Search results for "priorities"

Is legal protection sufficient to ensure plant conservation? The Italian Red List of policy species as a case study

2015

AbstractThe conservation of species listed in the Bern Convention and European Directive 1992/43/EEC (so-called policy species) is mandatory for European Union (EU) countries. We assessed the conservation status of Italian policy species, based on the IUCN categories and criteria, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing protection measures at the national level. Among the 203 vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens evaluated, 41.9% are categorized as threatened, and one is already extinct, indicating that the protection measures for policy species are inadequate. Our results for the Italian policy species are consistent with those of an assessment at the EU level. Conservation priorities …

Assessing Preferences in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Phase I and II of Questionnaire Development.

2020

Shared-decision making for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is challenged by the difficulty to integrate the patient perception of value within the framework of a multidisciplinary team approach. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire to assess the preferences of HNSCC patients with respect to the disease trajectory, expected treatment, and toxicities. In accordance with the standardized EORTC Quality of Life Group&rsquo

Prioritization of high-cost new drugs for HCV: making sustainability ethical

2016

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem worldwide. Chronic HCV infection may in the long run cause cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma, with an ultimate disease burden of at least 350,000 deaths per year worldwide. The new generation of highly effective direct acting antivirals (DAA) to treat HCV infection brings major promises to infected patients in terms of exceedingly high rates of sustained virological response (SVR) but also of tolerability, allowing even the sickest patients to be treated. Even in the face of the excellent safety and efficacy and wide theoretical applicability of these regimens, their introduction is currently facing cos…

Value congruence in health care priority setting: social values, institutions and decisions in three countries

2014

AbstractMost developed democracies have faced the challenge of priority setting in health care by setting up specialized agencies to take decisions on which medical services to include in public health baskets. Under the influence of Daniels and Sabin’s seminal work on the topic, agencies increasingly aim to fulfil criteria of procedural justice, such as accountability and transparency. We assume, however, that the institutional design of agencies also and necessarily reflects substantial value judgments on the respective weight of distributive principles such as efficiency, need and equality. The public acceptance of prioritization decisions, and eventually of the health care system at lar…

Italian guidelines on management of persons with multimorbidity and polypharmacy

2022

AbstractMultimorbidity and polypharmacy are emerging health priorities and the care of persons with these conditions is complex and challenging. The aim of the present guidelines is to develop recommendations for the clinical management of persons with multimorbidity and/or polypharmacy and to provide evidence-based guidance to improve their quality of care. The recommendations have been produced in keeping with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Overall, 14 recommendations were issued, focusing on 4 thematic areas: (1.) General Principles; (2.) target population for an individualized approach to care; (3.) individualized care of patients with mul…

"Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe": Prioritizing Medications on the Prescription as an Unexplored Avenue Towards Optimizing Geriatric Pharmacotherapy.

2018

Towards understanding the epidemiology of Neisseria meningitidis in the African meningitis belt: a multi-disciplinary overview

2016

International audience; Objectives: Neisseria meningitidis is the major cause of seasonal meningitis epidemics in the African meningitis belt. In the changing context of a reduction in incidence of serogroup A and an increase in incidence of serogroups W and C and of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a better understanding of the determinants driving the disease transmission dynamics remains crucial to improving bacterial meningitis control.Methods: The literature was searched to provide a multi-disciplinary overview of the determinants of meningitis transmission dynamics in the African meningitis belt.Results: Seasonal hyperendemicity is likely predominantly caused by increased invasion rates, spo…

Values that Underlie and Undermine Well–Being: Variability across Countries

2017

We examined relations of 10 personal values to life satisfaction (LS) and depressive affect (DEP) in representative samples from 32/25 countries ( N = 121 495). We tested hypotheses both for direct relations and cross–level moderation of relations by Cultural Egalitarianism. We based hypotheses on the growth versus self–protection orientation and person–focus versus social–focus motivations that underlie values. As predicted, openness to change values (growth/person) correlated positively with subjective well–being (SWB: higher LS, lower DEP) and conservation values (self–protection/social) correlated negatively with SWB. The combination of underlying motivations also explained more comple…

Changes in Young Europeans’ Values During the Global Financial Crisis

2019

We investigate the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the personal values of youth and young adults (age 16–35 years) from 16 European countries. Using time series cross-sectional data from seven waves (2002–2014) of the European Social Survey, we examined (1) whether the GFC led to value shifts between cohorts of young people and (2) whether welfare state provision moderate the expected value shifts. Multilevel analyses showed that, following the GFC, the importance of security, tradition, benevolence, and, to a lesser extent, conformity values increased. In contrast, hedonism, self-direction, and stimulation values decreased. In line with our moderation hypothesis, power, and…

The United Nations and the European Union

2019

The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) are expressions of a rules-based global order. The EU has enshrined support to the UN in its security strategies, and its priorities indicate an engagement in a wide range of UN programs and activities to maintain the rules-based order and adapt it to face internal and external challenges. The EU and its member states are the largest contributors to the UN budget. Following the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, the EU has increased its representation at the UN, gaining enhanced observer status in the General Assembly. However, because of the intergovernmental nature of the forum, only its member states have the right to vote. This has led sch…