Background:Background: The General Mutual Benefit Fund for Civil Servants and State Employees of Côte d'Ivoire (MUGEFCI; Mutuelle Générale des Fonctionnaires et Agents de l'État de Côte d'Ivoire) is a health mutual fund providing coverage (medical consultations, laboratory tests and...

This paper reconsiders the evidence and several of the key arguments associated with the theory of supplier-induced demand (SID). It proposes a new theory to explain how ethical behaviour is consistent with SID. The purpose of a theory of demand and one criterion for the evaluation of a theory...

Background:Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained disorder of cardiac rhythm. Various new anticoagulation and antiarrythmic treatments are being investigated for the treatment of AF. Before novel treatments can be used widely in actual clinical practice, the cost...

Background: Patients with gallbladder and common bile duct stones are generally treated by pre-operative endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy (POES). Recently, a meta-analysis has shown that intra-operative ES during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (IOES) results...

Background: The aging of the population is likely to increase the number of osteoporosis-related fractures, such as hip fractures, and hence the economic burden for society. Therefore, strategies to identify women at increased risk are of major interest. Objective: The aim of this study was to...

Background: In virologically suppressed patients, switching to darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) monotherapy maintains HIV RNA suppression, and could also lower treatment costs. Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to calculate the potential cost savings from the use of DRV/r monotherapy in the...

Background:Background: Biennial faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) for individuals aged 60-69 years is the primary screening tool for colorectal cancer (CRC) in the UK NHS, despite a large number of patients undergoing an unnecessary optical colonoscopy (OC) and evidence from modelling studies...

The automated wayside horn system is designed to replace the train horn as a means of alerting motorists to danger and thus enhancing safety at highway-rail grade crossings. Furthermore, the wayside horn directionality is such that the warning sound is broadcast over a smaller sector than the...