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Background: Sulbactam-durlobactam (SUL-DUR) has been tested in vitro for its ability to generate resistance in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter species. According to prior studies, combining durlobactam with sulbactam causes sulbactam-resistant isolates to become more active and revert to susceptibility. We aimed to conduct a systematic review of the in vitro activity of SUL-DUR on A. baumannii (Ab) isolates, including carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAb), to provide an overview for physicians dealing with Ab infections., Methods: The following keywords were searched in the PubMed, Google Scholar, and EMBASE databases to look for eligible original works that have been published without restrictions till June 30, 2023: A. baumannii and sulbactam-durlobactam, SUL-DUR, durlobactam, and sulbactam-ETX2514. We also searched clinicaltrials.gov and the Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI) for clinical trials involving sulbactamdurlobactam and Acinetobacter ., Results: There were a total of 852 abstracts found. Among them, 633 articles with titles, abstracts, and keywords were reviewed, and 574 articles were removed after the initial screening. A total of 59 full-text eligible articles were evaluated, and 51 of them were eliminated because they did not satisfy the criteria set for inclusion. The full texts of the final 8 in vitro studies on A. baumanii and sulbactam/durlobactam were further evaluated. There were 5 trials on A. baumanii and sulbactam/durlobactam found on clinicaltrials.gov and the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI)., Conclusion: The findings from the studies show that SUL-DUR might be a successful therapeutic option for multidrug-resistant-Ab infections. Future clinical trials will be required to validate the possibility of using this combination to treat multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

This paper describes (im)politeness strategies that occur in oral trials, because there are related to the credibility of the speakers –a matter of vital importance for the outcome of the trial–. The participants are divided into groups according to their goals, so there is an accuser block against a defender block, and between them stands the judge, who is responsible for sentencing. It will be shown that in these contexts, when there is an implicit conflict, individuals give priority to their image of credibility rather than maintaining a good self-image. Thus, they do not hesitate to show a negative image of themselves if they consider it may be beneficial for the verdict. On the other hand, they often project a bad image of the opponent group, preferably addressing information that questions the truth of the facts related by their opponents. In short, judicial contexts constitute a complex framework of communication where interests take precedence over the desire to convey a good image (of either themselves or another actor).

Smoking cessation treatment is now integrated into many health-care systems and a major research effort is under way to improve current success rates. Until now results from randomized clinical trials have been reported in many different ways, leading to problems of interpretation. We propose six standard criteria comprising the‘Russell Standard’ (RS). These criteria are applicable to trials of cessation aids where participants have a defined target quit date and there is face-to-face contact with researchers or clinic staff, as follows. (1) Follow-up for 6 months (RS6) or 12 months (RS12) from the target quit date or the end of a predefined‘grace period’; (2) self-report of smoking abstinence over the whole follow-up period allowing up to five cigarettes in total; (3) biochemical verification of abstinence at least at the 6-month or 12-month follow-up point; (4) use of an‘intention-to-treat’ approach in which data from all randomized smokers are included in the analysis unless they have died or moved to an untraceable address (participants who are included in the analysis are counted as smokers if their smoking status at the final follow-up cannot be determined); (5) following-up‘protocol violators’ and using their true smoking status in the analysis; and (6) collecting follow-up data blind to smokers’ allocation to trial group. We believe that these criteria provide the best compromise between practicability and surrogacy for long-term cessation and will enable meaningful comparison between studies. There may be good reasons why other outcome criteria would also be reported, and studies that involve interventions with special groups or where there is no designated target quit date or face to face contact would need to adapt these criteria accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital data from 3-D treatment planning computers is generally used for patient planning and then never considered again. However, such data contains enormous quantities of information regarding patient geometries, tissue outlining, treatment approaches and dose distributions. Were such data accessible from planning systems from multiple manufacturers, there would be substantial opportunities for undertaking quality assurance of radiotherapy clinical trials, prospective assessment of trial outcomes and basic treatment planning research and development. The technicalities of data exchange between planning systems are outlined, and previous attempts at producing systems capable of viewing and/or manipulating imaging and radiotherapy digital data reviewed. Development of a software system for enhancing the quality of Australasian clinical trials is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postal questionnaires remain an important method of collecting data in trials. However, a high non-response rate can lead to biases, which may undermine the validity of the study., Aims: To assess a simple method of trying to improve response rates in an occupational health trial evaluating an intervention to prevent hand dermatitis in nurses., Methods: The trial employed questionnaires at t = 0, t = 1 month and t = 12 months. The t = 1 month questionnaire was posted to study participants (student and intensive care nurses) together with a free postage reply envelope. After 2 weeks, an e-mail was sent to non-responders reinforcing the need for completed questionnaires to be returned. Two weeks later, non-responders were sent another hard copy of the questionnaire, along with an accompanying letter. Six weeks after posting the initial questionnaires, non-responders were sent an SMS text message or were telephoned to remind them to return the questionnaire., Results: The response rates for the 744 student nurses were 8% (no reminder), 27% (after first reminder), 22% (after second reminder) and 27% (after the third reminder), resulting in a response rate of 63%. The response rates for the 959 intensive care nurses were 9% (no reminder), 24% (after first reminder), 24% (after second reminder) and 31% (after third reminder), resulting in a final response rate of 63%., Conclusions: We found that a series of regular reminders including a third, personalized reminder by SMS text or telephone had a positive impact on non-responders., (© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com)