An indirect comparison of the efficacy and safety of desvenlafaxine and venlafaxine using placebo as the common comparator.

Background: This meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of desvenlafaxine and venlafaxine at the Australian approved doses.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to identify all placebo-controlled studies of desvenlafaxine and venlafaxine in the treatment of major depression. The pivotal outcome measure used to assess comparative efficacy was the mean change in Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-17 score from baseline.

Relationship between rheumatoid arthritis disease severity, health-related utility, and resource use in Australian patients: A cross-sectional, multicenter study.

Objectives: This research explores the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) severity measures, clinical characteristics, and patient preference-based health-related quality of life (ie, utility) in Australian RA patients. A secondary objective was to investigate the relationship between a range of disease severity measures, clinical characteristics, and the cost of RA-related resource use.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study of consecutive patients with RA aged > or =18 years attending routine clinical appointments.

Ulnar shaft stress fracture in a high school softball pitcher.

This article presents a case of a 17-year-old softball pitcher with insidious onset of right forearm pain. On presentation, the patient had tenderness on palpation of the midshaft of the ulna, pain with resisted pronation, and pain with fulcrum-type stressing of the forearm. A bone scan revealed increased uptake in the right ulna, and a subsequent magnetic resonance imaging revealed bone marrow edema and numerous small ulnar stress fractures.

The impact of pain on quality of life and the unmet needs of pain management: results from pain sufferers and physicians participating in an Internet survey.

Pain is one of the most common medical complaints, but despite its prevalence, many individuals still suffer with unrelieved or undertreated pain. This marketing research survey was designed to determine the physical, psychological, and economic impact pain has on the lives of individuals suffering with pain and to identify the unmet needs of patients who have taken opioid medications to treat their pain. In addition, the survey sought to address the challenges physicians face when treating patients with pain.

The deaf athlete.

Deaf and hard of hearing athletes have few documented related medical problems. Hearing loss has multiple causes. A portion of those with a hearing loss consider themselves part of the Deaf community, a community with a unique language and culture.

Using the PRACTICE mnemonic to apply cultural competency to genetics in medical education and patient care.

Medical education curricula increasingly are incorporating courses on cultural competency and skills development in working with ethnically diverse patient populations as well as courses on genetics and genomics. The authors support these efforts and believe the next step is integration of genetics into cultural competency programs and similarly, cultural competency into genetics curricula. In this paper, the authors describe the work of the Genetics in Primary Care Faculty Development Working Group on Cultural Competency, a federally-funded initiative to prepare generalist faculty to teach genetics as part of ambulatory education.

Managing joint pain in primary care.

Joint pain is a common problem seen by family physicians. Although many pain complaints arise from self-limited conditions, a substantial number require immediate and ongoing care. Prompt appropriate treatment can help limit symptoms, prevent disability, and improve outcomes.

Pain management by the family physician: the family practice pain education project.

Pain is a common complaint of patients who visit a family physician, and its appropriate management is a medical mandate. The fundamental principles for pain management are: placing the patient at the center of care; adequately assessing and quantifying pain; treating pain adequately; maximizing function; accounting for culture and gender differences; identifying red and yellow flags early; understanding and differentiating tolerance, dependence and addiction; minimizing side effects; and being familiar with and using CAM therapies when good evidence of efficacy exists. The pharmacologic management of pain requires thorough knowledge of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclo-oxygenase-2-specific inhibitors, and opioids.

Exercise prescription for underprivileged minorities.

Physical inactivity is a growing epidemic in industrialized nations, contributing to the increasing prevalence and worsening of many chronic disease processes such as diabetes mellitus, cerebral vascular disease, and depression. It is well recognized that certain subpopulations are less likely to partake in physical activity than the population at large. Many minority populations, especially those of lower socioeconomic status, and women and children within these groups, are the most likely to be inactive.