Policy implications of integrating buprenorphine/naloxone treatment and HIV care

Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have long recognized the potential benefits of providing integrated substance abuse and medical care services, particularly for special populations such as people living with HIV/AIDS. Buprenorphine, an office-based pharmacological treatment for opioid dependence, offers new opportunities for integrating drug treatment into HIV care settings. However, the historical separation between the drug treatment and medical care systems has resulted in a host of policy barriers. The Buprenorphine and HIV Care Evaluation and Support initiative, a multisite demonstration project to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating buprenorphine/naloxone into HIV care settings, provided an opportunity to evaluate if and how policy barriers affect efforts to integrate HIV care and addiction treatment. We found that financing issues, workforce and training issues, and the operational consequences of some conceptual differences between HIV care and addiction treatment are barriers to the full integration of buprenorphine into HIV care. We recommend changes to financing and reimbursement policies, programs to strengthen the addiction treatment skills of physicians, and cross training between the fields of addiction, medicine, drug treatment, and HIV medicine. By addressing some of the policy barriers to integration, this promising new treatment can help the thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS who are also opioid dependent.     

Limb–body wall defect. Is there a defensible hypothesis and can it explain all the associated anomalies?

Aside from gastroschisis and omphalocele, major defects of the ventral body (thoracoabdominal) wall are relatively uncommon and almost universally lethal. They are most often associated with other anomalies including those of the limbs that may range from amelia to mild positional deformations, unusual craniofacial malformations, and a variety of visceral abnormalities that include the heart, lungs, genitourinary system, and gut. This complex of ventral wall anomalies has been discussed under a broad and changing nomenclature that has included amniotic band disruption complex, amnion rupture sequence, limb-body wall defect (or complex), and simply body wall complex. Three major theories have been suggested to explain this complex: early amnion rupture (operating through uterine pressure and/or disruption by amniotic bands), vascular compromise (primarily hypoperfusion), and an early intrinsic defect of the developing embryo. We present four patients that illustrate the spectrum of ventral body wall defects, and from there critique the current hypotheses of pathogenesis. We conclude that this association of malformations originates as early as the embryonic disc stage, and that some of the observed associated anomalies are secondary complications of the primary disturbance in embryogenesis. We propose a new explanation for the atypical facial clefts and cranial malformations that are often observed.     

Familial 9q22.3 microduplication spanning PTCH1 causes short stature syndrome with mild intellectual disability and dysmorphic features

Partial trisomy 9q involving the duplication of band 9q22 is manifested by a constellation of symptoms including short stature, intellectual disability, microcephaly, pyloric stenosis, facial dysmorphism, and various defects of the heart, distal extremities, eyes, thyroid, and esophagus. In three family members with growth retardation, mild intellectual disability, and mild facial dysmorphism, array-based comparative genomic hybridization analyses showed a familial microduplication at 9q22.3. On the basis of the described functions of the duplicated genes, PTCH1 represents a candidate gene that may be responsible for the phenotypic findings, although the 14 other genes in this duplicated segment may also contribute to the phenotype. The current report provides evidence to support a specific phenotype associated with a 9q22.3 microduplication and confirm localization of a subset of the trisomy 9q phenotype to this chromosomal region.     

Analysis of the influence of rotator cuff impingements on upper limb kinematics in an elderly population during activities of daily living

Background

Despite a high prevalence of rotator cuff impingements or tears in the elderly population, little research has focused on how this injured population adapts to perform tasks of daily living. The current study investigated the influence of rotator cuff impingements in this population on kinematics and shoulder loading differences, while completing activities of daily living.

Methods

Upper limb and trunk movement was measured for thirteen asymptomatic elderly and ten elderly subjects with rotator cuff impingements during five range of motion tasks and six activities of daily living. Thoracohumeral kinematics was derived from this data.

Findings

Symptomatic populations showed significantly decreased ranges of flexion/extension, abduction and internal and external rotation when compared to the asymptomatic population. The asymptomatic population had a 44% larger range of angle of elevation than the symptomatic population. Task was found to be a main effect for most variables examined including angle of elevation. Participants with impingements had significantly lower ranges of humeral rotations during the tasks with ranges of 40° (SD 40°) and 51° (SD 36°) respectively. Perineal care, hair-combing and reaching tasks were the most demanding in terms of the required range of motion. The reaching tasks resulted in the highest shoulder moment.

Interpretation

Developing adaptations for perineal care, hair-combing and reaching tasks should be prioritized when working with persons with rotator cuff impingements, as these tasks demanded the largest ranges of motion while producing high shoulder moments. Substantial differences existed between the experimental groups for a number of kinematic measures.     

Preventing and detecting malaria infections

This article reviews key facts about malaria to enhance prevention work and to promote the early diagnosis, treatment, and reporting of this complex disease.     

Expanding poststroke depression research: movement toward a dyadic perspective

Research on depression following stroke has traditionally been oriented toward understanding the experiences of individual survivors or their spousal caregivers outside of the context of their committed relationship. Moving toward a dyadic orientation to the problem of poststroke depression, in which the stroke survivor-spouse dyad is viewed as the primary unit of analysis, will open the door to new lines of inquiry and may eventually lead to more effective treatments for survivors and their spouses. The first half of this article discusses the rationale for moving poststroke depression research toward a more dyadic perspective and highlights current efforts in this area. The second half of this article discusses some methodological challenges associated with dyadic data and the practical benefits of one statistical methodology, multilevel modeling, for examining depression in survivor-stroke dyads.     

Economic evaluation of palivizumab in children with congenital heart disease: a Canadian perspective

Background

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of bronchiolitis in infants. In children with congenital heart disease (CHD), it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Palivizumab is a monoclonal antibody that reduces the number of RSV-associated hospitalizations in children with CHD. We sought to assess cost savings and cost-effectiveness of palivizumab in children < 2 years old with hemodynamically significant CHD in a provincially administered RSV prophylaxis program.

Methods

A cohort of children who received palivizumab (N = 292) from 2003-2007 was compared to a historical cohort of children (N = 412) from 1998-2003 who met the eligibility criteria for palivizumab prior to initiation of the prophylaxis program. Direct and indirect costs and benefits were determined.

Results

The direct and indirect costs in the historical cohort were $838 per patient season compared to $9130 per patient season in the palivizumab cohort. Risk of admission was reduced by 42%, and days in hospital were reduced by 83%. The incremental cost of the RSV prophylaxis program was $8292 per patient for 1 RSV season. The incremental cost to prevent 1 day of hospitalization was $15,514. The cost of palivizumab accounted for 87.9% of the cost of prophylaxis.

Conclusions

Palivizumab is clinically effective; however, the cost was exceptionally high relative to the outcomes in this population. Given the financial constraints in a public health care setting, more strict criteria for patient selection or reduced drug costs would improve the cost-effectiveness of RSV prophylaxis.     

The Effect of Medication Samples on Self-Reported Prescribing Practices: A Statewide,Cross-Sectional Survey

Background  

The pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars annually to encourage clinicians to prescribe their medications. Small studies have demonstrated that one of the marketing strategies, the distribution of free sample medications, is associated with increased use of brand name medication over generic medication.     

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A2 (PAPP-A2): tissue expression and biological consequences of gene knockout in mice

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A2 (PAPP-A2) is a novel homolog of PAPP-A in the metzincin superfamily. However, compared with the accumulating data on PAPP-A, very little is known about PAPP-A2. In this study, we determined the tissue expression pattern of PAPP-A2 mRNA in wild-type (WT) mice and characterized the phenotype of mice with global PAPP-A2 deficiency. Tissues expressing PAPP-A2 in WT mice were more limited than those expressing PAPP-A. The highest PAPP-A2 mRNA expression was found in the placenta, with abundant expression in fetal, skeletal, and reproductive tissues. Heterozygous breeding produced the expected Mendelian distribution for the pappa2 gene and viable homozygous PAPP-A2 knockout (KO) mice that were normal size at birth. The most striking phenotype of the PAPP-A2 KO mouse was postnatal growth retardation. Male and female PAPP-A2 KO mice had 10 and 25-30% lower body weight, respectively, than WT littermates. Adult femur and body length were also reduced in PAPP-A2 KO mice, but without significant effects on bone mineral density. PAPP-A2 KO mice were fertile, but with compromised fecundity. PAPP-A expression was not altered to compensate for the loss of PAPP-A2 expression, and proteolysis of PAPP-A2's primary substrate, IGF-binding protein-5, was not altered in fibroblasts from PAPP-A2 KO embryos. In conclusion, tissue expression patterns and biological consequences of gene KO indicate distinct physiological roles for PAPP-A2 and PAPP-A in mice.