To give a pacifier to an infant or not?

to give or not to give fluids, artificially: that is an ethical dilemma!

abstract eating and drinking are essential for life. there are clinical situations that artificial hydration is necessary. for dying patients artificial hydration looks useless and in many conditions could even be harmful (e.g. pulmonary edema in hypoalbuminemic patients). in our medical culture artificial hydration is a symbol of care to the patient and withholding it, is a very emotive issue,...

To give or not to give probiotics to preterm infants.

Should probiotics be routinely used in preterm infants? This is one of the most common questions asked with regard to probiotics. In this issue of the Journal, Athalye-Jape et al. (1) present the results of a meta-analysis (search date: April 2014) that assessed the effects of probiotic supplementation on enteral feeding in preterm (gestational age ,37 wk) or low-birth-weight (,2500 g) infants....

Activated charcoal: to give or not to give?

There has been much debate about the use of activated charcoal in patients who have taken overdoses and then present to Emergency Departments. There are clinical trials, research and position statements that have examined the effectiveness of activated charcoal in a number of overdoses of different medications, but there is still a debate surrounding the evidence based practice of administering...

To give or not to give? That is the question.

To give or not to give recombinant EPO to anemia endangered cancer patients.

EPO is known as an inducer of maturation and proliferation of erythrocytes. Moreover, it favours angiogenesis. In several studies it was encountered that EPO is a trophic agent that mediates survival and inhibits apoptosis of hypoxia affected cells, particularly those which build masses of irregularly vascularized cancers. The main task concerning EPO for oncologists is the choice to give or no...