The American journal of the medical sciences
-
Management of primary immune thrombocytopenia, 2012: a survey of oklahoma hematologists-oncologists.
Management options for patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) have increased, and treatment of patients with ITP has changed during the past 10 years. ⋯ In a time of changing management for patients with ITP, these data document reported current management in Oklahoma and provide a basis for serial comparisons across time and for comparisons with other regions and comparison of management with patient outcomes.
-
Clinical Trial
Zolpidem arouses patients in vegetative state after brain injury: quantitative evaluation and indications.
To investigate the efficacy and indications of zolpidem, a nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic, inducing arousal in vegetative state patients after brain injury. ⋯ Zolpidem is an effective medicine to restore brain function in patients in vegetative state after brain injury, especially for those whose brain injuries are mainly in non-brain-stem areas. Improvement of brain function is sudden rather than gradual.
-
This article examines the associations between patients' source of most help with diabetes care and their glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) levels. The extent to which differences in A1C by source of most help could be explained by perceived levels of total social support, sociodemographics, and medication adherence were also assessed. ⋯ Patients reporting a nonspouse family member or friend as their source of most help with their diabetes management had worse glycemic control than patients reporting all other sources of help.
-
Meta Analysis
Different β-blockers and initiation time in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.
The effects of differences among β-blockers and initiation times in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery (NCS) remain unknown. On June 1, 2012, the authors searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify all trials of perioperative β-blockers in patients undergoing NCS published between January 1960 and June 2012. The authors included only randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled trials of perioperatively administered β-blockers (ie, during the pre-, intra- and/or postoperative period) in patients with at least 1 risk factor for coronary artery disease undergoing NCS. ⋯ Indirect comparisons demonstrated that perioperative atenolol therapy was associated with lower mortality and incidence of MI. β-blocker therapy initiated >1 week before surgery was associated with improved postoperative mortality. Perioperative β-blocker treatment of patients undergoing NCS increases the incidence of stroke but decreases the incidence of MI, leading to a nonsignificant decrease in mortality. The authors also observed that atenolol treatment or β-blocker therapy initiated >1 week before NCS was associated with improved outcomes.