Antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and dosing in critically ill adults receiving prolonged intermittent renal replacement therapy: A systematic review.

Prolonged intermittent renal replacement therapy (PIRRT) is gaining popularity as a renal replacement modality in intensive care units, but there is a relative lack of guidance regarding antimicrobial clearance and dosing when compared with other modalities. The objectives of this systematic review were to: (1) identify and describe the pharmacokinetics (PK) of relevant antimicrobials used in critically ill adults receiving PIRRT, (2) evaluate the quality of evidence supporting these data, and (3) propose dosing recommendations based on the synthesis of these data. A search strategy for multiple databases was designed and executed to identify relevant published evidence describing the PK of antimicrobials used in critically ill adults receiving PIRRT.

[Effect of steroid therapy on intraocular pressure].

Glucocorticosteroids are key anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment of ophthalmic and systemic inflammatory diseases. However, prolonged use may result in an increase in intraocular pressure followed by a potentially vision -threatening ocular complication as glaucomatous neuropathy ultimately leading to blindness. Steroid therapy can increase intraocular pressure not only with ophthalmic preparations, but also with other routes of administration such as inhalational, intranasal and systemic.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Vancomycin in Adult Patients with Methicillin-Resistant Bacteremia or Pneumonia.

Background: Vancomycin remains widely used for methicillin-resistant (MRSA) infections; however, treatment failure rates up to 50% have been reported. At the authors' institution, monitoring of trough concentration is the standard of care for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin. New guidelines support use of the ratio of 24-hour area under the concentration-time curve to minimum inhibitory concentration (AUC/MIC) as the pharmacodynamic index most likely to predict outcomes in patients with MRSA-associated infections.

Lio-A Personal Robot Assistant for Human-Robot Interaction and Care Applications.

Lio is a mobile robot platform with a multi-functional arm explicitly designed for human-robot interaction and personal care assistant tasks. The robot has already been deployed in several health care facilities, where it is functioning autonomously, assisting staff and patients on an everyday basis. Lio is intrinsically safe by having full coverage in soft artificial-leather material as well as collision detection, limited speed and forces.

Rational design and synthesis of substrate-product analogue inhibitors of α-methylacyl-coenzyme A racemase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

2,2-Bis(4-isobutylphenyl)propanoyl-CoA and 2,2-bis(4-t-butylphenyl)propanoyl-CoA are rationally designed, gem-disubstituted substrate-product analogues that competitively inhibit α-methylacyl-coenzyme A racemase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis with Ki values of 16.9 ± 0.6 and 21 ± 4 μM, respectively, exceeding the enzyme's affinity for the substrate by approximately 5-fold.