COVID-19: The immediate response of european academic dental institutions and future implications for dental education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate and dramatic impact on dental education. The Association of Dental Education in Europe decided to carry out an investigation to assess the immediate response of European Academic Dental Institutions. An online survey was sent to both member and non-member dental schools to investigate the impact on non-clinical and clinical education, assessment and the well-being/pastoral care measures implemented.

Long-lasting cough in an adult German population: incidence, symptoms, and related pathogens.

Studies of the incidence of pertussis in adults have shown that it accounts for only 5-15% cases of prolonged coughing. We assessed the burden of suffering related to prolonged coughing and tried to identify further causative agents. Based on a sentinel study with 35 general practitioners in two German cities (Krefeld, Rostock), with 3,946 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria, we estimated the incidence of prolonged coughing in adults.

Economic evaluation of clopidogrel plus aspirin for secondary prevention of cardiovascular events in Canada for patients with established cardiovascular disease: Results from the CHARISMA trial.

Background: The Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilization, Management, and Avoidance (CHARISMA) trial found a statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular events when clopidogrel was added to aspirin in a prespecified subgroup of patients with established cardiovascular disease. However, the economic implications of such a strategy for the Canadian health care system are unknown.

Methods: For each patient in the CHARISMA trial with established cardiovascular disease, costs were estimated by multiplying resource utilization by unit costs derived from populations of Canadian patients in 2008 dollars.

Economic evaluation of atorvastatin for prevention of recurrent stroke based on the SPARCL trial.

Objectives: This study evaluated the economic implications of results obtained by the Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels (SPARCL) trial.

Methods: To enable long-term projection of the trial results, a discrete event simulation of the course of clinical care after a recent stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) was developed. It generates pairs of identical patients; both receive usual care, one receives atorvastatin in addition.

Treating relapsing multiple sclerosis with subcutaneous versus intramuscular interferon-beta-1a: modelling the clinical and economic implications.

The EVIDENCE trial concluded that administering high-dose/high-frequency subcutaneous (SC) interferon-beta-1a (IFNb1a) was more effective in preventing relapses among patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) than low-dose weekly intramuscular (IM) IFNb1a after 64 weeks. This analysis utilized discrete-event simulation (DES) to model the potential longer-term clinical and economic implications of this trial. A DES predicting the course of relapsing MS and incorporating the effect of IFNb1a therapy was developed.

Prevention and management of hyperphosphatemia with sevelamer in Canada: health and economic consequences.

Background: Sevelamer hydrochloride (Renagel) binds phosphate in patients with end-stage renal disease without the use of exogenous calcium and may reduce the progression of coronary vascular calcification. This intervention was shown to be cost-effective in the United States. This paper presents the Canadian adaptation.

Cost-effectiveness of clopidogrel in acute coronary syndromes in Canada: a long-term analysis based on the CURE trial.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases account for nearly 20% of all hospitalizations in Canada and consume 12% of the total cost of all illnesses. With increasing trends of cardiovascular disease and increasing costs of care, development of cost-effective strategies is vital. The Clopidogrel in Unstable angina to prevent Recurrent Events (CURE) trial demonstrated the effectiveness of clopidogrel plus acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) compared with ASA alone in reducing cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndromes and, in addition, patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in the Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in CURE (PCI-CURE) trial.

The emerging infectious challenge of clostridium difficile-associated disease in Massachusetts hospitals: clinical and economic consequences.

Objective: To estimate the clinical and economic burden of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) in Massachusetts over 2 years.

Design: A retrospective analysis of Massachusetts hospital discharge data from 1999-2003 was conducted. Cases of CDAD in 2000 were identified using code 008.

Cost-benefit analysis of preventing sudden cardiac deaths with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator versus amiodarone.

Objectives: To conduct a cost-benefit assessment of prevention of sudden cardiac deaths with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) versus amiodarone from the perspective of the health-care systems in the UK and France.

Methods: Course after implantation with an ICD or taking amiodarone was modeled using discrete event simulation; 1000 pairs of identical patients were simulated 100 times for each analysis. Rates of life-threatening arrhythmia and death from other causes were assumed identical, but the case fatality of arrhythmia and hospitalization differ between treatments.

Setting up annual OSHA training--bloodborne pathogen standard.

While monitoring actual performance will always be of paramount importance, laboratory managers must also be vigilant about protecting their employees. In Part One of this two-part series discussing OSHA training procedures, columnist Judith O'Brien examines the necessary precautions related to bloodborne pathogens.

Budgetary impact of treating acute bipolar mania in hospitalized patients with quetiapine: an economic analysis of clinical trials.

Objective: To present a tool that allows estimation of the budget impact of treatments for acute mania in bipolar I disorder from a US healthcare payer perspective.

Methods: Using discrete event simulation, the course of individuals is simulated beginning with hospitalization. Discharge depends on symptom level measured by the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS).

The time course of subsequent hospitalizations and associated costs in survivors of an ischemic stroke in Canada.

Background: Documentation of the hospitalizations rates following a stroke provides the inputs required for planning health services and to evaluate the economic efficiency of any new therapies.

Methods: Hospitalization rates by cause were examined using administrative data on 18,695 patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke (first or subsequent, excluding transient ischemic attack) in Saskatchewan, Canada between 1990 and 1995. Medical history was available retrospectively to January 1980 and follow-up was complete to March 2000.

Managing meningococcal disease in the United States: Hospital case characteristics and costs by age.

Objective: Meningococcal disease occurs worldwide. Approximately 1400 to 2800 cases are reported in the United States annually. The goal of this analysis was to examine hospitalized cases of meningitis and meningococcemia to identify case characteristics, resource use, and inpatient care costs.

Economic implications of extended-release metoprolol succinate for heart failure in the MERIT-HF trial: a US perspective of the MERIT-HF trial.

Background: The MERIT-HF trial demonstrated improved survival and fewer hospitalizations for worsening heart failure with extended-release (ER) metoprolol succinate in patients with heart failure. This study sought to estimate the economic implications of this trial from a US perspective.

Methods And Results: A discrete event simulation was developed to examine the course of patients with heart failure.

Structural determinants of rotavirus subgroup specificity mapped by cryo-electron microscopy.

The rotavirus double-layered particle (DLP) is a molecular machine that transcribes 11 genomic segments of double-stranded RNA into full-length mRNA segments during viral replication. DLPs from the human Wa strain of virus, belonging to subgroup II (SG II), possess a significantly reduced level of transcriptase activity compared to bovine UK DLPs that belong to subgroup I (SG I). Cryo-electron microscopy and icosahedral image analysis was used to define the structural basis for this difference in transcriptase activity and to derive three-dimensional density maps of bovine UK and human Wa DLPs at 26 angstroms and 28 angstroms resolution, respectively.

Health and economic consequences of sevelamer use for hyperphosphatemia in patients on hemodialysis.

Objectives: The safety and efficacy of sevelamer hydrochloride in binding phosphate in patients with end-stage renal disease and its ability to attenuate the progression of cardiac calcification have been well documented but not the longer-term health and economic implications. Thus, a model of the predicted long-term consequences of sevelamer compared with calcium-based binders (acetate and carbonate) was developed.

Methods: Long-term cardiovascular implications of 1 year of treatment with phosphate binders in patients on hemodialysis are estimated based on the patient's demographics, comorbidities, and physiologic and renal parameters.