Tobacco regulatory science seeks in part to reduce harm of new tobacco products. Part of this interest is to help chronic adult smokers switch to potentially less harmful products, while not facilitating use of these modified risk tobacco products by nonusers (particularly teens). Studies to discern a lack of interest in reduced harm products are conducted on emerging adults as a proxy for teens. The present empirical review explores the topography and etiology of tobacco use among emerging adults compared to teens to discern whether they might be a reasonable proxy for such reduced harm studies. Both teens and emerging adults view combustible and e-cigarette smoking as disapproved of by peers and are likely to process tobacco marketing information similarly. I conclude that while some differences do exist (e.g., emerging adults are in a period of escalating use and dependence, whereas teens are relatively likely to be initiating use), emerging adults may indeed be a reasonable proxy, at least for current reduced harm studies.

Evolocumab is a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitor drug which has shown great treatment effects in the treatment of uncontrolled hypercholesterolemia, particularly elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Due to its significant costs, several health technology assessment agencies (HTA) worldwide have exercised caution in issuing its recommendation across different patient groups. This study attempts to review the processes and compare the approach adopted by the HTA agencies in England (National Institute for Care and Health Excellence [NICE]), Canada (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health [CADTH] Common Drug Review), and Australia (Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee [PBAC]) in the evaluation of evolocumab. Between July and August 2018, the websites of CADTH, the NICE in England, and the PBAC of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia were searched for technology appraisal documents pertaining to evolocumab. The search included the initial appraisal, resubmissions, as well as the final recommendation made between 2015 and 2018. Significant variability exists between the recommendations and clinical and economic assessment processes in the evaluation of evolocumab across the three selected HTAs. More collaborative efforts may be required to align the interagency HTAs.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients are commonly comorbid with psychological distress, such as depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and diabetes distress, which cause great health and economic burden. However, the estimated prevalence of this psychological comorbidity is quite different between studies. Our aim is to estimate the pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and diabetes distress in T2DM patients in China. Two Chinese academic databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang) and two English academic databases (PubMed and Embase) were systematically searched for studies with information on the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and diabetes distress among Chinese T2DM patients published from inception to April 20, 2018. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed to estimate the pooled prevalence. Data were extracted from 80 cross-sectional studies involving 31874 Chinese T2DM patients. The pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and diabetes distress were 37.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 34.6–41.0), 28.9% (95% CI 21.0–36.9), and 50.5% (95% CI 42.4–58.7), respectively. Patients aged 60 years or older have higher prevalence than patients aged <60 years for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or diabetes distress. Much attention should be paid to the psychological conditions of Chinese T2DM patients, especially for those patients aged 60 years or older in T2DM management.

The present study was conducted to explore the role of Withania somnifera in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in mice. Swiss albino mice were subjected to a 2-day electric foot-shock stress of 5 min, which included 15 alternating inescapable foot shocks of 0.8 mA intensity with 10-s duration and 10-s intershock interval on the electrified grid floor. It was followed by 3 week re-exposures (on day 3, 7, and 14) in the same context (as situational reminders) for 5 min without delivering any foot-shocks. Trauma and situational reminders results a significant development of behavioral deficits and reduced serum corticosterone levels, as assessed on the 21^st day. A significant development of freezing behavior was also observed in response to situational reminders on 3^rd, 7^th and 14^th days. Repeated administration (for 21 days) of W. somnifera (50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg) considerably restored the behavioral changes and normalized the corticosterone levels. W. somnifera led to significant reduction in the freezing behavior in response to situational reminders suggesting the inhibition of formation of aversive fear memory. It may be concluded that W. somnifera may be beneficial in preventing the PTSD symptoms in response to a traumatic event.

Aim: The goal of the present study was to estimate the treatment patterns in outpatients with schizophrenia in Russia. Methods: A total of 44,836 outpatients with schizophrenia treated by 812 psychiatrists in 2018 were selected in the LRx database in Russia. We descriptively analyzed the proportions of patients treated with different therapy classes and drugs. Results: Typical antipsychotics (58.2%) were the therapies with the highest patient proportion, followed by anti-Parkinson drugs (38.3%) and antidepressants (30.6%). The most frequent anti-Parkinson drug was trihexyphenidyl; the most frequent antidepressant was amitriptyline. Conclusions: The findings of this study imply that the proportion of older drugs is higher in schizophrenia therapy in Russia than reported based on samples in Europe and the U.S.