The us counterpart to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority ,U.S. Food and Drug Administration notified healthcare professionals that both conventional and atypical antipsychotics are associated with an increased risk of mortality in elderly patients treated for dementia-related psychosis.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are increasingly used in the long-term treatment of depression. Much of the supporting evidence about the effects of these drugs comes from discontinuation trials, a variant of randomized controlled trials whose design is problematic to interpret. We conducted a systematic review to examine the efficacy and acceptability of long-term therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors relative to placebo in the treatment of unipolar depression.

Recent analyses have suggested an increased risk for serious asthma-related adverse events in patients receiving long-acting β-agonists.

Purpose: To examine whether the incidences of severe asthma-related events (hospitalizations, intubations, deaths, and severe exacerbations) differ in persons receiving salmeterol plus inhaled corticosteroids compared with inhaled corticosteroids alone.

Aims: To describe histological findings in gastric mucosa biopsy specimens of children treated with proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) for different periods of time.

Methods: Biopsy specimens from 12 children (aged 8 months to 15 years) treated with PPIs and 8 controls were processed for paraffin embedding and stained with H&E as well as inmmunohistochemically for sialyl-Tn antigen.

Background: Hydroxyurea is the only approved drug for treatment of sickle cell disease.

Objective: To synthesize the published literature on the efficacy, effectiveness, and toxicity of hydroxyurea when used in adults with sickle cell disease.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, TOXLine, and CINAHL were searched through 30 June 2007.

Background: Standard proton-pump inhibitor–based therapy for Helicobacter pylori infection fails in up to one quarter of patients. Sequential therapy may be more efficacious.

Purpose: To compare sequential therapy with standard triple therapy for H. pylori infection.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE (1981 to October 2007), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Google Scholar. PubMed and Ovid were the search engines used.

Aim: Maintenance treatment in ulcerative colitis should be as convenient as possible, to increase the chance of compliance. MMX mesalazine is a once-daily, high-strength (1.2 g/tablet) formulation of 5-aminosalicylic acid. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of MMX mesalazine dosed once or twice daily as maintenance therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Background: Sucrose is widely used to manage procedural pain in term newborns despite a lack of evidence of its effectiveness for different procedures and infant populations. Our objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of sucrose in newborns undergoing various medical procedures within 2 days of birth.

The addition of metformin to a lifestyle modification program may help female adolescents lose weight if they also make dietary changes, according to findings published in the June issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

In a randomized, double-blind study, Dr. Kathryn Love-Osborne, of Denver Health and Hospitals, Colorado, and colleagues evaluated the effect of adding metformin versus placebo to a program of personal diet and exercise goal-setting for 85 obese adolescents with insulin resistance.

Purpose. The effectiveness of a once-weekly vancomycin dosing protocol for patients receiving long-term high-flux hemodialysis (HFHD) in the outpatient setting was studied.