Health-related quality-of-life in patients after elective surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm

Abstract

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to describe the health-related quality-of-life (QoL) in patients after elective surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) compared to a normal population and to study the association between QoL and number of years since surgery.

Methods:

All Danish men who underwent elective surgery for AAA at the age of 65 or more in the period from 1989–2007 in Denmark were invited to participate in the survey. Of 722 patients, 375 were alive and 328 (87%) responded. The instruments EQ-5D (European Quality of life), EQ-VAS and SF-12 (Short Form Health Survey) were applied for measuring health-related QoL. Multiple regression analysis was used to study the association between QoL and number of years since AAA surgery.

Results:

A significantly poorer QoL was found in patients having had AAA surgery compared to the normal population as measured with the SF-12 and the EQ-VAS, but not with EQ-5D. A negative association between QoL and years following surgery was found with EQ-VAS and SF-12 (PCS), but not with the other instruments.

Discussion:

Factors such as selection bias because of mortality and non-response may have resulted in an over-estimate of the QoL in patients having had AAA surgery, thus the difference in QoL compared to the normal population was probably under-estimated. The cross-section design was inefficient for the study of the association between QoL and years since surgery, and EQ-5D may be an insensitive instrument for measuring QoL in AAA patients after surgery.

Limitations:

The main limitation of the study was the cross-sectional design. Males with a higher risk of death were under-represented in the sample.

Conclusion:

A poorer quality-of-life was found in patients having had elective AAA surgery compared to the normal population.     

Purchasing power parity in transition countries: Old wine with new bottle

This study questions whether the long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) holds in the transition economies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romanian, and Russia) for the period from January 1995 to October 2011. We employ the Sequential Panel Selection Method (SPSM) procedure using the Panel KSS unit root test with a Fourier function, a novel approach to panel unit root testing. The SPSM approach classifies the whole panel into a group of stationary and non-stationary series and is able to account for structural breaks, nonlinearity, and cross-section dependence. The results indicate that the PPP holds true for more than half of these transition countries studied, with the exception of Hungarian, the Czech Republic and the Russia. The findings have important policy implications for the transition countries.     

Modelling airline flight cancellation decisions

In order to predict airline responses to Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs), and reveal the underlying preference structures that shape these responses, we study US domestic airlines’ cancellation decisions in response to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s TMIs, in particular, to Ground Delay Programs (GDPs). By observing the actual flight-cancellation choices made by airline dispatchers, the airlines’ cancellation utility functions can be inferred through the use of binary choice models. The model captures how delays to a given flight and potential delay savings to other flights affect flight cancellation decisions. We also find larger, fuller, less frequent, shorter-distance, and spoke-bound flights are less likely to be cancelled, and that there is inter-airline variation in flight cancellation behaviour.     

价值工程在加氢反应器筒节锻造中的应用

运用价值工程原理， 改进曾获国家科技进步一等奖的锻焊结构加氢反应器的筒节锻造工艺， 创新后的筒节锻造工艺又应用在其他两台类似的加氢反应器上，总计降低生产成本１７００ 余万元。     

对高职高专《成本会计》课程改革的几点思考

《成本会计》课程是高职财经类会计专业的一门重要专业课程。为适应高职教育的特点，改变高职院校成本会计的教学现状。应改革教学模式和教学内容，突出职业能力培养，加强师资队伍和教材建设，改革教学方法和手段。     

The Structure of Municipal Water Supply Costs: Application to a Panel of French Local Communities

Network losses and returns are importantissues for water resource management, that are addressed in thispaper by modeling the structure of production for municipal waterutilities with two outputs: water sold to final customers andwater network losses. We propose a measure of economies of scopeto assess the benefit associated with joint production of waterfor final customers and water losses, and several measures ofreturns to evaluate potential gains in exploiting technologicalflexibility of water networks. We estimate the cost structureof water utilities using a GMM procedure with a Translog costfunction and panel data. Estimation results reveal a positivedegree of economies of scope, and short-run returns to productiondensity and returns to customer density that are not significantlydifferent from 1. Significant economies of scale indicate thatlocal communities may benefit from merging into water districts.     

A model of local labor market regulation of China in the transition period

With the establishment of labor market of China, market is playing a more and mare important role in allocation of human resources. However, with the transition of economy in China and industrial upgrading in recent years, many labor problems have occurred which do harm to the sustainable development of local economy. The paper researches on the labor market issues of China from the perspective of local labor market regulation. Firstly, it reviews the theories of local labor market regulation. And then the main components of local labor market regulation of China are identified and the evaluation index system is established. The results of analysis of the calculated output show that （1） the local labor market regulation of China has an obvious character of gradient distribution geographically and decreases gradually from east to west; （2） of all the regulations, the regulation of the development of human capital has the most significant impact on local economy currently which is followed by the regulation of labor relation and the regulation of market participation. As to the regulation of social security, it has no Significant impact on the development of local economy.     

我国房地产业的制度变迁

本文描述了自经济体制改革以来我国房地产制度的变迁过程,对房地产业制度变迁历程中存在的产权与融资、管理等方面存在的缺陷进行分析,并提出了完善我国房地产业制度的相关建议。     

民间投资与产业转型——以浙江省为例

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