Uncovering the spectrum of healthcare resource utilization and costs across moderate to severe asthma: high-cost subgroups and impact of biologics.

Objectives: The healthcare burden of moderate asthma is not as well studied as severe asthma. This study used 2019 US claims data to characterize patients in Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) steps 3 to 5 (moderate to severe) during the first 90 days of 2019.

Methods: Patient characteristics, healthcare resource utilization and costs were described for all patients and GINA groups.

Sub-Optimal Disease Control and Low Blood Eosinophil Testing Frequency in Chinese Adult Patients with Asthma Receiving GINA Step 4/5 Treatment: A Real-World Study.

Purpose: To inform effective management strategies for severe asthma in China, this study aimed to comprehensively characterize clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, disease control status, and healthcare resource utilization among patients on GINA Step 4/5 therapies by analyzing data from the Adelphi Asthma Disease Specific Program conducted in China.

Patients And Methods: All information was retrieved from medical records or collected from physicians and patients on the survey date (August-December 2018); no follow-up was conducted. Results were summarized descriptively for patients on GINA Step 4/5 therapies, who were pooled from a consecutive sample (comprising three or more consecutive patients with physician-diagnosed asthma from each participating physician) and an oversample (comprising the next two patients with physician-perceived severe asthma from each participating physician).

Disease Burden, Treatment Patterns and Asthma Control in Adult Patients with Asthma in China: A Real-World Study.

Purpose: To inform better asthma management in China, this study aimed to comprehensively investigate clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, asthma control status, exacerbations, and humanistic burden among adult patients seeking hospital-based asthma care by analyzing data from Adelphi Asthma Disease Specific Program conducted in China.

Patients And Methods: All information was collected on survey date (August-December 2018) from medical records, physicians, or patients, without follow-up being conducted. Results are summarized descriptively for the overall population as well as subgroups defined by GINA 2018 treatment step.

Myocardial glycophagy flux dysregulation and glycogen accumulation characterize diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Diabetic heart disease morbidity and mortality is escalating. No specific therapeutics exist and mechanistic understanding of diabetic cardiomyopathy etiology is lacking. While lipid accumulation is a recognized cardiomyocyte phenotype of diabetes, less is known about glycolytic fuel handling and storage.

The chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyp patient journey in the United States and Europe.

In this letter to the editor, we present questionnaire-based data assessing the patient journey of adults with moderate-severe Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP) in the USA and five European countries. These data highlight how long and difficult the patient journey with CRSwNP can be and how improved disease awareness among physicians could lead to more timely diagnosis and treatment, and hence improved management of patients.

The Unified Airway Hypothesis: Evidence From Specific Intervention With Anti-IL-5 Biologic Therapy.

The unified airway hypothesis proposes that upper and lower airway diseases reflect a single pathological process manifesting in different locations within the airway. Functional, epidemiological, and pathological evidence has supported this well-established hypothesis for some time. However, literature on the pathobiologic roles/therapeutic targeting of eosinophils and IL-5 in upper and lower airway diseases (including asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps [CRSwNP], and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-exacerbated respiratory disease) has recently emerged.

Real-world characterisation of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps with and without surgery in England.

Objectives: To characterise the real-world burden of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) in the UK, stratified by number of surgeries.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum database with Hospital Episodes Statistics linkage (2007-2019).

Elucidating the Real-World Burden of Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps in Patients in the USA.

Objective: To characterize healthcare burden, treatment patterns, and clinical characteristics associated with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP).

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Setting: Real-world study using US health insurance claims database.

Mepolizumab for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (SYNAPSE): In-depth sinus surgery analysis.

Background: Patients with severe chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) often require repeat sinus surgery. Mepolizumab reduced the need for sinus surgery in the SYNAPSE trial; this analysis sought to provide a more in-depth assessment of surgery endpoints in SYNAPSE.

Methods: SYNAPSE was a double-blind Phase III trial (NCT03085797) in adults with recurrent, refractory, severe, CRSwNP eligible for repeat sinus surgery despite standard of care treatments and previous surgery.

Terms and Definitions Used to Describe Recurrence, Treatment Failure and Recovery of Acute Exacerbations of COPD: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies.

Introduction: Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPDs) are important clinical events, with many patients experiencing multiple AECOPDs annually. The terms used in the literature to define recurring AECOPD events are inconsistent and may impact the ability to describe the true burden of these events. We undertook a systematic review to identify and summarize terms and definitions used in observational studies to describe AECOPD-related events occurring after an initial AECOPD (hereafter "subsequent AECOPD").

Blood eosinophil counts in the general population and airways disease: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis.

Background: The clinical context for using blood eosinophil (EOS) counts as treatment-response biomarkers in asthma and COPD requires better understanding of EOS distributions and ranges. We describe EOS distributions and ranges published in asthma, COPD, control (non-asthma/COPD) and general populations.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of observational studies (January 2008 to November 2018) that included EOS counts in asthma, severe asthma, COPD, control and general populations.

Short Physical Performance Battery: What Does Each Sub-Test Measure in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease?

Objective: To identify phenotypic factors associated with the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and its individual sub-tests: standing balance, 4‑meter gait speed (4mGS) and 5-repetition sit-to-stand (5STS).

Methods: The Evaluation of the Role of Inflammation in non-pulmonary disease manifestations in Chronic Airways disease (ERICA) study recruited adult participants with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Proportional odds models identified factors associated with the SPPB, and a principal component analysis (PCA) evaluated how much SPPB variance was explainable by each of its 3 sub-tests.

Exacerbation Frequency And Eosinophil Counts Among Patients With COPD Currently Prescribed Triple Therapy.

Purpose: To characterize and estimate the proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who continue to exacerbate while receiving triple therapy and further describe these patients according to blood eosinophil counts.

Methods: This was an analysis of the 2017 Adelphi Real-World Respiratory Disease Specific Programme (DSP) survey of patients with COPD from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK). Demographics were assessed on the date of completion of the physician/patient questionnaire; clinical characteristics were captured for the previous 12 months.

Helpful Ingredients in the Treatment of Long-Term Substance Use Disorders: A Collaborative Narrative Study.

Relatively few individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD) seek or receive treatment, and knowledge about the effective ingredients in SUD treatment, from the perspective of those who receive it, is scarce. Our study purpose was to explore the experiences of those with long-term SUDs and the aspects they found helpful during treatment and long-term recovery. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 participants, each of whom had been diagnosed with a long-term SUD, and who had been abstinent for at least 5 years.

Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity as a Measure of Cardiovascular Risk in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Two-Year Follow-Up Data from the ARCADE Study.

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients with COPD have increased arterial stiffness, which may predict future CV risk. However, the development of arterial stiffness in COPD has not yet been studied prospectively.

Healthcare costs and utilization associated with muscle weakness diagnosis codes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a United States claims analysis.

Aims: Muscle weakness (MW)-attributable healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have not been well-characterized in US insurance claims databases. The primary objective of this study was to estimate HCRU in patients with evidence of COPD with and without MW diagnosis codes.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective analysis used the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefits databases.

Endocardial TRPC-6 Channels Act as Atrial Mechanosensors and Load-Dependent Modulators of Endocardial/Myocardial Cross-Talk.

Mechanoelectrical feedback may increase arrhythmia susceptibility, but the molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. This study showed that mechanical stretch altered the localization, protein levels, and function of the cation-selective transient receptor potential channel (TRPC)-6 in atrial endocardial cells in humans, pigs, and mice. In endocardial/myocardial cross-talk studies, addition of media from porcine atrial endocardium (AE) cells altered the calcium (Ca) transient characteristics of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

Why Do Those With Long-Term Substance Use Disorders Stop Abusing Substances? A Qualitative Study.

Although a significant proportion of adults recover from substance use disorders (SUDs), little is known about how they reach this turning point or why they stop using. The purpose of the study was to explore the factors that influence reasoning and decision making about quitting substance use after a long-term SUD. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 participants, each of whom had been diagnosed with a SUD and had been abstinent for at least 5 years.

Measurement of cortisol in saliva: a comparison of measurement error within and between international academic-research laboratories.

Objective: Hundreds of scientific publications are produced annually that involve the measurement of cortisol in saliva. Intra- and inter-laboratory variation in salivary cortisol results has the potential to contribute to cross-study inconsistencies in findings, and the perception that salivary cortisol results are unreliable. This study rigorously estimates sources of measurement variability in the assay of salivary cortisol within and between established international academic-based laboratories that specialize in saliva analyses.

Socioeconomic Status as a Determinant of Health Status Treatment Response in COPD Trials.

: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) often recruit patients from low and high socioeconomic status (SES) countries, but little is known about the effect of SES on clinical outcomes, particularly patient-centered measures of symptomatic benefit. : Combined individual chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient data from the placebo and long-acting bronchodilator arms of 17 RCTs (from the COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium database) were analyzed. Health status was measured using the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) (minimum clinically important difference [MCID]: 4 units).

St George's Respiratory Questionnaire Score Predicts Outcomes in Patients with COPD: Analysis of Individual Patient Data in the COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium Database.

We aimed to estimate the usefulness of a disease specific health status measure, the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), to predict outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Individual patient-data of 12043 patients from long-term randomized clinical trials (2-4 years' duration) in the COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium database were analyzed. The adverse COPD outcomes were: exacerbations of COPD, hospital admissions due to exacerbation and all-cause mortality.

The COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium Database: Baseline Characteristics of the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire Dataset.

The COPD Biomarkers Qualification Consortium (CBQC) is a public-private partnership formed in 2010 with a goal of qualifying biomarkers and clinical assessment tools for use in clinical or nonclinical decision-making and particularly within the regulatory context. The St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is a measure of health-related quality of life widely used in clinical research. The aim of the CBQC working group on SGRQ was to construct an individual patient level database of clinical trial data that included the SGRQ, to use this to confirm the reliability and validity of the SGRQ as an outcome measure of health status, and investigate its use as a predictor of future events (exacerbations and mortality).

Associations between gastro-oesophageal reflux, its management and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aim: To determine factors, overall and by sex, associated with self-reported gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, and to evaluate relationships between GORD, its modification by acid suppression medications (Proton Pump Inhibitors [PPI]/histamine-2 receptor antagonists [H2RA]) and exacerbations of COPD and mortality.

Methods: Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with GORD; Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for GORD and risk of exacerbation and death.

Results: Among 2135 COPD patients from the ECLIPSE cohort, 547 patients self-reported GORD, with female preponderance; 237 were taking PPI/H2RA.

Store-operated calcium entry and the localization of STIM1 and Orai1 proteins in isolated mouse sinoatrial node cells.

In many non-excitable and excitable cells, store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) represents an additional pathway for calcium entry upon Ca(2+) store depletion. In a previous study, we demonstrated SOCE activity in intact mouse cardiac pacemaker tissue, specifically from sinoatrial node (SAN) tissue. However, store content as a key determinant of SOCE activity is difficult to measure in intact SAN tissue.

Language workbench user interfaces for data analysis.

Biological data analysis is frequently performed with command line software. While this practice provides considerable flexibility for computationally savy individuals, such as investigators trained in bioinformatics, this also creates a barrier to the widespread use of data analysis software by investigators trained as biologists and/or clinicians. Workflow systems such as Galaxy and Taverna have been developed to try and provide generic user interfaces that can wrap command line analysis software.