Primary Care Reports articles from July 2004

Primary Care Reports archives from July 2004

Using pharmacotherapy to treat tobacco dependence in primary care settings.
July 1, 2004... Author: Tammy L. H. Sims, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of Wisconsin Medical School. Madison, WI. Smoking cessation interventions delivered by primary care physicians...

Physician CME questions.
July 1, 2004... 1. Which of the following medications is notone of the five FDA-approved medications recommended in the USPHS guideline as first-line pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation? a. Nortriptyline b. Nicotine patch c. Nicotine gum ...

Alendronate for osteoporosis.
July 1, 2004... Source: Bone HG, et al. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1189-1199. THE BISPHOSPHONATES ALENDRONATE (ALE) and risedronate are the most commonly used pharmacologic agents for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis (OSPS). Bisphosphonates have...

Exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure.
July 1, 2004... Source: ExTraMATCH Collaborative. BMJ USA. 2004;4:109-112. IN THE NOT TOO-DISTANT PAST, CLINIcians were apprehensive about exercise for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Evolution of knowledge about optimizing treatment in CHF has...

Cardiovascular prognosis of "masked hypertension".
July 1, 2004... Source: Bobrie G, et al. JAMA. 2004;291:1342-1349. THERE IS CONSISTENT AGREEMENT that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) provides a better indicator of ultimate cardiovascular risk than office blood pressure (OBP). Because...

Short-term intensive insulin therapy in newly diagnosed DM2.
July 1, 2004... Source: Ryan EA, et al. Diabetes Care. 2004;27:1028-1032. THE BEST INITIAL TREATMENT FOR THE Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic (DM2) remains a matter of debate. Although there is consensus that DM2 is characterized by both insulin secretory...

Endothelial dysfunction and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
July 1, 2004... Source: Meigs JB, et al. JAMA. 2004;291:1978-1986. THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF MORTALITY IN type 2 diabetes (DM2) is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Indeed, our most recent national guidelines have recognized that at the point of diagnosis, a person...

Treatment of Parkinson's disease with pergolide and relation to restrictive valvular heart disease.
July 1, 2004... Source: Van Camp G, et al. Lancet. 2004;363:1179-1183. EVEN MEDICATIONS THAT ARE GENERally Considered safe and effective may cause adverse effects that are sufficiently uncommon that they escape adequate identification. Although valvular...

Britain to allow over-the-counter sales of Zocor.
July 1, 2004... THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WILL SOON ALLOW over-the-counter (OTC) sales of Merck's simvastatin (Zocor), marking the first time any country has allowed the OTC sale of a statin. The drug lost its patent protection in England last year, and Merck is...

FDA rejects Plan B bid.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... FDA regulators have rejected a bid from Barr Pharmaceuticals to market their "morning after pill" as an OTC. The product, called Plan B, contains 0.75 mg of levonorgestrel, a progestin commonly used in birth control pills. Plan B is marketed as...

Recombinant erythropoietin products may stimulate tumor growth.(care of cancer patients by radio therapy)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Two recent studies have raised the question of whether recombinant erythropoietin products may stimulate tumor growth in cancer patients. One study, published in the October 2003 Lancet, reviewed 351 adult patients with head neck cancer who...

Rosuvastatin: market's most potent statin.(dosage of anticholesteremic agents for diabetes patients)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Rosuvastatin (Crestor-Astra Zeneca) appears to be the most potent statin currently marketed. In a study of 3140 patients with CAD, atherosclerosis, or type 2 diabetes, patients were randomized to rosuvastatin 10 mg, atorvastatin 10 or 20 mg,...

FDA actions.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Immunex Corp.'s etanercept (Enbrel) has been approved for use in patients older than the age of 18 with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Enbrel is currently marketed for use in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis,...