A global investment case for hepatitis B elimination: a modelling study.

Hepatitis B is estimated to cause 500 000-900 000 deaths globally each year. WHO has targets for elimination by 2030; however, progress has stalled due to multiple barriers, notably a paucity of global funding and insufficient evidence on the economic burden of disease. Using a dynamic mathematical model of hepatitis B transmission, disease progression, and mortality in the six WHO regions, we estimate the costs and benefits of reaching 90% vaccination, 90% diagnosis, and 80% treatment coverage by either 2030 (as targeted), 2040, or 2050.

Evaluating the potential cost-effectiveness of microarray patches to expand access to hepatitis B birth dose vaccination in low-and middle-income countries: A modelling study.

Timely birth dose vaccination is key for achieving elimination of hepatitis B, however, programmatic requirements for delivering current vaccine presentations to births outside of health facilities inhibits coverage within many low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Vaccine technologies in development such as microarray patches (MAPs) could assist in overcoming these barriers, but procurement could incur higher per-dose commodity costs than current ten-dose (US$0.34) and single-dose (US$0.

The cost-effectiveness of universal hepatitis B screening for reaching WHO diagnosis targets in Australia by 2030.

Objectives: To assess the impact on diagnosis targets, cost, and cost-effectiveness of universal hepatitis B screening in Australia.

Design: Markov model simulation of disease and care cascade progression for people with chronic hepatitis B in Australia.

Setting: Three scenarios were compared: 1.

Controlled temperature chain for vaccination in low- and middle-income countries: a realist evidence synthesis.

Objective: To evaluate the evidence describing how the controlled temperature chain approach for vaccination could lead to improved equitable immunization coverage in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: We created a theory of change construct from the containing four domains: (i) uptake and demand for the approach; (ii) compliance and safe use of the approach; (iii) programmatic efficiency gains from the approach; and (iv) improved equitable immunization coverage. To verify and improve the theory of change, we applied a realist review method to analyse published descriptions of controlled temperature chain or closely related experiences.

Factors predictive of sexual violence: Testing the four pillars of the Confluence Model in a large diverse sample of college men.

This article focuses on the characteristics of sexually violent men who have not been convicted of a crime. The objective of this study was to test the four key interrelated pillars of the Confluence Model. The first key pillar posits the interaction of Hostile Masculinity and Impersonal Sex as core risk predictors.

Use of controlled temperature chain and compact prefilled auto-disable devices to reach 2030 hepatitis B birth dose vaccination targets in LMICs: a modelling and cost-optimisation study.

Background: Hepatitis B causes more than 800 000 deaths globally each year. Perinatal infections are a major driver of this burden but can be prevented by vaccination within 24 h of birth. Currently, only 44% of newborn babies in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) receive a timely birth dose.

Enhancing the hepatitis B care cascade in Australia: A cost-effectiveness model.

If Australia is to successfully eliminate hepatitis B as a public health threat, it will need to enhance the chronic hepatitis B (CHB) care cascade. This study used a Markov model to assess the impact, cost and cost-effectiveness of scaling up CHB diagnosis, linkage to care and treatment to reach national and international elimination targets for hepatitis B in Australia. Compared to continued current trends, the model calculated the difference in care cascade projection, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), costs and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), of scaling up CHB diagnosis, linkage to care and treatment to reach: (a) Australia's 2022 national targets and (b) the WHO's 2030 global targets.

Self-collected compared with professional-collected swabbing in the diagnosis of influenza in symptomatic individuals: A meta-analysis and assessment of validity.

Self-collected nasal swabs offer a cheaper alternative to professional-collected swabs for influenza testing. However, the diagnostic accuracy of self-collection has not been quantitatively reviewed. We identified 14 studies that compared diagnostic accuracy of self-collected to professional-collected swabs in influenza symptomatic individuals.

Using default methodologies to derive an acceptable daily exposure (ADE).

This manuscript discusses the different historical and more recent default approaches that have been used to derive an acceptable daily exposure (ADE). While it is preferable to derive a health-based ADE based on a complete nonclinical and clinical data package, this is not always possible. For instance, for drug candidates in early development there may be no or limited nonclinical or clinical trial data.

A harmonization effort for acceptable daily exposure derivation - Considerations for application of adjustment factors.

Acceptable daily exposures (ADEs) are established to determine the quantity of one drug substance that can contaminate another drug product without causing harm to the patient. An important part in setting an ADE for a drug substance, after identification of the unwanted critical effect(s) of the compound (see Bercu et al., 2016, this issue), is the determination of an appropriate overall margin of safety that is need to be maintained below the dose causing a certain critical effect (i.

An evaluation of a cultured human corneal epithelial tissue model for the determination of the ocular irritation potential of pharmaceutical process materials.

Irritation and other forms of local toxicity following contact with eyes is a potentially serious problem arising from occupational exposure to chemicals. Traditionally, evaluation of the irritant potential of novel chemicals has relied on the use of in vivo studies with rabbits. Concerns about the predictive potential of in vivo methods for human hazard and demand for economical and rapid screening of chemicals has stimulated a great deal of work to investigate in vitro alternatives for evaluating ocular irritation potential.

A proposed eye irritation testing strategy to reduce and replace in vivo studies using Bottom-Up and Top-Down approaches.

In spite of over 20 years of effort, no single in vitro assay has been developed and validated as a full regulatory replacement for the Draize Eye Irritation test. However, companies have been using in vitro methods to screen new formulations and in some cases as their primary assessment of eye irritation potential for many years. The present report shows the outcome of an Expert Meeting convened by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods in February 2005 to identify test strategies for eye irritation.

Does one size fit all? What we can and can't learn from a meta-analysis of housing models for persons with mental illness.

Objective: Numerous studies have evaluated the impacts of community housing models on outcomes of persons with severe mental illness. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 44 unique housing alternatives described in 30 studies, which they categorized as residential care and treatment, residential continuum, permanent supported housing, and nonmodel housing. Outcomes examined included housing stability, symptoms, hospitalization, and satisfaction.

Clinical benefits and risks associated with epoetin and darbepoetin in patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: Erythropoiesis-stimulating proteins (ESPs) are indicated for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA). Evidence-based guidelines and systematic reviews of the management of CIA do not yet include all currently approved ESPs or all of the clinically relevant benefits and risks of ESPs.

Objectives: The aims of this work were to provide up-to-date assessments of the clinical efficacy and effectiveness (ie, transfusions and quality-of-life [QoL] benefits) and safety (ie, risk of venous thromboembolism [VTE] and all-cause or treatment-associated death) of epoetin-alfa, epoetin-beta, and darbepoetin-alfa for the treatment of CIA in cancer patients with hemoglobin<11 g/dL.

Human chromosome 11 DNA sequence and analysis including novel gene identification.

Chromosome 11, although average in size, is one of the most gene- and disease-rich chromosomes in the human genome. Initial gene annotation indicates an average gene density of 11.6 genes per megabase, including 1,524 protein-coding genes, some of which were identified using novel methods, and 765 pseudogenes.

Tuberculosis treatment outcomes: directly observed therapy compared with self-administered therapy.

Effective treatment of tuberculosis requires adherence to a minimum of 6 months treatment with multiple drugs. To improve adherence and cure rates, directly observed therapy is recommended for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. We compared treatment outcomes among all culture-positive patients treated for active pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 372) in San Francisco County, California from 1998 through 2000.