Pharmacoeconomic analysis for pemetrexed as a maintenance therapy for NSCLC patients with patient assistance program in China

Objective: This study is to evaluate the costs, clinical efficacy, and social benefits of a patient assistance program (PAP) implemented by the China Primary Healthcare Foundation for the use of pemetrexed as a first-line non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) maintenance therapy in China.

Methods: A survival analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 1,366 patients who participated in the PAP. The progression-free survival (PFS) and median maintenance treatment cycle of pemetrexed were analyzed. A 36-month Markov model from a payer’s perspective was constructed to analyze the cost and effectiveness associated with the PAP for pemetrexed. The inputs of the model were sourced from the PAP clinical database and published literature. The study estimated the incremental quality adjusted life-years (QALYs) (pemetrexed plus best supportive care [BSC] vs BSC only), the cost saving of the PAP, the impact on the percentage of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE), and poverty headcount ratio (HCR).

Results: The median of PFS and maintenance treatment cycles were 187 days and five cycles (total nine cycles, which included four cycles of induction therapy), respectively. The pemetrexed plus BSC treatment with PAP resulted in an additional 0.12 QALYs over BSC only. The total cost was $48,034.46 and $96,191.57 for the patients who had or had not joined the PAP in 3 years, respectively. Compared to the patients without PAP, the percentage of CHE and HCR with PAP was reduced from 98.39% to 19.91% and 66.98% to 4.89%, respectively, indicating that the PAP substantially decreased the number of patients who had CHE and fallen into poverty.

Conclusion: The study concluded that the pemetrexed PAP generated noticeable clinical and economic benefits to society and to patients. The program also increased patients’ compliance with chemotherapy by allowing patients, for whom the pemetrexed treatment was unaffordable, to continue to receive it.     

重新思考体系建构主义身份理论的概念与逻辑

亚历山大·温特体系建构主义框架下的身份理论至今仍然是国际关系理论界较为系统和完整的身份理论,但是温特的身份理论在概念运用的合理性和逻辑推演的自洽性上都存在较为严重的困境。作者将温特的身份理论置于更为广阔的社会科学背景中予以考察,结合社会学、社会心理学等领域内身份研究的相关成果,指出温特理论建构中的结构主义和认知主义本体倾向是造成其理论存在概念与逻辑困境的根源。同时,在比较社会心理学研究成果的基础上,批判了温特将具有文化特殊性的个体导向社会身份普遍化的错误做法,尝试提出与个体导向社会身份相对应的关系导向社会身份的概念。关系导向的社会身份概念有助于克服温特身份理论的结构主义、认知主义本体倾向,恢复社会身份的情感意义和行为体的情感施动性,为推进建构主义身份理论的发展提供了一种更为开阔和包容的视角。     

不锈钢盘条扭转性能差异与微观组织分析研究

对不同产地采用相同热轧工艺的不锈钢盘条进行了一系列的扭转试验,通过金相、扫描电镜等分析手段,探讨了不锈钢盘条扭转性能的差异原因与其微观织构的关系。     

未成年人心理辅导网站建设初探

就未成年人心理辅导网站的建设问题进行探讨。从网站建设的理念、网页的内容与设计、网页布局的原则以及网站的维护与管理进行探讨。指出未成年人心理辅导的网站应坚持发展与预防为主、矫正为辅的理念；网页的内容与设计包括三大登陆入口和四大平台；网站建设应遵循信息获取方便快捷、突出整体性、对象与背景和谐一致的原则；网站的维护与管理的目标是网站的安全和“高速”运转。     

Does Security of Land Operational Rights Matter for the Improvement of Agricultural Production Efficiency under the Collective Ownership in China?

Under the “separation of three rights” policy, the impact of security of land operational rights on agricultural production efficiency has attracted much attention in recent years. Data envelopment analysis and mediation effect analysis were applied to 888 family farms run by new‐type agricultural operators from Songjiang to identify the mechanism of the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency through long‐term investment. The results show that greater security of land operational rights generally increased agricultural production efficiency. Approximately 37.94 percent of the impact could be explained by long‐term investment. The results also indicate that significant heterogeneity exists in the effect of land operational rights security on agricultural production efficiency at various levels of the family farms’ efficiency distributions. It is suggested that government should legalize land operational rights and give them a status equal to those of households’ contractual rights and land ownership rights in China's future land tenure reform.     

How User‐Created‐Content (UCC) Service Quality Influences User Satisfaction and Behaviour

The Internet is undergoing a gradual shift from Web 1.0‐based user interaction to Web 2.0, which has a greater emphasis on user‐created content (UCC) and user collaboration (Hsu & Hsu, 2008). Since existing models of e‐service quality are likely deficient under Web 2.0, we build on them and test a new framework using 319 users who frequented UCC websites. Among other findings, three service elements together explained 44% of the variance in user satisfaction and 33% of the variance in website usage. These elements were: the provider‐user relationship (customization and participation), the relationship among users (e.g., user empowerment), and user compensation. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do industry peers influence individual firms’ voluntary disclosure strategies?

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - This paper investigates how industry peer firms influence the voluntary disclosure strategies of individual firms. Our 2SLS regressions on an...     

M型社会中的质量策略

通过讨论M型社会特征,并根据收入分配、非正式员工状况及产业间差距几个指标的分析,得出中国已经进入M型社会的结论.进而在日本经济学家大前研一的“低价优质”和“平价高档”质量管理策略研究基础上提出了质量管理策略的四项措施,适应社会转型的新需求.     

Machinery investment decision and off-farm employment in rural China

This paper investigates the endogenous linkages between farmers' machinery investment decision and off-farm employment in China. Both the theoretical model and the empirical results based on a survey of 453 households in Anhui Province indicate that agricultural labor input and small-sized machinery investment are gross complements rather than substitutes when machinery services are available in the market. Consequently, farmers with small-sized machinery are more likely to reduce their off-farm employment time. On the other hand, an increase in off-farm employment is more likely to reduce the possibility of possessing small-sized machineries mainly due to substitution effects of market machinery services.     

Symbiotic ownership,cultural alignment,and firm performance: A test among international strategic alliances

Based on a sample of 61 international firms in China with industry symbiosis, we examine the effects of cultural alignment on firm performance. We first predict that symbiosis will have a negative effect on firm performance. After that, focusing on the most dimension of culture, i.e., collectivism/individualism, we also predict that in a society with a high collectivistic value, organizational collectivism will be positively correlated with firm performance because of its alignment with the prevailing societal culture. Finally, we predict that this cultural value should have a moderating effect on the relationship between symbiosis and performance. Data are collected from multiple sources to test these predictions. The results of the data analyses show the benefits of building a collectivistic organizational culture for firms with a high level of industry symbiosis.