Real-world healthcare resource utilization, costs, and predictors of relapse among US patients with incident schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder present burdens to patients and health systems through elevated healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs. However, there is a paucity of evidence describing these burdens across payor types. To identify unmet needs, this study characterized patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder by payor type.

Continuous Wet Spinning of Regenerated Silk Fibers from Spinning Dopes Containing 4% Fibroin Protein.

The wet spinning of fibers from regenerated silk fibroin has long been a research goal. Due to the degradation of the molecular structure of the fibroin protein during the preparation of the regenerated silk fibroin solution, fibroin concentrations with at least 10% protein content are required to achieve sufficient viscosity for wet spinning. In this study, a spinning dope formulation of regenerated silk fibroin is presented that shows a rheological behavior similar to that of native silk fibroin isolated from the glands of silkworm larvae.

A Retrospective Matched Comparison Study of Prolonged Seizures in ECT.

Objective: This study assessed the incidence of and risk factors for prolonged seizures (>180 sec) in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Method: In 611 adult patients undergoing 6697 ECT treatments administered over a 2.5-year study period, 29 individuals experienced 42 prolonged seizures.

Identification of inadequate responders to advanced therapy among commercially-insured adult patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in the United States.

Background: The purpose of this analysis was to assess the frequency of inadequate response over 1 year from advanced therapy initiation among patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) in the United States using a claims-based algorithm. Factors associated with inadequate response were also analyzed.

Methods: This study utilized claims data of adult patients from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRD) from January 01, 2016 to August 31, 2019.

Medication use among patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis before and after the initiation of advanced therapy.

Background: Although various treatments help reduce abdominal pain, real-world pain medication utilization among patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) receiving advanced therapies is poorly understood. The aim is to understand the utilization of pain medication 12 months before and after the initiation of advanced therapies among patients with newly diagnosed CD or UC.

Methods: This retrospective, observational cohort study used administrative medical and pharmacy claims data of patients with CD or UC from HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRD).

Strategies for Safely Maintaining Surgical Volume During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Resuming elective surgeries that were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a change to preprocedure patient preparation at a pediatric tertiary care center in middle Tennessee. We conducted a prospective, observational, mixed-methods study to determine the effectiveness of a preprocedure COVID-19 testing team to prevent COVID-19-related cancellations among pediatric patients receiving planned anesthesia. The intervention involved family member and patient education and a change in health record reporting to include COVID-19 test results.

Identifying inadequate response among patients with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis prescribed advanced therapy in a real-world, commercially insured adult population in the USA.

Objective: This study aimed to assess treatment patterns and frequency of inadequate response associated with advanced therapy initiation among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the USA.

Methods: Adult patients with AS or PsA who initiated advanced therapy were identified from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database®. Inadequate response to advanced therapies (tumour necrosis factor inhibitors [TNFi] and non-TNFi biologics) was identified using a claims-based algorithm.

SARS-CoV-2 Testing of Aerosols Emitted During Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery: A Prospective, Case-Controlled Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant safety concerns for healthcare providers, especially those performing aerosol-generating procedures. Several surgical societies issued early warnings that aerosols generated during minimally invasive surgery (MIS) could harbor infectious quantities of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study tested the hypothesis that MIS-aerosols contain SARS-CoV-2.

The Relationship Between Reductions in WHO Risk Drinking Levels During Treatment and Subsequent Healthcare Costs for the ACTIVE Workgroup.

Background: Abstinence has historically been considered the target outcome for alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment, yet recent work has found drinking reductions after AUD treatment, as measured by World Health Organization (WHO) risk drinking levels, are associated with meaningful improvements in functioning, physical health, and quality of life.

Objectives: This study extends previous analyses of AUD treatment outcomes by estimating the association between changes in WHO risk drinking levels (very high, high, medium, and low, based on average daily alcohol consumption) and healthcare costs.

Methods: Secondary data analysis of the COMBINE study, a multisite randomized clinical trial of acamprosate, naltrexone and behavioral interventions for AUD.

ALP bouncing and LDH normalization in bone metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients under therapy with Enzalutamide: an exploratory analysis.

Background: In bone metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (bmCRPC) treated with Enzalutamide commonly used prostate-specific antigen (PSA) can be misleading since initial PSA-flares may occur. In other therapies, bouncing of alkaline phosphatase (ALP-bouncing) was shown to be a promising surrogate for survival outcome. Low lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is usually associated with better outcome.

Pain Medication and Corticosteroid Use in Ankylosing Spondylitis, Psoriatic Arthritis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis in the United States: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Objective: We compared pain medication use in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) versus matched control over 2 years; a subgroup analysis assessed changes in pain medication use in patients who initiated a biologic during 12 months before and after.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational cohort study using an administrative claims database. Newly diagnosed adult patients with AS, PsA, or RA identified between 1/1/2014 and 7/31/2017 were included.

Psychotropic Medication Effects on Seizure Threshold and Seizure Duration During Electroconvulsive Therapy Stimulus Titration.

Objectives: Decisions about psychotropic medication administration before electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are central to management of a very psychiatrically ill patient population. Given that many psychotropic medications are thought to either promote or prevent seizures, there is ongoing concern about concurrent psychotropic medication and ECT administration. This study examined the effect of psychotropic medications on seizure threshold and duration during ECT stimulus titration.

Health Care Resource Utilization and Cost Before Initial Schizophrenia Diagnosis.

Background: The management of schizophrenia, a chronic, multifaceted mental health condition, is associated with considerable health care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs. Current evidence indicates that a high-risk and costly prodromal period, during which patients are likely symptomatic, precedes diagnosis. Better characterization and disease management during this stage could help to improve patient outcomes.

Detecting schizophrenia early: Prediagnosis healthcare utilization characteristics of patients with schizophrenia may aid early detection.

Introduction: Many patients exhibit subsyndromal clinical findings of schizophrenia prior to diagnosis. Early treatment may mitigate schizophrenia development, yet little is known about comorbidities and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) in these patients before diagnosis.

Methods: This retrospective, longitudinal cohort study, conducted between January 1, 2007 and April 30, 2016, used claims data from the US HealthCore Integrated Research Database.

The effects of repeated automated plasmapheresis in goats (Capra hircus) in response to vaccination with purified influenza hemagglutinin proteins.

Seasonal influenza is a contagious respiratory illness that annually affects millions of people worldwide. To identify currently circulating influenza virus subtypes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's International Reagent Resource distributes the World Health Organization (WHO) influenza reagent kits, which are used globally by testing laboratories for influenza surveillance. The data generated by the kits aid in strain selection for the influenza vaccine each season.

Effect of electrical parameters on ECT convulsive threshold and duration.

Background: Optimal stimulus parameters for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are unclear. Pulse duration and frequency related to convulsive threshold and seizure duration in the first ECT treatment in a series were evaluated.

Methods: Convulsive threshold was estimated for all patients (N = 550) receiving ECT over 27 months.

Antipsychotic patterns of use in patients with schizophrenia: polypharmacy versus monotherapy.

Background: The objective of this study was to characterize real-world treatment patterns in the prescription of antipsychotic polypharmacy (≥ 2 concurrent antipsychotics) compared with antipsychotic monotherapy for patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: This study was a retrospective claims-based analysis of patients (aged 13-64 years) with schizophrenia belonging to an employer-based health plan. Duration of therapy was measured as the number of treatment days over one year following the initial date of antipsychotic therapy.

Pharmacological strategies in the prevention of relapse after electroconvulsive therapy.

Objective: To determine whether starting antidepressant medication at the start of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) reduces post-ECT relapse and to determine whether continuation pharmacotherapy with nortriptyline (NT) and lithium (Li) differs in efficacy or adverse effects from continuation pharmacotherapy with venlafaxine (VEN) and Li.

Methods: During an acute ECT phase, 319 patients were randomized to treatment with moderate dosage bilateral ECT or high-dosage right unilateral ECT. They were also randomized to concurrent treatment with placebo, NT, or VEN.

Couples' notions about preconception health: implications for framing social marketing plans.

Purpose: To understand couples' notions of preconception health (PCH) and to inform the development of social marketing plans focused on PCH. APPROACH/DESIGN: We used a social marketing perspective to understand how couples considered PCH as a product, its potential price, how it should be promoted, and in what type of places it should be promoted. These variables are typically referred to as the four social marketing P's.

Poor health-related quality of life prior to ECT in depressed patients normalizes with sustained remission after ECT.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is diminished in depressed adult outpatients and especially impaired among depressed patients referred for ECT. We compare pretreatment HRQOL in ECT and non-ECT depressed patients from two large samples, and examined whether sustained remission in depressive symptoms after ECT is associated with normalization of HRQOL.

Methods: HRQOL was measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF36) before ECT and 6 months after ECT in an effectiveness (n=286) and an efficacy (n=243) clinical trial.

Agents of change: how do complementary and alternative medicine providers play a role in health behavior change?

Background: Recent investigations indicate that complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use may be conducive to health behavior change.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate how this change occurs.

Methods: Using Social Cognitive Theory and Self-determination Theory as guiding frameworks, we surveyed a convenience sample of 216 CAM consumers abouttheir CAM therapy and iors and conducted focus groups with 36 CAM consumers.

Socio-cultural factors that foster use and abuse of alcohol among a sample of enlisted personnel at four Navy and Marine Corps installations.

Rates of heavy drinking are consistently higher among U.S. military personnel than among civilians, particularly among young male personnel.

Health-related quality of life in a clinical trial of ECT followed by continuation pharmacotherapy: effects immediately after ECT and at 24 weeks.

Objective: : To examine the determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) immediately after a clinical trial of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for major depression and then again after 24 weeks of a continuation pharmacotherapy in a clinical trial comparing nortriptyline (NT) plus lithium (Li) versus venlafaxine (VEN) plus Li.

Method: : During acute ECT, 184 patients randomized to treatment with moderate-dosage bilateral (BL) ECT or high-dosage right unilateral (RUL) ECT completed the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) as a measure of HRQOL before and immediately after ECT. They were also randomized to concurrent treatment with placebo, NT, or VEN.