Impact of Immunoablation and Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation on Treatment Cost of Multiple Sclerosis: Real-World Nationwide Study.

OBJECTIVES: To provide real-world data on the impact of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) on treatment costs of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Poland. METHODS: Medical data of 105 patients who underwent AHSCT in the years 2011 to 2016 were obtained from the National Health Fund (NHF) database. Treatment costs were calculated from the public payer's perspective per patient-year for the total available period as well as 12 months before and after AHSCT. The statistical analysis was performed using MATLAB 2016b. RESULTS: Mean treatment-related costs covered by the NHF per patient-year before and after the transplantation were €4314.9 and €1188.8 , respectively. The average cost of disease-modifying drugs per patient was reduced from €2497.9/year before to €65.3/year after AHSCT. CONCLUSIONS: Although the initial cost of AHSCT is high, the costs involving AHSCT and post-AHSCT treatment could, according to our analysis, pay off in 3.9 years, when compared to the costs of disease-modifying drug therapy in aggressive MS. The study provides evidence that the AHSCT can lead to significant savings in treatment costs of aggressive MS from the public payer's perspective.

Suicide among Polish Adolescents-A 20 Year Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to analyze the burden and territorial diversification of adolescent suicide and the link between suicide attempts and selected socioeconomic variables in Poland. METHODS: Rates of suicide by voivodeships for years 1999-2019 were obtained from the General Police Headquarters of Poland database. The burden of premature death was expressed in years of life lost (YLL) and costs of lost productivity, which were estimated using the human capital approach. The link between suicide rates and socioeconomic determinants has been analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Over the analyzed period, an increase in suicide attempt rates and a decrease in suicide death rates have been observed. Mean YLL and costs of lost productivity per year amounted to 11,982 and 153,172,415 PLN, respectively. Territorial diversification in suicide attempt rates corresponds to the living condition, poverty, association-based capital, and satisfaction with family situation in individual voivodeships. The number of deaths due to suicide is negatively correlated with an indicator of good living conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide quantitative evidence of the national impact of suicide and suggest that addressing social capital and poverty may have a role in preventing adolescent mortality due to suicide.

Modeling of Mixing-Precipitation Processes: Agglomeration.

A comprehensive description of the barium sulfate precipitation process in a wide range of supersaturations is presented. By using an additive to stabilize the particles, the decoupling of the primary from the secondary processes, as well as the agglomeration from aggregation was possible. By being able to study the two processes independently, a model describing the agglomeration of barium sulfate in the range of high supersaturations was validated experimentally for the first time. The proposed model has proven to describe the experiments with a high degree of accuracy in the whole range of supersaturations investigated. Additionally, by comparing agglomeration kernels of various complexity, ranges where simplifications are possible were identified, thus enabling the future development of models with better performance.