Family Practice News articles from September 2006

Family Practice News archives from September 2006

FPs still struggle a year after Katrina.(family physicians )
September 1, 2006... One year after Hurricane Katrina pummelled the Gulf Coast, family physicians are still struggling to cope with acute shortages of specialists, nurses, and hospital beds, facts of life that force many to manage conditions that they would have...

Males more likely to die from heat-related causes.(VITAL SIGNS)
September 1, 2006... [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

Medicare proposes 5.1% physician pay cut next year: AAFP seeks solution to SGR problem.(American Academy of Family Physicians)(sustainable growth rate)
September 1, 2006... Unless Congress intervenes by the end of the year, physicians are scheduled to face a 5.1% cut in Medicare payments starting Jan. 1, 2007. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published the proposed physician fee...

CDC guidelines give options for resistant gonorrhea.(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
September 1, 2006... MONTEREY, CALIF. -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guide lines for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases for the first time since 2002. The new guidelines recommend alternatives to drugs that may...

FDA, CDC cite contaminated biopsy equipment.(Federal Drug Administration)(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
September 1, 2006... Two reports of contamination of prostate biopsy needle guides caused by improper reprocessing serve as a reminder that such cases, while uncommon, do occur and can result in transmission of bacterial infections. This summer, a public...

FDA: migraine, mood meds are risky together: concomitant use of triptans and SSRI/SNRI drugs can lead to serotonin syndrome, the agency warns.(News)
September 1, 2006... Physicians should be aware that concomitant use of a triptan and a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or a selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor can lead to serotonin syndrome, according to a public health advisory issued by...

Deficit Reduction Act may harm Medicaid recipients.(Law overview)
September 1, 2006... BALTIMORE -- Provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act are likely to profoundly affect health care for Medicaid patients, Cindy Mann said at the annual meeting of the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics. The Deficit Reduction Act...

Prospects bright for pediatric drug development.(children participation in clinical drug trials)
September 1, 2006... TUCSON, ARIZ. -- For many years, kids got no respect when it came to participating in clinical drug trials. But if recent legislative efforts in Europe and the United States come to fruition, the 2000s could become known as the decade of...

Novel sunscreen gets long-awaited approval.(News)
September 1, 2006... A novel type of sunscreen available in Canada and Europe since 1993 has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Anthelios SX offers a photostable ultraviolet A filter with a high protection factor, and will be sold over the counter...

FDA approves Keppra infusion.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Food and Drug Administration has approved levetiracetam injection 500 mg/5 mL for use as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial-onset seizures in adults with epilepsy. Manufactured by UCB and marketed as Keppra, the intravenous...

New federal regs aim to speed health IT adoption.(Information Technology)
September 1, 2006... Hospitals, health plans, and other health care organizations will soon be able to assist physicians in obtaining health information technology without running afoul of federal fraud laws under regulations that were issued last month by the...

Managing late summer colds in children.(antibiotic prescription in patients)(Column)
September 1, 2006... During the summer and early fall, we should be careful about unnecessary antibiotic use in patients who most likely have enteroviral infections. Nonpolio enterovirus (NPEV) infections are amazingly diverse in their range of clinical...

Roadblocks to reaching diabetes goals.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... All family physicians want to provide better diabetes care, but we cannot get reimbursed for it ("Better Diabetes Care Could Save $5 Billion Per Year," July 15, 2006, p. 21). I agree that "financial support must be established to sustain...

Pain remedy may suffice for agitation.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... I appreciated the article about nonmedical treatment for agitation, but unfortunately it missed one important area ("Agitation in Dementia: Start Treatment Nonmedically," June 1, 2006, p. 42). Demented patients often become agitated as a...

Opioids: assess risks and benefits.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dr. Howard A. Heit's advice about opioids is grossly unrealistic and dangerous ("Don't Withhold Opioids From Recovering Addicts," May 15, 2006, p. 62). I practice in an area of the country known for its high rate of substance abuse and...

Proposed ICD guidelines emphasize transparency: physicians of patients with implanted heart devices are asked to beef up their surveillance procedures.(implantable cardioverter defibrillator)
September 1, 2006... BOSTON -- Although industry officials appeared to embrace proposed guidelines from the Heart Rhythm Society aimed at improving postmarket surveillance and the performance of implantable heart devices, the reaction of the Food and Drug...

Malfunction rates rising in ICDs, falling in pacemakers.(Cardiovascular Medicine)(implantable cardioverter defibrillator)
September 1, 2006... In recent years, the rate of pacemaker malfunctions has decreased while the rate of implantable cardioverter defibrillator malfunctions has increased dramatically, according to an analysis by Dr. William H. Maisel and a group of investigators...

Evidence conflicts on fish oil's heart effects.(Cardiovascular Medicine)
September 1, 2006... BOSTON -- New studies showing conflicting results on the effect of fish oil on the heart add weight to the notion that perhaps age and health status influence whether omega-3 fatty acids prevent or promote cardiac arrhythmias, according to Dr....

High-carb, low-glycemic index diet cuts weight, cardiac risk.(Cardiovascular Medicine )(eating habits)
September 1, 2006... A high-carbohydrate, low-glycemic index diet both decreases fat mass and maximizes cardiovascular risk reduction, compared with three other weight-loss diets, reported Joanna McMillan-Price of the University of Sydney (Australia) and her...

Low HDL increases complication rate in stent recipients with ACS.(High Density Lipoprotein)(acute coronary syndrome)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Low baseline HDL-cholesterol levels in patients who receive a drug-eluting stent for acute coronary syndrome appears to be an independent risk factor for adverse short- and long-term clinical outcomes, Dr. Roswitha M. Wolfram said at...

Anthracycline chemo raises heart failure risk.(Cardiovascular Medicined)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Postmenopausal women with breast cancer who undergo adjuvant chemotherapy with anthracycline have a significantly increased long-term risk of developing heart failure, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American...

Isolation, depression hinder cardiac rehab.(Cardiovascular Medicine)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... DENVER -- Both social isolation and depression hampered health behaviors in a study of 492 patients who suffered acute coronary syndrome events, reported Dr. Manual Paz-Yepes at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society. The...

Gastric bypass lightens load on women's hearts.(Cardiovascular Medicine)
September 1, 2006... BOSTON -- Women trim their resting heart rate and heart rate recovery as well as their waistlines when they undergo gastric bypass surgery, according to a 2-year study presented at the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society. A...

Mom's HIV treatment ups infant's heart risk.(Cardiovascular Medicine)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Fetal and early natal exposure to antiretroviral therapy may put healthy children of women infected with the HIV at increased risk of heart disease later in life, according a study presented at the annual meeting of the...

Osteonecrosis in 1% of IV bisphosphonate users.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- A retrospective analysis of data from nearly 4,000 patients treated with intravenous bisphosphonates suggests that osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients with metastatic cancer is an important but rare event in these patients, Dr. Ana...

Relative risk data favor acceptance of bisphosphonate Tx.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Physicians and patients are less likely to favor bisphosphonate therapy for osteoporosis when efficacy is expressed in terms of absolute risk reduction, as health literacy experts recommend, rather than relative risk reduction,...

TSH stimulation before radioiodine enhances goiter shrinkage.(thyrotropin stimulating hormone)
September 1, 2006... Recombinant human thyrotropin before radioiodine therapy was associated with a 35% greater reduction in volume of nontoxic nodular goiters than that achieved with radioiodine alone, but with a fivefold increase in the rate of hypothyroidism,...

Diabetes patients voice need for coping skills.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A significant number of patients with diabetes say they need help coping with the disease, but too few have such psychological needs addressed during initial diabetes education sessions, Mark Peyrot, Ph.D., reported at the annual...

Risk management program for diabetes drug marks first year.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... ROCKVILLE, MD. -- Need proof that postmarketing risk management programs can work? From March 1, 2005, through March 17, 2006, the year after the diabetes drug pramlintide became available in the United States, there were 10 reports of...

Intensive Tx benefits poorly controlled type 2 diabetes.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... BOSTON -- Intensive treatment with multiple oral hypoglycemics and insulin can bring glucose and blood pressure levels within acceptable values in patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes, Dr. William Duckworth said at the annual meeting...

Stop pump during exercise to avoid glucose drop.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... KEYSTONE, COLO. -- Stopping basal insulin during exercise sharply reduces the risk of hypoglycemia in children and adolescents with type I diabetes on insulin pump therapy, Dr. Rosanna Fiallo-Scharer reported at a conference on the management...

Lab test allows biennial thyroid disease screen.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Measures of thyroperoxidase autoantibody and thyroid-stimulating hormone once every 2 years are a reliable alternative to annual screens for thyroid disease in children with type 1 diabetes, Dr. Linda A. DiMeglio reported at the...

Diabetes, depression link remains muddled.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Which comes first, diabetes or depression? The data on this temporal relationship are mixed. Although findings from previous studies suggest that depression precedes diabetes, findings from another investigation, presented at...

Metabolic syndrome components differ between African American, white children.(Metabolic Disorders)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Although there are no formal criteria defining metabolic syndrome in children, African American and white children show important differences in some of the components, Dr. Silva A. Arslanian said at the annual meeting of the...

Adiponectin tied to women's longevity.(Metabolic Disorders)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... PITTSBURGH -- High levels of adiponectin are common in centenarian women and appear to be associated with a favorable metabolic profile, Dr. Agnieszka Baranowska-Bik and colleagues reported in a poster at the International Congress of...

Record number of antimalarials in development.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... LISBON -- More antimalarial drugs are in the developmental pipeline today than at any other time in history, Dr. Elizabeth A. Ashley reported at the 12th International Congress on Infectious Diseases. Two main factors can explain this...

Lipid changes may predict severity of hantavirus infection.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... LISBON -- Clinically moderate to severe hantavirus infections are invariably characterized by a distinctive pattern of serum lipid changes, reported Dr. Jan Clement at the 12th International Congress on Infectious Diseases. The size of the...

Vaccine refusal triggered 2005 measles outbreak.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... The largest documented measles outbreak to hit the United States in a decade infected 34 people in Indiana last year, most of whom were children whose parents had objected to immunization. The outbreak "shows that states, localities, and...

Immunizations scant in siblings of autistic kids.(Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Less than half of the younger siblings of children with autism are fully immunized, according to a small study presented by Pamela E. Green in a poster session at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies. The...

Hemorrhage warning added to aptivus label.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... Reports of fatal and nonfatal intracraial hemorrhage among HIV-1 infected patients taking Aptivus (tipranavir) in combination antiretroviral therapy have prompted the manufacturer to issue new safety information. Boehringer Ingelheim...

Primary care physicians are urged to watch for acute HIV.(Infectious Diseases)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... ASPEN, COLO. -- A rash in a teenager with an apparent viral syndrome should raise the diagnostic possibility of acute retroviral syndrome because of a recently acquired HIV infection, Dr. Elizabeth McFarland said at a conference on pediatric...

HAART response improving while mortality flatlines.(highly active antiretroviral therapy)
September 1, 2006... The virologic response in HIV-positive patients to highly active antiretroviral therapy has improved over the past 10 years; however, there has been no corresponding decrease in mortality, reported Dr. Margaret T. May of the University of...

New flu strains pegged for the 2006-2007 vaccine.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... The recipe for the 2006-2007 influenza vaccine calls for A (H3N2) and B strains that differ from last year's version, according to analyses of recently isolated flu viruses, epidemiologic data, and post-vaccination serologic studies in humans....

FluMist as safe as flu shot for HIV-infected children.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- The live attenuated influenza vaccine known as FluMist is as safe as an inactivated virus vaccine for children with HIV who have CD4 percentages of 15% or greater, according to the findings of a randomized, controlled trial....

Novel cold-adapted FluMist might be safe for young infants.(Infectious Diseases)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- A Finnish trial testing an investigational, refrigerator-stable version of the FluMist vaccine in healthy infants aged 6 weeks to 6 months suggests it might be given safely to babies below the recommended age of influenza...

Pediatric melanoma rare, with puzzling features: children diagnosed with the disease represent many skin types and have few traditional risk factors.(Skin Disorders)
September 1, 2006... PORTLAND, ORE. -- Melanoma in a pediatric patient is a lot like Sasquatch, Dr. Seth Orlow remarked at the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Dermatological Society. It's a very rare thing to see, but if it's around, you surely don't...

Systemic contact dermatitis tracked to food allergens.(Skin Disorders)
September 1, 2006... PORTLAND, ORE. -- A broad and diverse group of foods contains nickel, and consumption of these foods has the potential to exacerbate allergic contact dermatitis in patients, particularly those receiving more than one exposure per day, Dr. David...

Early proper treatment benefits pressure ulcers.(Skin Disorders)
September 1, 2006... SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. -- Pressure ulcers should be treated early using validated protocols of care to keep them from becoming infected or advancing to full-thickness wounds, Dr. Laura Bolton said at the annual meeting of the Wound Healing Society....

Surgery aids 85% of teens with rare knee disease.(Musculoskeletal Disorders)
September 1, 2006... HERSHEY, PA. -- Otherwise healthy adolescents who had internal fixation surgery for osteochondritis dissecans of the knee returned to their sports activities about 8 months later, Dr. Mininder S. Kocher reported at the annual meeting of the...

FDA approves 13 generic versions of meloxicam.(Musculoskeletal Disorders)(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first generic versions of Mobic (meloxicam) for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The new approvals of 13 generic meloxicam applications stem from the agency's cluster review approach, aimed...

Brisk walking may stress knee joints in the obese.(Musculoskeletal Disorders)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... DENVER -- Brisk walking appears to place significant stress on knee joints, especially in obese individuals, and that may contribute to musculoskeletal injuries, Ray Browning, Ph.D., reported at the annual meeting of the American College of...

ATAC trialists back up-front use of anastrozole.(Women's Health)(Alone or in Combination )
September 1, 2006... Investigators of a key international trial comparing anastrozole to tamoxifen have concluded that their long-term safety results support up-front use of the aromatase inhibitor as an adjuvant treatment for hormone-sensitive early-stage breast...

DHEA may aid low ovarian reserve, data suggest.(Women's Health)(Dehydroepiandrosterone)
September 1, 2006... PRAGUE -- Women with severely diminished ovarian reserve can experience dramatic improvements in ovarian function, pregnancy rates, and euploidy rates when treated with dehydroepiandrosterone, Dr. Norbert Gleicher stated at the annual meeting...

PGD finds risk of familial colon Ca.(Women's Health)(Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis )(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... PRAGUE -- Genetic carriers of familial adenomatous polyposis can now decrease their risks of conceiving an affected child with the help of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Stephane Viville, Ph.D., reported at the annual meeting of the...

Home visits help pediatric outcomes for Hispanics.(Women's Health)(benefits of home visits)
September 1, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- An intensive home visiting program targeting pregnant women and parents of newborns reduced premature births and significantly improved health care and pediatric health in Hispanic families, according to preliminary results of a...

First-generation anticonvulsants.(Drugs, Pregnacy, And Lactation)(adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs )
September 1, 2006... Although it has been known for years that some first-generation antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) cause birth defects, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), and, possibly, developmental delay, these toxicities were not thought to apply to the...

Nature and media's nurture spawn girl violence.(Mental Health)(behavior of a male differs from that of a female)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- The media shares the blame for the rising tide of girl violence. But this tide would not be rising if females did not naturally have tendencies to aggression that are in some ways as strong as those of males, James Garbarino, Ph.D.,...

The source of aggression determines treatment.(Mental Health)(care and treatment of child)
September 1, 2006... VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Aggression isn't a diagnosis, it's a symptom. It may be secondary to a psychiatric diagnosis, or unrelated. It may be a temporary response to the environment, or deeply woven into a child's personality, said Dr. Susan Lomax...

Genetic variation linked to aggression in healthy males.(Mental Health)
September 1, 2006... PITTSBURGH -- The same genetic variation that has been associated with aggressive behaviors in certain psychiatric and criminal populations may predict confrontational and antagonistic behavior among men, Stephen B. Manuck, Ph.D., reported at...

Low-dose ketamine helps resistant depression.(Mental Health)(dosages)
September 1, 2006... A single intravenous infusion of low-dose ketamine relieved treatment-resistant depression within 2 hours, and the "robust" response persisted for 1 week in a preliminary study of 18 patients, reported Dr. Carlos A. Zarate Jr. and his...

Pain, depression plague older cancer survivors.(Mental Health)(mental disorders are not considered in elderly cancer patients)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Anxiety, depression, and pain are often overlooked in older cancer survivors, according to results of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In this study of 153 men who had been...

Walk test not a good indicator of lung function.(Pulmonary Medicine)
September 1, 2006... The 6-minute walk test is highly reproducible during trials of patients with interstitial lung disease secondary to scleroderma, but it may not be a valid outcome measurement because it correlates poorly with other standard physiologic...

New antiangiogenesis agents fight lung cancer.(Pulmonary Medicine)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- A year after bevacizumab proved that angiogenesis inhibition can help patients with non-small cell lung cancer live longer, a second generation of antiangiogenesis agents is showing activity against advanced, metastatic lung disease....

Bevacizumab-erlotinib combo boosts lung cancer survival.(Pulmonary Medicine)(cancer medicine)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with erlotinib (Tarceva) was associated with promising preliminary results in the treatment of refractory non-small cell lung cancer in data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society...

Obesity-preeclampsia linkage may be vascular: vessel inflammation might increase risk by releasing reactive oxygen species and immunostimulants.(Obesity)
September 1, 2006... LISBON -- Neutrophil infiltration and vascular inflammation were substantially more prevalent and severe in blood vessels from overweight and obese women than in vessels taken from normal-weight women in a study of 22 women. "The data...

Adolescents show good compliance after bariatric surgery.(Obesity)(failure of conservative interventions)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Few morbidly obese adolescents are referred for bariatric surgery, despite the high rate of failure with conservative interventions. But short-term outcomes and compliance in teens undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass,...

Older African Americans wary of outdoor exercise.(Obesity)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Fears about personal safety appear to be a barrier to exercise among older African Americans in low- and moderate-income areas of Los Angeles, Dr. O. Kenrik Duru reported at the annual meeting of the Society of General Internal...

Exercise cuts daytime fatigue in sleep apnea.(Obesity)
September 1, 2006... BOSTON -- Depression, metabolic syndrome, and lack of exercise exacerbate daytime sleepiness in obese patients with sleep apnea, Dr. Alexios Sarrigiannidis said at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society. Dr. Sarrigiannidis and his...

Opioid-induced GI problems counteracted by novel agent.(Digestive Disorders)(Gastrointestinal disorders)
September 1, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- Alvimopan is effective in relieving gastrointestinal adverse events associated with opioid administration, according to preliminary data. "We were able to demonstrate that alvimopan, a [micro]-opioid receptor antagonist that...

Rectal cancer trial supports preoperative radiation.(Digestive Disorders)
September 1, 2006... SEATTLE -- Rectal cancer patients who got radiotherapy before their surgery had a lower local recurrence rate--even in T1 and T2 stage tumors--than did those who did not receive prior radiotherapy, according to preliminary results of a British...

Lab test combo helps tease out pediatric appendicitis diagnosis.(Digestive Disorders)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- The diagnosis of appendicitis is notoriously difficult in children, with estimates of misdiagnosis rates ranging from 28%-57% for children over the age of 12 and up to 100% for children under 2 years of age. But the...

Suspect perforated appendix if bilirubin level is high.(Digestive Disorders)(adverse effects of elevation in seum bilirubin)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Elevated serum bilirubin on admission may be a tip-off to a perforated appendix, according to research from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, that was prsesented at the annual Digestive Disease Week. Dr....

Mental burden high for assisted living residents: overall, 24% of patients in the Maryland study met the criteria for depression.(Geriatric Medicine)
September 1, 2006... SAN JUAN, P.R. -- Dementia and depression appear to be quite common among residents in assisted living facilities, based on two analyses of facilities in Maryland that were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for...

Office-based intervention improves vulnerable elderly care.(Geriatric Medicine)(interventions help improve elderly)
September 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- A practice-based, paper-and-pencil-based intervention can improve quality of care for community-based vulnerable elderly patients with dementia or incontinence, Dr. David B. Reuben reported at the annual meeting of the Society of...

Prescribe chewing gum for glossodynia.(Clinical Rounds)(care and treatment)
September 1, 2006... WINNIPEG, MAN. -- Emotional stress underlies most cases of glossodynia, and--after ruling out dermatologic causes ranging from contact allergy to cancer--the best prescription for patients may be relaxation, Dr. Robert Conklin said at the...

PFO closure may benefit some migraine patients.(Clinical Rounds)(Patent foramen ovale)(implants for curing migraine)
September 1, 2006... ATLANTA -- Patent foramen ovale closure with a septal repair implant gave a modest benefit to patients with migraine and PFO, according to preliminary results of a study with 163 patients. The enrollment phase of the study also showed that...

Nickel allergy-related migraine reported following PFO closure.(Clinical Rounds)(patent foramen ovale )(adverse effects of percutaneous procedure)
September 1, 2006... CHICAGO -- Think "nickel allergy" in patients who complain of new-onset or worsening migraine following percutaneous closure of a patent foramen ovale or atrial septal defect, Dr. Jonathan M. Tobis urged at the annual meeting of the Society for...

Visual alterations common before and during migraines.(Clinical Rounds)(risk factors of migraine)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... LOS ANGELES -- Visual disturbances may be far more common among patients with migraines than previously believed, according to a study presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American Headache Society. Dr. Abouch V....

Famvir, Humira.(NEW & APPROVED)(drug licensing)(drug overview)
September 1, 2006... Famvir (famciclovir, Novartis) An antiviral approved as a single-day treatment for recurrent genital herpes and as a single-dose treatment for recurrent herpes labialis (cold sores) in immunocompetent adults. Previously approved for...

Rivastigmine said tops for Parkinson's dementia.(Clinical Rounds)(usage of drugs)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... MADRID -- Rivastigmine should be the first option for treating dementia and associated behavioral symptoms in Parkinson's disease, with the atypical antipsychotics reserved for unresponsive patients, Dr. Murat Emre said at the 10th...

Watch for toxic brimonidine exposure in children.(Clinical Rounds)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Toxic exposures to brimonidine tartrate affected 43-55 patients per year between 2000 and 2005, and more than half of them were children 5 years old and under, Dr. Melisa W. Lai reported in a poster presentation at the annual...

Intervention plan in primary care aids parenting.
September 1, 2006... SAN ANTONIO -- Primary care providers may be well placed to deliver an early intervention program for child behavioral and mental health problems, according to a feasibility study from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. The...

Hospitals find barriers to rapid response teams: such teams can prevent codes, but many physicians and hospital staff may enjoy the drama of a code.(Practice Trends)
September 1, 2006... PITTSBURGH -- As more hospitals try to establish rapid response teams to handle decompensating patients, they often encounter entrenched cultures that may prevent the teams from proving their utility, several speakers said at a meeting on...

Simple read-back system drops pediatric unit's medical errors to zero.(Practice Trends)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... SAN FRANCISCO -- Implementing a simple system of reading back medical orders reduced the error rate from 9.1% to zero in an inpatient pediatric unit, according to a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies....