The New England journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Daptomycin versus standard therapy for bacteremia and endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
Alternative therapies for Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and endocarditis are needed. ⋯ Daptomycin (6 mg per kilogram daily) is not inferior to standard therapy for S. aureus bacteremia and right-sided endocarditis. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00093067 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Alendronate or alfacalcidol in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.
Treatment with glucocorticoids is associated with bone loss starting soon after therapy is initiated and an increased risk of fracture. ⋯ During this 18-month trial in patients with rheumatic diseases, alendronate was more effective in the prevention of glucocorticoid-induced bone loss than was alfacalcidol. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00138983 [ClinicalTrials.gov].).
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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasingly recognized in infections among persons in the community without established risk factors for MRSA. ⋯ MRSA is the most common identifiable cause of skin and soft-tissue infections among patients presenting to emergency departments in 11 U.S. cities. When antimicrobial therapy is indicated for the treatment of skin and soft-tissue infections, clinicians should consider obtaining cultures and modifying empirical therapy to provide MRSA coverage.
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Although the relationship between extreme poverty and poor health among older adults has long been recognized, less attention has been devoted to investigating whether a gradient in disability exists in the United States among persons with middle-class and upper-class incomes. We attempted to determine whether a gradient in functional limitation exists across the full spectrum of income among persons 55 years of age or older. ⋯ Our findings suggest that functional limitation in Americans between the ages of 55 and 84 years is inversely related to social class across the full spectrum of the socioeconomic gradient.