Internal Medicine
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Procalcitonin and Differentiating Bacterial from Viral Meningitis
ABSTRACT & COMMENTARY: A meta-analysis found an elevated serum procalcitonin to be an accurate test. Details inside.
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Oral Nutritional Supplementation for Hospitalized COPD Patients Pays Off
<>In contrast to many of the other top 10 causes of death in the United States, COPD deaths are increasing, such that COPD is now the third most common cause of death. Although a variety of pharmacologic interventions are available to improve symptoms and decrease exacerbations, none has been shown to reduce mortality. -
Tighter Blood Pressure Control Post-Intracranial Hemorrhage May Decrease Recurrence
Fifty percent of stroke-related morbidity and mortality are related to intracerebral hemorrhage.
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National Practice Patterns and Outcomes of Tracheostomy Placement in the United States
Tracheostomy use rose over the last two decades until 2008 in the United States and was associated with an increase in discharge to long-term care facilities with a concomitant decrease in hospital length of stay and hospital mortality.
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Should High-flow Oxygen Therapy Change Our Approach to Managing Acute Respiratory Failure?
Managing acute hypoxemic respiratory failure with high-flow nasal cannula significantly reduced intubation rates compared to standard oxygen (O2) mask delivery and non-invasive ventilation among patients whose arterial O2 tension to inspired O2 fraction ratio (PaO2/FiO2) was < 200.
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Achieving Successful Rehabilitation in the ICU
Clinicians should consider ICU-acquired weakness in almost every critically ill patient who is ventilated.
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Two Drugs Better Than One for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Among subjects with pulmonary arterial hypertension who are treatment naïve, initial combination therapy with tadalafil and ambrisentan is associated with significantly lower risk of clinical failure than initial monotherapy with either tadalafil or ambrisentan.
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Role of Transthoracic Echo in Staph Bacteremia
In patients without community-acquired Staph bacteremia, a high-risk cardiac condition, or IV drug use, a negative transthoracic echo excluded infective endocarditis.
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Echocardiographic Parameters Predict Outcome in Peripartum Cardiomyopathy
Poor baseline left ventricular ejection fraction, greater degree of left ventricular dilation, and black race predict poorer subsequent recovery with conventional therapy.
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MATRIX Reloaded: Bivalirudin Fails to Best Heparin in ACS
Among patients with acute coronary syndromes referred for percutaneous intervention, bivalirudin did not lower rates of major adverse cardiovascular events or net adverse clinical outcomes as compared with unfractionated heparin.