Databases in the Asia-Pacific Region: The Potential for a Distributed Network Approach

Background: This study describes the availability and characteristics of databases in Asian-Pacific countries and assesses the feasibility of a distributed network approach in the region. Methods: A web-based survey was conducted among investigators using healthcare databases in the Asia-Pacific countries. Potential survey participants were identified through the Asian Pharmacoepidemiology Network. Results: Investigators from a total of 11 databases participated in the survey. Database sources included four nationwide claims databases from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan; two nationwide electronic health records from Hong Kong and Singapore; a regional electronic health record from western China; two electronic health records from Thailand; and cancer and stroke registries from Taiwan. Conclusions: We identified 11 databases with capabilities for distributed network approaches. Many country-specific coding systems and terminologies have been already converted to international coding systems. The harmonization of health expenditure data is a major obstacle for future investigations attempting to evaluate issues related to medical costs.postprin

Exploiting short supports for improved encoding of arbitrary constraints into SAT

Encoding to SAT and applying a highly efficient modern SAT solver is an increasingly popular method of solving finite-domain constraint problems. In this paper we study encodings of arbitrary constraints where unit propagation on the encoding provides strong reasoning. Specifically, unit propagation on the encoding simulates generalised arc consistency on the original constraint. To create compact and efficient encodings we use the concept of short support. Short support has been successfully applied to create efficient propagation algorithms for arbitrary constraints. A short support of a constraint is similar to a satisfying tuple however a short support is not required to assign every variable in scope. Some variables are left free to take any value. In some cases a short support representation is smaller than the table of satisfying tuples by an exponential factor. We present two encodings based on short supports and evaluate them on a set of benchmark problems, demonstrating a substantial improvement over the state of the art

Serendipitous alkylation of a Plk1 ligand uncovers a new binding channel

We obtained unanticipated synthetic byproducts from alkylation of the δ[superscript 1] nitrogen (N3) of the histidine imidazole ring of the polo-like kinase-1 (Plk1) polo-box domain (PBD)-binding peptide PLHSpT. For the highest-affinity byproduct, bearing a C[subscript 6]H[subscript 5](CH[subscript 2])[subscript 8]– group, a Plk1 PBD cocrystal structure revealed a new binding channel that had previously been occluded. An N-terminal PEGylated version of this peptide containing a hydrolytically stable phosphothreonyl residue (pT) bound the Plk1 PBD with affinity equal to that of the non-PEGylated parent but showed markedly less interaction with the PBDs of the two closely related proteins Plk2 and Plk3. Treatment of cultured cells with this PEGylated peptide resulted in delocalization of Plk1 from centrosomes and kinetochores and in chromosome misalignment that effectively induced mitotic block and apoptotic cell death. This work provides insights that might advance efforts to develop Plk1 PBD-binding inhibitors as potential Plk1-specific anticancer agents.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM60594)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM68762)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant CA112967

Analyst forecasts : sales and profit margins

202208 bcfcAccepted ManuscriptSelf-fundedPublishe

High-versus-low-dose histamine-2 antagonists for the prophylaxis of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-associated gastrointestinal ulcers

Parallel Session

An investigation of the association between retinal detachment and oral fluoroquinolones: A self-controlled case series study

Conference Theme: Applying pharmacoepidemiology to improve health care in AsiaOral Presentation: Cardiovascular Issues and AntibioticsAim/Objective: To investigate the association between oral fl uoroquinolones (FQ) and retinal detachment (RD) and to estimate the absolute risk of developing RD in patients exposed to oral FQ. Methods: We performed a self-controlled case series study on Hong Kong, Taiwanese and British patients who had prescription(s) of oral FQ and RD procedure code(s) during 2001-2012; 2000-2010; and 1994-2012 respectively. Records were retrieved from the Hong Kong Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System database, the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and the United Kingdom IMS Disease Analyzer Database. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) are derived, by comparing the rate of RD during FQ exposed and non-exposed periods. Results: A total of 1,516,566 FQ prescriptions were prescribed to 836,249 patients. There were 455, 1002, 861 cases in Hong Kong, Taiwan and United Kingdom respectively. A total of 13 events were found during the FQ exposed period; and 2,305 during the non-exposed period. The adjusted IRR for patients in Hong Kong, Taiwan and United Kingdom were 1.16 (95%CI 0.36-3.75), 1.70 (0.84-3.46) and 0.65 (0.16-2.63) respectively. In the combined model, there was no statistically signifi cant association with an adjusted IRR of 1.27 (0.73-2.21). The crude absolute risk of RD whilst on oral FQ was approximately 1 per 150,000 prescriptions. Conclusion: Our study does not support the association between the use of FQ and RD. Therefore, the use of FQ should not be precluded based on the current evidence on the risk of RD. However, a further study is warranted to investigate this controversial association