L Keoki Williams

..Asthma is an inflammatory condition often punctuated by episodic symptomatic worsening, and accordingly, patients with asthma might have waxing and waning adherence to controller therapy...

..A need exists to develop a compelling "business case" from the employer perspective to put, and keep, the issue of racial/ethnic disparities in health care on the quality improvement agenda for health plans and providers...

..However, overall adherence is poor among patients with asthma. Objective To estimate the proportion of poor asthma-related outcomes attributable to ICS nonadherence...

..Environmental stressors, such as crime exposure, which has been associated with asthma morbidity, might also predict ICS adherence...

..Inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) nonadherence is common among patients with asthma; however, interventions to improve adherence have often been complex and not easily applied to large patient populations...

..Early childhood fevers appear to protect against later allergies and asthma. What is not known is the time in which fevers exert this effect and whether the degree of temperature increase is important...

..To summarize the existing literature on the association of endotoxin with respiratory diseases and allergic sensitization and to review the potentially modifying effects of endotoxin receptor polymorphisms...

..Previously, we described gene-environment interactions between the endotoxin receptor polymorphism C-260T of the CD14 gene and endotoxin exposure on total serum IgE level; however, the mechanism of this interaction is not known...

..Adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) is known to be poor among patients with asthma; however, little is known about patients who do not fill their ICS prescriptions (ie, primary nonadherence)...

..Furred pets might also influence IgE levels through their effects on endotoxin levels. However, how these factors interact to influence total IgE levels is not well known, especially in adults...

..This study compared the number of care-related injuries reported to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) with the number reported to 15 mandatory-reporting states...

..Many allergic conditions occur more frequently in African American patients when compared with white patients; however, it is not known whether this represents genetic predisposition or disparate environmental exposures...

..Adherence to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) medication is known to be low overall, but tends to be lower among African-American patients when compared with white patients...

..The increase in pediatric allergy and asthma parallels the increase in use of antibiotics. Antibiotics disturb the flora of the gastrointestinal tract, possibly perturbing the developing immune system...

..Breastfeeding provides the best possible nutrition for newborns, but its role in the development of allergies is complex...

..Itemized expenses are presented to facilitate modifications to reduce costs. This information may benefit providers, researchers, or administrators targeting similar populations...

..Safety concerns surround the use of long-acting β-agonists (LABAs) for the treatment of asthma, even in combination with inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) and particularly in high-risk subgroups...

..Dual-specificity phosphatase 1 (DUSP1) appears to mediate the anti-inflammatory action of corticosteroids...

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..Clinicians should be aware of this association when considering TZD therapy so as to appropriately manage and counsel their patients...

..Abnormal baseline and acutely worsening renal function (WRF) during heart failure hospitalization are associated with worse outcomes. However, which renal criterion is most predictive of in-hospital and postdischarge mortality is uncertain...

..To determine the relationships between BMI and workforce participation and the presence of work limitations in a U.S. working-age population...

..Particular attention may be warranted to ensure that patients with diabetes receive lipid-lowering agents not only after a cardiovascular event but also before such an event occurs...

..This study assessed the effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention to improve both medication adherence and blood pressure control and to reduce cardiovascular events...

..US national guidelines recommend assessing short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) medication use as a marker of asthma severity and control. However, the relationship between recent SABA use and asthma exacerbations is not currently known...

..Blockers (BB) are a mainstay of heart failure (HF) treatment, yet there are inconclusive data regarding their efficacy in African American individuals...

..55; 95% CI, 0.31-0.97) per episode. CONCLUSION: This study provides direct support for the hygiene hypothesis because children with fevers before age 1 year were less likely to demonstrate allergic sensitivity at age 6 to 7 years...

..It is unclear whether this increased risk solely represents differences in environmental exposures and health care or whether there is a predisposing genetic component...

..Once causative factors at each level of disease prevention are understood, this knowledge can be translated into clinical practice and public health policy...

..In conclusion, ezetimibe appeared to have a protective effect on major AD events and all-cause death that was not significantly different from that observed for statin use...

..We assessed whether completing an asthma-specific PIM resulted in improved patient outcomes...

..The present study was conducted to determine whether pharmacy claims-based measures of medication adherence are associated with clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes...

..The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the effect of diabetes on labor market outcomes...

..Analyses conducted in 2004-2005 of patient-physician CRC screening discussion content and its association with screening use are described...

..The aim of this study was to compare the benefit of beta-blockers (BB) in heart failure (HF) with preserved versus reduced ejection fraction (EF)...

..Although several predictors of non-adherence have been assessed, more research is needed on patients' beliefs about God and how these relate to medication use...

..Yet, there are few comparisons of the various claims data criteria (also known as claims signatures) for identifying HF patients. We compared various HF claim signatures to assess their relative accuracy...

..In the year 2050 an estimated 1.46 million U.S. adults will not be working; 597,000 will be work disabled; and 780,000 will have work limitations as a result of diabetes...

..09, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.24). In conclusion, in patients surviving hospitalization for HF, WRF was associated with increased long-term mortality and rehospitalization, particularly if renal function did not recover by the time of discharge...

..African American patients disproportionately experience uncontrolled asthma. Treatment with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) is considered first-line therapy for persistent asthma...

..The authors estimated the annual and 5-year colorectal carcinoma screening procedure use among a cohort of primary care patients and evaluated the correlation between patient characteristics and the use of screening procedures...

..Recent data has disputed this assertion. We examined the differences in the diagnosis of asthma using these two methods...

..This study examines whether leptin levels, independent of body mass and insulin resistance, are a risk factor for hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy...

..Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the hypothesis that the components of the metabolic syndrome are manifestations of a single common factor...

..Although visual analog scales (VAS) have been used frequently in outcomes research, there is little evidence regarding the validity of this scale for measuring medication adherence...

..Female asthmatics may be insulated from the deleterious effects of the 818T allele by estrogen-mediated upregulation in BK channel activity...

..3% vs 15.8%; P = .34). CONCLUSIONS: Low serum IgE levels were relatively common in these pregnant women. In contrast to previous studies, a low IgE level was not associated with chronic rhinosinusitis...

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..Epidemiologic data on allergic rhinitis and asthma are frequently based on self-reported symptoms...

..24 (95% CI 1.01-1.52, p = 0.045). Higher levels of physical activity were related to more diagnosed asthma...

..001) and IgM seropositivity (P=.007). New laboratory techniques facilitate outbreak investigation; to expedite outbreak interruption and measure the impact of travel-associated legionellosis, surveillance must be improved...

..Analyses will control for cluster randomization effects. The introduction of sustainable medication adherence monitoring in clinical practice holds great potential to improve health outcomes among patients with diabetes. ..

..Knowledge gained from this study may help clinicians select asthma treatments most likely to work for their patients, as well as provide insight for future asthma therapeutics. ..

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..It is the hoped that understanding the mechanism of endotoxin's effect will establish new targets for the prevention of allergies. ..

..Knowledge gained from this study may help clinicians select asthma treatments most likely to work for their patients, as well as provide insight for future asthma therapeutics. ..