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Purpose: Preference-based measures are essential for producing quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) that are widely used for economic evaluations. In the absence of such measures, mapping algorithms can be applied to estimate utilities from disease-specific measures. This paper aims to develop mapping algorithms between the MacNew Heart Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (MacNew) instrument and the English and the US-based EQ-5D-5L value sets., Methods: Individuals with heart disease were recruited from six countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, UK and the US in 2011/12. Both parametric and non-parametric statistical techniques were applied to estimate mapping algorithms that predict utilities for MacNew scores from EQ-5D-5L value sets. The optimal algorithm for each country-specific value set was primarily selected based on root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), and r-squared. Leave-one-out cross-validation was conducted to test the generalizability of each model., Results: For both the English and the US value sets, the one-inflated beta regression model consistently performed best in terms of all criteria. Similar results were observed for the cross-validation results. The preferred model explained 59 and 60% for the English and the US value set, respectively. Linear equating provided predicted values that were equivalent to observed values., Conclusions: The preferred mapping function enables to predict utilities for MacNew data from the EQ-5D-5L value sets recently developed in England and the US with better accuracy. This allows studies, which have included the MacNew to be used in cost-utility analyses and thus, the comparison of services with interventions across the health system.

The present study analyses a selection of German and American surgical and cancer research journals from the years 1984 and 1994. The aim of the study was to evaluate the amount of publications by German surgeons in these journals. Furthermore, any influence of the impact factor on the publication criteria was analyzed. German surgical journals showed a high percentage increase in the impact factor but are, in absolute numbers, still significantly behind the American journals. In parallel, German surgeons are still the major contributors to German language journals, but increasingly publish in the American ones as well. The impact factor is one of the major selection criteria on to which journal a paper shall be submitted.

This paper is a survey of the literature in an attempt to provide the basis for our current understanding of the disciform process. Particular emphasis is placed on its pathogenesis and the role of subretinal neovascularization. No two lesions appear exactly alike because of the many stages and combinations possible. Gass (1967) has delineated the broad spectrum with the many different clinical manifestations of this disease process. Verhoeff and Grossman (1937) provided the histopathologic basis for our understanding of the disciform process. The histologic correlation of the clinical "predisciform" state would seem to offer the most promising information for understanding the pathogenesis of the disciform process (Frank et al. 1973; Green and Key 1977; Kornweig 1967; Sarks 1973 and 1976; Small et al. 1976; Zauberman 1970). It is hoped that this literature review has sufficiently emphasized the inherent deficiencies of strictly clinical studies and the need for an appropriate experimental animal model (Ryan 1979).

Max Wertheimer, the chief founder of an experimentally based Gestalt psychology, conducted his pioneering studies in motion perception on new theoretical grounds. Since the influence of this approach may be greater in today's cognitive psychology than it has ever been during the half-century of introspectionism and radical behaviorism, it is appropriate to review the actual roots of Wertheimer's (1912) seminal publication and his continuing research on apparent and real motion perception in the light of past and recent work. Illustrative examples, especially of Wertheimer's early research, are provided in this paper. The implications of his experimentation and biopsychological theorizing are still of major interest for present psychological inquiry. Nevertheless, the need for more future systematic comparative research on motion perception must be emphasized. The Epilogue of this paper examines why important parts of Wertheimer's experimental contributions to psychology may have been underrated or neglected by many contemporary psychologists.