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Keiko Ino,1 Sei Ogawa,1 Masaki Kondo,1 Risa Imai,1 Toshitaka Ii,1 Toshi A Furukawa,2 Tatsuo Akechi1 1Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, 2Department of Health Promotion and Human Behavior, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine/School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan Background: Panic disorder (PD) is a common disease and presents with broad dimensions of psychopathology. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is known to improve these broad dimensions of psychopathology in addition to PD symptoms. However, little is known about the predictors of treatment response in comorbid psychiatric symptoms after CBT for PD. Recent studies suggest that anxiety sensitivity (AS) may be a key vulnerability for PD. This study aimed to examine AS as a predictor of broad dimensions of psychopathology after CBT for PD. Materials and methods: In total, 118 patients with PD were treated with manualized group CBT. We used multiple regression analysis to examine the associations between 3 Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) factors (physical concerns, mental incapacitation concerns, and social concerns) at baseline and the subscales of the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) at endpoint. Results: Low levels of social concerns at baseline predicted low levels on 5 SCL-90-R subscales after CBT: interpersonal sensitivity, depression, hostility, paranoid ideation, and psychosis. High levels of mental incapacitation concerns significantly predicted low levels on 3 SCL-90-R subscales after treatment: interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and paranoid ideation. Physical concerns at baseline did not predict broad dimensions of psychopathology. Conclusion: This study suggested that the social concerns and mental incapacitation concerns subscales of the ASI at baseline predicted several dimensions of psychopathology after CBT for PD. To improve comorbid psychopathology, it may be useful to direct more attention to these ASI subscales. Keywords: panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, comorbid psychopathology, predictor, cognitive behavioral therapy

The text discusses a special issue of College English published in 1974 called "The Homosexual Imagination," which focused on homosexuality and homophobia. The special issue is being revisited and celebrated in a symposium fifty years later. The text highlights the historical context in which the special issue was published, including the Stonewall uprising and various social and cultural movements. It also acknowledges the lack of diversity in the special issue and calls for continued discussions on inclusion and intersectionality in English studies. [Extracted from the article]

This study examines the relationship between pharmacy closures and anticonvulsant prescription fills and number of days supplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Aspartate transaminase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) is an easy and useful predictor of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatic disease, and it significantly correlates with the degree of hepatic fibrosis in adult patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). This study aimed to evaluate the use of APRI in assessing the severity of MASLD in children and adolescents. Methods Medical records of 115 patients (males: 78; females: 37) with MASLD were retrospectively reviewed. The correlations between the APRI and clinical parameters that indicate the severity of MASLD were analyzed. Their ages ranged between 7.3 and 18.8 years old. Patients with hepatitis B or C infections were excluded from the study. The APRI score was calculated, and transient elastography for liver stiffness measurement (LSM) was performed for all the patients. Results The mean APRI score was 0.46 ± 0.26, ranging between 0.16 and 1.57. The LSM values ranged between 2.94 and 7.72 kPa. Body mass index-standard deviation score, transaminase levels, and HbA1c levels were higher in a group with abnormal LSM when divided into two groups according to LSM. The APRI score was greater in the group with abnormal LSM (0.40 ± 0.17 vs. 0.64 ± 0.40, P

The article discusses the organizing efforts of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Students across different cities, such as New York City, Oakland, and Chicago, walked out of schools and staged protests to demand action from adults in response to the pandemic. The young activists recognized that their collective vulnerability required them to mobilize and challenge longstanding systems of oppression. The article highlights the importance of understanding the multiple systems of oppression that exacerbated the impact of COVID-19 on marginalized communities. The conversation between the young organizers and faculty members aimed to share their experiences and knowledge with others engaged in similar struggles. The article emphasizes the need to listen to the voices of young activists and to consider their stories in local contexts. It also acknowledges the diverse perspectives and backgrounds of the authors, who draw from the Black Radical Tradition and other freedom movements. The article explores the power dynamics and limitations faced by young people in the United States, who have limited independent rights and are subject to repressive systems. It argues that childhood and adulthood are constructed and mediated by institutions such as schools, which can perpetuate racial inequities. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of solidarity and collective action in challenging oppressive systems. [Extracted from the article]

The article explores the connections between the history of slavery and plantation life in the U.S. and the contemporary practices and cultures of higher education institutions. Topics include an interpretation of African American-human structural antagonism through a study of African American feminism and the commitment of U.S. higher education to African American degradation as fundamental to maintenance of a colonial order.

In this R. Freeman Butts Lecture, the authors engage this year's AESA theme, "Dreaming of Otherwise Worlds and Alternate Nows: Unsettling Colonialisms and Racism in the Social Foundations of Education," through a set of Black knowledge traditions and schools of thought and how these implicate our ideologies about education, specifically the university, and broader concerns about life and death, freedom, insurgency, and coalitional politics. As a contribution to the undertheorized field of Black critical educational studies, we read and dialogue about the university's liberal-multicultural, so-called "anti-racist" intervention following global uprisings after George Floyd's suffering and death at the hands of a structure that invented Derek Chauvin and the state police force. We query what is to be done about the university, drawing from nearly two years of collaborative research. In this effort, we discuss Black educational study, antiblackness as a scholarly lens, and offer a way it helps us think about policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective was to identify and describe the published guidance and current academic discourse of ethical issues and standards related to the use of Social Media Research for generating patient insights for the use by health technology assessment (HTA) or health policy decisions. Methods: A scoping review of the literature was conducted in PubMed and Embase and identified 935 potential references published between January 2017 and June 2021. After title and abstract screening by three reviewers, 40 publications were included, the relevant information was extracted and data were collected in a mind map, which was then used to structure the output of the review. Results: Social Media Research may reveal new insights of relevance to HTA or health policies into patient needs, patient experiences, or patient behaviors. However, the research approaches, methods, data use, interpretation, and communication may expose those who post the data in social media channels to risks and potential harms relating to privacy, anonymity/confidentiality, authenticity, context, and rapidly changing technologies. Conclusions: An actively engaged approach to ensuring ethical innocuousness is recommended that carefully follows best practices throughout planning, conduct, and communication of the research. Throughout the process and as a follow-up, there should be a discourse with the ethical experts to maximally protect the current and future users of social media, to support their trust in the research, and to advance the knowledge in parallel to the advancement of the media themselves, the technologies, and the research tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this initiative was to examine collaboratively, in a multi-stakeholder team (health technology assessment (HTA) practitioners with patient involvement expertise, health technology industry, patient advocates, health policy experts, patient engagement experts), whether evidence generated through social media research (SMR) fills current information gaps relating to insights on specific aspects of patient experiences, preferences, or patient needs and delivers additional value to HTA. Methods: The framing of the project was done in a co-creative, deliberative multi-stakeholder process. Challenge and refinement happened through discussions with 25 independent stakeholders from HTA bodies, industry, academia, and patient advocacy. For critical themes identified during the framing phase, scoping literature reviews were performed including the state of methods and examples for the use of SMR in HTA. Results: The framing and stakeholder discussions specified a set of expectations and requirements, and the scoping reviews revealed the current state of methods and usage of SMR in health-policy decision making. Conclusions: The project concluded that SMR can contribute new, relevant evidence to HTA. It is however recommended to evolve the science through defining best practices when planning, conducting, and using SMR and to conduct multi-stakeholder pilot SMR projects to address questions relevant to current HTAs and to validate and improve the proposed practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, wherein Petitioners brought suit against the superintendent of the New York State Police for violation of their Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights when the State denied an unrestricted license to carry a firearm for failure to show proper cause. Topics discussed include insight on the cases, Heller and McDonald, defining the Second Amendment Right in Heller, and applicability of Second Amendment to State.

The article discusses resource use and costs in acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) transplantation, payment models that affect transplant centers' willingness to service the sickest patients, and the emerging trend of value-based payments that link costs to outcomes as of 2023.

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) originated in the 1960s to address a market need providing services to insurance companies in managing the newly introduced prescription drug benefits. Since then, PBMs have been expanding their roles in the prescription drug supply chain and have come under scrutiny. As of November 2021, all 50 states have enacted some form of regulation on PBMs. These state-level regulations focus on a variety of different policy levers, many of which align with advocacy efforts led by community pharmacists that focus on business transactions between pharmacies and PBMs without evidence supporting how these policies would enhance the patient experience, improve population health, lower costs, or improve the experience of health care providers. Many state policies could help increase transparency, prevent anticompetitive behavior between PBM-owned and independently-owned pharmacies, and increased accountability of PBMs to plan sponsors. However, there were no direct mechanisms to ensure that the potential benefits of these policies would ultimately be realized as savings for the health care system or consumers, improved health outcomes, or increased quality of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic evaluations typically focus solely on patient-specific costs with economic spillovers to informal caregivers less frequently evaluated. This may systematically underestimate the burden resulting from disease. Cost-of-illness (COI) analyses that identified costs borne to caregiver(s) were identified using PubMed and Embase. We extracted study characteristics, clinical condition, costs, and cost methods. To compare caregiver costs reported across studies, estimated a single 'annual caregiver cost' amount in 2021 USD. A total of 51 studies met our search criteria for inclusion with estimates ranging from $30 – $86,543. The majority (63%, 32/51) of studies estimated caregiver time costs with fewer studies reporting productivity or other types of costs. Caregiver costs were frequently reported descriptively (69%, 35/51), with fewer studies reporting more rigorous methods of estimating costs. Only 27% (14/51) of studies included used an incremental analysis approach for caregiver costs. In a subgroup analysis of dementia-focused studies (n = 16), we found the average annual cost of caregiving time for patients with dementia was $30,562, ranging from $4,914 to $86,543. We identified a wide range in annual caregiver cost estimates, even when limiting by condition and cost type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]