Central venous catheters are commonly used for the administration of medications in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, but their use carries the risk of developing catheter-related bloodstream infections, increasing morbidity and mortality. Guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America include use of antibiotic lock solutions as a therapeutic option for intraluminal infections when the device is difficult to remove, but these lock solutions are not indicated routinely for the prophylaxis of catheter-related bloodstream infections. Because catheter removal is not always possible in patients who require chronic catheterization or who have multiple catheters, antibiotic lock therapy can be utilized with the goal of sparing removal of the catheter while sterilizing the lumen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
September 2006
To obtain information on dioxin levels in the human diet, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture recently determined levels of dioxin-like compounds (dioxins/dibenzofurans/PCBs) in four major slaughter classes (steers and heifers, market hogs, young chickens, and young turkeys) that comprise over 90% of the meat and poultry production in the United States. The data were analyzed and compared to data from smaller surveys carried out from 1994 to 1996. These surveys were conducted by different laboratories nearly 10 years apart, so a direct comparison of the data was not straightforward.
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