How to 'SAVE' antibiotics: effectiveness and sustainability of a new model of antibiotic stewardship intervention in the internal medicine area.

Background: Antibiotic stewardship (AS) is a cornerstone of the fight against antimicrobial resistance; however, evidence on the best practice to improve antibiotic prescription in various hospital settings is still scarce. This study aimed to measure the efficacy of a non-restrictive AS intervention in the internal medicine area of a tertiary-care hospital across a 3-year period.

Methods: The intervention comprised a 3-month 'intensive phase' based on education and guidelines provision, followed by 9 months of audits and feedback activities.

The Importance of Nutrition in Hypertension.

Arterial hypertension (AH) is considered to be one of the most relevant cardiovascular risk factors, and its wide prevalence in all age ranges makes it necessary to analyse all the possible causes and treatments. In this special issue, nutritional interventions are examined either as causes or as treatments of AH. [.

Benthic macrofaunal structure and secondary production in tropical estuaries on the Eastern Marine Ecoregion of Brazil.

Tropical estuaries are highly productive and support diverse benthic assemblages within mangroves and tidal flats habitats. Determining differences and similarities of benthic assemblages within estuarine habitats and between regional ecosystems may provide scientific support for management of those ecosystems. Here we studied three tropical estuaries in the Eastern Marine Ecoregion of Brazil to assess the spatial variability of benthic assemblages from vegetated (mangroves) and unvegetated (tidal flats) habitats.

Action of antibiotic oxacillin on in vitro growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) previously treated with homeopathic medicines.

Background: Resistance to antibiotics is a major public health concern worldwide. New treatment options are needed and homeopathy is one such option. We sought to assess the effect of the homeopathic medicine Belladonna (Bell) and a nosode (biotherapy) prepared from a multi-drug resistant bacterial species, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), on the same bacterium.