In an analysis of the SMART trial, long-term use of abacavir was associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk and higher levels of IL-6 and hs-CRP in a subset of patients. However, a company-funded study found the opposite. Medscape Medical News
The 2003 definition of fasting glucose is no better at predicting the risk for coronary heart disease than that in 1997, which used a higher lower-limit for fasting plasma glucose. Medscape Medical News
Comparing disease-management strategies with conventional follow-up for survivors of a heart failure hospitalization failed to show that the intervention reduces mortality or rehospitalization. Medscape Medical News
A 43 year-old obese African-American man presents with nonspecific complaints of fatigue. He has hypertension and early chronic kidney disease. How would you manage this patient? Medscape Cardiology
A new study in low-risk, elective-PCI patients who were also nonresponsive to aspirin and/or clopidogrel shows that adding tirofiban during PCI can cut MI rates by more than 40%, as compared with patients given a placebo infusion. Heartwire
Pulse oximetry, a screening tool for the detection of congenital heart disease in neonates, is most likely to be valuable outside the tertiary-care environment where other methods of detecting congenital heart disease in asymptomatic newborns may not be as robust, the authors of a new study conclude. Medscape Medical News
