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Popular Articles

U.N. Human Rights Council Adopts 'Landmark' Maternal Mortality Resolution
The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a "landmark resolution" acknowledging that "preventable maternal mortality and morbidity" is a human rights issue and that national and international efforts to protect women worldwide should be scaled up, the Hudson Valley Press Online reports. More than 70 U.N. member states cosponsored the resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand (Hudson Valley Press Online, 6/18). Pakistan was one of the member states that signed on to the resolution, the International News reports (International News, 6/19).

American Physical Therapy Association Endorses The Ness L300™ Foot Drop System
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) announced its official product endorsement of the NESS L300 Foot Drop System, manufactured by Bioness Inc. of Valencia, CA, the first functional electrical stimulation (FES) foot drop system to be endorsed by APTA.
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Scripps Research Scientists Observe Human Neurodegenerative Disorder In Fruit Flies
A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Katholeike Universiteit Leuven, and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, among other institutions, has created a genetically modified fruit fly that mimics key features of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a common neurodegenerative disorder that strikes about one out of every 2,500 people in the United States.
Medical Devices

Minimal Important Differences In Melanoma-Related Quality Of Life

Quantitative assessments of patient quality of life are becoming increasingly important in the context of clinical trials. In addition to establishing benchmark score differences that are useful when interpreting study results, Minimal Important Differences (MIDs) inform discussions of clinically meaningful change in patient status. In a recent study by researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, various techniques to quantify MIDs were applied to data from the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Melanoma (FACT-M). These included analyses linked to patient performance status indicators over time such as the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status Scale. Askew and colleagues reported that different performance indicators serving as clinical "anchors" yielded varying MID estimates. The goals of the current study will contribute to and hopefully expand the on-going discussion of how investigators define clinically meaningful change in patient quality of life. Dr. Janice Cormier, Associate Professor of Surgery and Biostatistics, who along with colleagues, developed and validated the FACT-Melanoma questionnaire noted that, "With the increased interest expressed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in patient reported outcomes for clinical trial research, the need for evidence-based standards for interpreting differences in patient status has become increasingly important." This will be discussed in Value in Health, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and outcomes Research. Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 4,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide. ISPOR is a nonprofit, international organization that strives to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care res wisely, fairly, and efficiently. ISPOR


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