Productivity Loss Across Socioeconomic Groups Among Patients With Low Back Pain or Osteoarthritis: Estimates Using the Friction-Cost Approach in Norway.

Objectives: Our aim was to estimate the productivity loss (PL) among patients with low back pain (LBP) or osteoarthritis (OA) across socioeconomic groups, using the friction-cost approach (FCA).

Methods: A total of 175,550 patients aged 18-65 years were included at their first diagnosis in specialty care between 2011 and 2016. PL was calculated for the year following diagnosis using individual wages, while adjusting for the friction length at 78 days per episode, a team production multiplier at 1.

Duloxetine Exposure During Pregnancy and the Risk of Offspring Being Born Small for Gestational Age or Prematurely: A Nationwide Danish and Swedish Safety Study.

Background: Depression or depressive symptoms are common among pregnant women. The use of antidepressants during pregnancy has grown steadily. The risk of offspring being born small for gestational age or prematurely when exposed to duloxetine during pregnancy is not established.

Global estimates on the number of persons across the Alzheimer's disease continuum.

Introduction: Global estimates on numbers of persons in early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including prodromal and preclinical, are lacking, yet are needed to inform policy decisions on preventive measures and planning for future therapies targeting AD pathology.

Methods: We synthesized the literature on prevalence across the AD continuum and derived a model estimating the number of persons, stratified by 5-year age groups, sex, and disease stage (AD dementia, prodromal AD, and preclinical AD).

Results: The global number of persons with AD dementia, prodromal AD, and preclinical AD were estimated at 32, 69, and 315 million, respectively.

Exposure to duloxetine during pregnancy and risk of congenital malformations and stillbirth: A nationwide cohort study in Denmark and Sweden.

Background: The prevalence of depression and the exposure to antidepressants are high among women of reproductive age and during pregnancy. Duloxetine is a selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) approved in the United States and Europe in 2004 for the treatment of depression. Fetal safety of duloxetine is not well established.

Narcolepsy treatment in Sweden: An observational study.

Objectives: To describe the pharmacological treatments (2005-2017) and the healthcare utilization (1997-2016) for patients with narcolepsy in Sweden in order to create a framework for future organizational and economic analyses.

Material & Methods: Patients of all ages with a diagnosis of narcolepsy registered in the National Patient Registry in specialist care in Sweden were included and information on treatments for narcolepsy was retrieved from The Swedish Prescribed Drug Register.

Results: We collected 2508 patients with narcolepsy, 43,3% men and 56,7% women and 47,9% were prescribed modafenil, 33,8% metylphenidate and 26,2% amphetamine.

Duloxetine Exposure During Pregnancy and the Risk of Spontaneous and Elective Abortion: A Danish Nationwide Observational Study.

Background: Depression and antidepressant treatment are widespread among women of childbearing age.

Objective: This study evaluates the association between duloxetine exposure during pregnancy and spontaneous and elective abortions.

Patients And Methods: The nationwide, observational study based on register data from Denmark included women with a recorded pregnancy in the birth register or an abortion in the patient register between 2004 and 2016.

High-Throughput Image Analysis of Fibrillar Materials: A Case Study on Polymer Nanofiber Packing, Alignment, and Defects in Organic Field Effect Transistors.

High-throughput discovery of process-structure-property relationships in materials through an informatics-enabled empirical approach is an increasingly utilized technique in materials research due to the rapidly expanding availability of data. Here, process-structure-property relationships are extracted for the nucleation, growth, and deposition of semiconducting poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofibers used in organic field effect transistors, via high-throughput image analysis. This study is performed using an automated image analysis pipeline combining existing open-source software and new algorithms, enabling the rapid evaluation of structural metrics for images of fibrillar materials, including local orientational order, fiber length density, and fiber length distributions.

[Effect of weightlessness on the mother-fetus system (results of embryological experiment NIH-R1 abroad the "Space Shuttle"].

Female rats were exposed to weightlessness in the mid-deck of US "Space Shuttle" in the period between days 9 to 20 of pregnancy and examined on Earth post flight. No significant structural anomalies threatening the life and normal development were found in newborn rats carried by mothers under the conditions of weightless exposures. Water, Na, K, Ca, Fe and Cu contents in fetal and placental tissues of the flight animals were not changed.

Evaluation of health history forms used in U.S. dental schools.

Ideally the health history form should ensure safe care to the patient, support the dentist legally, and ensure a satisfactory treatment outcome. Health history forms from 47 dental schools were evaluated in light of curriculum guidelines for physical evaluation and for their helpfulness to the dentist to provide safe care, to support the dentist legally, and to provide satisfactory treatment outcomes for the patient. In spite of curriculum guidelines in physical evaluation, significant differences were found among the health histories used by dental schools.

The patient's health history form: how healthy is it?

An aging population, a more medically complex patient base and concerns about infectious diseases have complicated dentistry in the past decade--making a thorough health history more important than ever. A survey comparing dental university health history forms with those used by some general practitioners is presented.

Automatic and semiautomatic external defibrillator/pacers: futuristic emergency devices.

Automatic and semiautomatic defibrillator/pacers are new devices that combine many of the functions of an ECG unit, an external pacemaker, and a defibrillator into one unit with a built-in logic system. These devices are well researched and are gaining acceptance by the American Heart Association, emergency room physicians, and others concerned with emergency treatment of cardiac arrest, fibrillation, and potentially fatal dysrhythmias. These instruments are dependable, easy to use, and may in the future have a potential value for some dental practitioners who treat high risk cardiac patients or those using deep sedation and general anesthesia.

Changes in pituitary growth hormone cells prepared from rats flown on Spacelab 3.

Anterior pituitaries from "small" (250 g) and "large" (400 g) rats flown on the 7-day Spacelab 3 mission were pooled and trypsinized into two single-cell suspensions. Compared with ground-based controls, flight cells appeared to contain more intracellular growth hormone (GH) but release less GH over a 6-day culture period. After implantation into hypophysectomized rats, both sets of flight cells released only 50% of the GH compared with the control cells.

Evaluation of a prototype CPR assist-tool.

A CPR provider is often called upon to expand considerable physical energy to deliver external cardiac compressions. This research evaluates and compares the performance of recently certified basic rescuers on a mannequin using the standard method of CPR, and the performance with an adjunctive CPR assist-tool. Use of the tool significantly increased the overall quality of individual performances by reducing the frequency of inadequate compressions and increasing the time of acceptable performance.

Skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a survey of dental practitioners.

Emergency preparedness questionnaires were mailed to 4,905 dentists in Florida and 1,600 dentists in Kentucky. A total of 1,605 questionnaires were returned. Of the respondents, 52% reported being certified currently as providers of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Emergency preparedness: a survey of dental practitioners.

A total of 6,505 questionnaires were mailed to practicing dentists in Florida and Kentucky. The dentists represented all dental specialties and had been graduated from 72 different dental schools. The results of the survey indicate that improvement is needed in training, office organization, and advanced preparation for the emergency management of patients.