Medtronic has reported a decline in net income of financial results for its recent quarter, compared to a year ago.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivor Chris Knight likes to say he died five times in one day and, in fact, he did. Knights heart stopped four more times after an initial SCA. Luckily for him, the city in Illinois where he was visiting equips all its police officers and first responders with automated external defibrillators (AEDs). His experience has made him into a crusader to have AEDs for all first responders in his part of the Texas Panhandle.

Among older patients with diabetes, pioglitazone (Actos) is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart failure and death than is rosiglitazone (Avandia), according to a retrospective cohort study published Aug. 18 in the British Medical Journal.

Pre-operative therapy with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors is associated with an increased risk of mortality, use of inotropic support, post-operative renal dysfunction and new onset of post-operative atrial fibrillation, based on research reported online Aug. 12 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In adults with vascular disease but without macroalbuminuria, the effects of telmisartan on major renal outcomes were similar to those of placebo, according to an analysis of the TRANSCEND trial published July 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Thinking "outside the medicine cabinet" is paying off in Australia, where a doctor-pharmacist partnership is reducing hospitalizations for heart failure, researchers reported Aug. 18 in Circulation: Heart Failure.

Merck, Schering-Plough and the companies' cholesterol joint venture, Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals (MSP), have entered into agreements to resolve, for a total fixed amount of $41.5 million, civil class action litigation currently pending against the companies relating to the purchase or use of Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) and Zetia (ezetimibe).

Eli Lilly has launched an online registry detailing recent payments that it has made to physicians and other healthcare professionals for the first quarter of 2009, totaling $22 million. The company said it will update the registry quarterly going forward.