goals, such as universal access to health care. Micromanagement of interactions between patients and providers does not guarantee quality care and frequently undermines that relationship, to the frustration of all involved. Furthermore, while some North American health care plans are less expensive than others, none have reduced the medical inflation rate to equal the general inflation rate. Markets have always fixed uneven inflation rates in other domains. The suggested reforms could make elective interactions between patients and providers work more like a free market than did any preceding system. The health and life insurance plan creates cost-sensitive consumers, informed by a corporation with significant research incentives and abilities. The FFEB proposal encourages context-sensitive pricing, established by negotiation processes that weigh labor and benefit. Publication of providers' expected outcomes further enriches the information available to consumers and may reduce defensive medicine incentives. A medical career ladder would ease entry and exit from medical professions. These and complementary reforms do not specifically cap spending yet could have a deflationary impact on elective health care prices, while providing incentives to maintain quality. They accomplish these ends by giving more responsibility, information, incentives, and choice to citizens. We could provide most health care in a marketlike environment. We can incorporate these reforms in any convenient order and allow them to compete with alternative schemes. Our next challenge is to design, implement, and evaluate marketlike health care systems.

  15. The role of reserves and production in the market capitalization of oil and gas companies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ewing, Bradley T.; Thompson, Mark A.

    2016-01-01

    We examine the role proved reserves and production play in the market capitalization of publicly traded oil and gas companies engaged in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons. The paper provides two important contributions to the literature. First, we extend the existing research by utilizing the method of Robust Least Squares to estimate a multivariate market capitalization model that controls for firm type. Second, we document the impacts that oil and gas reserves to production ratios have on market capitalization. This is a key finding in the context of discounted net cash flow models and the findings suggest there is an optimal tradeoff between current and future production, given current volumes of reserves, the latter of which is valued positively by the market. Moreover, this optimal tradeoff or the optimal profit-maximizing intertemporal production choice is unique to the type of hydrocarbon being considered. Additionally, our findings highlight the importance of capital structure in the heavily capital intensive oil and gas industry. The results from this research should benefit both oil and gas companies and investors. Specifically, the results provide new and robust information as to the empirical relationships between key determinants of oil and gas company market valuations. - Highlights: • We utilized Robust Least Squares to estimate a multivariate market capitalization model. • There is a differential impact that oil and gas reserves to production ratios have on market capitalization. • The optimal profit-maximizing intertemporal production choice is unique to the type of hydrocarbon being considered. • Results provide new information as to the relationships between key determinants of oil and gas company market valuations.

  16. Differing Impacts Of Market Concentration On Affordable Care Act Marketplace Premiums.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffler, Richard M; Arnold, Daniel R; Fulton, Brent D; Glied, Sherry A

    2016-05-01

    Recent increases in market concentration among health plans, hospitals, and medical groups raise questions about what impact such mergers are having on costs to consumers. We examined the impact of market concentration on the growth of health insurance premiums between 2014 and 2015 in two Affordable Care Act state-based Marketplaces: Covered California and NY State of Health. We measured health plan, hospital, and medical group market concentration using the well-known Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and used a multivariate regression model to relate these measures to premium growth. Both states exhibited a positive association between hospital concentration and premium growth and a positive (but not statistically significant) association between medical group concentration and premium growth. Our results for health plan concentration differed between the two states: It was positively associated with premium growth in New York but negatively associated with premium growth in California. The health plan concentration finding in Covered California may be the result of its selectively contracting with health plans. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

  17. The regulation of mobile medical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yetisen, Ali Kemal; Martinez-Hurtado, J L; da Cruz Vasconcellos, Fernando; Simsekler, M C Emre; Akram, Muhammad Safwan; Lowe, Christopher R

    2014-03-07

    The rapidly expanding number of mobile medical applications have the potential to transform the patient-healthcare provider relationship by improving the turnaround time and reducing costs. In September 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance to regulate these applications and protect consumers by minimising the risks associated with their unintended use. This guidance distinguishes between the subset of mobile medical apps which may be subject to regulation and those that are not. The marketing claims of the application determine the intent. Areas of concern include compliance with regular updates of the operating systems and of the mobile medical apps themselves. In this article, we explain the essence of this FDA guidance by providing examples and evaluating the impact on academia, industry and other key stakeholders, such as patients and clinicians. Our assessment indicates that awareness and incorporation of the guidelines into product development can hasten the commercialisation and market entry process. Furthermore, potential obstacles have been discussed and directions for future development suggested.

  18. Chronic Disease Prevalence and Medicare Advantage Market Penetration

    OpenAIRE

    Steven W. Howard; Stephanie Lazarus Bernell; Faizan M. Casim; Jennifer Wilmott; Lindsey Pearson; Caitlin M. Byler; Zidong Zhang

    2015-01-01

    By March 2015, 30% of all Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Research to date has not explored the impacts of MA market penetration on individual or population health outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationships between MA market penetration and the beneficiary?s portfolio of cardiometabolic diagnoses. This study uses 2004 to 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component data to construct an aggregate inde...

  19. Study of medicines’ market for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis of the pilar part of head

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Solodovnik

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Modern arsenal of medicines and cosmetics used for the therapy of seborrheic dermatitis of the pilar part of head is various enough. Today pharmaceutical market keeps developing and constitutes a complex system that causes the necessity of its investigation and forming the informational base concerning the dynamics of assortment, prices and availability of medicines. The aim of work is forming the informational file about medicines and cosmetics which are used in treatment of seborrheic dermatitis of the pilar part of head and advisability substantiation of the creation of new medication with Octopirox on the base of marketing analysis. Materials and methods. As informative materials we used: the State register of medications of Ukraine; reference book of medications «Compendium on-line»; internet resources on the search of medications in the pharmacies of Ukraine “GeoApteka” and “Tabletki.ua”. A marketing method, monitoring methods, logical generalization, groupment and graphic methods were applied in-process of research. Results. Complex marketing evaluation of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market of medications used for the therapy of seborrheic dermatitis of the pilar part of head was carried out taking into account heterogeneous structure in two trends: medicines and cosmetics. Conclusion. Modern arsenal of medicines was organized in two trends: segment of medicines consists of 26 medications of D01A subgroup “Antifungals for topical use” and D11A subgroup “Other dermatologic medications”; “КС” segment has 71 cosmetics (cosmetics with Octopirox prevail – 12 propositions. In form of making, the liquids prevail – shampoo, tonics, solutions, serums. All tools concerning “Order of dispensing” are available without a prescription but before their using the doctor's advice taking into account individuality of each patient is needed. The analyzable market segment is characterized by the deficiency of combined drugs

  20. Market policy as an innovative element of marketing in the Romanian healthcare services – an approach focused on the patient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coculescu, BI; Coculescu, EC; Radu, A; Petrescu, L; Purcărea, VL

    2015-01-01

    The orientation towards one of the marketing policies with a major impact in organizations providing healthcare services, requires a careful analysis of the needs and aspirations of customers, targeting those patients whose needs the service organization can achieve through the existing resources at the respective health facility, finding the most effective way of achieving benefits associated with reduced costs to maximizing profits, placing the offers for medical services required by the patients on the market, as well as promptly reacting and acting to the changes of health services market which is constantly evolving through a flexible organizing and functioning structure, connected to the financial needs of the patients. PMID:26664466

  1. Futures market observations help in property evaluations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pickles, E.

    1994-01-01

    A standard approach to the valuation of petroleum properties and to project economics requires the calculation of present value of future cash flows. The technique is well-known and widely used in property evaluations, which are crucial to the acquisition activity in which independent producers recently have been so heavily engaged. But shortcomings of the standard approach also are well-known. Two significant problems are the choice of discount rate and the need to forecast prices. The appropriate discount rate depends upon the risk involved, and the correct relationship between risk and expected return may be difficult to determine. Oil price forecasts, meanwhile, are notoriously unreliable. These problems have led to adaptation of the option-valuation technique now widely and successfully used in the financial markets to the problem of valuing real assets, such as an oil field. In this context an option is the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at some future time for a price (the exercise price) determined at the time the option is acquired. The important parameters are equilibrium price, volatility, and convenience yield, each of which can be projected on the basis of market data close at hand. Then the values can be combined with the production profile of an oil field to mathematically estimate present value. The valuation method is described

  2. [Clinical impact of social marketing strategy on breast cancer detection].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quintana-Vidaurri, Adriana Guadalupe; Santana-Chávez, Luis Alejandro; González-Villalobos, Cynthia Guadalupe

    2013-01-01

    to prove the impact of social marketing strategies in breast cancer detection, taking as a parameter the number of mammographies performed. quasi-experimental research, before and after. Sixty-nine physicians in charge of medical consultation and fourteen nurses were studied for a period of seven months, applying social marketing strategies. The total of mammographies were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum test (p marketing proved to be an adequate strategy, which has an impact on the clinical practice of both physicians and nurses.

  3. The nature of the torus in the heavily obscured AGN Markarian 3: an X-ray study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guainazzi, M.; Risaliti, G.; Awaki, H.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we report the results of an X-ray monitoring campaign on the heavily obscured Seyfert galaxy, Markarian 3, carried out between the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015 with NuSTAR, Suzaku and XMM–Newton. The hard X-ray spectrum of Markarian 3 is variable on all the time-scales probe...

  4. Linacs for medical and industrial applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamm, R.W.

    1986-01-01

    Linear accelerators for medical and industrial applications have become an important commercial business. Microwave electron linacs for cancer radiation therapy and high-energy industrial radiography form the bulk of this market, but these, as well as induction linacs, are now being offered for radiation processing applications such as sterilization of disposable medical products, food preservation and material modifications. The radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac has now made the ion linac also practical for commercial applications in medicine and industry, including radiation therapy, isotope production, neutron production, materials modification, and energy transfer processes. Ion linacs for several of these applications will soon be commercially available. The market for both ion and electron linacs is expected to significantly grow in several exciting and important areas

  5. Ethics of using language editing services in an era of digital communication and heavily multi-authored papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozano, George A

    2014-06-01

    Scientists of many countries in which English is not the primary language routinely use a variety of manuscript preparation, correction or editing services, a practice that is openly endorsed by many journals and scientific institutions. These services vary tremendously in their scope; at one end there is simple proof-reading, and at the other extreme there is in-depth and extensive peer-reviewing, proposal preparation, statistical analyses, re-writing and co-writing. In this paper, the various types of service are reviewed, along with authorship guidelines, and the question is raised of whether the high-end services surpass most guidelines' criteria for authorship. Three other factors are considered. First, the ease of collaboration possible in the internet era allows multiple iterations between the author(s) and the "editing service", so essentially, papers can be co-written. Second, "editing services" often offer subject-specific experts who comment not only on the language, but interpret and improve scientific content. Third, the trend towards heavily multi-authored papers implies that the threshold necessary to earn authorship is declining. The inevitable conclusion is that at some point the contributions by "editing services" should be deemed sufficient to warrant authorship. Trying to enforce any guidelines would likely be futile, but nevertheless, it might be time to revisit the ethics of using some of the high-end "editing services". In an increasingly international job market, awareness of this problem might prove increasingly important in authorship disputes, the allocation of research grants, and hiring decisions.

  6. Understanding the role and value of marketing communications by a regulated, monopoly firm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzek, Frederick J.

    2003-10-01

    Expenditures on advertising and other marketing efforts have been found to generate profits for the firm and savings for the consumer in competitive industries. However, prior research has not addressed the use of these practices by price-regulated monopolies such as electric utility companies. Surprisingly, many utilities spend substanstially on advertising and sales despite having a captive customer base. Moreover, a unique feature within electric utilities is that much utility advertising involves demarketing, with a view to lessen strain on the system and to help avoid situations demanding high-cost energy. In this context, I ask the following questions: Is spending on marketing by monopoly firms justified? Does the consumer pay a higher price for electricity because of marketing or do shareholders pay for it? Do such activities provide a net welfare benefit? Finally, do measurable differences in marketing expenditures exist along the continuum from heavily regulated to nearly competitive markets? I analyze data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and from the National Regulatory Research Institute. I find a significant positive relationship between advertising and net income, supporting the notion that advertising expenditures benefit the utility firm. I do not, however, find a significant relationship between marketing effort and consumer price, suggesting that consumers may not be bearing the expense of such practices. I also investigate the manner in which advertising improves net earnings. Speciifically, I find that advertising is negatively related to indirect expenses in this industry. Surprisingly, advertising is also negatively related to electricity consumption. Overall, the results suggest that advertising creates value by reducing indirect expenses without raising prices. These finds thus support the premise of a net welfare gain. Finally, I also find that progress toward deregulation and the level of advertising expenditures are

  7. Market review - Market values summary/July market review/current market data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    This article is the July 1995 uranium market review. Data for current uranium market is presented, and a summary of recent transactions is also given. During this reporting period, there was one concentrate deal, two transactions in the long-term natural uranium market and conversion market, and three spot market transactions in the enrichment market. Active uranium supply fell, as did demand, and prices in all sectors were relatively stable

  8. Medical planning and response for a nuclear detonation: a practical guide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman, C Norman; Adams, Steven; Adrianopoli, Carl; Ansari, Armin; Bader, Judith L; Buddemeier, Brooke; Caro, J Jaime; Casagrande, Rocco; Case, Cullen; Caspary, Kevin; Chang, Arthur S; Chang, H Florence; Chao, Nelson; Cliffer, Kenneth D; Confer, Dennis; Deitchman, Scott; Derenzo, Evan G; Dobbs, Allen; Dodgen, Daniel; Donnelly, Elizabeth H; Gorman, Susan; Grace, Marcy Beth; Hatchett, Richard; Hick, John L; Hrdina, Chad; Jones, Robert; Kane, Elleen; Knebel, Ann; Koerner, John F; Laffan, Alison M; Larson, Leon; Livinski, Alicia; Mackinney, John; Maidment, Bert W; Manning, Ronald; Marinissen, Maria J; Martin, Colleen; Michael, Gretchen; Murrain-Hill, Paula; Nemhauser, Jeffrey B; Norwood, Ann E; Nystrom, Scott; Raheem, Murad; Redlener, Irwin; Sheehan, Kevin; Simon, Steven L; Taylor, Tammy P; Toner, Eric; Wallace, Katherine S; Wieder, Jessica; Weinstock, David M; Wiley, Albert L; Yeskey, Kevin; Miller, Charles W; Whitcomb, Robert C

    2012-12-01

    This article summarizes major points from a newly released guide published online by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The article reviews basic principles about radiation and its measurement, short-term and long-term effects of radiation, and medical countermeasures as well as essential information about how to prepare for and respond to a nuclear detonation. A link is provided to the manual itself, which in turn is heavily referenced for readers who wish to have more detail.

  9. The Ukrainian Dental Market: Characteristics of Demand for Services in the Segment of Dental Implantation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slipchenko Tetiana O.

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The article is aimed at analyzing the market for dental services in Ukraine in the implantology segment, studying the demand factors for these services and developing a system of measures to manage the demand for dental implantation services. It has been proven that the market for dental services according to a complex of its attributes is more in line with the type of market of monopolistic competition. One of the promising ways of developing the dental market is to transform producers of dental services into the vertically integrated holdings. As one of the specific features of the dental services market is allocated the asymmetry of information, which leads to a conflict between the medical and economic interests of dentists. The price and non-price factors of demand for dental implantation services were determined, the prime cost structure of a dental service was analyzed. The characteristic attributes of a medical service have been defined as consistently defined actions or a complex of actions by medical personnel aimed at prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, which have a self-contained complete meaning and a certain price.

  10. A new form of nicotine retailers: a systematic review of the sales and marketing practices of vape shops.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Joseph G L; Orlan, Elizabeth N; Sewell, Kerry B; Ribisl, Kurt M

    2017-12-05

    Retailers that primarily or exclusively sell electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or vaping products represent a new category of tobacco retailer. We sought to identify (a) how vape shops can be identified and (b) sales and marketing practices of vape shops. A medical librarian iteratively developed a search strategy and in February 2017 searched seven academic databases (ABI/INFORM Complete, ECONLit, Embase, Entrepreneurship, PsycINFO, PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus). We hand searched Tobacco Regulatory Science and Tobacco Prevention & Cessation . We used dual, independent screening. Records were eligible if published in 2010 or later, were peer-reviewed journal articles and focused on vape shops. We used dual, independent data abstraction and assessed risk of bias. Of the 3605 records identified, 22 were included. We conducted a narrative systematic review. Researchers relied heavily on Yelp to identify vape shops. Vape shop owners use innovative marketing strategies that sometimes diverge from those of traditional tobacco retailers. Vape shop staff believe strongly that their products are effective harm-reduction products. Vape shops were more common in areas with more White residents. Vape shops represent a new type of retailer for tobacco products. Vape shops have potential to promote e-cigarettes for smoking cessation but also sometimes provide inaccurate information and mislabelled products. Given their spatial patterning, vape shops may perpetuate inequities in tobacco use. The growing literature on vape shops is complicated by researchers using different definitions of vape shops (eg, exclusively selling e-cigarettes vs also selling traditional tobacco products). © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  11. Medical device registration, agreements on mutual recognition - a step forward to global harmonization?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eidenberger, R.Reiner

    2000-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to give a short overview of some different regulations in Europe and the United States with regard to the clearance of medical devices and to give an outlook of what the Agreements on Mutual Recognition will bring in terms of Global Harmonization. Recent European legislation, the Council Directive 93/42/EEC of 14 June 1993 concerning medical devices (Medical Device Directive, MDD), requires that all medical devices placed on the European market bear the CE marking. From 14 June 1998, medical devices fall under the scope of this European Medical Device Directive and there is a harmonization within the European market. Similar to this, but for another market, are the USA FDA requirements, Premarket Approval (PMA) and Premarket notification (510(k)). The same medical device, the same goal - a safe product - but different legislation and thus duplication of registration procedures. The European Commission is presently discussing a series of agreements with third countries, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan and Eastern European countries wishing to join the EU, concerning the mutual acceptance of inspection bodies and, ultimately, proof of conformity (for example reports on examination, certificates, licenses and marks of conformity) in connection with medical devices. Meanwhile agreements with Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada came into force. (author)

  12. Harm promotion: observations on the symbiosis between government and private industries in Australasia for the development of highly accessible gambling markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingstone, Charles; Adams, Peter J

    2011-01-01

    To illustrate ways in which industry control over the gambling market and its regulatory system have enabled rapid proliferation in gambling consumption and harm. To discuss the relationship between government regulation and the accessibility, marketing and technologies of electronic gambling machines in Australia and New Zealand. The regulatory framework for gambling in both countries has encouraged highly accessible,regressively distributed and heavily marketed high-impact electronic gambling machines. This framework has developed in large part through the conjunction of government revenue needs and the adaptation of a folk model of gambling appropriated by gambling businesses and engineered to incorporate a discourse that legitimate their gambling businesses. Governments should be encouraged to invest in 'upstream' public health strategies that contain the economic and social drivers for intensifying gambling consumption. One key aspect involves questioning the most suitable scale, location and marketing of gambling operations, and the reliance of government on gambling revenues (whether directly or as substitution for other government expenditure). Technological solutions to disrupt the development of obsessive gambling habits are also available and are likely to reduce gambling-related harm.

  13. Near-Field Imaging of Free Carriers in ZnO Nanowires with a Scanning Probe Tip Made of Heavily Doped Germanium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakat, Emilie; Giliberti, Valeria; Bollani, Monica; Notargiacomo, Andrea; Pea, Marialilia; Finazzi, Marco; Pellegrini, Giovanni; Hugonin, Jean-Paul; Weber-Bargioni, Alexander; Melli, Mauro; Sassolini, Simone; Cabrini, Stefano; Biagioni, Paolo; Ortolani, Michele; Baldassarre, Leonetta

    2017-11-01

    A novel scanning probe tip made of heavily doped semiconductor is fabricated and used instead of standard gold-coated tips in infrared scattering-type near-field microscopy. Midinfrared near-field microscopy experiments are conducted on ZnO nanowires with a lateral resolution better than 100 nm, using tips made of heavily electron-doped germanium with a plasma frequency in the midinfrared (plasma wavelength of 9.5 μ m ). Nanowires embedded in a dielectric matrix are imaged at two wavelengths, 11.3 and 8.0 μ m , above and below the plasma wavelength of the tips. An opposite sign of the imaging contrasts between the nanowire and the dielectric matrix is observed at the two infrared wavelengths, indicating a clear role of the free-electron plasma in the heavily doped germanium tip in building the imaging contrast. Electromagnetic simulations with a multispherical dipole model accounting for the finite size of the tip are well consistent with the experiments. By comparison of the simulated and measured imaging contrasts, an estimate for the local free-carrier density in the investigated ZnO nanowires in the low 1019 cm-3 range is retrieved. The results are benchmarked against the scattering intensity and phase maps obtained on the same sample with a gold-coated probe tip in pseudoheterodyne detection mode.

  14. Mexico´s Energy Reform : an analysis of the market, new policy and integration of renewable energy for economic and sustainable development

    OpenAIRE

    Favela, Alfredo Rojas

    2016-01-01

    In the framework of the approved Energy Reform in 2013, Mexico puts an end to seven decades of centralized control of the energy and electricity markets within the government through the State governed companies CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) and PEMEX (Mexican Oil). During the largest part of last century and the beginning of the current, the Mexican government relied heavily on the revenues generated by PEMEX through the sale of oil to foreign countries and tax revenues...

  15. Viva Voce (Oral Examination) as an Assessment Method: Insights from Marketing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearce, Glenn; Lee, Geoffrey

    2009-01-01

    Viva voce (viva) or oral examinations are widely used in medical education, clinical examinations, and doctoral defenses, yet the assessment method is seldom adopted by university marketing departments. Correspondingly, the marketing education literature makes no reference to vivas as an alternative academic assessment technique. This research…

  16. The impact of medical tourism and the code of medical ethics on advertisement in Nigeria

    OpenAIRE

    Makinde, Olusesan Ayodeji; Brown, Brandon; Olaleye, Olalekan

    2014-01-01

    Advances in management of clinical conditions are being made in several resource poor countries including Nigeria. Yet, the code of medical ethics which bars physician and health practices from advertising the kind of services they render deters these practices. This is worsened by the incursion of medical tourism facilitators (MTF) who continue to market healthcare services across countries over the internet and social media thereby raising ethical questions. A significant review of the adve...

  17. New marketing, improved marketing, apocryphal marketing: is one marketing concept enough?

    OpenAIRE

    Woodall, T

    2007-01-01

    PURPOSE – This paper seeks to explore marketing's ambiguous relationship with truth and, in so doing, to question the efficacy and value of the marketing concept and the very nature of marketing itself. Is marketing something that marketers do, or is it something much broader than this? If the latter, are marketers themselves either willing, or able to operate beyond traditional boundaries and, if not, should they focus – honourably – on what they do best, and encourage/support others who mig...

  18. Use of marijuana for medical purposes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarosław Pinkas

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Cannabis is the most popular illicit drug on the European market. Over 16 million young Europeans have used it at least once in the last few years. The recent trends in the consumption of marihuana differ between countries. Some countries face an increase in the prevalence of cannabis use, including Poland, where the level cannabis use has been systematically increasing since the 1990’s. According to a recent ESPAD study, 19% of Polish adolescents aged 15–16 have used cannabis in the last year. Marihuana is also a leading substance when analyzing the data of seizures and crimes. The recent EMCDDA Annual report on the drug situation in Europe notes the increasing potency in cannabis available on the market. Some countries face an increasing number of emergencies caused by marihuana, which was unlikely to have happened previously. In almost all European countries there is an ongoing discussion about loosening marijuana laws or its complete legalization. There is also ongoing discussion on the use of marihuana in therapy as a medicine. Many scientific studies are being conducted in this field. Some of the results are promising; however, there is no well-designed human trial which would unequivocally confirm that medical cannabis is effective as a medicine, or more effective than other medicines on the market. The problem is that the debate on the medical use of marihuana becomes more ideological and less professional. The medical use of marihuana is strongly supported by organizations lobbying for the legalization of cannabis use. Research on the medical use of cannabis should be continued, as there are some promising results supporting therapy in different medical conditions. However, the use of cannabis as a medicine should be discussed only among professionals. If marihuana is to be used for medical purposes, the fact that it is the most popular illicit drug in Europe is irrelevant.

  19. The Supply of Medical Radioisotopes. 2015 Medical Isotope Supply Review: 99Mo/99mTc Market Demand and Production Capacity Projection 2015-2020

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charlton, Kevin; )

    2015-08-01

    Medical diagnostic imaging techniques using technetium-99m ( 99m Tc) account for approximately 80% of all nuclear medicine procedures, representing 30-40 million examinations Worldwide every year. Disruptions in the supply chain of these medical isotopes - which have half-lives of 66 hours for molybdenum-99 ( 99 Mo) and only 6 hours for 99m Tc, and thus must be produced continuously - can lead to cancellations or delays in important medical testing services. Unfortunately, supply reliability has been challenged over the past decade due to unexpected shutdowns and extended refurbishment periods at some of the mostly ageing, 99 Mo-producing research reactors and processing facilities. These shutdowns have at times created conditions for extended global supply shortages (e.g. 2009-2010). At the request of its member countries, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) became involved in global efforts to ensure a secure supply of 99 Mo/ 99m Tc. Since June 2009, the NEA and its High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR) have examined the causes of supply shortages and developed a policy approach, including principles and supporting recommendations to address those causes. The NEA has also reviewed the global 99 Mo supply situation periodically, using the most up-to-date data available from supply chain participants, to highlight periods of potential reduced supply and to underscore the case for implementing the HLG-MR policy approach in a timely and globally consistent manner. In 2012, the NEA released a M o supply and demand forecast up to 2030, identifying periods of potential low supply relative to demand. That 2012 forecast was updated with a report 'Medical Isotope Supply in the Future: Production Capacity and Demand Forecast for the 99 Mo/ 99m Tc Market 2015-2020' (NEA, 2014) in 2014 that focused on the much shorter 2015-2020 period. This report updates the 2014 report, and continues to focus on the potentially critical 2015

  20. Radiation processing and market economy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zagorski, Z.P.

    1998-01-01

    In the system of totalitarian economy, regulated by bureaucracy, the real value of equipment, materials and services is almost completely unknown, what makes impossible the comparison of different technologies, eliminates competition, disturbs research and development. With introduction of market economy in Central and Eastern Europe, the radiation processing has lost doubtful support, becoming an independent business, subject to laws of free market economy. Only the most valuable objects of processing have survived that test. At the top of the list are: radiation sterilization of medical equipment and radiation induced crosslinking of polymers, polyethylene in particular. New elements of competition has entered the scene, as well as questions of international regulations and standards have appeared

  1. Pros and cons of marketing technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacStravic, R S

    1988-10-01

    For years, high technologies have provided hospitals with marketing advantages. Hospitals used them to recruit and keep physicians and to lure patients and purchasers. Having the latest technology in a given field provided hospitals with status and prestige and enabled smaller facilities to compete with major medical centers. From a marketing point of view, technologies can produce four distinct effects that benefit the hospital: halo, monopoly, opportunity, and momentum effects. The best technology, from a competitive marketing viewpoint, meets the following criteria: The hospital can operate it at acceptable and, hopefully, competitive quality levels. The hospital can offer it at acceptable and, hopefully, competitive cost. It is sufficiently accessible to patients who need it. It gives the hospital a distinct competence in its market that can be preserved for a long time. But technology can become a risky business if: The hospital cannot attract the volume of patients needed to maintain quality. The low-volume hospital prices itself out of the competitive market. The new technology has undisclosed or undiscovered side effects. The technology is recruited by a competitor. Hospitals place more value on it than do their customers.

  2. Formulation and evaluation of a montelukast sodium orally disintegrating tablet with a similar dissolution profile as the marketed product.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yong; Feng, Tingting; Li, Yong; Du, Bin; Weng, Weiyu

    2017-03-01

    A major challenge of orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) development is predicting its bioequivalence to its corresponding marketed product. Therefore, comparing ODT dissolution profiles to those of the corresponding marketed product is very important. The objective of this study was to develop a 5.2-mg montelukast sodium (MS) ODT with a similar dissolution profile to that of the marketed chewable tablet. Dissolution profiles were examined in different media to screen each formulation. We found that MS dissolution from ODTs in acidic medium heavily depended on manufacturing methods. All MS ODTs prepared using direct compression rapidly disintegrated in acidic medium. However, dispersed MS powders aggregated into sticky masses, resulting in slow dissolution. In contrast, MS ODTs prepared using wet granulation had much faster dissolution rates in acidic medium with no obvious aggregation. Additionally, the optimized formulation, prepared using wet granulation, displayed similar dissolution profiles to the marketed reference in all four types of media examined (f 2  >   50). The in vitro disintegration time of the optimized ODT was 9.5 ± 2.4 s, which meets FDA requirements. In conclusion, the wet granulation preparation method of MS ODTs resulted in a product with equivalent dissolution profiles as those of the marketed product.

  3. Classification and evaluation of medical devices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edina Vranić

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Medical devices and medical disposables contribute significantly to the quality and effectiveness of the health care system. It is necessary to commit scientifically sound regulatory environment that will provide consumers with the best medical care. This includes continued services to small manufacturers, readily available guidance on FDA requirements, predictable and reasonable response times on applications for marketing, and equitable enforcement. But in the public interest, this commitment to the industry must be coupled with a reciprocal commitment: that medical device firms will meet high standards in the design, manufacture, and evaluation of their products. The protections afforded our consumer, and the benefits provided the medical device industry, cannot be underestimated.

  4. The global nuclear fuel market - supply and demand 1995-2015

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keese, H.; Kidd, S.

    1996-01-01

    The findings and main conclusions of the 1996 supply and demand report of the Uranium Institute are summarised. The previous report was published in June 1994. In 1994 and 1995, world uranium production remained at a relatively depressed level, accounting for just over half reactor requirements only. Since mid 1995, however, some increase in production has occurred alongside rises in uranium spot market prices. This may indicate that supply is becoming tighter and indicate the end of the perception that supply availability is unlimited. Answers are attempted to the questions about the future which arise from this development. Nuclear power is first set in the context of the market for energy and for electricity in particular. The report then identifies key issues for the longer term future for nuclear power and considers various aspects of nuclear fuel supply and demand over the next 20 years. Three demand scenarios are explored. Even in the lower requirements case, the overall conclusion is that supply will only meet demand from 2002 onwards when all the projected new mine capacity is in place. Adequate supply is heavily dependent on other supply sources in the higher case scenarios. The market will need the entry of blended down high enriched uranium from dismantled weapons and an increased contribution from the reprocessing of spent fuel. Additional primary production is only likely if financial incentives are available and the regulatory framework permits. Finally, there is the possibility of re-enriching depleted uranium. (9 figures). (UK)

  5. A conditional extreme value theory approach in value-at-risk forecasting: Evidence from Southeastern Europe and USA market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Totić Selena

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available As a consequence of the recent financial crisis, the adequacy of different Value-at-Risk (VaR methodologies was heavily questioned. Current practice in VaR assessment relies on modeling the whole distribution of returns. As an alternative, in this paper we model tail behavior of returns, and thus VaR, using conditional Extreme Value Theory (EVT, which combines EVT and GARCH methodology. Moreover, we examine the performance of conditional EVT with the daily returns of seven stock market indices, of which six are from Southeastern Europe (BelexLine, BET, BUX, CROBEX, SBITOP, SOFIX from the period of September 2004 - April 2013, and one from USA market (Standard&Poors 500 Index from the period January 1998 - April 2013. Backtesting of historical daily returns proves that conditional EVT model gives good predictions for all indices and for all confidence levels.

  6. A social work plan to promote HIV testing: A social marketing approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan-Siebe, J P

    2017-03-01

    Many people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) do not know that they are infected. It is important for infected persons to get tested for HIV in order to be diagnosed and medically treated. HIV has no known cure, but it can be controlled and sometimes prevented with proper medical care. The social work profession has ideal positioning to be extraordinarily helpful in work that promotes HIV testing, leading to reducing then eliminating new HIV diagnoses. Social marketing interventions, along with audience segmenting are explained. Specific attention is given to two separate subjects-minority health disparities and impulsive and/or sensation seeking sex practices-to showcase the versatility of social marketing in the promotion of HIV testing. Further ideas about how social workers can participate in these interprofessional social marketing campaigns are provided.

  7. Measurement of surface recombination velocity on heavily doped indium phosphide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jenkins, P.; Ghalla-Goradia, M.; Faur, M.; Bailey, S.

    1990-01-01

    The controversy surrounding the published low values of surface recombination velocity (SRV) in n-InP, solidified in recent years when modeling of existing n/p InP solar cells revealed that the front surface SRV had to be higher than 1 x 10 6 cm/sec in order to justify the poor blue response that is characteristic of all n/p InP solar cells. In this paper, SRV on heavily doped (>10 18 cm -3 )n-type and p-type InP is measured as a function of surface treatment. For the limited range of substrates and surface treatments studied, SRV and surface stability depend strongly on the surface treatment. SRVs of ∼10 5 cm/sec in both p-type and n-type InP are obtainable, but in n-type the low SRV surfaces were unstable, and the only stable surfaces on n-type had SRVs of >10 6 cm/sec

  8. Heavily-doped 2D-quantized structures and the Einstein relation

    CERN Document Server

    Ghatak, Kamakhya P

    2015-01-01

    This book presents the Einstein Relation(ER) in two-dimensional (2-D) Heavily Doped(HD) Quantized Structures. The materials considered are quantized structures of HD non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V, Bismuth Telluride together with various types of HD superlattices and their Quantized counterparts respectively. The ER in HD opto-electronic materials and their nanostructures is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestion for the experimental determination of HD 2D and 3D ERs and the importance of measurement of band gap in HD optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nanodevices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring photon induced physical properties) are also discussed in this context. The influence of crossed electric and quantizing ma...

  9. Vaporous Marketing: Uncovering Pervasive Electronic Cigarette Advertisements on Twitter.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric M Clark

    Full Text Available Twitter has become the "wild-west" of marketing and promotional strategies for advertisement agencies. Electronic cigarettes have been heavily marketed across Twitter feeds, offering discounts, "kid-friendly" flavors, algorithmically generated false testimonials, and free samples.All electronic cigarette keyword related tweets from a 10% sample of Twitter spanning January 2012 through December 2014 (approximately 850,000 total tweets were identified and categorized as Automated or Organic by combining a keyword classification and a machine trained Human Detection algorithm. A sentiment analysis using Hedonometrics was performed on Organic tweets to quantify the change in consumer sentiments over time. Commercialized tweets were topically categorized with key phrasal pattern matching.The overwhelming majority (80% of tweets were classified as automated or promotional in nature. The majority of these tweets were coded as commercialized (83.65% in 2013, up to 33% of which offered discounts or free samples and appeared on over a billion twitter feeds as impressions. The positivity of Organic (human classified tweets has decreased over time (5.84 in 2013 to 5.77 in 2014 due to a relative increase in the negative words 'ban', 'tobacco', 'doesn't', 'drug', 'against', 'poison', 'tax' and a relative decrease in the positive words like 'haha', 'good', 'cool'. Automated tweets are more positive than organic (6.17 versus 5.84 due to a relative increase in the marketing words like 'best', 'win', 'buy', 'sale', 'health', 'discount' and a relative decrease in negative words like 'bad', 'hate', 'stupid', 'don't'.Due to the youth presence on Twitter and the clinical uncertainty of the long term health complications of electronic cigarette consumption, the protection of public health warrants scrutiny and potential regulation of social media marketing.

  10. Vaporous Marketing: Uncovering Pervasive Electronic Cigarette Advertisements on Twitter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Chris A.; Williams, Jake Ryland; Kurti, Allison N.; Norotsky, Mitchell Craig; Danforth, Christopher M.; Dodds, Peter Sheridan

    2016-01-01

    Background Twitter has become the “wild-west” of marketing and promotional strategies for advertisement agencies. Electronic cigarettes have been heavily marketed across Twitter feeds, offering discounts, “kid-friendly” flavors, algorithmically generated false testimonials, and free samples. Methods All electronic cigarette keyword related tweets from a 10% sample of Twitter spanning January 2012 through December 2014 (approximately 850,000 total tweets) were identified and categorized as Automated or Organic by combining a keyword classification and a machine trained Human Detection algorithm. A sentiment analysis using Hedonometrics was performed on Organic tweets to quantify the change in consumer sentiments over time. Commercialized tweets were topically categorized with key phrasal pattern matching. Results The overwhelming majority (80%) of tweets were classified as automated or promotional in nature. The majority of these tweets were coded as commercialized (83.65% in 2013), up to 33% of which offered discounts or free samples and appeared on over a billion twitter feeds as impressions. The positivity of Organic (human) classified tweets has decreased over time (5.84 in 2013 to 5.77 in 2014) due to a relative increase in the negative words ‘ban’, ‘tobacco’, ‘doesn’t’, ‘drug’, ‘against’, ‘poison’, ‘tax’ and a relative decrease in the positive words like ‘haha’, ‘good’, ‘cool’. Automated tweets are more positive than organic (6.17 versus 5.84) due to a relative increase in the marketing words like ‘best’, ‘win’, ‘buy’, ‘sale’, ‘health’, ‘discount’ and a relative decrease in negative words like ‘bad’, ‘hate’, ‘stupid’, ‘don’t’. Conclusions Due to the youth presence on Twitter and the clinical uncertainty of the long term health complications of electronic cigarette consumption, the protection of public health warrants scrutiny and potential regulation of social media

  11. The Creation and Non-Creation of Markets in Reproductive Cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herrmann, Janne Rothmar

    of gender equality this is a paradox. The buying and selling of sperm is supported and facilitated through the law but the buying and selling of eggs is not. But why is that and how is this paradox legitimized? Using Danish law and policy I want to demonstrate how markets in frozen reproductive cells...... that dictated that donated sperm should be frozen and not fresh. The use of donated sperm was also seen as a small and necessary part in providing a treatment that replaced a natural function. So, in the early days, sperm from different donors was mixed with sperm from the male of the couple being treated...... and the market in sperm was largely left to develop without much regulatory interest. It was something that pertained to the medical domain, and the legislator at that time had been very reluctant to regulate medical issues. In the case of the non-creation of a market in frozen eggs, it seems that in the debates...

  12. [Marketing in health service--a necessity or a temporary whim?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dworzański, Wojciech; Dworzańska, Anna; Niezabitowska, Ewa; Czerwonka, Maciej; Madej, Barbara; Burdan, Franciszek

    2012-01-01

    Permanent changes occurring in economy and politics, open borders, a greater number of people with higher education as well as growing social awareness concerning taking care of health are followed by changes in healthcare sector. In response to an increased social demand, new medical institutions are being founded. They offer their patients a vast array of services ranging from therapeutic to preventive and highly specialized procedures improving their standard of living. In order to attract regular patients, and therefore receive regular income, it is necessary to stabilize such institutions on services market. It can be achieved by numerous marketing tools which, when applied appropriately, enable to create a positive image of a medical institution.

  13. LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ORADEA STUDENTS. EXPLORATIVE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hatos Roxana

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In the life of any young person, entering the labour market is one of the most important events. It can be an easy process or, on the contrary, it may be marked by many constraints and opportunities. The labour market for young graduates is different depending on the country in which he lives. Young labour market insertion can occur both after and during school graduation. He or she becomes, in the latter situation, an insider in the labour market. Many countries are reforming their education systems to provide their citizens with knowledge and skills that enable them to meet social and economic challenges of the society. Countries vary significantly from each other in their economic, socio-demographic and institutional characteristics. Our study focuses on the analysis of the University of Oradea graduates in the last four years. The sample includes 529 respondents from different academic specializations both BA and MA level. In this context, in our analysis we have 38% MA graduates and 62% BA graduates, of which 39% married and the remaining 61% unmarried. Of the total sample 78% have a job. More than half of the subjects (53,5% considered as good or very good the professional training provided by the UO. Validating our hypotheses, the correlation of field of study with the domain of the current job is higher in the case of MA level graduates and, moreover, it predicts the level of satisfaction of our subjects with the development opportunities (personal and professional provided by the educational programs of the University. It is clear, therefore, that MA graduates are more grateful to the University performance than BA degrees holders. It is proven, that the assessment of the academic programs on behalf of graduates depends heavily on their successful integration in the labor market. The limits of the study are

  14. A Study to Restructure the Marketing Plan at Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Georgia

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-02-01

    term plan. The components are the audit, market segmentation, marketing mix , implementation, evaluation and control. Dienemann and Wintz (1992) state...discuss the marketing mix as a separate element in their marketing plan and also use different terminology for two of the P’s. 17 They use in lieu of...definition of the marketing mix under the component of StrateQies does much to explain the four separate elements of the mix but does not state the

  15. Risk Management Post-Marketing Surveillance for the Abuse of Medications Acting on the Central Nervous System: Expert Panel Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johanson, Chris-Ellyn; Balster, Robert L.; Henningfield, Jack E.; Schuster, Charles R.; Anthony, James C.; Barthwell, Andrea G.; Coleman, John J.; Dart, Richard C.; Gorodetzky, Charles W.; O’Keeffe, Charles; Sellers, Edward M.; Vocci, Frank; Walsh, Sharon L.

    2010-01-01

    The abuse and diversion of medications is a significant public health problem. This paper is part of a supplemental issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence focused on the development of risk management plans and post-marketing surveillance related to minimizing this problem. The issue is based on a conference that was held in October, 2008. An Expert Panel was formed to provide a summary of the conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the meeting involving drug abuse experts, regulators and other government agencies, pharmaceutical companies and professional and other non-governmental organizations. This paper provides a written report of this Expert Panel. Eleven conclusions and eleven recommendations emerged concerning the state of the art of this field of research, the regulatory and public health implications and recommendations for future directions. It is concluded that special surveillance tools are needed to detect the emergence of medication abuse in a timely manner and that risk management tools can be implemented to increase the benefit to risk ratio. The scientific basis for both the surveillance and risk management tools is in its infancy, yet progress needs to be made. It is also important that the unintended consequences of increased regulation and the imposition of risk management plans be minimized. PMID:19783383

  16. Contextual inquiry for medical device design

    CERN Document Server

    Privitera, Mary Beth

    2015-01-01

    Contextual Inquiry for Medical Device Design helps users understand the everyday use of medical devices and the way their usage supports the development of better products and increased market acceptance. The text explains the concept of contextual inquiry using real-life examples to illustrate its application. Case studies provide a frame of reference on how contextual inquiry is successfully used during product design, ultimately producing safer, improved medical devices. Presents the ways contextual inquiry can be used to inform the evaluation and business case of technologyHelps users

  17. Chronic Disease Prevalence and Medicare Advantage Market Penetration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernell, Stephanie Lazarus; Casim, Faizan M.; Wilmott, Jennifer; Pearson, Lindsey; Byler, Caitlin M.; Zhang, Zidong

    2015-01-01

    By March 2015, 30% of all Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Research to date has not explored the impacts of MA market penetration on individual or population health outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationships between MA market penetration and the beneficiary’s portfolio of cardiometabolic diagnoses. This study uses 2004 to 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component data to construct an aggregate index that captures multiple diagnoses in one outcome measure (Chronic Disease Severity Index [CDSI]). The MEPS data for 8089 Medicare beneficiaries are merged with MA market penetration data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Ordinary least squares regressions are run with SAS 9.3 to model the effects of MA market penetration on CDSI. The results suggest that each percentage increase in MA market penetration is associated with a greater than 2-point decline in CDSI (lower burden of cardiometabolic chronic disease). Spill-over effects may be driving improvements in the cardiometabolic health of beneficiary populations in counties with elevated levels of MA market penetration. PMID:28462266

  18. The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maresova P

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Petra Maresova,1 Marek Penhaker,1,2 Ali Selamat,1,3 Kamil Kuca1,41Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic; 2Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Technical University of Ostrava, Poruba, Czech Republic; 3Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; 4Center for Biomedical Research, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech RepublicAbstract: The high quality of public health improves not only healthy life expectancy, but also the productivity of labor. The most important part of the health care sector is the medical technology industry. The aim of this study is to analyze the current situation in the medical device industry in Europe, its potential strengths and weaknesses in the context of topical economic and demographic development. The contribution specifies an analysis of the economic state of the medical device industry in the context of demographic development of European Union’s macroeconomic indicators and views of experts in the field of medical device development, concerning the opportunities for entities involved in the medical device market. There is fierce competition on the European market. The innovative activity is stable and well regulated by responsible authorities. Worldwide, the medical device market is expected to grow.Keywords: technology context, medical device, Europe, expenditure, review

  19. Marine reserves and reproductive biomass: a case study of a heavily targeted reef fish.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brett M Taylor

    Full Text Available Recruitment overfishing (the reduction of a spawning stock past a point at which the stock can no longer replenish itself is a common problem which can lead to a rapid and irreversible fishery collapse. Averting this disaster requires maintaining a sufficient spawning population to buffer stochastic fluctuations in recruitment of heavily harvested stocks. Optimal strategies for managing spawner biomass are well developed for temperate systems, yet remain uncertain for tropical fisheries, where the danger of collapse from recruitment overfishing looms largest. In this study, we explored empirically and through modeling, the role of marine reserves in maximizing spawner biomass of a heavily exploited reef fish, Lethrinus harak around Guam, Micronesia. On average, spawner biomass was 16 times higher inside the reserves compared with adjacent fished sites. Adult density and habitat-specific mean fish size were also significantly greater. We used these data in an age-structured population model to explore the effect of several management scenarios on L. harak demography. Under minimum-size limits, unlimited extraction and all rotational-closure scenarios, the model predicts that preferential mortality of larger and older fish prompt dramatic declines in spawner biomass and the proportion of male fish, as well as considerable declines in total abundance. For rotational closures this occurred because of the mismatch between the scales of recovery and extraction. Our results highlight how alternative management scenarios fall short in comparison to marine reserves in preserving reproductively viable fish populations on coral reefs.

  20. A Two-Sided Market Model of Optimal Price Structure for Instant Messenger

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Xu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Instant messenger (IM is one of the most popular Internet applications all over the world. This paper examines the pricing problem of IM based on two-sided market model. IM serves as a two-sided platform, which gets both Internet users and advertisers on board. This paper concludes that IM operator adopts a heavily skewed price structure that favors IM users both under monopolistic case and under horizontal differentiated duopolistic case. When advertising revenue is large enough relatively to marginal cost for serving IM users, IM users can enjoy free service provided by IM operators. The competitive equilibrium of duopolistic case is not necessarily symmetric when advertisers choose singlehoming. Even in the symmetric equilibrium platform would rather deter all advertisers.

  1. Efficiency of Management and Marketing Strategies within The Dental Office

    OpenAIRE

    Oprea Valentin BUSU; Elena Cristina ANDREI

    2017-01-01

    This article is based on research about the management and marketing strategies within the dental office and how we can better understand its importance. One of the major problems faced by dentists today is the management of the dental office. Certainly, from the outside, individuals perceive the dentist's office as a simple medical unit in which medical staff operate. However, people living in the field face each day multiple problems of both medical and bureaucratic nature. For the dentist/...

  2. Impacts of policy and market incentives for solid waste recycling in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matter, Anne; Ahsan, Mehedi; Marbach, Michelle; Zurbrügg, Christian

    2015-05-01

    Solid waste mismanagement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, illustrates a well-known market failure which can be summarized as: waste is a resource in the wrong place. Inorganic materials such as plastic or paper can be used to feed the demand for recycled materials in the industrial sector. Organic materials can be converted and used in the nutrient-starved agricultural sector which is currently heavily depending on chemical fertilizers. They are also a feedstock to generate renewable energy in the form of biogas for this energy-starved country relying on diminishing natural gas reserves and increasing import of coal. Reality however does not capitalize on this potential; instead the waste is a burden for municipal authorities who spend large portions of their budgets attempting to transport it out of the city for discharge into landfills. The major part of these materials still remains uncollected in the residential areas and is discarded indiscriminately in open spaces, polluting the residents' living environment including water, soil and air resources, in the city and beyond. Bangladeshi authorities have, to some extent, recognized this market failure and have developed policies to encourage the development of waste recycling activities. It is also important to note that this market failure is only partial: a large, mostly informal recycling sector has developed in Bangladesh, focusing on inorganic recyclables of market value. The fact that this sector remains largely informal means that these actors perceive significant barriers to formalization. Comparatively, the organic waste recycling sector is less driven by market mechanisms. Competition from chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels is fierce and hinders the development of market opportunities for compost and renewable energy. Nevertheless commercial production of compost and biogas from organic municipal waste is formalized and benefiting from policy incentives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Natural gas in the Asian Pacific region: market behavior and the Japanese electricity market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jonsson, Bo

    2001-04-01

    This dissertation consists of four main chapters, all related to the Asian Pacific natural gas market, and the role of the Japanese electricity sector. The natural gas market in Asia Pacific is heavily dependent on the demand from Japan, which imports around 75% of the gas traded as LNG (liquefied natural gas) in the region. The demand for natural gas in Japan is, in turn, almost exclusively driven by the electricity industry that consumes around 70 % of the imported natural gas. On the supply side we find seller concentrations with only six countries exporting LNG in the region. The first main chapter analyzes the market structure of the Asian Pacific natural gas market, the next two relate to the usage of natural gas in the Japanese fossil-fueled electricity production, and the final study investigates the demand for electricity in the residential sector in Japan. The first chapter argues that the buyers in Japan, through cooperation, have the potential to exert the market power that their large market share provides them with. This could be offset by the monopoly power that the six present sellers have. In the chapter four, the solutions for the four imperfect competition cases of, monoposony, monopoly, bilateral monopoly, and the Cournot model are simulated. Neither of the model solutions comes close to both the actual market price, and the actual gas volumes. The model that best mimics the actual price is the bilateral monopoly model, while the monoposony model comes closest to the actual volumes. Giving some mixed evidence of how the Asian LNG market works. Given the indication of market power, the second study analyzes the fossil-fuel mix efficiency in the power sector in Japan. If the power sector is able to exert the alleged market power, it may be the case that they minimize costs according to shadow prices instead of actual market prices. Such behavior could cause the fossil-fuel mix used for power generation to be inefficient. The analysis is based on a

  4. Viewpoint: the elephant in medical professionalism's kitchen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hafferty, Fred

    2006-10-01

    The rise of the corporation within health care during the 1980s and early 1990s was met by organized medicine with a deluge of editorials, articles, and books that identified a singular enemy--commercialism--and depicted it as corrosive of, and antithetical to, medical professionalism. Medicine's ire proved prognostic as scores of highly publicized corporate-medical scandals began to crater the landscape of a rapidly emerging "medical marketplace." Medicine's main weapon in this counteroffensive was a renewed call to medical professionalism. Numerous organizations hosted conferences and underwrote initiatives to define, measure, and ultimately inculcate professionalism as a core medical competency. Nonetheless, an examination of medicine's overall response to the threat of commercialism reveals inconsistencies and schisms between these praiseworthy efforts and a parallel absence of action at the community practitioner and peer-review levels. The most recent salvo in this war on commercialism is a policy proposal by influential medical leaders who call for an end to the market incentives linking academic health centers and medical schools with industry. These forthright proposals nevertheless appear once again not to address the heartbeat of professional social control: community-based peer review, including a vigorous and proactive role by state medical boards. The author concludes by examining the implications of a professionalism bereft of peer review and explores the societal-level responsibilities of organized medicine to protect, nurture, and expand the role of the physician to maintain the values and ideals of professionalism against the countervailing social forces of the free market and bureaucracy.

  5. 2011 Vehicle Technologies Market Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Davis, Stacy Cagle [ORNL; Boundy, Robert Gary [ORNL; Diegel, Susan W [ORNL

    2012-02-01

    This report details the major trends in U.S. light-duty vehicle and medium/heavy truck markets as well as the underlying trends that caused them. This report is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy s (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program (VTP), and, in accord with its mission, pays special attention to the progress of high-efficiency and alternative-fuel technologies. This third edition since this report was started in 2008 offers several marked improvements relative to its predecessors. Most significantly, where earlier editions of this report focused on supplying information through an examination of market drivers, new vehicle trends, and supplier data, this edition uses a different structure. After opening with a discussion of energy and economics, this report features a section each on the light-duty vehicle and heavy/medium truck markets, and concluding with a section each on technology and policy. In addition to making this sectional re-alignment, this year s edition of the report also takes a different approach to communicating information. While previous editions relied heavily on text accompanied by auxiliary figures, this third edition relies primarily on charts and graphs to communicate trends. Any accompanying text serves to introduce the trends communication by the graphic and highlight any particularly salient observations. The opening section on Energy and Economics discusses the role of transportation energy and vehicle markets on a national (and even international) scale. For example, Figures 11 through 13 discuss the connections between global oil prices and U.S. GDP, and Figures 20 and 21 show U.S. employment in the automotive sector. The following section examines Light-Duty Vehicle use, markets, manufacture, and supply chains. Figures 26 through 33 offer snapshots of major light-duty vehicle brands in the U.S. and Figures 38 through 43 examine the performance and efficiency characteristics of vehicles sold. The discussion of Medium and

  6. The legal and economic forces that will shape the international market for cybersurgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLean, Thomas R

    2006-12-01

    Despite the common use of medical devices most health care providers have little understanding how a device alters medical malpractice litigation. Such knowledge will be increasingly valuable as cybersurgery (i.e. remote robotic surgery) becomes routine. Review of the laws governing products and telecommunication liability. Litigation after cybersurgery will be complex. In addition to being able to sue physicians and hospitals, patients who sustain an adverse outcome after cybersurgery will have the potential to sue the robotic manufacturer and telecommunication company. Robotics manufacturers can obtain virtual immunity from liability if they elected to place their devices on the market after obtaining [see text]360 per-market approval from the FDA. However, because [see text]360 pre-market approval is expensive and time consuming most medical devices on the market (including the robotic surgical instruments) do not have immunity to products liability. Consequently, after an adverse cybersurgical outcome a manufacturer of a robotic surgical instrument faces liability for failure to warn, design defects, and failure to properly manufacture. As for telecommunication providers, existing law provides them with immunity from liability. Litigation following cybersurgery will involve multiple defendants who are likely to use "finger pointing" defenses. Accordingly, there will be liability traps associated with providing cybersurgery. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Child-directed marketing inside and on the exterior of fast food restaurants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam; Isgor, Zeynep; Rimkus, Leah; Powell, Lisa M; Barker, Dianne C; Chaloupka, Frank J

    2015-01-01

    Children who eat fast food have poor diet and health outcomes. Fast food is heavily marketed to youth, and exposure to such marketing is associated with higher fast food consumption. To examine the extent of child-directed marketing (CDM) inside and on the exterior of fast food restaurants. Data were collected from 6,716 fast food restaurants located in a nationally representative sample of public middle- and high-school enrollment areas in 2010, 2011, and 2012. CDM was defined as the presence of one or more of seven components inside or on the exterior of the restaurant. Analyses were conducted in 2014. More than 20% of fast food restaurants used CDM inside or on their exterior. In multivariate analyses, fast food restaurants that were part of a chain, offered kids' meals, were located in middle- (compared to high)-income neighborhoods, and in rural (compared to urban) areas had significantly higher odds of using any CDM; chain restaurants and those located in majority black neighborhoods (compared to white) had significantly higher odds of having an indoor display of kids' meal toys. Compared to 2010, there was a significant decline in use of CDM in 2011, but the prevalence increased close to the 2010 level in 2012. CDM inside and on the exterior of fast food restaurants is prevalent in chain restaurants; majority black communities, rural areas, and middle-income communities are disproportionately exposed. The fast food industry should limit children's exposure to marketing that promotes unhealthy food choices. Copyright © 2015 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. "Modern medical science and the divine providence of god": rethinking the place of religion in postwar U.S. medical history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golden, Janet; Abel, Emily K

    2014-10-01

    Drawing on a large cache of letters to John and Frances Gunther after the death of their son as well as memoirs and fiction by bereaved parents, this essay challenges the assumptions of secularization that infuse histories of twentieth-century American medicine. Many parents who experienced the death of children during the postwar period relied heavily on religion to help make sense of the tragedies medicine could not prevent. Parental accounts included expression of belief in divine intervention and the power of prayer, gratitude for God's role in minimizing suffering, confidence in the existence of an afterlife, and acceptance of the will of God. Historians seeking to understand how parents and families understood both the delivery of medical care and the cultural authority of medical science must integrate an understanding of religious experiences and faith into their work. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Quality of information accompanying on-line marketing of home diagnostic tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Adrija K; Selman, Tara J; Kwok, Tony; Tang, Teresa; Khan, Khalid S

    2008-01-01

    To assess the quality of information provided to consumers by websites marketing medical home diagnostic tests. A cross-sectional analysis of a database developed from searching targeted websites. Data sources were websites written in English which marketed medical home diagnostic tests. A meta-search engine was used to identify the first 20 citations for each type of home diagnostic medical test. Relevant websites limited to those written in English were reviewed independently and in triplicate, with disputes resolved by two further reviewers. Information on the quality of these sites was extracted using a pre-piloted performer. 168 websites were suitable for inclusion in the review. The quality of these sites showed marked variation. Only 24 of 168 (14.2%) complied with at least three-quarters of the quality items and just over half (95 of 168, 56.5%) reported official approval or certification of the test. Information on accuracy of the test marketed was reported by 87 of 168 (51.7%) websites, with 15 of 168 (8.9%) providing a scientific reference. Instructions for use of the product were found in 97 of 168 (57.9%). However, the course of action to be taken after obtaining the test result was stated in only 63 of 168 (37.5%) for a positive result and 43 of 168 (25.5%) for a negative result. The quality of information posted on commercial websites marketing home tests online is unsatisfactory and potentially misleading for consumers.

  10. Enacting Pedagogy in Curricula: On the Vital Role of Governance in Medical Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casiro, Oscar; Regehr, Glenn

    2018-02-01

    Managing curricula and curricular change involves both a complex set of decisions and effective enactment of those decisions. The means by which decisions are made, implemented, and monitored constitute the governance of a program. Thus, effective academic governance is critical to effective curriculum delivery. Medical educators and medical education researchers have been invested heavily in issues of educational content, pedagogy, and design. However, relatively little consideration has been paid to the governance processes that ensure fidelity of implementation and ongoing refinements that will bring curricular practices increasingly in line with the pedagogical intent. In this article, the authors reflect on the importance of governance in medical schools and argue that, in an age of rapid advances in knowledge and medical practices, educational renewal will be inhibited if discussions of content and pedagogy are not complemented by consideration of a governance framework capable of enabling change. They explore the unique properties of medical curricula that complicate academic governance, review the definition and properties of good governance, offer mechanisms to evaluate the extent to which governance is operating effectively within a medical program, and put forward a potential research agenda for increasing the collective understanding of effective governance in medical education.

  11. High theory/mass markets: Newsweek magazine and the circuits of medical culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Bradley

    2007-01-01

    Medicine is driven by much more than science and reason (ethics); it is also driven by the circuits of culture within which it operates. This article examines how postmodern theory deconstructs standard ideals of science and reason and allows medical humanities scholars to better contextualize the world of medicine. As such, postmodern theory provides an invaluable tool for understanding the circuits of popular culture and medicine's place within these circuits. Using a recent issue of Newsweek magazine devoted to health and technology to illustrate the main points, this essay argues that contemporary popular influences on medicine are deeply problematic, and that through an appreciation of the dynamics of culture, medical humanities scholars can join the struggle over medical culture. This perspective allows medical humanities to make important contributions toward alternative circuits of medical representation, consumption, and identification.

  12. The current situation and development of medical device testing institutes in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xiaofang; Mu, Ruihong; Fan, Yubo; Wang, Chunren; Li, Deyu

    2017-04-01

    This article analyses the current situation and development of Chinese medical device testing institutes from the perspectives of the two most important functions - testing functions and medical device standardization functions. Areas Covered: The objective of the Chinese government regulations for medical device industry is to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical devices for Chinese patients. To support the regulation system, the Chinese government has established medical device testing institutes at different levels for example, the national, provincial, and municipal levels. These testing institutes also play an important role in technical support during medical device premarket registration and post market surveillance, they are also the vital practitioners of Chinese medical device standardization. Expert Commentary: Chinese medical device testing institutes are technical departments established by government, and serve the regulatory functions of government agency. In recent years, with the rapid development of medical device industry as well as constantly increasing international and domestic medical device market, the importance of medical device testing institute is more prominent, However, there are still some problems unsolved, such as their overall capacity remains to be improved, construction of standardization is to be strengthened, etc.

  13. “Almost invisible scars”: medical tourism to Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Alexander

    2011-01-01

    Along with a handful of other nations in the developing world, Brazil has emerged as a top destination for medical tourism. Drawing on the author's ethnographic fieldwork in plastic surgery wards, this article examines diverse factors - some explicitly promoted in medical marketing and news sources, others less visible - contributing to Brazil's international reputation for excellence in cosmetic plastic surgery. Brazil's plastic surgery residency programs, some of which are housed within its public health system, attract overseas surgeons, provide ample opportunities for valuable training in cosmetic techniques, and create a clinical environment that favors experimentation with innovative techniques. Many graduates of these programs open private clinics that, in turn, attract overseas patients. High demand for Brazilian plastic surgery also reflects an expansive notion of female health that includes sexual realization, mental health, and cosmetic techniques that manage reproduction. Medical tourism is sometimes represented as being market-driven: patients in wealthier nations travel to obtain quality services at lower prices. This article ends by reflecting on how more complex local and transnational dynamics also contribute to demand for elective medical procedures such as cosmetic surgery.

  14. Factors affecting residency rank-listing: A Maxdiff survey of graduating Canadian medical students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Forgie Melissa

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In Canada, graduating medical students consider many factors, including geographic, social, and academic, when ranking residency programs through the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS. The relative significance of these factors is poorly studied in Canada. It is also unknown how students differentiate between their top program choices. This survey study addresses the influence of various factors on applicant decision making. Methods Graduating medical students from all six Ontario medical schools were invited to participate in an online survey available for three weeks prior to the CaRMS match day in 2010. Max-Diff discrete choice scaling, multiple choice, and drop-list style questions were employed. The Max-Diff data was analyzed using a scaled simple count method. Data for how students distinguish between top programs was analyzed as percentages. Comparisons were made between male and female applicants as well as between family medicine and specialist applicants; statistical significance was determined by the Mann-Whitney test. Results In total, 339 of 819 (41.4% eligible students responded. The variety of clinical experiences and resident morale were weighed heavily in choosing a residency program; whereas financial incentives and parental leave attitudes had low influence. Major reasons that applicants selected their first choice program over their second choice included the distance to relatives and desirability of the city. Both genders had similar priorities when selecting programs. Family medicine applicants rated the variety of clinical experiences more importantly; whereas specialty applicants emphasized academic factors more. Conclusions Graduating medical students consider program characteristics such as the variety of clinical experiences and resident morale heavily in terms of overall priority. However, differentiation between their top two choice programs is often dependent on social/geographic factors

  15. Anomalous transmission through heavily doped conducting polymer films with periodic subwavelength hole array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsui, Tatsunosuke; Vardeny, Z. Valy; Agrawal, Amit; Nahata, Ajay; Menon, Reghu

    2006-08-01

    We observed resonantly enhanced (or anomalous transmission) terahertz transmission through two-dimensional (2D) periodic arrays of subwavelength apertures with various periodicities fabricated on metallic organic conducting polymer films of polypyrrole heavily doped with PF 6 molecules [PPy(PF6)]. The anomalous transmission spectra are in good agreement with a model involving surface plasmon polariton excitations on the film surfaces. We also found that the resonantly enhanced transmission peaks are broader in the exotic metallic PPy(PF6) films compared to those formed in 2D aperture array in regular metallic films such as silver, indicating that the surface plasmon polaritons on the PPy(PF6) film surfaces have higher attenuation.

  16. Market review - Market values summary/August market review/current market data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    This article is the August 1995 uranium market review. During this reporting period, there were three transactions in the long-term concentrates sector, no transactions in the UF6 market, and limited activity in the spot conversion market and the enrichment services market. Active supply rose, as did active demand. Prices were stable to slightly increasing

  17. Premarket safety and efficacy studies for ADHD medications in children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florence T Bourgeois

    Full Text Available Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD is a chronic condition and pharmacotherapy is the mainstay of treatment, with a variety of ADHD medications available to patients. However, it is unclear to what extent the long-term safety and efficacy of ADHD drugs have been evaluated prior to their market authorization. We aimed to quantify the number of participants studied and their length of exposure in ADHD drug trials prior to marketing.We identified all ADHD medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA and extracted data on clinical trials performed by the sponsor and used by the FDA to evaluate the drug's clinical efficacy and safety. For each ADHD medication, we measured the total number of participants studied and the length of participant exposure and identified any FDA requests for post-marketing trials.A total of 32 clinical trials were conducted for the approval of 20 ADHD drugs. The median number of participants studied per drug was 75 (IQR 0, 419. Eleven drugs (55% were approved after <100 participants were studied and 14 (70% after <300 participants. The median trial length prior to approval was 4 weeks (IQR 2, 9, with 5 (38% drugs approved after participants were studied <4 weeks and 10 (77% after <6 months. Six drugs were approved with requests for specific additional post-marketing trials, of which 2 were performed.Clinical trials conducted for the approval of many ADHD drugs have not been designed to assess rare adverse events or long-term safety and efficacy. While post-marketing studies can fill in some of the gaps, better assurance is needed that the proper trials are conducted either before or after a new medication is approved.

  18. Fallout: The experiences of a medical team in the care of a Marshallese population accidentally exposed to fallout radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Conard, R.A.

    1991-12-31

    This report presents an historical account of the experiences of the Brookhaven Medical team in the examination and treatment of the Marshallese people following their accidental exposure to radioactive fallout in 1954. This is the first time that a population has been heavily exposed to radioactive fallout, and even though this was a tragic mishap, the medical findings have provided valuable information for other accidents involving fallout such as the recent reactor accident at Chernobyl. Particularly important has been the unexpected importance of radioactive iodine in the fallout in producing thyroid abnormalities.

  19. Fallout: The experiences of a medical team in the care of a Marshallese population accidentally exposed to fallout radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Conard, R.A.

    1991-01-01

    This report presents an historical account of the experiences of the Brookhaven Medical team in the examination and treatment of the Marshallese people following their accidental exposure to radioactive fallout in 1954. This is the first time that a population has been heavily exposed to radioactive fallout, and even though this was a tragic mishap, the medical findings have provided valuable information for other accidents involving fallout such as the recent reactor accident at Chernobyl. Particularly important has been the unexpected importance of radioactive iodine in the fallout in producing thyroid abnormalities.

  20. Fallout: The experiences of a medical team in the care of a Marshallese population accidently exposed to fallout radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Conard, R.A.

    1992-09-01

    This report presents an historical account of the experiences of the Brookhaven Medical Team in the examination and treatment of the Marshallese people following their accidental exposure to radioactive fallout in 1954. This is the first time that a population has been heavily exposed to radioactive fallout, and even though this was a tragic mishap, the medical findings have provided valuable information for other accidents involving fallout such as the recent reactor accident at Chernobyl. Noteworthy has been the unexpected importance of radioactive iodine in the fallout in producing thyroid abnormalities.

  1. Fallout: The experiences of a medical team in the care of a Marshallese population accidently exposed to fallout radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conard, R.A.

    1992-09-01

    This report presents an historical account of the experiences of the Brookhaven Medical Team in the examination and treatment of the Marshallese people following their accidental exposure to radioactive fallout in 1954. This is the first time that a population has been heavily exposed to radioactive fallout, and even though this was a tragic mishap, the medical findings have provided valuable information for other accidents involving fallout such as the recent reactor accident at Chernobyl. Noteworthy has been the unexpected importance of radioactive iodine in the fallout in producing thyroid abnormalities

  2. Fallout: The experiences of a medical team in the care of a Marshallese population accidentally exposed to fallout radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Conard, R.A.

    1991-01-01

    This report presents an historical account of the experiences of the Brookhaven Medical team in the examination and treatment of the Marshallese people following their accidental exposure to radioactive fallout in 1954. This is the first time that a population has been heavily exposed to radioactive fallout, and even though this was a tragic mishap, the medical findings have provided valuable information for other accidents involving fallout such as the recent reactor accident at Chernobyl. Particularly important has been the unexpected importance of radioactive iodine in the fallout in producing thyroid abnormalities

  3. Medical Informatics Idle YouTube Potential.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hucíková, Anežka; Babic, Ankica

    2017-01-01

    YouTube as an online video-sharing service in the context of Web 2.0 goes beyond the bounds of pure fun, for which the platform was primarily established. Nowadays, commonly to other social media, it serves also educational, informational and last but not least, marketing purposes. The importance of video sharing is supported by several predictions about video reaching over 90% of global internet traffic by 2020. Using qualitative content analysis over selected YouTube videos, paper examines the current situation of the platform's marketing potential usage by medical informatics organizations, researches and other healthcare professionals. Results of the analysis demonstrate several ways in which YouTube is already used to inform, educate or promote above-mentioned medical institutions. However, their engagement in self-promo or spreading awareness of their research projects via YouTube is considered to be low.

  4. United States academic medical centers: priorities and challenges amid market transformation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Irene M; Anason, Barbara

    2012-01-01

    United States academic medical centers (AMCs) have upheld their long-standing reputation for excellence by teaching and training the next generation of physicians, supporting medical research, providing world-class medical care, and offering breakthrough treatments for highly complex medical cases. In recent years, the pace and direction of change reshaping the American health care industry has created a set of new and profound challenges that AMC leaders must address in order to sustain their institutions. University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) is an alliance of 116 leading nonprofit academic medical centers and 276 of their affiliated hospitals, all of which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Formed in 1984, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its members through its renowned programs and services in the areas of comparative data and analytics, performance improvement, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. Each year, UHC surveys the executives of its member institutions to understand the issues they view as most critical to sustaining the viability and success of their organizations. The results of UHC's most recent 2011 member survey, coupled with a 2012 Strategic Health Perspectives Harris Interactive presentation, based in parton surveys of major health care industry stakeholders reveal the most important and relevant issues and opportunities that hospital leaders face today, as the United States health care delivery system undergoes a period of unprecedented transformation.

  5. Of magic wands and kaleidoscopes: fixing problems in the individual market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Mark A

    2002-01-01

    Policy analysts sometimes imagine that problems in the individual market can be fixed by waving a magic wand that makes the individual market function more like the group market. However, prior studies reveal that purchasing cooperatives fail to achieve substantial economies of scale; market reforms that reduce the impact of medical underwriting are difficult to implement in the individual market; and it may not be as easy as imagined to induce people to purchase over the Internet or from new or smaller companies that are at higher risk for exiting the market. The best solution is to limit the use of subsidies to certain purchasing options, such as with purchasing cooperatives that abide by rating, issuance, and renewability rules. What is not acceptable is to hand people subsidies and send them to the unstructured and relatively unregulated individual market, nor will it work to give people unhindered choice between two basically different market segments.

  6. [Supplementary services used as marketing tools in the competition among private practice doctors].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meurers, Horst

    2009-01-01

    What is the relation between additional healthcare services, marketing and competition among office-based physicians? The best and truly effective marketing strategy is a satisfied patient recommending his doctor's services to others. Hence, good marketing starts with a convincing service concept, not just with advertising. More and more frequently patients ask for supplementary health service offerings. Additional services tailored to individual practices--e.g., in the field of nutrition, sports, fitness, wellness, aesthetics--meet the patients' demands, but at the same time they provide a competitive advantage over the ordinary medical practice. And what is more, these additional healthcare services have a nice side effect: they earn an additional income which is not unwelcome in times of decreasing revenues from the public healthcare system. The much sought-after potential for additional services and income can be achieved by offering commercial medical services, e.g., the sale of healthcare products. The coexistence of the doctor's commercial and non-commercial medical services is admissible as long as certain rules of professional conduct and tax laws are followed.

  7. Targeting the American Market for Medicines, ca. 1950s–1970s:

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quirke, Viviane

    2014-01-01

    summary The forces that have shaped American medicine include a wide set of interrelated changes, among them the changing research, development, and marketing practices of the pharmaceutical industry. This article compares the research and development (R&D) and marketing strategies of the British group Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI, whose Pharmaceutical Division was spun off and merged with the Swedish company Astra to form AstraZeneca) and its French counterpart Rhône-Poulenc (now part of Sanofi-Aventis) in dealing with the American medical market. It examines how, in the process, the relationship between R&D and marketing was altered, and the firms themselves were transformed. The article also questions the extent to which their approaches to this market, one of the most significant markets for drugs in general, and for anticancer drugs in particular, became standardized in the period of “scientific marketing.” PMID:25557515

  8. Very heavily electron-doped CrSi2 as a high-performance high-temperature thermoelectric material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parker, David; Singh, David J

    2012-01-01

    We analyze the thermoelectric behavior, using first principles and Boltzmann transport calculations, of very heavily electron-doped CrSi 2 and find that at temperatures of 900-1250 K and electron dopings of 1-4 × 10 21 cm -3 , thermopowers as large in magnitude as 200 μV K -1 may be found. Such high thermopowers at such high carrier concentrations are extremely rare, and suggest that excellent thermoelectric performance may be found in these ranges of temperature and doping. (paper)

  9. Preliminary economic feasibility study of MIP (Medical Isotopes Producer)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mon, G. H.; O, S. Y.

    2004-01-01

    Preliminary economic feasibility study of MIP (Medical Isotopes Producer), which is used liquid nuclear fuel to produce medical isotopes of Mo-99 and Sr-89, was performed. To do this, this study was estimated the IRR(Internal Rate of Return) and PBP(Pay-back Period) about optimistic and pessimistic cases for market penetration of Asia and U.S.A. isotope markets. And sensitivity analysis is also performed about capital cost and price of Mo-99 and Sr-89. According to the results, IRR was between 14.9% and 24.3%, and PBP was between 4.8 years and 7.8 years. These suggest that MIP has economic merits. MIP can produce other medical isotopes such as Sr-90, I-131, Xe-133, Cs-137. So, it is necessary to do cost-benefit analysis considering production of these other isotopes

  10. A Project to Develop a Marketing Plan in Support of William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, Texas

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-12-01

    stressed by the Texas Hospital Association (1982), "the key to success in applying and understanding the marketing mix lies in the concept of rightness...alternatives 8. Develop the marketing mix 9. Select a strategy option Phase III (Finalization)’ 10. Design the tactics 11. Present the plan 12. Write the plan...usage incentive Marketing mix Product, price, distribution [place], marketing communication [promotion] Contingency strategies Marketing Budget (How Much

  11. Evaluation of the use of polymer modified bitumen in the production of high modulus asphalt for heavily-trafficked roads

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Komba, Julius J

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Enrobé à Module Élevé (EME) technology, a High Modulus Asphalt (HiMA), has been introduced to South Africa to provide an optimum solution for the design and construction of heavily trafficked roads. Implementation of EME technology in South Africa...

  12. Corrupt practices in chinese medical care: the root in public policies and a call for Confucian-market approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Ruiping

    2007-06-01

    This paper argues that three salient corrupt practices that mark contemporary Chinese health care, namely the over-prescription of indicated drugs, the prescription of more expensive forms of medication and more expensive diagnostic work-ups than needed, and illegal cash payments to physicians-i.e., red packages-result not from the introduction of the market to China, but from two clusters of circumstances. First, there has been a loss of the Confucian appreciation of the proper role of financial reward for good health care. Second, misguided governmental policies have distorted the behavior of physicians and hospitals. The distorting policies include (1) setting very low salaries for physicians, (2) providing bonuses to physicians and profits to hospitals from the excessive prescription of drugs and the use of more expensive drugs and unnecessary expensive diagnostic procedures, and (3) prohibiting payments by patients to physicians for higher quality care. The latter problem is complicated by policies that do not allow the use of governmental insurance and funds from medical savings accounts in private hospitals as well as other policies that fail to create a level playing field for both private and government hospitals. The corrupt practices currently characterizing Chinese health care will require not only abolishing the distorting governmental policies but also drawing on Confucian moral resources to establish a rightly directed appreciation of the proper place of financial reward in the practice of medicine.

  13. Decision support methods for the detection of adverse events in post-marketing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hauben, M; Bate, A

    2009-04-01

    Spontaneous reporting is a crucial component of post-marketing drug safety surveillance despite its significant limitations. The size and complexity of some spontaneous reporting system databases represent a challenge for drug safety professionals who traditionally have relied heavily on the scientific and clinical acumen of the prepared mind. Computer algorithms that calculate statistical measures of reporting frequency for huge numbers of drug-event combinations are increasingly used to support pharamcovigilance analysts screening large spontaneous reporting system databases. After an overview of pharmacovigilance and spontaneous reporting systems, we discuss the theory and application of contemporary computer algorithms in regular use, those under development, and the practical considerations involved in the implementation of computer algorithms within a comprehensive and holistic drug safety signal detection program.

  14. Chronic Disease Prevalence and Medicare Advantage Market Penetration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steven W. Howard

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available By March 2015, 30% of all Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA plans. Research to date has not explored the impacts of MA market penetration on individual or population health outcomes. The primary objective of this study is to examine the relationships between MA market penetration and the beneficiary’s portfolio of cardiometabolic diagnoses. This study uses 2004 to 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS Household Component data to construct an aggregate index that captures multiple diagnoses in one outcome measure (Chronic Disease Severity Index [CDSI]. The MEPS data for 8089 Medicare beneficiaries are merged with MA market penetration data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS. Ordinary least squares regressions are run with SAS 9.3 to model the effects of MA market penetration on CDSI. The results suggest that each percentage increase in MA market penetration is associated with a greater than 2-point decline in CDSI (lower burden of cardiometabolic chronic disease. Spill-over effects may be driving improvements in the cardiometabolic health of beneficiary populations in counties with elevated levels of MA market penetration.

  15. FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL TOURISM IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS

    OpenAIRE

    YİĞİT, Vahit

    2016-01-01

    Medical tourism is a burgeoning industry in the world. Nowadays, over 50countries have been identified medical tourism as a national industry. AlthoughAsian countries where India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia popular medicaltourism destination, medical tourism in Turkey has not reached the desiredlevel and and could not get enough share of the medical tourism market. The aimof this study is to determine the factors influencing the development ofmedical tourism in Turkey. This research was...

  16. High-resolution heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic neurohypophysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sanharawi, Imane El; Tzarouchi, Loukia [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Cardoen, Liesbeth [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Martinerie, Laetitia; Leger, Juliane; Carel, Jean-Claude [Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France); Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service d' Endocrinologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Elmaleh-Berges, Monique [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France); Alison, Marianne [Hopital Robert Debre, APHP, Service de Radiologie Pediatrique, Paris (France); Universite Paris Diderot, Paris (France); Inserm U1141, DHU PROTECT, Paris (France)

    2017-05-15

    In anterior pituitary deficiency, patients with non visible pituitary stalk have more often multiple deficiencies and persistent deficiency than patients with visible pituitary stalk. To compare the diagnostic value of a high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence to 1.5-mm-thick unenhanced and contrast-enhanced sagittal T1-weighted sequences to assess the presence of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland. We retrospectively evaluated the MRI data of 14 children diagnosed with ectopic posterior pituitary gland between 2010 and 2014. We evaluated the presence of a pituitary stalk using a sagittal high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence and a 1.5-mm sagittal T1-weighted turbo spin-echo sequence before and after contrast medium administration. A pituitary stalk was present on at least one of the sequences in 10 of the 14 children (71%). T2-weighted sequence depicted the pituitary stalk in all 10 children, whereas the 1.5-mm-thick T1-weighted sequence depicted 2/10 (20%) before contrast injection and 8/10 (80%) after contrast injection (P=0.007). Compared with 1.5-mm-thick contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences, high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence demonstrates better sensitivity in detecting the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland, suggesting that contrast injection is unnecessary to assess the presence of a pituitary stalk in this setting. (orig.)

  17. High-resolution heavily T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic neurohypophysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Sanharawi, Imane; Tzarouchi, Loukia; Cardoen, Liesbeth; Martinerie, Laetitia; Leger, Juliane; Carel, Jean-Claude; Elmaleh-Berges, Monique; Alison, Marianne

    2017-05-01

    In anterior pituitary deficiency, patients with non visible pituitary stalk have more often multiple deficiencies and persistent deficiency than patients with visible pituitary stalk. To compare the diagnostic value of a high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence to 1.5-mm-thick unenhanced and contrast-enhanced sagittal T1-weighted sequences to assess the presence of the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland. We retrospectively evaluated the MRI data of 14 children diagnosed with ectopic posterior pituitary gland between 2010 and 2014. We evaluated the presence of a pituitary stalk using a sagittal high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence and a 1.5-mm sagittal T1-weighted turbo spin-echo sequence before and after contrast medium administration. A pituitary stalk was present on at least one of the sequences in 10 of the 14 children (71%). T2-weighted sequence depicted the pituitary stalk in all 10 children, whereas the 1.5-mm-thick T1-weighted sequence depicted 2/10 (20%) before contrast injection and 8/10 (80%) after contrast injection (P=0.007). Compared with 1.5-mm-thick contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences, high-resolution heavily T2-weighted sequence demonstrates better sensitivity in detecting the pituitary stalk in children with ectopic posterior pituitary gland, suggesting that contrast injection is unnecessary to assess the presence of a pituitary stalk in this setting.

  18. Risk management and post-marketing surveillance for the abuse of medications acting on the central nervous system: expert panel report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johanson, Chris-Ellyn; Balster, Robert L; Henningfield, Jack E; Schuster, Charles R; Anthony, James C; Barthwell, Andrea G; Coleman, John J; Dart, Richard C; Gorodetzky, Charles W; O'Keeffe, Charles; Sellers, Edward M; Vocci, Frank; Walsh, Sharon L

    2009-12-01

    The abuse and diversion of medications is a significant public health problem. This paper is part of a supplemental issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence focused on the development of risk management plans and post-marketing surveillance related to minimizing this problem. The issue is based on a conference that was held in October 2008. An Expert Panel was formed to provide a summary of the conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the meeting involving drug abuse experts, regulators and other government agencies, pharmaceutical companies and professional and other non-governmental organizations. This paper provides a written report of this Expert Panel. Eleven conclusions and 11 recommendations emerged concerning the state of the art of this field of research, the regulatory and public health implications and recommendations for future directions. It is concluded that special surveillance tools are needed to detect the emergence of medication abuse in a timely manner and that risk management tools can be implemented to increase the benefit to risk ratio. The scientific basis for both the surveillance and risk management tools is in its infancy, yet progress needs to be made. It is also important that the unintended consequences of increased regulation and the imposition of risk management plans be minimized.

  19. eHealth Search Patterns: A Comparison of Private and Public Health Care Markets Using Online Panel Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Janina Anne; Holland, Christopher Patrick

    2017-04-13

    Patient and consumer access to eHealth information is of crucial importance because of its role in patient-centered medicine and to improve knowledge about general aspects of health and medical topics. The objectives were to analyze and compare eHealth search patterns in a private (United States) and a public (United Kingdom) health care market. A new taxonomy of eHealth websites is proposed to organize the largest eHealth websites. An online measurement framework is developed that provides a precise and detailed measurement system. Online panel data are used to accurately track and analyze detailed search behavior across 100 of the largest eHealth websites in the US and UK health care markets. The health, medical, and lifestyle categories account for approximately 90% of online activity, and e-pharmacies, social media, and professional categories account for the remaining 10% of online activity. Overall search penetration of eHealth websites is significantly higher in the private (United States) than the public market (United Kingdom). Almost twice the number of eHealth users in the private market have adopted online search in the health and lifestyle categories and also spend more time per website than those in the public market. The use of medical websites for specific conditions is almost identical in both markets. The allocation of search effort across categories is similar in both the markets. For all categories, the vast majority of eHealth users only access one website within each category. Those that conduct a search of two or more websites display very narrow search patterns. All users spend relatively little time on eHealth, that is, 3-7 minutes per website. The proposed online measurement framework exploits online panel data to provide a powerful and objective method of analyzing and exploring eHealth behavior. The private health care system does appear to have an influence on eHealth search behavior in terms of search penetration and time spent per

  20. Ecophysiological characterization of early successional biological soil crusts in heavily human-impacted areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szyja, Michelle; Büdel, Burkhard; Colesie, Claudia

    2018-04-01

    Ecophysiological characterizations of photoautotrophic communities are not only necessary to identify the response of carbon fixation related to different climatic factors, but also to evaluate risks connected to changing environments. In biological soil crusts (BSCs), the description of ecophysiological features is difficult, due to the high variability in taxonomic composition and variable methodologies applied. Especially for BSCs in early successional stages, the available datasets are rare or focused on individual constituents, although these crusts may represent the only photoautotrophic component in many heavily disturbed ruderal areas, such as parking lots or building areas with increasing surface area worldwide. We analyzed the response of photosynthesis and respiration to changing BSC water contents (WCs), temperature and light in two early successional BSCs. We investigated whether the response of these parameters was different between intact BSC and the isolated dominating components. BSCs dominated by the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune and dominated by the green alga Zygogonium ericetorum were examined. A major divergence between the two BSCs was their absolute carbon fixation rate on a chlorophyll basis, which was significantly higher for the cyanobacterial crust. Nevertheless, independent of species composition, both crust types and their isolated organisms had convergent features such as high light acclimatization and a minor and very late-occurring depression in carbon uptake at water suprasaturation. This particular setup of ecophysiological features may enable these communities to cope with a high variety of climatic stresses and may therefore be a reason for their success in heavily disturbed areas with ongoing human impact. However, the shape of the response was different for intact BSC compared to separated organisms, especially in absolute net photosynthesis (NP) rates. This emphasizes the importance of measuring intact BSCs under natural

  1. Quantitative Microstructural Characterization of Thick Aluminum Plates Heavily Deformed Using Equal Channel Angular Extrusion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mishin, Oleg; Segal, V.M.; Ferrasse, S.

    2012-01-01

    A detailed quantitative analysis of the microstructure has been performed in three orthogonal planes of 15-mm-thick aluminum plates heavily deformed via two equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) routes. One route was a conventional route A with no rotation between passes. Another route involved...... sequential 90 deg rotations about the normal direction (ND) between passes. The microstructure in the center of these plates, and especially the extent of microstructural heterogeneity, has been characterized quantitatively and compared with that in bar samples extruded via either route A or route Bc with 90...... Bc. © The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2012...

  2. Features of the band structure and conduction mechanisms of n-HfNiSn heavily doped with Y

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Romaka, V. A., E-mail: vromaka@polynet.lviv.ua [National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Pidstryhach Institute for Applied Problems of Mechanics and Mathematics (Ukraine); Rogl, P. [Universitet Wien, Institut für Physikalische Chemie (Austria); Romaka, V. V. [National University “Lvivska Politechnika” (Ukraine); Kaczorowski, D. [Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research (Poland); Krayovskyy, V. Ya. [National University “Lvivska Politechnika” (Ukraine); Stadnyk, Yu. V.; Horyn, A. M. [Ivan Franko Lviv National University (Ukraine)

    2017-02-15

    The crystalline and electronic structures, energy, kinetic, and magnetic characteristics of n-HfNiSn semiconductor heavily doped with Y acceptor impurity are studied in the ranges: T = 80–400 K, N{sub A}{sup Y} ≈ 1.9 × 10{sup 20}–5.7 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup –3} (x = 0.01–0.30), and H ≤ 10 kG. The nature of the mechanism of structural defect generation is determined, which leads to a change in the band gap and the degree of semiconductor compensation, the essence of which is the simultaneous reduction and elimination of structural donor-type defects as a result of the displacement of ~1% of Ni atoms from the Hf (4a) site, and the generation of structural acceptor-type defects by substituting Hf atoms with Y atoms at the 4a site. The results of calculations of the electronic structure of Hf{sub 1–x}Y{sub x}NiSn are in agreement with the experimental data. The discussion is performed within the Shklovskii–Efros model of a heavily doped and compensated semiconductor.

  3. The Supply of Medical Radioisotopes. 2016 Medical Isotope Supply Review: 99Mo/99mTc Market Demand and Production Capacity Projection 2016-2021

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charlton, Kevin; )

    2016-03-01

    Medical diagnostic imaging techniques using technetium-99m ( 99 mTc) account for approximately 80% of all nuclear medicine procedures, representing 30-40 million examinations Worldwide every year. Disruptions in the supply chain of these medical isotopes - which have half-lives of 66 hours for molybdenum-99 ( 99 Mo) and only 6 hours for 99m Tc, and thus must be produced continuously - can lead to cancellations or delays in important medical testing services. Supply reliability has been challenged over the past decade due to unexpected shutdowns and extended refurbishment periods at some of the 99 Mo-producing research reactors and processing facilities. These shutdowns have at times created conditions for extended global supply shortages (e.g. 2009-2010). At the request of its member countries, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) became involved in global efforts to ensure a secure supply of 99 Mo/ 99m Tc. Since June 2009, the NEA and its High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR) have examined the causes of supply shortages and developed a policy approach, including principles and supporting recommendations to address those causes. The NEA has also reviewed the global 99 Mo supply situation periodically, to highlight periods of potential reduced supply and to underscore the case for implementing the HLG-MR policy approach in a timely and globally consistent manner. In 2012, the NEA released a 99 Mo supply and demand forecast up to 2030, identifying periods of potential low supply relative to demand. That 2012 forecast was updated with a report in 2014 that focused on the much shorter 2015-2020 period. That report was updated in 2015 with a report, '2015 Medical Isotope Supply Review: 99 Mo/ 99m Tc Market Demand and Production Capacity Projection 2015-2020' (NEA, 2015), which focused on the same period. This report updates the 2015 report, and focuses on the important 2016-2021 period. At the end of 2015, the OSIRIS reactor

  4. Market Development of Video Games : Video game markets and marketing

    OpenAIRE

    Pu, Jun

    2010-01-01

    This diploma work focus on analysing the markets and marketing of video game industry. After the research of this study, I found out that console game markets are growing dramatically in the recent years. On the other hand, PC game markets (excluding online game markets) are growing slowly due to the problem of illegal copies. So my study will then focus on the development of console game markets and marketing. A new concept called Three Parties is introduced in chapter 5 to help ...

  5. Marketing is Dead! Long Live Marketing!

    OpenAIRE

    Marjanova Jovanov, Tamara

    2016-01-01

    The contents of the lectures included: Why marketing? Citizen, Consumer, Customer (Behavior) Who is the Father of Marketing? Some Antecedents of Marketing When Did Marketing Start? The Contributors of Marketing Where Did Marketing Start? Job Positions in Today’s Marketing Organization The Role of the Chief Marketing Officer Four Different CEO Views of Marketing Reality – Truth – Challenge (Why Can’t We Make It?) The Strong and Steady Progress of Marketi...

  6. [When state authorisation was introduced for medical doctors in Norway].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haave, Per

    2007-12-13

    In 1927, a law was implemented in Norway that for the first time required medical students to be state authorised before they could practice medicine and use the title medical doctor. The question of authorisation split the professional elite, both the Norwegian Medical Association and the Medical Faculty at the University of Oslo. Those very few members of the professional elite that advocated authorisation did, however, convince the government as well as the parliament that authorisation should be given and recalled by the state. State authorisation was first of all aimed at protecting the medical profession against "unfit" members; it was not a question of monopolising medical work or preventing other groups from working within the healthcare services. To put this into context, one should know that there had been a transition from a bureaucratic to a free labour market and most doctors were no longer engaged by the State, but had to practise in a private market. One feared that this would undermine the doctors' authority and status. In this situation, authorisation by the state was considered necessary to safeguard the public's confidence in doctors and their work.

  7. Simultaneous rota-stenting and transcatheter aortic valve implantation for patients with heavily calcified coronary stenosis and aortic stenosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yung-Tsai Lee

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Given that coronary artery disease (CAD in octogenarians undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI often presents with more complex lesions and extensive calcification, rotational atherectomy (RA may be needed in some cases before stenting. However, data regarding the feasibility and safety of simultaneous RA during TAVI using the Medtronic CoreValve (MCV; Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA system are lacking. Three out of 107 (2.8% patients (2 females, average age 85.6 years, mean aortic valve area 0.5 cm2, mean left ventricular ejection fraction 39%, mean Logistic EuroScore 70%, with complex, heavily calcified coronary stenosis, and severe valvular aortic stenosis (AS were treated with TAVI and RA due to high surgical risk. After balloon valvuloplasty, all coronary lesions were successfully treated with RA and stenting, immediately followed by transfemoral TAVI with a self-expandable MCV. Our data suggested that in the very elderly patients with severe and heavily calcified CAD and AS who were turned down for cardiac surgery, RA and stenting followed by TAVI may be performed successfully in a combined, single-stage procedure.

  8. Drug safety: withdrawn medications are only part of the picture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawson, Nigel S B

    2016-02-13

    In a research article published in BMC Medicine, Onakpoya and colleagues provide a historical review of withdrawals of medications for safety reasons. However, withdrawn medications are only one part of the picture about how regulatory agencies manage drug risks. Moreover, medications introduced before the increased pre-marketing regulations and post-marketing monitoring systems instituted after the thalidomide tragedy have little relevance when considering the present drug safety picture because the circumstances under which they were introduced were completely different. To more fully understand drug safety management and regulatory agency actions, withdrawals should be evaluated within the setting and timeframe in which the medications are approved, which requires information about approvals and safety warnings. Studies are needed that provide a more comprehensive current picture of the identification and evaluation of drug safety risks as well as how regulatory agencies deal with them. Please see related research article: http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0553-2.

  9. Ghosts in the machine: publication planning in the medical sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sismondo, Sergio

    2009-04-01

    Publication of pharmaceutical company-sponsored research in medical journals, and its presentation at conferences and meetings, is mostly governed by 'publication plans' that extract the maximum amount of scientific and commercial value out of data and analyses through carefully constructed and placed papers. Clinical research is typically performed by contract research organizations, analyzed by company statisticians, written up by independent medical writers, approved and edited by academic researchers who then serve as authors, and the whole process organized and shepherded through to journal publication by publication planners. This paper reports on a conference of an international association of publication planners. It describes and analyzes their work in an ecological framework that relates it to marketing departments of pharmaceutical companies, medical journals and publishers, academic authors, and potential audiences. The medical research described here forms a new kind of corporate science, designed to look like traditional academic work, but performed largely to market products.

  10. Quality of information accompanying on-line marketing of home diagnostic tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Adrija K; Selman, Tara J; Kwok, Tony; Tang, Teresa; Khan, Khalid S

    2008-01-01

    Objective To assess the quality of information provided to consumers by websites marketing medical home diagnostic tests. Design A cross-sectional analysis of a database developed from searching targeted websites. Setting Data sources were websites written in English which marketed medical home diagnostic tests. Main outcome measures A meta-search engine was used to identify the first 20 citations for each type of home diagnostic medical test. Relevant websites limited to those written in English were reviewed independently and in triplicate, with disputes resolved by two further reviewers. Information on the quality of these sites was extracted using a pre-piloted performer. Results 168 websites were suitable for inclusion in the review. The quality of these sites showed marked variation. Only 24 of 168 (14.2%) complied with at least three-quarters of the quality items and just over half (95 of 168, 56.5%) reported official approval or certification of the test. Information on accuracy of the test marketed was reported by 87 of 168 (51.7%) websites, with 15 of 168 (8.9%) providing a scientific reference. Instructions for use of the product were found in 97 of 168 (57.9%). However, the course of action to be taken after obtaining the test result was stated in only 63 of 168 (37.5%) for a positive result and 43 of 168 (25.5%) for a negative result. Conclusions The quality of information posted on commercial websites marketing home tests online is unsatisfactory and potentially misleading for consumers. PMID:18263912

  11. "The Neurosis That Has Possessed Us": Political Repression in the Cold War Medical Profession.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chowkwanyun, Merlin

    2018-04-27

    Political repression played a central role in shaping the political complexion of the American medical profession, the policies it advocated, and those allowed to function comfortably in it. Previous work on the impact of McCarthyism and medicine focuses heavily on the mid-century failure of national health insurance (NHI) and medical reform organizations that suffered from McCarthyist attacks. The focus is national and birds-eye but says less about the impact on day-to-day life of physicians caught in a McCarthyist web; and how exactly the machinery of political repression within the medical profession worked on the ground. This study shifts orientation by using the abrupt dismissal of three Los Angeles physicians from their jobs as a starting point for exploring these dynamics. I argue that the rise of the medical profession and the repressive state in the mid-century, frequently studied apart, worked hand-in-hand, with institutions from each playing symbiotic and mutually reinforcing roles. I also explore tactics of resistance - rhetorical and organizational - to medical repression by physicians who came under attack.

  12. What do we know about Canadian involvement in medical tourism? A scoping review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Jeremy; Crooks, Valorie A; Johnston, Rory; Kingsbury, Paul

    2011-01-01

    Background Medical tourism, the intentional pursuit of elective medical treatments in foreign countries, is a rapidly growing global industry. Canadians are among those crossing international borders to seek out privately purchased medical care. Given Canada’s universally accessible, single-payer domestic health care system, important implications emerge from Canadians’ private engagement in medical tourism. Methods A scoping review was conducted of the popular, academic, and business literature to synthesize what is currently known about Canadian involvement in medical tourism. Of the 348 sources that were reviewed either partly or in full, 113 were ultimately included in the review. Results The review demonstrates that there is an extreme paucity of academic, empirical literature examining medical tourism in general or the Canadian context more specifically. Canadians are engaged with the medical tourism industry not just as patients but also as investors and business people. There have been a limited number of instances of Canadians having their medical tourism expenses reimbursed by the public medicare system. Wait times are by far the most heavily cited driver of Canadians’ involvement in medical tourism. However, despite its treatment as fact, there is no empirical research to support or contradict this point. Discussion Although medical tourism is often discussed in the Canadian context, a paucity of data on this practice complicates our understanding of its scope and impact. PMID:22046228

  13. What do we know about Canadian involvement in medical tourism?: a scoping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Jeremy; Crooks, Valorie A; Johnston, Rory; Kingsbury, Paul

    2011-01-01

    Medical tourism, the intentional pursuit of elective medical treatments in foreign countries, is a rapidly growing global industry. Canadians are among those crossing international borders to seek out privately purchased medical care. Given Canada's universally accessible, single-payer domestic health care system, important implications emerge from Canadians' private engagement in medical tourism. A scoping review was conducted of the popular, academic, and business literature to synthesize what is currently known about Canadian involvement in medical tourism. Of the 348 sources that were reviewed either partly or in full, 113 were ultimately included in the review. The review demonstrates that there is an extreme paucity of academic, empirical literature examining medical tourism in general or the Canadian context more specifically. Canadians are engaged with the medical tourism industry not just as patients but also as investors and business people. There have been a limited number of instances of Canadians having their medical tourism expenses reimbursed by the public medicare system. Wait times are by far the most heavily cited driver of Canadians' involvement in medical tourism. However, despite its treatment as fact, there is no empirical research to support or contradict this point. Although medical tourism is often discussed in the Canadian context, a paucity of data on this practice complicates our understanding of its scope and impact.

  14. A study of market efficiency in the stock market, forex market and bullion market in India

    OpenAIRE

    Sarker, Debnarayan; Ghosh, Bikash Kumar

    2007-01-01

    This study suggests that, run test, which are based on signs of indices / rates, do not reject efficient market hypothesis in the case of all the three markets, whereas VR tests, which capture the variation in permanent component of the series as a ratio to the total variation, reject the efficient market hypothesis in the case of the gold markets. Efficient market hypothesis in the case of Stock markets, Forex markets and Silver markets cannot be rejected based on VR tests. Since VR tests a...

  15. Do no harm: a defense of markets in healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kline, William

    2010-09-01

    This paper argues that the rules that constitute a market protect autonomy and increase welfare in healthcare. Markets do the former through protecting rights to self-ownership and a cluster of rights that protect its exercise. Markets protect welfare by organizing and protecting trades. In contrast, prohibition destroys legitimate markets, giving rise to so-called black markets that harm both the autonomy and well-being of agents. For example, a fee-for-service medical system is a highly developed and specialized market. It is individuals working together, through the division of labor, to provide mutual insurance. This coordination, and the benefits it makes possible, is not possible without injunctions against harm. Prohibitions on harm are not mere ethical niceties, they are practice rules for both healthcare and markets. Placing the doctor within a healthcare market actually reinforces the doctor's moral obligation, and the legal enforcement of that obligation, not to harm. Similarly, markets reinforce patient rights to self-determination through legal and institutional enforcement of the harm principle in the form of the protection of certain basic welfare rights to life, bodily integrity, property, trade, and contract. Since the establishment of markets protects agent autonomy and welfare, and prohibition directly harms the same, there are strong reasons for establishing markets to protect trade in precisely those areas where autonomy and well-being are most vulnerable to exploitation, for example, the trade in human kidneys.

  16. Gold-Stock Market Relationship: Emerging Markets versus Developed Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalal Seifoddini

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available We perform a comparative study on the gold-stock market relationship in U.S. stock market as a developed market and in Iran stock market as an emerging market. By considering appropriate variables for emerging markets and by providing a more proper methodology, we improve earlier studies. According to our findings, the relationship between stock market returns and gold price returns does not follow any specific regimes and that this relationship changes in short and long term returns. It is necessary to mention that in the present research, we did not consider this relationship in major structural changes in the economies and instead considered usual economic circumstances that investors are regularly faced with in their investment decisions.

  17. Scoping medical tourism and international hospital accreditation growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodhead, Anthony

    2013-01-01

    Uwe Reinhardt stated that medical tourism can do to the US healthcare system what the Japanese automotive industry did to American carmakers after Japanese products developed a value for money and reliability reputation. Unlike cars, however, healthcare can seldom be test-driven. Quality is difficult to assess after an intervention (posteriori), therefore, it is frequently evaluated via accreditation before an intervention (a priori). This article aims to scope the growth in international accreditation and its relationship to medical tourism markets. Using self-reported data from Accreditation Canada, Joint Commission International (JCI) and Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), this article examines how quickly international accreditation is increasing, where it is occurring and what providers have been accredited. Since January 2000, over 350 international hospitals have been accredited; the JCI's total nearly tripling between 2007-2011. Joint Commission International staff have conducted most international accreditation (over 90 per cent). Analysing which countries and regions where the most international accreditation has occurred indicates where the most active medical tourism markets are. However, providers will not solely be providing care for medical tourists. Accreditation will not mean that mistakes will never happen, but that accredited providers are more willing to learn from them, to varying degrees. If a provider has been accredited by a large international accreditor then patients should gain some reassurance that the care they receive is likely to be a good standard. The author questions whether commercializing international accreditation will improve quality, arguing that research is necessary to assess the accreditation of these growing markets.

  18. Market values summary/April market review/current market data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    This article is the April 1995 uranium market summary. Overall market activity during this period was low, with five deals in the concentrates market, two deals in the long-term natural uranium market, and three deals in the spot enrichment market. There were no spot trades in the UF6 or conversion market. The restricted and unrestricted exchange values were $11.60 and $7.35 respectively. The restricted and unrestricted UF6 values were $36.00 and $25.50, and the restricted and unrestricted transaction values were $10.30 and $7.25. Active uranium supply rose, and active demand fell

  19. Superconductors and medical imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aubert, Guy

    2011-01-01

    After difficult beginnings in the 1970's, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has evolved to become nowadays the jewel in the crown of medical technology. Superconductors have been a key factor for the extraordinary expansion of MRI which in turn represents about 75 % of their total market. After recalling some basic principles, this article traces their common history and refers to future developments. (author)

  20. Induction hardening of tool steel for heavily loaded aircraft engine components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rokicki P.

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Induction hardening is an innovative process allowing modification of the materials surface with more effective, cheaper and more reproducible way to compare with conventional hardening methods used in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, high requirements and strict regulation concerning this branch of the industry force deep research allowing to obtain results that would be used for numerical modelling of the process. Only by this way one is able to start the industrial application of the process. The main scope of presented paper are results concerning investigation of microstructure evolution of tool steel after single-frequency induction hardening process. The specimens that aim in representing final industrial products (as heavily loaded gears, were heat- -treated with induction method and subjected to metallographic preparation, after which complex microstructure investigation was performed. The results obtained within the research will be a basis for numerical modelling of the process of induction hardening with potential to be introduced for the aviation industrial components.

  1. ASEAN SINGLE AVIATION MARKET AND INDONESIA - WILL IT SURVIVE AGAINST THE GIANTS?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruwantissa Indranath Abeyratne

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available  To say that Indonesia is an enigma in air transport is an understatement.  On the one hand,  the  demand for air transport in Indonesia is higher in proportion to its GDP per capita.  Its economy can be expected to grow 6% to 10% annually. A single aviation market could add another 6% to 10% growth in sheer demand.  It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, being the 16th richest country currently, and, according to an Airbus forecast,   will be the 7th richest in 2030.  Yet its airports are badly in need of expansion, its infrastructure is bursting at its seems, and above all, its airlines are strongly resisting liberalization of air transport in the region for fear of being wiped out by stronger contenders in the region.  Against this backdrop, it is incontrovertible that Indonesia's civil aviation is intrinsically linked to regional and global considerations.  Indonesia's archipelagic topography makes its people heavily reliant on safe, regular and reliable air services that may connect them not only internally but also to the outside world.A single aviation market in the ASEAN region will bring both benefits to Indonesia and challengers to its air transport sector. This article discusses the economic and regulatory challenges that Indonesia faces with the coming into effect of the ASEAN Single Aviation market in 2015.

  2. Medical robots in cardiac surgery - application and perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroczek, Karolina; Kroczek, Piotr; Nawrat, Zbigniew

    2017-03-01

    Medical robots offer new standards and opportunities for treatment. This paper presents a review of the literature and market information on the current situation and future perspectives for the applications of robots in cardiac surgery. Currently in the United States, only 10% of thoracic surgical procedures are conducted using robots, while globally this value remains below 1%. Cardiac and thoracic surgeons use robotic surgical systems increasingly often. The goal is to perform more than one hundred thousand minimally invasive robotic surgical procedures every year. A surgical robot can be used by surgical teams on a rotational basis. The market of surgical robots used for cardiovascular and lung surgery was worth 72.2 million dollars in 2014 and is anticipated to reach 2.2 billion dollars by 2021. The analysis shows that Poland should have more than 30 surgical robots. Moreover, Polish medical teams are ready for the introduction of several robots into the field of cardiac surgery. We hope that this market will accommodate the Polish Robin Heart robots as well.

  3. Market review: Market values summary July market review/current market data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-01-01

    A summary of financial data for the uranium spot market is provided. Recent transactions are tabulated, including uranium sales, natural uranium loans, conversion sales, and enrichment sales. A market values summary and long-term price indicators are also provided. The July 1996 market review data includes summaries of near-term uranium sales, near-term supply/demand, NUEXCO values, USEC prices, and calculated worth of enriched uranium. Active projects in uranium, conversion, and separative work supply and demand are listed. International market values are tabulated for 22 selected currencies

  4. Law on advance health care directives: a medical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Luca, A; Del Rio, A; Bosco, M; Di Luca, N M

    2018-01-01

    The paper's authors aim to elaborate on law 22 dicembre 2017, n. 219 , designed to regulate informed consent practices and advance health care directives", which has sparked a passionate debate centered on the substantial innovation achieved over the past decades in bio-medical science and at the same time, the noteworthy accomplishments made in enforcing human and personal rights. Within the paper, article three is delved into, which covers the creation of the so-called DAT ("Disposizioni anticipate di trattamento", advance health care directives), by which patients, in light of possible future incapacity to choose, can express their convictions and decisions on how to be treated and their consent or dissent to undergo treatments and procedures, including artificial nutrition and hydration. The authors peruse the new law's provisions through a medical perspective, and observe how they are heavily tilted towards patient choice, thus making doctors little more than mere tools of such decisions.

  5. Application of electronic business in monitoring marketing and consumption of human medicines in the Republic of Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tešić Danka

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes the application of electronic business (e-business in monitoring marketing and consumption of medicines, as one of e-government services (e-services of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia. It shows methodological framework for development of e-services, through use of RUP (Rational Unified Process methodology. The Unified Modelling Language (UML notation was used for description of the system model. The paper presents modeling of the process of marketing of medications for human use, as well as development of the information subsystem underpinning it. The analysis of the marketing of medications in Serbia was carried out in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, by the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency of Serbia, which was authorized to collect and analyze data on the marketing and consumption of medicines and medical devices. Data gathered for a particular time period were analyzed using Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification and the Defined Daily Doses methodology. The amount of medicines consumed was translated into the DDD by 1000 individuals per day, and gave an insight into the number of individuals (out of 1000 who used the medicine under observation and were under its effect during a single day. The data extracted are correlated with the number of individuals who took the medication during the period under observation. In the year 2006 total marketing of medications for human use amounted to € 510.833.609,54, in 2007 it stood at € 687.588.174,80, in 2008 it was € 799.082.221,05, while the overall marketing of medicines in the year 2009 was € 741.981.960,19. By processing the data by methodology of DDD, the following results were obtained: 1013,70 DDD/1000 individuals/day in year 2006; in year 2007, 1084,34 DDD/1000 individuals/day; in year 2008, 1219,57 DDD/1000 individuals/day and in year 2009, 1177,72 DDD/1000 individuals/day. The implementation of such system produces a series of technological, functional and

  6. Imaging requirements for medical applications of additive manufacturing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huotilainen, Eero; Paloheimo, Markku; Salmi, Mika; Paloheimo, Kaija-Stiina; Björkstrand, Roy; Tuomi, Jukka; Markkola, Antti; Mäkitie, Antti

    2014-02-01

    Additive manufacturing (AM), formerly known as rapid prototyping, is steadily shifting its focus from industrial prototyping to medical applications as AM processes, bioadaptive materials, and medical imaging technologies develop, and the benefits of the techniques gain wider knowledge among clinicians. This article gives an overview of the main requirements for medical imaging affected by needs of AM, as well as provides a brief literature review from existing clinical cases concentrating especially on the kind of radiology they required. As an example application, a pair of CT images of the facial skull base was turned into 3D models in order to illustrate the significance of suitable imaging parameters. Additionally, the model was printed into a preoperative medical model with a popular AM device. Successful clinical cases of AM are recognized to rely heavily on efficient collaboration between various disciplines - notably operating surgeons, radiologists, and engineers. The single main requirement separating tangible model creation from traditional imaging objectives such as diagnostics and preoperative planning is the increased need for anatomical accuracy in all three spatial dimensions, but depending on the application, other specific requirements may be present as well. This article essentially intends to narrow the potential communication gap between radiologists and engineers who work with projects involving AM by showcasing the overlap between the two disciplines.

  7. Future market bioplastics; Zukunftsmarkt Biokunststoffe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beucker, Severin [Borderstep Institut fuer Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit, Berlin (Germany); Marscheider-Weidemann, Frank [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2007-12-15

    Bioplastics based on renewable resources like e.g. starch, celluloses or lactic acid are considered one way to reduce environmental impacts, oil consumption and increase the use of agricultural feedstocks. Some of the newly developed materials based on biotechnology even have properties that make them superior to regular plastics; they can, e.g. be breathable, printable and antistatic. Bioplastics can be used for different applications ranging from foils, injection moulding, extrusion or functional polymers. They can have a short or a long lifespan depending on the material or the compound used to produce them. Many bioplastics are partially or completely biodegradable. After their use they can be degraded mostly into water and carbon dioxide by fungi, bacteria or enzymes. This makes bioplastics also a candidate for reducing carbon dioxide emissions although energy is needed to produce and harvest the raw materials as well as for the manufacturing processes involved. The possible environmental effects and impacts of bioplastics have not yet been completely assessed and understood. Bioplastics could combine the potential to increase resource efficiency and reduce environmental effects, but further research is necessary before conclusions and recommendations can be made for this new class of materials. The share of bioplastics in the world's plastics market is relatively small at the moment. Approx. 350,000 tonnes of bioplastics were produced in 2006. This is equivalent to approx. 0.2 % of the plastics produced worldwide. Experts believe the market for bioplastics will grow at a rate of 25 - 30 % in the near future and reach the one million tonne mark by the year 2010 and could even raise to 3 million tonnes per year by 2020. In the short and medium term, the development of the market for bioplastics strongly depends on following factors: - Development of crude oil price: The market potential for bioplastics is heavily dependent on the crude oil price. Under the

  8. Future market bioplastics; Zukunftsmarkt Biokunststoffe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beucker, Severin [Borderstep Institut fuer Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit, Berlin (Germany); Marscheider-Weidemann, Frank [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany)

    2007-12-15

    Bioplastics based on renewable resources like e.g. starch, celluloses or lactic acid are considered one way to reduce environmental impacts, oil consumption and increase the use of agricultural feedstocks. Some of the newly developed materials based on biotechnology even have properties that make them superior to regular plastics; they can, e.g. be breathable, printable and antistatic. Bioplastics can be used for different applications ranging from foils, injection moulding, extrusion or functional polymers. They can have a short or a long lifespan depending on the material or the compound used to produce them. Many bioplastics are partially or completely biodegradable. After their use they can be degraded mostly into water and carbon dioxide by fungi, bacteria or enzymes. This makes bioplastics also a candidate for reducing carbon dioxide emissions although energy is needed to produce and harvest the raw materials as well as for the manufacturing processes involved. The possible environmental effects and impacts of bioplastics have not yet been completely assessed and understood. Bioplastics could combine the potential to increase resource efficiency and reduce environmental effects, but further research is necessary before conclusions and recommendations can be made for this new class of materials. The share of bioplastics in the world's plastics market is relatively small at the moment. Approx. 350,000 tonnes of bioplastics were produced in 2006. This is equivalent to approx. 0.2 % of the plastics produced worldwide. Experts believe the market for bioplastics will grow at a rate of 25 - 30 % in the near future and reach the one million tonne mark by the year 2010 and could even raise to 3 million tonnes per year by 2020. In the short and medium term, the development of the market for bioplastics strongly depends on following factors: - Development of crude oil price: The market potential for bioplastics is heavily dependent on the crude oil price. Under the

  9. Market Review: Market values summary; March market review; Current market data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-01-01

    This article is the March 1996 uranium market summary. In this reporting period, there were two deals in the natural uranium spot market and four deals in the long-term market. The unrestricted value moved upward to $13.50 per pound U3O8, and the long-term price indicator was $16.50. In the UF6 market, there was but a single deal. Both the restricted and the unrestricted values moved upward, to $47.00 and $41.25 respectively. The restricted and the unrestricted transaction values moved upward, to $13.35 and $8.40 respectively. In the enrichment services market, there were no transactions. Both the restricted and the unrestricted SWU values remained constant at $97 and $90 respectively. Active uranium supply rose, while active demand decreased sharply

  10. Structural coarsening during annealing of an aluminum plate heavily deformed using ECAE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mishin, Oleg V.; Zhang, Yubin; Godfrey, A.

    2015-01-01

    The microstructure and softening behaviour have been investigated in an aluminum plate heavily deformed by equal channel angular extrusion and subsequently annealed at 170 °C. It is found that at this temperature the microstructure evolves by coarsening with no apparent signs of recrystallization...... even after 2 h of annealing. Both coarsening and softening are rapid within first 10 minutes of annealing followed by a slower evolution with increasing annealing duration. Evidence of triple junction (TJ) motion during coarsening is obtained by inspecting the microstructure in one region using...... the electron backscatter diffraction technique both before and after annealing for 10 minutes. The fraction of fast-migrating TJs is found to strongly depend of the type of boundaries composing a junction. The greatest fraction of fast-migrating TJs is in the group, where all boundaries forming a junction...

  11. The marketing of dietary supplements in North America: the emperor is (almost) naked.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Temple, Norman J

    2010-07-01

    Many different dietary supplements are being sold in North America. The quality of the evidence supporting their efficacy covers a wide spectrum: Some are based on solid science (such as vitamin D and fish oil), whereas with most supplements there is little or no supporting evidence. Types of supplements commonly sold include exotic fruit juices (such as goji juice) and single herbs or mixture of herbs. Common claims made in support of particular supplements are that they are rich in antioxidants, induce detoxification, stimulate the immune system, and cause weight loss. Supplements are commonly sold through health food stores and by multilevel marketing. Sales may be promoted using bulk mail ("junk mail"), spam e-mails, and Web sites. A large part of marketing is based on claims that are blatantly dishonest. Whereas supplements for which good supporting evidence exists generally cost around $3-$4 per month, those that are heavily promoted for which there is little supporting evidence cost about $20-$60 per month. The major cause of this problem in the United States is weakness of the law. There is an urgent need for stricter regulation and for giving better advice to the general public.

  12. SOCIAL MARKETING : A NEW APPROACH IN MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, S.C.

    1998-01-01

    Social marketing has a proven role in marketing and many manufacturing establishments/ organizations have been marketing their products incorporating social marketing research. Social marketing has its root in the ground fact that the perceptions and expectations of the consumers are important in influencing buying behaviour. The principles of social marketing, therefore, have been extensively utilized in the areas of consumer products. These are also used in several other fields for modifying behaviours such as civil administration, public establishments etc. In health sector social marketing has not found appropriate application whereas it could be utilized in an effective way for creating awareness, formulating health related policies, their implementation and for preventing a variety of illnesses/abnormal behaviours etc. With this background knowledge about social marketing, the author hypothesized that abnormal behaviours could be modified, health education packages could be developed to make more acceptable and effective and desired behaviours could be induced if perceptions and expectations of the community (consumers) are known a prioriori and their expectations are incorporated in programmes and policies. Thus, the author utilizing the concepts of social marketing for understanding community′s perceptions and expectations regarding issues of health, and for incorporating the same in health related programmes and policies, introduced this research concept in medical field in this country. The important findings of three research projects based on the concepts of social marketing research and their implications have been discussed. PMID:21494494

  13. Funding of Graduate Medical Education in a Market-Based Healthcare System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuster, Barbara L

    2017-02-01

    The graduate medical education (GME) process in the United States is considered the most respected model for high-quality education of graduate physicians in the world. With substantial funding through government and private insurers and through structured educational accreditation standards, the American Board of Medical Specialists-certified physicians are recognized for their expertise in delivering high-quality medical care. However, under fiscal constraints and changing social expectations, questions are continually posed about the process of funding and whether the "physician outcomes" are sufficient to continue with the investment. This article reviews the history of postgraduate physician education, the multiple funding pathways, disruptions to a placid educational system and changing social expectations. The ultimate issues involve the core goals of GME and how much GME should shoulder responsibility for changing the healthcare system. Copyright © 2017 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Backward diodes using heavily Mg-doped GaN growth by ammonia molecular-beam epitaxy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okumura, Hironori; Martin, Denis; Malinverni, Marco; Grandjean, Nicolas

    2016-02-01

    We grew heavily Mg-doped GaN using ammonia molecular-beam epitaxy. The use of low growth temperature (740 °C) allows decreasing the incorporation of donor-like defects (p-type doping compensation. As a result, a net acceptor concentration of 7 × 1019 cm-3 was achieved, and the hole concentration measured by Hall effect was as high as 2 × 1019 cm-3 at room temperature. Using such a high Mg doping level, we fabricated GaN backward diodes without polarization-assisted tunneling. The backward diodes exhibited a tunneling-current density of 225 A/cm2 at a reverse bias of -1 V at room temperature.

  15. Market efficiency in foreign exchange markets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Gabjin; Kim, Seunghwan; Eom, Cheoljun

    2007-08-01

    We investigate the relative market efficiency in financial market data, using the approximate entropy(ApEn) method for a quantification of randomness in time series. We used the global foreign exchange market indices for 17 countries during two periods from 1984 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2004 in order to study the efficiency of various foreign exchange markets around the market crisis. We found that on average, the ApEn values for European and North American foreign exchange markets are larger than those for African and Asian ones except Japan. We also found that the ApEn for Asian markets increased significantly after the Asian currency crisis. Our results suggest that the markets with a larger liquidity such as European and North American foreign exchange markets have a higher market efficiency than those with a smaller liquidity such as the African and Asian markets except Japan.

  16. Variability in market uptake of psychotropic medications in Europe reflects cultural diversity.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoebert, J M; Mantel-Teeuwisse, A K; Leufkens, H G M; van Dijk, L

    2017-01-01

    In the last 20-30 years, many international studies have found substantial differences in the use of (older) psychotropic medication between European countries. The majority mentioned an important role for attitudes and beliefs towards psychotropic medication. So far, no studies have looked into the

  17. Antiacanthamoebic properties of natural and marketed honey in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Farzana Abubakar Yousuf

    2016-11-01

    Conclusions: This study shows that natural honey has antiacanthamoebic properties and possesses higher flavonoid, phenolic and antioxidant properties compared with the marketed honey. These findings are of concern to the public, health officials, and to the manufacturers regarding production of honey for medical applications.

  18. Cost analysis, cost recovery, marketing and fee-based services a guide for the health sciences librarian

    CERN Document Server

    Wood, M Sandra

    2013-01-01

    This outstanding volume won the 1986 Ida and George Eliot Prize--awarded by the Medical Library Association for the work judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship. Library professionals review the controversy behind fee-for-service programs and provide a rationale for incorporating them into contemporary library philosophies of service. Some fee-based services are necessary for survival in a society that treats information as a marketable commodity; this comprehensive book gives practical advice on cost analysis, cost recovery and marketing of reference services, and presents i

  19. Migration of doctors for undergraduate medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallock, James A; McKinley, Danette W; Boulet, John R

    2007-03-01

    Global shortages of healthcare workers in both developed and developing countries are of great concern. Research on physician migration typically focuses on medical school graduates, most often those seeking postgraduate training opportunities elsewhere. An overview of medical school migration patterns is presented in this paper. To put this phenomenon into the broader context of global physician migration, data is also presented on the distribution of medical schools, physician density, the flow of international medical graduates to the US, and the present composition of the US physician workforce. Results of the study indicate that many individuals leave their home country for undergraduate medical education. Given the movement of students and physicians, both for medical school and for advanced training opportunities, it is evident that some medical schools in the world are training doctors for their home country as well as for the international labor market. Overall, given the internationalization of medical education, collaborative efforts will be needed to develop an adequate, balanced, and well-trained global physician workforce.

  20. High-Confidence Medical Devices: Cyber-Physical Systems for 21st Century Health Care

    Data.gov (United States)

    Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, Executive Office of the President — The U.S. market for medical devices is the largest in the world. At an estimated $83 billion in 2006, this market represents nearly half the global total and is...

  1. U.S. northeast and Maritime markets : a marketer`s perspective

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broadfoot, M. [Engage Energy Canada, Calgary, AB (Canada)

    1998-09-01

    A 1998 profile of Engage Energy Canada was presented as an illustration of gas marketing opportunities in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States from the point of view of the gas marketer. Engage Energy is a joint venture company of Westcoast Energy Inc., and the Coastal Corporation. The company`s annual gross revenues equal $US 4.0 billion involving an annual natural gas volume of 8 Bcf/day and an annual electricity volume of 40 million MWh. The functions of marketers and the characteristics of this particular market area were described, paying attention also to commodity volatility. The role of energy marketers in the Maritimes and the northeast USA was defined as `partnering` between energy users and marketing firms to manage the energy users` needs through a rapidly changing energy market. The expertise that marketers bring to this task was also described. 7 figs.

  2. SU-B-BRA-00: The Medical Physicist Value Proposition for Tomorrow and Today

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sherouse, G.

    2016-01-01

    In the current rapidly changing Healthcare environment, many groups are competing for limited resources. How can medical physicists position themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the discussion of how those resources are allocated Our value goes beyond what can be shown in a business plan and is heavily involved with safety and quality. Three areas will be explored: What is our value? Who needs to receive that message? How do we communicate that message? To help frame the discussion in terms of how other stakeholders may view the value of medical physicists, a physician and an administrator will present their perspective. Lastly, a multidisciplinary panel will present real life examples of strategies that can be utilized today to establish the value of medical physicists. The presentation of these examples will lead into an interactive question and answer time. V. Willcut, I work for Elekta. There was no research associated with this talk.

  3. SU-B-BRA-02: The Medical Physics Value Proposition for Tomorrow and Today

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    White, G. [Colorado Associates in Medical Physics (United States)

    2016-06-15

    In the current rapidly changing Healthcare environment, many groups are competing for limited resources. How can medical physicists position themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the discussion of how those resources are allocated Our value goes beyond what can be shown in a business plan and is heavily involved with safety and quality. Three areas will be explored: What is our value? Who needs to receive that message? How do we communicate that message? To help frame the discussion in terms of how other stakeholders may view the value of medical physicists, a physician and an administrator will present their perspective. Lastly, a multidisciplinary panel will present real life examples of strategies that can be utilized today to establish the value of medical physicists. The presentation of these examples will lead into an interactive question and answer time. V. Willcut, I work for Elekta. There was no research associated with this talk.

  4. SU-B-BRA-03: A Physician Perspective on the Value of Medical Physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burri, S. [Levine Cancer Institute (United States)

    2016-06-15

    In the current rapidly changing Healthcare environment, many groups are competing for limited resources. How can medical physicists position themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the discussion of how those resources are allocated Our value goes beyond what can be shown in a business plan and is heavily involved with safety and quality. Three areas will be explored: What is our value? Who needs to receive that message? How do we communicate that message? To help frame the discussion in terms of how other stakeholders may view the value of medical physicists, a physician and an administrator will present their perspective. Lastly, a multidisciplinary panel will present real life examples of strategies that can be utilized today to establish the value of medical physicists. The presentation of these examples will lead into an interactive question and answer time. V. Willcut, I work for Elekta. There was no research associated with this talk.

  5. SU-B-BRA-04: An Administrators Perspective on the Value of Medical Physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McNary, D. [Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2016-06-15

    In the current rapidly changing Healthcare environment, many groups are competing for limited resources. How can medical physicists position themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the discussion of how those resources are allocated Our value goes beyond what can be shown in a business plan and is heavily involved with safety and quality. Three areas will be explored: What is our value? Who needs to receive that message? How do we communicate that message? To help frame the discussion in terms of how other stakeholders may view the value of medical physicists, a physician and an administrator will present their perspective. Lastly, a multidisciplinary panel will present real life examples of strategies that can be utilized today to establish the value of medical physicists. The presentation of these examples will lead into an interactive question and answer time. V. Willcut, I work for Elekta. There was no research associated with this talk.

  6. SU-B-BRA-00: The Medical Physicist Value Proposition for Tomorrow and Today

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sherouse, G. [Landauer Medical Physics, Glenwood, IL (United States)

    2016-06-15

    In the current rapidly changing Healthcare environment, many groups are competing for limited resources. How can medical physicists position themselves to be a relevant stakeholder in the discussion of how those resources are allocated Our value goes beyond what can be shown in a business plan and is heavily involved with safety and quality. Three areas will be explored: What is our value? Who needs to receive that message? How do we communicate that message? To help frame the discussion in terms of how other stakeholders may view the value of medical physicists, a physician and an administrator will present their perspective. Lastly, a multidisciplinary panel will present real life examples of strategies that can be utilized today to establish the value of medical physicists. The presentation of these examples will lead into an interactive question and answer time. V. Willcut, I work for Elekta. There was no research associated with this talk.

  7. [How are consumers, service and market factors related to customer loyalty in medical service? Targeting the medical consumer in a city].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sunhee; Kim, Hyunmi; Kim, Juhye; Ha, Gwiyeom

    2008-09-01

    This study was performed to explore customer loyalty and the related factors. 900 households (a 1% sample) were randomly selected from the total population of K city located in Kangwon province. An interview survey was performed with using a structured questionnaire for the subjects (923 persons) who had used medical service during the year before the survey, and the survey was done September, 2002. When comparing the relating factors related with customer loyalty according to the sociodemographic characteristics, the older group showed a significantly higher level of recognition for service quality, service reputation, internal customers.attitudes and switching cost. The lower income group showed a higher level of recognition for service quality, service image and switching cost. The lower educated group showed a higher level of recognition for service reputation, service image and internal customers.attitudes. The higher educated group showed a higher level of recognition for perceived risk, and seeking variety. In addition, the expert group or the service and manufacturing workers group showed a higher level of recognition for service involvement. On multiple regression analysis, internal customers' attitudes, service image, service reputation, service quality, switching cost, and substitutability showed significant relations with customer loyalty. This study showed that customer loyalty was significantly influenced by service factors like internal customers' attitudes, service image, service reputation, and service quality, and by market factors like switching cost, and substitutability. The results of this study can be used as a baseline for developing strategies to create and keep customers with high loyalty.

  8. The medical-industrial complex, professional medical associations, and continuing medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schofferman, Jerome

    2011-12-01

    Financial relationships among the biomedical industries, physicians, and professional medical associations (PMAs) can be professional, ethical, mutually beneficial, and, most importantly, can lead to improved medical care. However, such relationships, by their very nature, present conflicts of interest (COIs). One of the greatest concerns regarding COI is continuing medical education (CME), especially because currently industry funds 40-60% of CME. COIs have the potential to bias physicians in practice, educators, and those in leadership positions of PMAs and well as the staff of a PMA. These conflicts lead to the potential to bias the content and type of CME presentations and thereby influence physicians' practice patterns and patient care. Physicians are generally aware of the potential for bias when industry contributes funding for CME, but they are most often unable to detect the bias. This may because it is very subtle and/or the educators themselves may not realize that they have been influenced by their relationships with industry. Following Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education guidelines and mandating disclosure that is transparent and complete have become the fallback positions to manage COIs, but such disclosure does not really mitigate the conflict. The eventual and best solutions to ensure evidence-based education are complete divestment by educators and leaders of PMAs, minimal and highly controlled industry funding of PMAs, blind pooling of any industry contributions to PMAs and CME, strict verification of disclosures, clear separation of marketing from education at CME events, and strict oversight of presentations for the presence of bias. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  9. Big data on a big new market: Insights from Washington State's legal cannabis market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caulkins, Jonathan P; Bao, Yilun; Davenport, Steve; Fahli, Imane; Guo, Yutian; Kinnard, Krista; Najewicz, Mary; Renaud, Lauren; Kilmer, Beau

    2018-07-01

    Voters in eight U.S. states have passed initiatives to legalize large-scale commercial production of cannabis for non-medical use. All plan or require some form of "seed-to-sale" tracking systems, which provide a view of cannabis market activity at a heretofore unimagined level of detail. Legal markets also create a range of new matters for policy makers to address. Publicly available data were obtained on approximately 45 million individually priced items purchased in the 35 million retail transactions that took place during the first two and a half years of Washington State's legal cannabis market. Records include product type (flower, extract, lotion, liquid edible, etc.), product name, price, and potency with respect to multiple cannabinoids, notably THC and CBD. Items sold can be traced back up the supply chain through the store to the processor and producer, to the level of identifying the specific production batch and mother plant, the firm that tested the product, and test results. Data visualization methods are employed to describe spatial-temporal patterns of multiple correlated attributes (e.g., price and potency) broken down by product. Text-analytic methods are used to subdivide the broad category of "extracts for inhalation" into more homogeneous sub-categories. To understand the competitiveness of the legal cannabis market in Washington we calculate the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) for processors and retailers. Cannabis prices fell steadily and proportionally at the processor and retailer levels. Retail and wholesale price maintained a roughly 3:1 ratio for multiple product types after some initial fluctuations. Although a wide range of edibles are sold, they account for a modest share of consumer spending; extracts for inhalation are a larger and heterogeneous market segment. The HHI indicates the cannabis market is highly competitive at the processor level, but less so for retail markets at the county level. Washington's state-legal cannabis

  10. Medical Tourism in India: Growth or Dilemma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bhawna SHARMA

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This study highlights the major trust areas, where the medical tourists are considering India as the country of choice. This study revolves around highlighting the reasons for which medical tourists recognize India as the perfect destination. The study investigates the framework of Medical Tourism in India, as the platform for medical tourists who seek low cost treatments with less waiting time. The study also revolves around identifying the core competencies of Indian Medical Tourism market, which makes it as the strategic thrust for the future growth drivers of the healthcare industry. The study is based upon the data collected through primary research, as well as secondary research from hospitals website, India’s Ministry of Health website and from the website of National Association of Health Tourism.

  11. 7 CFR 1218.11 - Market or marketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Market or marketing. 1218.11 Section 1218.11 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING... Market or marketing. (a) Marketing means the sale or other disposition of blueberries in any channel of...

  12. From physical marketing to web marketing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Constantinides, Efthymios

    2002-01-01

    Reviews the criticism of the 4P marketing mix framework as the basis of traditional and virtual marketing planning. Argues that the customary marketing management approach, based on the popular marketing mix 4Ps paradigm, is inadequate in the case of virtual marketing. Identifies two main

  13. Marketing. Market research, the key to success; Marketing. Erfolgsfaktor Marktforschung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bongers, U. [VSE AG, Saarbruecken (Germany); Borch, G. [Berliner Kraft- und Licht (BEWAG)-AG, Berlin (Germany); Edelmann, H. [Vereinigte Elektrizitaetswerke Westfalen AG (VEW), Dortmund (Germany); Hermann, E. [Hamburgische Electricitaets-Werke AG, Hamburg (Germany); Nickel, M. [Vereinigung Deutscher Elektrizitaetswerke e.V. (VDEW), Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

    1999-07-01

    The brochure explains why market research has become an essential activity for the business management of electric utilities in the competitive market environment. The document gives advice on integrating information obtained from market research into the organizational planning of the marketing activities of electric utilities that are newcomers in the deregulated European energy markets. The brochure was elaborated by a working group for 'market research and organisational statistics' of the VDEW. (orig./CB) [German] Die vorliegende Broschuere stellt die neue Bedeutung der Marktforschung fuer die Informationsgewinnung und das Marketing der Stromunternehmen dar und gibt Hinweise auf die organisatorische Einbindung der Marktforschung. Sie wurde von einer Projektgruppe des VDEW-Fachausschusses 'Marktforschung und Unternehmensstatistik' erarbeitet. Die Broschuere ist vor allem fuer die Unternehmen gedacht, die ihre Marktforschung aufbauen oder ausbauen wollen. (orig./CB)

  14. Efficiency of Management and Marketing Strategies within The Dental Office

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oprea Valentin BUSU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article is based on research about the management and marketing strategies within the dental office and how we can better understand its importance. One of the major problems faced by dentists today is the management of the dental office. Certainly, from the outside, individuals perceive the dentist's office as a simple medical unit in which medical staff operate. However, people living in the field face each day multiple problems of both medical and bureaucratic nature. For the dentist/manager, the dental office is perceived as a dual-purpose unit: providing oro-dental care and earning profit.

  15. Positioning academic medical centers and teaching hospitals to thrive in the next decade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, D E

    1985-06-01

    Market share for academic medical centers and teaching hospitals will decline over the next five years necessitating new strategies to ensure growth and profitability. These types of institutions are, however, in a strong position to compete and gain market share locally by building a defensible competitive advantage. This article offers three avenues for increasing market share: networking, brand name product differentiation, and business diversification.

  16. A Review of the Emerging Markets Literature: Context, Concepts and Future Research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ulrik B.; Hannibal, Martin; Larsen, Nathalie Nørregaard

    Emerging Markets (EM) has been the focus of numerous studies. Even though the EM category has been heavily debated and has been the focus of a substantial and ever-growing body of research, the elements used to define and characterize EMs are still found to be inconsistent. Through a systematic...... of the existing EM literature, which is currently dominated by studies involving China and India. Secondly, we identify the seminal contributions based on cross-references in the EM field and citations in international business literature in general. Thirdly, we elaborate on the definitional elements of the most...... dominant definitions and characterizations in the extant EM literature. As a final step these are used to develop an organizing framework for future research. Finally, based on our findings we suggest avenues of future research and managerial implications are presented....

  17. Thermal conductivity of high-porosity heavily doped biomorphic silicon carbide prepared from sapele wood biocarbon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parfen'eva, L. S.; Orlova, T. S.; Smirnov, B. I.; Smirnov, I. A.; Misiorek, H.; Mucha, J.; Jezowski, A.; Cabezas-Rodriguez, R.; Ramirez-Rico, J.

    2012-08-01

    The electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of high-porosity (˜52 vol %, channel-type pores) bio-SiC samples prepared from sapele wood biocarbon templates have been measured in the temperature range 5-300 K. An analysis has been made of the obtained results in comparison with the data for bio-SiC samples based on beech and eucalyptus, as well as for polycrystalline β-SiC. The conclusion has been drawn that the electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of bio-SiC samples based on natural wood are typical of heavily doped polycrystalline β-SiC.

  18. Medical Gains of Chondroitin Sulfate Upon Fucosylation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pomin, Vitor H

    2015-01-01

    Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) composed of alternating N-acetyl galactosamine and glucuronic acid units within disaccharide building blocks. CS is a key functional component in proteoglycans of cartilaginous tissues. Owing to its numerous biological roles, CS is widely explored in the pharmaceutical market as nutraceutical ingredient commonly utilized against arthritis, osteoarthrosis, and sometimes osteoporosis. Tissues like shark cartilage and bovine trachea are common sources of CS. Nonetheless, a new CS type has been introduced and investigated in the last few decades in what regards its medical potentials. It is named fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FucCS). This less common CS type is isolated exclusively from the body wall of sea cucumbers. The presence of fucosyl branching units in the holothurian FucCS gives to this unique GAG, therapeutic properties in various pathophysiological systems which are inexistent in the common CS explored in the market. Examples of these systems are coagulation, thrombosis, hemodialysis, atherosclerosis, cellular growth, angiogenesis, fibrosis, tumor growth, inflammation, viral and protozoan infections, hyperglycemia, diabetes-related pathological events and tissue damage. This report aims at describing the medical benefits gained upon fucosylation of CS. Clinical prospects of these medical benefits are also discussed herein.

  19. Patient decision making in the face of conflicting medication information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Elstad

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available When patients consult more than one source of information about their medications, they may encounter conflicting information. Although conflicting information has been associated with negative outcomes, including worse medication adherence, little is known about how patients make health decisions when they receive conflicting information. The objective of this study was to explore the decision making strategies that individuals with arthritis use when they receive conflicting medication information. Qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with 20 men and women with arthritis. Interview vignettes posed scenarios involving conflicting information from different sources (e.g., doctor, pharmacist, and relative, and respondents were asked how they would respond to the situation. Data analysis involved inductive coding to identify emergent themes and deductive contextualization to make meaning from the emergent themes. In response to conflicting medication information, patients used rules of thumb, trial and error, weighed benefits and risks, and sought more information, especially from a doctor. Patients relied heavily on trial and error when there was no conflicting information involved in the vignette. In contrast, patients used rules of thumb as a unique response to conflicting information. These findings increase our understanding of what patients do when they receive conflicting medication information. Given that patient exposure to conflicting information is likely to increase alongside the proliferation of medication information on the Internet, patients may benefit from assistance in identifying the most appropriate decision strategies for dealing with conflicting information, including information about best information sources.

  20. Marketing marketing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    dr. Karel Jan van Alsem

    2013-01-01

    In deze installatierede betoogt Karel Jan Alsem dat marketing een grotere strategische rol in organisaties zou moeten krijgen. Want marketing is bij uitstek de verbinding tussen klantwensen en het DNA van een organisatie. Doordat merken gemiddeld voor mensen niet heel belangrijk zijn, is goede