We extracted the source of funding, region of study, the journal name and impact factor, and all reported incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). We identified which ICERs were under the thresholds of $US20 000, $US50 000 and $US100 000 per QALY. A quality score between 0 and 7 was also given to each of
the studies. We used generalized estimating equations for the analysis.
Results: The systematic review yielded 532 potential abstracts; 17 of these met our final eligibility criteria. Ten studies (59%) were funded by non-industry sources. A total of 571 ICERs were analysed. check details There was no significant difference between the number of industry- and non-industry-funded studies reporting ICERs below the thresholds of $US20 000 and $US50 000. However, industry-sponsored studies were more likely to report ICERs below $US100 000 (odds ratio = 4.69, 95% CI 1.77, 12.43). Studies of higher methodological quality (scoring >4.5 of 7) were less likely to report ICERs below $US20 000 and $U550000 than studies of lower methodological quality (scores <4). Methodological quality was not significantly ZD1839 different between studies reporting ICERs under $US100 000.
Conclusions: In this relatively small sample of studies of bisphosphonates, the funding source (industry
vs non-industry) did not seem to significantly affect the reporting of ICERs below the $US20 000 and $US50 000 thresholds. We hypothesize that methodological quality might be a more significant SN-38 factor than the source of funding in differentiating which studies are likely
to report favourable ICERs, with the higher-quality studies significantly less likely to report ICERs below $US20 000 and $US50 000 per QALY. Further research should explore this finding.”
“Background and Aim. It is well known that androgen deprivation relates to penile fibrosis, so we hypothesize that long-term treatment with 5-alphareductase inhibitors (5ARIs) may increase the risk of fibrosis of prostate. Patients and Methods. Thirty-two BPH patients who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate were enrolled. The patients were divided into two groups: group one, 16 patients underwent TURP who had been treated with tamsulosin for 2 years; group two, 16 patients underwent TURP who had been treated with combination of tamsulosin and dutasteride for at least 1 year. We evaluated the expressions of nNOS, iNOS, eNOS, TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2, phosphorylated-Smad2/3 (p-Smad2/3), E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and alpha-smooth muscle actin in the resected prostate tissues by western blotting, and the TGF-beta concentration was determined by ELISA kit. Results. The expressions of 3 isoforms of NOS were significantly increased in group 2 except of eNOS in lateral prostate, and the expressions of TGF-beta 1, TGF-beta 2, and p-Smad2/3 increased about 2-fold compared with group 1.