Inadequate statistical power of published comparative cohort studies on ventilator-associated pneumonia to detect mortality differences.

Background: Comparative cohort studies are often conducted to identify novel therapeutic strategies or prognostic factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). We aimed to evaluate the power of such studies to provide clinically and statistically significant conclusions with regard to mortality differences.

Methods: We searched in PubMed and Scopus for comparative cohort studies that evaluated mortality in patients with VAP.

Comparison of adverse events between oral and intravenous formulations of antimicrobial agents: a systematic review of the evidence from randomized trials.

Background: Some clinicians may favor a strategy of early switch to oral antimicrobial therapy for patients responding to initial intravenous therapy. An important relevant consideration refers to the comparative safety and tolerability between oral and intravenous antimicrobial therapy. LITERATURE SEARCH/STUDY SELECTION: We sought to evaluate the above-mentioned issue by performing a systematic review of randomized studies comparing the occurrence of adverse events between oral and intravenous antimicrobial therapy with the same agents.

Outcome of antimicrobial therapy in documented biofilm-associated infections: a review of the available clinical evidence.

Numerous laboratory findings indicate that microbial biofilms may be encountered in several types of human infections, affecting the activity of antimicrobial agents. We evaluated the clinical evidence regarding the effectiveness of antimicrobial therapy for infections documented to be biofilm-associated, by performing a review of 15 relevant studies, excluding dental and eye infections. In a clinical trial, a significant difference was noted in the effectiveness of antibacterial agents used for catheter-related urinary tract infections in which substantial bacterial adherence on uroepithelial cells was observed.

Linezolid for patients with neutropenia: are bacteriostatic agents appropriate?

A long-held doctrine is that bactericidal antibiotics are required for infections in neutropenic patients. We evaluated the available published evidence regarding the role of linezolid, a bacteriostatic antibiotic, in neutropenic patients with Gram-positive infection. We retrieved two prospective comparative studies (one of them a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial), a prospective cohort study, two retrospective studies and eight case reports that focused on the use of linezolid for Gram-positive bacterial infections in neutropenic patients.

Probiotics for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and asthma: systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical evidence for the use of probiotics as a therapeutic modality for allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma.

Data Sources: PubMed was searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that studied the effects of probiotics on AR (n = 12) and asthma (n = 4).

Study Selection: RCTs that studied the effects of probiotics administration on the treatment but not the prevention of AR and asthma were selected for inclusion in this review.

Comparison of SCImago journal rank indicator with journal impact factor.

The application of currently available sophisticated algorithms of citation analysis allows for the incorporation of the "quality" of citations in the evaluation of scientific journals. We sought to compare the newly introduced SCImago journal rank (SJR) indicator with the journal impact factor (IF). We retrieved relevant information from the official Web sites hosting the above indices and their source databases.