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Drug-resistant bacteria are a huge and growing threat to public health. A solution exists in theory, but had not yet been put to a practical test. The accompanying paper by Ross-Gillespie et al., the theory is put to a test and performs successfully. As predicted, using a drug that targets bacteria's shared secreted ‘public goods’ molecules instead of cell components did not drive the bacterial evolution of drug resistance, and therefore retained its effectiveness. This result holds great promise for better drugs and vaccines against many infectious diseases, and also for better cancer therapies.

Background: Active smoking has been associated with a higher risk of developing Crohn's disease (CD). However, its impact on clinical outcomes has been controversial among studies. Aims: To evaluate the influence of active smoking on initial manifestations of CD, the development of disease-related complications, and therapeutic requirements. Methods: Patients diagnosed with CD within a ten-year period (1994-2003) were identified. Clinical and therapeutic features until October 2008 or loss of follow-up were recorded. Smoking status was assessed at each major disease-related event (e.g. penetrating and stricturing complications, perianal disease, intestinal resection, introduction of immunomodulators or biological agents). Results: A total of 259 patients were included in the study with a median follow-up period of 91 months. At diagnosis, 50.5% were active smokers and only 12% of them quit smoking during follow-up, mostly after a major disease-related event occurred. Smoking at diagnosis was not associated with a particular CD presentation. Active smoking did not influence the development of strictures, intraabdominal and perianal penetrating complications, or increased resectional surgery, biological therapy or immunomodulators requirements. Conclusions: Patients who develop CD while smoking seem to have a similar disease course to those who never smoked. (c) 2012 European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Summary We have studied changes in the elasticity and viscosity of the skin in patients with lymphoedema, using a technique involving vertical extensibility by suction. We measured parameters which included immediate extensibility (Ue, which reflects the elastic properties of the skin), and delayed extensibility (Uv which reflects intracutaneous movements of a viscous type). In grade III lymphoedema, Ue is decreased and Uv is increased. These changes are explained by volume variations and histological alterations, and tend to normalize after treatment. Our study shows that measurement of extensibility is useful in evaluation of volume variations, effects of therapy, and disease evolution, as Ue variations correlate with volume variations and with Uv changes. This technique also provides information which is useful in assessing patients' functional difficulties in relation to skin infiltration, and might be of value in lymphoedema follow-up.

Events observed during a follow-up period are generally more informative when predicting the prognosis of patients than the clinical data available at the start of follow-up. The present paper has aimed to introduce a modified landmark method for estimating a survival curve for patients in whom an event related to their survival had occurred at a given landmark time during the follow-up period. Survival curves were compared graphically by the conventional method, the Mantel-Byar method, the landmark method and the modified landmark method. The subjects were ninety-five patients with myelodysplastic syndrome who had been diagnosed between 1979 and 1992 at Tokyo Medical College Hospital, and followed-up until September, 1993. Disease evolution was used as the event. The survival curves for patients with and without the event, calculated by the conventional method, were biased and not applicable to the actual patients at the start of follow-up before the occurrence of the event. The curves obtained using the Mantel-Byar method were not biased but similarly not applicable to the actual patients. The landmark method gave unbiased curves applicable to patients with and without the event at a given landmark time, but the curve for those with the event included a lead time from the onset of the event to the landmark time. The modified method gave an unbiased estimation of survival for patients in whom the event had just occurred around a given landmark time.