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Evidence-based updates in primary care medicine By Louis Kuritzky, MD
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Five days of steroid treatment was as effective as 14 days of treatment in preventing repeat exacerbations of COPD in patients presenting to the emergency department with COPD exacerbations.
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Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) and minor strokes are often the harbingers of a large, debilitating stroke.
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The relationship between neurologic complications of infective endocarditis (IE), urgent valve surgery, and outcomes is poorly understood. Thus, these investigators performed a retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected database of IE cases from 1984-2009 in seven Spanish hospitals.
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Patients, clinicians, and policy makers are increasingly focused on ways to improve the quality of care delivered and provide support to patients and families at the end of life (EOL).
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In a retrospective review of adjuvant chemotherapy for elderly (≥ 75 years) patients with stage III colon cancer, performance status and comorbidities were important treatment decision factors. Disease recurrence rates were not different for those who received adjuvant treatment vs those who did not, but 1-year and 5-year survival was significantly better for the treated group. The difference at 5 years remained apparent in multivariate analysis controlling for age, performance status, and comorbidities.
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One-third of non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy start it more than 10 weeks after surgery. Although the time interval between surgery and initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy impacts survival in colorectal and breast cancers, delaying adjuvant chemotherapy does not appear to be associated with inferior survival in non-small cell lung cancer.
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Beta-blockers and noncardiac surgery; prenatal medication exposure and risk of autism; reasons for statin discontinuations; and FDA actions.