We read with interest the study by Cuthbertson and colleagues [1] in a recent issue of Critical Care, and we appreciate their attempts to support studies regarding selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD). However, we have some concerns. The argument supporting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for the evaluation of SDD is ambiguous. The Delphi method embraces ‘quasi-anonymity’,...

TO THE EDITOR—Roquilly et al conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 157 randomized, controlled trials that examined the efficacy of multiple strategies for the prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) [1]. Although their analysis yielded some important findings for clinicians, a cautious interpretation is required from a methodological viewpoint. First, conclusions of systema...

This study compares the skills of two numerical models at same horizontal resolution but based on different principles in representing meso- and sub-mesoscale ocean features. The first model, titled LD20-NEMO, was solving primitive equations dynamics. second LD20-SDD, used a newer stochastic–deterministic downscaling (SDD) method. Both had 1/20° resolution, meteo forcing, outputs from data assi...

Background. Gentamicin is used for the treatment of resistant gram-negative bacterial infections. Studies comparing single-daily dosing (SDD) to multiple-daily dosing (MDD) show similar efficacy and less nephrotoxicity. Less is known about the effects of different dosing regimens on the development of ototoxicity. Among patients referred to our Multidisciplinary Neurotology Clinic (MNC), we com...

AIMS To examine the safety implications of omitting first day clinical review following phacoemulsification cataract surgery. METHODS 362 patients were randomly assigned to "same day discharge" (SDD) or "next day review" (NDR). All patients were reviewed approximately 2 weeks after surgery. RESULTS Of the 174 patients randomised to NDR, 14 (8.0%) were treated for raised intraocular pressure...

The Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay (SCSA®) is the pioneering sperm DNA fragmentation assay that precisely measures the percent of sperm in a semen sample that have Sperm DNA Damage (SDD), a negative factor for successful pregnancy. The SCSA® is a rapid, dual parameter, computer driven assay with diligent unbiased flow cytometer measurements on five to ten thousand sperm per sample providing ri...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether treatment with subantimicrobial dose doxycycline (SDD), 20 mg bid, exerted an antimicrobial effect on the microflora associated with adult periodontitis. METHODS Following the approval of the protocol and informed consent forms by the respective IRBs at the University of Florida and West Virginia University, 76 subjects with adult ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between Saharan dust outbreaks and natural, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. METHODS A case-crossover design was adopted to assess the effects of Saharan dust days (SDD) on mortality in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The population under study consisted of residents in the six main towns of the central-western part of the region who died ...

The focus of this dissertation is on matrix decompositions that use a limited amount of computer memory, thereby allowing problems with a very large number of variables to be solved. Speciically, we will focus on two applications areas: optimization and information retrieval. We introduce a general algebraic form for the matrix update in limited-memory quasi-Newton methods. Many well-known meth...