The European Social Survey. Methodological aspects

From a scientific point of view, surveys are undoubtedly a valuable tool for the knowledge of the social and political reality. They are widely used in the social sciences research. However, the researcher's task is often disturbed by a series of deficiencies related to some technical aspects that make difficult both the inference and the comparison. The main aim of the present paper is to report and justify the European Social Survey's technical specifications addressed to avoid and/or minimize such deficiencies. The article also gives a characterization of the non-respondents in Spain obtained from the analysis of the 2002 fieldwork data file.

Organisational innovations and health care decentralisation: A perspective from Spain

Recent policy developments in public health care systems lead to a greater diversity in health care. Decentralisation, either geographically or at an institutional level, is the key force, because it encourages innovation and local initiatives in health care provision. The devolution of responsibilities allows for a sort of de-construction of the status quo by changing both organizational forms and service provision. The new organizations enjoy greater freedom in the way they pay their staff, and are judged according to their results. These organizations may retain financial surpluses, develop spin-off companies and commission a range of specialised services (such as Diagnostic and Treatment Centres in UK) from providers outside the institutional setting in order to have more access to capital markets. However this diversity may generate a feeling of lack of commitment to a national health service and ultimately a loss of social cohesion. By fiscal decentralisation to regional authorities or planned delegation of financial agreements to the providers, financial incentives are more explicit and may seem to place profit-making above a commitment to better health care. An evaluation of the myths and realities of the decentralization process is needed. Here, I offer an assessment pros and cons of the decentralization process of health care in Spain, drawing on the experience of regional reforms from the pioneering organisational innovations implemented in Catalonia in 1981, up to the observed dispersion of health care spending per capita among regions at present.

R&D in the pharmaceutical industry: A world of small innovations

It is commonly argued that in recent years pharmaceutical companies have directed theirR&D towards small improvements of existing compounds instead of more risky drastic innovations. In this paper we show that the proliferation of these small innovations is likely to be linked to the lack of market sensitivity of a part of the demand to changes in prices. Compared to their social contribution, small innovations are relatively more profitable than large ones because they are targeted to the smaller but more inelastic part of the demand. We also study the effect of regulatory instruments such as price ceilings, copayments and reference prices and extend the analysis to competition in research.

Methodological assessment of HCC literature.

Despite the fact that the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a major health problem, very few interventions are available for this disease, and only sorafenib is approved for the treatment of advanced disease. Of note, only very few interventions have been thoroughly evaluated over time for HCC patients compared with several hundreds in other, equally highly lethal, tumours. Additionally, clinical trials in HCC have often been questioned for poor design and methodological issues. As a consequence, a gap between what is measured in clinical trials and what clinicians have to face in daily practice often occurs. As a result of this scenario, even the most recent guidelines for treatment of HCC patients use low strength evidence to make recommendations. In this review, we will discuss some of the potential methodological issues hindering a rational development of new treatments for HCC patients.

Pre-analytical and methodological challenges in red blood cell microparticle proteomics.

Microparticles are phospholipid vesicles shed mostly in biological fluids, such as blood or urine, by various types of cells, such as red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, lymphocytes, endothelial cells. These microparticles contain a subset of the proteome of their parent cell, and their ready availability in biological fluid has raised strong interest in their study, as they might be markers of cell damage. However, their small size as well as their particular physico-chemical properties makes them hard to detect, size, count and study by proteome analysis. In this review, we report the pre-analytical and methodological caveats that we have faced in our own research about red blood cell microparticles in the context of transfusion science, as well as examples from the literature on the proteomics of various kinds of microparticles.

The Georgian adolescent health survey: methodological and strategic issues.

OBJECTIVES: To conduct a national survey on adolescent health and lifestyles in Georgia and to thus set up a database on adolescent. METHODS: A two-stage cluster sample of around 8000-10000 in-school 15-18 years adolescents are being reached through a random selection of classes in Georgia. The sample has been stratified by age, region, type of school and language. A self-administered questionnaire of 87 questions has been developed and translated into the four main languages used in Georgia. RESULTS: Up to June 2004, the researchers have reached 511 classes (9306 pupils). In total, 8039 questionnaires have been considered valid. The main concerns encountered for this survey are linked with acceptance of the survey, cross-cultural issues, political and strategic problems as well as inadequate physical environmental support. CONCLUSION: Despite Georgia's unfavourable economical and political situation, it has been possible to run a national survey on the health of adolescents, according to the usual standards used in the field. This survey should allow for 1) the identification of priorities in the field of health care and health promotion 2) the monitoring of adolescent health in the future.

Design of homogeneous territorial units : a methodological proposal

One of the main questions to solve when analysing geographically added information consists of the design of territorial units adjusted to the objectives of the study. This is related with the reduction of the effects of the Modificable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). In this paper an optimisation model to solve regionalisation problems is proposed. This model seeks to reduce disadvantages found in previous works about automated regionalisation tools

On the use of IRMS in forensic science: proposals for a methodological approach

The flourishing number of publications on the use of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) in forensic science denotes the enthusiasm and the attraction generated by this technology. IRMS has demonstrated its potential to distinguish chemically identical compounds coming from different sources. Despite the numerous applications of IRMS to a wide range of forensic materials, its implementation in a forensic framework is less straightforward than it appears. In addition, each laboratory has developed its own strategy of analysis on calibration, sequence design, standards utilisation and data treatment without a clear consensus.Through the experience acquired from research undertaken in different forensic fields, we propose a methodological framework of the whole process using IRMS methods. We emphasize the importance of considering isotopic results as part of a whole approach, when applying this technology to a particular forensic issue. The process is divided into six different steps, which should be considered for a thoughtful and relevant application. The dissection of this process into fundamental steps, further detailed, enables a better understanding of the essential, though not exhaustive, factors that have to be considered in order to obtain results of quality and sufficiently robust to proceed to retrospective analyses or interlaboratory comparisons.