Dropout rate and cumulative birth outcomes in couples undergoing in vitro fertilization within a funded and actively managed system of care in New Zealand.

Objective: To determine the dropout rate between the first and second in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles in a controlled population derived from a funded and actively managed system of care in New Zealand, including the reason for dropout and associated cumulative live birth rate.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Multicenter IVF practice.

Increasing compliance with a clinical practice guideline for fetal fibronectin testing and the management of threatened preterm labour: A quality improvement project.

Objective: To increase adherence to a local hospital clinical practice guideline for the use of fetal fibronectin testing in women presenting with symptoms of threatened preterm labour.

Study Design: A quality improvement project using a multi-faceted implementation strategy.

Setting: National Women's Health, Auckland City Hospital; a tertiary referral maternity unit in Auckland, New Zealand.

EPHect - the Endometriosis Phenome (and Biobanking) Harmonisation Project - may be very helpful for clinicians and the women they are treating.

This article acts as a summary of the recently published papers by the World Endometriosis Research Foundation aiming to set up the Endometriosis Phenome and Biobanking Harmonisation Project.  The objective of this project is to standardise recording of patient history and characteristics, recording of surgical procedure and extent of disease as well as collection, processing and storage of specimens and consequently create a reliable resource for research into endometriosis.

Eligibility For And Enrollment In Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management Programs Varies By Plan Sponsor.

Medicare Part D prescription drug plans must offer medication therapy management to beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions and high drug expenditures. However, plan sponsors have considerable latitude in setting eligibility criteria. Newly available data indicate that enrollment rates in medication therapy management among stand-alone prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage drug plans averaged only 10 percent in 2012.

Single embryo transfer for all?

Historically to maintain live birth rates for women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF), multiple embryos were transferred. Improvements in technology have meant a move to selective single embryo transfer (SET). Do we now have enough confidence in SET to make it mandatory?

Increased Use Of Prescription Drugs Reduces Medical Costs In Medicaid Populations.

We used data on more than 1.5 million Medicaid enrollees to examine the impact of changes in prescription drug use on medical costs. For three distinct groups of enrollees, we estimated the effects of aggregate prescription drug use-and, more specifically, the use of medications to treat eight chronic noncommunicable diseases-on total nondrug, inpatient, outpatient, and other Medicaid spending.

Increasing Medicare part D enrollment in medication therapy management could improve health and lower costs.

Targeting efforts to improve medication adherence, especially among people with high health needs, can improve health and lower health care spending. To this end, Medicare requires that insurance plans that provide prescription drug (Part D) coverage offer specialized medication therapy management services to optimize medication use for enrollees with high drug costs, multiple chronic diseases, and multiple covered drugs. We analyzed a large random sample of Part D enrollees with diabetes, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, to see whether poor adherence to recommended drugs was associated with higher Medicare costs.

Emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) use and experiences at college health centers in the mid-Atlantic United States: changes since ECP went over-the-counter.

Objective: To investigate the availability of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) at college health centers since ECP went over-the-counter (OTC) in 2006. Related issues, such as distribution procedure, existence of a written protocol, personnel involved, contraindications, follow-up procedures, methods of advertising, and staff attitudes, were examined.

Participants: The sample included 135 college and university health centers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

College student knowledge and attitudes toward emergency contraception.

Background: This study explored male and female college students' knowledge of and attitudes toward emergency contraception pills (ECPs).

Study Design: A survey of 692 undergraduate college students (338 male and 358 female) was conducted at a mid-size university in northwest Pennsylvania during the Spring 2008 semester.

Results: Eighty-three percent of the participants had experienced sexual intercourse, and 52% of them had feared a pregnancy at least once.

Perceptions of social transgressions in adulthood.

People may react differently when individuals of different ages commit a social faux pas. Younger (22 to 35 years old) and older (65 to 77 years old) participants read vignettes where age of characters committing social transgressions varied (young vs. old).

Tensions in the parent and adult child relationship: Links to solidarity and ambivalence.

Tensions are normative in the parent and adult child relationship, but there is little research on the topics that cause the most tension or whether tensions are associated with overall relationship quality. In this study, adult sons and daughters, age 22 to 49, and their mothers and fathers (N = 158 families, 474 individuals) reported the intensity of different tension topics and relationship quality (solidarity and ambivalence) with one another. Tensions varied between and within families by generation, gender, and age of offspring.

Changes in Medicaid prescription volume and use in the wake of Medicare Part D implementation.

Implementation of the Medicare drug benefit resulted in a major shift of prescription drug spending from Medicaid to Medicare. Data indicate that Medicaid programs experienced substantial changes in the volume and types of prescriptions used by enrollees. Medicaid prescription volume and total payments to pharmacies dropped by almost 50 percent in 2006.

Emergency contraceptive pills: a 10-year follow-up survey of use and experiences at college health centers in the mid-Atlantic United States.

The authors conducted a 10-year follow-up study using a telephone survey to investigate the availability of emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) at college health centers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. They also examined related issues, such as distribution procedure, existence of a written protocol, personnel involved, contraindications, follow-up procedures, methods of advertising, staff attitudes, changes in distribution over the past 10 years, and availability if ECPs become over-the-counter. Of the 119 completed responses, 58 schools (49%) reported distributing ECPs.

Update on the pharmacist shortage: national and state data through 2003.

Purpose: Aggregate Demand Index (ADI) survey results were used to describe the severity of the pharmacist shortage at the national and state levels and by practice site and impact on the U.S. population.

Analysis of pharmacist and pharmacist-extender workforce in 1998--2000: assessing predictors and differences across states.

Objective: To examine the impact of supply and demand factors on filled positions for pharmacists and pharmacist extenders (pharmacist technicians and aides) and assess differences across states through analysis of state-level pharmacist labor market data.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: United States.

A murine model of cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary inflammation using intranasally administered smoke-conditioned medium.

To date, few animal models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exist that are ideal for the evaluation of pathophysiology, as they typically require many months of cigarette smoke exposure in inhalation facilities. Here we show that pulmonary inflammation and some of the inflammatory hallmarks of COPD can be induced in mice by cigarette smoke-conditioned media (CS) administered by the intranasal route. Balb/c mice were challenged with CS for up to 40 days.

Discovery of N-[2-[2-[[3-methoxy-4-(5-oxazolyl)phenyl]amino]-5-oxazolyl]phenyl]-N-methyl-4- morpholineacetamide as a novel and potent inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase with excellent in vivo activity.

Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) is a key enzyme that is involved in the de novo synthesis of purine nucleotides. Novel 2-aminooxazoles were synthesized and tested for inhibition of IMPDH catalytic activity. Multiple analogues based on this chemotype were found to inhibit IMPDH with low nanomolar potency.