Aim
To conduct an adjusted indirect treatment comparison (aITC) of the efficacy of tirzepatide 5/10/15 mg versus semaglutide 2 mg in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Materials and Methods
The primary ...analysis was a Bucher aITC of the change from baseline at week 40 in HbA1c (%) and body weight (kg). Aggregate data from the SURPASS‐2 study that met the HbA1c inclusion criterion of the SUSTAIN FORTE study and from SUSTAIN FORTE metformin‐only treated patients were used for primary analysis.
Results
The SURPASS‐2 refined population comprised 238/245/240 and 240 participants for tirzepatide 5/10/15 mg and semaglutide 1 mg, respectively. The SUSTAIN FORTE metformin‐only population comprised 222 and 227 participants for semaglutide 1 and 2 mg, respectively. In this aITC, tirzepatide 10 and 15 mg significantly reduced HbA1c versus semaglutide 2 mg with an estimated treatment difference (ETD) of −0.36% (95% confidence interval CI −0.63, −0.09) and −0.4% (95% CI −0.67, −0.13), respectively. Tirzepatide 10 and 15 mg significantly reduced body weight versus semaglutide 2 mg with an ETD of −3.15 kg (95% CI −4.84, −1.46) and −5.15 kg (95% CI −6.85, −3.45), respectively. There were no significant differences between tirzepatide 5 mg and semaglutide 2 mg on change from baseline in HbA1c and body weight.
Conclusions
In this aITC, HbA1c and weight reductions were significantly greater for tirzepatide 10 and 15 mg versus semaglutide 2 mg and were similar for tirzepatide 5 mg versus semaglutide 2 mg. These findings provide comparative effectiveness insights in the absence of a head‐to‐head clinical trial.
This open access book provides a comprehensive overview of education in China, covering 12 critical topics including basic education, higher education, professional education, STEM (Science, ...Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, mental health education, and international education and excellence initiatives. Drawing from current research, theoretical literature, and real-life stories, this book examines the developmental trajectories, achievements, and best practices in the above-mentioned topics, to reflect realities of education transformation in China. It also incorporates a global comparison of key indicators to explore strengths of and gaps in Chinese education with its global counterparts. Setting its context in an ever-changing world, this book intends to explore conceptual support to develop “a modern education system with Chinese features and world standards”, to provide implications for further developing quality education in all sectors, and topromote understanding and inspire critical discussion on education development in China and around the world. This book serves as a valuable resource for students, scholars, and policy makers in the field of education studies, as well as for the general public who are interested in Chinese education.
One recent trend on Instagram consists of posting ‘Instagram vs reality’ images containing side-by-side photographs of the same woman, one an idealized depiction and the other a more natural ...depiction. This study aimed to experimentally investigate the effect of such images on body image. Participants were 305 women aged 18–30 years who were randomly assigned to view one of three sets of Instagram images: ‘Instagram vs reality’ images, the ‘ideal’ side alone or the ‘real’ side alone. As predicted, viewing the ‘Instagram vs reality’ and real images resulted in decreased body dissatisfaction relative to the ideal images. Furthermore, the detrimental effects of appearance comparison were much less marked for the ‘Instagram vs reality’ and real images than for the ideal images. It was concluded that ‘Instagram vs reality’ and real posts have the potential to bolster women’s body satisfaction, but more research is needed to assess their longer-term impact.
The Wealth Inequality of Nations Pfeffer, Fabian T.; Waitkus, Nora
American sociological review,
08/2021, Volume:
86, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Comparative research on income inequality has produced several frameworks to study the institutional determinants of income stratification. In contrast, no such framework and much less empirical ...evidence exist to explain cross-national differences in wealth inequality. This situation is particularly lamentable as cross-national patterns of inequality in wealth diverge sharply from those in income. We seek to pave the way for new explanations of cross-national differences in wealth inequality by tracing them to the influence of different wealth components. Drawing on the literatures on financialization and housing, we argue that housing equity should be the central building block of the comparative analysis of wealth inequality. Using harmonized data on 15 countries included in the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS), we demonstrate a lack of association between national levels of income and wealth inequality and concentration. Using decomposition approaches, we then estimate the degree to which national levels of wealth inequality and concentration relate to cross-national differences in wealth portfolios and the distribution of specific asset components. Considering the role of housing equity, financial assets, non-housing real assets, and non-housing debt, we show that cross-national variation in wealth inequality and concentration is centrally determined by the distribution of housing equity.
This article revisits the idea of relational comparison that grew out of my earlier research in post-apartheid South Africa in order to put it to work in new ways. First I clarify distinctively ...different modalities of ‘comparison’ and their political stakes, and go on to specify how the ‘relational’ in relational comparison refers to an open, non-teleological conception of dialectics at the core of Marx’s method. I then engage with sharply polarized urban studies and subaltern studies debates cast in terms of Marxism vs. postcolonialism/poststructuralism and suggest how distinctions among comparative modalities help to reconfigure the terms of the debates. The article lays the groundwork for a larger project that focuses on understanding resurgent nationalisms, populisms, and racisms in different regions of the world in relation to one another in the era of neoliberal forms of capitalism. More broadly I suggest how relational comparison, extended to include conjunctural analysis, can be used as a method for practicing Marxist postcolonial geographies.
Although Canadian dairy herds have been infected with bovine leukemia virus (BLV) for years, recent research has put new emphasis on the potential negative effects of this infection. Consequently, ...BLV control is becoming more favorable; however, BLV control cannot be successful without identifying infected animals. Bovicheck BLV (Biovet, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada) is currently the only assay licensed by the Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics. The first goal of this study was, therefore, to determine the reproducibility of the Bovicheck BLV assay for serum samples derived from Canadian cattle. The second goal was to evaluate and compare 5 different ELISA and determine their test characteristics using serum samples from Canadian herds. The considered ELISA were Bovicheck BLV, ID Screen BLV Competition (IDvet, Grabels, France), Idexx Leukosis Serum X2 Ab Test (Idexx Europe B.V., Hoofddorp, the Netherlands), Svanovir BLV gp51-Ab (Svanova, Uppsala, Sweden), and the Serelisa BLV Ab Mono Indirect (Synbiotics, Lyon, France). Eighty serum samples from Canadian cattle provided by Prairie Diagnostic Services (PDS; Saskatoon, SK, Canada) and an additional 80 serum samples from Canadian dairy and beef herds were used for the study. The Bovicheck BLV assay yielded the same results for all PDS-derived samples, implying a high level of reproducibility and robustness of this assay. Additionally, the comparison of the assays' results showed high agreement between assays, with Cohen's kappa values between κ = 0.91 and κ = 1. Furthermore, using original test results of the field samples as true status, relative diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Relative diagnostic sensitivity of all tests was 100%. False-positive results were probable; therefore, the following relative diagnostic specificities were determined: 100% for Bovicheck BLV, Idexx Leukosis Serum X2, and Svanovir BLV; 95% for ID Screen BLV; and 97% for Serelisa BLV. When considering other test characteristics, ID Screen BLV is exceptional due to considerable practical advantages.
Despite the frequency with which individuals compare themselves to a benchmark, little research has examined the implications of such comparisons on willingness to help others. Such comparisons can ...vary in direction by suggesting that one is doing better than a benchmark (a downward comparison) or worse than a benchmark (an upward comparison). We argue and find that by being relatively better off, people making downward comparisons are more likely to view giving as a means of expressing altruistic values (e.g., to give back and be a better person) compared to those making upward comparisons. Consequently, when the context highlights the instrumentality of giving for more altruistic reasons (to benefit others), they are more willing to give than are those making upward comparisons. Furthermore, this difference is mitigated when the context highlights the instrumentality of giving to benefit the self, and is reversed when the instrumentality of giving for benefitting others is challenged. We obtain support for this account across four studies, through both moderation and mediation, and across both monetary and nonmonetary comparison domains.
Students compare their achievement in a subject with their classmates’ achievements (social comparison), their own prior achievements (temporal comparison), and their achievements in other subjects ...(dimensional comparison), which can each be better (upward comparison), equal (lateral comparison), or worse (downward comparison). Prior research has investigated the impact of different comparison motivations on the prevalence of social and temporal comparisons, but no study has examined the same for dimensional comparisons yet. The present study closes this gap: A total of 605 German high school students were presented with four situations, in which a fictitious student receives the same objective feedback for an exam in a certain subject, but is motivated either to evaluate, to enhance, to improve, or to differentiate himself. For each comparison motivation, the participants judged how likely the fictitious student was to draw dimensional, social, and temporal upward, lateral, and downward comparisons. As a central result, dimensional comparisons in all directions had the highest prevalences under the self-differentiation motivation. In contrast, the prevalences of dimensional comparisons were relatively low under the other three motivations. This finding complements the recently developed dimensional comparison theory. For the first time, we could empirically show that dimensional comparisons primarily serve self-differentiation motivations.
People are constantly preoccupied with how they are doing compared to different standards. This preoccupation influences judgments of well-being, including depression. However, research on well-being ...comparisons is scarce, also due to a lack of a measure of multi-standard comparisons.
Our research goals were twofold. First, we validated the Comparison Standards Scale for well-being (CSS-W). Second, by drawing on central propositions of the general comparative-processing model, we examined the association of habitual well-being comparisons, their perceived discrepancies with the standard, and engendered affect with depressive symptoms and psychological well-being in dysphoric participants (N = 500). The CSS-W assesses habitual social, temporal, counterfactual, and criteria-based upward and downward comparisons regarding their a) frequency, b) perceived discrepancy, and c) engendered affect.
The findings confirmed the theoretically expected two-factor solution representing aversive (mostly upward) and appetitive (mostly downward) comparisons. Comparison frequency, discrepancy, and engendered affect were associated with depression and well-being. Yet, aversive comparisons displayed higher associations with the outcomes than appetitive comparisons. In particular, frequency of appetitive comparisons was not significantly correlated to depression. In line with our central theory-driven hypothesis, the relationship between frequency of aversive comparisons with depression was partially mediated by serial effects of comparison discrepancy and affect, whereas the relationship with well-being was fully mediated by comparison discrepancy and affect.
The cross-sectional design of the study does not allow for conclusions of causal relations between the measured variables.
The presented framework proves useful in examining significant comparison processes in well-being and depression.
•People regularly compare their well-being to social and other types of standards.•The CSS-W represents a useful measure of aversive and appetitive well-being comparisons.•Aversive well-being comparisons show large correlations with depression.•Comparison discrepancy and engendered affect predict depression beyond comparison frequency.
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