Background: Antimicrobial resistance among microorganisms is a global concern. We conducted a Drug Use Evaluation study to evaluate the appropriateness of use of restricted antibiotics in the context of the existing Antibiotic Order Form using sequential prospective audits of prescriptions. Methods: A prospective observational Drug Utilization Review (DUR) study was conducted in patients receiv...

We have analyzed characteristics of sharable resources and developed techniques for intelligently sharing resources--specifically, communication channels-among agents in multiagent systems. Our techniques allow agents to nearly optimize their communication behavior in a distributed fashion, involving the use of a microeconomic pricing system based on economic laws of supply and demand and tradi...

Background: The use of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) for health care has been increasing including the use of acupuncture for the treatment of infertility. The aim of this study was to review existing scientific rationale and clinical data in the utilization of acupuncture in the treatment of female and male infertility. Materials and Methods: Medline, Science Direct computer search ...

INTRODUCTION Palivizumab is indicated for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in high-risk children. Previous palivizumab utilization studies examined prior authorization claims but did not examine utilization within insured populations as a whole. This study describes outpatient palivizumab utilization trends and characterizes high-risk infants receiving palivizumab w...

Plesiomonas shigelloides is a gram-negative pathogen which can utilize heme as an iron source. In previous work, P. shigelloides genes which permitted heme iron utilization in a laboratory strain of Escherichia coli were isolated. In the present study, the cloned P. shigelloides sequences were found to encode ten potential heme utilization proteins: HugA, the putative heme receptor; TonB and Ex...