Archive for the ‘Diseases’ Category
Posted by James
Speaker: Matthew K. Ito, PharmD, Professor and Vice Chair, Pharmacy Practice Department, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.
Dyslipidemia is a common side effect of protease inhibitor therapy in HIV-infected patients. An encapsulated form of pravastatin (Pravachol generic) appears to offer a new efficacious therapeutic approach for these patients. This form of the statin brings about significantly greater reductions in total cholesterol, LDL-C, and non-HDL-C levels compared with nonencapsulated pravastatin, and it has a similar safety profile.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Speaker: Christie Ballantyne, MD, Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, and Professor of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist De Bakey Heart Center, Houston, Texas.
In patients with high cholesterol levels, drug ezetimibe (EZE) (Zetia generic) plus simvastatin (Zocor tablet) (both manufactured by Merck/Schering Plough), were given. These two agents, which inhibit both cholesterol synthesis and intestinal absorption, provided significantly greater reductions in LDL-C for a range of doses, compared with atorvastatin (Lipitor generic) monotherapy in all dosing ranges.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Speaker: Eric D. Peterson, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center and Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina.
Results from the database of a national quality improvement initiative showed that hospitals with the highest adherence to national guidelines for treating patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had significantly better patient outcomes, with more lives saved, than did hospitals that were less adherent. These findings are important, because although many studies have proved the effectiveness of individual treatment modalities in improving outcomes for patients with ACS, few have correlated individual hospitals’ use of these different therapies with actual patient outcomes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Cost-Effectiveness of Clopidogrel in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome
Speaker: William S. Weintraub, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine and Chief, Emory Center for Outcomes Research, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Speaker: Stephen U. Schuele, MD, Consulting Neurologist, Department of Neurology and Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.
Results of an outcome survey of musicians with focal task-specific dystonia (FTSD) treated with injected botulinum toxin A (Botox®, Allergan) suggest that this approach can offer long-term benefit, independent of the musical instrument used.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Speaker: Andrew Dowson, MD, Director of the Headache Clinic, Kings College Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Six-month follow-up results from a large-scale phase III clinical study demonstrate that zolmitriptan nasal spray (Zomig®, AstraZeneca) 5 mg is safe, well tolerated, and reliably effective when used for the long-term acute treatment of multiple migraine attacks. High pain-free rates have been maintained over time.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James
Speaker: Peter A. Calabresi, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland.
Combination therapy with interferon beta-1b (Betaseron®, Berlex/Schering AG) and azathioprine (Imuran drug, Prometheus) is safe and effective at reducing inflammatory disease activity in most patients who have multiple sclerosis (MS) with “breakthrough activity” who are receiving interferon beta monotherapy.
Read the rest of this entry »