Essential Medicines in Universal Health Coverage: A Scoping Review of Public Health Law Interventions and How They Are Measured in Five Middle-Income Countries.

Very few studies exist of legal interventions (national laws) for essential medicines as part of universal health coverage in middle-income countries, or how the effect of these laws is measured. This study aims to critically assess whether laws related to universal health coverage use five objectives of public health law to promote medicines affordability and financing, and to understand how access to medicines achieved through these laws is measured. This comparative case study of five middle-income countries (Ecuador, Ghana, Philippines, South Africa, Ukraine) uses a public health law framework to guide the content analysis of national laws and the scoping review of empirical evidence for measuring access to medicines.

Upregulation of MLK4 promotes migratory and invasive potential of breast cancer cells.

Metastasis to distant organs is a major cause for solid cancer mortality, and the acquisition of migratory and invasive phenotype is a key factor in initiation of malignancy. In this study we investigated the contribution of Mixed-Lineage Kinase 4 (MLK4) to aggressive phenotype of breast cancer cells. Our TCGA cancer genomic data analysis revealed that amplification or mRNA upregulation of MLK4 occurred in 23% of invasive breast carcinoma cases.

A Targeted Inhibitor of the Alternative Complement Pathway Accelerates Recovery From Smoke-Induced Ocular Injury.

Purpose: Morphologic and genetic evidence exists that an overactive complement system driven by the complement alternative pathway (AP) is involved in pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Smoking is the only modifiable risk factor for AMD. As we have shown that smoke-related ocular pathology can be prevented in mice that lack an essential activator of AP, we ask here whether this pathology can be reversed by increasing inhibition in AP.

MYC gene rearrangements detected by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of lymphoma, including approximately 30-40% of all B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHL). Chromosomal translocations are the hallmark of genetic aberrations in B-lymphoma and are often associated with a specific subtype of B-NHL. MYC gene dysregulation due to chromosomal translocations is characteristic for the most cases of Burkitt's lymphoma.