May 4th, 2015
Increased Mortality Risk Found With Digoxin
Larry Husten, PHD
For more than 200 years physicians have been trying to figure out how and when to use digoxin. Although it has a narrow therapeutic window and potentially dangerous interactions with other drugs, it is endorsed by current guidelines and widely given to patients with heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF). However, there have been no […]
April 29th, 2014
Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy: A House of Cards About to Fall?
Larry Husten, PHD
For more than a decade, cardiac stem cell therapy has attracted an enormous amount of attention, promise, and research dollars. Now an original and important new study published in BMJ finds that many of the most promising results in the field are illusory and that the potential benefits of stem cells to treat heart disease are probably […]
July 16th, 2013
What You Need To Know About Statins
Huseyin Naci, MHS, PhD Candidate, Jasper Brugts, Md phd msc and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
The authors of the largest meta-analysis to date on the side effects of statins discuss their findings and weigh the risks and benefits of statins for primary prevention.
April 29th, 2013
Unconventional Analysis Finds Threshold for LDL Reduction with Statins
Larry Husten, PHD
Using an unconventional mathematical approach, a group of Japanese researchers say there may be no good reason to reduce LDL cholesterol more than 40 mg/dl. Their research letter has been published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. According to the authors, members of the ALICE (All-Literature Investigation of Cardiovascular Evidence) Group, most meta-analyses use linear models that […]
March 27th, 2012
Statistical Pitfalls: The Onus is on Us to Look at the Evidence
Jeremiah Depta, MD
Light, not just heat, is generated in a highly animated and entertaining session on how to interpret research data.
May 31st, 2011
Biomarkers: Don’t Believe the Hype
Larry Husten, PHD
Watch out for hype when examining the biomarker literature, a new study published in JAMA suggests. John Ioannidis and Orestis Panagiotou first searched the literature and identified highly cited studies of biomarkers that included a relative risk calculation of effect size on a particular outcome. Most of the 35 studies reported cancer- or cardiovascular-related outcomes. […]
November 9th, 2010
Intensive Statin Therapy Examined in Meta-Analysis and SEARCH Trial
Larry Husten, PHD
A new meta-analysis and a large clinical trial shed new light on the additive effects of intensive statin therapy over standard therapy. The meta-analysis from the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration and the results from SEARCH (Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine) are published online in the Lancet. The meta-analysis examined individual […]
October 27th, 2010
Meta-Analysis Examines Risk Associated with CYP2C19 Genotypes
Larry Husten, PHD
There has been widespread debate and disagreement over the clinical significance of people with reduced function CYP2C19 genotypes who take clopidogrel. In an effort to shed light on the topic, Jessica Mega and colleagues analyzed data from 9685 patients enrolled in nine clinical trials. Some 26% of patients had 1 reduced-function allele, and 2% had […]
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