556 research outputs found

    Patient-reported outcomes: pathways to better health, better services, and better societies

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordWhile the use of PROs in research is well established, many challenges lie ahead as their use is extended to other applications. There is consensus that health outcome evaluations that include PROs along with clinician-reported outcomes and administrative data are necessary to inform clinical and policy decisions. The initiatives presented in this paper underline evolving recognition that PROs play a unique role in adding the patient perspective alongside clinical (e.g., blood pressure) and organizational (e.g., admission rates) indicators for evaluating the effects of new products, selecting treatments, evaluating quality of care, and monitoring the health of the population. In this paper, we first explore the use of PRO measures to support drug approval and labeling claims. We critically evaluate the evidence and challenges associated with using PRO measures to improve healthcare delivery at individual and population levels. We further discuss the challenges associated with selecting from the abundance of measures available, opportunities afforded by agreeing on common metrics for constructs of interest, and the importance of establishing an evidence base that supports integrating PRO measures across the healthcare system to improve outcomes. We conclude that the integration of PROs as a key end point within individual patient care, healthcare organization and program performance evaluations, and population surveillance will be essential for evaluating whether increased healthcare expenditure is translating into better health outcomes.Jose M. Valderas was supported by an NIHR Clinician Scientist Award (NIHR/CS/010/024)

    THE CARRIAGE OF IMMUNOLOGICAL MEMORY BY SMALL LYMPHOCYTES IN THE RAT

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    Time and dosage effects of meprobamate on visual detection

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    Sixteen male subjects, 21 years and older, were run in a doubleblind own-control design under three dosages of meprobamate (400, 800 and 1600 mg) and matching placebo, to determine response curves on a visual detection task over a four and one-half hour period, from 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. To control for possible daily cycle effects two additional runs under placebo and 1600 mg meprobamate were conducted from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46406/1/213_2004_Article_BF00710913.pd

    Simple Frameshifts in MIS Postoperative Pain Management Significantly Reduce Opiate Prescriptions

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    Aims for Improvement The intervention aimed to reduce narcotics provided to patients after MIS by reducing number of narcotic prescriptions and amount prescribed by 25% without affecting patientreported pain scores Usage measured in Morphine Equivalent Doses (MED) MED and pain score assessed at 3 time points: post-op day 1 (POD1), discharge (D/C) and follow-up (FU) apt Pre- and Post-intervention cohorts - Month 1 (Pre-intervention): 21 patients and Month 2 (Post-intervention): 30 patient

    The brain as 'immunoprecipitator' of serum autoantibodies against N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor subunit NR1

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    Autoantibodies (AB) against N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit NR1 (NMDAR1) are highly seroprevalent in health and disease. Symptomatic relevance may arise upon compromised blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, it remained unknown whether circulating NMDAR1 AB appear in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Of n5271 subjects with CSF-serum pairs, 26 were NMDAR1 AB seropositive, but only 1 was CSF positive. Contrariwise, tetanus AB (non-brain-binding) were present in serum and CSF of all subjects, with CSF levels higher upon BBB dysfunction. Translational mouse experiments proved the hypothesis that the brain acts as an 'immunoprecipitator'; simultaneous injection of NMDAR1 AB and the non-brain-binding green fluorescent protein AB resulted in high detectability of the former in brain and the latter in CSF

    Distinct, IgG1-driven antibody response landscapes demarcate individuals with broadly HIV-1 neutralizing activity

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    Understanding pathways that promote HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) induction is crucial to advance bnAb-based vaccines. We recently demarcated host, viral, and disease parameters associated with bnAb development in a large HIV-1 cohort screen. By establishing comprehensive antibody signatures based on IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3 activity to 13 HIV-1 antigens in 4,281 individuals in the same cohort, we now show that the same four parameters that are significantly linked with neutralization breadth, namely viral load, infection length, viral diversity, and ethnicity, also strongly influence HIV-1-binding antibody responses. However, the effects proved selective, shaping binding antibody responses in an antigen and IgG subclass-dependent manner. IgG response landscapes in bnAb inducers indicated a differentially regulated, IgG1-driven HIV-1 antigen response, and IgG1 binding of the BG505 SOSIP trimer proved the best predictor of HIV-1 neutralization breadth in plasma. Our findings emphasize the need to unravel immune modulators that underlie the differentially regulated IgG response in bnAb inducers to guide vaccine development

    Towards the clinical implementation of pharmacogenetics in bipolar disorder.

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    BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric illness defined by pathological alterations between the mood states of mania and depression, causing disability, imposing healthcare costs and elevating the risk of suicide. Although effective treatments for BD exist, variability in outcomes leads to a large number of treatment failures, typically followed by a trial and error process of medication switches that can take years. Pharmacogenetic testing (PGT), by tailoring drug choice to an individual, may personalize and expedite treatment so as to identify more rapidly medications well suited to individual BD patients.DiscussionA number of associations have been made in BD between medication response phenotypes and specific genetic markers. However, to date clinical adoption of PGT has been limited, often citing questions that must be answered before it can be widely utilized. These include: What are the requirements of supporting evidence? How large is a clinically relevant effect? What degree of specificity and sensitivity are required? Does a given marker influence decision making and have clinical utility? In many cases, the answers to these questions remain unknown, and ultimately, the question of whether PGT is valid and useful must be determined empirically. Towards this aim, we have reviewed the literature and selected drug-genotype associations with the strongest evidence for utility in BD.SummaryBased upon these findings, we propose a preliminary panel for use in PGT, and a method by which the results of a PGT panel can be integrated for clinical interpretation. Finally, we argue that based on the sufficiency of accumulated evidence, PGT implementation studies are now warranted. We propose and discuss the design for a randomized clinical trial to test the use of PGT in the treatment of BD

    Anti-chemokine antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection correlate with favorable disease course.

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    Infection by SARS-CoV-2 leads to diverse symptoms, which can persist for months. While antiviral antibodies are protective, those targeting interferons and other immune factors are associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes. Instead, we discovered that antibodies against specific chemokines are omnipresent after COVID-19, associated with favorable disease, and predictive of lack of long COVID symptoms at one year post infection. Anti-chemokine antibodies are present also in HIV-1 and autoimmune disorders, but they target different chemokines than those in COVID-19. Finally, monoclonal antibodies derived from COVID- 19 convalescents that bind to the chemokine N-loop impair cell migration. Given the role of chemokines in orchestrating immune cell trafficking, naturally arising anti-chemokine antibodies associated with favorable COVID-19 may be beneficial by modulating the inflammatory response and thus bear therapeutic potential. One-Sentence Summary Naturally arising anti-chemokine antibodies associate with favorable COVID-19 and are predictive of lack of long COVID
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