Michael Tamm

TL;DR: Procalcitonin guidance substantially reduced antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infections and could have important clinical and financial implications in view of the current overuse of antimicrobial therapy in often self-limiting acute respiratory tract infection.

TL;DR: Procalcitonin guidance substantially reduces antibiotic use in community-acquired pneumonia and may have important clinical and public health implications.

TL;DR: In this article, a systematic review included individual patient data from 14 randomised controlled trials with a total of 4211 participants and found no increased risk for all-cause mortality or treatment failure when procalcitonin was used to guide initiation and duration of antibiotic treatment in participants with acute respiratory infections compared to control participants.

TL;DR: Procalcitonin guidance for exacerbations of COPD offers a sustained advantage over standard therapy in reducing antibiotic use for up to 6 months with a number-needed-to-treat of 3.

TL;DR: This study shows for the first time that proliferation of ASM cells is increased in patients with asthma and provides evidence for an intrinsic abnormality in the ASM cell in this disease.