Optimizing Outcomes on the Health Insurance Exchanges

The success of the new health insurance exchanges will depend greatly on the quality of the enrollment decisions that consumers make. Choosing the wrong insurance product can translate into billions of dollars in wasteful spending at the national level. Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania have contributed to several studies outlining important ways that the exchanges can be made to work better for consumers—and for the larger economy.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennwhartonppi/1013/thumbnail.jp

Miniaturized and High-Throughput Assays for Analysis of T-Cell Immunity Specific for Opportunistic Pathogens and HIV

Monitoring of antigen-specific T-cell responses is valuable in numerous conditions that include infectious diseases, vaccinations, and opportunistic infections associated with acquired or congenital immune defects. A variety of assays that make use of peripheral lymphocytes to test activation markers, T-cell receptor expression, or functional responses are currently available. The last group of assays calls for large numbers of functional lymphocytes. The number of cells increases with the number of antigens to be tested. Consequently, cells may be the limiting factor, particularly in lymphopenic subjects and in children, the groups that more often require immune monitoring. We have developed immunochemical assays that measure secreted cytokines in the same wells in which peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are cultured. This procedure lent itself to miniaturization and automation. Lymphoproliferation and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) assay have been adapted to a miniaturized format. Here we provide examples of immune profiles and describe a comparison between miniaturized assays based on cytokine secretion or proliferation. We also demonstrate that these assays are convenient for use in testing antigen specificity in established T-cell lines, in addition to analysis of PBMC. In summary, the applicabilities of miniaturization to save cells and reagents and of automation to save time and increase accuracy were demonstrated in this study using different methodological approaches valuable in the clinical immunology laboratory

WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative: body mass index and level of overweight among 6-9-year-old children from school year 2007/2008 to school year 2009/2010

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe has established the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) to monitor changes in overweight in primary-school children. The aims of this paper are to present the anthropometric results of COSI Round 2 (2009/2010) and to explore changes in body mass index (BMI) and overweight among children within and across nine countries from school years 2007/2008 to 2009/2010. Methods: Using cross-sectional nationally representative samples of 6−9-year-olds, BMI, anthropometric Z-scores and overweight prevalence were derived from measured weight and height. Significant changes between rounds were assessed using variance and t-tests analyses. Results: At Round 2, the prevalence of overweight (including obesity; WHO definitions) ranged from 18% to 57% among boys and from 18% to 50% among girls; 6 − 31% of boys and 5 − 21% of girls were obese. Southern European countries had the highest overweight prevalence. Between rounds, the absolute change in mean BMI (range: from −0.4 to +0.3) and BMI-for-age Z-scores (range: from −0.21 to +0.14) varied statistically significantly across countries. The highest significant decrease in BMI-for-age Z-scores was found in countries with higher absolute BMI values and the highest significant increase in countries with lower BMI values. The highest significant decrease in overweight prevalence was observed in Italy, Portugal and Slovenia and the highest significant increase in Latvia and Norway. Conclusions: Changes in BMI and prevalence of overweight over a two-year period varied significantly among European countries. It may be that countries with higher prevalence of overweight in COSI Round 1 have implemented interventions to try to remedy this situation

Resistance to neoplastic transformation of ex-vivo expanded human mesenchymal stromal cells after exposure to supramaximal physical and chemical stress

The risk of malignant transformation of ex-vivo expanded human mesenchymal stromal cells (huMSCs) has been debated in the last years; however, the biosafety of these cells after exposure to supramaximal physical and chemical stress has never been systematically investigated. We established an experimental in vitro model to induce supramaximal physical (ionizing radiation, IR) and chemical (starvation) stress on ex-vivo expanded bone marrow (BM)-derived huMSCs and investigated their propensity to undergo malignant transformation. To this aim, we examined MSC morphology, proliferative capacity, immune-phenotype, differentiation potential, immunomodulatory properties and genetic profile before and after stressor exposure. Furthermore, we investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying MSC response to stress. MSCs were isolated from 20 healthy BM donors and expanded in culture medium supplemented with 5% platelet lysate (PL) up to passage 2 (P2). At this stage, MSCs were exposed first to escalating doses of IR (30, 100, 200 Gy) and then to starvation culture conditions (1% PL). With escalating doses of radiation, MSCs lost their typical spindle-shaped morphology, their growth rate markedly decreased and eventually stopped (at P4-P6) by reaching early senescence. Irradiated and starved MSCs maintained their typical immune-phenotype, ability to differentiate into adipocytes/osteoblasts and to inhibit mitogen-induced T-cell proliferation. The study of the genetic profile of irradiated/ starved MSCs did not show any alteration. While the induction of supramaximal stress triggered production of ROS and activation of DNA damage response pathway via multiple mechanisms, our data indicate that irradiated/starved MSCs, although presenting altered morphology/growth rate, do not display increased propensity for malignant transformation

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: a pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1,018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean SBP, mean DBP and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probit-transformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-2016, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in south Asia and in central Asia, Middle East and north Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the high-income Asia Pacific and high-income western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups

Influence of the quality implementation of a physical education curriculum on the physical development and physical fitness of children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was constructed as a comparison group pre-test/post-test quasi-experiment to assess the effect of the implementation of the PE curriculum by specialist PE teachers on children's physical development and physical fitness.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>146 classes from 66 Slovenian primary schools were assigned to quasi-test (71) and quasi-control (75) groups. Data from the SLOFIT database was used to compare the differences in physical fitness and development between groups of children whose PE lessons were delivered by specialist PE teachers from the second grade onwards (quasi-test, n = 950) or by generalist teachers in all first three grades (quasi-control, n = 994). The Linear Mixed Model was used to test the influence of specialist PE teachers' teaching.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The quasi-control group showed significantly lower improvement of physical fitness by -0.07 z-score units (95% CI -0.12 to 0.02) compared to the quasi-test group. A significant difference of -0.20 (-0.27 to -0.13) was observed in explosive strength, and of -0.15 (-0.23 to -0.08) in running speed, and in flexibility by -0.22 (-0.29 to -0.14). No significant differences in physical development were observed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Specialist PE teachers were more successful than generalist teachers in achieving greater improvement of children's physical fitness, but no differences were observed in physical development of quasi-test and quasi-control group.</p

The CrowdHEALTH project and the Hollistic Health Records: Collective Wisdom Driving Public Health Policies.

Introduction: With the expansion of available Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services, a plethora of data sources provide structured and unstructured data used to detect certain health conditions or indicators of disease. Data is spread across various settings, stored and managed in different systems. Due to the lack of technology interoperability and the large amounts of health-related data, data exploitation has not reached its full potential yet. Aim: The aim of the CrowdHEALTH approach, is to introduce a new paradigm of Holistic Health Records (HHRs) that include all health determinants defining health status by using big data management mechanisms. Methods: HHRs are transformed into HHRs clusters capturing the clinical, social and human context with the aim to benefit from the collective knowledge. The presented approach integrates big data technologies, providing Data as a Service (DaaS) to healthcare professionals and policy makers towards a "health in all policies" approach. A toolkit, on top of the DaaS, providing mechanisms for causal and risk analysis, and for the compilation of predictions is developed. Results: CrowdHEALTH platform is based on three main pillars: Data & structures, Health analytics, and Policies. Conclusions: A holistic approach for capturing all health determinants in the proposed HHRs, while creating clusters of them to exploit collective knowledge with the aim of the provision of insight for different population segments according to different factors (e.g. location, occupation, medication status, emerging risks, etc) was presented. The aforementioned approach is under evaluation through different scenarios with heterogeneous data from multiple sources

Accuracy of advanced versus strictly conventional 12-lead ECG for detection and screening of coronary artery disease, left ventricular hypertrophy and left ventricular systolic dysfunction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Resting conventional 12-lead ECG has low sensitivity for detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and low positive predictive value (PPV) for prediction of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). We hypothesized that a ~5-min resting 12-lead <it>advanced </it>ECG test ("A-ECG") that combined results from both the advanced and conventional ECG could more accurately screen for these conditions than strictly conventional ECG.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Results from nearly every conventional and advanced resting ECG parameter known from the literature to have diagnostic or predictive value were first retrospectively evaluated in 418 healthy controls and 290 patients with imaging-proven CAD, LVH and/or LVSD. Each ECG parameter was examined for potential inclusion within multi-parameter A-ECG scores derived from multivariate regression models that were designed to optimally screen for disease in general or LVSD in particular. The performance of the best retrospectively-validated A-ECG scores was then compared against that of optimized pooled criteria from the strictly conventional ECG in a test set of 315 additional individuals.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to optimized pooled criteria from the strictly conventional ECG, a 7-parameter A-ECG score validated in the training set increased the sensitivity of resting ECG for identifying disease in the test set from 78% (72-84%) to 92% (88-96%) (P < 0.0001) while also increasing specificity from 85% (77-91%) to 94% (88-98%) (P < 0.05). In diseased patients, another 5-parameter A-ECG score increased the PPV of ECG for LVSD from 53% (41-65%) to 92% (78-98%) (P < 0.0001) without compromising related negative predictive value.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Resting 12-lead A-ECG scoring is more accurate than strictly conventional ECG in screening for CAD, LVH and LVSD.</p

CM-AVM syndrome in a neonate: case report and treatment with a novel flow reduction strategy

Mutations in the RASA-1 gene underlie several related disorders of vasculogenesis. Capillary malformation-arteriovenous malformation (CM-AVM) is one such entity and was recently encountered in a neonate who demonstrated its clinical and radiologic features. A single mutation in the RASA-1 gene was detected. A novel flow reduction strategy was employed to a large AVM affecting the patient’s upper limb. The imaging findings, surgical procedure and patient’s improved post-operative state are described

In Absolute or Relative Terms? How Framing Prices Affects the Consumer Price Sensitivity of Health Plan Choice

This paper provides field evidence on (a) how price framing affects consumers' decision to switch health insurance plans and (b) how the price elasticity of demand for health insurance can be influenced by policymakers through simple regulatory efforts. In 2009, in order to foster competition among health insurance companies, German federal regulation required health insurance companies to express price differences between health plans in absolute Euro values rather than percentage point payroll tax differences. Using individual-level panel data, as well as aggregated health plan-level panel data, we find that the reform led to a sixfold increase in an individual's switching probability and a threefold demand elasticity increase