3,4-diaminopyridine safety in clinical practice: an observational, retrospective cohort study.

Fatigue is one of the most common and disabling symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and has a significant, often underestimated, impact on patients' quality of life. Current management is mainly symptomatic. 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) is a voltage-dependent potassium channel blocker that has been used on a named patient basis in Europe for many years to improve motor function and fatigue in patients with MS and other neuromuscular disorders, and it is undergoing the European approval process for Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS).

Evaluating patient satisfaction with specific migraine therapy based on initial treatment expectations: the PAX study.

Aims And Objectives: The PAX study was a naturalistic, prospective survey evaluating treatment expectations and satisfaction in a typical French migraine population.

Methods: A total of 1710 patients were recruited by 489 general practitioners across France. Despite a high drop-out rate (due to one or more deviations from protocol and/or missing data), the analysable per-protocol population (PPP) patients (n = 615) remained representative with regard to the overall migraine population.

[Prescription of aspirin in recent acute painful disorders: results of a survey among French general practitioners].

Aims: To analyse recent acute painful conditions for which general practitioners (GPs) would prescribe aspirin.

Methods: Prospective observational study investigating GPs' prescription of aspirin to adult patients with acute pain of < or =5 days of duration. Pain intensity was graded on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) prior to and at the 48th hour of aspirin therapy.

Disease-modifying drugs and Parkinson's disease.

Symptomatic medications, l-Dopa and dopaminergic agents, remain the only clinically pertinent pharmacological treatment proven effective and available for the large population of patients with Parkinson's disease. The challenge for the pharmaceutical industry is to develop disease-modifying drugs which could arrest, delay or at least oppose the progression of the specific pathogenic processes underlying Parkinson's disease. The purpose of this review, based on recent biological and genetic data to be validated with appropriate animal models, was to re-examine the putative neuroprotective agents in Parkinson's disease and discuss the development of new strategies with the ultimate goal of demonstrating neurocytoprotective activity in this neurodegenerative disease.

A prospective, multicentre, open-label study of aripiprazole in the management of patients with schizophrenia in psychiatric practice in Europe: Broad Effectiveness Trial with Aripiprazole in Europe (EU-BETA).

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of aripiprazole in schizophrenia in a naturalistic setting in 14 European countries.

Methods: This multicentre, open-label study of aripiprazole evaluated outpatients with schizophrenia for whom a medication switch was clinically reasonable or antipsychotic initiation was required. Patients (n = 833) were randomized in a 4:1 ratio to aripiprazole (recommended starting dose 15 mg/day, permitted adjustment 10-30 mg/day) (n = 680) or another antipsychotic (safety control [SC] group) (n = 153) for 8 weeks.