Assessing the determinants of healthcare expenditures in single-person households.

Background: The study documents a direct relationship between individuals' health and patterns of healthcare expenditure by isolating single-person households and creating a new reference group in which household healthcare expenditure is based on one person's expenditure patterns in accordance with his or her own state of health.

Method: The study matched two surveys using Propensity Score Matching based on single-person household, age, and gender. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) explores paths of relation between the population's income and socioeconomic level and its health self-assessment and expenditure.

A survey of energy drink and alcohol mixed with energy drink consumption.

Background: Energy drink consumption among youth is increasing despite recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics to eliminate consumption by youth. This study provides information on consumption of energy drinks and alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) in a sample of Israeli youth and how consumer knowledge about the risks affects consumption rates.

Methods: The study was conducted in three Tel Aviv public schools, with a total enrollment of 1,253 students in grades 8 through 12.

Off-label use of sodium valproate for schizophrenia.

Background: Off-label use of a drug not according to its regulatory labeling has become common in medicine, especially in the field of psychiatry. Mood stabilizers are intended to be used to attenuate mood fluctuations in bipolar disorder, but their use has spread to patients with schizophrenia, as it provides greater control of impulsivity and aggressiveness. Sodium valproate is one of the most frequently used mood stabilizers in psychiatry.