Current medical research and opinion
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Editorial Comment
Treatment of breakthrough cancer pain: to titrate or to proportionate?
Breakthrough cancer pain can be treated effectively by rapid-onset opioids, such as sublingual fentanyl. However, it remained unclear how the optimal dose of sublingual fentanyl should be determined. Dosing proportional to basic opioid regimen is now proposed as an alternative to dose titration.
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Medical professionals are often challenged by lack of patient compliance with pharmaceutical treatments. Research has shown that patients with diabetes have one of the lowest medication adherence rates at 65% to 85%. Some causes have been identified in the literature, but the influence of type of medication is unknown. This study assessed the impact of a broad range of factors on medication adherence and persistence among adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ⋯ Identified risk factors can guide medical professionals in their attempts to increase the likelihood of patient adherence to drug treatment regimens.
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Globally, ethical issues in research are becoming of major importance, being well established in developed countries with little information about research ethics committees (RECs) in Africa to assess whether these committees are actually improving the protection of human research participants. ⋯ Since 2005, the MREC in NRC Egypt has built up considerable experience of evaluating the ethical issues arising within the field of medical research.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Efficacy and safety of oral tapentadol extended release in Japanese and Korean patients with moderate to severe, chronic malignant tumor-related pain.
This phase 3 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of tapentadol extended release (ER) compared with oxycodone controlled release (CR) for the management of moderate to severe, chronic malignant tumor-related cancer pain. ⋯ Tapentadol ER (25-200 mg bid) provides analgesic efficacy that is non-inferior to that provided by oxycodone HCl CR (5-40 mg bid) for the management of moderate to severe, chronic malignant tumor-related pain, and is well tolerated overall, with a better gastrointestinal tolerability profile than oxycodone CR.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Superiority of fluticasone propionate/formoterol fumarate versus fluticasone propionate alone in patients with moderate-to-severe asthma: a randomised controlled trial.
To demonstrate the efficacy and safety of fluticasone propionate/formoterol fumarate (flutiform) in a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) compared to two formulations of the fluticasone propionate component (Skyepharma fluticasone [SKP FP] or Flovent, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK FP]) in adults and adolescents with moderate-to-severe asthma. ⋯ Results from this study demonstrate that fluticasone/formoterol 250/10 µg b.i.d. provides superior efficacy compared to fluticasone alone for the management of moderate-to-severe asthma, with a safety profile similar to that of fluticasone monotherapy.