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Pharmacogenomics involving NSAID-Induced Second Gastrointestinal Poisoning.
RESULTS Currently, eHealth tools are continuously used by vulnerable groups but to a small extent. eHealth tools that use multimodal content (such as videos) and have the possibility for direct communication with providers show improved adherence among vulnerable groups. CONCLUSIONS eHealth tools that use multimodal content and provide the possibility for direct communication with providers have a higher adherence among vulnerable groups. However, most of the eHealth tools are not embedded within the health care system. They are usually focused on specific problems, such as diabetes or obesity. Hence, they do not provide comprehensive services for patients. This limits the use of eHealth tools as a replacement for existing health care services. ©Jelena Arsenijevic, Lars Tummers, Niels Bosma. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http//www.jmir.org), 06.02.2020.BACKGROUND In Canada, 11.5% to 15.7% of couples suffer from infertility. Anovulation, or failed ovulation, is one of the main causes of infertility in women. In Quebec, the treatment for ovulation induction and other services related to assisted reproductive technology (ART) have been partially reimbursed by the government since 2010. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the willingness to pay (WTP) of women of childbearing age to receive drug treatment in the event of failed ovulation according to 3 different contingent valuation methods. METHODS The following elicitation techniques were used simple bid price dichotomous choice (DC), followed by an open-ended question (DC-OE), and a simplified multiple-bounded discrete choice (MBDC). Each participant was randomly assigned to 1 of 3 elicitation techniques. Bid prices ranged from Can $200 to Can $5000. Of the 7 bid prices, 1 was randomly proposed to each participant in the DC and DC-OE groups. For the DC-OE group, if the answer to the DC bid price was no, res22, respectively. The 3 elicitation techniques provided WTP value differences that were statistically significant (P less then .01). The MBDC was the most accurate method, with a lower confidence interval (Can $557) and a lower (CI/mean) ratio (0.34). CONCLUSIONS A positive WTP for ovulation induction was found in Quebec. Adding a follow-up question resulted in more accurate WTP values. The MBDC technique provided a more accurate estimate of the WTP with a smaller and, therefore, more efficient confidence interval. To help decision making and improve the effectiveness of the fiscal policy related to the ART program, the WTP value elicited with the MBDC technique should be used. ©Aissata G Dieng, Jie He, Thomas G Poder. Originally published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research (http//www.i-jmr.org/), 08.02.2020.BACKGROUND Telemonitoring (TM) can improve heart failure (HF) outcomes by facilitating patient self-care and clinical decisions. The Medly program enables patients to use a mobile phone to record daily HF readings and receive personalized self-care messages generated by a clinically validated algorithm. The TM system also generates alerts, which are immediately acted upon by the patients' existing care team. This program has been operating for 3 years as part of the standard of care in an outpatient heart function clinic in Toronto, Canada. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the 6-month impact of this TM program on health service utilization, clinical outcomes, quality of life (QoL), and patient self-care. METHODS This pragmatic quality improvement study employed a pretest-posttest design to compare 6-month outcome measures with those at program enrollment. The primary outcome was the number of HF-related hospitalizations. Secondary outcomes included all-cause hospitalizations, emergency department visitsting care team, can reduce health service utilization and improve clinical, QoL, and patient self-care outcomes. ©Patrick Ware, Heather J Ross, Joseph A Cafazzo, Chris Boodoo, Mikayla Munnery, Emily Seto. selleck chemicals Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http//www.jmir.org), 01.02.2020.BACKGROUND The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently mandated that all hospitals publish their charge description masters (CDMs) online, in a machine-readable format, by January 1, 2019. In addition, CMS recommended that CDM data be made available in a manner that was consumer friendly and accessible to patients. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to (1) examine all hospitals across the state of Pennsylvania to understand policy compliance and (2) use established metrics to measure accessibility and consumer friendliness of posted CDM data. METHODS A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to quantify hospital website compliance with the recent CMS policies requiring hospitals to publish their CDM. Data were collected from all Pennsylvania hospital websites. Consumer friendliness was assessed based on searchability, number of website clicks to data, and supplemental educational materials accompanying CDMs such as videos or text. RESULTS Most hospitals (189/234, 80.1%) were compliant, but significant variation in data presentation was observed. The mean number of website clicks to the CDM was 3.7 (SD 1.3; range 1-8). A total of 23.1% of compliant hospitals provided no supplemental educational material with their CDM. CONCLUSIONS Although disclosure of charges has improved, the data may not be sufficient to meaningfully influence patient decision making. ©Cody Lendon Mullens, J Andres Hernandez, Evan D Anderson, Lindsay Allen. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (http//medinform.jmir.org), 07.02.2020.Polyploidization, the increase in genome copies, is considered a major driving force for speciation. We have recently provided the first direct in planta evidence for polyspermy induced polyploidization. Capitalizing on a novel sco1-based polyspermy assay, we here show that polyspermy can selectively polyploidize the egg cell, while rendering the genome size of the ploidy-sensitive central cell unaffected. This unprecedented result indicates that polyspermy can bypass the triploid block, which is an established postzygotic polyploidization barrier. In fact, we here show that most polyspermy-derived seeds are insensitive to the triploid block suppressor admetos. The robustness of polyspermy-derived plants is evidenced by the first transcript profiling of triparental plants and our observation that these idiosyncratic organisms segregate tetraploid offspring within a single generation. Polyspermy-derived triparental plants are thus comparable to triploids recovered from interploidy crosses. Our results expand current polyploidization concepts and have important implications for plant breeding.
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