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In this issue: Comparing blood pressure medications, determining optimal length of androgen-deprivation therapy, red yeast rice for LDL reduction, and FDA Actions.
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A survey of U.S. primary care physicians found that although most recommend weight loss to their obese patients, they do not utilize current evidence-based recommendations, and they underestimate the therapeutic effects of small weight losses.
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Brown adipose tissue is involved in temperature regulation, and relates to metabolic rate and body mass index. Its activity appears to be reduced in people who are obese.
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Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) report progressively worse dyspnea with exercise, ranging from Class I NYHA (symptoms only present with strenuous exercise) to Class IV NYHA (symptoms present with any activity, even at rest).
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Despite a clear-cut association between asthma and gastroesophageal reflux, aggressive PPI treatment had no clinical effect on poorly controlled asthma.
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Insomnia persists.
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Golimumab is indicated for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis in combination with methotrexate (MTX), active psoriatic arthritis, and active ankylosing spondylitis with or without methotrexate or other non-biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD).
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Although osteoporosis and osteopenia occur in persons of all ages, they most commonly affect institutionalized long-term care and community-dwelling elderly patients, the same population segments with the highest risk of tooth loss and periodontal disease.
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Regular consumption of substantial amounts of cranberry juice or sauce by patients stabilized on warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) has been implicated in several cases of otherwise inexplicable increases of International Normalized Ratio (INR), including a few with serious hemorrhages.
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Results of this small pilot trial suggest that acupuncture analgesia in the ED may be both effective in managing pain associated with minor extremity trauma as well as feasible. While the conclusions are welcome, they serve more to advance the notion that further study is warranted than to promote application of acupuncture in the acute setting.
