Chinese institutional payments for publishing dermatology journal articles.

Cash prizes for academic publication were introduced by the Department of Physics at Nanjing University in the 1990s. Most Chinese universities and research institutions have established cash rewards for first authors of publications. Potential payments ranged from ~$14,000 for an original research article in JAAD to ~$2000 for a case report in JAMA Dermatology. We examined rewards for publication of academic dermatological articles in China by searching for the cash-reward policies of general and dermatology Chinese hospitals. Specific cash-rewards for publication in the top three highest impact dermatological journals were recorded and compared between two dermatological hospitals, four general hospitals, and Chinese national core journals. Rewards were based upon the Science Citation Index (SCI), impact factor (IF) and publication type. Payment policies were compared between dermatological hospital and general hospitals using the t-test. There was no statistically significant difference between the cash reward payments allotted by general versus dermatological hospitals in China (P=0.32). Chinese authors may receive monetary rewards for a publication in a top dermatology journal based upon journal impact factor and publication type. These policies motivate academic publications and provide an alternative means to reward researchers for their scientific achievements than currently practiced in the West.

Industry payments to dermatologists: updates from the 2016 open payment data.

Payments made to dermatologists by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies have become better understood following the advent of the Open Payments program. The purpose of this study was to analyze payments made to dermatologists in 2016 and evaluate trends in the payments from the previously published 2014 data.

Prescriptions for atopic dermatitis: oral corticosteroids remain commonplace.

INTRODUCTION: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by pruritic, often lichenified, patches and plaques. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Humana database, a large claim-based database encompassing more than 20 million patients under a commercial healthcare insurance plan. Our cohort included 39,526 subjects who saw a dermatologist for a primary ICD-9 diagnosis of atopic dermatitis (691.8) between the years of 2010 and 2015. Subjects were stratified according to gender, age and race. Prescribed medication lists were obtained and sorted based on potential indication for atopic dermatitis. RESULTS: The most common medications prescribed for atopic dermatitis in descending order were topical corticosteroids (60.2% of patients), oral antibiotics (17.3% of patients), antifungals (6.7% of patients), antihistamines (6.4% of patients), oral corticosteroids (5.9% of patients), calcineurin inhibitors (2.3% of patients) and emollients (1.2% of patients). Males ages 20-39 and 40-59 had the highest rates of oral steroids prescribed, at 9.2% and 9.8% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Presumably, individuals who are prescribed multiple courses of oral corticosteroids over time have severe atopic dermatitis with recalcitrance to other options. Given the side effect profile of oral corticosteroids, steroid-sparing systemic agents may be a better long-term option in the absence of contraindications.

[Limitations in the histopathologic diagnosis and prognosis of neuroblastoma]. / Limite în diagnosticul histopatologic si prognosticul neuroblastoamelor.

Neuroblastoma is the most common nonhematopoietic solid tumor of childhood and has been intensively studied for at least 4 decades. Despite this, few predictive histopathologic clues to its behavior exist. Ages, anatomic sites of occurrence, histopathology of the tumor and clinical stage have traditionally been the only reliable prognostic factors in this disease. In the present study we analyzed these prognostic factors in 72 neuroblastic tumors and our histopathological possibilities of diagnosis.