Systematic review on evidence of the effectiveness of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Introduction: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. With increasingly urbanized lifestyles in developing countries and the aging populations, the major risk factors for CHD such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia are likely to increase in the future. In the current report, we reviewed the evidence on the effect of cholesterol lowering using pharmacological agents.

Effect of dysphasia and dysphagia on inpatient mortality and hospital length of stay: a database study.

Objectives: To examine the effect of dysphasia and dysphagia on stroke outcome.

Design: Retrospective database study.

Setting: Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Glucose blood levels as a therapeutic target in acute ischaemic stroke setting.

Ischaemic stroke is extremely common in western societies contributing to 70-85% of strokes, one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability. Despite advancement in preventive measures, the total number of strokes is set to rise in the future due to increasing numbers of aging populations across the world. Diabetes as a risk factor for stroke has been well established.

Optimum control of blood glucose for prevention and treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.

Stroke is the most common cause of disability and a major cause of mortality. Each year, more than 500,000 Americans sustain a stroke. Reperfusion and antithrombotic therapies are still of limited benefit, hence increasing interest has been focused on therapeutic approaches that prevent and/or modulate infarct evolution.

Systematic review of studies of patients' satisfaction with breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

Systematic review of studies of patients' satisfaction with breast reconstruction published in English (1994-2006) using Medline, Embase, Cochrane databases. Twenty-eight studies related to cosmesis and two related to pain management were identified. Study designs were mostly randomised surveys but half of samples were small.