The status of PhD education in economic, social, and administrative sciences between 2005 and 2008.

Objectives: To describe the funding, education, enrollment, and graduation patterns from economic, social, and administrative sciences PhD programs in colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States.

Methods: Economic, social, and administrative sciences PhD programs were identified from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Web site. A 41-item online survey instrument was sent to the director of graduate studies of each identified program.

Consensus recommendations for the management of constipation in patients with advanced, progressive illness.

Constipation is a highly prevalent and distressing symptom in patients with advanced, progressive illnesses. Although opioids are one of the most common causes of constipation in patients with advanced, progressive illness, it is important to note that there are many other potential etiologies and combinations of causes that should be taken into consideration when making treatment decisions. Management approaches involve a combination of good assessment techniques, preventive regimens, appropriate pharmacological treatment of established constipation, and frequent monitoring.

Copayment reductions generate greater medication adherence in targeted patients.

A large value-based insurance design program offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina eliminated generic medication copayments and reduced copayments for brand-name medications. Our study showed that the program improved adherence to medications for diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and congestive heart failure. We found that adherence improved for enrollees, ranging from a gain of 3.

Macrolide antibiotics inhibit mucus secretion and calcium entry in Swine airway submucosal mucous gland cells.

Macrolide antibiotics such as erythromycin (EM) and azithromycin (AZM) are beneficial in the treatment of mucus hypersecretion in inflammatory pulmonary diseases. Several indirect and direct mechanisms of action have been proposed. This study investigates the direct effect of macrolides on secretory function of isolated submucosal mucous gland cells (SMGCs).

Relationships between the use of second-generation antipsychotics and changes in total cholesterol levels in children and adolescents perinatally infected with HIV.

PURPOSE: Perinatally HIV-infected children, who are increasingly aging into adolescence and early adulthood, have significant rates of psychiatric co-morbidities, some of which are treated with second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs). SGAs have been associated with elevated total cholesterol (TC) in youth, but no studies have examined this association in perinatally HIV-infected youth. This study examined changes in TC levels of youth with perinatally acquired HIV infection and co-morbid psychiatric conditions treated with SGAs.

Quality of life for children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses: description and evaluation of a regional, collaborative model for pediatric palliative care.

The care of children in the U.S. with life-limiting illnesses is inadequate.

AA/12-Lipoxygenase Signaling Contributes to Inhibitory Learning in Hermissenda Type B Photoreceptors.

Conditioned inhibition (CI) is a major category of associative learning that occurs when an organism learns that one stimulus predicts the absence of another. In addition to being important in its own right, CI is interesting because its occurrence implies that the organism has formed an association between stimuli that are non-coincident. In contrast to other categories of associative learning that are dependent upon temporal contiguity (pairings) of stimuli, the neurobiology of CI is virtually unexplored.

Screening for hazardous alcohol use and depressive symptomatology among HIV-infected patients in Nigeria: prevalence, predictors, and association with adherence.

Scores from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) administered to both antiretroviral therapy (ART)-experienced and -naive adults in HIV care in Nigeria were evaluated for association with participant characteristics and ART adherence measured by pharmacy records. Participants included 222 ART-experienced and 177 ART-naive adults, of whom 47 (12%) had AUDIT >/=8, 29 (7%) an AUDIT >/=10, 52 (13%) a CES-D >/=16, and 25 (6%) a CES-D >/=21. An elevated AUDIT score was more frequent among ART-naive and men, while disclosure of HIV status to others was associated with lower scores.

Vasoprotective effects of life span-extending peripubertal GH replacement in Lewis dwarf rats.

In humans, growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and low circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) significantly increase the risk for cerebrovascular disease. Genetic growth hormone (GH)/IGF-1 deficiency in Lewis dwarf rats significantly increases the incidence of late-life strokes, similar to the effects of GHD in elderly humans. Peripubertal treatment of Lewis dwarf rats with GH delays the occurrence of late-life stroke, which results in a significant extension of life span.

A retrospective cohort study of economic outcomes and adherence to monotherapy with metformin, pioglitazone, or a sulfonylurea among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United States from 2003 to 2005.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to compare all-cause total health care costs and diabetes mellitus (DM)-specific health care costs between patients who were adherent or nonadherent to monotherapy with metformin, pioglitazone, or a sulfonylurea and to examine whether cost differences varied among patients using these oral antidiabetic drugs.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using data from the MEDSTAT MarketScan Research Databases. Patients aged 18 to 90 years who were continuously insured between 2003 and 2005 and had > or =2 outpatient claims or > or =1 inpatient claim with a diagnosis of DM (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 250.

Guideline-concordant antidepressant use among patients with major depressive disorder.

Objectives: To examine whether prescriber specialty and guideline-concordant follow-up visits were associated with antidepressant treatment completion among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: This study analyzed medical and prescription claims from a large national health plan. Patients were grouped based on initial prescriber specialty.

Patient retention and adherence to antiretrovirals in a large antiretroviral therapy program in Nigeria: a longitudinal analysis for risk factors.

Background: Substantial resources and patient commitment are required to successfully scale-up antiretroviral therapy (ART) and provide appropriate HIV management in resource-limited settings. We used pharmacy refill records to evaluate risk factors for loss to follow-up (LTFU) and non-adherence to ART in a large treatment cohort in Nigeria.

Methods And Findings: We reviewed clinic records of adult patients initiating ART between March 2005 and July 2006 at five health facilities.

Medicaid prescription drug utilization and expenditures following Part D.

Although much attention has been paid to examining the impact of Medicare Part D on Medicare, few studies have examined its influence on Medicaid. This study uses an interrupted time series design to examine the impact of Part D on prescription drug expenditures and utilization among different therapeutic classes of medication across 44 Medicaid programs. In overall reductions in Medicaid prescription expenditures and utilization, our study finds evidence of greater reductions among medications used to treat chronic conditions.

Assessing medication adherence of perinatally HIV-infected children using caregiver interviews.

Medication adherence is critical for children's HIV treatment success, but obtaining accurate assessments is challenging when complex measurement technologies are not feasible. Our goal was to evaluate a multidimensional adherence interview designed to improve on existing adherence measures. Data from caregivers (N = 126) of perinatally infected children were analyzed to determine the ability of the revised interview guide to detect potential treatment nonadherence.

Aging alters the expression of neurotransmission-regulating proteins in the hippocampal synaptoproteome.

Decreased cognitive performance reduces independence and quality of life for aging individuals. Healthy brain aging does not involve significant neuronal loss, but little is known about the effects of aging at synaptic terminals. Age-related cognitive decline likely reflects the manifestation of dysregulated synaptic function and ineffective neurotransmission.

Medicaid prescription cost containment and schizophrenia: a retrospective examination.

Objectives: In 2002, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid enacted several policies to curb prescription spending including increasing prescription copayments from $1 to $3 per brand, a cap of 7 prescriptions per month, a 34-day supply limitation, and a 5% reduction in dispensing fees. The objectives of this study were to examine the influence of these policies on (1) compliance to antipsychotic medications and (2) mental health care utilization and payments among patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: This study used a 12-month pretest and 12-month posttest longitudinal design to compare the effect of these policies among patients with schizophrenia in Minnesota and Indiana, who had less restrictive cost-containment using administrative claims data.

Providers' knowledge, practices, and barriers related to genital herpes testing for patients with HIV.

This cross-sectional study explored the knowledge, practice, and reported barriers related to genital herpes testing among 102 health care providers who treat people living with HIV in the United States. Twelve percent reported always testing HIV-infected patients for genital herpes, 65% sometimes or usually tested, and 23% rarely or never tested for genital herpes. Seventy-five percent said testing was not standard of care.

Extracellular acidosis activates ASIC-like channels in freshly isolated cerebral artery smooth muscle cells.

Recent studies suggest that certain acid-sensing ion channels (ASIC) are expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and are required for VSMC functions. However, electrophysiological evidence of ASIC channels in VSMCs is lacking. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that isolated cerebral artery VSMCs express ASIC-like channels.

The road to sustainability must bridge three great divides.

The world's large and rapidly growing human population is exhausting Earth's natural capital at ever-faster rates, and yet appears mostly oblivious to the fact that these resources are limited. This is dangerous for our well-being and perhaps for our survival, as documented by numerous studies over many years. Why are we not moving instead toward sustainable levels of use? We argue here that this disconnection between our knowledge and our actions is largely caused by three "great divides": an ideological divide between economists and ecologists; an economic development divide between the rich and the poor; and an information divide, which obstructs communications between scientists, public opinion, and policy makers.

Slow fluctuations in attentional control of sensory cortex.

Top-down control of visual sensory cortex has long been tied to the orienting of visual spatial attention on a rapid, moment-to-moment basis. Here, we examined whether sensory responses in visual cortex are also modulated by natural and comparatively slower fluctuations in whether or not one is paying attention to the task at hand. Participants performed a simple visual discrimination task at fixation as the ERPs to task-irrelevant probes in the upper visual periphery were recorded.

Economic grand rounds: did Medicare Part D improve access to medications?

This study examined medication use among Medicare beneficiaries and dually eligible beneficiaries before and after the implementation of Medicare Part D on January 1, 2006. Nationally representative 2004-2006 data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey were used. Two large classes of psychotropic medications (antidepressant and antipsychotic medications) and two large classes of nonpsychotropic medications (lipid-lowering and antihypertensive agents) were examined to determine whether changes in prescription patterns occurred as a result of the implementation of Part D.

Part D plan enrollment by uninsured medicare beneficiaries.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to examine the patient factors and medication acquisition strategies that impacted PDP enrollment in early 2006 by Medicare beneficiaries without prior drug coverage.

Research Design And Subjects: A retrospective cohort study identified 2282 Medicare beneficiaries without prior drug coverage from the 2005 Access to Care Module of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.

Measures: Bivariate statistics (eg, chi and t-tests) were used to compare beneficiaries without drug coverage in 2005 who enrolled or did not enroll in a PDP in early 2006.

Ovarian cancer: markers of response.

Objectives: Despite improved knowledge regarding the etiology of ovarian cancer, as well as application of aggressive surgery and chemotherapy, there has been only a modest change in the mortality statistics over the last 30 years. Given these results and the evolution of targeted therapies, there is an increasing need for prognostic and predictive factors to stratify patients for individualized care. Many laboratories have also investigated the specific individual biomarkers correlating them with clinicopathologic characteristics.

Follow-up visits by provider specialty for patients with major depressive disorder initiating antidepressant treatment.

Objectives: This study examined the association between provider specialty and guideline-concordant care after the initiation of antidepressant treatment.

Methods: Medical and prescription claims were analyzed from adults newly diagnosed as having major depressive disorder who initiated antidepressant treatment. Follow-up visits during the first 90 days after the index prescription were identified, and an indicator for receipt of guideline-concordant care (three or more visits) was created.