Background: Trials evaluating angiotensin-receptor blockers in heart failure (HF) have shown inconsistent results.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of angiotensin II (AII) receptor blockers in HF patients on total mortality and HF hospitalisations.

Background

The optimal combination drug therapy for hypertension is not established, although current U.S. guidelines recommend inclusion of a diuretic. We hypothesized that treatment with the combination of an angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and a dihydropyridine calcium-channel blocker would be more effective in reducing the rate of cardiovascular events than treatment with an ACE inhibitor plus a thiazide diuretic.

Methods

Context Use of generic drugs, which are bioequivalent to brand-name drugs, can help contain prescription drug spending. However, there is concern among patients and physicians that brand-name drugs may be clinically superior to generic drugs.

Objectives To summarize clinical evidence comparing generic and brand-name drugs used in cardiovascular disease and to assess the perspectives of editorialists on this issue.

Background: We investigated whether the use of respiratory fluoroquinolones was associated with better clinical outcomes compared with the use of macrolides and β- lactams among adults with pneumonia.

Serious safety concerns about the asthma medications known as Long Acting Beta Agonists or LABAs surfaced in 2002. These drugs are used to make breathing easier for patients with asthma. The asthma medications available in Saudi Arabia containing LABA appears at the end of this article (see Table 1).

Background In January 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began a nationwide investigation of severe adverse reactions that were first detected in a single hemodialysis facility. Preliminary findings suggested that heparin was a possible cause of the reactions.

People sensitive to fungi may benefit from itraconazole, study finds

 An antifungal drug may offer hope for severe asthma patients who also suffer from a sensitivity to certain fungi, a new British study says.

A twice-daily dose of itraconazole improved runny nose, morning lung function and the quality of life of 62 percent of people with severe asthma and allergic sensitivity to at least one of seven different common fungi in the double-blind study conducted by The University of Manchester.

While the anticoagulant warfarin can be highly effective in preventing strokes and treating venous thromboembolism, doctors have long struggled with finding the best way manage the drug therapy.

Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers now claim to have figured out the optimal dosing levels to help patients, according to a study published in December online issue of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Giving people antibiotics before they were admitted to a hospital intensive care unit led to a drop in patient deaths, a new Dutch study found.

The findings should settle a long-running debate on whether the use of antibiotics as a preventive measure for intensive care patients offsets the risk of possible antibiotic resistance, said study author Dr. Anne Marie de Smet, an anesthesiologist-intensivist at University Medical Center Utrecht.

Context Many individuals take vitamins in the hopes of preventing chronic diseases such as cancer, and vitamins E and C are among the most common individual supplements. A large-scale randomized trial suggested that vitamin E may reduce risk of prostate cancer; however, few trials have been powered to address this relationship. No previous trial in men at usual risk has examined vitamin C alone in the prevention of cancer.