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🔗 Off Label Prescribing Turns Out To Be On Label

For those who are not in the biz, it may surprise you to learn that the FDA does not decide what a drug is indicated for. It only decides if the indication that Pharma chooses to request is approved or not. If Risperdal is approved for bipolar mania but not maintenance, it doesn't mean that it isn't safe and efficacious for maintenance; or that there isn't a huge collection of data affirming this. It means Janssen didn't ask the FDA for the approval. In other words, 95% of the decision for an indication is made by the folks down at Pharma marketing. All the FDA can do is say yes or no.

🔗 A Cost Effective Reference Data Sampling Algorithm Using Fractal Analysis

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A random sampling or systematic sampling method is commonly used to assess the accuracy of classification results...So, a more effective sampling method that can represent the characteristics of the population is required. In this study, fractal analysis is adopted as an index for reference sampling. The fractal dimensions of the whole study area and the sub-regions are calculated to select sub-regions that have the most similar dimensionality to that of the whole area. Then the whole area's classification accuracy is compared with those of sub-regions, and it is verified that the accuracies of selected sub-regions are similar to that of whole area. A new kind of reference sampling method using the above procedure is proposed. The results show that it is possible to reduce sampling area and …