Testosterone products comprise a multi-billion dollar industry; however, Health Canada and the United States Food and Drug Administration have issued statements of concern about their safety, and their benefits are unclear. In the first phase of this study, we performed a systematic review of the current evidence for the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy. In the second phase, we analyzed the evidence from randomized controlled trials for the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy (depression, quality of life, erectile function, libido, total testosterone level). In the third phase, we analyzed data for harms (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, newly diagnosed prostate cancer, coronary artery disease or diabetes, serious adverse events, withdrawals due to adverse events, erythrocytosis) from randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies. In general, most included studies had a short duration and were poorly reported. Additional high-quality research into the long-term safety of testosterone products is needed.

Given financial constraints, drug manufacturers are required to provide pharmacoeconomic evaluations to demonstrate the value for money of their drug compared to current treatment when requesting reimbursement by publicly funded health care systems. This thesis is a retrospective examination of pharmacoeconomic evaluations submitted for review to the Common Drug Review process. Its purpose was to determine the pattern of adherence to guidelines, trends in methodological quality, and transparency, changes in the adoption and practice of sensitivity analysis and probabilistic methods, use of indirect treatment comparison, and identify methodological factors−determinants of recommendations. Using an instrument that was developed and tested, information from 201 pharmacoeconomic evaluations was collected and analysed. Pharmacoeconomic evaluations may have improved over time in terms of adherence, methodological quality, transparency, use of probabilistic sensitivity analysis and indirect treatment comparison. However, such improvements have been minimal and further efforts are needed to better improve pharmacoeconomic evaluations in the future.

The thesis: "the examination of the local government unit Borough Prague 3" is a brief description of the development of the audit profession in the Czech Republic, the definition of audit and audit functions, legislative adjustments of the audit and review of financial self -governing region. Then the analysis of the management review City of Prague 3, 2011, brief description of the status of this district within the public sector, for its financing and accounting processing system. At the same time described deficiencies identified in the review of the management district for the year 2011, including risks, recommendations for their elimination and evaluation of the adopted measures. An important part of the diploma thesis is the independent auditor's report on the outcome of the management review City of Prague 3, 2012 and recommendations for corrective action to identified deficiencies.

Objective. To conduct a systematic review of reports of pharmacy student research programs that describes the programs and resulting publications or presentations. Methods. To be eligible for the review, reports had to be in English and indicate that students were required to collect, analyze data, and report or present findings. The outcome variables were extramural posters/presentations and publications. Results. Database searches resulted in identification of 13 reports for 12 programs. Two-thirds were reports of projects required for a course or for graduation, and the remaining third were elective (participation was optional). Extramural posters resulted from 75% of the programs and publications from 67%. Conclusion. Although reporting on the outcomes of student research programs is limited, three-quarters of the programs indicated that extramural presentations, publications, or both resulted from student research. Additional research is needed to identify relevant outcomes of student research programs in pharmacy.

This thesis represents a critical taxonomical review of the fungal genus Cryphonectria sensu lato. An appropriate taxonomy for this group is of great importance because it includes many well known tree pathogens such as the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica and the Eucalyptus canker pathogen Cryphonectria cubensis. The many taxonomic changes introduced in studies presented in this thesis have largely arisen as a result of DNA sequence comparisons for Cryphonectria spp. that show that Cryphonectria sensu lato is comprised of different lineages, strongly supported by robust morphological characteristics. New taxa, of which many are pathogenic, have also been discovered. The expanded number of species of Cryphonectria and related genera as well as the consideration of large numbers of isolates has furthermore made it possible to establish a broad view of the group at the super-generic level. The first part of the thesis deals with studies on Cryphonectria cubensis. A new genus Chrysoporthe is described for C. cubensis sensu lato. Two additional species are also described for phylogenetic sub-clades previously known as C. cubensis. These include Chrysoporthe austroafricana, representing all isolates from South Africa, and an anamorphic species described in the new genus Chrysoporthella as Chrysop. hodgesiana, which is currently only known from Colombia on native Tibouchina spp. Isolate collections from several new host genera for Chr. cubensis are also characterized. Collections from Eucalyptus in Cuba, now representing the epitype of Chr. cubensis, also define the type of Chr. cubensis as residing in the South American sub-clade. Another new species, Chrysoporthe inopima from Tibouchina lepidota in Colombia is described as well as a new species Chrysoporthe doradensis for isolates from Eucalyptus spp. in Ecuador. A new family Cryphonectriaceae is described in this thesis for Cryphonectria, Chrysoporthe and Endothia. Genera in this family are united by orange stromatic tissue, with the pigments colouring purple in 3% KOH and yellow in lactic acid. The existence of this new family confirms the close relationship of Cryphonectria and morphologically similar genera. A proposal to conserve the name Cryphonectria against the new type C. parasitica is presented. This is required because Cryphonectria gyrosa, the currently accepted type, was erroneously used as type. The conservation of Cryphonectria against C. parasitica made it possible to describe the new genus Amphilogia for C. gyrosa. Amphilogia also includes a second species from New Zealand described as Amphilogia major, although no isolates currently exist for this species. New genera for existing Cryphonectria spp., as well as newly discovered fungi are presented in this thesis. The new genus Rostraureum is established for a fungus pathogenic on Terminalia ivorensis in Ecuador. This fungus also represents a new species, Rostraureum tropicale. Cryphonectria longirostris, originating from Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tabago, is also transferred to Rostraureum. A fungus morphologically similar to Chrysoporthe on native Tibouchina, Miconia and exotic Eucalyptus spp. in Colombia, is described as Aurapex penicillata gen. sp. nov. Cryphonectria havanensis is transferred to the new genus Microthia. Cryphonectria coccolobae also resides in this genus based on morphology, although its phylogenetic relationship to C. havanensis could not be confirmed due the absence of isolates. A new fungus was discovered during surveys for C. coccolobae on Coccoloba uvifera in Florida, which is described in the new genus Ursicollum as U. fallax. Phylogenetic analyses in this study also clearly distinguish Cryphonectria eucalypti from Cryphonectria, and this fungus is thus transferred to the new genus Holocryphia. A minireview is presented at the end of the thesis and discusses the new taxonomic concepts developed for Cryphonectria during this thesis, and recent studies by other authors. The review describes how this new taxonomic scheme has changed our view and understanding of the distribution and ecology of Cryphonectria sensu stricto from what it has traditionally been seen. The final part of the thesis is written in the form of a monograph. It contains background information of all the species, including many pathogens, currently known in Cryphonectria and allied genera. The majority of these have recently been described, some in this thesis, and this chapter thus contains all recent information pertaining to them. It is intended that this monograph should be useful as a manual, enabling users to work with and isolate these fungi and to identify the different taxa based on morphology and phylogenetic relationships. The studies presented in this thesis greatly change the taxonomy of Cryphonectria sensu lato, which is now seen as representing a large number of genera and species in a new family. Many would argue that Cryphonectria is still monophyletic, but the different lineages shown by DNA sequence comparisons are morphologically inordinately diverse, and clearly represent different genera. Studies presented in this thesis further suggest that additional genera await description from diverse geographical areas and ecological niches. The studies presented in this thesis will hopefully provide a foundation against which these new taxa can be compared and will improve our understanding of tree diseases. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / Unrestricted

Context: Since the beginnings of software engineering, metrics (such as SLOCs) and practices have been used in an attempt to measure and improve the features of software development projects, their process, or their contributors. Measuring and enhancing software ecosystem features brings a new complexity level because a software ecosystem comprises several interrelated software projects. Over the past two decades, software ecosystems have gained considerable attention, and researchers have proposed various metrics and practices to measure and improve software ecosystems' health. Objective: This thesis presents a systematic literature review that aims to build comprehensive taxonomies for software ecosystem health metrics and practices. These taxonomies synthesize the results of previous categorizations and update them with newer metrics and practices proposed since then. This study also aims to collect and synthesize all the definitions, metrics, and practices proposed to define, measure, and improve software ecosystem health in the literature. Method: I conducted a systematic literature review and identified 40 primary studies related to defining and measuring software ecosystem health. I extracted the definitions, metrics, and practices for software ecosystem health from the primary studies, and then I categorized the metrics and practices to build the taxonomies. Results: I identified a total of 7 different definitions for software ecosystem health, 142 different metrics, and 174 various practices for software ecosystem health. Our taxonomies for software ecosystem health metrics and practices have three categories (niche creation, productivity, and robustness). Each of these categories has several sub-categories of metrics and practices. Conclusion: Software ecosystems have a wide range of stakeholders that have different perspectives regarding software ecosystem health. To satisfy this spectrum, researchers have proposed various metrics and practices to measure and improve software ecosystems' health. To improve unifying contrasting opinions, I conducted this study. The metrics and practices proposed are diverse in both purpose and the data required to compute them. Some metrics are presented along with a method on how to compute them. In contrast, others are defined abstractly without an operational approach to calculate them, and some are mentioned without a clear rationale. Furthermore, the same metric or practice is often proposed in more than one publication using different names. This thesis addresses these alignment problems. / Graduate

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the EPPO), established under enhanced cooperation by a Council Regulation (the Regulation), will be the first supranational criminal law enforcement body in the European Union (the EU) with direct powers visà-vis individuals. It will be responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgments the perpetrators of offences against the Union’s financial interests. Measures taken by the EPPO may therefore seriously interfere with fundamental rights of individuals. As the EU is based on the rule of law, an effective judicial review of the acts produced by the EPPO is essential in order to allow individuals to protect their rights and legitimate interests against unlawful and arbitrary decision-making. In accordance with the Treaty framework of judicial review, the main rule in EU law on the division of jurisdiction between national courts of the Member States and the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) is that acts adopted by Union institutions and bodies are to be reviewed by Union courts, while acts adopted by national institutions and bodies are to be reviewed by the national courts. Although the EPPO is an indivisible Union body, the judicial review of the procedural acts of the EPPO will first and foremost be a task for the national courts according to Article 42 of the Regulation. Since it follows from the hierarchy of norms that secondary law must comply with primary law, this thesis examines whether the system of judicial review of procedural acts of the EPPO, as prescribed in Article 42 of the Regulation, complies with the Treaty framework of judicial review and the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental rights of the European Union (the Charter). The main finding of the thesis is that the system of judicial review of procedural acts of the EPPO, as prescribed in the Article 42 of the Regulation, does not comply with the Treaty framework of judicial review or the right to effective judicial protection enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter.

Orientador: Edison Iglesias de Oliveira Vidal / Resumo: A síndrome de fragilidade é definida como uma síndrome clínica de origem multicausal caracterizada por redução de reservas fisiológicas que aumentam a vulnerabilidade de um indivíduo a desfechos adversos como quedas, hospitalização, desenvolvimento de dependência funcional e morte. Acredita-se que a síndrome da fragilidade pode ser potencialmente modificável ou reversível mediante intervenções apropriadas. Esta é a primeira revisão sistemática com metanálise de ensaios clínicos randomizados para avaliar a eficácia de intervenções nutricionais para o tratamento da síndrome da fragilidade em idosos. Foram incluídos 11 ensaios clínicos randomizados com idosos de 60 anos ou mais com diagnóstico de síndrome da fragilidade ou pré-fragilidade. Metanálises bayesianas de efeitos randômicos não revelaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas ao comparar a suplementação nutricional isolada com grupos controle que receberam placebo ou nenhum tratamento em relação ao escore de síndrome da fragilidade (MD: 0,09 pontos, IC 95%: -0,45 a 0,62), Bateria de Desempenho Físico Breve (SMD: 0,29, IC 95%: -0,55 a 1,40), força muscular (SMD: -0,14, IC 95%: -0,38 a 0,09), velocidade da marcha (SMD: 0,06, IC 95%: -0,04 a 0,17), massa magra apendicular (MD: 0,60kg, IC 95%: -0,82 a 2,01), massa gorda (MD: 1,67kg, IC 95%: -0,63 a 3,96), memória declarativa (SMD: 0,11, IC 95%: -0,31 a 0,53), linguagem e função executiva (MD: 0,21 pontos, IC 95%: -0,99 a 1,42) e outros resultados. Estudo único de inter... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Frailty is a clinical syndrome of multicausal origin characterized by a reduction of physiological reserves that increase the vulnerability of an individual to adverse outcomes such as falls, hospital admission, disability and death. It has been suggested that frailty can be potentially modifiable or even reversible with appropriate interventions. This is the first systematic review with meta-analysis or Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) to appraise the effectiveness of nutritional interventions for the treatment of frailty in older adults. We included 11 RCTs of people aged 60 years and older with a diagnosis of frailty or pre-frailty. Bayesian random effects meta-analyses found no statistically significant differences when comparing nutritional supplementation alone with control groups receiving placebo or no treatment regarding frailty score (MD: 0.09 points, 95%CI: -0.45 to 0.62), Short Physical Performance Battery (SMD: 0.29, 95%CI: -0.55 to 1.40), muscle strength (SMD: -0.14, 95%CI: -0.38 to 0.09), gait speed (SMD: 0.06, 95%CI: -0.04 to 0.17), appendicular lean mass (MD: 0.60kg, 95%CI: -0.82 to 2.01), fat mass (MD: 1.67kg, 95%CI: -0.63 to 3.96), declarative memory (SMD: 0.11, 95%CI: -0.31 to 0.53), language & executive function (MD: 0.21 points, 95%CI: -0.99 to 1.42) and other outcomes. Single study of nutritional education interventions also did not show any significant improvements in comparison with general health advice. The overall quality of evidence assessed usin... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The dissertation, of limited scope, reviewed existing research on multilingualism in challenging educational contexts. The aim was to explore and determine the state of research in the area of multilingualism in educational contexts that are considered challenging, over the time period 2010 to 2020. In addition, the dissertation of limited scope also explored the benefits of multilingualism and how the current state of research influences future research through the identification of trends and gaps. The research was collected and identified through a rigorous process whereby specific search strategies were used with particular keywords. Distinct databases such as JSTOR PsycARTICLES, Academic Search Complete, and Linguistic Collection as well as other journal and Internet resources were used to obtain 34 studies relevant to the research questions of the dissertation of limited scope. The results showed that 1) research related for multilingualism in challenging contexts of education is centred around the trends of pedagogical practices of learning, first language as the language of instruction, academic achievement and the resourcefulness of multilingualism, 2) multilingualism in 3) there is great opportunity for future research in this linguistic and academic area due to the lack of research and visible gaps in the literature over the last ten years. As there has been no previous overview, the findings provide a theoretical contribution to research on multilingualism in challenging contexts. They both encourage future research in a South African context and also indicate that research in other similar global contexts should be conducted. The findings provide an overview of relevant information for any parties that may be interested in this area of multilingualism and serve as a reference point for further research. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The Position of Review Appeal in the System of Remedies Abstract What is the purpose of the review appeal in civil matters? Should the review appeal be of an ordinary or extraordinary nature? Should the admissibility requirements of the review appeal be determined entirely objectively, or should it depend, at least in part, on the subjective discretion of the appellate court? This is only a part of numerous questions that have accompanied the institute of review appeal for several historical stages and, due to the planned overall re- codification of the civil procedure law, these issues remain relevant even today. The author of this work aims to provide an answer to some of these questions based on a critical view of the historical development of the review appeal, current legislation concerning this matter and the review appeal from de lege ferenda perspective. In the first chapter, the author generally discusses remedies in civil proceedings, their nature, effects, and definition of the review appeal. The greatest attention is paid to the purposes of the review appeal, which include finding individual justice and unifying the decision-making practice of the civil courts. In the second chapter, the author focuses in detail on the historical development of the institute of review appeal. Its important...