Original Investigation Caring for the Critically Ill PatientDecember 8, 2021 Effect of Use of a Bougie vs Endotracheal Tube With Stylet on Successful Intubation on the First Attempt Among Critically Ill Patients Undergoing Tracheal Intubation: A Randomized Clinical Trial Brian E. Driver, Matthew W. Semler, Wesley H. Self, et al JAMA. Published online December 8, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.22002 Abstract Importance  For critically i...

EDITORIAL Booster Doses and Prioritizing Lives Saved Minal K. Patel N Engl J Med 2021; 385:2476-2477DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe2117592 Globally, more than 5 million people have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.1 This is certainly a grim number, but we are starting to see the lifesaving effect of vaccines.2 From the global public health perspective, the initial primary objective of Covid-19 vaccination is to decrease the severe consequences o...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 21 - Issue 5, 2021 Microbiome in Sepsis and COVID-19 Bacteria play a fundamental role in human life. Given the many roles of gut microbiota in critical illness and other pathological conditions, it is important to target therapeutical interventions to restore, preserve and enrich its composition. Introduction Bacteria play, for better or worse, a fundamental role in human life. As multidrug resistant bacterial infecti...

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Milvexian for the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism Jeffrey I. Weitz, John Strony, Walter Ageno, et al N Engl J Med 2021; 385:2161-2172DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2113194 Abstract BACKGROUND Factor XIa inhibitors for the prevention and treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolism may be more effective and result in less bleeding than conventional anticoagulants. Additional data are needed regarding the efficacy and safety of milvexian, an ...

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Protection against Covid-19 by BNT162b2 Booster across Age Groups Yinon M. Bar-On, Yair Goldberg, Micha Mandel, et al N Engl J Med 2021; 385:2421-2430DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2115926 Abstract BACKGROUND After promising initial results from the administration of a third (booster) dose of the BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine (Pfizer–BioNTech) to persons 60 years of age or older, the booster campaign in Israel was gradually expanded to persons in y...

ORIGINAL ARTICLE BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster and Mortality Due to Covid-19 Ronen Arbel, Ariel Hammerman, Ruslan Sergienko, et al N Engl J Med 2021; 385:2413-2420DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2115624 Abstract BACKGROUND The emergence of the B.1.617.2 (delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the reduced effectiveness over time of the BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfizer–BioNTech) led to a resurgence of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in popul...

Carbapenem Antibiotics for Nosocomial Pneumonia Evidence from previous studies suggests that the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) with empiric carbapenems is associated with lower mortality rates. However, it has also been reported that the use of carbapenems results in higher rates of clinical failure for pseudomonal pneumonia. This meta-analysis is an updated report with sensitivity analyses and meta-regr...

Original Investigation November 30, 2021 Effect of Intravenous or Intraosseous Calcium vs Saline on Return of Spontaneous Circulation in Adults With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Randomized Clinical Trial Mikael Fink Vallentin, Asger Granfeldt, Carsten Meilandt, et al JAMA. Published online November 30, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.20929 Abstract Importance  It is unclear whether administration of calcium has a beneficial effect ...

EDITORIAL Molnupiravir — A Step toward Orally Bioavailable Therapies for Covid-19 Richard Whitley N Engl J Med December 16, 2021DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe2117814 The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial global morbidity and mortality as well as disruption of the economies of virtually every country.1 Some of this tragedy could have been averted with the development of deliverable, orally bioavailable, direct-acting antiviral therapeutics. Molnupiravir, t...

Feature Christmas 2021: What if . . . ? Anticipating the ageing trajectories of superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe Sarah T Fox, Natasha Reid, Ida Tornvall, et al BMJ 2021; 375 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-068001 (Published 13 December 2021)Cite this as: BMJ 2021;375:e068001 Ruth Hubbard and colleagues examine the personal traits and health behaviours of five of Marvel's superheroes and envisage the challenges this extraordinary cohort m...