PLoS medicine
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A major NIH meeting led to recommendations for conducting better clinical trials.
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Berhane discusses a new study in PLoS Medicine that evaluated the effect of improved water access in rural Ethiopia upon birth rate and child malnutrition.
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Although statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, they are expensive. How should trial evidence on statins be applied to a resource-poor setting?
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a devastating complication of numerous underlying conditions, most notably sepsis. Although pathologic vascular leak has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ARDS and sepsis-associated lung injury, the mechanisms promoting leak are incompletely understood. Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), a known antagonist of the endothelial Tie-2 receptor, was originally described as a naturally occurring disruptor of normal embryonic vascular development otherwise mediated by the Tie-2 agonist angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1). We hypothesized that Ang-2 contributes to endothelial barrier disruption in sepsis-associated lung injury, a condition involving the mature vasculature. ⋯ Our results identify a critical role for Ang-2 in disrupting normal pulmonary endothelial function.