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Staphylococcus aureus is a versatile enemy. It is spreading in the community, as well as in the hospital, with increasing resistance to antibiotics. Its armamentarium now includes not only resistance to methicillin and vancomycin but also means of spread and pathogenic mechanisms we clearly need to know more aboutand soon.
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Of 26 mechanically ventilated patients, 22 developed bacterial lower respiratory tract colonization, and in 15 patients anaerobes were recovered; 2 of 5 patients diagnosed with ventilator-associated pneumonia had anaerobes present in sufficient quantity to suggest that they were considered pathogenic.
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The FDA has approved vardenafil (LevitraBayer and GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men. Vardenafil joins sildenafil (Viagra) as the only 2 drugs approved for this indication in this country.
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Specialty beds marketed for ICU patients range from simple air-filled mattresses designed for use on ordinary hospital beds to high-tech, electronically controlled rotating or vibrating devices.
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The ARDSNetwork trial that began in 1996 (ARMA trial)1 was designed to test the validity of using lower tidal volumes in mechanical ventilators was halted because critics who were not a part of the ARDSNetwork argued that the control arm chosen was harmful and unethical.
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A wide variety of therapeutic interventions have failed to produce a significant change in the mortality of critically ill patients. Studies of these interventions include numerous trials of anti-inflammatory agents in sepsis, the trial involving growth hormone in critically ill patients, as well as a host of other investigations.
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To determine practices regarding use of closed-system suctioning (CSS) and airway management of intubated patients, Sole and colleagues surveyed a national sample of 1665 registered nurses (RNs) and respiratory therapists (RTs) in 27 institutions.
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Warren and colleagues performed a nonrandomized pre- and postobservational trial of an educational intervention to prevent catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CABSIs) in a 500-bed private community hospital in Missouri.