Pharmacists News

• Atacicept Shows Promise as Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Atacicept, a recombinant fusion protein that neutralizes the cytokine B lymphocyte stimulator, is well tolerated and shows trends toward clinical improvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a report in the January issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Larynx-Preserving Chemoradiotherapy Yields Good Voice Outcomes Voice outcomes are better after chemoradiotherapy (chemo-RT) than after total laryngectomy in patients with advanced laryngopharyngeal cancer, according to a report in the February issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Infliximab Improves Psoriatic Nail Disease Infliximab is highly effective for treatment of psoriatic nail disease, according to a post-hoc analysis of the European Infliximab for Psoriasis (Remicade) Efficacy and Safety Study.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Meningococcal Disease Reported in US In a new report, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments describe three cases of fluoroquinolone-resistant meningococcal disease that arose in North Dakota and Minnesota in January 2007 and January 2008.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Disparities in Awareness of MI Symptoms A survey in 14 US states has found that less than a third of adults are aware of all five warning signs and symptoms of MI and would call 911 as their first response. There were variations in awareness between races and between the sexes and also by geographic region and education.
  Heartwire, February 2008
• Digitalis May Increase Mortality in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation Patients with atrial fibrillation who are treated with digitalis may be at increased risk of death, according to findings from an observational study by Scandinavian and US researchers.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• U.S. Lawmakers Ask Baxter for Heparin Records Two U.S. House of Representatives Democrats asked Baxter International Inc on Thursday to provide records about the manufacturing of heparin, as well as recent reports of serious reactions.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• C. Difficile Skin Contaminants Are Highly Transmissible A study published in the February 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that Clostridium difficile frequently contaminates multiple skin sites and can be easily transmitted to investigators' hands.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Plasma Beta Amyloid Predicts Alzheimer Disease Risk in Elderly Men Plasma levels of beta amyloid protein (A-beta) predict the risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) in elderly men, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Index of Microcirculatory Resistance Is Useful in MI Assessment The index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) appears to be an effective method of predicting microvascular damage following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, researchers report in the February 5th issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• US FDA Clears Wyeth Hemophilia Treatment U.S. regulators on Thursday cleared a new drug to treat the blood-clotting disorder hemophilia made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Sulfonylurea Safe and Effective for Diabetics With SUR1 Mutations Oral sulfonylurea therapy is a safe and effective treatment for patients with diabetes due to sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) mutations and may be able to replace insulin injections, UK researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Ofatumumab Is Tolerated in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory CLL Ofatumumab, a new fully human anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is well tolerated by patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in doses up to 2,000 mg. These results of a European-American dose-escalating study support further studies on ofatumumab, according to a report in the February 1 issue of Blood.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• CHEK2 Variant Increases Breast Cancer Risk A dysfunctional variant of cell cycle checkpoint kinase 2 (CHEK2), CHEK2*1100delC may increase the risk of breast cancer by as much as five-fold, Danish researchers report in the February 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• GnRH Analogue Shows No Benefit in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis The multisystem disease affecting the lungs, kidneys and lymph system called lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) does not appear to respond to treatment with the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogue, triptorelin.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• HIV-Infected Children Can Be Switched From Stavudine to Tenofovir In HIV-infected children receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy, replacement of stavudine with tenofovir is well tolerated, according to a report in the January issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Simpler Induction Speeds Stem Cell Transplants for Multiple Myeloma A simplified induction regimen of cyclophosphamide plus dexamethasone (Cy-Dex) for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma eases the way to autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• What Your Patients Are Reading: Cardiac Arrest Survival Worse on Nights, Weekends Nights and weekends are bad news for patients who go into cardiac arrest, a higher BMI may mean a higher risk of a variety of cancers, risk for childhood obesity may be decreased by lowering kids' salt intake, providing patients with their surgeon's email address improves communication, and probiotics may increase risk of death for patients with severe acute pancreatitis.
  Medscape Medical News, February 2008
• Nosocomial Burkholderia Outbreak Traced to Moisturizing Lotion An outbreak of severe nosocomial Burkholderia cepacia infections in ICU patients was caused by moisturizing body milk contaminated during the manufacturing process.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008
• Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Should Be Asked About Depression While patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially those whose activities are more restricted due to their RA, may have depressive symptoms, few depressed patients discuss their condition with their rheumatologists, according to a report in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
  Reuters Health Information, February 2008