Primary Care Reports articles from December 2003

Primary Care Reports archives from December 2003

Allergies and allergy therapy--Part I.
December 1, 2003... Introduction Allergic reactions were described in Egyptian times, and an understanding of the body's reaction to external stimuli has been known for nearly 200 years. The term "allergy" was actually coined in 1906 by Viennese pediatrician...

CME questions.
December 1, 2003... 30. Allergic diseases have increasing world-wide prevalence. a. True b. False 31. According to the 1996 Medical Health Expenditure Survey, to what is attributed the greatest percentage of resource of the $3.4 spent on allergic...

Weight loss in type 2 diabetes.
December 1, 2003... Source: Redmon JB, et al. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:2505-2511. MOST SUBJECTS WITH TYPE 2 DIAbetes (DM2) are overweight. There is abundant support for the diverse benefits of weight loss in DM2, including improved insulin resistance, lipid...

Dalteparin and chronic foot ulcers in diabetics with PAD.
December 1, 2003... Source: Kalani M, et al. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:2575-2580. THE INCREASING PREVALENCE OF type 2 diabetes (DM2) will be likely accompanied by an increase of late-onset diabetic complications, such as chronic foot ulcers (CFU). One of the...

Pioglitazone and LDL in nondiabetic hypertensives.
December 1, 2003... Source: Winkler K, et al. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:2588-2594. THE ROLE OF LDL IN DEVELOPMENT of arteriosclerotic disease is well established. In some patient groups, especially diabetics, the type of LDL appears to be as (of more) important...

Parathyroid hormone and alendronate alone or in combination in postmenopausal osteoporosis.
December 1, 2003... Source: Black DM, et al. N Engl J Med. 2003;349:1207-1215. THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF osteoporosis (OSPS) present formidable public health issues for men and women, especially since the somewhat disconcerting results of the Women's...

Evaluation of D-dimer in the diagnosis of suspected deep-vein thrombosis.
December 1, 2003... Source: Wells PS, et al. N Engl J Med. 2003;349:1227-1235. ALL STRATEGIES CURRENTLY USED FOR the diagnosis of suspected deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) are imperfect. Since investigative tools are time-consuming, can produce false-positive...

Exercise testing to predict cardiovascular and all-cause death in women.
December 1, 2003... Source: Mora S, et al. JAMA. 2003;290:1600-1607. IN THE MID 197OS ALMOST 3000 ASYMPtomatic women underwent Bruce-protocol exercise treadmill tests (ETT) as part of the Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence study. These women had entered the...

Eplerenone cleared for CHF patients with sustained MI.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... The FDA has approved Pfizer's eplerenone (Inspra) for the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) in patients who have sustained a myocardial infarction. The drug is a selective aldosterone blocker, a new class of drug for the treatment of...

No adverse effect with concomitant aspirin and ACE inhibitor use in CHF Patients.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... Aspirin does not adversely affect survival in patients with stable CHF who were being treated with an ACE inhibitor, according to a French study published in October. This study contradicts earlier studies, which raised concern about the...

HIV treatment shows high failure rate.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... A once-daily, triple nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) HIV treatment regimen has seen a high number of treatment failures and HIV resistance. The rate of virologic failure reached 91% along with a high rate of HIV resistance to...

New psoriasis treatment approved.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... The FDA has approved the second biologic for the treatment of psoriasis. Genentech's efalizumab (Raptiva) was approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis in October. It joins Biogen's alefacept (Amevive), which was approved in...

THG controversy gains steam.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... The FDA has issued a warning regarding tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), a synthetic "designer" steroid, which is derived by simple chemical modifications from another anabolic steroid. Little is known about the safety of the drug or its structure,...

New study examines sulfonamide nonantibiotics.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... Is it safe to use a sulfonamide-based nonantibiotic in patients who have an allergy to sulfonamide antibiotics? A large retrospective cohort study from the United Kingdom looked at this issue and suggests that penicillin allergy is as likely or...

FDA actions.(Pharmacology Watch)
December 1, 2003... Novavax Inc has received FDA approval to market a new topical estrogen therapy for the treatment of hot flashes in menopausal women. The white lotion is an emulsion of estradiol topical that women apply only to their legs, thighs or calves on a...