PJ, 20 September 2014, Vol 293, No 7828

Striving to improve standards

Jocelyn Parkes, RPS director for Wales, looks at what is being done across Wales to improve patient care in light of the ‘Trusted to care’ report.…

Relieving pressure on GPs

GPs can lighten their workload by employing pharmacists while also gaining valuable clinical support.…

Expensive night out

Charging a fee for being drunk in A&E would do little to improve people’s attitudes to alcohol.…

Statin users have lower risk of developing diabetic complications, study suggests

A new study suggests that patients taking lipid-lowering drugs may be protected against diabetic microvascular complications.…

Science is an essential component of undergraduate pharmacy education

It was with incredulity that I read the reported comments of Scotland’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer on the removal of science from the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum ( The Pharmaceutical Journal 2014:293:234 ). Given the enormous challenges of future healthcare provisi…

Tuesday 30 September: London North West

Local practice forum event, “Interpretation of blood test results – a practical approach”, by Raymond Guirguis, pharmacy manager at Princess Grace Hospital, and Amira Guirguis, pharmacist at University of Hertfordshire. Cumberland Hotel (Best Western), Harrow, London HA1 2EF. …

Improved glycaemic control with fixed-ratio combination of insulin degludec and liraglutide

A new trial shows that patients who took IDegLira (Xultophy) for 26 weeks experienced a significantly greater mean reduction in HbA1c than patients taking either insulin degludec or liraglutide.…

Will G8 funding for dementia research recognise the involvement of stealth pathogens in the global pandemic?

The G8 countries have agreed to tackle the pandemic of dementia that is leading to a crisis in medical and social care costs, but in focusing international attention on vascular dementia, the opportunity may well have been lost to investigate dementias claimed to be caused by stealth pathogens. …

Paradoxical bronchoconstriction occurs in 5% of COPD patients treated with beta-2-agonists

African–American patients with COPD are more likely to be affected by therapy-induced bronchoconstriction, study suggests.…

Promising results for lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in myeloma

A trial involving more than 1,600 patients with multiple myeloma showed improvement in progression-free survival with a new combination therapy.…