[Sex-specific differences in drug utilisation in different phases of life]. / Geschlechtsspezifische Inanspruchnahme bei der Arzneimittelversorgung in verschiedenen Lebensphasen.

The aim of the present study is to analyse sex-specific differences in drug utilisation during different phases of life using relevant diseases as examples. We used a cohort of 1.7 million subjects who were insured with the Gmünder ErsatzKasse (GEK), a German health insurance fund, for at least one day in all four quarters of 2009. We analysed subjects with outpatient diagnoses of the following diseases: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (0-17 years), hypothyroidism (18-49 years), osteoporosis (50-79 years) and coronary heart disease (80 + years). Analysis was performed on an active-substance level. A number of differences were observed in drug treatment for the selected diseases (for example, substances for ADHD were prescribed more often in males and for hypothyroidism more often in females), as well as in prescribing practices relating to other drugs used in these groups. However, clear explanations for these differences, such as drug approval status, were not always apparent.

The effects of incubator carbon dioxide level on turkey hatchability.

Four experiments involving CO2 level in single-stage incubators were conducted at a commercial turkey hatchery. Carbon dioxide was injected into incubators to a level of .3% during the first 10 days of incubation. Noninjected control incubators were maintained at a .1% CO2. Eggs from the injected incubators had a higher hatchability and lower early, late, and malpositioned embryonic mortality. No difference in hatchability was found between .3 and .5% CO2 concentrations for the first 10 days of incubation. Carbon dioxide injection for the first 5 days of incubation decreased hatchability when compared to CO2 injection for the first 10 days. Carbon dioxide injection for the first 14 days of incubation resulted in no difference in hatchability from injection for the first 10 days. The artificial addition of CO2 to single-stage turkey incubation systems may be of economic importance in commercial hatcheries because of its effect on hatchability.