Patient Information

Click here to download the PDF. 

Click here to download the PDF. 

Click here to download the PDF. 

Click here to download the PDF.

Click here to download the PDF.

Click here to download the PDF.

Are you in search of materials that can reinforce what you’ve told patients about how to get a good night’s sleep? Then download this handout, which includes 8 tips that cover the wake-promoting agents to avoid, the proper environment in which to go to sleep, and the dos and don’ts of before-bedtime activities. It also discusses when patients should seek professional help for a possible sleep disorder. This PDF from Neurology Reviews is available at: http://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/115138/sleep-medicine/tips-sleep-hygiene/pdf.

Are you in search of materials that can reinforce what you’ve told patients about how to get a good night’s sleep? Then download this handout, which includes 8 tips that cover the wake-promoting agents to avoid, the proper environment in which to go to sleep, and the dos and don’ts of before-bedtime activities. It also discusses when patients should seek professional help for a possible sleep disorder. This PDF from Neurology Reviews is available at: http://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/115138/sleep-medicine/tips-sleep-hygiene/pdf.

Are you in search of materials that can reinforce what you’ve told patients about how to get a good night’s sleep? Then download this handout, which includes 8 tips that cover the wake-promoting agents to avoid, the proper environment in which to go to sleep, and the dos and don’ts of before-bedtime activities. It also discusses when patients should seek professional help for a possible sleep disorder. This PDF from Neurology Reviews is available at: http://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/115138/sleep-medicine/tips-sleep-hygiene/pdf.

Can the public health threat posed by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) be eliminated by 2030? Researchers in Italy say it can be done. Important elements of success will include the use of oral direct-acting antivirals and a global commitment to prevention. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced plans to wipe out HCV worldwide by 2030 using the time between now and 2021 to reduce the number of annual new infections by 70%, and to slash the fatality rate by 60%. Find out what success in meeting the WHO challenge will hinge on by going to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/114780/gastroenterology/direct-acting-antivirals-one-several-keys-hcv.

Can the public health threat posed by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) be eliminated by 2030? Researchers in Italy say it can be done. Important elements of success will include the use of oral direct-acting antivirals and a global commitment to prevention. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced plans to wipe out HCV worldwide by 2030 using the time between now and 2021 to reduce the number of annual new infections by 70%, and to slash the fatality rate by 60%. Find out what success in meeting the WHO challenge will hinge on by going to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/114780/gastroenterology/direct-acting-antivirals-one-several-keys-hcv.

Can the public health threat posed by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) be eliminated by 2030? Researchers in Italy say it can be done. Important elements of success will include the use of oral direct-acting antivirals and a global commitment to prevention. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced plans to wipe out HCV worldwide by 2030 using the time between now and 2021 to reduce the number of annual new infections by 70%, and to slash the fatality rate by 60%. Find out what success in meeting the WHO challenge will hinge on by going to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/114780/gastroenterology/direct-acting-antivirals-one-several-keys-hcv.

Systematic introduction of palliative care interventions for patients with advanced heart failure improved patients’ quality of life and spurred their development of advanced-care preferences in a pair of independently performed, controlled pilot studies. But, despite demonstrating the ability of palliative-care interventions to help heart failure patients during their final months of life, the findings raised questions about the generalizability and reproducibility of palliative-care interventions that may depend upon the skills and experience of the individual specialists who deliver the care. To learn more about these 2 studies, go to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115737/cardiology/palliative-care-boosts-heart-failure-patient-outcomes.

Systematic introduction of palliative care interventions for patients with advanced heart failure improved patients’ quality of life and spurred their development of advanced-care preferences in a pair of independently performed, controlled pilot studies. But, despite demonstrating the ability of palliative-care interventions to help heart failure patients during their final months of life, the findings raised questions about the generalizability and reproducibility of palliative-care interventions that may depend upon the skills and experience of the individual specialists who deliver the care. To learn more about these 2 studies, go to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115737/cardiology/palliative-care-boosts-heart-failure-patient-outcomes.

Systematic introduction of palliative care interventions for patients with advanced heart failure improved patients’ quality of life and spurred their development of advanced-care preferences in a pair of independently performed, controlled pilot studies. But, despite demonstrating the ability of palliative-care interventions to help heart failure patients during their final months of life, the findings raised questions about the generalizability and reproducibility of palliative-care interventions that may depend upon the skills and experience of the individual specialists who deliver the care. To learn more about these 2 studies, go to Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115737/cardiology/palliative-care-boosts-heart-failure-patient-outcomes.

Early age at menopause was associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes, independent of obesity and a host of other potentially confounding factors, according to a prospect cohort study. “This association is independent of potential intermediate risk factors: obesity, insulin, glucose, inflammation, but also  estradiol and other endogenous sex hormone levels,” said Taulant Muka, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Erasmus Medical College, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Among the 3210 participants in the study, 319 incident cases were identified over the median 10.9-year follow-up period, with a relative risk for incident diabetes of 2.29 for women undergoing menopause before age 40, and 1.49 for those experiencing menopause between the ages of 40 and 44. Read more at Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115648/diabetes/early-menopause-risk-factor-type-2-diabetes.

Early age at menopause was associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes, independent of obesity and a host of other potentially confounding factors, according to a prospect cohort study. “This association is independent of potential intermediate risk factors: obesity, insulin, glucose, inflammation, but also  estradiol and other endogenous sex hormone levels,” said Taulant Muka, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Erasmus Medical College, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Among the 3210 participants in the study, 319 incident cases were identified over the median 10.9-year follow-up period, with a relative risk for incident diabetes of 2.29 for women undergoing menopause before age 40, and 1.49 for those experiencing menopause between the ages of 40 and 44. Read more at Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115648/diabetes/early-menopause-risk-factor-type-2-diabetes.

Early age at menopause was associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes, independent of obesity and a host of other potentially confounding factors, according to a prospect cohort study. “This association is independent of potential intermediate risk factors: obesity, insulin, glucose, inflammation, but also  estradiol and other endogenous sex hormone levels,” said Taulant Muka, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Erasmus Medical College, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Among the 3210 participants in the study, 319 incident cases were identified over the median 10.9-year follow-up period, with a relative risk for incident diabetes of 2.29 for women undergoing menopause before age 40, and 1.49 for those experiencing menopause between the ages of 40 and 44. Read more at Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115648/diabetes/early-menopause-risk-factor-type-2-diabetes.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also suffer from depression are less likely to take their COPD maintenance medications, according to a review of Medicare claims by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Researchers found that patients with newly diagnosed depression were about 7% less likely to have good adherence to their medications. For more on this research, see the article in CHEST Physician, available at http://www.mdedge.com/chestphysician/article/115659/depression/depression-drops-copd-medication-adherence.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also suffer from depression are less likely to take their COPD maintenance medications, according to a review of Medicare claims by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Researchers found that patients with newly diagnosed depression were about 7% less likely to have good adherence to their medications. For more on this research, see the article in CHEST Physician, available at http://www.mdedge.com/chestphysician/article/115659/depression/depression-drops-copd-medication-adherence.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also suffer from depression are less likely to take their COPD maintenance medications, according to a review of Medicare claims by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Researchers found that patients with newly diagnosed depression were about 7% less likely to have good adherence to their medications. For more on this research, see the article in CHEST Physician, available at http://www.mdedge.com/chestphysician/article/115659/depression/depression-drops-copd-medication-adherence.

Rivaroxaban is associated with significantly more intra- and extracranial bleeding than dabigatran in patients ages 75 and older with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a recent report published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. During the study period, rivaroxaban was used 2 to 3 times more often than dabigatran in AF patients in the United States. According to David J. Graham, MD, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA, that may be “partly because of prescriber misperceptions about bleeding risks with dabigatran, arising from FDA receipt of a large number of post-marketing case reports following its approval.” That’s ironic, according to Graham, since “we [now find] substantially higher bleeding risks with the use of rivaroxaban than dabigatran.” Further analysis on the data can be found in the article from Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115021/acquired-cardiovascular-disease/rivaroxaban-linked-more-bleeding.

Rivaroxaban is associated with significantly more intra- and extracranial bleeding than dabigatran in patients ages 75 and older with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a recent report published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. During the study period, rivaroxaban was used 2 to 3 times more often than dabigatran in AF patients in the United States. According to David J. Graham, MD, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA, that may be “partly because of prescriber misperceptions about bleeding risks with dabigatran, arising from FDA receipt of a large number of post-marketing case reports following its approval.” That’s ironic, according to Graham, since “we [now find] substantially higher bleeding risks with the use of rivaroxaban than dabigatran.” Further analysis on the data can be found in the article from Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115021/acquired-cardiovascular-disease/rivaroxaban-linked-more-bleeding.

Rivaroxaban is associated with significantly more intra- and extracranial bleeding than dabigatran in patients ages 75 and older with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a recent report published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. During the study period, rivaroxaban was used 2 to 3 times more often than dabigatran in AF patients in the United States. According to David J. Graham, MD, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA, that may be “partly because of prescriber misperceptions about bleeding risks with dabigatran, arising from FDA receipt of a large number of post-marketing case reports following its approval.” That’s ironic, according to Graham, since “we [now find] substantially higher bleeding risks with the use of rivaroxaban than dabigatran.” Further analysis on the data can be found in the article from Family Practice News: http://www.mdedge.com/familypracticenews/article/115021/acquired-cardiovascular-disease/rivaroxaban-linked-more-bleeding.

Lack of sleep significantly impacts the brain’s response to an attention task, and circadian rhythms play a role, according to functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 33 healthy adults that was published in Science. Study participants stayed awake for 42 hours and periodically performed a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)—a visual reaction time task designed to measure attention—and an auditory n-back task. Overall, PVT performance was stable during the first day, but decreased significantly after sleep deprivation. For more on the study, see this article from Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/pulmonary-sleep-medicine/single-article-page/mri-measurements-reveal-effects-of-sleep-deprivation/e4929289d9671662155a4344b4429149.html.

Lack of sleep significantly impacts the brain’s response to an attention task, and circadian rhythms play a role, according to functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 33 healthy adults that was published in Science. Study participants stayed awake for 42 hours and periodically performed a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)—a visual reaction time task designed to measure attention—and an auditory n-back task. Overall, PVT performance was stable during the first day, but decreased significantly after sleep deprivation. For more on the study, see this article from Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/pulmonary-sleep-medicine/single-article-page/mri-measurements-reveal-effects-of-sleep-deprivation/e4929289d9671662155a4344b4429149.html.

Lack of sleep significantly impacts the brain’s response to an attention task, and circadian rhythms play a role, according to functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 33 healthy adults that was published in Science. Study participants stayed awake for 42 hours and periodically performed a psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)—a visual reaction time task designed to measure attention—and an auditory n-back task. Overall, PVT performance was stable during the first day, but decreased significantly after sleep deprivation. For more on the study, see this article from Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/pulmonary-sleep-medicine/single-article-page/mri-measurements-reveal-effects-of-sleep-deprivation/e4929289d9671662155a4344b4429149.html.

Fibrosis progression in hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected individuals is not linear, is associated with alanine aminotransferase–related flares, and varies according to stage, with those who are least fibrotic tending to have the highest progression, according to a recent study. Learn more about what investigators discovered and how these results can help you identify patients who are most likely to progress to cirrhosis at Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/infectious-diseases/single-article-page/study-finds-clues-to-fibrosis-progression-in-chronic-hcv-infection/02ab40880ce75d60a0c7c645a5d32db6.html.

Fibrosis progression in hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected individuals is not linear, is associated with alanine aminotransferase–related flares, and varies according to stage, with those who are least fibrotic tending to have the highest progression, according to a recent study. Learn more about what investigators discovered and how these results can help you identify patients who are most likely to progress to cirrhosis at Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/infectious-diseases/single-article-page/study-finds-clues-to-fibrosis-progression-in-chronic-hcv-infection/02ab40880ce75d60a0c7c645a5d32db6.html.

Fibrosis progression in hepatitis C virus (HCV)–infected individuals is not linear, is associated with alanine aminotransferase–related flares, and varies according to stage, with those who are least fibrotic tending to have the highest progression, according to a recent study. Learn more about what investigators discovered and how these results can help you identify patients who are most likely to progress to cirrhosis at Family Practice News: http://www.familypracticenews.com/specialty-focus/infectious-diseases/single-article-page/study-finds-clues-to-fibrosis-progression-in-chronic-hcv-infection/02ab40880ce75d60a0c7c645a5d32db6.html.