Update in internal medicine

More than 500,000 new medical articles are published every year and availab le time to keep updated is scarcer every day. Nowadays, the task of selecti ng useful, consistent, and relevant information for clinicians is a priorit y in many major medical journals. This review has the aim of gathering the results of the most important findings in clinical medicine in the last few years. It is focused on results from randomized clinical trials and well-d esigned observational research. Findings were included preferentially if th ey showed solid results, and we avoided as much as possible including only preliminary data, or results that included only non-clinical outcomes. Some of the most relevant findings reported here include the significant be nefit of statins in patients with coronary artery disease even with mean ch olesterol level. It also provides a substantial review of the most signific ant trials assessing the effectiveness of IIb/ IIIa receptor blockers. In g astroenterology many advances have been made in the H, pylori eradication, and the finding that the cure of H. pylori infection may be followed by gas troesophageal reflux disease. Same new antivirals have shown encouraging re sults in patients with chronic hepatitis. In the infectious disease arena, the late breaking trials in anti-retroviral disease are discussed, as well as the new trends regarding antibiotic resistance. This review approaches a lso the role of leukotriene modifiers in the treatment of asthma and discus ses the benefit of using methylprednisolone in patients with adult respirat ory distress syndrome, among many other advances in internal medicine. (C) 2000 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.