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Hair Apparent: Surgeon Rebellion Succeeds on Head Covers
Previous recommendations for surgeons to fully cover their hair and ears to prevent infections have probably been observed more in the breach than the observance.
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Flu Mandates: Consider Accommodations and Avoid a Lawsuit
Legal challenges to vaccination mandates can be avoided if hospitals try to provide some alternative accommodation for those claiming religious exemption. -
Fauci: HIV Can Be Stopped, but Vaccine Remains Elusive
One of the great pandemics in human history has been fought to a near draw, with no vaccine in sight but treatments that dramatically extend life and block transmission to others. -
Consider Probiotics in Patients at High Risk of C. diff Infection
After the most exhaustive analysis to date on the efficacy of probiotics in preventing Clostridium difficile infection, a researcher recommends that high-risk patients consider taking the products.
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HICPAC Taking New Approach to IC Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s principle infection control advisory committee is taking steps to clarify its recommendations, be more transparent about its review of research, and, to paraphrase Voltaire, quit making “perfect the enemy of good.” -
IC Leadership Rounds: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Once consigned to silos themselves, infection preventionists are increasingly out on the floors and inviting their administrators to join them in “leadership rounds.” -
Lightning Strikes: Fatal Infections of Rare Origin
Consider two separate tales of transplant and transfusion gone horribly awry by the narrowest of margins. Each represents a conspiracy of unlikely events that enabled deadly pathogens to find a path to frail patients. -
Is It Acceptable to Die of Aortic Stenosis Without a TAVR?
Investigators performed a retrospective analysis of 544 patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) at one center to assess the contribution of a frailty score to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) risk score for predicting mortality post-procedure. The frailty score was found to be an independent predictor of 30-day and one-year mortality and additive to the STS score.
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Prognostic Value of Left Ventricular Strain in Chronic Aortic Regurgitation
A retrospective observational study of the incremental value of echocardiographic global longitudinal strain (GLS) for predicting mortality in asymptomatic patients with moderate to severe aortic regurgitation and normal left ventricular function showed that GLS was a predictor of mortality. However, GLS was not as robust as undergoing surgery was for predicting mortality.
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Vegetarian Diet vs. Mediterranean Diet to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk
A randomized, open, cross-over study of a vegetarian diet (VD) compared to the Mediterranean diet (MD) over three months showed that both reduced body weight and body fat mass. The VD decreased LDL cholesterol, and MD reduced triglyceride levels. The MD reduced inflammatory markers, and the VD reduced vitamin B12 levels.