Factors associated with placebo response rate in randomized controlled trials of antiseizure medications for focal epilepsy.

Objective: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of novel treatments for epilepsy. However, there have been concerning increases in the placebo responder rate over time. To understand these trends, we evaluated features associated with increased placebo responder rate.

Changes in US drinking and alcohol use disorders associated with social, health, and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic increased alcohol consumption in the USA as a result of widespread individual changes in drinking patterns. Few studies have utilized longitudinal data allowing the prediction of increased or decreased drinking from COVID-19 economic, social, and health impacts.

Methods: Data are from 1819 respondents in the 2019-20 National Alcohol Survey and a one-year follow-up in early 2021.

Global airway disease: mepolizumab simultaneously improves outcomes in severe CRSwNP and asthma.

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) often co-exists with asthma and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug- exacerbated respiratory disease (N-ERD), creating a more severe phenotype and an additional burden compared with CRSwNP disease alone (1-3). The relationship between these diseases in terms of shared immunological disbalance has been coined in the literature as 'global airway disease' or 'unified airway disease' and requires integrated treatment strategies (4-6). Our post hoc analysis of the Phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre SYNAPSE study (GSK ID: 205687; NCT03085797 (7)) assessed the efficacy of mepolizumab, an anti-interleukin-5 monoclonal antibody, in simultaneously improving both CRSwNP and asthma outcomes versus placebo.

Microglial lipid phosphatase SHIP1 limits complement-mediated synaptic pruning in the healthy developing hippocampus.

The gene inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase D (INPP5D), which encodes the lipid phosphatase SH2-containing inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1), is associated with the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). How it influences microglial function and brain physiology is unclear. Here, we showed that SHIP1 was enriched in early stages of healthy brain development.

Does cannabis substitute or complement alcohol after recreational cannabis legalization in the Washington State? A three-level mixed-effects modeling.

Background: Whether cannabis substitute or complement alcohol remains inconclusive. Little is known about the daily-level associations between cannabis and alcohol use by cannabis user type (medical vs. recreational use) in people who use alcohol and cannabis within a legalized environment.