Additionally, by pooling procurement, SCMS can negotiate reduced aggregate tendering rates.
As a result, Unilever Foods says it has slashed the critical "tender rejection rate" by 50%.
The paper models fixed rate tenders, where a central bank offers to lend central bank funds to financial institutions.
The DAS28 is a statistically derived index consisting of number of swollen joints, number of tender joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and general health [ 18, 19].
In fact, it supplements findings that the weighting of variables in the DAS28 may misrepresent the actual disease activity, especially in the lower disease activity ranges, because it weights erythrocyte sedimentation rate and tender joint counts quite strongly [ 7, 8].
All patients were followed up to obtain clinical data on age, sex, disease duration, number of swollen and tender joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), anti-CCP antibodies, RF-IgM, RF-IgG and RF-IgA.
Disease activity was assessed based on the Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28) using the number of swollen and tender joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the patient's global assessment of activity on a visual analogue scale (VAS) [ 23].
In studies of the Swedish multi-centre early RA BARFOT cohort, women had slightly higher disease activity, measured using the DAS28 score, compared to men already at baseline [ 30, 31], mainly due to higher numbers of tender joints and worse rating of general health [ 31].
