Critical Care and Respiratory Therapy, Department of Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.

^*Correspondence to: Dr. Thomas Kuen-Shan Jih, Critical Care and Respiratory Therapy, Department of Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, 160 Chung-Kang Road, Section 3, Taichung 407, Taiwan, R.O.C.

E-mail: [email protected]

Received: June 17, 2004 • Accepted: September 2, 2004