Table of contents

Therapeutics

• Randomised controlled trial: A restrictive perioperative transfusion strategy does not increase all-cause mortality (30 days) or morbidity compared with a liberal approach in patients undergoing cardiac surgery (24 February, 2011)

  Dimitrios Mikroulis, Nikolaos Papanas, Georgios Vretzakis
• Randomised controlled trial: Treatment with the probiotic VSL#3 as an adjunctive therapy in relapsing mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis significantly reduces ulcerative colitis disease activity (24 February, 2011)

  Jean-François Turcotte, Hien Q Huynh
• Randomised controlled trial: Catheter-based renal sympathetic denervation reduces systolic blood pressure by 32 mm Hg in people with treatment-resistant hypertension (3 March, 2011)

  Richard E Katholi, Krishna J Rocha-Singh
• Randomised controlled trial: Multicentre trial in people with arthritis finds increased risk of clinically significant gastrointestinal events with diclofenac plus omeprazole compared with celecoxib (19 July, 2011)

  Alaa Rostom
• Randomised controlled trial: High-protein and low-glycaemic diets improve dietary compliance and maintenance of weight loss in overweight adults who have lost weight on a low-calorie diet (8 March, 2011)

  Peter Clifton
• Systematic review: Varenicline increases smoking abstinence at 6 months to a year compared with placebo or bupropion; nausea is the most commonly reported adverse effect (9 March, 2011)

  Mehmet Sofuoglu, Dianne Duffey, Marc E Mooney
• Systematic review: Paracetamol is more effective than placebo for migraine, and paracetamol 1000 mg plus metoclopramide 10 mg is similarly effective to oral sumatriptan 100 mg for migraine relief at 2 h (9 March, 2011)

  Matthew S Robbins
• Systematic review: Corticosteroid injection for lateral epicondylalgia is helpful in the short term, but harmful in the longer term; data for non-corticosteroid injections and other tendinopathies are limited (13 March, 2011) Free

  John Orchard
• Systematic review and meta-analysis: No effect of folic acid supplementation on cardiovascular events, cancer or mortality after 5 years in people at increased cardiovascular risk, although homocysteine levels are reduced (13 March, 2011)

  Lydia A Bazzano
• Randomised controlled trial: Six months following first unprovoked seizure, antiepileptic-treated adults have a recurrence risk in the following 12 months of significantly below the 20% threshold required to regain their driving license (20 March, 2011)

  Joseph F Drazkowski
• Systematic review: In preterm infants with recurrent apnoea, methylxanthine reduces the number of episodes and the use of mechanical ventilation in the short term; caffeine is also associated with improved longer term outcomes (29 March, 2011)

  Luigi Corvaglia, Arianna Aceti
• Randomised controlled trial: Eplerenone reduces risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalisation in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (10 May, 2011)

  Andrew Ambrosy, Mihai Gheorghiade
• Randomised controlled trial: Valsartan is more effective than placebo in reducing the incidence of diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance and cardiovascular disease or risk factors but has no effect on cardiovascular outcomes (6 June, 2011)

  Yves Lacourcière, Luc Poirier