Right Ventricular Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension.

Right ventricular dysfunction is an important component of the pathophysiology of several disorders commonly encountered in the emergency department (ED). Interventions often performed routinely early in the ED course such as fluid administration and endotracheal intubation have the potential to cause precipitous clinical deterioration in patients with right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension. It is important for emergency physicians to understand the pathophysiology of acute decompensated right ventricular failure in order to avoid common pitfalls in diagnosis and management that can result in significant morbidity and mortality.

[Improving global access to new vaccines: intellectual property, technology transfer, and regulatory pathways].

The 2012 World Health Assembly Global Vaccine Action Plan called for global access to new vaccines within 5 years of licensure. Current approaches have proven insufficient to achieve sustainable vaccine pricing within such a timeline. Paralleling the successful strategy of generic competition to bring down drug prices, a clear consensus is emerging that market entry of multiple suppliers is a critical factor in expeditiously bringing down prices of new vaccines.

Improving global access to new vaccines: intellectual property, technology transfer, and regulatory pathways.

The 2012 World Health Assembly Global Vaccine Action Plan called for global access to new vaccines within 5 years of licensure. Current approaches have proven insufficient to achieve sustainable vaccine pricing within such a timeline. Paralleling the successful strategy of generic competition to bring down drug prices, a clear consensus is emerging that market entry of multiple suppliers is a critical factor in expeditiously bringing down prices of new vaccines.

Should academic therapeutic patents go to the highest bidder?

Universities conduct biomedical research with the self-stated goal of disseminating the benefits to the global public. Licensing therapeutic patents to the highest bidder is counterproductive to this aim, as it prioritizes income maximization over dissemination. We believe that licensing strategies focused on promoting broad access to university-discovered therapeutics better serve both the mission of universities and the public good.

University contributions to the HPV vaccine and implications for access to vaccines in developing countries: addressing materials and know-how in university technology transfer policy.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with most of the disease burden concentrated in developing countries. Over 90 percent of cervical cancer deaths, almost all of which are caused by HPV, occur in low- and middle-income countries where access to goods and services for prevention and treatment pose major barriers to intervention. In resource-poor settings lacking the capacity for routine screening for cervical cancer, the HPV vaccines developed by Merck and GlaxoSmithKline are desperately needed to help prevent these unnecessary deaths.

Prizes and parasites: incentive models for addressing Chagas disease.

Recent advances in immunology have provided a foundation of knowledge to understand many of the intricacies involved in manipulating the human response to fight parasitic infections, and a great deal has been learned from malaria vaccine efforts regarding strategies for developing parasite vaccines. There has been some encouraging progress in the development of a Chagas vaccine in animal models. A prize fund for Chagas could be instrumental in ensuring that these efforts are translated into products that benefit patients.

Social modulation of pain as evidence for empathy in mice.

Empathy is thought to be unique to higher primates, possibly to humans alone. We report the modulation of pain sensitivity in mice produced solely by exposure to their cagemates, but not to strangers, in pain. Mice tested in dyads and given an identical noxious stimulus displayed increased pain behaviors with statistically greater co-occurrence, effects dependent on visual observation.

Paclitaxel-induced neuropathic hypersensitivity in mice: responses in 10 inbred mouse strains.

Mechanical allodynia, or hypersensitivity to tactile stimuli, is a frequent clinical symptom of neuropathy. Large interindividual differences have been observed in neuropathic pain, both in susceptibility to its development and in its severity. Identification of genetic factors relevant to this variability would be of obvious utility.