Current Drug Therapy - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2006

Beta-blockers, previously considered contraindicated in heart failure are today amongst the most important drugs in heart failure. They improve survival and retard the need for cardiac transplantation. Since most clinical trials demonstrating the benefits of beta-blockers have been done in patients with mild to moderate heart failure, the use of these agents in patients with advanced heart failure remains contraindicated. In Read More

Ischemic stroke ranks as one of the major leading cause of death and the most common cause of acquired neurological disability in adults. The treatment of acute ischemic stroke remains one of the most challenging areas in medicine today. Timely recognition and treatment is imperative to reduce its morbidity and mortality. So far, intravenous recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA or alteplase) is the only app Read More

Chronic kidney disease and especially end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are regularly associated with profound disturbances in the mineral metabolism characterized by secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT), hyperphosphatemia, hypercalcemia, elevated calcium-phosphorus product and renal osteodystrophy. These metabolic changes are either the result of the disease itself or due to toxicity from current therapeutic Read More

Statins are a diverse group of drugs, which share the ability to inhibit HMG CoA reductase and thereby the conversion of acetoacetyl CoA to mevalonate, the rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis. By inhibiting mevalonate production statins inhibit the pathway leading to the generation of farnesylpyrophosphate and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, two pyrophosphates that are critical for the induction of a vari Read More

The Enterobacteriaceae, most notably Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, are among the most important causes of serious nosocomial and community-acquired bacterial infections of humans. These organisms may produce extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) that result in broad spectrum resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics, a major class of anti-bacterial agents. The majority of ESBL enzymes in Enteroba Read More

Objective: To evaluate the use of aerosolized magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) in combination with inhaled betaagonists compared to inhaled beta-agonists alone in the treatment of acute asthma. Methods: Published (1966-2005) randomized controlled trials were retrieved using different databases, bibliographic reviews of primary research, review articles, and citations from texts. The primary outcome measure was pulm Read More

In spite of affecting the life of millions of people, chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not been hitherto treatable with effective pharmacological tools. This review gives a comprehensive summary of the theoretical data supporting the pharmacological manipulation of the cholinergic system in TBI, pointing out the most urgent targets for further studies. The published clinical evidence of cholinergic treatment in TBI is critically Read More

Introduction: Progesterone is a hormone of paramount importance in the reproductive physiology. Its multiple physiological roles and pharmacology have been extensively studied throughout the years. However, the use of progesterone in the pathophysiology of pregnancy as well as in its other indications remains arguable for diverse reasons. One of these reasons concerns the fact that there have been few large Read More

Objective: To review the current literature concerning the treatment of hyperuricemia in patients with gout with novel agents not primarily used for this condition. Data Sources: Computerized MEDWATCH and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts search engines were utilized with the following terms: gout, uric acid, losartan, fenofibrate, sevelamer, febuxostat, and treatment. Bibliographies from key articles were also searched, Read More

Cochlear implants (CI) are semi-implantable devices for the rehabilitation of profound deafness due to loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea. They have enabled more than 60,000 deaf people with no benefit from traditional acoustic amplification to restore a functional hearing. Although individual performance is variable, most adults with postverbal onset of deafness can talk on the phone in a quiet environment. Children Read More