EFEKTIVITAS PENANGGULANGAN PEMBAJAKAN KARYA CIPTA DALAM PERSPEKTIF SISTEM HUKUM

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of countermeasures against copyright piracy from a legal system perspective. The research method used is a normative juridical approach, starting from secondary data consisting of primary legal materials, secondary legal materials, and tertiary legal materials. The data collection technique was carried out through document study and qualitative normative data analysis. The legal structure is related to Law no. 28/2014 concerning Copyright still has obstacles related to the consistency of law enforcers (especially investigators, especially Civil Servant Investigators) who have carried out their functions but have not been effective due to internal and external constraints. In terms of legal substance, the Copyright Law has a normative weakness, namely adhering to a complaint offense against copyright crimes which causes law enforcement to take longer. Meanwhile, in terms of legal culture, the public has not fully respected the creations of other parties, as evidenced by the increasing number of piracy of copyright works and a way of thinking that considers intellectual property including copyright to only have a social function, even though it is also an individual right that has economic value. Therefore, the application of the legal system according to Friedman on the effectiveness of counter piracy of copyright works has not been effective.

Cost-Effectiveness and Value-Based Pricing of Aducanumab for Patients With Early Alzheimer Disease

Introduction:Aducanumab was granted accelerated approval with a conflicting evidence base, near-unanimous FDA Advisory Committee vote to reject approval, and a widely criticized launch price of $56,000 per year. The objective of this analysis was to estimate its cost-effectiveness.Methods:We developed a Markov model to compare aducanumab in addition to supportive care to supportive care alone over a lifetime horizon. Results were presented from both the health system and modified societal perspective. The model tracked the severity of disease and the care setting. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated, and a threshold analysis was conducted to estimate at what price aducanumab would meet commonly used cost-effectiveness thresholds.Results:Using estimates of effectiveness based on pooling of data from both pivotal trials, patients treated with aducanumab spent four more months in earlier stages of AD. Over the lifetime time horizon, treating a patient with aducanumab results in 0.154 more QALYs gained per patient and 0.201 evLYGs per patient from the health care system perspective, with additional costs of approximately $204,000 per patient. The incremental outcomes were similar for the modified societal perspective. At the list price of $56,000 per year, the cost-effectiveness ranged from $1.02 million per evLYG to $1.33 million per QALY gained from the health care system perspective; and from $938,000 per evLYG to $1.27 million per QALY gained in the modified societal perspective. The annual price to meet commonly used cost-effectiveness thresholds ranged from $2,950 to $8,360, which represents a discount of 85-95% off from the annual launch price set by the manufacturer. Using estimates of effectiveness based only on the trial that suggested a benefit, the mean incremental cost was greater than $400,000 per QALY gained.Discussion:Patients treated with aducanumab received minimal improvements in health outcomes at considerable cost. This resulted in incremental cost-effectiveness ratios that far exceeded commonly used value thresholds, even under optimistic treatment effectiveness assumptions. These findings are subject to the substantial uncertainty regarding whether aducanumab provides any true net health benefit, but evidence available currently suggests that an annual price of aducanumab of $56,000 is not in reasonable alignment with its clinical benefits.

Presence of a Mitovirus Is Associated with Alteration of the Mitochondrial Proteome, as Revealed by Protein–Protein Interaction (PPI) and Co-Expression Network Models in Chenopodium quinoa Plants

Plant mitoviruses belong to Mitoviridae family and consist of positive single-stranded RNA genomes replicating exclusively in host mitochondria. We previously reported the biological characterization of a replicating plant mitovirus, designated Chenopodium quinoa mitovirus 1 (CqMV1), in some Chenopodium quinoa accessions. In this study, we analyzed the mitochondrial proteome from leaves of quinoa, infected and not infected by CqMV1. Furthermore, by protein–protein interaction and co-expression network models, we provided a system perspective of how CqMV1 affects mitochondrial functionality. We found that CqMV1 is associated with changes in mitochondrial protein expression in a mild but well-defined way. In quinoa-infected plants, we observed up-regulation of functional modules involved in amino acid catabolism, mitochondrial respiratory chain, proteolysis, folding/stress response and redox homeostasis. In this context, some proteins, including BCE2 (lipoamide acyltransferase component of branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex), DELTA-OAT (ornithine aminotransferase) and GR-RBP2 (glycine-rich RNA-binding protein 2) were interesting because all up-regulated and network hubs in infected plants; together with other hubs, including CAT (catalase) and APX3 (L-ascorbate peroxidase 3), they play a role in stress response and redox homeostasis. These proteins could be related to the higher tolerance degree to drought we observed in CqMV1-infected plants. Although a specific causative link could not be established by our experimental approach at this stage, the results suggest a new mechanistic hypothesis that demands further in-depth functional studies.

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Caspofungin and Fluconazole for Primary Treatment of Invasive Candidiasis and Candidemia in Ethiopia

Background: Caspofungin was shown to be more effective than fluconazole in treating patients with invasive candidiasis and/or candidaemia (IC/C). However, cost-effectiveness of caspofungin for treating IC/C in Ethiopia remains unknown. We aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of caspofungin compared to fluconazole as primary treatment of IC/C in Ethiopia.Methods: A Markov cohort model was developed to compare the cost-utility of caspofungin versus fluconazole antifungal agents as first-line treatment for adult inpatients with IC/C from the Ethiopian health system perspective. Treatment outcome was categorized as either a clinical success or failure, with clinical failure being switched to a different antifungal medication. Liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) was used as a rescue agent for patients who had failed caspofungin treatment, while caspofungin or L-AmB were used for patients who had failed fluconazole treatment. Primary outcomes were expected quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), costs (US$2021), and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). QALYs and costs were discounted at 3% annually. Cost data was obtained from Addis Ababa hospitals while locally unavailable data were derived from the literature. Cost-effectiveness was assessed against the recommended threshold of 50% of Ethiopia’s gross domestic product/capita. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the findings.Results: In the base-case analysis, treatment of IC/C with caspofungin as first-line treatment resulted in better health outcomes (12.86 QALYs) but higher costs (US$7,714) compared to fluconazole-initiated treatment followed by caspofungin (12.30 QALYs; US$3,217) or L-AmB (10.92 QALYs; US$2,781) as second-line treatment. Caspofungin as primary treatment for IC/C was not cost-effective when compared to fluconazole-initiated therapies. Fluconazole-initiated treatment followed by caspofungin was cost-effective for the treatment of IC/C compared to fluconazole with L-AmB as second-line treatment, at US$316/QALY gained. Our findings were sensitive to medication costs, drug effectiveness, infection recurrence, and infection-related mortality rates. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of our findings.Conclusions: Our study showed that the use of caspofungin as primary treatment for IC/C in Ethiopia was not cost-effective when compared with fluconazole-initiated treatment alternatives. The findings supported the use of fluconazole-initiated therapy with caspofungin as a second-line treatment to treat IC/C in Ethiopia and other low-income countries.

Incidence of Girl-Child Defilement in Ugbighokho Community South-South Nigeria: The Way Forward

This study explores the incidence of girl-child defilement in Ugbighokho Community, South-south Nigeria. The study was guided by the ecological system perspective and the play therapy. The study pointed out some of the socio-economic factors that causes the girl-child defilement which includes, poverty, ignorance, gender inequality and the nature of child’s residence or environment where the child lives. The sample size of this study was 400 using the simple random sampling technique. The cross sectional survey method was adopted for this study. The study established that poverty was the main cause of the girl-child defilement in Ugbighokho Community. The study further revealed that social tie was the main cause for under-reporting of girl-child defilement which in turn has a far-reaching effect on the victim(s). The study therefore recommends poverty alleviation programmes as a means of generating income activities for caregivers in order to prevent them from being compromised by offenders. Received: 21 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 December 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022

The Fight Against Climate Change From an Indigenous System Perspective

The 21st century has witnessed that climate change has become an acute daily agony. In Africa, to be specific, it has made the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals a myth. It is argued that the implications of climate change are evident in numerous ways on the African continent: incessant floods, cyclones, droughts, and heat waves. These have introduced disastrous outcomes: a heightened threat of food security, inadequate water resource availability, diminished biodiversity, decline in human health viability, and increasing land degradation. At the centre of all this, a more robust understanding of climate change and appropriate palliatives is called for. In South Africa, conservation by the state and numerous stakeholders on the thorny issue of climate change has tended to favour and privilege Western scientific interpretations at the expense of the “indigenous” interpretations as informed by their indigenous epistemologies.