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Acute Q fever may progress to endocarditis in patients with clinically silent valvulopathy. Those at risk require either extended antibiotic prophylaxis or close serological follow-up. All patients with acute Q fever should undergo transthoracic echocardiography, or in some instances transesophageal echocardiography, to exclude occult valvular abnormalities.
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Antibody testing successfully identified 7 patients whose encephalitis was due to the free-living amoeba, Balamuthia mandrillaris, a pathogen that should be suspected in individuals with soil contact, high CSF protein, and mass-like or ring-enhancing brain lesions.
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Overall, clopidogrel plus aspirin was not significantly more effective than aspirin alone in reducing the rate of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease.
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A return to full normal activities, including work at 2 weeks, after AMI appears to be safe in patients who are stratified to a low-risk group. This should have significant medical and socioeconomic implications.
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Cleansing patients with chlorhexidine-saturated cloths reduced VRE contamination of patients' skin, the environment, and health care workers' hands, and also decreased VRE acquisition.
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That deep venous thrombosis (DVT) can occur after air flight is not a new observation, having been first reported in the 1950s.
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The Nikolsky Sign (also commonly spelled Nikolskiy) is performed by placing pressure upon skin adjacent to tissue involved with bullae.
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Six patients developed lactic acidosis during prolonged linezolid therapy, possibly as the result of mitochondrial protein synthesis.
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The results of this study underline the uncertainty regarding the risk/benefit ratio of rtPA treatment in acute stroke in patients older than 80 years of age.
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The number of previous acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECBs) and the baseline FEV1 level are potent prognostic factors of the short- and long-term outcomes of AECB.
