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Four more US deaths related to the coronavirus were reported in Washington state yesterday; the 2 justices appointed by President Trump to the Supreme Court will hear their first case on abortion tomorrow; Sandoz agreed to pay $195 million in a generic drug price-fixing investigation.

https://www.pharmacytimes.org/on-demand/managed-care-considerations-for-navigating-biosimilar-and-her2-directed-therapies-for-the-treatment-of-her2-positive-breast-cancer

Researchers determined that patients with Wolfram syndrome have impaired smell identification abilities and blunted perceptions of certain taste stimuli, according to a study published in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has contributed to more US patient deaths than the next 60 reportable infectious diseases combined. The United States Preventive Services Task Force has issued updated guidelines on screening for HCV that account for the larger proportion of this patient group that now includes persons who inject drugs, as well as the shift from interferon-based therapy to regimens composed of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications.

The second US Coronavirus death was reported in EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland, Washington; extended-release drugs were shown to cost almost $14 billion more than twice-a-day medications over a 5-year study; the Supreme Court plans to hear the third challenge to the Affordable Care Act in October.

In 2018, Washington, DC, saw 340 newly diagnosed cases of HIV, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The city’s rate is 5 times higher than the national rate, and it falls under the World Health Organization’s definition of an epidemic. Researchers used next-generation sequencing to gain a broader view of the disease’s dynamics in the DC area.

A recent study aiming to evaluate the impact of motor and non-motor wearing-off—a common phenomenon in Parkinson disease (PD)—found that the fluctuations have an impact on the activities of daily living and quality of life, with non-motor wearing-off having the greater impact.

A new review article shows scientific studies have consistently identified links between sleep problems and health outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Despite the apparent links, there are no screening recommendations related to sleep in patients with the disease.

A new study suggests patients whose systolic blood pressure varies significantly over time might be at greater risk of higher multiple sclerosis disability.

A man in his 50s in Washington state with underlying health conditions became the first fatality from the coronavirus in the United States, and a healthcare worker and a resident from a nursing home in the state are hospitalized, the CDC said Saturday. It is the first reported case in a healthcare worker, the CDC said.

The implementation of integrated care conferences, a daily meeting for providers to share information, can significantly reduce the length of hospital stays in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by up to 67%, according to study findings.

Barriers to better treatment start with the basic definitions of heart failure. Classifications in use for decades, such as the New York Heart Association system or the left ventricle ejection fraction measure, need an overhaul, and the field should take a precision medicine approach that brings analytics and biomarkers to the cause.

In individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson disease, Tai Chi was shown to be a potentially effective meditation technique that may slow down disease progression, according to study findings.

The Rare Genomics Institute, a nonprofit patient advocacy group, announced it will launch its new RareWear program, marking 2020’s International Rare Disease Day. The program works with patients who have rare diseases to connect them with medical device providers specializing in technology for monitoring and managing conditions. Once matched, patients will receive a device for free from medical device technology providers Bodimetrics, Biotricity, or Strados Labs.

The most popular stories of the week on AJMC®.

Screening mammography is important for reducing race- and ethnicity-associated triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) disparities among African American and white American patients. At present, there is a 40% higher mortality rate among African American women compared with white American women.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) occurs at a higher rate in individuals who have HIV compared with those who do not, and it has a global incidence of more than 380 million people. The progressive lung disease is also diagnosed at a younger age in HIV-positive persons compared with their HIV-negative counterparts, and higher rates of smoking may be to blame.

Researchers recently examined 18 diseases represented by outpatient visits to a hospital in Taiwan to determine patterns of the effect of air pollution on different organs and found evidence that concurrent occurrences of diseases show that the immune system tries to create protective defenses.

This week, top managed care stories included the United States grappling with coronavirus; oncologists warning that a new payment model represents a major shift; findings that Medicaid expansion did not always result in community investment.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Rates of opioid poisoning in children point to a greater need for mental health services among this age group to prevent suicide; lung cancer screening rates fall below recommended levels for at-risk patient groups; not all deaths from opioid-related causes are reported as such.

Sleep duration among adolescents aged 9 to 11 was shown to influence elements of mental health, including depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, and cognitive performance, according to study findings.

Updated results from the EASEL study show that lower risks of cardiovascular (CV) events, CV death, and CV mortality accompany initiation of canagliflozin, a sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and high CV risk compared with use of other drugs.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released its final evidence report on acute treatments of migraine on February 25. The Institute’s last report on migraine treatment was released in 2018.

Express Scripts’ insulin coverage decisions are questioned; the United States may have its first coronavirus case of unknown origin; obesity rates are on the rise among US adults.

For patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, higher diversity of intestinal microbiota at the time of neutrophil engraftment was linked with lower mortality, according to study findings published today.

Researchers determined 2 aspects of Epstein-Barrvirus, levels of anti–Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen-1 antibodies and history of infectious mononucleosis, act together and independently to increase risk of multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in Frontiers in Neurology.

In nonprofit hospitals within states that expanded Medicaid, significant decreases in uncompensated care was reported, with additional increases in unreimbursed Medicaid expenses indicating that Medicaid expansion had no substantial effect on community benefit spending.