PJ, December 2000

Little enthusiasm for asthma self-management

Health professionals and patients are unenthusiastic about asthma self-management plans, a pilot study has found. The study explored the views of patients, nurses and general practitioners about guided self-management plans for asthma.…

Venlafaxine for hot flushes?

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 265 No 7128p907December 23/30, 2000 Clinical Venlafaxine (Efexor) is effective at treating hot flushes in menopausal women who cannot or do not wish to take hormonal treatment, say American researchers. Professor Charles Loprinzi and colleagues (Mayo Cl…

Study shows long-term benefits of pravastatin in unstable angina

Evidence that pravastatin is of long-term benefit when started after hospital admission for unstable angina is provided by the results of a new trial. A substudy from the LIPID (long-term intervention with pravastatin in ischaemic disease) trial showed that pravastatin improved survival…

Rituximab combination beneficial in aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, say researchers

Adding rituximab (Mabthera) to standard combination chemotherapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL) can prolong overall survival, according to the results of a recent trial. …

Statins found to have immune system effect

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 265 No 7128p908December 23/30, 2000 Clinical Research suggests that statins may modulate immune responses. Swiss researchers have discovered that statins suppress the expression of major histocompatibility complex class II, which is directly i…