Sixty young male patients with insomniac disorders were treated with nitrazepam 5 mg or triazolam 0.5 mg in a double-blind single night cross-over study. The results were favourable for triazolam in all the sleep parameters assessed. The significance of an hypnotic with a short life and its use in clinical practice is discussed.

We present 3 patients diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis 1–6 months after the initiation of concomitant rosuvastatin and ticagrelor medication. A literature review and Food and Drug Administration adverse event reporting system revealed >40 reports of rhabdomyolysis during concomitant ticagrelor and rosuvastatin, including 3 with a fatal outcome. We show that ticagrelor inhibits breast cancer resistance protein‐, organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1‐, 1B3‐ and 2B1‐mediated transport of rosuvastatin in vitro with half‐maximal unbound inhibitory concentrations of 0.36, 4.13, 7.5 and 3.26 μM, respectively. A static drug interaction model predicted that ticagrelor may inhibit intestinal breast cancer resistance protein and thus increase rosuvastatin plasma exposure 2.1‐fold, whereas the OATP‐mediated hepatic uptake of rosuvastatin should not be inhibited due to relatively low portal ticagrelor concentrations. Taken together, concomitant use of ticagrelor with rosuvastatin may increase the systemic exposure to rosuvastatin and the risk of rosuvastatin‐induced rhabdomyolysis. Further studies are warranted to investigate the potential pharmacokinetic interaction between ticagrelor and rosuvastatin in humans.

Q waves and TWI predict adverse outcome, especially if both ECG features are present. Q waves and TWI predict similar one-year mortality. Extending the ECG analysis in STEMI patients to include both Q waves and TWI improves risk stratification.

Aortitis is one of many possible manifestations of tertiary syphilis. Aortic disease is the most common of all cardiovascular syphilitic lesions. Aortic diseases caused by tertiary syphilis include aortitis, aortic root dilation, aneurysm formation, aortic regurgitation and coronary ostial stenosis. A less common manifestation of syphilitic aortitis is coronary artery ostial narrowing related to aortic wall thickening. We report a case of a 40-year-old male patient admitted with a clinical picture of acute coronary syndrome (unstable angina). He had no risk factors for coronary artery disease. The physical examination revealed nothing remarkable. The admission electrocardiogram (ECG) showed ST segment depression in the anterolateral and inferior leads (Figure 1). The coronary angiogram showed critical ostial stenosis of the right (RCA) and left main coronary artery (Figure 2a, b). Cardiac-computed tomography showed aortic wall thickening with involvement of bilateral coronary ostia (Figure 2b, c). The patient was referred for coronary bypass surgery after treatment with two doses of penicillin G. The laboratory test was strongly positive for syphilitic infection. Postoperative treatment with benzathine penicillin, in doses recommended for tertiary syphilis, was implemented.

Background: Long-term outcome of the three categories of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in real-life patient cohorts is not well known. The objective of this study was to survey the 10-year outcome of an ACS patient cohort admitted to a university hospital and to explore factors affecting the outcome. Methods: A total of 1188 consecutive patients (median age 73 years) with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) or unstable angina pectoris (UA) in 2002-2003 were included and followed up for ≥ 10 years. Results: Mortality for STEMI, NSTEMI and UA patients during the follow-up period was 52.5%, 69.9% and 41.0% (p < 0.001), respectively. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, only age and creatinine level at admission were independently associated with patient outcome in all the three ACS categories when analyzed separately. Conclusions: All the three ACS categories proved to have high mortality rates during long-term followup in a real-life patient cohort. NSTEMI patients had worse outcome than STEMI and UA patients during the whole follow-up period. Our study results indicate clear differences in the prognostic significance of various demographic and therapeutic parameters within the three ACS categories.