Posted by James
REVIEW PROCESS
The authors of this article—academic-affiliated neurologists and physiatrists with experience in the use of neurotoxins for spasticity, pain, headache, and other conditions—were recruited by a health care consultant under a grant from Allergan. Most of us met twice in person to review the evidence and to arrive at a consensus. Several telephone conferences and electronic communications aided the development of our Consensus Statement (see page 674).
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Posted by James
INTRODUCTION
Spasticity is characterized by increased muscle tone, exaggerated tendon jerks, and poor control of voluntary movement that occurs as part of an upper motor neuron syndrome. Patients with spasticity are at high risk of sustaining rheologic changes to the involved muscles, ultimately leading to contractures and painful limb deformities. The principal goal of spasticity management is to prevent irreversible soft-tissue changes and tendon contractures by maintaining muscle length and normal limb positioning.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Bramah N. Singh, MD, Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
Dronedarone (Multaq, Sanofi-Aventis), was found to be a viable treatment option for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after other antiarrhythmic drugs had exhibited poor efficacy in maintaining sinus rhythm. Dronedarone is a novel multichannel blocking antiarrhythmic agent that is structurally related to amiodarone grug (e.g., Pacerone, Upsher-Smith; Corda-rone, Wyeth-Ayerst).
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Posted by James
Speaker: Keith A. Fox, MD, Professor of Cardiology, and Head of Medical and Radiological Services, Department of Cardiological Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
The impact of risk status, prior history, and proximity to recent cardiovascular events such as a myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke plays a major role in the efficacy of clopidogrel (Plavix medication, Sanofi-Aventis) when added to aspirin therapy in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, or a history of cardiovascular (CV) events.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Lars C. Wallentin, MD, PhD, Professor of Cardiology, Uppsala Clinical Research Centre, Uppsala, Sweden
In non-reperfused patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), fondaparinux (Arixtra, GlaxoSmithKline), an anticoagulant that inhibits activated Factor X, reduced mortality and re-infarction without increasing bleeding or stroke when it was administered for eight days, compared with unfractionated heparin (UFH) for 48 hours or placebo.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Theodore Mazzone, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, and Chief of the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago
Pioglitazone (Actos generic, Takeda), a diabetes medication that improves sensitivity to insulin, appears to stop the progression of arterial wall thickening when compared with glimepiride (Amaryl drug, Sanofi-Aventis), a sulfonylurea drug that stimulates insulin secretion.
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Posted by James
Cardiovascular Risks Comparable with Two Pain Killers, Etoricoxib and Diclofenac
Speaker: Christopher P. Cannon, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Associate Physician, Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Results from a late-breaking clinical trial showed that etoricoxib (Arcoxia drug, Merck), a highly selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, and the pain medication diclofenac (Voltaren canadian, Novartis), a COX-1/COX-2 inhibitor, both of which are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), carried comparable rates of thrombotic cardiovascular events.
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