Background The rapid and reliable diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction is a major
unmet clinical need. Methods We conducted a multicenter study to examine the diagnostic …

Background Lower respiratory tract infections are often treated with antibiotics without
evidence of clinically relevant bacterial disease. Serum calcitonin precursor concentrations, …

Rationale: In patients with community-acquired pneumonia, guidelines recommend antibiotic
treatment for 7 to 21 d. Procalcitonin is elevated in bacterial infections, and its dynamics …

Nitric oxide (NO) has been invoked as an important pathogenic factor in a wide range of
immunologically mediated diseases. The present study demonstrates that macrophage-derived …

Background:Therapy with antibiotics influences recovery only in selected cases of COPD
exacerbations. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of procalcitonin guidance compared to …

Background Because the volume of patient admissions to an emergency department (ED)
cannot be precisely planned, the available resources may become overwhelmed at times (“…

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the incremental value of copeptin for
rapid rule out of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Background : The rapid and reliable …

Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the most frequent infection-related
cause of death. The reference standard to diagnose CAP is a new infiltrate on chest …

Importance International guidelines advocate a 7- to 14-day course of systemic
glucocorticoid therapy in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). …

Background Clinical trials yielded conflicting data about the benefit of adding systemic
corticosteroids for treatment of community-acquired pneumonia. We assessed whether short-term …