Ciclosporin compared to prednisolone therapy for patients with pyoderma gangrenosum: cost-effectiveness analysis of the STOP GAP trial

Background Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a painful, ulcerating skin disease with poor evidence for management. Prednisolone and ciclosporin are the most commonly used treatments, although not previously compared within a randomised controlled trial (RCT) Objectives To compare the cost-effectiveness of ciclosporin and prednisolone-initiated treatment for patients with PG. Methods Quality-of-life (EuroQoL EQ-5D-3L) and resource data were collected as part of the STOP-GAP trial: a multicentre, parallel-group, observer-blind RCT. Within-trial analysis used bivariate regression of costs and QALYs, with multiple imputation of missing data, informing a probabilistic assessment of incremental treatment cost-effectiveness from a health service perspective. Results In the base case analysis, when compared with prednisolone, ciclosporin was cost-effective due to a reduction in costs (net cost: -£1160; 95%CI: (-2991 to 672) and improvement in quality of life (net QALYs: 0.055; 95%CI: 0.018 to 0.093). However, this finding appears driven by a minority of patients with large lesions (≥20cm2) (net cost: -£5310; 95%CI: -9729 to -891; net QALYs: 0.077; 95%CI: 0.004 to 0.151). The incremental cost-effectiveness of ciclosporin for the majority of patients with smaller lesions was £23,374/QALY although the estimate is imprecise: the probability of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay of £20,000/QALY was 43%. Conclusions Consistent with the clinical findings of the STOP-GAP trial, patients with small lesions should receive treatment guided by the side effect profiles of the drugs and patient preference - neither strategy is clearly a preferred use of NHS resources. However, ciclosporin-initiated treatment may be more cost-effective for patients with large lesions

Experimental and MCNP5 based evaluation of neutron and gamma flux in the irradiation ports of the University of Utah research reactor

Neutron and gamma flux environment of various irradiation ports in the University of Utah training, research, isotope production, general atomics reactor were experimentally assessed and fully modeled using the MCNP5 code. The experimental measurements were based on the cadmium ratio in the irradiation ports of the reactor, flux profiling using nickel wire, and gamma dose measurements using thermo luminescence dosimeter. Full 3-D MCNP5 reactor model was developed to obtain the neutron flux distributions of the entire reactor core and to compare it with the measured flux focusing at the irradiation ports. Integration of all these analysis provided the updated comprehensive neutron-gamma flux maps of the existing irradiation facilities of the University of Utah TRIGA reactor

Records of the Brooklyn College Mathematics Department

This collection consists largely of handwritten grade books from Brooklyn College’s earliest years. Much of it also relates to the Math Department’s extracurricular activities such as contests. There are only two Subgroups in the collection: Notebooks: Records of Classes in Mathematics 1926 – 1976, and Department of Mathematics General Information

The Papers of Procope Costas

The Papers of Procope S. Costas consists primarily of Dr. Costas’s writings, mainly the dictionary that he had prepared (although never fully finished) entitled English Words Derived from the Greek. In addition to the six boxes that contain bound and unbound drafts of the dictionary Dr. Costas was working on, this collection is comprised of correspondence, personal information, miscellaneous items such as invoices and brochures, several citations, photographs of family and friends, as well as oversized materials including two LP’s (with manuals that Dr. Costas wrote)