Jean-Paul Auray

Equity, Access and Economic Evaluation in Rare Diseases. The Impact of Orphan Drug Legislation on Health Policy and Patient Care

Currently, there are in excess of 5000 rare diseases, that is, diseases that affect only a small proportion of a given population. The majority of these conditions lack appropriate treatments for a variety of reasons, including limited markets for the development of new pharmaceutical products coupled with prohibitively high costs associated with research, manufacturing and marketing. This paper discusses the issues associated with the equity of and access to orphan drugs used in rare diseases. Options for healthcare policy across Europe are presented. The interest in using robust evaluation parameters is emphasized, despite this not being in agreement with the use of artificial indicators such as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), which appear to lead to divergent and erroneous results. New decision-making methods must govern the policy, statistics, and economics relevant to the use of orphan drugs in rare diseases.

Difference of perceptions and evaluation of cognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder patients across psychiatrists internationally.

Background: Many studies have suggested that major depressive disorder (MDD) is often associated with cognitive dysfunction. Despite this, guidance addressing assessment of cognitive dysfunction in MDD is lacking. The aim of this study was to examine psychiatrists’ perceptions and evaluation of cognitive dysfunction in routine practice in MDD patients across different countries. Method: A total of 61 psychiatrists in the US, Germany, France, Spain, Hong Kong, and Australia participated in an online survey about perceptions of cognitive dysfunction in MDD patients, evaluation of cognition and instruments used in cognitive evaluation. Results: Most psychiatrists reportedly relied on patient history interviews for cognitive evaluation (83% in France and approximately 60% in the USA, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong). The remainder used a cognitive instrument or a combination of cognitive instrument and patient history interview for assessment. Of those using instruments for cognitive assessment, only nine named instruments that were appropriate for cognitive evaluation. The remainder reported other clinical measures not intended for cognitive evaluation. Conclusions: Overall, psychiatrists in routine clinical practice value the assessment of cognitive in MDD. However, there is a lack of standardization in these assessments and misconceptions regarding proper assessment.

Robert Féron: A Pioneer in Soft Methods for Probability and Statistics

Robert Feron invented fuzzy random variables in the mid-seventies. As such, his works deserve due recognition among specialists of soft methods in probability and statistics. This short paper surveys his contributions to information theory, generalized distances, and the joint use of probability and fuzzy set theories. An extensive bibliography of his publications is provided.

CLASSIFICATIONS ENDOWED BY TRANSFER OF STRUCTURES

Publisher Summary nThis chapter describes a methodology for building pretopological structures on E from a set E whose elements are called descriptors and a correspondence X from E into E′. It is assumed that ET is endowed with a pretopological structure expressing, proximities, similarities, or dissimilarities, between descriptors. One can also try to build classifications on E, only taking into account the correspondence X, excluding the structuration of E′.

A pre-topological analysis of the input-output model

Abstract The letter proposes a new method for analyzing the industrial structures. This method is founded on the pre-topological properties of the set of activities.

Décision et écologie: le modèle JADE

[fre] Le modele « Jeux et aide a la decision en ecologie » (JADE), fonde sur la theorie des Jeux, est destine a prendre en compte les imperatifs inherents aux problemes de decision en matiere ecologique, notamment par la consideration de systemes dadequation acte-consequences. . Ce modele peut etre utilise a differentes fins : description de conflits, simulation des processus dapplication des regles legislatives et de leur acceptation par les diverses parties interessees. [eng] Decision and ecology : the jade model - The Games and Aid to Decisions in Ecology (JADE) model, is based on Games theory and is intended to take into account the imperatives connected with decision problems in ecology in particular by considering acts-consequences systems. . This model can be used for different purposes : description of conflicts, simulation of processes of application of legal rules and their being accepted by the various parties concerned.