New standards of care, such as low tidal volume mechanical ventilation and tight blood glucose control, have recently emerged and are now a cornerstone of treatment for critically ill patients. Low tidal volume (≤ 6 ml/kg) as compared with 'standard' mechanical ventilation (12 ml/kg) has improved survival in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in independent studies [100, 101] . Two landmark studies by van den Berghe and colleagues [102, 103] suggested that aggressive insulin therapy improved 30-day survival in critically ill surgical patients, and reduced morbidity indicators such as weaning from mechanical ventilation and hospital days in medical ICU patients. Whereas occurrence and management of hypoglycemia appeared irrelevant in the main papers and additional data, hypoglycemia has been identified as potentially causing harm by others [104] . Even if these standards are still discussed and do not specifically impact on sepsis, they may also contribute to quality-of-care improvement and finally to patients' successful outcome [83, 84] .