Geographical Variation In Medication and Health Resource Use In Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Understanding disease-modifying therapy (DMT) use and healthcare resource utilization by different geographical areas among people living with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) may identify care gaps that can be used to inform policies and practice to ensure equitable care.

Methods: Administrative data was used to identify pwMS on April 1, 2017 (index date) in Alberta. DMT use and healthcare resource utilization were compared between those who resided in various geographical areas over a 2-year post-index period; simple logistic regression was applied.

Poststroke Care Pathways and Spasticity Treatment: A Retrospective Study in Alberta.

Background: Limited evidence exists regarding care pathways for stroke survivors who do and do not receive poststroke spasticity (PSS) treatment.

Methods: Administrative data was used to identify adults who experienced a stroke and sought acute care between 2012 and 2017 in Alberta, Canada. Pathways of stroke care within the health care system were determined among those who initiated PSS treatment (PSS treatment group: outpatient pharmacy dispensation of an anti-spastic medication, focal chemo-denervation injection, or a spasticity tertiary clinic visit) and those who did not (non-PSS treatment group).

Disease-modifying therapy use and health resource utilisation associated with multiple sclerosis over time: A retrospective cohort study from Alberta, Canada.

Background: Estimating multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence and incidence, and assessing the utilisation of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) and healthcare resources over time is critical to understanding the evolution of disease burden and impacts of therapies upon the healthcare system.

Methods: A retrospective population-based study was used to determine MS prevalence and incidence (2003-2019), and describe utilisation of DMTs (2009-2019) and healthcare resources (1998-2019) among people living with MS (pwMS) using administrative data in Alberta.

Results: Prevalence increased from 259 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 253-265) to 310 (95% CI: 304, 315) cases per 100,000 population, and incidence decreased from 21.

Identification of knowledge gaps in whole-genome sequence analysis of multi-resistant thermotolerant Campylobacter spp.

Background: Campylobacter spp. is the most frequent cause of bacterial food-borne gastroenteritis and a high priority antibiotic resistant bacterium according to the World Health Organization (WHO). European monitoring of thermotolerant Campylobacter spp.

Prevalence, antibiotic resistance, and genomic characterisation of spp. in retail chicken in Hanoi, Vietnam.

spp. are a leading cause of bacterial foodborne zoonosis worldwide, with poultry meat and products recognised as a significant source of human infection. In Vietnam there are few data regarding the occurrence, antimicrobial resistance, and genomic diversity of in poultry and poultry meat.

Multiplex Real-Time PCR for the Detection of Tetracycline, Ciprofloxacin, and Erythromycin Resistance Determinants from Human and Foodborne and .

and are the predominant thermophilic species responsible for foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. Elevated resistance to certain antibiotics was observed due to antimicrobial therapy in farm animals and humans, while reduced antimicrobial usage partially reduced antibiotic resistance. Monitoring the antimicrobial resistance demonstrated a substantial fraction of multi-resistant isolates, indicating the necessity of reliable tools for their detection.

Health care cost of severe obesity and obesity-related comorbidities: A retrospective cohort study from Alberta, Canada.

Background: Estimates of health care costs associated with severe obesity, and those attributable to specific health conditions among adults living with severe obesity are needed.

Methods: Administrative data was used to identify adults who previously received a procedure, and had (investigational cohort) or did not have (control cohort) a body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m. Two-part models were used to estimate the incremental health care cost of severe obesity and related health conditions during a 1-year observation period.

Trajectory of health care resources among adults stopping or reducing treatment frequency of botulinum toxin for chronic migraine treatment in Alberta, Canada.

Objective: Understand health resource, medication use, and cost of adults with chronic migraine who received guideline-recommended onabotulinumtoxinA (botulinum toxin) treatment frequency and then continued or reduced/stopped.

Background: Botulinum toxin may be a beneficial treatment for chronic migraine; the trajectory of health resources utilization among those with continued or reduced/stopped use is unclear.

Methods: A retrospective population-based cohort study utilizing administrative data from Alberta, Canada (2012-2020), was performed.

Analgesic Use Among Adults with a Trauma-Related Emergency Department Visit: A Retrospective Cohort Study from Alberta, Canada.

Introduction: A better understanding of current acute pain-driven analgesic practices within the emergency department (ED) and upon discharge will provide foundational information in this area, as few studies have been conducted in Canada.

Methods: Administrative data were used to identify adults with a trauma-related ED visit in the Edmonton area in 2017/2018. Characteristics of the ED visit included time from initial contact to analgesic administration, type of analgesics dispensed during and upon being discharged home directly from the ED (≤ 7 days after), and patient characteristics.

Health resource utilization and cost before versus after initiation of second-generation long-acting injectable antipsychotics among adults with schizophrenia in Alberta, Canada: a retrospective, observational single-arm study.

Background: Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics, along with community treatment orders (CTOs), are used to improve treatment effectiveness through adherence among individuals with schizophrenia. Understanding real-world medication adherence, and healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs in individuals with schizophrenia overall and by CTO status before and after second generation antipsychotic (SGA)-LAI initiation may guide strategies to optimize treatment among those with schizophrenia.

Methods: This retrospective observational single-arm study utilized administrative health data from Alberta, Canada.

Challenging the "gold standard" of colony-forming units - Validation of a multiplex real-time PCR for quantification of viable Campylobacter spp. in meat rinses.

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading bacterial food-borne pathogen in Europe. Despite the accepted limits of cultural detection of the fastidious bacterium, the "gold standard" in food microbiology is still the determination of colony-forming units (CFU). As an alternative, a live/dead differentiating qPCR has been established, using propidium monoazide (PMA) as DNA-intercalating crosslink agent for inactivating DNA from dead, membrane-compromised cells.

Pilot Monitoring of Antimicrobial Residues in Chicken and Pork in Vietnam.

Abstract: Antibiotic residues in consumer foods pose a threat to human health and contribute to increasing antimicrobial resistance. The study was conducted from January to July 2019 in six provinces in Vietnam. In total, 360 pork samples and 360 chicken samples were collected for analysis.

Exploring the Socioeconomic Importance of Antimicrobial Use in the Small-Scale Pig Sector in Vietnam.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is influenced by antimicrobial use in human and animal health. This use exerts selection pressure on pathogen populations with the development of resistance and the exchange of resistance genes. While the exact scale of AMR in Vietnam remains uncertain, recent studies suggest that it is a major issue in both human and animal health.

Association between buprenorphine/naloxone and high-dose opioid analgesic prescribing in Kentucky, 2012-2017.

Introduction: Buprenorphine/naloxone treatment is a highly effective treatment for opioid use disorder decreasing illicit opioid use and both all-cause and opioid-involved overdose mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between buprenorphine/naloxone prescribing and high-dose opioid analgesic prescribing (HDOAP) over time.

Methods: This longitudinal study used 2012-2017 Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting data and cross-lagged structural equation analysis.

Characterizing Antimicrobial Use in the Livestock Sector in Three South East Asian Countries (Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam).

A framework was developed to characterize the antimicrobial use/antimicrobial resistance complex in livestock systems in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Farm profitability, disease prevention, and mortality rate reduction were identified as drivers toward antimicrobial use in livestock systems. It revealed that antimicrobial use was high in all sectors studied, and that routine preventative use was of particular importance to broiler production systems.

Internal sample process control improves cultivation-independent quantification of thermotolerant Campylobacter.

Quantification of Campylobacter is challenging and one major reason is the fact that bacteria lose cultivability due to cold or oxygen stress during storage at retail. Alternative live/dead discriminatory qPCR currently lacks standardization and might overestimate live cells in the presence of dead cells. In this study an internal sample process control (ISPC) was developed.

Interrupted time series design to evaluate the effect of the ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM coding transition on injury hospitalization trends.

Background: Implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) in the U.S. on October 1, 2015 was a significant policy change with the potential to affect established injury morbidity trends.

Trends and Patterns of Opioid Analgesic Prescribing: Regional and Rural-Urban Variations in Kentucky From 2012 to 2015.

Purpose: Increased opioid analgesic prescribing (OAP) has been associated with increased risk of prescription opioid diversion, misuse, and abuse. We studied regional and rural-urban variations in OAP trends in Kentucky, from 2012 to 2015, and examined potential county-level risk and protective factors.

Methods: This study used prescription drug monitoring data.

Disparities in women's cancer-related quality of life by Southern Appalachian residence.

Purpose: The purpose was to determine whether Appalachian residence alone or in combination with violence was linked to poorer quality of life (QOL).

Methods: Women recently diagnosed and included in either the Kentucky or North Carolina Cancer Registries were interviewed by phone between 2009 and 2015 (n = 3320; mean age = 56.74).

Heroin and fentanyl overdoses in Kentucky: Epidemiology and surveillance.

Background: The study aims to describe recent changes in Kentucky's drug overdose trends related to increased heroin and fentanyl involvement, and to discuss future directions for improved drug overdose surveillance.

Methods: The study used multiple data sources (death certificates, postmortem toxicology results, emergency department [ED] records, law enforcement drug submissions, and prescription drug monitoring records) to describe temporal, geographic, and demographic changes in drug overdoses in Kentucky.

Results: Fentanyl- and heroin-related overdose death rates increased across all age groups from years 2011 to 2015 with the highest rates consistently among 25-34-year-olds.

Survival of Salmonella spp. and fecal indicator bacteria in Vietnamese biogas digesters receiving pig slurry.

Small-scale biogas digesters are widely promoted worldwide as a sustainable technology to manage livestock manure. In Vietnam, pig slurry is commonly applied to biogas digesters for production of gas for electricity and cooking with the effluent being used to fertilize field crops, vegetables and fish ponds. Slurry may contain a variety of zoonotic pathogens, e.

Hygienic aspects of livestock manure management and biogas systems operated by small-scale pig farmers in Vietnam.

Biogas digesters are widely promoted and increasingly used to treat and generate gas from pig slurry worldwide. The objective of this study was to describe manure management practices with focus on biogas digestion among small scale pig farmers in Hue (50 farmers) and Hanoi (96 farmers) and to assess fecal contamination levels in biogas effluent. Results showed that 84% of the farmers in Hanoi and 42% in Hue used both pig slurry and human excreta for biogas production.