Respondent burden

Two practical concerns of the critics of use of HRQOL assessments in individual patient care are 1) respondent burden and 2) reliability of scores obtained from shorter questionnaires. Current researchers struggle with the competing demands invoked by everyday use requiring shorter forms and the reliability of a result obtained from fewer questions. Specifically, concerns are raised about the reliability of the result and the interpretation. With popular outcomes measures, the standard error around a single person estimate is large and not satisfying enough to ensure stable conclusions. 

Respondent burden refers to the time, energy, and other demands placed on those to whom the instrument is administered. Administrative burden refers to the demands placed on those who administer the instrument. A practical aspect of the measurement of HRQOL is length of the instrument or the administration time involved. Instruments should be as brief as possible without severely compromising the validity and reliability of the measurement. The longer an in-strumenL the greater is the respondent burden. This can lead to an... 

In general, the larger corporations respond to TSCA demands much as they would to any other demand presented to them. There have been additional resources added the additional costs will be expressed in the cost of products and services provided by the corporation. With smaller companies, the general result has been to add the TSCA burdens to existing personnel, particularly in technical/research and development functions. The final result in these smaller companies may be less innovation and productivity. In the smallest companies, the burdens have fallen on the few managers whose time in general management functions is reduced. Less productivity may be the result here. 

Rituxan was administered at weekly intervals for four doses to NHL patients, the peak and trough serum levels of rituximab were inversely correlated with baseline values for the number of circulating CD20 positive B cells and measures of disease burden. Median steady-state serum levels were higher for responders compared to nonresponders. Rituximab was detectable in the serum of patients 3 to 6 months after completion of treatment. 

As schistosomes are long-lived and pre-pubertal children show little evidence of acquired immunity, can protection be reliably achieved in a permissive host Experiments in rodents and primates with cercariae attenuated by radiation provide an emphatic yes in answer to this question. Over a 40-year-period, many laboratories have reproducibly obtained a 60-70% reduction in worm burden after a single vaccination of high responder mouse strains. The attenuated vaccine model has been extensively investigated as a paradigm for a human vaccine (reviewed by Coulson, 1997) and the salient features are summarized below. 

Consuming alcoholic beverages is not advisable for MCS patients. Many MCS patients have an impaired detoxification system, which means alcohol is just another burden upon the liver. Some patients immediately have a reaction when they drink alcohol, and others notice that even just one drink leaves them with an extreme hangover, because their body does not respond well. 

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