Lipid profile in consecutive pregnancies.

Aim: To describe the lipid profile of women prior to, during and after pregnancy and to assess the effect of consecutive pregnancies on the plasma lipid profile.

Methods: Blood lipid levels of 1752 women aged 20-45 years who delivered between 1999 and 2005 were measured. The lipid profile included total cholesterol, LDL-C (Low density lipoprotein), HDL-C (High density lipoprotein-C), VLDL-C (Very low density lipoprotein) and triglycerides (TG).

Statin administration and risk of cholecystectomy: a population-based case-control study.

Background: Gallstone disease is common in Western countries. Statins reduce biliary cholesterol secretion and have anti-inflammatory effects, suggesting that they may play a role in reducing the incidence of surgically treated gallstone disease.

Aim: To examine a potential association between statin administration and risk of cholecystectomy.

Reasons for overprescription of mononitrates: the paradigm of stable angina pectoris treatment.

Background: Oral nitrates, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers are used to treat stable angina pectoris (SAP). The 2 therapeutic subtypes of oral nitrates are mononitrates and dinitrates, with no evidence that 1 subtype is more efficacious than the other. Although practice guidelines in Great Britain and Israel recommend dinitrates as the first-line drug for SAP, in practice, many physicians in those 2 countries prescribe mononitrates.