Oral refeeding with a full solid diet in mild AP was well tolerated and resulted in a shorter LOH in patients without abdominal pain relapse.

In this open-label observational trial AZA showed sustained efficacy for maintenance of clinical remission off steroids and steroid sparing through 3 years of therapy in SD-UC. Patients with earlier UC are those who most probably will have sustained steroid-free remission at the end of 12 months while on AZA.

BackgroundAlthough the cost of Crohn’s disease (CD) treatment differs considerably, hospitalization and surgery costs account for most of the total treatment cost. Decreasing hospitalization and surgery rates are pivotal issues in reducing health-care costs.Material/MethodsWe evaluated the effect of azathioprine (AZA) compared with mesalazine on incidence of re-hospitalizations due to all causes and for CD-related surgeries. In this controlled, randomized study, 72 subjects with sub-occlusive ileocecal CD were randomized for AZA (2–3 mg/kg per day) or mesalazine (3.2 g per day) therapy during a 3-year period. The primary end point was the re-hospitalization proportion due to all causes, as well as for surgical procedures during this period evaluated between the groups.ResultsOn an intention-to-treat basis, the proportion of patients re-hospitalized within 36 months due to all causes was lower in patients treated with AZA compared to those on mesalazine (0.39 vs. 0.83, respectively; p=0.035). The AZA group had also significantly lower proportions of re-hospitalization for surgical intervention (0.25 vs. 0.56, respectively; p=0.011). The number of admissions (0.70 vs. 1.41, p=0.001) and the length of re-hospitalization (3.8 vs. 7.7 days; p=0.002) were both lower in AZA patients.ConclusionsPatients with sub-occlusive ileocecal CD treated with AZA had lower re-hospitalization rates due to all causes and for surgical management of CD compared to those treated with mesalazine during a 3-year period. The long-term use of AZA in ileocecal CD patients recovering from a sub-occlusion episode can save healthcare costs.

In IBD outpatients presenting colitis flares, CDI is highly prevalent. Females, younger age, infliximab, and notably steroid therapy were independently associated with CDI. Most patients with CDI experienced mild-to-moderate disease, and prompt treatment with vancomycin was highly effective, which seems to reduce the serious complication risks.

©Copyright 2009 FGV-EAESP/RAE-eletrônica. Todos os direitos reservados. Permitida a citação parcial, desde que identificada a fonte. Proibida a reprodução total. Em caso de dúvidas, consulte a Redação: raeredacao@fgv.br; 55 (11) 3281-7898. RESUMOEste artigo analisa a estrutura de capital de 99 pequenas empresas. Os objetivos são verificar as características desejadas de financiamento e relação entre atributos da empresa/gestor e financiamentos de curto e longo prazo atuais e desejados, a partir das análises conjunta e de correspondência. Na aspectos da teoria da hierarquia de fontes obrigatória e a adequabilidade de certas teorias de estrutura de capital em pequenas empresas.PALAVRAS-CHAVE Pequenas empresas, estrutura de capital atual, preferências de financiamento, análise de correspondência, análise conjunta. ABSTRACTSThis paper analyzes the capital structure of 99 small companies. The objectives are to check the desired financing and relationship characteristics between attributes of the company/manager and current and desired short and long term financing using joint and correspondence analyses. In the sample "cost" was the most important factor in the choice of financing, followed by "instrument", "conditions" and "guarantee". The variable "size", "new investments", "return expectation" and "intended source of financing" revealed there was greater correspondence with current short term financing. "Current long term financing" corresponded to the variables "destination of new financing", "perception of volatility", "growth expectation", "intention of new investments" and "new investments". Conclusively, they provided evidence of aspects of the theory of the hierarchy of compulsory sources and the suitability of certain theories of capital structure in small companies.

BackgroundPatients with subocclusive Crohn’s disease (CD) who received azathioprine (AZA) therapy had lower re-hospitalization rates due to all causes and for surgical management of CD compared to those treated with mesalazine during a 3-year period. We investigated whether AZA also was effective for prevention of recurrent bowel obstruction.Material/MethodsRates of recurrent bowel occlusion were compared between patients treated with AZA and those treated with mesalazine. We assessed the time interval-off intestinal obstruction as well as the occlusion-free survival for both groups.ResultsThere was a significantly lower cumulative rate of patients with recurrent subocclusion in the AZA group (56%) compared with the mesalazine group (79%; OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.67–8.6; P=0.003), with the number needed to treat in order to prevent 1 subocclusion episode of 3.7 favoring AZA. The occlusion-free time interval was longer in the AZA group compared with the mesalazine group (28.8 vs. 18.3 months; P=0.000). The occlusion-free survival at 12, 24, and 36 months was significantly higher in the AZA group (91%, 81%, and 72%, respectively) than in the mesalazine group (64.7%, 35.3%, and 23.5%, respectively; P<0.05 for all comparisons).ConclusionsIn an exploratory analysis of patients with subocclusive ileocecal CD, maintenance therapy with AZA is more effective than mesalazine for eliminating or postponing recurrent intestinal obstruction during 3 years of therapy.

In a general practice setting, the incremental cost for a CXR screening programme targeted at all high-risk smokers in a population of 60,000 adults was estimated to be about euro 65,000 per annum, approx. euro 16,000 for each LC death averted.

In this paper a short term model to forecast automotive gasoline demand in Brazil is proposed. From the metodology point of view, data is analyzed and a model using a bottom-up strategy is developed. In other words, a simple model is improved step by step until a proper model that fits well the reality is found. Departuring from a univariate model it ends up in a neural network formulation, passing through dynamic regression models. The models obtained in this scheme are compared according to some criterion, mainly forecast accuracy. We conclude, that the efficiency of putting together classical statistics models (such as Box & Jenkins and dynamic regression) and neural networks improve the forecasting results. This result is highly desirable in modeling time series and, particularly, to the short term forecast of automotive gasoline , object of this paper.