The Impact of Malpractice Damage Caps on C-section Rates and Alternative Approaches.

About half of the states in the United States have had noneconomic damage caps in place for at least 8 years. National aggregate data shows that women are just as likely to give birth by cesarean section (C-section) in states with damage caps as in ones without. For the most recent year studied, the national C-section rate for births in states with damage caps was 33.

The clinical course of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Prospective data defining the clinical course in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are sparse.

Objective: To analyze the clinical course of patients with mild to moderate IPF.

Design: Analysis of data from the placebo group of a randomized, controlled trial evaluating interferon-gamma1b.

High-resolution computed tomography in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: diagnosis and prognosis.

Rationale: High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is an integral aspect of the evaluation of patients with suspected idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, few studies have evaluated its use in a large cohort.

Objectives: To describe HRCT features in patients with mild to moderate IPF, compare diagnostic evaluations by a radiology core (three thoracic radiologists) with those by study-site radiologists, correlate baseline clinical and physiologic variables with HRCT findings, and evaluate their association with mortality.

Analyses of efficacy end points in a controlled trial of interferon-gamma1b for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease, yet validated, reliable criteria for evaluating patient response to therapies in clinical trials are lacking.

Methods: To optimize selection of end point criteria for the study of interferon (IFN)-gamma1b in patients with IPF, we retrospectively analyzed the components of the primary efficacy end point used in a large, controlled study of 330 patients for reliability, validity, and sensitivity to treatment effect. The primary end point components were death, disease progression defined as a > or = 5 mm Hg increase in resting alveolar-arterial oxygen pressure gradient (P[A-a]O2), and disease progression defined as a > or = 10% decrease in percentage of predicted FVC.

Pharmacokinetics in animals and humans of a first-in-class peptide deformylase inhibitor.

BB-83698, a potent and selective inhibitor of peptide deformylase, was the first compound of this novel antibacterial class to progress to clinical trials. Single- and/or multiple-dose studies with doses ranging from 10 to 50 mg of BB-83698/kg of body weight were done with mice, rats, and dogs. Intravenous pharmacokinetics were characterized by low to moderate clearances and moderate volumes of distribution for all species.