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Practices Study (practice + study)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	57%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	42%

Selected Abstracts

Efficacy and tolerability of peginterferon alfa-2a or alfa-2b plus ribavirin in the daily routine treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C in Germany: The PRACTICE Study

JOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS, Issue 7 2010
T. Witthoeft
Summary., In randomized clinical trials, treatment with peginterferon plus ribavirin (RBV) results in a sustained virological response (SVR) in around half of hepatitis C virus genotype 1-infected and 80% of genotype 2/3-infected individuals. This study aimed to evaluate efficacy and tolerability of peginterferon alfa-2a plus RBV compared with peginterferon alfa-2b plus RBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in routine clinical practice. The intent-to-treat cohort consisted of 3414 patients treated with either peginterferon alfa-2a plus RBV (Group A) or peginterferon alfa-2b plus RBV (Group B) in 23 centres participating in the large, multicentre, observational PRACTICE study. Collected data included baseline characteristics, treatment regimen, RBV dose and outcome. Rates of early virological response, end of treatment response and SVR were 76.6%, 75.7% and 52.9% in Group A, and 70.2%, 65.6% and 50.5% in Group B, respectively. In patients matched by baseline parameters, 59.9% of patients in Group A and 55.9% in Group B achieved an SVR (P , 0.051). In genotype 1-infected patients matched by baseline parameters and cumulative RBV dose, SVR rates were 49.6% and 43.7% for Group A and Group B, respectively (P , 0.047); when matched by baseline parameters and RBV starting dose, SVR rates were 49.9% and 44.6%, respectively (P = 0.068). Overall, 21.8% of group A and 29.6% of group B patients discontinued treatment (P , 0.0001). The efficacy and tolerability of peginterferon plus RBV in this large cohort of patients treated in routine daily practice was similar to that in randomized clinical trials. In matched pairs analyses, more patients achieved an SVR with peginterferon alfa-2a compared with peginterferon alfa-2b. [source]

PERSPECTIVE: Trends and Drivers of Success in NPD Practices: Results of the 2003 PDMA Best Practices Study,

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009
Gloria Barczak
Since 1990, the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) has sponsored best practice research projects to identify trends in new product development (NPD) management practices and to discern which practices are associated with higher degrees of success. The objective of this ongoing research is to assist managers in determining how to improve their own product development methods and practices. This paper presents results, recommendations, and implications for NPD practice stemming from PDMA's third best practices study, which was conducted in 2003. In the eight years since the previous best practices study was conducted, firms have become slightly more conservative in the portfolio of projects, with lower percentages of the total number of projects in the new-to-the-world and new-to-the-firm categories. Although success rates and development efficiencies have remained stable, this more conservative approach to NPD seems to have negatively impacted the sales and profits impact of the new products that have been commercialized. As formal processes for NPD are now the norm, attention is moving to managing the multiple projects across the portfolio in a more orchestrated manner. Finally, firms are implementing a wide variety of software support tools for various aspects of NPD. NPD areas still seriously in need of improved management include idea management, project leadership and training, cross-functional training and team communication support, and innovation support and leadership by management. In terms of aspects of NPD management that differentiate the "best from the rest," the findings indicate that the best firms emphasize and integrate their innovation strategy across all the levels of the firm, better support their people and team communications, conduct extensive experimentation, and use numerous kinds of new methods and techniques to support NPD. All companies appear to continue to struggle with the recording of ideas and making them readily available to others in the organization, even the best. What remains unclear is whether there is a preferable approach for organizing the NPD endeavor, as no one organizational approach distinguished top NPD performers. [source]

Prepartum Work, Job Characteristics, and Risk of Cesarean Delivery

BIRTH, Issue 1 2002
Shirley Hung MPP
Background:,Reducing the rate of cesarean deliveries in the United States is a high priority among public health officials and members of the medical community. Many factors known to contribute to an individual woman's risk of having a cesarean rather than a vaginal delivery are not readily altered by public policy intervention. In this study we explored the effects on type of delivery of prepartum work practices, a category of factors that has a potential to affect the likelihood of cesarean delivery and to be amenable to change. Methods:,Data are from U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Infant Feeding Practices Study, using questions on mail surveys administered prenatally and at 1 month postpartum. The sample comprised 1194 women who worked during pregnancy. The outcome measure is type of delivery. Predictor variables are characteristics of prepartum work: how far into their pregnancy the women work, number of hours worked, and occupation. Results:,For most women, maintaining employment through the third trimester, working long hours, and working in certain occupations are not independently associated with the odds of having a cesarean delivery. However, we found marginally significant evidence that those women who worked more than 40 hours a week in a sales job were more likely to have cesarean deliveries than women who worked in other occupations. Conversely, women working part-time in sales jobs were less likely to have a cesarean delivery. Conclusion:,This study provides evidence that prenatal work does not substantially increase the probability of having a cesarean delivery in most occupational categories. (BIRTH 29:1 March 2002) [source]

A real-life multicentre clinical practice study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravesical chondroitin sulphate for the treatment of interstitial cystitis

BJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2009
J. Curtis Nickel
OBJECTIVE To report a multicentre, community based open-label study designed to assess the efficacy and safety of intravesical sodium chondroitin sulphate in the treatment of patients with the clinical diagnosis of interstitial cystitis (IC). Chondroitin sulphate is a naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan (GAG) in the bladder mucus layer and changes in this GAG have been implicated in the pathogenesis of IC, and small single-centre studies have suggested that intravesical chondroitin sulphate may have efficacy in IC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with IC were treated with sodium chondroitin sulphate (Uracyst®, Stellar Pharmaceuticals Inc., London ON, Canada) solution 2.0% via urinary catheter weekly for 6 weeks and then monthly for 16 weeks for a total of 10 treatments. The primary efficacy endpoint was the percentage of responders to treatment as indicated by a marked or moderate improvement on a seven-point patient Global Response Assessment (GRA) scale at week 10 (4 weeks after the initial six treatments) compared with baseline. A major secondary efficacy endpoint (durability) was the percentage of responders on the GRA scale after 10 treatments. Additional secondary efficacy objectives were differences from baseline in Patient Symptom/Problem Index scores over the course of the treatment compared with baseline. RESULTS In all, 47% of the 53 enrolled patients with long standing moderately severe IC (mean [sd, range] diagnosis of IC 3.0 [3.4, 0.1,16] years; duration of symptoms 9.2 [9.2, 1,39] years; baseline symptom score 14.2 [3.2]) were responders at week 10. At 24 weeks, 60% were responders. There was a statistically and clinically significant decrease in the mean (sd) symptom and bother scores from baseline at 10 weeks and 24 weeks, at 9.0 (4.3) and 8.1 (5.0), respectively (P < 0.001). There were no significant safety issues during the study. CONCLUSIONS This multicentre community based real-life clinical practice study suggests that intravesical chondroitin sulphate may have an important role in the treatment of IC and validates the rationale for a randomized placebo-controlled trial. [source]

Project management priorities and the link with performance management systems

PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007
David J. Bryde
Abstract This paper reports the results of a project management practices study in the U.K. social housing sector. A five-factor model of project priorities is established, comprising traditional measures of project cost, time, and quality, in combination with a need to focus on stakeholders and to develop a customer and project team orientation. This model supports and integrates previously fragmented notions of project performance measurement. The relationship between these five project management criteria and the effectiveness and use of a performance management system (PMS) is then explored, with some limited evidence found that PMS effectiveness is an antecedent to practices that focus on the customer, the project team members, and other stakeholders [source]