Risk Factors for Targeted Fungal and Mycobacterial Infections in Patients Taking Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors.

Objective: To identify predictors of the receipt of medical care, including the receipt of pre-drug screening, for diagnostically targeted fungal or mycobacterial infections among patients prescribed a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi).

Methods: We conducted a case-control study using deidentified patient health claims information from a data set representing a commercially insured US population of 15 million patients annually from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. Descriptive statistics as well as a 2-sample t-test, chi-square test of association, Fisher's exact test, and multivariate logistic regression were used for data analysis.

Use of Intravenous Immunoglobulin for Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Contraindications or Who Are Unresponsive to Conventional Treatments.

Background: Managing patients with IBD who are refractory or have contraindications to standard therapies is challenging. Many will lose response, become intolerant to treatment, or develop infections with contraindication for immunosuppression. Therefore, alternative therapies, such as the use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), could be used to manage patients in these difficult cases.

Inhibition of aggregation of aluminum hydroxide adjuvant during freezing and drying.

Aluminum-salt adjuvants are widely used to increase immunogenicity of recombinant protein vaccines. However, when vaccines formulated with these adjuvants are frozen or lyophilized, losses of efficacy are often reported. This loss of potency is usually attributed to the aggregation of adjuvant particles during processing.