Recently published papers: Asking the unanswerable – measuring the immeasurable and decontaminating the infected

As 2003 marches on one is left reflecting on yet another year in which the intensive care literature has continued to challenge the accepted tenets, and as always one continues to be surprised by the results. The study conducted by Finney and coworkers [1] illustrates well how our increasing knowledge leads to more questions. Since the study by van den Berghe and coworkers [2] was reported, much attention has been given to rigorous control of blood glucose levels in patients, although as Finney and coworkers [1] pointed out the mechanisms underlying the perceived benefits are unclear. In particular, the observed mortality reduction might have been due to avoidance of hyperglycaemia or to the dose of exogenous insulin, or perhaps a combination of the two.