Treatment of Complicated Gram-Positive Bacteremia and Infective Endocarditis.

The Gram-positive cocci Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp., and Enterococcus spp. are the most frequent causative organisms of bloodstream infections and infective endocarditis.

Disability Related to the Upper Extremities in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis-Long-Term Course and Disease Variable Impact: A Cohort Study.

Objective: To investigate the course of disability related to the upper extremities (UEs) in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to assess correlations between such disability and clinical variables, including grip force.

Methods: In an inception cohort of patients with early RA (diagnosed 1995-2005, N = 222, follow-up 10 yrs), disability of the UEs was assessed using a subscore of the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI-UE), and average grip force of the dominant hand was measured. Changes between consecutive follow-up visits in the HAQ-DI-UE subscore, and correlations at each visit with key clinical variables, were assessed.

Predictive performance of multi-model approaches for model-informed precision dosing of piperacillin in critically ill patients.

Objectives: Piperacillin (PIP)/tazobactam is a frequently prescribed antibiotic; however, over- or underdosing may contribute to toxicity, therapeutic failure, and development of antimicrobial resistance. An external evaluation of 24 published PIP-models demonstrated that model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) can enhance target attainment. Employing various candidate models, this study aimed to assess the predictive performance of different MIPD-approaches comparing (i) a single-model approach, (ii) a model selection algorithm (MSA) and (iii) a model averaging algorithm (MAA).