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De Jong and colleagues in The Netherlands conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical study of intravenous vs oral corticosteroids in the treatment of patients hospitalized because of an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Previous work demonstrates that selective gut decontamination decreases the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), but the practice has been limited by concerns about promoting antibiotic resistance.
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In this issue: FDA warnings for existing drugs dominate pharmaceutical news this month.
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Many efforts are underway to develop reliable and effective antiplatelet agents that have a minimal risk for bleeding.
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The atrial fibrillation clopidogrel trial with Irbesartan for Prevention of Vascular Events (ACTIVE W) is a noninferiority trial comparing anticoagulation with warfarin to therapy with aspirin plus clopidogrel for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation.
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The triggers of ventricular arrhythmia (tova Study) was a multicenter, prospective, cohort study that examined lifestyle and psychological triggers that might result in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shocks for ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF).
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Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an exceedingly common manifestation of atherosclerosis. Its presence heralds an increased risk for death from coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke, yet it continues to go unrecognized in a large proportion of patients.
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The management of patients with significant carotid artery disease, who need coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), especially if the carotid disease is asymptomatic, is controversial. In the absence of randomized trials, this report of carotid artery stenting followed by CABG in 356 patients with severe asymptomatic carotid disease is of interest.