Popular drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction — Viagra, Levitra and Cialis — are safe and effective for men with diabetes, a new review has found.The introduction of the medications known as phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors to the market has changed the way physicians manage their patients with erectile dysfunction. [click link for full article]

Stockpiling large amounts of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and related antiviral drugs with the intent to treat a large fraction of the population is a key part of pandemic preparedness of many countries. However, it is known that influenza viruses can develop resistance to these drugs. [click link for full article]

Patients with symptoms of depression who have coronary artery disease showed improvement of their symptoms with use of the drug citalopram, but adding interpersonal psychotherapy did not appear to be of benefit, according to a study in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA.Since the early 1990s, studies have reported prevalences of major depression between 17 percent and 27 percent in hospitalized patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). [click link for full article]

For years cardiologists and other specialists have disagreed over the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a complex confluence of factors such as abdominal obesity, low HDL, or “good” cholesterol and hypertension. Physicians and academics have disputed the syndrome’s existence and whether it predicts cardiovascular danger. [click link for full article]

Groups that represent federal employees and retirees and the Office of Personnel Management have begun a “pull-and-tug” over whether the federal government should receive subsidies paid to employers under the 2003 Medicare law, the Washington Post reports (Barr, Washington Post, 1/24). [click link for full article]

HIV prevention and education initiatives are not reaching girls in Africa who are at an increased risk of contracting the virus because of isolation and poverty, a panel of experts said Monday at a Global Health Council forum, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

Patients with tuberculosis in the West African country of Senegal who participated in an intervention program that included improved communication with health personnel and community involvement had higher cure and treatment completion rates, according to a study in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA.Poor adherence to treatment remains a major obstacle in the global fight against tuberculosis (TB). [click link for full article]

Lap band surgery appears to be an effective procedure to combat obesity in adolescents, according to a new study conducted at NYU Medical Center. It is the first study to evaluate the lap band in patients under the age of 17, and it revealed that patients on average lost about 50% of their excess weight by one year after surgery. The study is published in the January issue of the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. [click link for full article]

Democrats this year likely will seek to reduce payments to private Medicare Advantage plans to cover the cost of other health care proposals, such as revisions to the Medicare physician reimbursement system, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) told a group of health care policy analysts on Tuesday at an event sponsored by the [click link for full article]

A study of Johns Hopkins surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses suggests that hospital policies requiring a brief preoperation “team meeting” to make sure surgery is performed on the right patient and the right part of the body could decrease errors.In the study, which will appear in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Hopkins OR personnel were “very positive” about the briefings, according to surgeon Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H. [click link for full article]