OBJECTIVES To describe the development of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) and its activities. METHODS Review of literature material and other documents produced by or relating to INAHTA. RESULTS INAHTA includes organizations that provide health technology assessment (HTA) advice to governments and receive most of their funding from public sour...

background: there is controversy over the potential benefits/harms of the usage of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (aceis) or angiotensin receptor blockers (arbs) as regards the postoperative mortality of coronary artery bypass grafting (cabg). this study investigates the correlation between the in-hospital mortality of cabg and the preoperative administration of acei/arb. methods: out...

Most of the models describing the fate and transport of xenobiotic organic chemicals in natural streams are steady state models (e.g. EXAMS, SYMPTOX4, GREATER,…). In view of ecological risk assessment, the current Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) estimation method in the European Union (EU) member states is based on a steady state in-stream fate model (OECD, 1999). These models assum...

Due to an identified need for formal assessment, a small team of librarians designed and administered a survey to gauge the quality of customer service at their academic health sciences library. Though results did not drive major changes to services, several important improvements were implemented and a process was established to serve as a foundation for future use. This article details the as...

Symptoms examined in a level 1 assessment In the report The Standardisation of Terminology of Lower Urinary Tract Function, Abrams at al (2002) divide lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTs) into three groups: ■ Storage symptoms – experienced when urine is stored in the bladder. These include increased daytime frequency and nocturia (Box 1); ■ Voiding symptoms – these include a slow urinary stream,...

Renewable energy allows electricity generation with lower environmental and resource impact than from fossil fuels. However, the manufacture, use ultimate disposal of equipment used to capture this has an impact, which should be minimised. Tidal turbine blades are currently primarily manufactured glass-fibre reinforced polymers. Such cannot recycled at end their life, disposed in landfill or by...