We consider the classical statistical learning/regression problem, when the value of a real random variable Y is to be predicted based on the observation of another random variableX . Given a class of functions F and a sample of independent copies of (X,Y ), one needs to choose a function f̂ from F such that f̂(X) approximates Y as well as possible, in the mean-squared sense. We introduce a new p...

BACKGROUND Empirical combination antibiotic regimens consisting of a β-lactam and an aminoglycoside are frequently employed in the pediatric population. Data to demonstrate the comparative benefit of empirical β-lactam combination therapy relative to monotherapy for culture-proven Gram-negative bacteremia are lacking in the pediatric population. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort stu...

background pyogenic bacteria and especially staphylococcus aurous (s. aurous) are the most common cause of chronic osteomyelitis. not only treatment protocol of chronic osteomyelitis occasionally is amiss but also this malady responds to treatment difficultly. objectives this study investigates antibiotic resistance pattern of s. aurous isolated from iranian patients who suffer from chronic ost...

Let F be a class of measurable functions f :S 7→ [0,1] defined on a probability space (S,A, P ). Given a sample (X1, . . . ,Xn) of i.i.d. random variables taking values in S with common distribution P , let Pn denote the empirical measure based on (X1, . . . ,Xn). We study an empirical risk minimization problem Pnf →min, f ∈ F . Given a solution f̂n of this problem, the goal is to obtain very ge...

BACKGROUND To investigate the impact of initial antifungal therapeutic strategies on the prognosis of invasive Candida infections (ICIs) in intensive care units (ICUs) in China. METHODS A total of 306 patients with proven ICIs in the China-SCAN study were analyzed retrospectively. Empiric, pre-emptive, and targeted therapy were adopted based on starting criteria including clinical, microbiolo...

Inadequate empirical antibiotic therapy for serious Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections has been linked to increased mortality. We performed a retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia, bacteraemia or other sterile-site infections caused by P. aeruginosa occurring during Intensive Care Unit admissions. One hundred and fifty-eight episodes of serious i...

BACKGROUND Patients with suspected Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) often receive empirical therapy prior to collection of stool specimens for diagnostic testing. The likelihood that such empirical therapy might result in false-negative CDI test results is unknown. METHODS We conducted a prospective study of CDI patients to determine the time to conversion of CDI test results, including ...