“Body packers” are persons who voluntarily or through coercion, swallow or insert drug-filled packets into body cavity, generally in an attempt to smuggle them across secure borders. The drugs most often involved in body packing are heroin and cocaine. Body packers can present in the emergency department as a result of ruptured drug packets, bowel obstruction, or for medicolegal purposes. Suspected cases are diagnosed with X-ray and computed tomography scan of the abdomen. Symptomatic patients require urgent removal of packets. We present a case of foreign national male in whom a drug packet got ruptured and 49 other packets were retrieved with help of laxatives and manual evacuation.

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Randomized controlled trials have become the most respected scientific tool to measure the effectiveness of a medical therapy. The design, conduct and analysis of randomized controlled trials were developed by Sir Ronald A. Fisher, a mathematician in Great Britain. Fisher propounded that the process of randomization would equally distribute all the known and even unknown covariates in the two or more comparison groups, so that any difference observed could be ascribed to treatment effect. Today, we observe that in many situations, this prediction of Fisher does not stand true; hence, adaptive randomization schedules have been designed to adjust for major imbalance in important covariates. Present essay unravels some weaknesses inherent in Fisherian concept of randomized controlled trial.

88 Background: Abiraterone acetate + prednisone and enzalutamide are approved oral targeted therapies (OTT) for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) which have significant clinical benefit. However, their impact on healthcare cost relative to docetaxel (DOC) is not well understood. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used combined claims data from Truven MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplement Plan databases. Males ≥18 years with ≥1 prostate cancer diagnosis and a subsequent metastasis diagnosis were indexed on the first claim date of DOC or OTT between 1/1/2012 and 12/31/2016. ≥1 claim for an androgen deprivation therapy during the 12-month continuous enrollment period prior to metastasis was required; patients with end stage renal disease or other primary cancer were excluded. All-cause per patient per year (PPPY) costs were estimated in 2016 US dollars. A generalized linear model was used to compare adjusted costs between DOC and OTT cohorts. Results: A total of 1,159 and 200 mCRPC patients initiated on OTT and DOC, respectively. Mean follow up time for both cohorts was 1.2 years. Mean age of OTT patients was 75.1 (Standard Deviation = 10.7) years and mean Quan-Charlson Comorbidity Index (QCI) was 3.2 (1.9). Mean age of DOC patients was 65.9 (9.1) years; mean QCI was 2.9 (1.8). 21% of OTT and 56% of DOC patients were commercially insured. Following treatment initiation, total mean unadjusted all-cause PPPY costs were $144,350 ($80,606) and $137,814 ($84,405) for OTT and DOC cohort, respectively. The primary cost drivers were utilization of treatments indicated for mCRPC, outpatient encounters and inpatient hospitalizations. Total adjusted PPPY costs were higher for OTT than DOC patients ($141,008 vs. $125,318, p = 0.0012), mainly due to higher costs of treatments indicated for mCRPC ($80,443 vs. $55,820, p < .0001). Medical costs (excluding mCRPC treatment) for OTT initiated patients were lower ($54,570 vs. $64,614, p = 0.0128). Conclusions: In a real-world setting, initiation on OTT was associated with higher overall cost of care for mCRPC compared with DOC. However, the cost of medical services was significantly lower when initiated on OTT.

Maxillary Inadequacies originate due to various aetiologies. Prosthetic restoration of the defect often includes use of a surgical obturator, interim obturator and definitive obturator. Prosthetic design has been discussed by many authors. A search of dental literature through April 2020 was undertaken by use of PubMed. The focus of the search was on occlusion concepts and schemes incorporated in the designing of a maxillary obturator prosthesis for partially edentulous hemimaxillectomy patients. In addition, some common textbooks on removable and maxillofacial prosthodontics were scrutinised for additional documentation. The significance of occlusion should be emphasized in the support of maxillary obturator prostheses. Till date there is no literature review on the the array of concepts of occlusion incorporated in maxillary obturator fabrication.