Mobile App-Assisted Parent Training Intervention for Behavioral Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), problem behaviors play a dysfunctional role, causing as much difficulty with daily living and adjustment as the core symptoms. If such behaviors are not effectively addressed, they can result in physical, economic, and psychological issues not only for the individual but also for family members.

Objective: We aimed to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a mobile app-assisted parent training program for reducing problem behaviors in children with ASD.

Biopharmaceutical pipeline funded by venture capital firms, 2014 to 2024.

Venture capital (VC) firms fund biopharmaceutical research and development (R&D) while incurring substantial financial risk. VC firms seek to invest in clinical areas with the greatest potential for financial return. Using a combination of data for clinical trials and VC investment deals between January 2014 and March 2024, we found that approximately 75% of VC investments were allocated to clinical trials studying small-molecule drugs compared to biologics or gene therapies, without substantial changes over the study period.

Manufacturer-sponsored drug coupon use and drug-switching behavior among patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Patients often use manufacturer-sponsored coupons to reduce their out-of-pocket spending. However, little is known whether coupon use is associated with medication-switching behaviors.

Objective: To examine if using a manufacturer-sponsored coupon to initiate a medication is associated with patterns of medication-switching behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes.

Association of Hospitals' Experience with Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Model with the Diffusion of Acute Hospital Care at Home.

Objective: To examine whether hospitals' experience in a prior payment model incentivizing care coordination is associated with their decision to adopt a new payment program for a care delivery innovation.

Data Sources: Data were sourced from Medicare fee-for-service claims in 2017, the list of participants in Bundled Payment for Care Improvement initiatives (BPCI and BPCI-Advanced), the list of hospitals approved for Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) between November 2020 and August 2022, and the American Hospital Association Survey.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Characteristics of Prescription Drug Fills Using Pharmacy-Pharmacy Benefit Manager Discount Programs: The "GoodRx" Model.

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize products using pharmacy-pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) discounts and to estimate the association among such discounts, prescription utilization, and out-of-pocket costs.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using IQVIA's Formulary Impact Analyzer, which contains anonymized, individual-level pharmacy claims representing US retail pharmacy transactions. We focused on 20 products with the greatest number of transactions using a pharmacy-PBM discount.

Protocol for the development of joint attention-based subclassification of autism spectrum disorder and validation using multi-modal data.

Background: Heterogeneity in clinical manifestation and underlying neuro-biological mechanisms are major obstacles to providing personalized interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite various efforts to unify disparate data modalities and machine learning techniques for subclassification, replicable ASD clusters remain elusive. Our study aims to introduce a novel method, utilizing the objective behavioral biomarker of gaze patterns during joint attention, to subclassify ASD.

Comparison of Out-of-Pocket Spending on Ultra-Expensive Drugs in Medicare Part D vs Commercial Insurance.

Importance: Little is known about how out-of-pocket burden differs between Medicare and commercial insurance for ultra-expensive drugs.

Objective: To investigate out-of-pocket spending for ultra-expensive drugs in the Medicare Part D program vs commercial insurance.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a retrospective, population-based cohort study of individuals using ultra-expensive drugs included in a 20% nationally random sample of prescription drug claims from Medicare Part D and individuals aged 45 to 64 years using ultra-expensive drugs included in a large national convenience sample of outpatient pharmaceutical claims from commercial insurance plans.

Patterns of Manufacturer Coupon Use for Prescription Drugs in the US, 2017-2019.

Importance: Although manufacturer-sponsored coupons are commonly used, little is known about how patients use them within a treatment episode.

Objectives: To examine when and how frequently patients use manufacturer coupons during a treatment episode for a chronic condition, and to characterize factors associated with more frequent use.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a retrospective cohort study of a 5% nationally representative sample of anonymized longitudinal retail pharmacy claims data from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2019, obtained from IQVIA's Formulary Impact Analyzer.

Macrophages in juvenile pig testis: Link with increase in Sertoli cells induced by oestradiol suppression.

Macrophage presence and location were evaluated in juvenile boar testes at the end of the first wave of Sertoli cell proliferation. Macrophage presence was compared in littermate boars treated with letrozole, a treatment which extended this first wave of proliferation beyond the sampling timepoint. Macrophages were identified as the CD68 positive cells following immunohistochemical labelling of paraffin sections and parenchymal macrophages enumerated.

Association of hormone therapy and changes of objective sleep quality in women of late menopausal transition with sleep disorder: a preliminary study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in objective sleep quality with hormone therapy (HT) in women with late menopausal transition.

Methods: Healthy midlife women with sleep difficulty who received HT were included. Those undergoing late menopausal transition were screened.

Factors Associated With Manufacturer Drug Coupon Use at US Pharmacies.

Importance: Drug companies offer coupons to lower the out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, yet little is known about why they do so for some drugs but not for others.

Objective: To examine whether the following factors are associated with manufacturer drug coupon use: (1) patient-cost characteristics (mean per-patient cost per drug, mean patient copay); (2) drug characteristics (generics availability or "later-in-class-entrant" drugs); (3) drug-class characteristics (in-class coupon use among competitors; in-class generic competition; in-class mean cost and copay).

Design Setting And Participants: This was a retrospective cohort analysis of anonymized transactional pharmacy claims sourced from retail US pharmacies from October 2017 to September 2019, supplemented with information derived from Medi-Span, Red Book, and FDA.

Panax notoginseng Saponins Protect Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells against Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation/Resupply-Induced Necroptosis via Suppression of RIP1-RIP3-MLKL Signaling Pathway.

Recently, necroptosis has emerged as one of the important mechanisms of ischemia stroke. Necroptosis can be rapidly activated in endothelial cells to cause vascular damage and neuroinflammation. Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS), an ingredient extracted from the root of Panax notoginseng (Burk.

Safety Assessment of Endocrine Disruption by Menopausal Health Functional Ingredients.

During menopause, women experience various symptoms including hot flashes, mood changes, insomnia, and sweating. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been used as the main treatment for menopausal symptoms; however, other options are required for women with medical contraindications or without preference for HRT. Functional health foods are easily available options for relieving menopausal symptoms.

The RIG-I Signal Pathway Mediated Saponin Anti-Inflammatory Effect in Ischemia Stroke.

saponins (PNS), the main bioactive constituents of a traditional Chinese herb , were commonly used for ischemic stroke in China. However, the associated cellular and molecular mechanisms of PNS have not been well examined. This study aimed to decipher the underlying molecular target of PNS in the treatment of cerebral ischemia.

Investigating the effects of physical properties of sulphur-based carriers on autotrophic denitrification.

In this study, four sulphur-based carriers (C1-C4) which have different mass ratio of sodium silicate to carrier from 30% to 50% (C1-C3) and the existence of water (C4) were prepared in order to evaluate the effect of the different physical properties on denitrification in sulphur-based autotrophic processes. While the apparent density and the compressive strength decreased as the proportion of sodium silicate increased and water was added in the carriers, the average pore size and the porosity increased from 0.43 to 3.

Ultra-Expensive Drugs And Medicare Part D: Spending And Beneficiary Use Up Sharply.

The proliferation of "ultra-expensive" drugs has sparked debate on their sustainability and affordability. Medicare Part D's share of annual spending on these drugs increased by 1,170 percent between 2012 and 2018, largely because the number of beneficiaries receiving them increased during this period.

Variables that prolong total operative time for robotic-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy: A 10-year tertiary hospital study in Korea.

Study Objective: To identify factors that prolong total operative time (TOT) in robotic-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy (RALM).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary university hospital.

Characteristics of Copayment Offsets for Prescription Drugs in the United States.

Importance: Despite ongoing debate regarding the high prices that patients pay for prescription drugs, to our knowledge, little is known regarding the use of coupons, vouchers, and other types of copayment "offsets" that reduce patients' out-of-pocket drug spending. Although offsets reduce patients' immediate cost burden, they may encourage the use of higher-cost products and diminish health insurers' ability to optimize pharmaceutical value.

Objective: To examine the drugs most commonly covered by offsets, the percentage of out-of-pocket costs covered by offsets, and the characteristics of patients using offsets for retail pharmacy transactions in the United States in 2017 through 2019.

Assessing the Added Therapeutic Benefit of Ultra-Expensive Drugs.

Objectives: While the United States does not have a method for assessing the added therapeutic benefit of drugs, France, Canada, and Germany do. We examined the added therapeutic benefit of the most expensive drugs prescribed to Medicare Part D beneficiaries in the United States.

Methods: We identified ultra-expensive drugs with annual Medicare spending that exceeded $62 794 (United States GDP per capita in 2018) using Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Spending and Utilization Data.