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Purpose: To test the fracture resistance of maxillary canine to canine fixed partial denture with four missing incisors, with increasing anterior‐cantilevers of the pontics and varying connector sizes. Materials and methods: Two 3D‐printed titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) models mimicking a maxillary canine to canine fixed partial denture (FPD) with four pontics replacing the incisors were used as master models. Zirconia FPDs were digitally designed and milled with two different connector sizes (9 and 12 mm2) each with three different anterior cantilevers (7, 10, and 13 mm) accounting for 6 test groups. Seven samples were milled for each group generating a total of 42 samples. The zirconia FPDs were cemented on the titanium model using resin modified glass ionomer cement and the model fixated to a variable angle vice. A sinusoidal cyclic waveform load from 50 to 280N was applied using a universal testing machine at a frequency of 30 cycles per second and a total of 5 million cycles. Results: The results of Fisher's exact tests showed that the difference in the proportion of fractured versus nonfractured fixed partial dentures was not statistically significant when comparing the 9 with the 12 mm2 connector size (p = 1.00), as well as when comparing the six test groups (p = 0.2338); on the other hand, it proved to be statistically significant when comparing the 7 mm cantilever with the 10 and 13 mm cantilevers combined (p = 0.0407) indicating that a 7 mm anterior spread of the pontics showed a significantly greater proportion of fixed partial dentures that fractured. Conclusions: Fracture susceptibility was not a function of cantilever length in this testing configuration for anterior FPDs. Retainer crown thickness seems to be a more important parameter than connector size thickness. Based on the results, a smaller connector size (9 mm2) can be used to improve the esthetics of pontics in long span anterior FPDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usual view is that households who purchased at the top of the market are those most at risk of foreclosure due to price declines. Our paper shows that the presence of house price appreciation, coupled with liberal lending practices, also leads to higher risk of having negative equity, the primary driver of foreclosure. Using public record data to study Southern California borrowers actually experiencing foreclosure during 2006 - 2008, we show that 41% of them extracted equity. The borrowers who extracted lost their homes despite having, on average, 14% initial equity and 5% home value appreciation during their ownership period. In addition, low loan-to-value, price increase, young age and high income level increase propensity to extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To assess the capture of biologics (originator and biosimilar) in the Biologics and Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium (BBCIC) Distributed Research Network (DRN), with a focus on medical claim National Drug Code (NDC), a new data field, and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) modifier. Methods: We conducted a repeated cross‐sectional study among patients with medical and pharmacy benefits enrolled in insurance plans participating in the BBCIC DRN between 1 January 2013 and 30 September 2017. We calculated the proportion of medical claims with ≥1 NDC and identified select biologics using four different approaches: (a) specific HCPCS alone, (b) specific HCPCS and NDC, (c) non‐specific HCPCS with NDC, and (d) HCPCS with modifiers (applicable to biosimilars). Numbers of dispensings were calculated for each biologic by approach and select patient and claim characteristics. Results: More than 1.5 million eligible participants contributed approximately 4 million person‐years of data, including 1.2 billion medical claims. The proportion of medical claims with ≥1 NDC increased from 1.2% in 2013 to 3.0% in 2017. Medical claim NDCs identified 39% and 28% of vedolizumab dispensed in 2014 and 2015 and 30% of Epogen/Procrit dispensed overall. Out of 26,381 filgrastim biosimilar dispensings identified, 51% had a HCPCS modifier and 12% had a medical claim NDC for Zarxio. HCPCS modifiers and medical claim NDCs were present for 38% and 3% of all infliximab biosimilars dispensed (total n = 1,244). Conclusions: Medical claim NDC and HCPCS modifier improves identification of select biologics without product‐specific HCPCS code, thereby facilitating product‐specific biologic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian and U.S. real estate markets have compared similarly along dimensions such as inflation, mortgage interest rates, population and income growth and other measures. With respect to house prices, however, the series have moved in similar ways at some times, but then significantly diverged by the second quarter of 2007. For example, Canadian and U.S. house price indices reached essentially identical levels in 1987Q2, 1995Q1 and 2007Q2. As a consequence of the U.S. financial crisis and precipitous decline in house prices, the U.S. and Canadian indices have sharply diverged. Our paper examines whether or not the house price indices were driven by fundamentals during these time periods, or whether they diverged from fundamentals. We find that the U.S. house prices closely aligned with fundamentals until the mortgage markets crashed in 2008. We find that Canadian house prices continue to align with fundamentals. However, there have been some significant market changes between the two countries and key housing market measures indicate that Canadian markets are now moving along some paths similar to those taken by the U.S. prior to the crash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]