To the Editor A recent retrospective cohort analysis by Dr You and colleagues demonstrated that compared with clopidogrel, ticagrelor was not associated with better outcomes in patients from the US and South Korea with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous intervention (PCI). However, there are several important discrepancies between this cohort analysis and the randomized Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) trial.

To the Editor As HIV clinicians, we read with interest the new antiretroviral treatment guidelines published on behalf of the International Antiviral Society–USA. Nevertheless, we believe these guidelines failed to integrate emerging evidence and may have reflected implicit commercial bias.

To the Editor In their Viewpoint, Dr Powers and colleagues analyzed 3 forces governing de-adoption of low-value care: evidence, eminence, and economics. A common denominator underlies them: the interest and convenience of the health care producers, providers, and purchasers. Fee-for-service creates strong incentives to continue delivering low-value but profitable care and technological abuse. More generally, it incentivizes provision of services with a profitable differential between the production costs and the fee applied by purchasers. The production cost is physician- or hospital team–specific, based also on specific skills and preferences, whereas the applied fees are not hospital- or physician-specific, further limiting targeted tariff policies. Aligned with pressure from patients and induced by technology producers and professional societies, fee-for-service multiplies outputs, which translates into financial and career benefits for hospitals, physicians, and producers. Therefore, low-value care for patients and society can be of high value for the producers, hospitals, and physicians selling it. A distorted rewarding model for health players puts the health systems in structural conflict of interest with health.

This study investigates emergency department visits for violence-related injuries occurring at home and outside the home in Cardiff, Wales, before and after COVID-19 lockdown measures were instituted in March 2020.

As long ago as in the issue of this Journal for Oct. 13,1894, the promising merits of Ian Maclaren, the now popular story-teller, were recognized. We there spoke of Maclaren’s “A General Practitioner,” as “a classic of its kind,” although it was far from being in classic dress at that time; it was then to be found only in a penny paper of London, called the British Weekly. Since that time, the features of the Highland country doctor, Dr. Weelum MacLure, have been made known all the world round in the “Bonnie Brier Bush” stories. And his physiognomy is everywhere recognized as that of one of the sturdiest and noblest medical characters that have ever appeared in fiction. If there is anywhere in fiction a more worthy, admirable and attractive personage than Dr. MacLure of Drumtochty, we will be thankful to have him pointed out to us. As his portrait has not, so far as we know, been seen in any medical gallery, we will here give space to a sketch taken from the earliest publication by Maclaren:

The importance of access to health care and the financial protections that insurance should provide have never been more salient, and the potential consequences of the costs and gaps within the patchwork system in the US have never been more dire. Would the US population be better off with a simple, single-payer, uniform Medicare-for-all type of insurance plan?

This JAMA Insights Clinical Update reviews the differential diagnosis, patterns, evaluation, and management of the most common causes of nonscarring hair loss, including male pattern balding, telogen effluvium, and alopecia areata.

Listen to the JAMA Editor’s Audio Summary for an overview and discussion of the important articles appearing in this week’s issue of JAMA.

All hand sanitizers from Mexico are under an FDA import alert to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products.

The FDA has approved a treatment regimen that will allow some patients with HIV infection to trade their daily pills for a once-a-month injection.

Two recently finalized rules provide tobacco product manufacturers with additional information on federal requirements they must meet to get their products on the market. Then-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD, said finalization of the rules “is an important milestone in the FDA’s regulation of tobacco products.”

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer, is a highly curable disease, with approximately 85% of patients being long-term survivors when treated with current chemotherapy regimens. Risk-adapted, intensified chemotherapy regimens have greatly improved the outcome for children, adolescents, and young adults with newly diagnosed B-cell ALL (B-ALL), which comprises approximately 20% of patients with ALL, and can be safely delivered with proper supportive care measures. Intensification of chemotherapy as salvage therapy, frequently adopting the same agents used during initial therapy, has also been successful at inducing sustained remissions for patients with late relapses. However, this approach has been largely unsuccessful for high-risk patients who experience relapse within 3 years from diagnosis because survival outcomes for these patients remain poor. Additionally, mortality associated with toxicity related to therapy contributes significantly to the poor survival.

JAMA Live Highlights features comments from livestream interviews by JAMA Network Editor in Chief Howard Bauchner, MD. His discussions with experts in clinical care, public health, and health policy focus on critical issues related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Comments have been edited for clarity.

This Medical News article discusses reports of myocardial injury and myocarditis among patients with COVID-19.

This JAMA Patient Page describes how the new Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines available in the US work and explains why 2 doses of these vaccines are needed to confer adequate immunity.

This cohort study estimates the association of use of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) plus methylprednisolone vs IVIG alone with treatment failure for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), defined as fever persistence at 2 days or fever recurrence within 7 days.

Over the past 2 weeks numerous states have announced a major shift in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination programs—from a textured approach that includes individual risk factors for morbidity and mortality (eg, age and high-risk medical conditions), occupational risk factors for exposure (eg, first responders and correctional officers), and other societal priorities (eg, essential workers such as teachers, grocery store employees, and public transportation workers) to an approach focused on vaccinating all individuals aged 65 years and older. Concerns have been raised that the more detailed approach has been difficult to implement, thus slowing the rollout of vaccines, and may leave decisions regarding who gets vaccinated to people not adequately trained to make such a decision.

This Viewpoint reviews circulating SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants and mechanisms of immunity by which they might escape coronavirus vaccine-induced protection and proposes 6 measures to address them, including enhanced variant isolation and testing procedures and continued adherence to mask-wearing and other established public health measures.

This Viewpoint from the CDC summarizes global data about SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks at K-12 schools and emphasizes implementation of community- and school-based policies shown to diminish spread of infection that would allow safer resumption of in-person education in the 2021/22 school year.

This study uses national survey data to describe overall and regional trends in adherence to protective behaviors (mask wearing, physical distancing, staying at home, others) among US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic from April to November 2020.