Does the advertisement in Swiss pharmacy windows rest on evidence-based medicine? An observational study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to analyse the proportion of evidence-based medication displayed in pharmacies and compare it between the different linguistic regions of the country, at different times of the year to determine the amount of proven effective medications indirectly recommended to the public in different parts of Switzerland. DESIGN: This is an observational study conducted by medical doctors in the department of internal medicine at the Spitalzentrum Biel, Switzerland. SETTING: The observation took place from July 2019 to May 2020. From a total of 1800 pharmacies in Switzerland, 68 different pharmacies were selected across the 3 main linguistic regions and the medication on display in their windows were examined 4 times a year regarding their efficacy. The displays of medication with or without evidence-based efficacy were described using absolute numbers and proportions and compared between the different linguistic regions at different seasons using χ2. PARTICIPANTS: There were no human or animal participants involved in this study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome is the proportion of medication displayed in pharmacy windows with a proven effectiveness in medical literature. The secondary outcome was the variability of the primary outcome over time (seasonal changes), over the different linguistic regions of Switzerland and between chains and privately owned pharmacies. RESULTS: We examined 970 medications and found that over the whole year, there is a high proportion of non-evidence-based drugs (56,9%) displayed in pharmacies. Swiss German cantons display significantly more non-evidence-based medications in winter. We found no statistical difference for other seasons or between chains and privately owned pharmacies. CONCLUSION: Pharmacies in Switzerland tend to display significantly more non-evidence-based drugs, thus indirectly recommending them to the public. In a time of necessary expansion of self-medication by the population, this could incite consumers to buy drugs without proven effectiveness.

[Acute diarrhea: updates for primary care medicine in 2023]. / Diarrhées aiguës : nouveautés 2023 pour la médecine de premier recours.

Acute diarrheal disease is a frequent primary care reason for consultation, leading to direct and indirect health costs in high-income countries. Most patients presenting with acute diarrhea will have a favorable clinical course with just a symptomatic treatment. The challenge for the general practitioner is to identify the patients who need paraclinical exams and/or antibiotics. Molecular identification of pathogens in stool samples has developed over the past years and presents both advantages and limitations. Because of increasing microbial resistance to quinolones in Campylobacter and Shigella strains, azithromycin is now the first choice for an empiric antimicrobial therapy. This article will discuss these latest developments in the management of acute diarrhea in the primary care setting.

Les diarrhées aiguës sont un motif de consultation fréquent en médecine générale et engendrent des coûts directs et indirects importants dans les pays industrialisés. Les cas sont majoritairement bénins et évoluent de manière favorable avec un traitement symptomatique. Le défi pour le médecin généraliste est d'identifier les patient-e-s nécessitant des examens complémentaires et/ou un traitement antibiotique. Ces dernières années, les examens microbiologiques moléculaires des selles se sont développés ; ils ont des avantages, mais également des limitations. Sur le plan thérapeutique, l'azithromycine est désormais à privilégier comme antibiothérapie empirique en raison de l'accroissement du nombre de souches de Campylobacter et Shigella résistantes aux quinolones. Cet article discute ces nouveautés dans la prise en charge des diarrhées aiguës du point de vue du généraliste.

Higher nicotinic receptor availability in the cingulo-insular network is associated with lower cardiac parasympathetic tone.

The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the anterior insula (AI) constitute the salience network and form as well the major cortical components of the central autonomic nervous system. These two cortical regions have the highest density in α4ß2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) within the whole cortex.The aim of the study was to test the association between nAChRs density/availability in the salience network and the heart rate variability in humans. We selected subjects from a previous positron emission tomography (PET) imaging study in epilepsy with 18F-FA-85380, a specific marker for α4ß2 nAChRs, including 10 healthy controls, 10 patients with nonlesional focal epilepsy and 8 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Participants underwent a 10 min-resting electrocardiogram as they were lying still in a semi-supine position while watching an emotionally neutral video. We tested the association between parasympathetic tone and the regional brain nAChR availability, as measured by 18F-F-A-85380 binding potential (BP), using linear regression. We observed an association between higher nAChRs availability in the bilateral dACC and the right dorsal AI/frontal operculum and a lower parasympathetic tone, without significant effect of the clinical group on this relation. Our study is the first one to show a neurochemical correlate to the parasympathetic role of the anterior cingulate cortex and the AI. The nicotinic system, which plays a major role in the peripheral autonomic nervous system intervening both in the parasympathetic and sympathetic chains, seems also to play a role in the central autonomic nervous system.