INFORMATION:
The co-authors of the study are William Huang, M.D., M.P.H., Kathryn I. Anderson, B.S., and Emily Dothard, B.S., of Wake Forest Baptist.
Wake Forest Baptist Center for Dermatology Research is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Galderma Laboratories, LP.
More than 25 percent of acne patients fail to get prescribed medications
2015-03-20
(Press-News.org) WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - March 20, 2015 - Medicine obviously can't do much good if it sits on a pharmacy shelf. Yet more than one-quarter of the acne patients surveyed by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers didn't get medications prescribed by their dermatologists.
Among the 143 acne patients who participated in the study, 27 percent failed to obtain all of their medications, including both prescription drugs and over-the-counter products. Those who were prescribed two medications had the highest rate of primary non-adherence - not getting a medication or not using it - at 40 percent, followed by those prescribed three or more medications (31 percent) and those prescribed just one (9 percent). There was no statistically significant difference in non-adherence rates by age or gender in the three treatment-number groups.
"Non-adherence is a pervasive problem in all of medicine, particularly when treating chronic conditions such as acne," said Steven R. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study, published online in the March issue of the American Medical Association journal JAMA Dermatology. "A previous study reported a 10 percent primary non-adherence rate for acne patients, so we were surprised that what we found was more than twice that."
The study's results also indicated that prescriptions for topical medications were less likely to be filled than those for oral medications; over-the-counter products were less likely to be obtained than prescription drugs; and paper prescriptions were less likely to be filled than electronic ones. These findings, however, were not statistically significant.
"The study showed that patients are more inclined to follow the treatment regimen when only one medication is prescribed," Feldman said. "Multiple agents are typically required to address the multiple factors that cause acne, but simplifying treatment regimens by prescribing products that contain two or more active ingredients could prove effective in reducing non-adherence."
The study was not designed to determine acne patients' reasons for not getting their prescriptions filled but many of the participants offered unprompted explanations, including cost, forgetfulness, having similar medication on hand, not agreeing with the prescribed treatment and improvement of the skin condition. The researchers suggested that future studies examine these factors to better understand non-adherence to prescribed treatment.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers ID potential prognostic marker for recurrence of head & neck squamous cell carcinoma
2015-03-20
Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2015 - A new study provides the first evidence that the mediator complex subunit 15 (MED15) may play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). MED15 overexpression was found to be associated with higher mortality rates in HNSCC patients with cancer recurrence, particularly in oral cavity/oropharyngeal tumors, according to the study published in The American Journal of Pathology. MED15 overexpression was also associated with heavy alcohol consumption, which is an HNSCC risk factor.
HNSCC is the sixth ...
New approach uses 'twisted light' to increase efficiency of quantum cryptography systems
2015-03-20
Researchers at the University of Rochester and their collaborators have developed a way to transfer 2.05 bits per photon by using "twisted light." This remarkable achievement is possible because the researchers used the orbital angular momentum of the photons to encode information, rather than the more commonly used polarization of light. The new approach doubles the 1 bit per photon that is possible with current systems that rely on light polarization and could help increase the efficiency of quantum cryptography systems.
Quantum cryptography promises more secure communications. ...
Nova Southeastern University researcher part of team researching DNA of tigers
2015-03-20
FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. - Tigers - they are some of nature's most beautiful, deadly and endangered species. In fact, living tigers are severely endangered in fragmented geographic areas across Asia - some reports show their numbers as low as 3,000 wild individuals. While there are efforts to help protect these magnificent creatures, more was needed in terms of research into the genetics of tigers.
Nova Southeastern University researcher Stephen O'Brien was part of a team of research scientists from China, the United Kingdom, Israel, Russia and Qatar that looked at ...
INFORMS journal: Firms don't use controversial skimming/penetration strategies to price products
2015-03-20
A new study in Marketing Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), finds that most firms do not use the skimming or penetration strategies that deliberately overprice or underprice new products.
Skimming or Penetration? Strategic Dynamic Pricing for New Products appears in the Articles in Advance Section of Marketing Science. The research was conducted by Martin Spann, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich; Marc Fischer, University of Cologne and University of Technology, Sydney; and Gerard J. Tellis, Marshall School ...
Measuring treatment response proves to be a powerful tool for guiding leukemia treatment
2015-03-20
Measuring the concentration of leukemia cells in patient bone marrow during the first 46 days of chemotherapy should help boost survival of young leukemia patients by better matching patients with the right intensity of chemotherapy. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators led the research, which appears in the March 20 edition of the journal Lancet Oncology.
The findings stem from a study of 498 children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) enrolled in a St. Jude-led protocol between 2000 and 2007. The clinical trial was the first to use ...
Researchers develop detailed genetic map of world wheat varieties
2015-03-20
MANHATTAN, Kansas -- Kansas State University scientists have released findings of a complex, two-year study of the genomic diversity of wheat that creates an important foundation for future improvements in wheat around the world.
Their work has produced the first haplotype map of wheat that provides detailed description of genetic differences in a worldwide sample of wheat lines. In genetics, a haplotype map is a powerful tool for transferring sequence-level variation to multiple gene mapping projects.
"All of these new, genomic-based strategies of breeding promise ...
Additives to biodegrade plastics don't work
2015-03-20
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Recycling plastic works; additives to biodegrade plastic do not.
A new study from Michigan State University shows that several additives that claim to break down polyethylene (i.e., plastic bags) and polyethylene terephthalate (i.e., soda bottles) simply don't work in common disposal situations such as landfills or composting.
"Making improper or unsubstantiated claims can produce consumer backlash, fill the environment with unwanted polymer debris and expose companies to legal penalties," said Susan Selke, co-author of the study and MSU packaging ...
Origins of Indo-European languages, new phonological section highlight Language issue
2015-03-20
The March 2015 issue of Language, the flagship scholarly journal of the Linguistic Society of America, is now available online:
https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/language/toc/lan.91.1.html
Highlights of the March issue include a paper on the origins of Indo-European languages which has already been the subject of significant interest, as well as the inaugural article of Language's new online section for "Phonological Analysis".
"Ancestry-constrained phylogenetic analysis supports the Indo-European steppe hypothesis", by Will Chang, Chundra Cathcart, David Hall and Andrew ...
UN urged to ensure open access to plant genomes: ANU media release
2015-03-20
A plant scientist from The Australian National University (ANU) has called for the United Nations to guarantee free and open access to plant DNA sequences to enable scientists to continue work to sustainably intensify world food production.
Dr Norman Warthmann, a plant geneticist at the ANU Research School of Biology, has lodged a submission with the UN, which is currently considering issues to include in its 2015 Global Sustainable Development Report.
Food security depends on an acceleration in plant breeding, which could be threatened by private companies restricting ...
First blood test for osteoarthritis could soon be available
2015-03-20
The first blood test for osteoarthritis could soon be developed, thanks to research by the University of Warwick.
The research findings could potentially lead to patients being tested for osteoarthritis and diagnosed several years before the onset of physical symptoms.
Conducted by the University's Medical School, the research identified a biomarker linked to both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
Whilst there are established tests for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the newly identified biomarker could lead to one which can diagnose both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis ...