The FDA has approved tigecycline, the first of a new class of antimicrobial agents. The drug is a novel parenteral antibiotic that is chemically similar to minocycline. It is active against a wide variety of bacteria that cause complicated intra-abdominal and complicated skin and skin structure infections including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Tigecycline is marketed by Wyeth as Tygacil.
Women with polycystic ovaries demonstrate a definite rate of worsening glucose tolerance and conversion to type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Two recent studies shed further light on the short-term use of parathyroid hormone (PTH) to enhance the treatment of osteoporosis. PTH is approved for use up to 2 years in patients with moderate-to-severe osteoporosis. The anabolic bone formation induced by PTH is largely lost after stopping therapy, but is well maintained by continued therapy with a biphosphonate. PTH may be given continuously or cyclically to enhance bone formation.
Symptoms of lower extremity venous disease are directly related to the degrees of visible and functional disease, but may occur even in legs that appear normal.
Authors: William J. Kennedy, DO, Fellow, Palliative Care Services, Mount Carmel Health, Columbus, OH; Philip H. Santa-Emma, MD, Medical Director, Palliative Care Services, Mount Carmel Health, Columbus, OH; and Robert M. Taylor, MD, Medical Director, Palliative Care Services, Mount Carmel Health, Columbus, OH. Peer Reviewer: Lynn McDonald, MD, Medical Director, Hospice of Kankakee Valley, Bourbonnais, IL.
There has been considerable reaction and consternation among infection control professionals about new requirements to keep a log of all hospital infections or face the wrath of inspectors from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Theres only one problem: the CMS requirement is not new.
Though completed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in February 2003, updated guidelines for disinfection and sterilization of infectious agents in health care settings remain shelved due to a dispute between federal agencies.
Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is emerging in such a distinct epidemiological manner that the lessons gained from decades of dealing with MRSA in the hospital may not be particularly helpful in stemming an emerging public health problem, experts warn.