Asymptomatic Hypertensive Urgency at a VA Emergency Department.

Management of asymptomatic hypertension in a primary care setting rather than in the emergency department showed similar outcomes and was more cost-effective.

LCZ696 (angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition): the new kid on the heart failure block?

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) have been the cornerstone in systolic heart failure (HF) regimens over the past 25 years. Their ability to block the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and their vasodilatory properties has repeatedly been shown to lower morbidity and mortality in patients with HF having reduced ejection fractions. In August 2014, the New England Journal of Medicine published a large trial studying a novel LCZ696 (angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition) agent against enalapril, an ACEI. In the phase III trial, LCZ696 demonstrated superiority to enalapril in composite death from cardiovascular causes and hospitalization for HF. The trial was stopped early due to overwhelming benefit of the study agent. This article provides an extensive review of the mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic properties, clinical efficacy, safety, and tolerability of LCZ696.

The invalidity of disclaimers about the effects of social feedback on self-esteem.

Despite the fact that several theories suggest that people's self-esteem is affected by social approval and disapproval, many individuals steadfastly maintain that how other people regard them has no effect on how they feel about themselves. To examine the validity of these beliefs, two experiments compared the effects of social approval and disapproval on participants who had indicated either that their self-esteem is affected by how other people evaluate them or that their self-esteem is unaffected by interpersonal evaluation. Results of both studies converged to show that approval and disapproval clearly affected the self-esteem of even those individuals who denied that social evaluations affected their feelings about themselves.