Early increase of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) serum levels is indicative of increased risk of progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to respiratory failure. The SAVE-MORE double-blind, randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of anakinra, an IL-1α/β inhibitor, in 594 patients with COVID-19 at risk of progressing to respiratory failure as identified by plasma suPAR ≥6 ng ml−1, 85.9% (n = 510) of whom were receiving dexamethasone. At day 28, the adjusted proportional odds of having a worse clinical status (assessed by the 11-point World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale (WHO-CPS)) with anakinra, as compared to placebo, was 0.36 (95% confidence interval 0.26–0.50). The median WHO-CPS decrease on day 28 from baseline in the placebo and anakinra groups was 3 and 4 points, respectively (odds ratio (OR) = 0.40, P < 0.0001); the respective median decrease of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score on day 7 from baseline was 0 and 1 points (OR = 0.63, P = 0.004). Twenty-eight-day mortality decreased (hazard ratio = 0.45, P = 0.045), and hospital stay was shorter.

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Different definitions of the terms multidrug-resistant (MDR) and pandrug-resistant (PDR) Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been used in the biomedical literature. The authors searched for relevant studies indexed in the PubMed database (01/2000–09/2005) to systematically examine the various definitions of MDR and PDR for these bacteria. Initially 107 retrieved relevant studies were reviewed. Ninety-two studies were further analysed, 50 of which focused on A. baumannii and 42 on P. aeruginosa. A considerable diversity of definitions of the terms MDR and PDR A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa was found. Of note, the term PDR was inappropriately used in all five studies that used it. The review reveals that various definitions have been used for the terms MDR and PDR A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa, a fact that causes confusion to researchers and clinicians. The authors believe that at least a widely accepted definition for PDR A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa should be uniformly used worldwide.

Background: The increasing problem of infections due to multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria has led to re-use of polymyxins in several countries. However, there are already clinical isolates of Gram-negative bacteria that are resistant to all available antibiotics, including polymyxins.

There is conclusive evidence that HBPM is useful for the initial diagnosis and the long-term follow-up of treated hypertension. These data are useful for the optimal application of HBPM, which is widely used in clinical practice. More studies on the cost-effectiveness of HBPM are needed.

These data suggest that home BP is as good as ambulatory monitoring and superior to office measurements in regard to their association with preclinical organ damage assessed by echocardiographic LVMI. More research is required to evaluate the relationship of home BP with other indices of target organ damage.

Background: The intravenous use of polymyxins has been considered to be associated with considerable nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. For this reason, the systemic administration of polymyxins had been abandoned for about 20 years in most areas of the world. However, the problem of infections due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria such us Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumanniii has led to the re-use of polymyxins. Our objective was to study the toxicity of prolonged intravenous administration of colistin (polymyxin E).

Compared with beta-lactam monotherapy, the aminoglycoside/ beta-lactam combination was not associated with a beneficial effect on the development of antimicrobial resistance among initially antimicrobial-susceptible isolates.