And still they come. Any hope that big trials of new interventions for acute coronary syndromes were about to dry up, and that the sound of the silly acronym would no longer be heard in the land, can safely be dismissed. A subgroup of the ACUITY trial was given bivalirudin, a leech-saliva analogue which acts on clot-bound thrombin.This agent causes less bleeding and gives as good results as glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors in patients undergoing immediate percutaneous intervention for ACS.
If you come across a non-breathing collapsed pulseless person in the street who is not stone dead, keep doing those chest compressions until somebody competent arrives.

Forget the kiss of life; it’s probably killed more people than it’s saved because it puts everyone off trying resuscitation. These truths come from a Japanese observational study, probably the best we are likely to get.
Bipolar II disorder is when brief periods of hypomania alternate with longer periods of major depression.

Apparently it’s commoner in women, unlike the classic type 1 manic-depressive disorder. Perhaps this is an advance in psychiatry and perhaps quetiapine is a better drug for this disorder than the usual ones we try.
The “splitters