Beta-blockers do not provide survival benefit in a population with angiographic coronary artery disease without myocardial infarction or reduced ejection fraction: A meta-analysis.

Background: While beta-blockers have been widely used for patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), some concerns have been raised that beta blockers do not have survival benefit in this population. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effects of beta blockers on all-cause and cardiac mortality in adults with CAD without previous myocardial infarction (MI) or reduced ejection fraction.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Medline/Ovid and Google Scholar through March 2016 identified 4 studies that reported angiographic CAD without previous myocardial infarction or reduced ejection fraction.

Low-dose cyclophosphamide improves survival in a murine treatment model of sepsis.

Sepsis is a complex medical condition characterized by a systemic inflammatory response in the setting of infection. We hypothesized that combining antibiotics plus an immunosuppressant would protect against the morbidity and mortality of polymicrobial sepsis in mice better than would antibiotics alone. We used a murine cecal-ligation-and-puncture model in which mice were treated either with imipenem plus cyclophosphamide or imipenem alone.

Open incisional hernia repair at an academic tertiary care medical center.

Objective: To describe the postoperative complication rates of a large consecutive series of patients who underwent open incisional ventral hernia repair.

Design: Retrospective medical record review of an accumulated database.

Setting: University tertiary care medical center.

Predicting strangulated small bowel obstruction: an old problem revisited.

Background: Diagnosing intestinal strangulation complicating a small bowel obstruction (SBO) remains a considerable challenge. Despite decades of experience and numerous studies, no clinical indicators have been identified that reliably predict this life-threatening condition. Our goal was to determine which clinical indicators in patients with SBO can be used to independently predict the presence of strangulated intestine.