Tue, June 27 – 10 Stories of The Day!

1 – Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (free PDF)

Commentary: Update on the Statement on Brain AVMs: Despite New Data, Questions Still Unanswered (free)

Top Ten Things to Know: Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations (free PDF)

Slide Set: Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations (free PDF)

2 – Guideline summary: Consensus on Surgical Treatment of Infective Endocarditis – American College of Cardiology, Latest in Cardiology (free)

Original article: 2016 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) consensus guidelines: Surgical treatment of infective endocarditis: Executive summary (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

3 – Timely Use of Probiotics in Hospitalized Adults Prevents Clostridium Difficile Infection: A Systematic Review With Meta-Regression Analysis – Gastroenterology (free)

Source: EvidenceAlerts (free resource to find articles of interest)

In this meta-analysis including 19 randomized trials, probiotics given within 2 days of the first antibiotic dose (more effective than if started later) reduced the risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) by >50% in hospitalized adults. 1 case of CDI would be prevented for every 23−144 patients treated with probiotics when antibiotics are started. “There was no convincing evidence of superior efficacy for any of the tested probiotic formulations, delivery methods (drink or capsule), or probiotic doses”.

4 – A Meta-analysis of the Impact of Aspirin, Clopidogrel, and Dual Antiplatelet Therapy on Bleeding Complications in Noncardiac Surgery – Annals of Surgery (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Source: EvidenceAlerts (free resource to find articles of interest)

“Antiplatelet therapy at the time of noncardiac surgery confers minimal bleeding risk with no difference in thrombotic complications. In many cases, it is safe to continue antiplatelet therapy in patients with important indications for their use”

5 – Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies – BMC Public Health (free)

Related: Proper debate on sugar tax needed in fight against obesity and diabetes – The AGE (free)

See more on Fiscal policies for the prevention of diseases in our June 8^th issue (see #4) and in our April 20^th issue (see #1)

“91 studies on health taxes show they change consumption: a systematic review of empirical studies” (RT @BoydSwinburn see Tweet)

6 – New Choosing Wisely Canada List: Respiratory medicine: Six things physicians and patients should question (free) (RT @ChooseWiselyCA see Tweet)

See more on the Choosing Wisely initiative in our April 5 issue, see #6.

7 – Richard Lehman’s journal review, 26 June 2017 – The BMJ Blogs (free)

Reviews on the latest research in the top medical journals.

8 – Better Medicine – Shared decisions, best evidence – The BMJ

Related article: Overdiagnosis and overtreatment: generalists — it’s time for a grassroots revolution (free)

“This Better Medicine resource page builds on the work of The BMJ’s Too Much Medicine initiative and the overdiagnosis group of the RCGP in helping health professionals worldwide to share knowledge with patients and jointly make better informed choices about their care”.

9 – Chinese courts call for death penalty for researchers who commit fraud – STAT News (free)

Related: China cracks down on fake data in drug trials – Nature (free) 

10 – Viewpoint: Contact Precautions for Endemic MRSA and VRE: Time to Retire Legal Mandates – JAMA (free)

“Contact precautions are easy to use with a single patient, but burdensome when applied to an entire hospital” (RT @JAMA_current see Tweet)

This viewpoint suggests a more selective use of contact precautions for the control of endemic pathogens.