New vaccine candidates exploiting the rational combination of regulatory and structural HIV gene products are being developed within the program of the AIDS Vaccine Integrated Project (AVIP) and will be tested in comparative preclinical and clinical trials with the ultimate goal of selecting proper candidates for advanced clinical testing in developing countries.

Resulting from centuries of traditional animal husbandry, extensive grasslands belong to the most important natural tourism resources in Central Europe adding to the amenity values of many landscapes. Facing agricultural market pressures, they are endangered by agricultural intensification as well as by abandonment. Both developments threaten grassland values for tourists and recreationists. Ho...

PURPOSE In the context of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Quality Indicators Project, a set of quality indicators for diabetes care was developed, to be used for benchmarking the performance of health care systems. BACKGROUND Diabetes complications markedly reduce quality and length of life and are also responsible for enormous health care costs. A large body ...

BACKGROUND Concerns about patient safety have arisen with growing documentation of the extent and nature of harm. Yet there are no robust and meaningful data that can be used internationally to assess the extent of the problem and considerable methodological difficulties. PURPOSE This article describes a project undertaken as part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (...

New global standards of governance are emerging. Citizens of developing countries are demanding better performance on the part of their governments, and they are increasingly aware of the costs of poor management and corruption. Attitudes are also changing in industrial countries where bribery is no longer viewed as a legitimate cost of doing business overseas. At the World Bank and other inter...