Recurrent peptic ulcer bleeding was increased in patients with known cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease when daily low-dose aspirin was continued along with proton-pump inhibitors, but overall mortality was significantly less during the 8-week follow-up.
Intensive lipid lowering with statin therapy (atorvastatin 80 mg) in patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) resulted in improved outcomes compared to treatment with moderate lipid lowering (pravastatin 40 mg) in the PROVE-IT TIMI-22 study (Cannon et al. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1495-1504), which included patients treated conservatively, as well as those treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
In the past nine months, the world has witnessed the outbreak of not one but two waves of pandemic influenza due to a new virus of swine origin. World public health authorities moved quickly to contain what appeared initially to be the severe pandemic that had been anticipated for so long.
More than 100,000 prosthetic heart valves are implanted each year in North America, and another 300,000 are done annually worldwide.
