Incidence and Survival Changes in Patients with Esophageal Adenocarcinoma during 1984-2013.

PURPOSE: The morbidity of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has significantly increased in Western countries. We aimed to identify trends in incidence and survival in patients with EAC in the recent 30 years and then analyzed potential risk factors, including race, sex, age, and socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: All data were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results or SEER database. Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model were conducted to compare the differences in survival between variables, including sex, race, age, and SES, as well as to evaluate the association of these factors with prognosis. RESULTS: A total of 16,474 patients with EAC were identified from 1984 to 2013 in the United States. Overall incidence increased every 10 years from 1.8 to 3.1 to 3.9 per 100. Overall survival gradually improved (p < 0.0001), which was evident in male patients ((hazard ratio (HR) = 1.111; 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.07, 1.15)); however, the 5-year survival rate remained low (20.1%). The Cox proportional hazards model identified old age, black ethnicity, and medium/high poverty as risk factors for EAC (HR = 1.018; 95% CI (1.017, 1.019; HR = 1.240, 95% CI (1.151,1.336), HR = 1.000, 95% CI (1.000, 1.000); respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of EAC in the United States increased over time. Survival advantage was observed in white patients and patients in the low-poverty group. Sex was an independent prognostic factor for EAC, but this finding has to be confirmed by further research.

Research on Patent Behaviors of 7 Chinese Pharmaceutical Demonstration Enterprises for Intellectual Property / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To study the characteristics of patent behaviors of Chinese pharmaceutical demonstration enterprises for intellectual property,and to provide reference for the improvement of patent behaviors in Chinese pharmaceutial enterprises. METHODS:After retrieving the applicants(patentees)from China Intellectual Property Right Net on the basis of taking 7 pharma-ceutical demonstration enterprises chosen through appraisal by State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C in 2013 as the study samples,empirical study was conducted on their patent behaviors during 1985 and 2013,including the number and type of the pat-ents for which applications were made,international patent classification and legal status. RESULTS:The number of patent applica-tions of the 7 pharmaceutical demonstration enterprises demonstrated a growing trend(an annual increase up to 79.0%). The appli-cations were dominated by the inventive patent(84.9%). Many patents were in an authorized legal status(46.7%). All of these en-terprises paid more attention to the maintenance of the authorized patent. The technology patent applications were mainly about chemical compound,composition,and preparation methods,including the technical proposal containing the active ingredients and properties of the pharmaceutical preparation (A61K),particularly the application of the technical proposal related to the treatment with the preparation (A61P). CONCLUSIONS:All the 7 pharmaceutical demonstration enterprises were aware of patent competi-tion and protection and characterized by a higher proportion of the application for the inventive patent,perfect patent information management institution and high-quality patent applications. Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises can enhance their competitiveness and creativity through adjusting patent behaviors and increasing their awareness of patent competition.