Ever since 1796, when Edward Jenner introduced the world's first vaccine against smallpox, the role of vaccination has arguably become one of the most important advances in medicine.
FDA Advisory Committee recommends approval of dabigatran, safety of proton pump inhibitors, effectiveness of glucosamine and chondroitin, FDA Actions.
In a very large Norwegian study, use of screening mammography was associated with a reduction in the rate of death from breast cancer, but the screening itself accounted for only about a third of the total reduction in death rate.
Initiating treatment for hypercholesterolemia at age 30 years instead of age 60 years might very well prevent not just 30% of the CAD events as occurred in the 5-year statin trials, but perhaps as many as 60% of the CAD events lifetime.
A systematic review shows that the three classical symptoms of paroxysmal cough, post-tussive emesis, and inspiratory whoop are helpful for the diagnosis, but cannot be relied upon to rule in or rule out pertussis as the cause of a chronic cough.
A recombinant, polyethylene glycol (PEG) mammalian urate oxidase (uricase) has been approved by the FDA for treatment of hyperuricemia. Uricase metabolizes urate to allantoin, a water-soluble metabolite, which is cleared renally. Pegliticase is marketed by Savient Pharmaceuticals as Krystexxa™.
