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Objectives. We assessed the costs, risks, and benefits of possible future major policy decisions on vaccination, surveillance, response plans, and containment following global eradication of wild polioviruses. Methods. We developed a decision analytic model to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and net benefits of risk management options for polio for the 20-year period and stratified the world according to income level to capture important variability between nations. Results. For low-, lower-middle-, and upper-middle-income groups currently using oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV), we found that after successful eradication of wild polioviruses, OPV cessation would save both costs and lives when compared with continued use of OPV without supplemental immunization activities. We found cost-effectiveness ratios for switching from OPV to inactivated poliovirus vaccine to be higher (i.e., less desirable) than other health investment opportunities, depending on the actual inactivated poliovirus vaccine costs and assumptions about whether supplemental immunization activities with OPV would continue. Conclusions. Eradication promises billions of dollars of net benefits, although global health policy leaders face difficult choices about future policies. Until successful eradication and coordination of posteradication policies, health authorities should continue routine polio vaccination and supplemental immunization activities.

Keywords: sensitivity analysis; uncertainty analysis; cost-effectiveness analysis; economic evaluation; decision analysis; design of experiments; dynamic infection transmission model. 182 Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analyses of a Dynamic Economic Evaluation Model for [...]

The US federal regulations allow institutional review boards (IRBs) to approve pediatric research that does not offer a prospect of direct benefit only when the risks are minimal or when the risks are a minor increase over minimal risk. Data suggest that IRBs may be categorizing as greater than minimal risk many research procedures that qualify, under the federal regulations, as posing no greater than minimal risk to pediatric participants.

The violence and bloodshed in videogames is a source of public outcry and the content in the video games played by adolescents and older children are compared with the rating information provided to consumers by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). It was found that a significant amount of content in the Teen-rated video games did not match the ESRB and these videos may be a source of exposure to a wide range of unexpected content.