Clinical pharmacists' services, role and acceptance: a national Swedish survey.

Aim: Describe, and between regions, compare the services provided, and the pharmacists' perceptions of their role and its importance.

Method: Online survey involving active clinical pharmacists in Sweden.

Result: The survey was completed by 118 pharmacists (66%), half of whom had at least 1 year's formal training in clinical pharmacy, and work experience in excess of 5 years.

Electrophysiological studies in newly onset type 2 diabetes without visible vascular retinopathy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the early alterations of retinal function, assessed with electrophysiology, in newly onset type 2 diabetes patients without vascular retinopathy. Seventeen patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (duration 7±3 months), without any vascular retinopathy in fundus photographs, were examined with full-field electroretinogram (ERG) and multifocal ERG (mfERG). The results were compared with those of age-matched subjects without diabetes.

Can sulphonylurea addition to lifestyle changes help to delay diabetes development in subjects with impaired fasting glucose? The Nepi ANtidiabetes StudY (NANSY).

The Nepi ANtidiabetes StudY (NANSY) is a 5-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Swedish primary care, examining whether the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and retinopathy (separately reported) would be delayed in 40- to 70-year-old subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) who, in addition to lifestyle changes, were treated with either placebo or low-dosage sulphonylurea (SU) (1-mg glimepiride; Amaryl). Of 274 subjects (163 men, 111 women), 138 were allocated to placebo (46.0% men, 56.

EVITA: a tool for the early evaluation of pharmaceutical innovations with regard to therapeutic advantage.

Background: New drugs are generally claimed to represent a therapeutic innovation. However, scientific evidence of a substantial clinical advantage is often lacking. This may be the result of using inadequate control groups or surrogate outcomes only in the clinical trials.