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Hypertension is one of the most common conditions that primary care physicians face on a daily basis in the office. Control of hypertension is one of the most important therapeutic actions that the physician can do to prevent the development of serious complications in his or her patients.
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The JUPITER trial causes a stir; ACP practice guideline for antidepressant use; testosterone for low libido; continued shortage of Hib vaccine; FDA Actions.
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A prospective study comparing angiographic clot burden score and ECG score in 105 patients with PE found no correlation between the two, and neither predictor correlated with 12-month mortality. In a second retrospective study of 33 consecutive patients with massive PE by conventional clinical criteria, there was also no correlation between findings on CT angiography and mortality.
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Valproic acid and phenytoin were equally effective in the treatment of acute repetitive seizures and status epilepticus.
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Forty-four acute care hospitals participated in a prospective study over four years to determine the effect of quality improvement (QI) interventions on appropriate prescribing of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis. Hospitals were randomly assigned to either feedback on the results of the ongoing audit vs feedback plus an intensive collaborative intervention group. Both groups showed improvement in most quality indicators, but there appeared to be no benefit of the intensive QI collaborative intervention over performance feedback.
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Unfractionated heparin (UFH) is the standard bridging therapy for patients with mechanical heart valves who need to temporarily stop oral anticoagulants. Small case series have suggested that low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) may be useful for this purpose.
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Terminally ill cancer patients who had end-of-life discussions with their physician had better quality of life during their last week, and their caregivers had an easier bereavement.
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Although the original study by Van den Berghe et al sparked interest in the use of intensive insulin therapy in the ICU, subsequent studies have cast doubt on the efficacy and safety of this practice.
