Awareness and Acceptance of Nicotine-free Smoking Intervention Methods (Acetium Lozenge) Increased Among Health Care Professionals by Targeted E-training as Confirmed by Post-training Surveys.

Background/aim: To increase the awareness and acceptance of the new nicotine-free smoking intervention method (Acetium lozenge; Biohit Oyj, Finland), targeted E-Training with accompanying surveys were conducted in 2018, 2020 and 2023.

Patients And Methods: The target groups were derived from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant registers of Finnish physicians, pharmacy staff and nurses owned by Success Clinic Oy. The post-training surveys recorded 1) awareness of the responders on Acetium lozenge, 2) their attitude to nicotine-free smoking intervention methods in general as well as 3) their readiness for recommending this new tool to their patients.

Impact of a physician-targeted letter on opioid prescribing.

We study the effect of a physician-targeted nudge letter on opioid prescribing. In May 2017, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland sent a personal information letter to all physicians who had issued a prescription containing at least 100 tablets of paracetamol-codeine combination to a new patient. The aim of the letter was to draw the physicians' attention to their prescribing practices and to decrease the size of the first codeine prescription.

Growth of diabetes drug expenditure decomposed-A nationwide analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify different factors underlying the growth of diabetes drug expenditure in Finland.

Methods: Data representing purchases of antidiabetic agents between 2003 and 2015 were extracted from a nationwide prescription register. By using Fisher's Ideal Indexes, the per capita expenditure growth for both insulins and non-insulin antidiabetic agents was decomposed into six different determinants: purchase volume, purchase size, switches between therapeutic classes, switches within therapeutic classes, unit costs and switches to generic alternatives.

Cell-mediated immunity in untreated and PUVA treated atopic dermatitis.

In 22 adult patients with atopic dermatitis, lymphocyte subpopulation counts, mitogenic responses to several PHA and Con A concentrations, nonspecific mitogen induced, and indomethacin sensitive suppressor cell functions and leukocyte migration inhibitory factor production were investigated. Patients with severe atopic dermatitis had normal PHA and Con A responses, although somewhat lower than matched controls, while mild AD patients equalled controls in this respect. No significant differences between AD patients and controls were detected with respect to lymphocyte subpopulations, suppressor cell function or leukocyte migration inhibitory factor production.

Cell-mediated immunity in Darier's disease: effect of systemic retinoid therapy.

In five patients with Darier's disease, lymphocyte subpopulations, lymphocyte responsiveness to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), pokeweed mitogen (PWM) and purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD), leukocyte migration inhibitory factor (LMIF) production and suppressor cell activities were studied before and during oral etretinate treatment. Pre-therapy investigations of cell-mediated immunity showed no severe immunological dysfunction, although high responses to supra-optimal Con A concentrations suggested abnormalities in immunoregulatory lymphocyte subpopulations. In addition, two patients showed enhanced LMIF production upon stimulation with Con A, PWM and PPD.