Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of First-Line Treatment With Biologic Agents in Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Objective: The optimal timing of biologic agent treatment in polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is unknown. This study evaluated the costs and outcomes of first-line treatment with etanercept (ETN), an anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agent, compared with step-wise therapy in JIA.

Methods: We compared 2 strategies: methotrexate (MTX) plus ETN as first-line therapy (ETN-first) and MTX monotherapy followed by ETN (ETN-second), using a cohort state-transition model of newly diagnosed JIA patients.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of clinic-based chloral hydrate sedation versus general anaesthesia for paediatric ophthalmological procedures.

Background/aims: The inability of some children to tolerate detailed eye examinations often necessitates general anaesthesia (GA). The objective was to assess the incremental cost effectiveness of paediatric eye examinations carried out in an outpatient sedation unit compared with GA.

Methods: An episode of care cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted from a societal perspective.

Parents' willingness to pay for biologic treatments in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Background: Biologic therapies are considered the standard of care for children with the most severe forms of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Inconsistent and inadequate drug coverage, however, prevents many children from receiving timely and equitable access to the best treatment.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate parents' willingness to pay (WTP) for biologic and nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) used to treat JIA.

The use of biologic response modifiers in polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a systematic review.

Objective: To systematically review the clinical efficacy and safety evidence of biologic drugs used to treat the polyarticular category of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Methods: The literature was searched between 2000 and September 2012 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomized comparative studies, and non-comparative observational cohort studies. The drugs evaluated included etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, abatacept, anakinra, and ritixumab.

Parents' preferences for drug treatments in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a discrete choice experiment.

Objective: To examine parents' preferences for drug treatments and health outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and identify demographic and health-related factors that significantly impact choice.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 105 parents of children with JIA who were cared for by a rheumatologist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Canada. Attributes evaluated included "drug treatment," "child reported pain from arthritis," "participation in daily activities," "side effects," "days missed from school," and "cost to you.

Herpes simplex virus-1 disarms the unfolded protein response in the early stages of infection.

Accumulation of mis- and unfolded proteins during viral replication can cause stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and trigger the unfolded protein response (UPR). If unchecked, this process may induce cellular changes detrimental to viral replication. In the report, we investigated the impact of HSV-1 on the UPR during lytic replication.

Identification and characterization of the DNA-binding properties of a Zhangfei homologue in Japanese pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes.

Zhangfei is a basic region-leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor identified through its interaction with a herpesvirus-related host cell factor HCF1 (C1). Unlike most bZIP proteins, the mammalian Zhangfei protein does not bind DNA as homodimers. It is believed due to the absence of an asparagine residue in the basic region, which forms the DNA-recognition motif, NxxAAxxCR, in all bZIP proteins.