Perceptions of practicing pharmacists in Idaho about a potential behind-the-counter drug program.

Background: In late 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held public hearings exploring the establishment of a new behind-the-counter (BTC) drug program. However, little is known about the views of pharmacists regarding such a program.

Objective: To assess the overall perceptions of Idaho's practicing pharmacists about the creation of a formal BTC drug program, the appropriateness of including certain drug categories, specific barriers to its adoption, and the impact of the new program on access to medicines.

Willingness to pay for cancer prevention.

Cancer inflicts great pain, burden and cost upon American society, and preventing cancer is important but not costless. The aim of this review was to explore the upper limits that American society is paying and appears willing to pay to prevent cancer, by enforced environmental regulations and implemented clinical practice guidelines. Cost-effectiveness studies of clinical and environmental cancer-prevention policies and programmes were identified through a comprehensive literature review and confirmed to be officially sanctioned and implemented, enforced or funded.

Counter sampling combined with medical provider education: do they alter prescribing behavior?

Objective: To observe if medical providers alter their prescribing patterns of three relatively expensive categories of medications provided as samples by manufacturers (focus medications) when they receive additional education from pharmacists concerning the appropriate use of lower cost alternatives (counter samples) that are made available to dispense.

Design: Pretest, post-test with a control group.

Setting: Two rural, private care clinics in southeastern Idaho providing immediate care services.

Analyzing oncology clinical trial data using the Q-TWiST method: clinical importance and sources for health state preference data.

Purpose: The Quality-adjusted Time Without Symptoms of disease and Toxicity (Q-TWiST) analysis method is frequently applied to evaluating outcomes in cancer clinical trials, but there is little information on what constitutes a clinically important difference (CID). We reviewed the Q-TWiST, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and utility measurement literature to develop recommendations for CID for the Q-TWiST. We also provide recommendations for measuring health utilities and for the design of Q-TWiST studies.

Surveillance patterns and polyp recurrence following diagnosis and excision of colorectal polyps in a medicare population.

Objective: Study objectives were to determine surveillance and polyp recurrence rates among older, increased-risk patients who have been diagnosed and excised of colorectal polyps. The high incidence of colorectal cancers in the Medicare-eligible population, the strong evidence linking reductions in mortality from colorectal cancer by removal of colorectal polyps, and the paucity of postpolypectomy surveillance data in this population all supported the need for this study.

Methods: This retrospective study used Medicare claims data to identify a cohort of 19,895 beneficiaries ages >/=65 years diagnosed and excised of colorectal polyps in 1994.

Use of colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening: evidence from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey.

Background: The use of colonoscopy as a primary screening tool for colorectal cancer is gaining momentum owing to several studies suggesting superior effectiveness and the recent, favorable decision by Medicare to cover all routine screening colonoscopies. This study documents the use of colonoscopy versus other tests to screen for colorectal cancer.

Materials And Methods: Data from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey were analyzed.

The impact of urinary urgency and frequency on health-related quality of life in overactive bladder: results from a national community survey.

Objectives: Overactive bladder (OAB) is described as urinary urgency, with and without urge incontinence and usually with frequency and nocturia. Most attention to OAB's impact on health-related quality of life (HRQL), however, has focused on urge incontinence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the burden of OAB, specifically urinary urgency and frequency on HRQL.

Adherence with colorectal cancer screening guidelines: a review.

Objective: To review screening rates and factors impacting patient utilization of colorectal cancer screening tests.

Methods: We searched Medline, CancerLit, and PsycInfo for articles on colorectal cancer screening adherence. US studies on average-risk individuals were reviewed to identify: (1) utilization/adherence rates, (2) predictors of patient adherence, (3) correlation between long-term adherence and type of test selected, (4) predictors of physician recommendation of screening tests, and (5) patterns in the type of test recommended by physicians.

Properties of polarization evolution in spun fibers.

We study the properties of polarization evolution in sinusoidally spun fibers. It is found that, similar to linear birefringent fibers, the evolution of the state of polarization exhibits periodicity, which can be measured by distributed measurement, such as those made with a polarization optical time domain reflectometer. The spatial period is linked with the spin parameters and fiber beat length in a simple equation.

Estimated economic costs of overactive bladder in the United States.

Objectives: To estimate the economic costs of overactive bladder (OAB), including community and nursing home residents, and to compare the costs in male versus female and older versus younger populations.

Methods: The National Overactive Bladder Evaluation Program included a representative telephone survey of 5204 community-dwelling adults 18 years and older in the United States and a follow-up postal survey of all individuals with OAB identified and age and sex-matched controls. The postal survey asked respondents about bladder symptoms, self-care use, treatment use, work loss, and OAB-related health consequences.