Cover Article
Hormone Replacement: A Risk Factor for Asthma?
Use of hormone replacement therapy may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma in women, according to research presented at CHEST 2000.

Selected Articles

• Are Cigarette Makers Trying to Conceal Secondhand Smoke?
• Avoiding PostÐLumbar Puncture Headaches
• IV Magnesium for Severe Acute Asthma: Yes, But Only for Some
• New Approaches to Managing Unstable Angina
• Acute Bronchitis and URI: The Same Condition?
• Bilateral Leg Edema: A Marker for Sleep Apnea?
• Conference News Update: CHEST 2000
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Choosing the Best Antibiotic for Bacterial Rhinosinusitis
Acute bacterial rhinosinusitis is the fifth most common diagnosis for which antibiotics are prescribed each year. All too often, though, the drugs may not have been administered appropriately. New clinical guidelines have been designed to help physicians determine when antibiotics are appropriate -- and which drugs are best.

Selected Articles

• FEV1 Independently Predicts Mortality in Men and Women
• What Makes Nicotine So Addictive?
• Major Changes Made to ACLS Guidelines
• Which Is Better: Standard or Perc Trach?
• Conference News Update: World Congress on Lung Health 2000
• Unique Characteristics of Late-Diagnosed CF
• Case Study: Right Atrial Mass and Syncope
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Thoracic Empyema: Is Its Microbiology Changing?
The microbiology of thoracic empyema may be changing, new data suggest. The incidence of fungal empyema may be increasing dramatically. And among patients with bacterial thoracic empyemas, aerobic gram-negative bacilli may be replacing gram-positive and anaerobic organisms as the leading pathogens.

Selected Articles

• Managing Respiratory Tract Infections in Children: New Guidelines
• Sexual Dysfunction and the Pulmonary Patient
• Cardiac Syndrome May Be a Factor in SIDS
• New Recommendations Issued for VAP Diagnosis
• Two-Test Combo Is Best for Confirming DIC
• Diabetes Decreases the Risk of ARDS from Septic Shock
• Conference News Update: 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
New Ways to Help Patients Stop Smoking
What can physicians really do to help their patients quit smoking? More than they may think, a new evidence-based guideline suggests.

Selected Articles

• Inhaled Steroids Save Lives
• Pinpointing the Causes and Best Treatments for Acute Chest Syndrome
• Antibiotics and the Risk of E Coli Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome
• Does the Type of Mask Make a Difference in Noninvasive Ventilation
• For COPD Patients, Air Travel Has Its Risks
• Guidelines for Prescribing Newer Asthma Drugs During Pregnancy
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
New CDC Recommendations for Managing Pneumonia
Increasing rates of pneumococcal resistance pose a challenge for physicians who treat patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). How is resistance defined in patients with CAP? What are the best empiric antimicrobial regimens for the treatment of outpatients and hospitalized patients with CAP? To address these and other questions, the CDC has issued new recommendations for the management of CAP.

Selected Articles

• Elderly Patients With Asthma Are Often Undertreated
• Is Regular Use of a ß-Agonist Safe in Asthma Patients?
• Calcitonin Precursors: Useful Markers for Diagnosing Sepsis?
• None Dare Call It Sleep: Assessing Sleep Disturbances in Mechanically Ventilated Patients
• Monoclonal Antibody Improves Sepsis
• OK to Spray: Nasal Steroids Do Not Increase Cataract Risk
• Sputum Color Is the Key to Treating Acute COPD Exacerbations
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Sleep Apnea and Hypertension: New Support for a Link
Snoring has been linked to hypertension in several small studies, but it has not been clear whether the association is causal or coincidental. Two new studies indicate that sleep apnea is an independent predictor of systemic hypertension in middle-aged and older persons.

Selected Articles

• Are CT Scans Superior to X-ray Films for Chest Injuries?
• Chest Compression Alone is Effective in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
• Can We Do More to Prevent Nosocomial Bloodstream Infections?
• Waking Up Ventilated Patients Once a Day Can Improve Outcome
• Can Self-Hypnosis Lower the Pain of Invasive Procedures?
• Choosing the Best Approach for Diagnosing VAP
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Airway pH Plays Unsuspected Role in Asthma Physiology
In patients with asthma, the pH of airway vapor condensate is substantially lower than normal. This airway acidity appears to accelerate human eosinophil necrosis and to cause the conversion of endogenous nitrite to nitric oxide. But why does this occur, and what implications does it have for the treatment of asthma?

Selected Articles

• Underuse of Oral Anticoagulants Leaves Elderly at Risk for Pulmonary Embolism
• Penetrating Abdominal Trauma: Guidelines for Antibiotic Prophylaxis
• Treatment Strategies for Status Epilepticus
• Literature Monitor for Critical Care
• Intensivists Oppose Routine Treatment of Fever in the ICU
• Conference News Update:
  4th Decennial International Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associated Infections
• Literature Monitor
• Wine Found To Be A Common Cuplrit in Alcohol-Induced Asthma
• Heroin Inhalation May Trigger Life-Threatening Asthma

Cover Article
Nitric Oxide Helps Neonates With Pulmonary Hypertension
Most full-term newborns make the transition from womb to world with ease, but several thousand each year develop pulmonary hypertension. A few days of low-dose inhaled nitric oxide can improve gas exchange and reverse respiratory failure in many of these babies.

Selected Articles

• Asthma/Allergy Epidemic: Is Cleanliness the Culprit?
• Assessing Prognosis for Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients
• Respiratory Distress Linked to Epilepsy Deaths
• Assessing New Techniques for Diagnosing Pulmonary Embolism
• New Method Permits Neural Control of Mechanical Ventilation
• Literature Monitor for Critical Care
• Conference News Update:
  56th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
The Air in There: Targeting Indoor Asthma Triggers
A new analysis on the pathogenetic role of various indoor substances has identified only one substance--the lowly dust mite--as the household allergen clearly capable of causing a first episode of asthma in those who are genetically at risk. However, a number of other agents can cause an asthma attack in persons who already have the disease. This article provides a report card on putative asthma triggers.

Selected Articles

• Lowering Tidal Volume Saves Lives in the ICU
• CDC Takes Aim to Prevent Another Outbreak of West Nile Encephalitis
• DVT and Silent PE: When are Lung Scans Indicated?
• Literature Monitor For Critical Care
• Conference News Update:
  29th Educational and Scientific Program of the Society of Critical Care Medicine
• What's in the Future for Patients With IPF?
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Malignant Pleural Effusions: Does pH Predict Outcome?
Pleural fluid pH may not be nearly as helpful as physicians have thought for predicting survival or pleurodesis outcome in patients with malignant pleural effusions. Thus, patients should not be excluded from pleurodesis merely because they have a low pleural fluid pH, Dr. John E. Heffner warns.

Selected Articles

• Is Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Contraindicated in ARDS Patients?
• Low Tidal Volumes May Decrease Mortality from Acute Lung Injury
• Guidelines Take Aim at Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions
• Lung Damage in Asthma May Not Be Reversible
• Conference News Update:
  The 72nd Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association
• Literature Monitor
• Literature Monitor For Critical Care

Cover Article
Lung Disease Increases Osteoporosis Risk in Men
The risk of osteoporosis is markedly higher in men with chronic lung disease than in men without such disease, and corticosteroid use is not the only culprit--lung disease itself appears to confer a marked increase in risk.

Selected Articles

• Does Body Positon Tip the Odds for Pneumonia Patients?
• Monoclonal Antibodies: A New Treatment for Severe Allergic Asthma
• Liberating the Patient from Mechanical Ventilation
• Drug Resistant TB: An Old Killer Makes a Comeback
• Conference News Update:
  13th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference
• Literature Monitor
• Literature Monitor For Critical Care

Cover Article
Cellular Memory Links Asthma and Allergy
Early immune responses to allergens may determine who develops allergies or asthma later in life. In fact, new evidence suggests that these two diseases may be even more closely related than has been thought.

Selected Articles

• Spontaneous Pneumothorax Treatment Guidelines Previewed
• New Strain of Resistant C Difficile Identified
• Patient Advocacy in the ICU
• Hospitalists: Boon or Bane?
• Conference News Update: European Respiratory Society
• Literature Monitor
• Literature Monitor For Critical Care

Cover Article
Artificial Intelligence: A New Screening Tool for OSA
Canadian researchers have demonstrated that artificial neural networks are superior to physicians' impression or prediction, and they equal or exceed traditional statistical models in the prediction of outcomes in selected clinical settings.

Selected Articles

• Study Shows Asthma Is Misdiagnosed and Undertreated in Elderly Patients
• Poverty, Youth, and Minority Ethnicity Raise Risk of Asthma Hospitalizations
• New ARDS Treatment Focuses on Carbon Dioxide Removal
• Public Health Impact of COPD Has Experts Debating Strategy
• Stronger Focus on Smoking Cessation Could Curb Mortality and Morbidity of COPD
• Conference News Update: 39th ICAAC
• Literature Monitor
• Literature Monitor for Critical Care