Recently published papers: a little less ventilation, a little more oxygen please?

Recent papers discussed include two large, multicentre, high-positive end-expiratory pressure trials in acute lung injury and reflects upon the usefulness of such trial designs. Further papers considered include the emerging story of beta2-agonists for pulmonary oedema, highlights the newly described, iatrogenic demon, of ventilator-induced diaphragm injury, promotes the addition of B-type natriuretic peptide testing to the prediction of extubation success, and muses again over the oxygen debate.