Minerva.

Compliance with eradication treatment for Helicobacter pylori might improve with shorter courses. A new short term regimen of amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and lansoprazole or ranitidine for five days (or the same antibiotic-lansoprazole combination for three days, with a two day pretreatment with lansoprazole) achieved overall eradication of 86.4% in 243 patients, all of whom finished the course. Eradication failure was associated with younger age (under 55) and having a history of peptic ulcer disease (Archives of Internal Medicine 2002;162: 153-60).

Evidence from a Danish prospective cohort suggests that pregnant women who drink a moderate level of alcohol are at a higher risk of a stillbirth (American Journal of Epidemiology 2002;155:305-12). Women consuming five or more drinks a week had three times the risk of stillbirth compared with women who had less than one drink a week. …