CP, April 2017, Vol 9, No 4

Live malaria vaccine effective in human trial

Injecting healthy volunteers with sporozoites from malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum offered successful protection against injected malaria ten weeks after final dose.…

Atrial fibrillation patients not receiving guideline-recommended drugs to reduce stroke risk

Retrospective data analysis results show that the 16% of patients who were given anticoagulant prior to stroke showed reduction in stroke severity, lower odds of mortality and better functional outcomes.…

ADHD treatment well-tolerated in paediatric anxiety

Researchers found small decreases in blood pressure and heart rate in patients treated with guanfacine, and say further clinical testing is needed.…

Researchers create opioid that only activates at pain sites

Opioid-receptor agonist demonstrated similar level of pain relief to fentanyl but without typical side effects associated with opioids.…

Brain activity predicts success of attempts to quit smoking

Researchers found that smokers who relapsed while trying to quit had a reduced functional connectivity between brain regions involved in inhibitory control, compared to those who remained abstinent.…

No survival benefit from adding statins to lung cancer treatment

Adding pravastatin to platinum-based chemotherapy offered no benefit to survival compared with placebo, researchers report.…

Pharmacists in New Zealand can now prescribe the oral contraception pill to women

We have come a long way from the early days of the oral contraceptive pill, where the doctor would only prescribe it to women who were married, and then told them soon after that it was time to stop it and have babies. But in most countries we have not come far enough. The oral contraceptive i…

Using community pharmacies to improve smoking cessation rates in Hywel Dda

Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of ill health in the UK. Although overall death rates from smoking are falling, it continues to be a burden on the health of our population in Hywel Dda, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Apart from causing ill health in people, smoking also places a great demand on the …