Selection of prosthetic aortic valves in the United States among elderly Medicare patients from 2006 to 2015.

Background: Both biological and mechanical prosthetic valves are treatment choices for aortic valve replacement. We aimed to characterize the selection of prosthetic aortic valves among elderly Medicare patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of patients aged 65 years or older who underwent aortic valve replacement alone or in combination with other procedures in the 2006-2015 Medicare databases.

Development of a Nationally Representative Coordinated Registry Network for Prostate Ablation Technologies.

Purpose: The accumulation of data through a prospective, multicenter coordinated registry network is a practical way to gather real world evidence on the performance of novel prostate ablation technologies. Urological oncologists, targeted biopsy experts, industry representatives and representatives of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) convened to discuss the role, feasibility and important data elements of a coordinated registry network to assess new and existing prostate ablation technologies.

Materials And Methods: A multiround Delphi consensus approach was performed which included the opinion of 15 expert urologists, representatives of the FDA and leadership from high intensity focused ultrasound device manufacturers.

Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infections Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of graft choice (allograft, bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft, or hamstring autograft) on deep tissue infections following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING AND POPULATION Patients from 6 US health plans who underwent ACL reconstruction from January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2008.

Early mortality after aortic valve replacement with mechanical prosthetic vs bioprosthetic valves among Medicare beneficiaries: a population-based cohort study.

Importance: Early mortality for patients who undergo aortic valve replacement (AVR) may differ between mechanical and biological prosthetic (hereinafter referred to as bioprosthetic) valves. Clinical trials may have difficulty addressing this issue owing to limited sample sizes and low mortality rates.

Objective: To compare early mortality after AVR between the recipients of mechanical and bioprosthetic aortic valves.

The utility of claims data for infection surveillance following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Objective: To explore the feasibility of identifying anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) allograft implantations and infections using claims.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: We identified ACL reconstructions using procedure codes at 6 health plans from 2000 to 2008.

Incidence of endophthalmitis after corneal transplant or cataract surgery in a medicare population.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of infectious endophthalmitis after corneal transplant or cataract surgery, to evaluate the trend of endophthalmitis during the study period, and to assess demographic risk factors for endophthalmitis after surgeries.

Design: A retrospective population-based cohort study.

Participants And Controls: Study cohorts were derived from the Medicare claims databases, 2006 to 2011.

Despite 2007 law requiring FDA hotline to be included in print drug ads, reporting of adverse events by consumers still low.

In 2007 the federal government began requiring drug makers to include in their print direct-to-consumer advertisements information for consumers on how to contact the Food and Drug Administration directly, either by phone or through the agency's website, to report any adverse events that they experienced after taking a prescription drug. Adverse events can range from minor skin problems like itching to serious injuries or illness that result in hospitalization, permanent disability, or even death. Even so, current rates of adverse event reporting are low.

Effect of Medicare Part D on potentially inappropriate medication use by older adults.

Objectives: To empirically estimate changes of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use attributable to the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit.

Design: Difference-in-difference strategy in the quasi-experimental design with a control group.

Setting: U.

Recent improvements in bariatric surgery outcomes.

Objective: Bariatric surgery is one of the fastest growing hospital procedures, but with a 40% complication rate in 2001. Between 2001 and 2005 bariatric surgeries grew by 113%. Our objective is to examine how 6-month complications improved between 2001 and 2006, using a nationwide, population-based sample.

Burden of COPD, asthma, and concomitant COPD and asthma among adults: racial disparities in a medicaid population.

Background: Asthma and COPD are characterized by substantial racial disparities in morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that because African-American patients with these conditions experience greater mortality and morbidity than their white counterparts, they would use more health-care resources when no difference in health insurance exists.

Methods: A retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted using Maryland Medicaid Managed Care patient encounter data.

Predictors of compliance with antihypertensive therapy in a high-risk medicaid population.

Objective: To identify predictors of compliance with antihypertensive combination therapy in a Medicaid population.

Methods: Retrospective medical and pharmacy claims data for Maryland Medicaid patients receiving angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEls)/hydrochlorothiazides (HCTZs) or ACEl/calcium channel blockers as fixed-dose combinations or separate agents during the period of January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2004, were analyzed.

Inclusion: Continuously enrolled patients 18 years and older and at least one year of follow-up.

Predictors of fixed-dose combination antihypertensive drug therapy in a Medicaid population.

Physicians may prescribe hypertension combination therapy, either with fixed-dose combination therapy or with dual-agent component-based therapy. This study evaluated the predictors of hypertensive patients receiving either type of combination therapy. Our study was based on claims data from the Maryland Medicaid Managed Care Organizations.

Burden of concomitant asthma and COPD in a Medicaid population.

Background: Asthma and COPD can significantly affect patients and pose a substantial economic burden for both patients and managed-care plans. This study compares utilization outcomes in patients with asthma, COPD, or co-occurring asthma and COPD in a Medicaid population, and assesses the incremental burden of COPD in patients with asthma.

Methods: We queried medical claims of Medicaid patients aged 40 to 64 years with asthma and/or COPD filed between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003, from encounter data.

Drug therapy persistence and stroke recurrence.

Objective: To assess the effect of persistence of use of warfarin sodium, aspirin, or clopidogrel bisulfate on stroke recurrence in a Medicaid high-risk, largely female, African American population.

Study Design: Prospective non-concurrent cohort, longitudinal data analysis of medical and pharmacy claims of stroke patients from Medicaid managed care organizations between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003.

Methods: Cox proportional hazards models were used to predict the likelihood of avoiding a recurrence as a function of persistence of use of the initial medication (warfarin, aspirin, or clopidogrel) after stroke, adjusting for age, race, sex, hypertension and other comorbidities, and the pharmacotherapies prescribed.

Carboxyl tail cysteine mutants of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor type 1 exhibit constitutive signaling: role of palmitoylation.

We studied the role of carboxyl tail cysteine residues and their palmitoylation in constitutive signaling by the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptor type 1 (TRH-R1) in transfected mammalian cells and in Xenopus laevis oocytes. To study palmitoylation, we inserted a factor Xa cleavage site within the third extracellular loop of TRH-R1, added a carboxyl-terminal C9 immunotag and expressed the mutant receptor in Chinese hamster ovary cells. We identified TRH-R1-specific palmitoylation in the transmembrane helix-7/carboxyl-tail receptor fragment mainly at Cys-335 and Cys-337.