Noninvasive blood gas monitoring.

In the clinical setting, noninvasive blood gas monitoring has become the standard of care over arterial punctures. Technology has provided ways to measure both arterial oxygen (PaO2) and arterial Carbon Dioxide (PaCO2). With the availability of noninvasive blood gas monitoring, patient care and comfort is improving, and cost savings are being implemented.

Risk factors associated with isolation of Stenotrophomonas (Xanthomonas) maltophilia in clinical specimens.

Objective: To determine risk factors for patients whose cultures grew Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Design: Retrospective case-control study of 60 patients with cultures positive for S maltophilia, matched by specimen site to 120 controls whose cultures grew other gram-negative aerobic bacteria.

Setting: University medical center.

The relationship between antecedent antibiotic use and resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins in group I beta-lactamase-producing organisms.

Gram-negative pathogens are increasingly resistant to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs). Using a prospective, case-controlled observational study, we examined the prevalence and the risk factors for development of resistance to ESCs in group I beta-lactamase-producing organisms. Of the 386 isolates of Enterobacter species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter species, and Serratia marsescens from 340 consecutive patients, 70 (18.