Int J Environ Res Public Health
January 2023
Background: Belimumab use for the management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been limited, in part due to its high acquisition cost relative to the standard of care (SoC) and the uncertainties about its cost-effectiveness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the cost and effectiveness of belimumab versus the SoC alone for the management of SLE using real-world data from the perspective of public healthcare payers in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: Data were retrieved from a national prospective cohort of SLE, Saudi Arabia.
Background: Abdominal ultrasound is a non-invasive, relatively inexpensive, and widely available diagnostic modality in family medicine settings.
Objectives: Our study aimed to identify the most common indications for requesting abdominal ultrasounds by family physicians, determine the frequency of abdominal ultrasound with abnormal findings, identify the most common findings, and determine patients' characteristics associated with abnormal findings.
Methods: This retrospective chart-based study was conducted from January 2020 to June 2020 to analyze patients' abdominal ultrasounds reports requested by family physicians in 2019 at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Profiles Drug Subst Excip Relat Methodol
February 2021
Darunavir: (3R,3aS,6aR)-hexahydrofuro[2,3-b]furan-3-yl [(2S,3R)-4-{[(4-aminophenyl)sulfonyl] (isobutyl)amino}-3-hydroxy-1-phenyl-2-butanyl]carbamate is a synthetic non-peptide protease inhibitor. On June 2006, it was first approved by the Food and Drug administration (FDA) for treatment of resistant type-1 of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In July 2016, the FDA expanded the approval for use of darunavir in pregnant women with HIV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuppression of growth during infection may aid resource allocation towards effective immune function. Past work supporting this hypothesis in salmonid fish revealed an immune-responsive regulation of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system - an endocrine pathway downstream of growth hormone (GH). Skeletal muscle is the main target for growth and energetic storage in fish, yet little is known about how its growth is regulated during an immune response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe insulin-like growth factor (IGF) receptor (IGF-IR) is necessary for IGF signalling and has essential roles in cellular growth. In teleost fish, two distinct IGF-IR duplicates are conserved called IGF-IRa and IGF-IRb. However, while a salmonid-specific whole genome duplication (ssWGD) is known to have expanded several key genes within the IGF axis, its impact on the IGF-IR repertoire remains unresolved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough disease and infection is associated with attenuated growth, the molecular pathways involved are poorly characterized. We postulated that the IGF axis, a central governor of vertebrate growth, is repressed during infection to promote resource reallocation towards immunity. This hypothesis was tested in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) challenged by Aeromonas salmonicida (AS), a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen, or viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSv) at hatch, first feeding, and 3 weeks after first feeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring early stages of development vertebrates rely on an immature immune system to fight pathogens, but in non mammalian species few studies have taken an in-depth analysis of the transition from reliance on innate immune mechanisms to the appearance of adaptive immunity. Using rainbow trout as a model we characterized responses to two natural pathogens of this species, the Gram negative bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida and the virus VHSV, using microarray analysis at four early life history stages; eyed egg, post hatch, first feeding and three weeks post first feeding when adaptive immunity starts to be effective. All stages responded to both infections, but the complexity of the response increased with developmental stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus) is a fish with a wide latitudinal distribution that is capable of going into metabolic depression during the winter months, and thus, represents a unique model to investigate the impacts of cold temperatures on the stress response. In this study, we measured resting (pre-stress) plasma cortisol levels in 10 °C and 0 °C acclimated cunner from Newfoundland, and both catecholamine and cortisol levels after they were given a standardized handling stress (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo examine the effect of ontogeny on metabolic depression in the cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus), and to understand how ontogeny and the ability to metabolically depress influence this species' upper thermal tolerance: 1) the metabolic rate of 9°C-acclimated cunner of three size classes [0.2-0.5 g, young of the year (YOY); 3-6 g, small; and 80-120 g, large (adult)] was measured during a 2°C per day decrease in temperature; and 2) the metabolic response of the same three size classes of cunner to an acute thermal challenge [2°C h(-1) from 10°C until Critical Thermal Maximum, CTMax] was examined, and compared to that of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).
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