Just a number? Donor age and (lack of) associated reasons for heart offer refusal.

The use of 50+ year-old donors for heart transplant (HT) is rare in the United States. We assessed reasons for this-and whether it reflects concern about age itself or associated risk factors-using a survey of US HT centers. The Donor Heart Study enrolled US adult potential heart donors from 2015 to 2020. A total of 6,814 surveys across 2,197 donors cited, on average, 2.4 reasons (per donor) for offer refusal. Age was cited often (by ≥50% of centers surveyed) for 715 donors (33%). In this subgroup, accompanying donor-related reasons for refusal were infrequent, with no cardiac abnormality cited in most cases. Donor age showed associations with (1) age as a reason for refusal and (2) discard. Both abruptly increased at age 50: 55% of 50 to 51-year-old donors were refused often due to age (vs 38% of 48-49-year-olds), and 72% were discarded (vs 55% of 48-49-year-olds), despite no evidence of a threshold effect of age on outcomes.

High Concentrate Supplementation during Late Pregnancy and Lambing Reduced Mortality of Triplet-Bearing Maternal Ewes.

Low survival of triplet-bearing ewes and their lambs represents lost production and a welfare issue. The effects of feed-on-offer (FOO; low: 1205 vs. high: 1980 kg DM/ha) and concentrate supplementation (low: 50 vs. high: 300+ g/ewe/day) levels during late pregnancy and lambing on the survival of triplet-bearing ewes and their lambs were investigated on 10 commercial farms using 1772 triplet-bearing Maternal ewes. Ewe and lamb survival were estimated at marking, and ewe body condition score (BCS) was recorded in late pregnancy and at marking. Although FOO treatment had no effect on triplet-bearing ewe mortality, receiving higher supplementation decreased mortality by 40% and increased BCS at marking by 0.14 compared with a lower supplementation (p < 0.05). Supplementation, FOO treatments, weather conditions during lambing and shelter availability had no effect on triplet-lamb survival. These findings suggest no additional benefit to triplet-bearing ewe survival when FOO levels exceed 1200 kg DM/ha during late pregnancy and lambing, but increased supplementation can reduce ewe mortality. Further research is required to determine the response to the supplementation level at lower FOO levels on triplet-bearing Merino ewes and their lambs and establish whether supplementation of triplet-bearing ewes during late pregnancy and lambing with higher levels of concentrates would be cost-effective.

Organ Offer Review Cards: Improving Transparency on the Kidney Transplant Waitlist.

INTRODUCTION: The 2022 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on equity in organ transplantation highlighted limited transparency and accountability for organ offer declines and recommended prioritizing patient engagement in decisions regarding organ offers. Yet, there is no guidance on how to incorporate patients in organ offers. We elected to study the experiences of patients on the waitlist and their perception of a novel Organ Offer Review Card (OORC). METHODS: A prototype OORC was created using Donornet refusal codes. Sixty randomly selected kidney waitlist patients at a single center were asked to participate in a web-based survey focusing on current medical decision-making preferences and perceptions of the prototype OORC. RESULTS: Among the 43 patients reached, 17 (39.5%) completed the survey. Most participants (88.2%) expressed it was important to be involved in the decision-making about organ offers, with 100.0% of respondents wanting to know why an organ was declined. Regarding the prototype OORC, 94.1% thought it helped them understand the factors and priorities considered when selecting an organ, and 88.2% said it increased their belief that their team was acting in their best interest. CONCLUSION: An OORC could increase transparency and communication during the waitlist process while enhancing trust in the transplant team.

The Opportunity Provided by Vaccination Offer to Refugees from Ukraine in European Countries.

(1) The Russian invasion of Ukraine forced many people to leave their country and seek asylum in various European countries, with serious consequences from a health perspective. In this context, we describe the health measures undertaken by AcToVax4NAM Consortium Countries (Cyprus-Germany-Greece-Italy-Malta-Poland-Romania-Spain) to prevent Vaccine-Preventable Disease (VPD) outbreaks in the context of mass movements of populations that resulted from the crisis in Ukraine. (2) We collected information on the vaccinations offered to Ukrainians in the Consortium Countries. (3) All these countries have provided Temporary Protection (TP) status to refugees from Ukraine and have followed the recommendations of European and International Agencies to offer them vaccinations according to the National Immunisation Programmes. The COVID-19 vaccination is offered in all countries with regard to the general population. Most countries provide information on TP and access to health/vaccination services in the Ukrainian language. (4) The information collected shows a common effort to ensure the adequate planning of health and vaccination services for refugees from Ukraine and, very often, to include them in the national vaccination offer. It is important that this initial response towards people who have fled Ukraine will be continued following the emergency but, more importantly, that it serves as a best practice towards all migrants and refugees entering the EU.

Organisation of testing services, structural barriers and facilitators of routine HIV self-testing during sexually transmitted infection consultations: a qualitative study of patients and providers in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

BACKGROUND: Consultations for sexually transmitted infection (STI) provide an opportunity to offer HIV testing to both patients and their partners. This study describes the organisation of HIV self-testing (HIVST) distribution during STI consultations in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) and analyse the perceived barriers and facilitators associated with the use and redistribution of HIVST kits by STI patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted between March and August 2021 to investigate three services providing HIVST: an antenatal care clinic (ANC), a general health centre that also provided STI consultations, and a dedicated STI clinic. Data were collected through observations of medical consultations with STI patients (N = 98) and interviews with both health professionals involved in HIVST distribution (N = 18) and STI patients who received HIVST kits for their partners (N = 20). RESULTS: In the ANC clinic, HIV testing was routinely offered during the first prenatal visit. HIVST was commonly offered to women who had been diagnosed with an STI for their partner's use (27/29 observations). In the general health centre, two parallel pathways coexisted: before the consultation, a risk assessment tool was used to offer HIV testing to eligible patients and, after the consultation, patients who had been diagnosed with an STI were referred to a care assistant for HIVST. Due to this HIV testing patient flow, few offers of HIV testing and HIVST were made in this setting (3/16). At the dedicated STI clinic, an HIVST video was played in the waiting room. According to the health professionals interviewed, this video helped reduce the time required to offer HIVST after the consultation. Task-shifting was implemented there: patients were referred to a nurse for HIV testing, and HIVST was commonly offered to STI patients for their partners' use (28/53). When an HIVST was offered, it was generally accepted (54/58). Both health professionals and patients perceived HIVST positively despite experiencing a few difficulties with respect to offering HIVST to partners and structural barriers associated with the organisation of services. CONCLUSION: The organisation of patient flow and task-shifting influenced HIV testing and offers of HIVST kits. Proposing HIVST is more systematic when HIV testing is routinely offered to all patients. Successful integration requires improving the organisation of services, including task-shifting.

Race and Odds of Surgery Offer in Small Bowel and Pancreas Neuroendocrine Neoplasms.

BACKGROUND: Despite existing society guidelines, management of pancreatic (PanNEN) and small bowel (SBNEN) neuroendocrine neoplasms remains inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to identify patient- and/or disease-specific characteristics associated with increased odds of being offered surgery for PanNEN and SBNEN. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program database and the National Cancer Database (NCDB) were queried for patients with PanNEN/SBNEN. Demographic and pathologic data were compared between patients who were offered surgery and those who were not. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify factors independently associated with being offered surgery. RESULTS: In SEER, there were 3641 patients with PanNEN (54.7% were offered surgery) and 5720 with SBNEN (86.0% were offered surgery). On multivariate analysis of SEER, non-white race was associated with decreased odds of surgery offer for SBNEN [odds ratio (OR) 0.58, p < 0.001], but not PanNEN (p = 0.187). In NCDB, there were 28,483 patients with PanNEN (57.5% were offered surgery) and 42,675 with SBNEN (86.9% were offered surgery). On multivariate analysis of NCDB, non-white race was also associated with decreased odds of surgery offer for SBNEN (OR 0.61, p < 0.001) but not PanNEN (p = 0.414). CONCLUSIONS: This study's findings suggest that, in addition to previously reported disparities in surgical resection and surgery refusal rates, racial/ethnic disparities also exist earlier in the course of treatment, with non-white patients being less likely to be offered surgery for SBNEN but not for PanNEN; this is potentially due to discrepancies in rates of referral to academic centers for pancreas and small bowel malignancies.

The marginalization index and its association with selected services within the comprehensive care offered to breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: There is little information on the supportive care offered to breast cancer patients. We investigated the association between the marginalization index and selected services offered by health professionals. METHODS: We used data from a cross-sectional parent study performed in Mexico from 2007 to 2009. We analyzed data from 832 women between 35 and 69 years of age with a histopathological diagnosis of breast cancer. This study was performed in hospitals in 5 states. We used frequencies, measures of central tendency, and logistic regression. We used the svy package of STATA statistical software v17. RESULTS: Overall, 15.6% of the study population reported that health professionals offered them selected services. The offer of two or more selected services was greater among women living in states with a very high marginalization index (21.8%) than among those living in states with a very low marginalization index (13.8%). Among women living in states with high marginalization, the odds of receiving a selected service offer were 2.03 times higher than those living in states with low marginalization (Odds ratio (OR) = 2.03, 95% CI 1.08-3.83). For women in the highest tertile of the asset index, the odds of receiving a selected service offer were 2.7 times greater than the odds for women in the lowest tertile (OR = 2.66, 95% CI 1.03-6.88). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of comprehensive care offered to breast cancer patients is low in Mexico and varies according to the marginalization index and the asset index.

Mercados para la comercialización de los servicios educativos en salud que oferta Cuba / Markets for the commercialization of education al health services offered by Cuba

Resumen Objetivo: Caracterizar los mercados para los servicios educativos en salud que oferta Cuba. Material y Método: Estudio de desarrollo tecnológico, empleando técnicas cualitativas y cuantitativas. Con base a la revisión bibliográfica, se establecieron las dimensiones en que se agruparon las variables, su operacionalización, escala, indicador o índice. Se construyeron y validaron cuestionarios para la obtención de la información, que se resumió en frecuencia, porciento, media, desviación estándar y rango. Para medir la coincidencia entre los observadores se empleó el Índice de Kappa de Cohen, se calculó el intervalo de confianza para Kappa, se estimó el error estándar y se interpretó usando la escala propuesta por Landis y Koch. Resultados: Se obtuvo una lista de países como mercados actuales y potenciales, en la que existe coincidencia por los informantes claves consultados, avalada por pruebas estadísticas. Los países identificados como mercados actuales y potenciales tienen características muy similares; solo se diferencian en las variables: asociaciones, gremio o grupo del sector salud que han declarado resistencia u oposición a las relaciones comerciales en salud con Cuba y dificultades en el poder adquisitivo para acceder de manera personal o para su familia a servicios educativos. Conclusiones: La información obtenida, limitada a los países que en la actualidad demandan o han solicitado servicios educativos, orienta a incentivar el mercado actual, concentrando los recursos en mantenerlos. La metodología elaborada, permite realizar nuevos estudios a mayor profundidad para identificar mercados potenciales y su segmentación. Sienta pautas para su empleo en el sector público a nivel internacional.

Abstract Objective: Characterize the markets for educational health services offered by Cuba. Material and Method: Study of technological development, using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Based on the bibliographic review, the dimensions in which the variables were grouped, their operationalization, scale, indicator or index were established. Questionnaires were constructed and validated to obtain the information, which was summarized in frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and range. To measure the coincidence between the observers, the Cohen's Kappa Index was used, the confidence interval for Kappa was calculated, the standard error was estimated and it was interpreted using the scale proposed by Landis and Koch. Results: A list of countries was obtained as current and potential markets, in which there is a coincidence by the key informants consulted, supported by statistical tests. The countries identified as current and potential markets have very similar characteristics; They only differ in the variables: associations, unions or groups in the health sector that have declared resistance or opposition to commercial health relations with Cuba and difficulties in purchasing power to access educational services personally or for their family. Conclusions: The information obtained, limited to the countries that currently demand or have requested educational services, guides to encourage the current market, concentrating resources on maintaining them. The elaborated methodology allows new studies to be carried out in greater depth to identify potential markets and their segmentation. Set guidelines for your employment in the public sector internationally.

Impact of Actively Offering Influenza Vaccination to Frail People during Hospitalisation: A Pilot Study in Italy.

Despite the worldwide recommendations for influenza immunisation, vaccination coverage for patients exposed to the highest risk of severe complications is still far from the optimal target. The need to take advantage of alternative methods to provide vaccination is essential. This study presents a hospital-based strategy which offers influenza vaccination to inpatients at discharge. This study was conducted during the 2022-2023 influenza season at the University Hospital of Palermo. A questionnaire was administered to identify the determinants for the acceptance of influenza vaccination in the frail population. Overall, 248 hospitalised patients were enrolled, of which 56.1% were female and 52.0% were over 65 years of age. The proportion of patients vaccinated against influenza during hospitalisation was 62.5%, an increase of 16% in influenza vaccination uptake among frail people in comparison with the previous influenza season (46.8% vaccinated during the 2021-22 influenza season). Factors significantly associated with vaccination acceptance were the following: to have received influenza vaccine advice from hospital healthcare workers (OR = 3.57, p = 0.001), to have been previously vaccinated for influenza (OR = 3.16 p = 0.005), and to have had a low level of education (OR = 3.56, p = 0.014). This study showed that offering influenza vaccination to hospitalised patients could be an effective strategy to increase vaccination coverage in the most vulnerable population, and these findings could be useful for planning and improving future influenza vaccination campaigns.

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns in Veneto Region: Population Vaccination Centers as Support for the Traditional Outpatient Model.

The extraordinary vaccination campaigns of the COVID-19 pandemic era put organizational and operational systems to the test in numerous territorial contexts. In the Veneto region, the activation of population vaccination centers (CVPs) guaranteed the provision of vaccines to mountain areas. These centers, drive-in and building-based, improved the efficiency of dose administration in relation to similar conditions where healthcare workers (HCWs) were routinely involved in clinics. Overall, a comparison of the two models investigated, with the same numbers of HCWs involved and the same opening hours for the vaccination sites, has shown that the CVPs are able to guarantee three times as many vaccines administered, compared with the traditional outpatient model. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the adopted organizational model, highlighting the best practices and improvements required to guarantee a timely and effective public health response, and evaluating the opportunities to deploy these innovative methods actively in a standard context.

Types of Offers of Combustible Cigarettes, E-Cigarettes, and Betel Nut Experienced by Guam Youths.

The present study examined types of scenarios in which Guam youths are offered tobacco-namely, combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes-and betel (areca) nut. We conducted 10 focus groups with public middle school students (n = 34) from Guam. Results suggested that the types of offer scenarios of combustible cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and betel nut referenced by the students fall into two categories-direct-relational offers and indirect-contextual offers. The results also suggested that both categories of offer scenarios were more likely to occur in school rather than in other locations such as the home. Family members were more likely to make offers than other types of people. Indirect-contextual offers were more easily avoidable depending on the substance offered, the location where the offer took place, and the person making the offer. Based on the findings, we provide brief suggestions on developing a school-based prevention curriculum focused on training young adolescents from Guam on ways to resist offers of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and betel nut.

Considerable Variability Among Transplant Nephrologists in Judging Deceased Donor Kidney Offers.

Introduction: Transplant clinicians may disagree on whether or not to accept a deceased donor kidney offer. We investigated the interobserver variability between transplant nephrologists regarding organ acceptance and whether the use of a prediction model impacted their decisions. Methods: We developed an observational online survey with 6 real-life cases of deceased donor kidneys offered to a waitlisted recipient. Per case, nephrologists were asked to estimate the risk of adverse outcome and whether they would accept the offer for this patient, or for a patient of their own choice, and how certain they felt. These questions were repeated after revealing the risk of adverse outcome, calculated by a validated prediction model. Results: Sixty Dutch nephrologists completed the survey. The intraclass correlation coefficient of their estimated risk of adverse outcome was poor (0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.08-0.62). Interobserver agreement of the decision on whether or not to accept the kidney offer was also poor (Fleiss kappa 0.13, 95% CI 0.129-0.130). The acceptance rate before and after providing the outcome of the prediction model was significantly influenced in 2 of 6 cases. Acceptance rates varied considerably among transplant centers. Conclusion: In this study, the estimated risk of adverse outcome and subsequent decision to accept a suboptimal donor kidney varied greatly among transplant nephrologists. The use of a prediction model could influence this decision and may enhance nephrologists' certainty about their decision.

Demanda, oferta e produção de cateterismo cardíaco no Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Demand, offer and production of cardiac catheterization in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Este trabalho, de caráter exploratório-descritivo, objetiva descrever a produção de serviços e a demanda ao Sistema Estadual de Regulação (SER), sistema responsável pela regulação do procedimento, aos serviços de cateterismo no estado do Rio de Janeiro, sob a ótica das regiões de saúde, com seus desafios e entraves regionais. O acesso oportuno e integral garantido pela Lei 8.080/1990 norteiam este trabalho quanto à análise da capacidade de oferta do procedimento de alta complexidade no estado do Rio de Janeiro. O planejamento em saúde também é abordado como instrumento viabilizador da garantia, para a população, do acesso à assistência, estabelecendo referências e fluxos de processos. O trabalho apresenta a produção por região de saúde e a distribuição de vagas ofertadas pelo estado através do Sistema Estadual de Regulação, evidenciando a rede de assistência habilitada em cateterismo, bem como o índice de aproveitamento dos recursos. A concentração da produção de cateterismo no estado do Rio de Janeiro é observada na Região Metropolitana I, onde há um agrupamento de hospitais habilitados no procedimento. No universo de 23 estabelecimentos hospitalares de alta complexidade cardiovascular, 52% são filantrópicos, 39% públicos e 9% são privados. A pesquisa busca ainda mostrar as disparidades entre a relação da produção realizada e a oferta de vagas do estado para esse procedimento. Este trabalho busca compreender, sem esgotar, o funcionamento da rede de alta complexidade cardiovascular no que diz respeito ao cateterismo no estado do Rio de Janeiro. (AU)

This work, of an exploratory and descriptive nature, aims to describe the production of services and the demand for the State Regulation Service (SER), the system responsible for regulating the procedure, for catheterization services in the state of Rio de Janeiro, from the perspective of health regions, with their challenges and regional obstacles. The timely and comprehensive access guaranteed by Law 8,080/1990 guides the evolution of this work regarding the analysis of the capacity to offer the highly complex procedure in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Health planning is also approached as an instrument to ensure access to care for the population, establishing references and process flows. The work presents production by health region and the distribution of vacancies offered by the state through the State Regulation System, highlighting the assistance network qualified in catheterization as well as the rate of use of resources. The concentration of catheterization production in the state of Rio de Janeiro is observed in metropolitan region I, where there is a group of hospitals qualified in the procedure. In the universe of 23 highly complex cardiovascular hospital establishments, 52% are philanthropic, 39% public and 9% are private. The research also seeks to show the disparities between the relationship between the production carried out and the state's supply of vacancies for this procedure. This work seeks to understand, without exhausting, the functioning of the highly complex cardiovascular network regarding catheterization in the state of Rio de Janeiro. (AU)

Resting-state network predicts the decision-making behaviors of the proposer during the ultimatum game.

Objective. The decision-making behavior of the proposer is a key factor in achieving effective and equitable maintenance of social resources, particularly in economic interactions, and thus understanding the neurocognitive basis of the proposer's decision-making is a crucial issue. Yet the neural substrate of the proposer's decision behavior, especially from the resting-state network perspective, remains unclear.Approach. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the resting-state network and decision proposals and further established a multivariable model to predict the proposers' unfair offer rates in the ultimatum game.Main results.The results indicated the unfair offer rates of proposers are significantly related to the resting-state frontal-occipital and frontal-parietal connectivity in the delta band, as well as the network properties. And compared to the conservative decision group (low unfair offer rate), the risk decision group (high unfair offer rate) exhibited stronger resting-state long-range linkages. Finally, the established multivariable model did accurately predict the unfair offer rates of the proposers, along with a correlation coefficient of 0.466 between the actual and predicted behaviors.Significance. Together, these findings demonstrated that related resting-state frontal-occipital and frontal-parietal connectivity may serve as a dispositional indicator of the risky behaviors for the proposers and subsequently predict a highly complex decision-making behavior, which contributed to the development of artificial intelligence decision-making system with biological characteristics as well.

Gender and cystectomy for bladder cancer: A high-volume tertiary urologic care center experience.

BACKGROUND: Differences have often been reported in the outcomes of bladder cancer (BC) patients according to gender. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to provide data on patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) in a high-volume tertiary urologic center and to assess whether gender discrepancies do exist in terms of surgical options and clinical outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Consecutive BC patients treated between 2016 and 2020 at a single center (Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy) were included in the study. The impact of gender on disease stage at diagnosis, overall survival (OS), and type of surgery was analyzed. RESULTS: The study series comprised 447 patients (85 females and 362 males). At a median follow-up of 28.3 months (IQR: 33.5), OS was 52.6% and cancer-specific survival was 67.6%. Significant differences in OS emerged for age, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), pT, and pN. OS rates were higher in patients undergoing robot-assisted surgery and in those receiving open orthotopic neobladder (ONB) (p = 0.0001). No statistically significant differences were found between male and female patients regarding surgical offer in any age group, surgical time, early postoperative complications, pathologic stage, and OS. CONCLUSIONS: After adjustment for pathologic tumor stage and treatment modalities, female and male patients showed similar oncologic outcomes. Further studies should be undertaken to evaluate functional results in women subjected to RC.

Understanding the first-offer conundrum: How buyer offers impact sale price and impasse risk in 26 million eBay negotiations.

How low is the ideal first offer? Prior to any negotiation, decision-makers must balance a crucial tradeoff between two opposing effects. While lower first offers benefit buyers by anchoring the price in their favor, an overly ambitious offer increases the impasse risk, thus potentially precluding an agreement altogether. Past research with simulated laboratory or classroom exercises has demonstrated either a first offer's anchoring benefits or its impasse risk detriments, while largely ignoring the other effect. In short, there is no empirical answer to the conundrum of how low an ideal first offer should be. Our results from over 26 million incentivized real-world negotiations on eBay document (a) a linear anchoring effect of buyer offers on sales price, (b) a nonlinear, quartic effect on impasse risk, and (c) specific offer values with particularly low impasse risks but high anchoring benefits. Integrating these findings suggests that the ideal buyer offer lies at 80% of the seller's list price across all products-although this value ranges from 33% to 95% depending on the type of product, demand, and buyers' weighting of price versus impasse risk. We empirically amend the well-known midpoint bias, the assumption that buyer and seller eventually meet in the middle of their opening offers, and find evidence for a "buyer bias." Product demand moderates the (non)linear effects, the ideal buyer offer, and the buyer bias. Finally, we apply machine learning analyses to predict impasses and present a website with customizable first-offer advice configured to different products, prices, and buyers' risk preferences.

Predicting Time to and Average Quality of Future Offers for Kidney Transplant Candidates Declining a Current Deceased Donor Kidney Offer: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: At the time a kidney offer is made by an organ donation organization (ODO), transplant physicians must inform candidates on the pros and cons of accepting or declining the offer. Although physicians have a general idea of expected wait time to kidney transplantation by blood group in their ODO, there are no tools that provide quantitative estimates based on the allocation score used and donor/candidate characteristics. This limits the shared decision-making process at the time of kidney offer as (1) the consequences of declining an offer in terms of wait-time prolongation cannot be provided and (2) the quality of the current offer cannot be compared with that of offers that could be made to the specific candidate in the future. This is especially relevant to older transplant candidates as many ODOs use some form of utility matching in their allocation score. Objective: We aimed to develop a novel method to provide personalized estimates of wait time to next offer and quality of future offers for kidney transplant candidates if they refused a current deceased donor offer from an ODO. Design: A retrospective cohort study. Setting: Administrative data from Transplant Quebec. Patients: All patients who were actively registered on the kidney transplant wait list at any point between March 29, 2012 and December 13, 2017. Measurements: The time to next offer was defined as the number of days between the time of the current offer and the next offer if the current one were declined. The quality of the offers was measured with the 10-variable Kidney Donor Risk Index (KDRI) equation. Methods: Candidate-specific kidney offer arrival was modeled with a marked Poisson process. To derive the lambda parameter for the marked Poisson process for each candidate, the arrival of donors was examined in the 2 years prior to the time of the current offer. The Transplant Quebec allocation score was calculated for each ABO-compatible offer with the characteristics that the candidate presented at the time of the current offer. Offers where the candidate's score was lower than the scores of actual recipients of the second kidneys transplanted were filtered out from the candidate-specific kidney offer arrival. The KDRIs of offers that remained were averaged to provide an estimate of the quality of future offers, to be compared with that of the current offer. Results: During the study period, there were 848 unique donors and 1696 transplant candidates actively registered. The models provide the following information: average time to next offer, time to which there is a 95% probability of receiving a next offer, average KDRI of future offers. The C-index of the model was 0.72. When compared with providing average group estimates of wait time and KDRI of future offers, the model reduced the root-mean-square error in the predicted time to next offer from 137 to 84 days and that of predicted KDRI of future offers from 0.64 to 0.55. The precision of the model's predictions was higher when observed times to next offer were 5 months or less. Limitations: The models assume that patients declining an offer remain wait-listed until the next one. The model only updates wait time every year after the time of an offer and not in a continuous fashion. Conclusion: By providing personalized quantitative estimates of time to and quality of future offers, our new approach can inform the shared decision-making process between transplant candidates and physicians when a kidney offer from a deceased donor is made by an ODO.

Contexte: Lorsqu'un organisme de don d'organes (ODO) propose un rein pour la transplantation, les médecins transplantologues se doivent d'informer les candidats des avantages et inconvénients d'accepter ou de refuser cette offre. Bien que les médecins aient une idée générale du temps d'attente à prévoir dans leur ODO pour une transplantation rénale selon le groupe sanguin, il n'existe aucun outil fournissant des estimations quantitatives fondées sur la cote d'attribution utilisée et les caractéristiques du donneur/candidat. Cela limite le processus partagé de prise de décision au moment d'une offre, car 1) les conséquences du refus relativement à la prolongation du temps d'attente ne peuvent être fournies; et 2) parce que la qualité de l'offre en cours ne peut être comparée à celle des offres qui pourraient être faites ultérieurement au même candidat. Ceci est particulièrement pertinent pour les candidats à une transplantation qui sont plus âgés, car de nombreux ODO utilisent une certaine forme de correspondance d'utilité dans leur cote d'attribution. Objectif: Nous souhaitions développer une nouvelle méthode pour fournir des estimations personnalisées du temps d'attente jusqu'à l'offre suivante et de la qualité des offres ultérieures pour les candidats à la transplantation rénale ayant refusé l'offre d'un ODO pour le rein d'un donneur décédé. Type d'étude: Étude de cohorte rétrospective. Cadre: Données administratives de Transplant Québec. Sujets: Tous les patients qui étaient activement inscrits sur la liste d'attente pour une greffe rénale à un moment donné entre le 29 mars 2012 et le 13 décembre 2017. Mesures: Le temps jusqu'à l'offre suivante a été défini comme le nombre de jours entre le moment de l'offre en cours et celui de la suivante, si la première est refusée. L'équation KDRI (Kidney Donor Risk Index) à 10 variables a servi à mesurer la qualité des offres. Méthodologie: L'arrivée d'une offre de rein spécifique à un candidat a été modélisée par un processus de Poisson marqué. L'arrivée des donneurs a été examinée pour les 2 ans précédant le moment de l'offre en cours afin de dériver le paramètre lambda du processus de Poisson marqué pour chaque candidat. La cote d'attribution de Transplant Québec a été calculée pour chaque offre compatible ABO avec les caractéristiques que le candidat présentait au moment de l'offre en cours. Les offres pour lesquelles la cote du candidat était inférieure aux cotes des receveurs réels des deuxièmes reins transplantés ont été retirées de l'arrivée des offres spécifiques à un candidat. La moyenne des valeurs KDRI des offres restantes a été calculée pour fournir une estimation de la qualité des offres futures, à comparer à celle de l'offre en cours. Résultats: Au cours de la période étudiée, 848 donneurs uniques et 1 696 candidats à la transplantation étaient inscrits activement. Les modèles fournissent les informations suivantes: le temps moyen jusqu'à l'offre suivante, délai au bout duquel il y a une probabilité de 95 % de recevoir la prochaine offre, la moyenne des valeurs KDRI des offres futures. L'indice C du modèle était de 0,72. Par rapport aux estimations moyennes du groupe en ce qui concerne le temps d'attente et la valeur KDRI des offres futures, le modèle a permis de réduire l'erreur quadratique moyenne de 137 à 84 jours pour le temps jusqu'à la prochaine offre, et de 0,64 à 0,55 pour la valeur KDRI prévue des offres futures. La précision des prédictions offertes par le modèle était plus élevée lorsque le temps jusqu'à l'offre suivante était de cinq mois ou moins. Limites: Le modèle suppose que les patients qui refusent une offre demeurent sur la liste d'attente jusqu'à l'offre suivante. Le modèle ne met à jour le temps d'attente que chaque année après la date de l'offre, et non de façon continue. Conclusion: En fournissant des estimations quantitatives personnalisées du temps jusqu'à l'offre suivante et de la qualité des offres futures, notre nouvelle approche peut éclairer le processus décisionnel partagé des candidats à la transplantation et des médecins lorsqu'une offre de rein provenant d'un donneur décédé est faite par le biais d'un ODO.

Does target country's climate risk matter in cross-border M&A? The evidence in the presence of geopolitical risk.

The impact of climate risk on the payment method in cross-border M&A remains largely unknown in the literature. Using a large sample of UK outbound cross-border M&A deals in 73 target countries from 2008 to 2020, we find that a UK acquirer is more likely to employ an all-cash offer to signal its confidence in a target's value if the target country faces a higher level of climate risk. This finding is consistent with the confidence signalling theory. Our results also suggest that acquirers are less likely to target vulnerable industries if target countries' climate risk is high. In addition, we document that the presence of geopolitical risk would weaken the association between payment method and climate risk. Our findings are robust to the use of an instrumental variable approach and alternative measures of climate risk.

The Role of Sex in the Effect of Vocal Attractiveness on Ultimatum Game Decisions.

The present research investigated the role of sex in the effect of vocal attractiveness on fairness judgment in a two-person Ultimatum Game. Each participant in the game decided whether to accept offers from a proposer who was either associated with an attractive or unattractive voice. The results showed that while participants were more likely to accept fair offers, they would also accept some unfair offers that were associated with an attractive voice. This effect of vocal attractiveness was more clearly shown by female participants, although all male and female participants took longer to make a decision when an attractive voice was associated with an offer, regardless of whether the voice was from the same sex or the opposite sex. Overall, the results inform the role of sex in the effect of vocal attractiveness and further confirm the beauty premium effect on economic bargaining, where people with an attractive voice would benefit.

Increased volume of organ offers and decreased efficiency of kidney placement under circle-based kidney allocation.

The newest kidney allocation policy kidney allocation system 250 (KAS250) broadened geographic distribution while increasing allocation system complexity. We studied the volume of kidney offers received by transplant centers and the efficiency of kidney placement since KAS250. We identified deceased-donor kidney offers (N = 907,848; N = 36,226 donors) to 185 US transplant centers from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021 (policy implemented March 15, 2021). Each unique donor offered to a center was considered a single offer. We compared the monthly volume of offers received by centers and the number of centers offered before the first acceptance using an interrupted time series approach (pre-/post-KAS250). Post-KAS250, transplant centers received more kidney offers (level change: 32.5 offers/center/mo, P < .001; slope change: 3.9 offers/center/mo, P = .003). The median monthly offer volume post-/pre-KAS250 was 195 (interquartile range 137-253) vs. 115 (76-151). There was no significant increase in deceased-donor transplant volume at the center level after KAS250, and center-specific changes in offer volume did not correlate with changes in transplant volume (r = -0.001). Post-KAS250, the number of centers to whom a kidney was offered before acceptance increased significantly (level change: 1.7 centers/donor, P < .001; slope change: 0.1 centers/donor/mo, P = .014). These findings demonstrate the logistical burden of broader organ sharing, and future allocation policy changes will need to balance equity in transplant access with the operational efficiency of the allocation system.