Short cuts: What's new in the other general journals

Abstract

The authors say that the survey, with an overall response rate of 72%, shows that US medical students are not as sceptical as they should be about the marketing tactics of drug companies. After combining 10 trials in a meta-analysis the authors are now fairly sure that, compared with placebo, perioperative amiodarone can protect against atrial arrhythmias (relative risk 0.64, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.75) and ventricular arrhythmias (0.42, 0.28 to 0.63), reduce the risk of stroke (0.39, 0.21 to 0.76), and help to get patients back home a little faster after heart surgery. Researchers tested two doses of the drug against placebo in 420 women with breast cancer who were having two or more hot flushes a day.