Description of an individual patient methodology for calculating the cost-effectiveness of treatments for osteoporosis in women

Models of the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical interventions for the treatment of osteoporosis have traditionally adopted cohort-based approaches. We present a transition-state model to simulate the experience of individual patients, allowing the full patient history and residential status to influence the probabilities of future fractures at the hip, spine, wrist or proximal humerus. Alongside epidemiological data, we used systematic literature reviews of costs, utilities and efficacy to populate the model for a UK setting. We established a statistical relationship between the inputs and outputs of the individual patient model creating a near instantaneous emulation of the individual patient model. We undertook extensive sensitivity analyses to analyse the uncertainty in the estimated incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year due to uncertainty in the efficacy of the drugs. We provide illustrative results accompanied by individual and multi-interventional cost-effectiveness acceptability curves.     

On a generalised Connes-Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg theorem

The central result of this paper is an explicit computation of the Hochschild and cyclic homologies of a natural smooth subalgebra of stable continuous trace algebras having smooth manifolds X as their spectrum. More precisely, the Hochschild homology is identified with the space of differential forms on X, and the periodic cyclic homology with the twisted de Rham cohomology of X, thereby generalising some fundamental results of Connes and Hochschild-Kostant-Rosenberg. The Connes-Chern character is also identified here with the twisted Chern character.     

Optimality of a Standard Adaptive Finite Element Method

In this paper an adaptive finite element method is constructed for solving elliptic equations that has optimal computational complexity. Whenever, for some s > 0, the solution can be approximated within a tolerance ε > 0 in energy norm by a continuous piecewise linear function on some partition with O(ε^-1/s) triangles, and one knows how to approximate the right-hand side in the dual norm with the same rate with piecewise constants, then the adaptive method produces approximations that converge with this rate, taking a number of operations that is of the order of the number of triangles in the output partition. The method is similar in spirit to that from by Morin, Nochetto, and Siebert, and so in particular it does not rely on a recurrent coarsening of the partitions. Although the Poisson equation in two dimensions with piecewise linear approximation is considered, the results generalize in several respects.     

Fermions coupled to autonomous (λΦ 4)3+1 theory

Recent Gaussian-effective-potential results for “autonomous”λΦ ⁴ theory, an apparently nontrivial, positive-λ, 3+1 dimensional theory, are extended to include a Yukawa coupling to fermions. The formerly massless bosons of the symmetric phase acquire a mass.     

Resolution of the renormalisation-scheme ambiguity in perturbative QCD

Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions depend on the arbitrary choice of renormalisation scheme. I resolve this ambiguity and show how to find the unique, optimum prediction, given the result in some arbitrary, initial scheme.     

Synthesis of tetrahydrofuran lignans, (±)-galbelgin and (±)-grandisin

A stereoselective synthesis procedure for lignans of the all-trans αα'-diaryl-ββ'-dimethyltetrahydrofurans is described. The lignans, galbelgin (4) and grandisin (37) were synthesized by routine reduction of the tetrahydrofuran dicarboxylic esters (24 and 34), obtained by mild acid treatment of the readily available diaryl dilactones (23 and 33).     

Miscibility gaps in fully pressure-ionized binary alloys

Binary alloys in which all the electrons form a uniform, degenerate, non-relativistic gas are predicted to exhibit miscibility gaps. Approximate analytical formulae are given for the critical temperatures and compositions. Astrophysical implications are mentioned.