Comparing measures of centrality in bipartite patient-prescriber networks: A study of drug seeking for opioid analgesics.

Visiting multiple prescribers is a common method for obtaining prescription opioids for nonmedical use and has played an important role in fueling the United States opioid epidemic, leading to increased drug use disorder and overdose. Recent studies show that centrality of the bipartite network formed by prescription ties between patients and prescribers of opioids is a promising indicator for drug seeking. However, node prominence in bipartite networks is typically estimated with methods that do not fully account for the two-mode topology of the underlying network.

Provider Bias in prescribing opioid analgesics: a study of electronic medical Records at a Hospital Emergency Department.

Background: Physicians do not prescribe opioid analgesics for pain treatment equally across groups, and such disparities may pose significant public health concerns. Although research suggests that institutional constraints and cultural stereotypes influence doctors' treatment of pain, prior quantitative evidence is mixed. The objective of this secondary analysis is therefore to clarify which institutional constraints and patient demographics bias provider prescribing of opioid analgesics.

If you build it, will they come? Social, economic, and psychological determinants of COVID-19 testing decisions.

Background: The efficacy of testing and tracing programs to reduce COVID-19 transmission hinges not only on widespread access to testing, but also on the public's willingness to participate in them. To the extent that testing intentions are patterned by social determinants of health, this constitutes an understudied mechanism of disparities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.

Design: Using data from a representative household probability sample, the Person to Person Health Interview Study (n = 935), sociodemographic, economic, and psychological determinants of testing considerations were evaluated across six domains: treatment affordability, ability to work if positive, hospital effectiveness, symptom severity, proximity to infected, and risk of transmitting to others.

New means, new measures: assessing prescription drug-seeking indicators over 10 years of the opioid epidemic.

Background And Aims: Prescription drug-seeking (PDS) from multiple prescribers is a primary means of obtaining prescription opioids; however, PDS behavior has probably evolved in response to policy shifts, and there is little agreement about how to operationalize it. We systematically compared the performance of traditional and novel PDS indicators.

Design: Longitudinal study using a de-identified commercial claims database.

Pandemic precarity: COVID-19 is exposing and exacerbating inequalities in the American heartland.

Crises lay bare the social fault lines of society. In the United States, race, gender, age, and education have affected vulnerability to COVID-19 infection. Yet, consequences likely extend far beyond morbidity and mortality.

Beyond Net Worth: Racial Differences in Wealth Portfolios and Black-White Health Inequality across the Life Course.

A large body of research links wealth and health, but most previous work focuses on net worth. However, the assets and debts that comprise wealth likely relate to health in different and meaningful ways. Furthermore, racial differences in wealth portfolios may contribute to racial health gaps.

Immigrants in the one percent: The national origin of top wealth owners.

Background: Economic inequality in the United States is extreme, but little is known about the national origin of affluent households. Households in the top one percent by total wealth own vastly disproportionate quantities of household assets and have correspondingly high levels of economic, social, and political influence. The overrepresentation of white natives (i.

Chinese Immigrant Wealth: Heterogeneity in Adaptation.

Chinese immigrants are a diverse and growing group whose members provide a unique opportunity to examine within-immigrant group differences in adaptation. In this paper, we move beyond thinking of national-origin groups as homogenous and study variation among Chinese immigrants in wealth ownership, a critical indicator of adaptation that attracts relatively little attention in the immigration literature. We develop an analytical approach that considers national origin, tenure in the U.

Peer influence as a potential magnifier of ADHD diagnosis.

The prevalence of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is growing in America, but its cause is unclear. Scholars have identified many environmental factors that can cause or confound ADHD diagnosis, but epidemiological studies that try to control for confounding factors still find evidence that rates of ADHD diagnosis are increasing. As a preliminary explanation to ADHD's increasing prevalence, this article examines whether core ADHD diagnostic traits are subject to peer influence.

Rare case of left upper lobe partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection.

Partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare abnormality with failure of connection between the initial draining system of the lungs and the common pulmonary vein. Right sided anomalous return is the most common form of anomalous connection, with left sided anomalous return uncommon. Presented is a case of left upper lobe partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection that was diagnosed incidentally on computed tomography (CT).

Software-annotated, digitally photographed, and printed MR images: suitability for publication.

Rationale And Objectives: The authors performed this study to evaluate whether digitally photographed, computer-annotated MR images produced by clinical radiologists and printed with an inexpensive photo printer are suitable for publication.

Materials And Methods: Laser prints of 20 magnetic resonance images of the brain were photographed with a 3-megapixel digital camera and annotated with arrows, arrowheads, and asterisks by using graphics software that incorporates vector support. Then, 5 x 7-inch glossy prints with white borders were made by using an inexpensive photo printer.