November 2006 Period under analysis: 02/10/2006 - 01/11/2006 Welcome to the November issue of SMART, a monthly snapshot of all that is new in sepsis. Like Advances in Sepsis, SMART concentrates on our developing understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of sepsis. Where Advances in Sepsis provides quarterly commentary and insight, SMART provides monthly news: a signpost to the best sepsis information. What's in this issue? This month in SMART, the Crucial Papers section reports on the association between mortality rate and severity of sepsis, the benefits of standardized treatment protocols, and the benefits of hydrocortisone in septic shock.  The Key Papers and Presentations section provides a list of other important and relevant papers and presentations, while Coverage in the Lay Press gives a bulletin on the latest sepsis news from the international media.  We’ll alert you to new SMART updates by email. Simply register. For your automated PubMed searching we present SMARTbot. You can choose how SMARTbot will search PubMed, and how often it will report back with the results of your customized searches. Registering for SMART gives you access to SMARTbot. Let us know what you think about SMART. We are keen to hear your comments and ideas. Please email us at: info@advancesinsepsis.com Marcus Shuttleworth, Editor Rhian Phillips, Managing Editor, Advances in Sepsis Scott Millar, Editorial Manager The Remedica SMART Team