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OBJECTIVE : To examine the cost-effectiveness of intensive interdisciplinary behavioral treatment (IIBT) to address severe pediatric feeding difficulties and lead to the removal or prevention of gastrostomy tubes (G tubes) from the perspective of the insurance company.  METHODS : Costs associated with G tubes and IIBT were compiled from the available literature and national databases. Costs were updated to price at the start of 2015 to allow data from different years to be analyzed on the same scale.  RESULTS : One-way sensitivity and two-way threshold analyses demonstrated that IIBT may be a cost-effective treatment for prevention and removal of G tubes over 5 and 10 years.  DISCUSSION : Data from this study can be used to justify cost of services for IIBT, and programs can use these data to discuss conservative savings of IIBT based on their treatment model and level of effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commercial process was developed for producing a recombinant vaccine against hydatidosis in farm animals. The vaccine antigen consisting of a surface protein of the oncospheres of the hydatid worm ( Echinococcus granulosus), was produced as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. Fed-batch cultures of E. coli using Terrific broth in stirred bioreactors at 37°C, pH 7.0, and a dissolved oxygen level of 30% of air saturation produced the highest volumetric concentrations of the final solubilized antigen. An exponential feeding strategy proved distinctly superior to feeding based on pH-stat and DO-stat methods. The plasmid coding for the antigen was induced with isopropyl-β- D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) at 4 h after initiation of the culture. The minimum IPTG concentration for full induction was 0.1 mM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]