ProThera Biologics is a development stage bio-therapeutics company in East Providence, Rhode Island. The company was founded in 2002 to focus on the critical role and commercial potential of Inter-alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIP) for treating acute life-threatening inflammatory diseases. The discovery research originated in the basic research laboratories of the co-founders, Yow-Pin Lim, MD, PhD...

Michael Vecchione, DO  stroke Is the fourth leADIng cAuse of death in the United States. Stroke affects almost 800,000 people in the United States each year with two-thirds of events being a first occurrence. Approximately 135,000 people die from stroke each year. In 2007, four of every 10,000 people in Rhode Island died from stroke-related complications. According to the Heart Disease and Str...

BACKGROUND Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) victims have unique medical and mental health needs and present frequently for medical attention. Little is known about the reported training, screening, comfort and knowledge of DMST among pediatricians in Rhode Island who likely encounter these patient victims without knowing. METHODS An anonymous electronic survey sent to Rhode Island Hospit...

OBJECTIVE To describe the experiences of emergency department (ED) use among a population of Rhode Island Medicaid patients with chronic pain and a recent history of frequent ED use, who were eligible to participate in the Rhode Island Medicaid Pain Management program. METHODS  Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty-four patients who were either enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled...

LB-8. Relative Effect of High-Dose Influenza Vaccination on Hospitalizations of Older Adults in United States Nursing Homes: Results From a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH; Monica Taljaard, PhD; Pedro Gozalo, PhD; Roshani Dahal, MPH; H. Edward Davidson, PharmD, MPH; Lisa Han, MPH; Jessica Ogarek, MS; Vincent Mor PhD; Medicine, Geriatrics, Case Western Reserve Uni...

With an increase in travel and an influx of immigrants and refugees from the tropics over the last few decades, clinicians in Rhode Island are more commonly encountering tropical diseases. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated that the average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population in Rhode Island to be 2400 persons, with the Dominican Republic and Guatemala t...

BACKGROUND New HIV diagnoses related to injection drug use (IDU) have declined in the United States. Access to clean syringes and decreasing HIV transmission among injection drug users have been HIV prevention priorities of the Rhode Island (RI) HIV community. To examine trends in IDU-related new HIV diagnoses in RI, we performed a retrospective analysis of new HIV diagnoses according to HIV ri...

This issue brief examines an unprecedented use of state health insurance regulatory authority to promote health system reform. In 2004, the Rhode Island legislature created the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC) with authority not granted to state health insurance regulatory agencies in other states. Specifically, the legislation instructed OHIC to direct insurers toward policie...