Transaction records involving U.S. patent documents have been maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for over 40 years, but have not been extensively used by scholars. ...One explanation is that these data have not been in a form amenable for research. To help remedy this deficiency and to foster scholarship, the USPTO Office of Chief Economist is curating internal agency records to release a series of datasets in research‐ready formats. This article describes the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (UPAD), a relational database of roughly 6 million assignments, licenses, securitizations, and other conveyances involving about 10 million U.S. patents and patent applications, recorded 1970–2014. To promote research uses, this article provides a comprehensive data description and presents stylized facts derived from the records. Although this article discusses several limitations inherent in using these data, the release of the UPAD creates opportunities to conduct original research, particularly relating to intellectual property collateralization and the markets for technology and innovation.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have been associated with an increased risk of fragility fractures in pharmaco-epidemiological studies. The mechanism is unclear, but it has been speculated that by ...neutralising gastric acid, they may reduce intestinal calcium absorption, causing secondary hyperparathyroidism and bone loss. Here we investigated that hypothesis that the skeletal effects of PPI might be mediated by inhibitory effects on the bone-specific phosphatase PHOSPHO1. We found that the all PPIs tested inhibited the activity of PHOSPHO1 with IC50 ranging between 0.73 µM for esomeprazole to 19.27 µM for pantoprazole. In contrast, these PPIs did not inhibit TNAP activity. We also found that mineralisation of bone matrix in primary osteoblast cultures was inhibited by several PPIs in a concentration dependent manner. In contrast, the histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RA) nizatidine, famotidine, cimetidine and ranitidine had no inhibitory effects on PHOSPHO1 activity. Our experiments show for the first time that PPIs inhibit PHOSPHO1 activity and matrix mineralisation in vitro revealing a potential mechanism by which these widely used drugs are associated with the risk of fractures.
This article describes the “USPTO Trademark Case Files Dataset” of trademark applications and registrations derived from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) main database for administering ...trademark case files. The dataset provides detailed information on 6.7 million trademark applications filed with, or registrations issued by, the USPTO between January 1870 and January 2012, including ownership, mark characteristics, classification, prosecution events, and renewal and maintenance history. This article provides a comprehensive description of the dataset, including discussions of the legal framework affecting and the administrative processes generating these data. We provide a “first look” at the information the dataset captures and present key trends in trademark applications, registrations, and renewals. We highlight data elements valuable to researchers and the general public, and discuss issues that may arise in using these data. In describing these data, we aim to encourage new streams of research on trademarks and what they indicate about their users, the strategies for employing them, and the wider economic impacts that these data will help uncover.
BACKGROUND:The emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has altered the management of pediatric musculoskeletal infections. Yet, institution-to-institution ...differences in MRSA virulence may exist, suggesting a need to carefully examine local epidemiological characteristics. The purpose of this study was to compare MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) musculoskeletal infections with respect to prevalence and complexity of clinical care over the past decade at a single children’s hospital.
METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed a series of patients presenting to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with a diagnosis of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, or both over a 10-year period. Inclusion criteria were S. aureus (SA) infections proven by positive culture of blood, bone, or joint aspirate. Exclusion criteria were non-SA infectious etiologies. Hospital-acquired infections were also not included to exclusively evaluate acute, community-acquired cases. Data related to hospital course, laboratory values, and number of surgical interventions were collected and compared between MRSA and MSSA cohorts.
RESULTS:In our series of pediatric patients, we identified 148 cases of acute, community-acquired musculoskeletal SA infections (MRSA, n=37 and MSSA, n=111). The prevalence of MRSA musculoskeletal infections increased from 11.8% in 2001 to 2002 to 34.8% in 2009 to 2010. Compared with MSSA, MRSA infections resulted in higher presenting C-reactive protein levels (10.4 vs. 7.8 mg/L, P=0.04), longer inpatient stays (10 vs. 5 d, P<0.01), multiple surgical procedures (n>1) (38% vs. 14%, P<0.01), increased sequelae (27% vs. 6%, P<0.01), and more frequent admissions to the intensive care unit (16% vs. 3%, P<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS:At our institution over the past decade, we found an approximate 3-fold rise in community-acquired pediatric MRSA musculoskeletal infections accompanied by an elevated risk for complications during inpatient management. Awareness of the epidemiological trends of MRSA within the local community may guide parental counseling and facilitate timely and accurate clinical diagnosis and treatment.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Level II—prognostic retrospective study.
Master regulators, such as the hematopoietic transcription factor (TF) GATA1, play an essential role in orchestrating lineage commitment and differentiation. However, the precise mechanisms by which ...such TFs regulate transcription through interactions with specific cis-regulatory elements remain incompletely understood. Here, we describe a form of congenital hemolytic anemia caused by missense mutations in an intrinsically disordered region of GATA1, with a poorly understood role in transcriptional regulation. Through integrative functional approaches, we demonstrate that these mutations perturb GATA1 transcriptional activity by partially impairing nuclear localization and selectively altering precise chromatin occupancy by GATA1. These alterations in chromatin occupancy and concordant chromatin accessibility changes alter faithful gene expression, with failure to both effectively silence and activate select genes necessary for effective terminal red cell production. We demonstrate how disease-causing mutations can reveal regulatory mechanisms that enable the faithful genomic targeting of master TFs during cellular differentiation.
•Novel hemolytic anemia with elevated erythrocyte adenosine deaminase levels is associated with missense mutations (p.R307C/H) in GATA1.•Transcription of target genes is selectively altered because of disruption of faithful chromatin occupancy of GATA1 mutants.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination effectiveness in healthcare personnel (HCP) has been established. However, questions remain regarding its performance in high-risk healthcare ...occupations and work locations. We describe the effect of a COVID-19 HCP vaccination campaign on SARS-CoV-2 infection by timing of vaccination, job type, and work location.
We conducted a retrospective review of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance, incidence of postvaccination COVID-19, hospitalization, and mortality among 16,156 faculty, students, and staff at a large academic medical center. Data were collected 8 weeks prior to the start of phase 1a vaccination of frontline employees and ended 11 weeks after campaign onset.
The COVID-19 incidence rate among HCP at our institution decreased from 3.2% during the 8 weeks prior to the start of vaccinations to 0.38% by 4 weeks after campaign initiation. COVID-19 risk was reduced among individuals who received a single vaccination (hazard ratio HR, 0.52; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.40-0.68;
< .0001) and was further reduced with 2 doses of vaccine (HR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.09-0.32;
< .0001). By 2 weeks after the second dose, the observed case positivity rate was 0.04%. Among phase 1a HCP, we observed a lower risk of COVID-19 among physicians and a trend toward higher risk for respiratory therapists independent of vaccination status. Rates of infection were similar in a subgroup of nurses when examined by work location.
Our findings show the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in HCP. Despite these encouraging results, unvaccinated HCP remain at an elevated risk of infection, highlighting the need for targeted outreach to combat vaccine hesitancy.
Background:
The addition of unconstrained internal rotation to the physical examination could allow for detection of more subtle degrees of ankle instability. We hypothesized that a simulated ...anterolateral drawer test allowing unconstrained internal rotation of the ankle would provoke greater displacement of the lateral talus in the mortise versus the anterior drawer test.
Methods:
Ten cadaveric lower extremities were tested in a custom apparatus designed to reproduce the anterior drawer test and the anterolateral drawer test, in which the ankle was allowed to internally rotate about the intact deep deltoid ligament while being subluxed anteriorly. Specimens were tested intact and with anterior tibiofibular ligament sectioned. A differential variable reluctance transducer was used to measure lateral talar displacement with anterior forces of 25 and 50 N.
Results:
No significant differences in talar displacement or ankle rotation were noted in intact specimens between the groups. Among sectioned specimens, significantly more talar displacement (25 N 6.5 ± 1.7 mm vs 3.8 ± 2.4 mm and 50 N 8.7 ± 0.9 mm vs 4.5 ± 2.5 mm, P < .001) and ankle rotation (25 N 13.9 ± 8.0 degrees vs 0.0 ± 0.0 degrees and 50 N 23.7 ± 5.8 degrees vs 0.0 ± 0.0 degrees, P < .001) were found in the anterolateral drawer versus anterior drawer group.
Conclusion:
In an ankle instability model, the anterolateral drawer test provoked almost twice the lateral talus displacement found with the anterior drawer test.
Clinical Relevance:
Allowing internal rotation of the ankle while testing for ankle instability may allow the examiner to detect more subtle degrees of ankle instability.
This paper employs goods and services descriptions from US trademarks to study spatial diffusion of innovations. Identifying novel, fast-spreading tokens (words) in trademark descriptions, we outline ...patterns of regional innovation and estimate how distance affects diffusion. Novel trademark tokens are frequently new to English, they capture many unpatented innovations, and their appearance in language co-evolves with their use in intellectual property filings. We analyse the introduction of novel tokens to capture the emergence of innovations and show that spatial distance affects their diffusion. Estimating the intensity of diffusion between locations in the United States, we confirm strong, negative effects of distance.
Attention to the asset value of intellectual property (IP) has traditionally concentrated on high‐value patent sales and licenses. This narrow focus neglects nonpatent assets held by a broader set of ...economic agents, such as trademarks, and overlooks the evolving ways owners are employing and monetizing their intangible assets. To help remedy this deficiency, the Office of Chief Economist of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is releasing a series of datasets in formats convenient for researchers. This article describes the USPTO Trademark Assignment Dataset, a database of over 785,000 transactions recorded during 1952–2013 affecting almost 4.2 million trademark registrations and applications. We provide a comprehensive description and present key trends, showing that among registrations issued during 1978–2013, more than 31% were affected by some transaction during their lives, 21% were transferred to different parties, and 12% were involved in at least one security interest agreement. Examining transaction rates by registration cohort, we find evidence that registered U.S. trademarks may be more likely to be traded than are U.S. patents. Other trends and findings are discussed. Despite limitations, these data open new avenues for research, particularly with respect to trademark collateralization and the market for brands.
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