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Colonization With Clostridioides difficile Frequently Leads to a Misdiagnosis of Healthcare-Associated Infection
A prospective cohort study from a single institution found 27% of patients diagnosed with healthcare-associated C. difficile infection were colonized with the same isolate on admission.
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Combination Therapy With Daptomycin Plus Beta-Lactam Antibiotics in MSSA Bacteremia
In a retrospective cohort study of 350 patients, the combination of a beta-lactam antibiotic plus daptomycin was not superior to beta-lactam monotherapy in patients with bacteremia due to methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.
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Early Dexmedetomidine Provides Similar 90-Day Mortality Compared to Usual Care in Mechanically Ventilated Critically Ill Adults
When the early use of continuous infusion dexmedetomidine was compared to usual care for sedation in mechanically ventilated critically ill adults, there was no difference in 90-day mortality. Dexmedetomidine may not be an ideal sedative for mechanically ventilated critically ill adults requiring deeper sedation, although its use may result in greater ventilator-free, coma-free, or delirium-free days.
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Acute Kidney Injury in Patients With Cirrhosis
Acute kidney injury and hepatorenal syndrome are common conditions found in patients with cirrhosis, due to the systemic vasodilation and systemic inflammation frequently found in this population.
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Anticoagulation Decisions in Atrial Fibrillation
Using the Delphi method of arriving at a consensus among clinicians concerning to whom with atrial fibrillation to recommend oral anticoagulants, the risk of stroke, the risk of hemorrhage, and patient-specific factors emerged. Many of these factors are not included in the guidelines and should be studied further.
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Optimizing AED Placement Locations
A study of the location of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) compared to the location of automatic external defibrillators (AED) in Denmark showed that if the placements of AEDs more closely matched the location of OHCAs, bystander defibrillation and 30-day survival would improve.
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Cardiac Constriction vs. Cardiac Restriction
The five Mayo Clinic Doppler echocardiographic criteria for the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis (CP) were tested in a group of surgically confirmed CP compared to a group of cardiac biopsy proven amyloid restrictive cardiomyopathy. Interventricular septal bounce and an elevated mitral annular medial e’ were found to be the most accurate criteria, especially if used together.
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Value of PET Scans in Infective Endocarditis
18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in a consecutive series of patients with proven infective endocarditis was of diagnostic value in those with prosthetic value endocarditis and of prognostic value in all cases.
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Dapagliflozin Treatment Improves Life Quality for Systolic Heart Failure Patients
Treatment with dapagliflozin for 12 weeks resulted in improved health status, either a reduction in NT-proBNP or improvement in quality of life measures, in systolic heart failure patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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A Review of Atrial Fibrillation and Current Therapeutic Strategies: Part 2
This two-part series presents a review of the current evidence on atrial fibrillation (AF). The first part included the definition of AF, its classification, risk factors, comorbidities, evaluation, and acute management of newly diagnosed patients. The second part focuses on long-term management, including risk factor modification, rate and rhythm control measures, stroke risk stratification, and anticoagulation management.