A multinational investigation of time and traveling costs in attending anticoagulation clinics.

Objectives: Anticoagulation is used in patients with atrial fibrillation to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke. The therapy requires regular monitoring and, frequently, dose adjustment. This study aimed to determine the time and traveling costs that patients incur to themselves and society in attending anticoagulation clinics.

Ximelagatran vs warfarin for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: a randomized trial.

Context: In patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, warfarin prevents ischemic stroke, but dose adjustment, coagulation monitoring, and bleeding limit its use.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of the oral direct thrombin inhibitor ximelagatran with warfarin for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial (2000-2001) conducted at 409 North American sites, involving 3922 patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation and additional stroke risk factors.

The involvement of opioidergic and noradrenergic mechanisms in nefopam antinociception.

Nefopam is a clinically effective analgesic agent used to control mild to moderate pain, whose mechanism of action is unknown. We have investigated the antinociceptive activity of nefopam in the mouse abdominal constriction assay and tail immersion test (48 degrees C). Nefopam was found to possess a high degree of potency against acetic acid-induced visceral nociception (ED50 2.