A bstract : Background: Genetic variation in the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme is associated with an aversion to alcohol and a lower risk of alcoholism among Asians. There is growing evidence of a functional role of the ADH2*2 allele in alcohol‐drinking patterns among Jews, who have traditionally exhibited low rates of alcoholism and alcohol‐related problems. The mechanism by which this allelic effect is mediated is not yet clearly understood. This study examined the effect of ADH2*2 on alcohol‐elimination rates (AER) under experimental conditions. Methods: Young adult male Jews ( N = 109) received an intravenous alcohol infusion; metabolism was measured by using standard breath alcohol concentration tests. A clamping technique was used to achieve and maintain a target breath alcohol concentration of 50 mg/100 ml for a defined time period. The AER at steady state was calculated. The alcohol disappearance rate was also calculated from the descending limb slope. Polymerase chain reaction was used for allelic determination of the ADH2 and ADH3 loci. Results: The mean AER among ADH2*2 carriers was significantly higher (8.09 ± 1.4 g/hr) than among ADH2*1 homozygotes (7.14 ± 1.5 g/hr; p = 0.003). Significance was retained on adjustment for potential confounding covariates. The ADH2 allele explains 8.5% of the AER variance in this population. Little AER difference was observed across ADH3 genotype groups. The slope of the descending limb increased with increasing copies of the ADH2*2 allele. Conclusions: The rate of alcohol elimination is significantly associated with the ADH2 genotype of Jewish males. Evidence for variation in alcohol metabolism across ADH genotypic groups provides support for the role of physiologic protective factors in alcohol drinking and suggests that reduced drinking among Jews may be genetically as well as environmentally determined. We believe that application of the novel “Indiana clamp” enhances AER measurement accuracy, allowing for detection of hitherto undetectable differences.
454 Background: Patient preference is an important factor in selecting appropriate treatment choices. Although underutilized, the standard of care for MIUC is with NAC, whereas evidence for adjuvant therapy is less clear. With the introduction of novel adjuvant treatments such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, treatment options are expected to expand. This study examines whether preferences for adjuvant therapy is impacted in MIUC patients receiving NAC. Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based survey included patients ≥ 18 years old who self-reported being diagnosed with MIUC and underwent radical cystectomy or nephroureterectomy without recurrence. Patients were recruited from the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany (May–Sep 2021). A DCE using 2 adjuvant treatment profiles included 8 attributes: cancer-free survival, overall survival (OS), hypothyroidism requiring life-long hormone therapy, risk of a serious adverse event (requiring medical intervention/possible hospitalization), nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, and a dosing regimen (frequency of treatment and monitoring); an opt-out option of no treatment was also shown. Patients were grouped according to self-reported receipt of NAC. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical Bayesian logistic model with estimated preference weights were used. Relative importance estimates (mean ± standard error), or how much the attribute ranges accounted for the variation in preferences, were computed for each attribute. Bivariate comparisons used t-tests. Results: This interim analysis identified 205 patients (70.7% of target sample; US, n = 99; Germany, n = 60; UK, n = 31; Canada, n = 14; France, n = 1). Of 82 patients (40.0%) receiving NAC, 32.7% were patients > 65 years and 55.1% were male; receipt of NAC did not differ by age ( P = 0.248) or sex ( P = 0.731). Patients were willing to accept increased risk in toxicities for increased treatment efficacy. Specifically, mean relative importance of treatment attributes showed that difference in median OS (25 months compared to 78 months) was most important (34.6% ± 1.6), although less so for those who did not receive NAC (30.2% ± 2.4 vs 37.5% ± 2.0; P = 0.022). Patients chose an adjuvant treatment option over ‘no treatment’ 91% of the time, with similar findings by NAC status. Conclusions: Preliminary data indicates that receipt of NAC impacts preferences for adjuvant treatment attributes. However, regardless of these attributes, patients still preferred adjuvant treatment over none. These results suggest that providing standard of care NAC does not reduce patient preference for adjuvant therapy; rather, patient preferences for adjuvant treatment attributes vary by treatment history, with implications for improving quality of care and outcomes.
ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTFluorinated colchicinoids: antitubulin and cytotoxic propertiesIsrael Ringel, Dena Jaffe, Sara Alerhand, Oliver Boye, Anjum Muzaffar, and Arnold BrossiCite this: J. Med. Chem. 1991, 34, 11, 3334–3338Publication Date (Print):November 1, 1991Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 1 November 1991https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jm00115a026https://doi.org/10.1021/jm00115a026research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views244Altmetric-Citations24LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose Get e-Alerts
Abstract Background Suicidal ideation (SI) affects approximately 30–40% of those with major depressive disorder (MDD). To date, studies have examined the substantial humanistic and economic burden to caregivers of persons with MDD, however little is known of the impact of caring for persons with MDD when SI is present. This study examined the additional burden imposed on caregivers for persons with unipolar depression and SI in five major European countries. Methods A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis was conducted in five European countries using 2020 Europe National Health Wellness Survey (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) to compare differences in health and economic outcomes between caregivers of adults with unipolar depression and SI (CAUD-SI) and caregivers of adults with unipolar depression without SI (CAUD-nSI). The outcomes assessed included health-related quality of life (HRQoL; Medical Outcomes Study Short Form [SF-12v2]), health status (Short-Form 6 Dimension [SF-6D], EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level [EQ-5D-5L]), Work productivity and activity impairment (WPAI) and healthcare resource utilization (HRU). Linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models adjusted for covariates were used to compare the two groups on outcomes of interest. Results Of 62,319 respondents, 0.89% ( n = 554) were CAUD-SI and 1.34% ( n = 837) were CAUD-nSI. In adjusted models, CAUD-SI reported greater humanistic burden than CAUD-nSI, with lower HRQoL (PCS: 42.7 vs. 45.0, p < 0.001 and MCS: 37.5 vs. 38.9, p = 0.007) and health status (SF-6D: 0.57 vs 0.60, p < 0.001 and EQ-5D-5L: 0.58 vs 0.66, p < 001). CAUD-SI respondents reported significantly higher economic burden than CAUD-nSI respondents for WPAI (percent activity impairment: 64.9% vs. 52.5%, p = 0.026) and HRU (provider visits: 10.0 vs. 7.9, p < 0.001, emergency room visits: 1.49 vs. 0.73, p < 0.001 and hospitalizations: 1.03 vs. 0.52, p < 0.001). Conclusion In five European countries, caregivers of adults with depression and SI experience additional humanistic and economic burden than caregivers of adults with depression and no SI. Distinguishing caregiver groupings and their unique burden provide important insights for providing targeted support and interventions for both the patient and caregiver.
Objective: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a prevalent health problem. Oral agents, with the exception of metformin, are often discontinued with the initiation of insulin. The objective was to understand the proportion of patients discontinuing dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4is) and the reasons for the decision to discontinue.Methods: A retrospective study using a health claims database investigated discontinuation of DPP-4i in adult patients on a dual therapy of metformin and DPP-4i who initiated insulin (n = 3391). An online survey administered to 406 physicians in the US examined reasons for discontinuation. Physicians surveyed included endocrinologists (34.5%), general practitioners (32.5%), internal medicine specialists (30.5%), and diabetologists (2.5%), treating a monthly average of 154 patients.Results: Among patients treated with metformin and DPP-4is who were newly prescribed insulin, 33.3 and 57.3% discontinued DPP-4i therapy within 3 and 12 months, respectively. Patients who discontinued DPP-4i therapy had higher out-of-pocket costs and a greater proportion of renal and liver disease. Top 3 responses for discontinuation included adverse events/tolerability issues (58.9%), lack of efficacy/treatment goals not being met (55.4%) and additional cost of DPP-4i with insulin (48.5%). Top 3 responses for continuing DPP-4i included meeting treatment goals (70.7%), using a lower dose of insulin (65.3%) and good tolerability (48.0%). Physician characteristics, such as physician specialty, age, gender and location impacted to some extent the reasons for treatment decisions.Conclusions: A large proportion of patients discontinue DPP-4is in the real world when initiating insulin. The impact of physician characteristics in treatment decisions highlights the need for enhanced physician training and support as new clinical data emerges and therapy options are available.
The breath analyzer is an indispensable tool for identifying alcohol levels among drivers. While numerous studies have shown high correlations between blood and breath alcohol concentrations, most are limited by the study design. This study seeks to assess this relationship by minimizing potential measurement bias, document time from alcohol consumption to testing, and adjusting for potential confounders. A blinded study was performed using conditions closely resembling those in the field. The Draeger 7110 MKIII IL breath analyzer was used to assess breath alcohol concentrations (BrAC). Participants were 61 healthy volunteers aged 21-37 years with body mass index ≤30 and no history of alcoholism. A total of 242 valid blood/breath tests were performed in four test sets. The study results showed a high correlation coefficient between BrAC and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels (r = 0.983) with high sensitivity (97%) and specificity (93%). This strong association between the breath analyzer and BAC persisted even after adjustment for various stages of alcohol absorption. These results illustrate the high diagnostic sensitivity of the breath analyzer in field-tested conditions.
