Predicting hospitalization with LLMs from health insurance data.

Predictions of hospitalizations can help in the development of applications for health insurance, hospitals, and medicine. The data collected by health insurance has potential that is not always explored, and extracting features from it for use in machine learning applications requires demanding processes and specialized knowledge. With the emergence of large language models (LLM) there are possibilities to use this data for a wide range of applications requiring little specialized knowledge.

Drugs from drugs: New chemical insights into a mature concept.

Developing new drugs from marketed ones is a well-established and successful approach in drug discovery. We offer a unified view of this field, focusing on the new chemical aspects of the involved approaches: (a) chemical transformation of the original drugs (late-stage modifications, molecular editing), (b) prodrug strategies, and (c) repurposing as a tool to develop new hits/leads. Special focus is placed on the molecular structure of the drugs and their synthetic feasibility.

Real-world and clinical trial outcomes in large B-cell lymphoma with axicabtagene ciloleucel across race and ethnicity.

Axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) is an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy approved for relapsed/refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). Despite extensive data supporting its use, outcomes stratified by race and ethnicity groups are limited. Here, we report clinical outcomes with axi-cel in patients with R/R LBCL by race and ethnicity in both real-world and clinical trial settings.

A Novel Detection Refinement Technique for Accurate Identification of Burrows in Underwater Imagery.

With the evolution of the convolutional neural network (CNN), object detection in the underwater environment has gained a lot of attention. However, due to the complex nature of the underwater environment, generic CNN-based object detectors still face challenges in underwater object detection. These challenges include image blurring, texture distortion, color shift, and scale variation, which result in low precision and recall rates.

Electronic phenotyping of health outcomes of interest using a linked claims-electronic health record database: Findings from a machine learning pilot project.

Objective: Claims-based algorithms are used in the Food and Drug Administration Sentinel Active Risk Identification and Analysis System to identify occurrences of health outcomes of interest (HOIs) for medical product safety assessment. This project aimed to apply machine learning classification techniques to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a claims-based algorithm to predict an HOI in structured electronic health record (EHR) data.

Materials And Methods: We used the 2015-2019 IBM MarketScan Explorys Claims-EMR Data Set, linking administrative claims and EHR data at the patient level.

A General Propensity Score for Signal Identification Using Tree-Based Scan Statistics.

The tree-based scan statistic (TreeScan; Martin Kulldorff, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts) is a data-mining method that adjusts for multiple testing of correlated hypotheses when screening thousands of potential adverse events for signal identification. Simulation has demonstrated the promise of TreeScan with a propensity score (PS)-matched cohort design. However, it is unclear which variables to include in a PS for applied signal identification studies to simultaneously adjust for confounding across potential outcomes.

FDA Initiative for Drug Facts Label for Over-the-Counter Naloxone.

Background: The opioid crisis highlights the need to increase access to naloxone, possibly through regulatory approval for over-the-counter sales. To address industry-perceived barriers to such access, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed a model drug facts label for such sales to assess whether consumers understood the key statements for safe and effective use.

Methods: In this label-comprehension study, we conducted individual structured interviews with 710 adults and adolescents, including 430 adults who use opioids and their family and friends.

Acute Kidney Injury During Treatment with Intravenous Acyclovir for Suspected or Confirmed Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infection.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of and risk factors associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) during acyclovir treatment in neonates and infants.

Study Design: We conducted a multicenter (n = 4), retrospective cohort study of all hospitalized infants age <60 days treated with intravenous acyclovir (≥1 dose) for suspected or confirmed neonatal herpes simplex virus disease from January 2011 to December 2015. Infants with serum creatinine measured both before acyclovir (baseline) and during treatment were included.

Performance evaluation of regression splines for propensity score adjustment in post-market safety analysis with multiple treatments.

Observational studies provide a core resource in assessing post-market drug safety and effectiveness. Propensity scores are a predominant method for confounding adjustment to achieve unbiased estimation of average treatment effects in observational data. However, the use of propensity score methods has been limited to comparing two treatment groups, while medical situations frequently present with multiple treatment options.

Comparative Stroke, Bleeding, and Mortality Risks in Older Medicare Patients Treated with Oral Anticoagulants for Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Nonvitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are alternatives to warfarin in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Randomized trials compared NOACs with warfarin, but none have compared individual NOACs against each other for safety and effectiveness.

Methods: We performed a retrospective new-user cohort study of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation enrolled in US Medicare who initiated warfarin (n = 183,318), or a standard dose of dabigatran (150 mg twice daily; n = 86,198), rivaroxaban (20 mg once daily; n = 106,389), or apixaban (5 mg twice daily; n = 73,039) between October 2010 and September 2015.

Increased incidence of cholecystectomy related to gallbladder disease in France: Analysis of 807,307 cholecystectomy procedures over a period of seven years.

Purpose: Gallstones are one of the most common abdominal reasons for admission to hospital. The aim of this study was to analyze trends and outcomes in patients undergoing cholecystectomy with gallbladder related disease in France from 2008 to 2014.

Patients And Methods: We carried out a population-based, retrospective cohort study using data extracted from the French nationwide hospital discharge database (PMSI).

Data Mining for Adverse Drug Events With a Propensity Score-matched Tree-based Scan Statistic.

The tree-based scan statistic is a statistical data mining tool that has been used for signal detection with a self-controlled design in vaccine safety studies. This disproportionality statistic adjusts for multiple testing in evaluation of thousands of potential adverse events. However, many drug safety questions are not well suited for self-controlled analysis.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Five Competing Strategies for the Management of Multiple Recurrent Community-Onset Clostridium difficile Infection in France.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is characterized by high rates of recurrence, resulting in substantial health care costs. The aim of this study was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of treatments for the management of second recurrence of community-onset CDI in France.

Methods: We developed a decision-analytic simulation model to compare 5 treatments for the management of second recurrence of community-onset CDI: pulsed-tapered vancomycin, fidaxomicin, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) via colonoscopy, FMT via duodenal infusion, and FMT via enema.

Adaptation of targeted nanocarriers to changing requirements in antimalarial drug delivery.

The adaptation of existing antimalarial nanocarriers to new Plasmodium stages, drugs, targeting molecules, or encapsulating structures is a strategy that can provide new nanotechnology-based, cost-efficient therapies against malaria. We have explored the modification of different liposome prototypes that had been developed in our group for the targeted delivery of antimalarial drugs to Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (pRBCs). These new models include: (i) immunoliposome-mediated release of new lipid-based antimalarials; (ii) liposomes targeted to pRBCs with covalently linked heparin to reduce anticoagulation risks; (iii) adaptation of heparin to pRBC targeting of chitosan nanoparticles; (iv) use of heparin for the targeting of Plasmodium stages in the mosquito vector; and (v) use of the non-anticoagulant glycosaminoglycan chondroitin 4-sulfate as a heparin surrogate for pRBC targeting.

Comprehensive Study of Patients' Compliance with Sublingual Immunotherapy in House Dust Mite Perennial Allergic Rhinitis.

Introduction: Allergen immunotherapy is a long-term treatment that has been associated with patient adherence issues. The aim of the study was to increase the knowledge on compliance of patients allergic to house dust mites, receiving sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT).

Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed in 53 Spanish allergy units.

Toward a Literature-Driven Definition of Big Data in Healthcare.

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a definition of big data in healthcare.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed literature published until May 9, 2014, was conducted. We noted the number of statistical individuals (n) and the number of variables (p) for all papers describing a dataset.

Quantifying ant activity using vibration measurements.

Ant behaviour is of great interest due to their sociality. Ant behaviour is typically observed visually, however there are many circumstances where visual observation is not possible. It may be possible to assess ant behaviour using vibration signals produced by their physical movement.

Differences between physician and patient in the perception of symptoms and their severity in COPD.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) impairs quality of life and presents symptoms that affect the lives of patients. Our study analysed the degree of concordance between the patients and their pulmonologists in the perception of the severity of symptoms. A cross-sectional, descriptive, multicentre study was conducted in patients with COPD.

Usefulness of the PERFORM questionnaire to measure fatigue in cancer patients with anemia: a prospective, observational study.

Background: The PERFORM Questionnaire is a 12-item scale developed for assessing fatigue in cancer patients in the clinical practice. It has advantages over other tools in that it is short and includes beliefs and attitudes of patients about fatigue. It was psychometrically validated in cancer patients with and without anemia.

ESPRINT-15 questionnaire (Spanish version): reference values according to disease severity using both the original and the modified ARIA classifications.

Objective: ESPRINT-15 is a specific and validated instrument to measure health-related quality of life in adults with allergic rhinitis. The aim of this study was to obtain new reference values based on disease severity using both the original and the modified versions of the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines.

Methods: ESPRINT-15 was administered to a representative sample of adults with allergic rhinitis in Spain.

Validation of the first treatment-specific questionnaire for the assessment of patient satisfaction with allergen-specific immunotherapy in allergic patients: the ESPIA questionnaire.

Background: Satisfaction with treatment is a patient-reported outcome shown to be associated with the patient's health-related decisions and treatment-related behavior, thereby influencing the chances of successful treatment, and is especially relevant in long-term treatment, such as allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT).

Objective: We sought to assess the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction Scale for Patients Receiving Allergen Immunotherapy (ESPIA) questionnaire so as to determine the satisfaction of patients receiving AIT treatment.

Methods: An observational, longitudinal, multicenter study was performed on patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) undergoing AIT treatment.