Food in the future: Does futures studies have a role to play?

Futures studies (FS) has not taken up food as a topic to any degree perhaps because of complexity, gender, urban bias, professional bias, cultural diversity, and fear. But there is a need and responsibility for FS scholars and practitioners to consider the growing and preparation of food in our work. Today's movements in food security, organic farming and Slowfood can direct us towards futures based in healthy, diverse, and joyful communities.     

Risk and the Value of Bt Corn

A conceptual model is developed to evaluate the effect of Bt corn on risk. Results highlight the importance of distinguishing between marginal and aggregate risk effects and demonstrate that the effect of Bt corn on risk depends crucially on the price paid for the technology. Empirical results show that, depending on the price, Bt corn can be marginally risk increasing or decreasing and can either increase or decrease corn acreage. Also, depending on the price, Bt corn can provide a risk benefit to farmers, even when Bt corn is risk increasing.     

The impact of persistence with therapy on inpatient admissions and emergency room visits in the US among patients with multiple sclerosis

Objective:

Disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for multiple sclerosis (MS) can reduce relapses and delay progression; however, poor adherence and persistence with DMT can result in sub-optimal outcomes. The associations between DMT adherence and persistence and inpatient admissions and emergency room (ER) visits were investigated.

Methods:

Patients with MS who initiated a DMT in a US administrative claims database were followed for 1 year. Persistence to initiated DMT was measured as the time from DMT initiation to discontinuation (a gap of >60 days without drug ‘on hand’) or end of 1-year follow-up. Adherence to initiated DMT was measured during the persistent period and was operationalized as the medication possession ratio (MPR). Patients with an MPR <0.80 were considered non-adherent. Claims during the 1-year follow-up period were evaluated for the presence of an all-cause inpatient admission or an ER visit. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for inpatient admission or ER visit comparing persistent vs non-persistent and adherent vs non-adherent patients were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for patient characteristics.

Results:

The final sample included 16,218 patients. During the 1-year follow-up period, 35.3% of patients discontinued their initiated DMT and 13.9% were not adherent while on therapy. During that same period, 10.0% of patients had an inpatient admission and 24.9% had an ER visit. The likelihoods of inpatient admission and ER visit were significantly decreased in persistent patients (AOR [95% CI]?=?0.50 [0.45, 0.56] and 0.65 [0.60, 0.69], respectively) and in adherent patients (AOR [95% CI]?=?0.83 [0.71, 0.97] and 0.86 [0.77, 0.95], respectively).

Conclusions:

Persistence and adherence with initiated DMT are associated with decreased likelihoods of inpatient admission or ER visit, which may translate to improved clinical outcomes.