Annals of internal medicine
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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's new duty-hour standards limit interns' shifts to 16 hours and night float to 6 consecutive nights. Protected sleep time (that is, "nap") is strongly encouraged. As duty-hour reforms are implemented, examination of the quality and outcomes of the relevant literature is important. ⋯ Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
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Although recent guidelines call for expanded routine screening for HIV, resources for antiretroviral therapy (ART) are limited, and all eligible persons are not currently receiving treatment. ⋯ National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Although the accuracy of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) testing for diagnosing acute decompensated heart failure has been extensively evaluated, the effect of this test on clinical outcomes remains unclear. ⋯ Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Metoprolol versus amiodarone in the prevention of atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: a randomized trial.
Current guidelines recommend β-blockers as the first-line preventive treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac surgery. Despite this, 19% of physicians report using amiodarone as first-line prophylaxis of postoperative AF. Data directly comparing the efficacy of these agents in preventing postoperative AF are lacking. ⋯ The Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research and the Kuopio University EVO Foundation.
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About one quarter of rehospitalized Medicare patients are admitted to hospitals different from their original hospital. The extent to which this practice is related to for-profit hospital status and affects payments and mortality is unknown. ⋯ University of Wisconsin Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatrics, National Institutes of Health.