Health Outcomes and Costs Associated with the Provision of Culturally Competent Services for Underrepresented Ethnic Populations with Severe Mental Illness.

Underrepresented racial/ethnic populations (UREPs) face disparities in their use of behavioral health services for multiple reasons including lack of culturally competent services and stigma. This paper employs mixed methods to compare health outcomes and costs among clients in 14 culturally competent behavioral health programs targeting specific UREPs to five programs without a specific racial or ethnic focus. We found that UREP-focused programs were associated with similar improvements in health outcomes, but greater costs relative to the comparison programs.

Implementation of Age-Specific Services for Transition-Age Youths in California.

Objectives: This study examined the implementation of age-specific services for transition-age youths in California under the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA).

Methods: This study employed a sequential, exploratory mixed-methods design. Qualitative interviews with 39 mental health service area administrators in California were analyzed to develop an understanding of how the MHSA has facilitated the development of youth-specific programs or services.

Young adult dependent coverage: were the state reforms effective?

Objective: To examine the robustness of findings regarding state-level adult dependent coverage expansions using detailed outcomes that specify coverage source.

Data Sources: This study uses the 2001-2009 files of the Current Population Survey's Annual Social and Economic Supplement, covering calendar years 2000-2008, and considers young adults ages 19 through 29.

Study Design: Difference-in-differences methods were used to estimate the effect of state-level dependent coverage expansions on finely detailed categories of coverage, and falsification tests were used to evaluate the models themselves.

Challenges to Value-Enhancing Innovation in Health Care Delivery: Commonalities and Contrasts with Innovation in Drugs and Devices.

Limiting the growth of health care costs while improving population health is perhaps the most important and difficult challenge facing U.S. health policymakers.

Multisite cost analysis of a school-based voluntary alcohol and drug prevention program.

Objective: This article estimates the societal costs of Project CHOICE, a voluntary after-school alcohol and other drug prevention program for adolescents. To our knowledge, this is the first cost analysis of an after-school program specifically focused on reducing alcohol and other drug use.

Method: The article uses microcosting methods based on the societal perspective and includes a number of sensitivity analyses to assess how the results change with alternative assumptions.

Mutation of glutamine to arginine at position 548 of IE2 86 in human cytomegalovirus leads to decreased expression of IE2 40, IE2 60, UL83, and UL84 and increased transcription of US8-9 and US29-32.

The IE2 86 protein of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is essential for productive infection. The mutation of glutamine to arginine at position 548 of IE2 86 causes the virus to grow both slowly and to very low titers, making it difficult to study this mutant via infection. In this study, Q548R IE2 86 HCMV was produced on the complementing cell line 86F/40HA, which allowed faster and higher-titer production of mutant virus.

Heterogeneity in the composition of marijuana seized in California.

Background: Marijuana contains multiple cannabinoids. Most attention is given to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which produces euphoria and in some cases anxiety and panic reactions. Research suggests that another cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), may offset some of these effects.

An Analysis of Applicants Presenting to a Medical Marijuana Specialty Practice in California.

For more than a decade, medical marijuana has been at the forefront of the marijuana policy debate in the United States. Fourteen states allow physicians to recommend marijuana or provide a legal defense for patients and physicians if prosecuted in state courts; however, little is known about those individuals using marijuana for medicinal purposes and the symptoms they use it for. This study provides descriptive information from 1,655 patients seeking a physician's recommendation for medical marijuana, the conditions for which they seek treatment, and the diagnoses made by the physicians.