The impact of racial and ethnic disparities in inhaled corticosteroid adherence on healthcare expenditures in adults with asthma.

The purpose of this study is to determine racial and ethnic disparities with the adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) in adults with persistent asthma, and their association with healthcare expenditures. A retrospective, cross-sectional study using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) 2013-2014 data included patients ≥18 years with persistent asthma. Median medication possession ratio (MPR) was used to dichotomize adherence levels.

Failure to refill essential prescription medications for asthma among pediatric Medicaid beneficiaries with persistent asthma.

The problem of patients not taking medications as prescribed, also known as "lack of medication adherence," is widely discussed as an issue related to suboptimal outcomes and excess health care expenditure. Although medication adherence is defined as patients not taking medications as prescribed, there are two elements to it: first, those who fail to follow the medication regimen by skipping a dose or not following the instructions, resulting in poor adherence with prescribed medicines; and, second, the patient who does not take the medication at all or stops after the initial fill. The existing literature contains a lot of studies on the first element, but very little is known about those who stop taking their medication after the initial fill or do not take it at all.

Virtual screening for LPA2-specific agonists identifies a nonlipid compound with antiapoptotic actions.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a highly potent endogenous lipid mediator that protects and rescues cells from programmed cell death. Earlier work identified the LPA₂ G protein-coupled receptor subtype as an important molecular target of LPA mediating antiapoptotic signaling. Here we describe the results of a virtual screen using single-reference similarity searching that yielded compounds 2-((9-oxo-9H-fluoren-2-yl)carbamoyl)benzoic acid (NSC12404), 2-((3-(1,3-dioxo-1H-benzo[de]isoquinolin-2(3H)-yl)propyl)thio)benzoic acid (GRI977143), 4,5-dichloro-2-((9-oxo-9H-fluoren-2-yl)carbamoyl)benzoic acid (H2L5547924), and 2-((9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-2-yl)carbamoyl) benzoic acid (H2L5828102), novel nonlipid and drug-like compounds that are specific for the LPA₂ receptor subtype.

Controlling cancer through the autotaxin-lysophosphatidic acid receptor axis.

LPA (lysophosphatidic acid, 1-acyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphate), is a growth factor-like lipid mediator that regulates many cellular functions, many of which are unique to malignantly transformed cells. The simple chemical structure of LPA and its profound effects in cancer cells has attracted the attention of the cancer therapeutics field and drives the development of therapeutics based on the LPA scaffold. In biological fluids, LPA is generated by ATX (autotaxin), a lysophospholipase D that cleaves the choline/serine headgroup from lysophosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylserine to generate LPA.

Benzyl and naphthalene methylphosphonic acid inhibitors of autotaxin with anti-invasive and anti-metastatic activity.

Autotaxin (ATX, NPP2) is a member of the nucleotide pyrophosphate phosphodiesterase enzyme family. ATX catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) by lysophospholipase D activity, which leads to generation of the growth-factor-like lipid mediator lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). ATX is highly upregulated in metastatic and chemotherapy-resistant carcinomas and represents a potential target to mediate cancer invasion and metastasis.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of the stereoisomers of 3-carba cyclic-phosphatidic acid.

Cyclic phosphatidic acid (CPA) is a naturally occurring analog of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in which the sn-2 hydroxy group forms a five-membered ring with the sn-3 phosphate. Here, we describe the synthesis of R-3-CCPA and S-3-CCPA along with their pharmacological properties as inhibitors of lysophospholipase D/autotaxin, agonists of the LPA(5) GPCR, and blockers of lung metastasis of B16-F10 melanoma cells in a C57BL/6 mouse model. S-3CCPA was significantly more efficacious in the activation of LPA(5) compared to the R-stereoisomer.

Quantitative chiral analysis of phthaloylglutamic acid and related analogs by a single ratio kinetic method using electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption techniques.

A rapid method for quantitative chiral analysis of phthaloylglutamic acid and its dimethyl ester by Cook's kinetic method is demonstrated using electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption techniques. Transition-metal-bound complex ions containing the chiral phthaloylglutamic acid and its dimethyl ester are generated by ESI mass spectrometry and subjected to collision-induced dissociation. The ratio of the two competitive dissociation rates is related to the enantiomeric composition of the drug mixture.