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Fibromyalgia (FM) continues to present management challenges for patients and their physicians despite a number of new pharmaceuticals promoted for its treatment.
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The use of any medication during pregnancy is a concern for both the patient and physician because of the potential that the agent may have unanticipated effects on the fetus.
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High sensitivity C-reactive protein may be useful in acute viral or idiopathic pericarditis for establishing the diagnosis, determining the duration of therapy, and suggesting when to escalate therapy.
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Forty-four (23%) of 192 adventure race participants in a 2005 Florida event developed suspected leptospirosis, with confirmatory serologic testing positive in 45% of the tested individuals. A unique serovar (related to species Leptospira noguchii) was isolated from 1 patient.
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This retrospective study of more than 7000 patients from four combined medical-surgical ICUs demonstrated that ionized calcium levels are unrelated to mortality over a broad range of values but are independent predictors of mortality when levels are severely increased or decreased.
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In assessment of acute chest pain in the emergency room, a new or "presumably new" left bundle branch block (LBBB) is considered as an electrocardiographic (ECG) equivalent to ST elevation.
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Involving family members in ICU rounds improved satisfaction in some areas, such as physician communication and decision-making support, but failed to improve overall family satisfaction.
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In a hospital with high ICU bed occupancy, delays in transferring critically ill patients from the emergency department or general wards to the ICU were associated with increased mortality in comparison with immediate transfer to an ICU bed, and this increased mortality was incrementally greater with increasing delay.
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Current guidelines recommend hypothermia for comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in whom return of circulation has been achieved.