The relationship between costs and health benefits of branded pharmaceuticals remains controversial. This paper examines the incremental costs incurred for incremental health benefits gained from the largest available sample of cost-effectiveness studies of branded drugs in the USA, the 1994–2015 Tufts Registry of Cost-Effectiveness Analyses. Earlier studies used small, specialized samples of drugs. We use linear regression analysis to estimate the association in those studies between additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental pharmaceutical costs. The preferred sample uses 476 studies involving branded pharmaceuticals with both higher costs and increased effectiveness compared to the previous standard of care. Regressions of costs on QALYs imply that an additional QALY is associated, on average, with a $28,561 increase in cost (95 % CI, $18,853–$38,270). This regression explains 20 % of the variation in sample costs. In this analytical sample, a share of the variation in the cost of pharmaceuticals is, therefore, not random but rather associated with variation in QALYs; prices are to some extent “value-based.” Our results are robust to varying sample inclusion criteria and to the funding source. In subgroup analyses, the highest cost per QALY was $44,367 (95 % CI, $35,373–$53,361). Costs of pharmaceuticals in this data set are, on average, lower than common estimates of the monetary value of a QALY to American consumers. As in other studies, we find that sellers of patent-protected beneficial new technology appear to capture only a fraction of the benefits provided.

Seed retention, and ultimately seed shatter, are extremely important for the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) and are likely influenced by various agroecological and environmental factors. Field studies investigated seed-shattering phenology of 22 weed species across three soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]-producing regions in the United States. We further evaluated the potential drivers of seed shatter in terms of weather conditions, growing degree days, and plant biomass. Based on the results, weather conditions had no consistent impact on weed seed shatter. However, there was a positive correlation between individual weed plant biomass and delayed weed seed–shattering rates during harvest. This work demonstrates that HWSC can potentially reduce weed seedbank inputs of plants that have escaped early-season management practices and retained seed through harvest. However, smaller individuals of plants within the same population that shatter seed before harvest pose a risk of escaping early-season management and HWSC.

Potential effectiveness of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems depends upon seed shatter of the target weed species at crop maturity, enabling its collection and processing at crop harvest. However, seed retention likely is influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed-shatter phenology in 13 economically important broadleaf weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after physiological maturity at multiple sites spread across 14 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. Greater proportions of seeds were retained by weeds in southern latitudes and shatter rate increased at northern latitudes. Amaranthus spp. seed shatter was low (0% to 2%), whereas shatter varied widely in common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) (2% to 90%) over the weeks following soybean physiological maturity. Overall, the broadleaf species studied shattered less than 10% of their seeds by soybean harvest. Our results suggest that some of the broadleaf species with greater seed retention rates in the weeks following soybean physiological maturity may be good candidates for HWSC.

Seed shatter is an important weediness trait on which the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) depends. The level of seed shatter in a species is likely influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed shatter of eight economically important grass weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after maturity at multiple sites spread across 11 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. From soybean maturity to 4 wk after maturity, cumulative percent seed shatter was lowest in the southern U.S. regions and increased moving north through the states. At soybean maturity, the percent of seed shatter ranged from 1% to 70%. That range had shifted to 5% to 100% (mean: 42%) by 25 d after soybean maturity. There were considerable differences in seed-shatter onset and rate of progression between sites and years in some species that could impact their susceptibility to HWSC. Our results suggest that many summer annual grass species are likely not ideal candidates for HWSC, although HWSC could substantially reduce their seed output during certain years.

In 2019, a 42-year-old African man who works as an Ebola virus disease (EVD) researcher traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), near an ongoing EVD epidemic, to Philadelphia and presented to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Emergency Department with altered mental status, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. He was classified as a “wet” person under investigation for EVD, and his arrival activated our hospital emergency management command center and bioresponse teams. He was found to be in septic shock with multisystem organ dysfunction, including circulatory dysfunction, encephalopathy, metabolic lactic acidosis, acute kidney injury, acute liver injury, and diffuse intravascular coagulation. Critical care was delivered within high-risk pathogen isolation in the ED and in our Special Treatment Unit until a diagnosis of severe cerebral malaria was confirmed and EVD was definitively excluded.

This report discusses our experience activating a longitudinal preparedness program designed for rare, resource-intensive events at hospitals physically remote from any active epidemic but serving a high-volume international air travel port-of-entry.

Knowledge of the effects of burial depth and burial duration on seed viability and, consequently, seedbank persistence of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) and waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] ecotypes can be used for the development of efficient weed management programs. This is of particular interest, given the great fecundity of both species and, consequently, their high seedbank replenishment potential. Seeds of both species collected from five different locations across the United States were investigated in seven states (sites) with different soil and climatic conditions. Seeds were placed at two depths (0 and 15 cm) for 3 yr. Each year, seeds were retrieved, and seed damage (shrunken, malformed, or broken) plus losses (deteriorated and futile germination) and viability were evaluated. Greater seed damage plus loss averaged across seed origin, burial depth, and year was recorded for lots tested at Illinois (51.3% and 51.8%) followed by Tennessee (40.5% and 45.1%) and Missouri (39.2% and 42%) for A. palmeri and A. tuberculatus, respectively. The site differences for seed persistence were probably due to higher volumetric water content at these sites. Rates of seed demise were directly proportional to burial depth (α=0.001), whereas the percentage of viable seeds recovered after 36 mo on the soil surface ranged from 4.1% to 4.3% compared with 5% to 5.3% at the 15-cm depth for A. palmeri and A. tuberculatus, respectively. Seed viability loss was greater in the seeds placed on the soil surface compared with the buried seeds. The greatest influences on seed viability were burial conditions and time and site-specific soil conditions, more so than geographical location. Thus, management of these weed species should focus on reducing seed shattering, enhancing seed removal from the soil surface, or adjusting tillage systems.

Flumioxazin is a protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitor with potential for POST annual bluegrass control and PRE smooth crabgrass control in bermudagrass. However, flumioxazin applications are often less effective in winter, compared with fall, because of reduced efficacy on mature annual bluegrass. The objective of this research was to evaluate tank-mixtures of flumioxazin with six other herbicide mechanisms of action for POST annual bluegrass control in late winter and residual smooth crabgrass control. Flumioxazin at 0 or 0.42 kg ai ha−1 was evaluated in combination with flazasulfuron at 0.05 kg ai ha−1, glufosinate at 1.26 kg ai ha−1, glyphosate at 0.42 kg ae ha−1, mesotrione at 0.28 kg ai ha−1, pronamide at 1.68 kg ai ha−1, or simazine at 1.12 kg ai ha−1. Flumioxazin alone controlled annual bluegrass 61 to 70% at 8 wk after treatment (WAT) in three experiments from 2012 to 2014 in central Georgia. Flumioxazin tank-mixed with flazasulfuron, glyphosate, glufosinate, pronamide, and simazine provided good (80 to 89%) to excellent (> 90%) control of annual bluegrass at 8 WAT in 2 of 3 yr. These tank-mixtures were also more effective than flumioxazin alone in 2 of 3 yr, and control was greater or equal to the tank-mix partners applied alone. Treatments that included flumioxazin provided excellent (≥ 90%) control of smooth crabgrass at 6 mo after treatment in all 3 yr. Overall, tank-mixing flumioxazin with other herbicide chemistries may improve POST annual bluegrass control, compared with exclusive treatments, and effectively control smooth crabgrass in bermudagrass.

The economic feasibility of soybeans, grain sorghum, and corn in annual rotation with winter wheat using reduced tillage and no-tillage systems in the Central Great Plains was evaluated, with continuous wheat and grain sorghum also analyzed. Net returns were calculated using simulated yield and price distributions based on historical yields, two historical annual price series, and 2011 costs. Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function was used to determine the preferred strategies under various risk preferences. The no-till wheat-soybean and reduced-till wheat-soybean systems are the first and second most preferred, regardless of the level of risk aversion.