Mean Airway Pressure As a Predictor of 90-Day Mortality in Mechanically Ventilated Patients.

Objectives: To determine the association between mean airway pressure and 90-day mortality in patients with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation and to compare the predictive ability of mean airway pressure compared with inspiratory plateau pressure and driving pressure.

Design: Prospective observational cohort.

Setting: Five ICUs in Lima, Peru.

Bulk Modification of Poly(lactide) (PLA) via Copolymerization with Poly(propylene glycol) Diglycidylether (PPGDGE).

Copolymers of l-lactide and poly(propylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PPGDGE) were synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP). Stannous octoate was used as the catalyst and 1-dodecanol as the initiator. The effect of the variables on the thermal properties of the copolymers was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

3,3,6,6,9,9-Hexaethyl-1,2,4,5,7,8-hexaoxacyclononane at 296 K.

The title molecule (diethyl ketone triperoxide, DEKTP), C(15)H(30)O(6), is a cyclic triperoxide closely related to triacetone triperoxide (TATP), one of the most unstable explosives known. However, the stability of DEKTP is ca 20-50 times greater than that of TATP. DEKTP crystallizes with two molecules in the asymmetric unit, with virtually identical geometry.

Drug-resistant diarrheogenic Escherichia coli, Mexico.

Diarrheogenic Escherichia coli isolates from 45 (73%) of 62 hospitalized patients were resistant to common antimicrobial drugs. Sixty-two percent were multidrug resistant, and >70% were resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ampicillin. Ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime were uniformly active.

Multiplex PCR for detection of three plasmid-borne genes of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli strains.

We developed a novel multiplex PCR assay for enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) detection, by using three plasmid-borne genes (the aggregative adherence [AA] probe, aap, and aggR). One or more of the loci were detected in 24 (86%) of 28 patient isolates analyzed. The multiplex PCR assay is a fast, convenient, and sensitive molecular test to detect EAEC.

Single multiplex polymerase chain reaction to detect diverse loci associated with diarrheagenic Escherichia coli.

We developed and tested a single multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that detects enterotoxigenic, enteropathogenic, enteroinvasive, and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. This PCR is specific, sensitive, and rapid in detecting target isolates in stool and food. Because of its simplicity, economy, and efficiency, this protocol warrants further evaluation in large, prospective studies of polymicrobial substances.