Background Diagnostic testing for respiratory tract infections is a tool to manage the current COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the rising incidence of antimicrobial resistance. At the same time, new European regulations for market entry of in vitro diagnostics, in the form of the in vitro diagnostic regulation, may lead to more clinical evidence supporting health-economic analyses. Objective The objective of this systematic review was to review the methods used in economic evaluations of applied diagnostic techniques, for all patients seeking care for infectious diseases of the respiratory tract (such as pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, influenza, sinusitis, pharyngitis, sore throats and general respiratory tract infections). Methods Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, articles from three large databases of scientific literature were included (Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed) for the period January 2000 to May 2020. Results A total of 70 economic analyses are included, most of which use decision tree modelling for diagnostic testing for respiratory tract infections in the community-care setting. Many studies do not incorporate a generally comparable clinical outcome in their cost-effectiveness analysis: fewer than half the studies (33/70) used generalisable outcomes such as qualityadjusted life-years. Other papers consider outcomes related to the accuracy of the test or outcomes related to the prescribed treatment. The time horizons of the studies generally are limited. Conclusions The methods to economically assess diagnostic tests for respiratory tract infections vary and would benefit from clear recommendations from policy makers on the assessed time horizon and outcomes used.Simon van der Pol and Paula Rojas Garcia contributed equally to the article.

Background: The most recommended treatment for a Helicobacter pylori infection is high doses of combined antibiotics. The objective of this article is to perform a systematic review of the economic evaluation studies applied to assess the efficiency of diagnostic testing for H. pylori infections, so that their main characteristics can be identified and to learn from the literature how the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) issue is incorporated into these economic evaluations. Methods: We conducted a systematic review to compare the costs and clinical effectiveness of diagnostic strategies for H. pylori infections. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and extracted the items from the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) checklist. Results: We found thirteen articles that were of good quality according to CHEERS: six studies focused on diagnostics of Helicobacter pylori infections associated with dyspepsia and four on duodenal ulcers. Testing was found to be the most cost-effective strategy in eight articles. Four studies considered AMR. Conclusions: Testing was more cost-effective than empirical treatment, except in cases of high prevalence (as with developing countries) or when patients could be stratified according to their comorbidities. The introduction of AMR into the model may change the efficiency of the testing strategy.

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Objective: The introduction of biosimilar medicines in markets can bring savings to health systems, expanding the population’s access to various treatments. This study aims to analyze the price competition of biological agents and their biosimilars in Brazil within the scope of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: Prices for 14 presentations of original and biosimilar medicines were analyzed from January 2003 to October 2019 in Brazil. Prices were taken from official lists and were noted since launch and during the later trading period. Prices were converted to United States dollars and adjusted for inflation for the 2003 base year. Results: In Brazil, during this review period, prices of biopharmaceuticals decreased in real values, reaching up to a 50% reduction. The introduction of biosimilars did not affect the price sharing of biological medicines. Conclusion: Biosimilar antirheumatics do not yet have a significant impact on the price of biologics marketed in Brazil. A change in this scenario is expected in the medium and long term.

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Background High-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurization (72–75 °C, 15 s) is an alternative treatment to traditional Holder pasteurization (HoP) (62ºC, 30 min) for donor milk. HTST pasteurization guarantees the milk’s microbiological safety and retains more of its biologically and nutritionally active compounds, but the cost of implementing this technology for a human milk bank is unknown. Methods A cost-minimization study was carried out on the facilities of a regional human milk bank in a public hospital. Total production costs (fixed plus variables) were quantified using HTST pasteurization and HoP in three hypothetical scenarios: (1) costs of the first 10 L of pasteurized milk in a newly opened milk bank; (2) costs of the first 10 L of pasteurized milk in an active milk bank; and (3) costs using the maximum production capacity of both technologies in the first two years of operation. The following costs were analyzed: health care professionals, equipment and software, external services, and consumables. Results In scenario 1, the total production costs were € 228,097.00 for the HTST method versus € 154,064.00 for the HoP method. In scenario 2, these costs were similar (€ 6,594.00 for HTST pasteurization versus € 5,912.00 for HoP). The cost of healthcare professionals was reduced by more than half when pasteurization was carried out by the HTST method versus the Holder method (€ 84.00 and € 191.00, respectively). In scenario 3, the unit cost of milk pasteurized by the HTST method decreased from the first to the second year by 43.5%, while for the HoP method, it decreased by 30%. Conclusions HTST pasteurization requires a high initial investment in equipment; however, it provides a significant minimization of production costs in the long term, pasteurizes large quantities of donor milk per working day and achieves a more efficient management of the time of the health care professionals in charge of the bank’s operation compared to HoP.

This study empirically examines the effects of the acceptance of e-learning Web-apps by student on the learning outcomes achieved with their use. With this objective, two theoretically recognized purposes for use these apps were tested in a blended learning model, as a way to change the traditional face-to-face classrooms activities (apps we called ICTf) and as a virtual evaluation platform in learning (ICTv apps). The data was collected through online surveys from university students of a blended Master’ degree, enrolled in different specialties. PLS-SEM analysis of the data was performed. A proportion of the variance of student learning outcomes was explained by the level of ICTv acceptance. However, the positive effect of the ICTf acceptance on this performance was not significant. Heterogeneity was observed in students’ ratings on the acceptance of the Web-apps by different master’s specialties, and it was higher in ICTf than in ICTv. Our research highlights the important role that the acceptance of use of electronic learning resources plays in boosting their effective learning performance.