01 Jun
In a real-world example, Dr. Wayne Lednar, vice president and director of Eastman Kodak’s Corporate Medical Division, focused on disease management as one of the initiatives that his company is undertaking. He emphasized that disease management in corporate America is often independent from the clinical improvement and process measures. The “missing piece” in disease management is the measure of return to work, and it should be an integral part of every patient’s therapeutic plan. He argued that “usual and customary” disease-management programs (e.g., programs to manage asthma, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and coronary artery disease) need to be expanded to include other productivity-reducing diseases (e.g., migraine and arthritis), whereas problems such as alcohol abuse, hearing and vision loss, which are not often incorporated into disease-management programs, should be managed as well.
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31 May
The number of “baby-boomers,” often defined as persons born during the period from 1946 to 1964, peaked at almost 79 million in the 2000 U.S. Census. As this massive group dominates the population within the U.S., important issues relating to productivity are arising along with imminent changes in the labor force caused by the exit of this population from the workforce. Consequently, American employers are beginning to think in terms of “human capital.” As human resources become scarcer and knowledge-based work and expedited production demands increase, the health and wellness of employees become even more vital to businesses. As historical performance gains through capital investments and training are maximized, the new realm of enhanced productivity will focus on improving employees’ health and functioning and on decreasing lost productivity as health-related, cost-containment strategies.
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30 May
There are several contraindications for the use of FluMist™:
1. Under no circumstances should the vaccine be administered parenterally.
2. Individuals with a history of hyper-sensitivity—especially anaphylactic reactions—to any component of Flu-Mist™, including eggs or egg products, should not receive this vaccine.
3. FluMist™ should not be given to children (ages five to 17) who are receiving aspirin or aspirin-containing therapy.
4. People with a history of Guillain-Barre syndrome should not receive the vaccine.
5. As with other live vaccines, FluMist™ should not be administered to individuals with known or suspected immune deficiency diseases (e.g., combined immunodeficiency, agammaglobulin-emia, and thymic abnormalities or conditions such as human immunodeficiency virus infection, malignancy, leukemia, or lymphoma).
6. FluMist™ should not be given to patients with immunosuppression or altered or compromised immune status as a consequence of treatment with systemic corticosteroids, alkylating drugs, antimetabolites, radiation, or other immunosuppressive therapies.
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29 May
A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of FluMist™ in reducing influenza illness during a seven-week, site-specific peak outbreak period. The trial included 3,920 healthy adults aged 18 to 49 throughout the U.S. who were randomly selected to receive the vaccine or a placebo (in a ratio of 2:1).
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28 May
FluMist™ is an intranasal, live, attenuated, trivalent, cold-adapted, and temperature-sensitive vaccine. The immune mechanisms that confer protection against influenza following administration of this vaccine are not fully understood, and naturally acquired immunity to wild-type influenza has not been completely clarified. It is possible that serum antibodies, mucosal antibodies, and influenza-specific T cells might be involved in the prevention of and recovery from infection. Vaccination with FluMist™ has been demonstrated to induce influenza strain-specific serum antibod-ies.
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27 May
INTRODUCTION
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an acute, contagious, and self-limited disease that directly affects the respiratory tract. Approximately 10% to 20% of Americans experience illness because of influenza each year, resulting in a significant loss in work and productivity that directly and indirectly translates into financial costs. Each year, from $3 billion to $15 billion is spent on total health care costs arising from influenza, and 70 million workdays and 38 million school days are missed.
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26 May
A substantial risk of relapse is associated with the discontinuation of antidepressant therapy after the acute symptoms of a depressive episode resolve. It is widely recognized that an additional four to six months of continued treatment is needed to consolidate patient response and to prevent relapse. Rapaport et al. conducted a multicenter trial to determine whether tablet escitalopram could help prevent a recurrence of depression. During the open-label phase of the trial, depressed outpatients who had previously completed eight weeks of randomized, double-blind continuation therapy with esci-talopram, citalopram canadian, or placebo received eight weeks of treatment with escitalopram 10 to 20 mg/day. During the double-blind phase, 274 responders from the open-label phase (MADRS scores 12 or higher) were randomly assigned to receive 36 weeks of treatment with either escitalopram (n = 181) or placebo (n = 93). Relapse was defined as a MADRS score of 22 or higher or withdrawal from the study because of a lack of therapeutic response.
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