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The following summary of selected abstracts from 3 meetings will be published in multiple parts. The 43rd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) met in Chicago September 14-17, 2003. The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) met in San Diego October 9-12, 2003. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene met in Philadelphia December 3-7, 2003.
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Mupirocin application to the nose of hospitalized Staphylococcus aureus carriers did not decrease the incidence of nosocomial S aureus infection, but it did delay its appearance.
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Almost 1 in 20 Candida species isolated were misidentified by clinical laboratories; these errors have potential for engendering adverse clinical outcomes. C glabrata was the species most frequently misidentified.
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The primary therapeutic goals when initiating therapy in patients infected with HIV are maximal and long-lasting suppression of viral replication, maintenance or restoration of immunologic function, improvement of quality of life, and reduction of HIV-related morbidity and mortality.(1) Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) using combinations of antiretroviral agents has been shown to achieve these goals to a significant degree and reduce morbidity and mortality in the population of HIV-infected patients.
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These data support the hypothesis that favorable survival that is associated with optimal debulking of advanced ovarian cancers is due to, at least in part, the underlying biologic characteristics of these cancers.
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In a retrospective review from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, among patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, those who had underlying malignancy were found to have a greater risk for thrombotic events when compared to those without malignant disease.
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In an observational study enabled by a powerful drug-dispensing record linkage system, statin use among a large number of patients treated with cardiovascular drugs, was associated with a 20% reduction in incipient cancer diagnosis over a seven year period. Although not a definitive answer, drugs in this class may have cancer protective properties, and certainly further investigation is warranted.
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Single-agent chemotherapy should be the standard arm against which experimental treatments are tested in randomized trials didicated to PS 2 patients.
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Breast cancer is uncommon in men. In the current report, the NCI SEER database was examined to provide much needed epidemiological data on the similarities and differences of breast cancer in males and females. In general, men with breast cancer are older and present with more advanced disease. Yet, when matched for age and stage at presentation, overall survival is quite similar between men and women with this disease.
