1,721,148 research outputs found

    Combination therapy in severe Acinetobacter baumannii infections: an update on the evidence to date.

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    Acinetobacter baumannii is a drug-resistant Gram-negative pathogen increasingly causing hospital-acquired infections in critically ill patients. In this review, we summarize the current mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in A. baumannii and describe in detail recent in vitro and in vivo experimental data on the activity of antimicrobial combinations against this microorganism. We then introduce the rationale for the use of combination antibiotic therapy in resistant A. baumannii infections. Finally, we present and critically discuss both uncontrolled clinical studies and the few randomized clinical trials of combination antimicrobial therapy for these infections, with a special focus on ongoing multinational trials and optimal approach to future research in this field

    Visceral leishmaniasis during pregnancy treated with meglumine antimoniate.

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    Data on the efficacy and safety of pentavalent antimony in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis during pregnancy are scanty. A case of visceral leishmaniasis in a 39-year-old woman in the second trimester of pregnancy is reported here. The patient was hospitalized in poor condition with high fever and pancytopenia which had lasted for 6 weeks. A bone marrow aspirate revealed numerous amastigotes and serodiagnosis for Leishmania was positive at a high titer. The patient was successfully treated with meglumine antimoniate at a daily dose of 850 mg of antimony for 20 days. She delivered at term a healthy female baby who remains in good condition at 18 months of age. Thus a dose of 850 mg of antimony, which is lower than that presently recommended, seems to be effective and non toxic to the fetus when administered at the second trimester of pregnancy

    Infection of intravascular prostheses: how to treat other than surgery.

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    Long-term antimicrobial therapy may be effective in some patients with intravascular prosthesis infection. However, this approach does not represent an alternative to surgery when this is feasible, but is merely the best opportunity for patients too ill to tolerate a re-intervention. Prosthetic valve endocarditis may be treated with antibiotic therapy alone in selected patients who are haemodynamically stable with non-staphylococcal infections and no para-valvular complications. In contrast, infections of pacemaker leads or other implantable cardiac devices require complete hardware removal, as infection recurrence always occurs, even after a seemingly effective initial treatment. Attempts to treat conservatively infections of abdominal aortic grafts can be successful in a few cases, provided the patient is stable, the pathogen has been identified, and antibiotic susceptibility has been demonstrated. Treatment requires at least 4-6 weeks and may be followed by a sequential oral regimen once the acute phase of the infection has subsided. The correct duration of this treatment is often unknown and relapses are common after treatment withdrawal. The availability of novel antibacterial and antifungal agents - showing fast microbicidal activity that includes biofilm micro-organisms - such as daptomycin and caspofungin, or having a wide antimicrobial spectrum, such as tigecycline, may increase the probability of long-standing suppression or even eradication of the infection in these particular subsets of inoperable patients. However, so far, very little experience is available on the efficacy and tolerability of these drugs in intravascular prosthesis infections. Controlled studies are lacking and difficult to plan. Well-designed prospective studies may help to establish guidelines and reach a multidisciplinary consensus on the optimal therapeutic approach, and are therefore awaited

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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