ABSTRACT
Measurement of psoriasis disease severity and effectiveness of treatment involves both objective and subjective assessments.1 Comparing the efficacy of different treatments is complicated by the use of different metrics for measuring outcomes.2 Because these measures are not used routinely in clinical practice, interpreting these data, in particular assessing the degree of clinically meaningful improvement, is difficult. The drug approval process and product labeling reflect historical changes in standards of efficacy measurement.3 This paper reviews the metrics used to evaluate psoriasis treatment and compares available information on approved treatments for severe psoriasis. It further attempts to elucidate the value of these metrics and provide some guidance in properly evaluating the relative efficacy of current proven therapy with new treatments. While clinical trials are somewhat artificial, they provide proof that a drug is more effective than placebo. Efficacy in clinical practice, however, may be very different from the clinical trial setting. Comparison of efficacy under the current circumstances of varying evaluative metrics scales is possible with proper knowledge of the functionality of these methods.
Subject(s)
Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Psoriasis/drug therapy , Severity of Illness Index , Clinical Trials as Topic , Humans , Quality of Life , Remission InductionABSTRACT
This paper proposes a model for the design of effective warning labels concerning drinking and driving. One important aspect of the model is that producing a multiplicity of warning labels should result in a higher probability that at least a few of the warning labels will be of high quality and effectiveness. Secondly, greater similarity between the warning label designer and the intended target group should enhance the effectiveness of the warning label. In the present study, 49 warning labels were created by university undergraduates, and the effectiveness of these warning labels was assessed by a group of university students (target group members). A number of labels were judged as being effective, and more effective than the government warning label. Extending the notion of being close to the target group, warning labels designed by male and female university students for university students of the same sex were judged as more effective than warning labels designed for the opposite sex.
Subject(s)
Alcohol Drinking/prevention & control , Health Behavior , Product Labeling/standards , Adult , Advertising , Automobile Driving , Canada , Communication , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Female , Humans , Male , Marketing of Health Services , Product Labeling/legislation & jurisprudence , Product Labeling/methods , Students , UniversitiesABSTRACT
Calcium is mobilized from intracellular stores during phagocyte activation and appears to be involved in stimulus-response coupling in these and other cell types. Because the lysosome is a calcium-sequestering organelle in the neutrophil and abnormal lysosome morphology is associated with defective neutrophil function in Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS), we examined ATP-dependent calcium uptake in neutrophil lysosomes from the beige mouse model of CHS. We present findings indicating that CHS lysosomes have an enhanced capacity for ATP-dependent calcium uptake relative to control lysosomes. Kinetic analysis showed differences in Vmax and in the Km for both ATP and calcium, suggesting that both the number of lysosomal calcium uptake pumps and their substrate affinity may be altered in CHS. We conclude that a genetically determined abnormality of a subcellular calcium transport system may contribute to the structural and functional defects of CHS cells.
